New 2025 Tour Edge Exotics CB Forged Irons Set: 2025 PGAPappas 12 Days of Christmas Golf Giveaway DAY 3

It was a late equipment release of 2025 but immediately positioned itself as one of the best of the entire year.  And it's going to hold that ground well into the 2026 equipment release season as well.  I'm taking about the new Tour Edge Exotics CB Forged irons.  And to kick off DAY 3 of my PGAPappas 12 Days of Christmas one of you is going to win a custom built full set of your own Exotics CB irons.

I'm going to touch on some of the Exotics CB performance for you here  in this review to help you get a better idea of just how great these irons are.  The CB irons certainly build on Tour Edge's success with previous iron lines like their C725.  But the CB irons go beyond that and establish themselves as a powerhouse in the premium players-distance category of irons.  Yes you read that right, I put the CBs into the player-distance category (more on that below).

If Looks Could Kill

The first thing you notice about the new Tour Edge CB irons is their gorgeously compact shape.  It's a Tour-inspired design with a short blade length and minimal offset.  I mentioned on X a few months ago (for comparison purposes) they're actually more compact than even the Cobra KING Tour irons.

Kinda nuts to see the sprinkling of comments saying these are big top lines. Pretty much in line with what we see in cavity back design.

First pic Apex TCB (left), CB Forged (right). Second pic ZXi5, i240, CB Forged (left to right). pic.twitter.com/P5VEG8LCiZ

— Pete Pappas (@PGAPappas) November 9, 2025

A lot of you commented on the topline being larger than what you'd expect in an iron like this.  And I pointed out it's actually similar to the toplines of irons like the Srixon ZXi5 and Ping i240.  The Tour Edge CBs also have a smaller footprint than both of these irons.  Iron appearance is always subjective of course, but CB is a shape that purists should really love.

A Velvety Impact Feel

I don't know anything about Tour Edge's forging process but I can tell you it must be something special because the Exotics CBs feel less harsh (even on mishits) than almost every players iron I've ever hit. (I say players iron because that's technically what these are; but remember I think they belong in the players-distance category as well).  Impact feel and feedback is one of the absolute standout aspects of these irons.

 

Has the CB feel become the benchmark of the industry?  No, but?  The fact I even wondered about that says a lot.  It's a clean feel, a responsive feel, and a very soft and dense feel.  Mizuno and Srixon are two brands that come to mind when we think about ideal forged iron feel.  The Exotics CBs are firmer feeling than both of those irons but not by much.  And if you go hit all of these at your local retail equipment store I think you'll agree.  Brass tacks, the CBs have exceptional forged feel and feedback.

Modern Power in a Players Iron Shape

I've already teased about the Tour Edge CB distance so here's the deal.  They are not as long as some irons designed to be players-distance irons.  But they are without a doubt longer than many players-distance irons on the market.  I can tell you I had better ball speeds with the Exotics Forged CBs than some other well known full hollow-body design players-distance irons.  And that kinda WOW'd me.

 

And this Tour Edge Forged CB solid distance isn't because the lofts are jacked.  Yes you get piercing flights.  But you also get massive control and consistency to boot.  I'll touch on both of those more below when I talk spin and forgiveness.  Ultimately the CBs give you distance without sacrificing control which is a pretty special beast of iron performance. 

Workability, Spin, and Launch

Shot shapers will rejoice with the Tour Edge CB irons because they'll allow you to hit just about any shot you can imagine.  Turf interaction is clean and crisp, in and out with no slowdown in speed.  I don't know much about Tour Edges iron tolerances but I can tell you spin numbers and ball speeds are incredibly consistent with the CBs.  Even on mishits out toward the toe CB spin and distance retention is consistently excellent (nearly like you'd expect from a good strike).  And this makes it easier to dial in precise distances and work the ball both ways confidently.

 

Shot control with the Exotics CB irons is enhanced even more by excellent launch stability and forgiveness on mishits (I'll get into forgiveness in the next section).  But there's what I'd call a smooth flow in trajectories with the CB irons that lets me hit higher launching shots easily with my long irons without sacrificing control or workability.  And with my mid-and-short CBs spin precision into the greens is insanely good even when I'm not playing my best.  You don't need to be an aspiring Tour player or even a great ball striker to get good results with the CBs.

Forgiveness and Playability

The Tour Edge CB irons aren't designed to offer you all-over-the face forgiveness.  With that said the CBs do have a level of forgiveness you don't usually see or get with irons this compact.  And when you have the kind of tight dispersion CBs offer?  Well that added forgiveness definitely puts more swagger in your swing.

 

I mentioned above how CB misses out towards the toe retained ball speeds and spin rates quite like a center strike.  But the area of forgiveness still demands you be reasonably around center face.  I'd say the forgiveness area is something like nickel size in any direction from the center sweet spot.  Again that's definitely not all-over-the face forgiveness but at the same time that's a much bigger sweet spot area than you see in most players and players-distance irons.

So as another comparison, we all know the Titleist T100 irons are incredibly precise and great irons.  But they really do require good ball striking to hit them consistently well.  I think the same thing can be said of irons like the Mizuno Pro 243.  The Tour Edge CBs sort of separate themselves from these other two irons by still giving you top-tier shot control but also adding in that extra bit of forgiveness that (arguably) makes them the most playable of the three.

Final Thoughts

The Tour Edge Exotics Forged CB irons were better than advertised for me.  They combine a precision forging with multi-material innovation to deliver a blend of feel, control, and forgiveness that will appeal to strong ball strikers, low-handicap players, and even the weekend-warrior mid-handicaps.

 

Yes the Exotics CB irons target better players and advanced ball strikers who crave a pure forged feel and the ultimate in shot control.  And the CB's flat-out deliver in both areas.  But the CBs will also help mid-handicaps who are looking to improve and tighten dispersion without having to be perfect on every swing.  And as mentioned you still also get very solid distance and forgiveness from the CBs without having to move into game-improvement irons.

Tour shape and feel
Dialed up distance
Pinpoint control
And substantial forgiveness for good measure

Sometimes all you can do is say, “Wow.”

The new Tour Edge Exotics CB Forged irons pretty much have it all. pic.twitter.com/XdYtvzvBHk

— Pete Pappas (@PGAPappas) November 9, 2025

Ultimately the Exotics Forged CB irons are where Tour-level precision meets real-world playability.

Remember you always have three different ways to win the daily gifts in my giveaway this year.  And if you miss a day don't worry.  You can enter ANY of the DAY Giveaways anytime throughout the entire 12 Days of Christmas.

On X/Twitter just repost my giveaway announcement and follow all; on Instagram repost and follow all; and here on my blog leave a comment in the section below in the daily DAY review/giveaway, Jingle Bam, Letters from Santa, Santa Said Do It, Kringle Gonna Kringle, and Run It Back Kringle articles.

These gifts are great prizes of course, but also some of the best equipment and gear in their class that I played and reviewed this season.  And I hope these mini reviews and recaps give you an idea of why I rate them so highly.

Merry Christmas all!