Tour Edge E723 Irons

Tour Edge is a brand that you both know and don’t know. You see them in the PGA Tour Superstore, but you see people looking at them. You might see a poster or ad for them, but never pay it any mind. You will see it though throughout the PGA Champions Tour. Over 150 staffed players, including Bernhard Langer and Alex Cejka. So, it must be doing something right if all the old guys are playing them right?

When my father-in-law comes to visit and play golf, he often uses a spare set of clubs I have so he doesn’t have to travel with his clubs. So earlier this year I decided to upgrade those clubs, and one of the upgrades was the Tour Edge 723 irons. 5-PW. I figured there must be something that the brand is doing right. The irons came with the KBS TGI 70 graphite shaft, which in my opinion is one of the best graphite iron shafts on the market. I did switch out the grips for a jumbo sized CP2 Pro from GolfPride. My father-in-law is 65 and does have arthritis in both of his hands, so the softer, larger grips help with the pain that hitting the ground causes. Appearance wise, the clubs are not the worst looking game improving irons I have seen. Now, the players that will want to use these irons may be willing to sacrifice looks for performance. The do have a fair bit of offset, the soles are wide, and the lofts are pretty strong (7 iron is 27.5). These irons are a hollow headed design, featuring increased toe weighting to lengthen the sweet spot. They are stuffed to the seams with forgiveness.

Now I don’t know if it is the shaft, grips, club head, or just the total combination of all three, but that was some of the best iron play I have seen my father-in-law play. He tends to have a very low, sweeping fade with his irons back home. Every single iron shot was up in the air and straight, which did get him into trouble on the first few holes because he was aiming so far left expecting his fade to act up. Once his alignment got better, he was hitting the ball flush and right where he wanted to. There was a lot of roll out with his approach shots. Often he was hitting the middle of the green and the ball continued to roll out through the back. He then adjusted to hitting the front number of the green, playing the roll out, which yielded much better results. My father-in-law pointed out to me that he was also able to feel if he hit is hitting the ball to close to the heel, and he was able to correct his body position from just a few feedback hits.

The performance was there, yet the big take away for me was how his hands and arms felt after the round. He mentioned that he did have one stinger on the range that hurt, but on the course he was pain free. So much so that we even played again the next day. Even after that round, no pain. Again, the combination of shaft, grip, and iron head must be mentioned. I personally think the shaft has a huge part to play in it, that is why I am such a fan of the KBS TGI shaft. The energy absorption which translates to feel and sound is far better than most graphite shafts. Also, the GolfPride grips can get some credit as well. The CP2 Pro further enhanced the energy absorption, and the jumbo size gave more comfort and feel in the hands.

Jokingly, my father-in-law asked if I would be upset if he took those irons back home with him. I laughed and told him as long as he takes back his daughter then we have a deal. A point that must be mentioned with these irons are the price. These irons were $675 for a 5-PW set, drastically lower than the nearest competitor of the same quality. I did pay extra from the CP2 Pro grips and put them on myself, but that is still an outstanding price-to-quality set. Tour Edge does make more player inspired, forged irons, but for the average senior golfer, I can’t think of a better bargain. Definitely give these irons a look if you are looking for a high performing iron that wont break the bank.