Cobra Aerojet iron £799
GM verdict
Visually, the Aerojet may not blow you away, but there are enough colour pops and design features to catch your eye on the shelf. You’ll see the back of the sole poking out behind the topline in the 7-iron and down, largely due to the generous sole width and how strong the lofts are. They remain the same as on the LTDX – 26.5° in the 7-iron – which means it continues to be one of the strongest iron sets on the market.
Testing the Aerojet iron indoors on the Foresight sports Gcquad launch monitor against the outgoing LTDX, the performance was basically identical. Admittedly, our Aerojet samples were fitted with regularflex KBS Tour Lite shafts – there’s a good chance they would have outperformed the LTDX if we had our preferred stiff-flex shafts. But with an average carry of 176 yards, this iron was still very long. And, with the spin hovering just under 5,000 rpm and a peak height of 32 yards, there’s an element of playability to the performance. Hitting shots outdoors, there was much to enjoy about the way this iron felt off the face and how consistent the results were. This iron has a lively, metalwood-like feel to it,
but with a more subdued sound, probably down to the polymer that fills the cavity. It does a great job of maintaining the feeling of power while dumbing down any harsh vibrations that often crop up when the ball isn’t struck out of the centre.
In terms of consistency, this iron was hard to fault. Low, high, heel or toe – it didn’t seem to matter which part of the face the ball was struck from. We were able to replicate a soft draw with relative ease, and the front-toback dispersion was akin to what you’d expect from a forged iron. The flight remains quite flat, although the higher your swing speed, the less this will be noticeable. Slower swing speeds would need to think about reconfiguring their set – starting at a 5- or even a 6-iron to get optimum ball flights throughout.
There are graphite shafts available and it also comes in One Length for those seeking a more consistent set-up with each iron. Pound for pound, the Aerojet is one of the best-value distance irons in 2023.