Callaway irons 2024: Which are right for your game?

Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm, Rose Zhang, Sam Burns and a host of other elite professional golfers play Callaway irons that are designed to give the best players in the world the ideal blend of feel and control so they can contend on the toughest courses in the world.

Among the largest golf equipment makers, Callaway offers more iron models that could be considered current or "in-line" than any other, ranging from muscleback blades for the game's most-elite golfers to ultra-lightweight models designed for players who struggle to generate ball speed and height.

But the irons that work for those players may not be ideal for you and your swing because recreational golfers need different levels of forgiveness, distance enhancement and control. That's why Callaway also makes better-player distance irons, game-improvement clubs and even irons designed to help new players enjoy the game and hit good shots.

The best way to find the irons that are right for you is to work with a good custom fitter who has a launch monitor, hit a wide variety of clubs and see what the numbers and your eyes reveal. This guide can act as a starting point by helping you understand how the clubs that makeup Callaway's 2024 iron lineup are similar, how they are different and who they were made for.

Apex Ai200

Price: $200 each with True Temper Dynamic Gold Mid steel shafts or UST Mamiya HDC Recoil Dart graphite shafts and Golf Pride Z gripsSpecs: Forged 1020 stainless steel body with forged 455 stainless steel face, internal urethane microspheres, and adjustable back weightWho it’s for: Mid-handicap golfers who want more feel and consistency.

What you should know: The Ai200 replaces the standard Apex irons. Callaway designed the clubs to have an enhanced feel and provide golfers with more distance, making the Ai200 a contender for lower-handicap golfers who want distance or mid-handicap golfers who still need forgiveness but who are working on shaping shots.

Excerpt: "The 455 Carpenter stainless steel cup face has been created with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) in the same way Callaway used it to create the faces in the Ai Smoke drivers. Knowing they wanted to create more ball speed but maintain the spin rates and launch angle characteristics in the Apex irons, Callaway engineers programmed supercomputers to run thousands of simulations of impacts using different face patterns and designs. The result is a hitting area that should give golfers more distance, but also more consistency because the hitting area does not have hot spots or excessively rigid areas." Read the full review.

Apex Ai300

Price: $200 each with True Temper Dynamic Gold Mid steel shafts or UST Mamiya HDC Recoil Dart graphite shafts and Golf Pride Z gripsSpecs: Forged 1020 stainless steel body with forged 455 stainless steel face, internal urethane microspheres, and adjustable back weightWho it’s for: Higher-handicap golfers who want more distance, feel, and consistency.

What you should know: The Apex Ai300 is larger and more forgiving than the Apex Ai200 and is a pure game-improvement iron. Callaway used artificial intelligence to create iron faces that deliver more distance, along with spin and trajectory consistency.

Excerpt: "The Ai300 features a forged 1020 carbon steel chassis that is attached to a thin, forged 455 Carpenter stainless steel cup face. Callaway injects urethane microspheres inside each head to soak up excessive vibrations, enhance feel, and improve the sound created at impact." Read the full review.

Apex Ti Fusion

Price: $300 each with True Temper Dynamic Gold Mid Gunmetal steel shafts or Mitsubishi MMT graphite shafts and Golf Pride Z gripsSpecs: Forged 1020 stainless steel body with brazed titanium face, internal urethane microspheres, adjustable back weight, and diamond-like coatingWho it’s for:  Low- to mid-handicap golfers who want more distance, feel, and consistency.

What you should know: Callaway Apex Ti Fusion irons blend a soft stainless steel body with a titanium face designed using artificial intelligence and internal urethane material to create more ball speed, a softer feel, and more consistency.

Excerpt: “To maximize the titanium face’s performance, Callaway designers used artificial intelligence to simulate and test different face patterns and designs, then determined which would produce the best performance for each club in the set. As a result, the long iron faces were optimized to enhance distance and forgiveness on mishits, while the short irons and scoring clubs feature more spin consistency for better distance control and accuracy." Read the full review.

Apex Pro

Price: $215 each with True Temper Dynamic Gold Mid steel shafts and Golf Pride Z grips.Specs: Hollow-body construction with a forged 1025 carbon steel body, forged 455 cup face (3-5) and internal urethane microspheres. Available in 3-iron (19 degrees) through attack wedge (50 degrees)Who it’s for: Low and mid-handicap golfers who want a better-player’s distance iron that also delivers shot-shaping and forgiveness.

What you should know: Using a softer metal and urethane microspheres enhances the feel of this iron, while the hollow-body construction helps increase ball speed. The updated sole improves turf interaction.

Excerpt: "The Apex Pro long irons (3-5) have a hollow-body design and a thin 455 stainless steel cup face designed to flex more efficiently at impact to enhance ball speed. This is the same material and construction found in Callaway’s game-improving Paradym irons but in a more compact package. The 6-iron through attack wedge have faces made from forged 1025 carbon steel, the same soft material used in the Apex Pro irons’ chassis. Opting for 1025 carbon steel in mid- and short irons should soften the impact feel and enhance spin and distance consistency on approach shots." Read the full review.

Paradym Ai Smoke

Price: $999.99 (seven clubs) with True Temper Elevate steel shafts and Lamkin Crossline grips; $1,099.99 with Project X Cypher 2.0, Mitsubishi Tensei Blue White or Eldio graphite shaftsSpecs: Hollow-bodied stainless steel iron

Who it’s for: Golfers who want a distance-oriented, game-improvement iron that launches the ball high.

What you should know: Callaway designers used artificial intelligence to design iron faces for the Paradym Ai Smoke and Ai Smoke HL irons to deliver enhanced ball speed for moderate-swinging players and more distance and height for slower-swinging players.

Excerpt: "Attached to the hollow-body chassis of each iron, the (artificial intelligence-designed) faces flex more efficiently at impact to generate more ball speed on every shot and tighten the dispersion pattern." Read the full view.

Paradym Ai Smoke HL

Price: $999.99 (seven clubs) with True Temper Elevate steel shafts and Lamkin Crossline grips; $1,099.99 with Project X Cypher 2.0, Mitsubishi Tensei Blue White or Eldio graphite shaftsSpecs: Hollow-bodied stainless steel iron

Who it’s for: Moderate and slower-swinging golfers who need more height and carry distance.

What you should know: Callaway designers used artificial intelligence to design iron faces for the Paradym Ai Smoke HL irons to deliver more distance and height for slower-swinging players.

Excerpt: "The face design and low center of gravity combine with weaker lofts in this iron to make getting the ball high in the air easier, especially with the long irons. While the Paradym Ai Smoke’s 5-iron has 22 degrees of loft, the 5-iron in the HL version has 24 degrees of loft. Callaway believes this club should be ideal for golfers with a driver swing between 70 and 90 mph." Read the full view.

Paradym Ai Smoke Max Fast

Price: $999.99 (seven clubs) with True Temper Elevate steel shafts and Lamkin Crossline grips; $1,099.99 with Project X Cypher 2.0, Mitsubishi Tensei Blue White or Eldio graphite shaftsSpecs: Hollow-bodied stainless steel iron

Who it’s for: Slower-swinging golfers who need more clubhead speed.

What you should know: Callaway created the Max Fast to take the place of the Star clubs in its stable, utilizing weaker lofts, lighter shafts and lighter grips to create irons that are easier to swing.

Excerpt: "The Paradym Ai Smoke Max Fast, which has been optimized for golfers who have a driver swing that is slower than 75 mph. These irons have the same weakened lofts as the HL irons, but the Max Fast irons come standard with lighter shafts and grips, which should make it easier to create more clubhead speed and carry distance." Read the full view.

Apex CB

Price: $215 each with True Temper Dynamic Gold Mid steel shafts and Golf Pride Z grips.Specs: Forged 1025 carbon steel. Available in 3-iron (20.5 degrees) through attack wedge (50 degrees)

Who it's for: Low-handicap golfers, college players and aspiring club champions who want feel and control with a touch of forgiveness.

What you should know: Like other tour-level cavity-back irons, the Apex CB has a thin topline, almost no offset and a narrow sole to allow accomplished players to control shots and carve the ball around the course.

Excerpt: "Callaway designed the Apex CB with a progressive center of gravity (CG) location. There is extra mass positioned low in the heads of the long irons, to help golfers create a higher-launching shot, but the CG shifts up in the head through the mid- and short-irons to encourage a lower, more-piercing ball flight for better distance control." Read the full review.

Apex MB

Price: $215 each with True Temper Dynamic Gold Mid steel shafts and Golf Pride Z grips.Specs: Forged 1025 carbon steel. Available in 3-iron (20.5 degrees) through attack wedge (50 degrees)

Who it’s for: Professional golfers, college players and elite ballstrikers who value control over everything else.

What you should know: Designed for golfers with powerful, repeatable swings, the Apex MB offers the highest levels of feel and control that Callaway has in an iron.

Excerpt: "The Apex MB is a pure muscleback blade. It has a very compact blade length, virtually no offset and a very thin topline. It has a progressive CG throughout the set and Callaway studied and modified the sole design and bounce to make it quick through the grass, so golfers can maintain speed through the strike." Read the full review.

Big Bertha

Price: $934.99 (six clubs) with True Temper Elevate 85 steel shafts; $1,099.99 with Callaway RCH 65 graphite shafts and Callaway Universal grips.Specs: Cast stainless steel body with 450 stainless steel cup face, internal and external tungsten weights and internal urethane microspheres

Who it's For: Golfers who shoot in the 90s and 100s who need forgiveness and distance.

What you should know: The latest Big Bertha irons have reassuringly thick toplines and wide soles to help golfers who struggle with consistency make better contact, while the hollow-body heads help to generate more ball speed.

Excerpt: "Inside each head is a large tungsten weight in the toe area that is encased in urethane microspheres. The weight varies by club – but gets as heavy as 43 grams – and helps to lower the center of gravity location and encourage a higher launch angle. The urethane microspheres, absorb excessive vibrations to improve sound and feel." Read the full review.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Callaway irons 2024: Which are right for your game?