 You know, I came very close to buying these irons two years ago and I might be even closer this time around. You see 2023 sees the release of a forged player's iron that I would simply describe as my cup of tea, which is a bit odd because, well, I don't like tea. If you don't like the sound and feel that comes off forged irons, a medium sort of sized head profile and aesthetically beautiful irons, then I'll suggest you look away now. Because these irons are all of the aforementioned, they are in fact the new Strixon ZX5 Mark II. So these new ZX5s will sit in very much the sort of medium sized head profile in Strixon's iron line up, they sit in between the ZX7 and the ZX4 and keep your eye out because you've got a real interesting video coming out of the ZX4s and I'm also going to feature them in this video later on and why I think they're the perfect partner for these ZX5s, but anyway, back to the ZX5, I said they looked aesthetically beautiful and I think that is hard to argue, certainly for me, who's a fan of a bit of shiny chrome, then I was drawn to these like I said two years ago, they've not changed significantly in the way they look, they sit stunning in the bag, we've also got the V-Sol, it's retained, that's the way the club enters and exits the turf and the intention is to not lose any club head speed to that impact position and none of us want that, let's be honest. Today's video is brought to you in partnership with HotGolf, the online Golf Megastore bringing you the hottest deals in golf and of course the club's featured in today's video, find a link to the HotGolf website in the description below and check out some incredible giveaways and offers. And in terms of loft, they sit in what we deem a sort of acceptable strength of loft in terms of a 7 iron being 31 degrees, a 5 iron being 24 degrees and what that means in that 5 iron as well, most of us average club head speed golfers, at least we've got some chance of getting that one in the bag and then if we move down to that short end of the bag, we've got a pitching wedge which has a profile that's got a little bit of finesse about it, it's got a nice shaping and nice profile and hopefully throughout this whole bag of ZX5's we've got some nice feel. So far so good, okay so these things look good, they feel good and we've got what I would term politically correct loft in. What's question is, what about the price of these things? Well as many of you will know I try to avoid getting the discussion going with regards to pricing but in Strixon's case they've got something that is a little bit out of the ordinary and that is a forged iron, very well made in terms of its quality, from a brand we certainly know and can trust and I think based on what I've seen from a previous iteration of ZX5, this is going to be priced extremely competitive indeed. The question is, is that price, quality and looks going to make its way into your bag or will once again one of the major issues Strixon have be brand snobbery and you're still going to steer away from it no matter what you see in today's video in terms of my performance at least and on to that performance I'm going to kick things off with a couple of wedges and give you my opinion on well not only performance but at this end of the bag for me it's about a lot more than what the numbers say it's about what I'm seeing it address and that is like I said a fairly compact head style and I said fairly compact because there is obviously the ZX7 model which is more blade like again for those who want that sort of ultra compact look but I think they sit really well in terms of the profile and in terms of that feel and sound well they did an incredible job first time around and nothing's changed in that department and plenty of confidence not expecting to struggle too much with pitching wedge in hand doing everything I would expect to see I'm going to move off into the 7 iron I'm going to bring a couple of other clubs out as well because there's a one important factor at the long end of the bag that I want to discuss just make sure it's 7 iron I've got in hand now the one thing I will say in terms of profile if you want some sort of idea as to what they're similar to then I would suggest go and check out a P790 or if you haven't already then they just look so so similar to me not only in the thickness of the top line but in the whole shaping and profile from heel to toe that's from my memory at least but yeah go and check that out and once again just a real nice great feel high-launching ball don't forget 31 degrees this is lofty that so again sort of sits middle of the road in terms of what we're seeing right now and it does everything that I would expect it to do and exudes all I can say is exudes confidence of address you can see I'm not trying too hard in terms of swing speed nice smooth swing getting the ball away right I'm getting data for these and I will share data on each of those clubs that I've hit so far at the end of the video but this way to get a little bit interesting for me in terms of the strict and line up of irons this year I've got the five iron in hand and like I said it's it's P790 like I've hit this numerous times off camera we'll hit one on camera that wasn't the best swing and then we got a bit of club before ball a bit of mat before ball let's try that one more time before I can I'll pass a judgment right much better clip this time around but the thing that is interesting with this ZX lineup is your ability to blend the sets this year greater than you could before and that's all because of this other club that is just alongside me and that is the ZX4 now I'm doing a review on both these sets of irons in their individual states but in both irons reviews I've suggested that you consider at one end of the bag or the other putting some kind of blend together and in the case of the ZX5's I would seriously consider in the longer end of the bag six iron five iron start to look at blending these up with ZX4's why would I do that over two reasons the first reason being visually they can switch a good job in terms of the way ZX4's look and blend in to the set of ZX5's that allows you to do that and you will not recognize the difference in your bag and I think that's key and very important for me so I've got these in the bag they look no different in all honesty when I've been picking these up today it's a real struggle for me to determine which one is which until I have a real good look but then the second thing is you've just got that extra bit of bulk and mass that why not have it at this long end of the of the bag why not take advantage of something that you're not needing that finesse that we're looking at for the pitching wedge you're happy to take a little bit more bulk the top lines there but again I'll put some visuals on for you now it's not that greatly different from the ZX5 bottle so for me I'm much more inclined to go with this kind of club the ZX4 in that longer end of the bag and I just applaud strictening what they've done from a design perspective in making the ZX4 so much better-looking than its predecessor it's unrecognisable is what I've said in the review of the ZX4's the thing they've done really well don't forget the ZX4's a hollow-bodied iron they've managed to get a great feeling sound and honestly playing these side by side they've done such a good job so that's a key factor in the ability to blend these particularly at the long end of the bag right let's finish things off with dry ball data I'm gonna keep this quite simple I'm gonna throw up we'll put all three irons up at once I think and then maybe if you want to have a deep dive into these then at a later point it's something you might want to scrutinize let's say but all the data really sort of proves is that these are a real consistent performing set of irons launch is really interested in on all products and also in the five iron launch is the ball particularly high at 20.3 argue the spin number drops off a little at three and a half thousand revs I've been through this on many occasions and and just in the previous video with the ZX4's and that is that my spin with these balls off these mats does drop off a bit it wouldn't be something that it put me off but you look at things like a 20.3 launch a 45.4 descent angle a peak height of 33 yards or 176 carry and that's just an optimum set of numbers and I've said that a lot this year in terms of what I've seen with a number of clubs because you know drivers are sort of optimized in terms of their performance but there are other enhancements in terms of performance in other clubs and I think these irons have been a sort of another case of that really where there's just consistency across the board so that being launch angle spin number descent angle carry distance forgiveness however you want to determine what those factors are they seem to do it incredibly well this is only indoor testing this is only dry ball days and I'd love to get these out on the course but I said at the beginning I came close to buying these from two years ago and I must admit I am even closer this year round and the reason for that is not because of the enhanced performance in the ZX5's because there isn't they were very good two years ago but for me it's the enhancements and the improvements in the performance of the ZX4's that make these a real option for me because like I've said in the video I would really consider putting 6 iron 5 iron in of ZX4's and maybe right the way down I think even the ability to make ZX7's in in your pitching wedge and 9 iron and having those lofts blended so that all sits nice and I think you've got an absolutely stunning set of irons that visually looks from all the same set but effectively what you're gaining is the performance attributes to kind of finesse at the short end of the bag with ZX7's then you've got a little bit of assistance in ZX5's and then you've got a bit more bulk at the long end of the bag with ZX4's I don't see any reason why you shouldn't consider mixing three sets into one here obviously depending on what your viewpoint is what you're looking for what your ability level is but yeah I just think this is a real good lineup of irons that's friction of introduced to the market and at a price point that is likely to be a lot more cost-effective than some of the others out there right that's me done super impressed with the whole range really maybe not surprised but like I said super impressed and I don't know I like these a lot right as ever thank you for watching I think I've made the request of my like subscribe all in cries of desperation I'll see you all soon