Next Round Golf Challenge Irons Review
Is New Always Better? The Next Round Golf Battle Of Irons
Next Round Golf sells used clubs varying from a few months old to over a decade old. One of the great debates in golf: Is New always better? If we believed every marketing ploy of the golf industry we’d all be hitting 400 yard drives and making a 1-putt on every green. Yet year after year, even with brand new clubs in the bag we don’t really seem to score that much better or hit the ball that much further. Why? Is it because new clubs aren’t any better or is there some other factor?
The Next Round Golf Challenge is a series of articles tackling that debate through on-course testing and range results paired with launch monitor data. You can follow these tests over the next few months to see if new is always better? Next Round Golf was able to provide 5+ year old clubs to compare to the newest technology on the market. We hit as similar as specs as possible, in this case using the same shaft in both heads.
This is the official Next Round Golf Challenge Irons Review.
The Irons
The Next Round Golf Challenge Irons test contenders were the Ping i240 vs Ping i59 Irons. They both had Nippon Pro Modus 3 shafts stiff flex in black dot 4-PW. The i59 are a slight more compact head, but both have low CG and spec out pretty similar. The i240 are 1 degree stronger lofts and have a little thicker sole. These 2 irons sets are roughly 5 years apart in age. The cost difference between these 2 sets is $750 +/- depending on condition.
The Challenge
The Next Round Golf Challenge Irons3 test was designed to see if new is always better? I went to the local range, set up my launch monitor and hit 5 shots with one iron, then hit 5 shots with the other. Then I rotated back and forth between the 2 irons and hit over 50 shots between the two iron sets. I also spent some time with these 2 sets in the iGR Carl’s Place Simulator in a controlled environment to compile even more data. I rotated which club I hit first and last, when I was fresh and when I was tired. I spent most of my time with the 8-iron since it is my most comfortable iron.
Observations
Is New Always Better? I noticed numerous similarities between these 2 iron sets. Even though they are 5 years apart in age, Ping offers consistency year over year in what to expect with sound, looks and feel. The i59 irons are a little more compact but other than that at address they are very similar. I found that the i240 irons were faster both clubhead speed and ball speed while the i59 irons were more accurate.
My dispersion circle was much smaller with the i59 irons, even if they were 1/2 club shorter. In terms of off-center hits the i240 lost less ball speed making them more forgiving. The data below proves how these 2 clubs perform. The biggest takeaway is speed. The average clubhead speed, ball speed, smash factor and forgiveness were all improved in the newer head.
The Next Round Golf Challenge Data
Data from Flightscope MEVO Gen2 Launch Monitor
| Ping i240 8-Iron | Ping i59 8-Iron | |
| Spin | 6936 rpms | 6521 rpms |
| Launch Angle | 24.5* | 23.2* |
| Dispersion | 3.9 yds | 4.0 yds |
| Club Head Speed | 80.8 | 83.5 |
| Ball Speed | 100.4 | 104.7 |
| Smash Factor | 1.24 | 1.25 |
| Carry Distance | 144.3 | 149.8 |
| Total Distance | 147.6 | 153.1 |
Conclusion
The Next Round Golf Challenge Irons proves that you don’t need to replace your irons every year. If you have 5 year old irons that you love, you aren’t give up significant accuracy, but there is distance to be gained, however that doesn’t guarantee better scoring. I think it really depends on how you adjust to which iron to hit for any given shot. Newer clubs are faster and more forgiving, but older clubs can be just as accurate.
Is it time to upgrade to your irons?? I think that really depends on how well you hit your current irons, how old they are and what would help your game: speed, distance, accuracy, forgiveness? New irons do offer benefits on average, but maybe “new to you” will get the job done too. So if you want to get really good performance without the cost of new clubs, check out the used irons selection at Next Round Golf.
Is New Always Better? Better, yes; but the gap is pretty small in irons so don’t be afraid to consider used clubs to fill your golf bag in 2026. The Next Round Golf Challenge Irons shows even 5 year old irons can keep up with brand new ones.
More information here: Next Round Golf Website
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