The ZXi5 balances speed, feel and control, while the stronger-lofted ZXi5+ adds distance and forgiveness in a players-style shape.
Gear: Srixon ZXi5 and ZXi5+ irons
Price: $1,499.99 with True Temper Dynamic Gold Mid 115 steel shafts and Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 grips. $1,599.99 with Mitsubishi MMT 60 graphite shafts.
Specs: Forged SUP10 steel faces with forged S20C carbon-steel bodies and tungsten weighting.
Available: Sept. 8 (pre-sale), Oct. 16 (in stores).
Who they’re for: The ZXi5 is for low- to mid-handicap players who want forged feel, moderate forgiveness and more speed than a traditional players’ iron. The ZXi5+ is for golfers who prioritize distance and forgiveness but still want a compact, players-style shape.
What you should know: Despite the nearly identical names, the ZXi5 and ZXi5+ are not minor variations of the same iron. The ZXi5 is a better-player’s distance club that balances control, speed and forgiveness. The new ZXi5+ is a stronger-lofted game-improvement iron with a larger hitting area, wider sole and more built-in help.
The Deep Dive: If golf companies named irons the way automakers named vehicles, choosing between the Srixon ZXi5 and ZXi5+ might be fairly straightforward. One would be the responsive sport sedan, while the other would be the slightly larger version with more horsepower and a softer suspension.
But in this case, that plus sign carries a surprising amount of responsibility because the new ZXi5 and ZXi5+ may look closely related in the bag, but they were created for different golfers.
Each ZXi5 and ZXi5+ is made in a new process Srixon calls i-FORGED. After the first forging presses hot metal into the rough shape of the club, material is added along the high-toe and topline areas, where stress becomes concentrated during impact. The head is then forged again, allowing extreme heat and pressure to compress those structures into the head, tightening the grain and reinforcing those high-stress regions.
The faces also undergo a controlled heat-softening process. The updated process strengthens the metal surrounding the grooves, which should help the face technology retain its performance over time.
Both irons have a forged SUP10 steel face attached to a forged S20C carbon-steel body, with high-density tungsten positioned in the toe of the long and middle irons. SUP10 is strong enough to be made thin, so the face can flex more easily and generate more ball speed. The softer S20C body helps absorb unwanted vibrations and produce the impact sensation golfers expect from a forged Srixon iron. At the same time, tungsten weight in the toe counteracts the weight of the hosel and pulls then ideal hitting area into the center of the face. It also increases stability, helping mishits maintain more consistent speed and spin.
The ZXi5 and ZXi5+ have also been designed with something Srixon calls MainFrame iQ. The idea is to take what Srixon learned by studying thousands of simulated of impacts that determined where golfers tend to strike each iron, then adjusting the thickness of each club’s face accordingly.
In reality, it’s an AI-assisted network of grooves, channels and notches milled into the back of the face. Those structures allow the face to flex more efficiently and preserve ball speed over a larger area.
Both irons also use progressive grooves, with wider grooves in the long and middle irons and deeper, more closely spaced grooves in the scoring clubs. Laser milling between the grooves is designed to increase friction when moisture or grass gets between the face and ball.
Srixon’s Tour V.T. Sole combines model-specific sole widths, bounce angles and notching to help the clubs enter and exit the turf efficiently. The ZXi5’s narrower sole should give better players more freedom to control turf interaction, while the wider ZXi5+ sole provides added resistance against digging.
The second-generation ZXi5 remains Srixon’s players-performance iron. It has a moderately compact blade, some offset and a wider sole than the new ZXi7, which is Srixon’s control-oriented players iron.
The ZXi5+ moves farther toward distance and forgiveness. It has a longer blade, a wider sole and stronger lofts than the ZXi5. The fully forged, hollow-body design gives Srixon more space to redistribute mass and make the club stable without turning it into an oversized offering that players might be self conscious about putting in the bag.
The family relationship becomes easiest to understand as a progression. The ZXi7 offers the most compact shape, traditional lofts and greatest emphasis on control. The ZXi5 adds speed and forgiveness without straying far from the players-iron formula. The ZXi5+ takes another step toward distance and stability while maintaining a cleaner profile than a conventional game-improvement club.
The names may differ by only one symbol. On the course, the difference should be considerably easier to see.
David Dusek is a senior writer at Golfweek covering golf equipment.