A golfer replacing a decade-old set will probably get a stronger 7-iron, whatever the sole says. The change came early and has slowed since.
+32 points rise in the share of 7-irons at 30° or stronger between sets released 2013 to 2017 and 2018 to 2021, the largest step.
Share of iron sets with a 7-iron loft of 30° or stronger: 15% in 2013 to 2017 (13 of 89), 47% in 2018 to 2021 (54 of 115) and 56% in 2022 to 2026 (104 of 186).
Share of iron sets that list a 7-iron loft, by release period. Source: GolfAPI.dev catalog.
Data as of .
Data table
| Release years | 30° or stronger |
|---|---|
| 2013–2017 | 15% |
| 2018–2021 | 47% |
| 2022–2026 | 56% |
Reproduce this chart
The request needs a Hobby or Pro key. A test key returns only the fixture.
curl 'https://api.golfapi.dev/irons?release_year_after=2013&fields=id,name,manufacturer,release_year,irons&limit=100' \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $GOLFDEV_API_KEY"
# Repeat with &cursor=<page.next> until page.has_more is false.
From 2018 to 2021 to 2022 to 2026 the share rose a further 9 points. Two 7-irons from the same year can still be 7° apart, so a gapping app should sort irons by loft_deg and treat the number on the sole as a label.
With the MCP server connected, an assistant on a Hobby key answers "List the 7-iron loft of every iron set released in 2026"; the free sample has no irons.
Next up: the full spread of 2026 7-irons, from 27° to 34°.
