Kirkland Irons 2023 USGA Preview

Kirkland Signature 4 irons have appeared on the USGA conforming list. The iron is manufactured for Costco by Indi Golf. Details are few but the iron is forged and may be a hollow game-improvement iron.

Who cares if Costco makes irons?

You’ve likely seen the photo of the Kirkland Signature 4 iron that has popped up on the USGA conforming list and all over social media. If you have not seen it yet, here you go.

So another company is making a new set of irons. What’s the big deal? Lots of companies make new iron sets. We will likely see 50 new sets of irons unveiled this month. What makes Costco’s Kirkland Signature branded set of irons something that we should take note of?

For starters, let’s see what we can glean from the photo.

Kirkland Signature: From Balls to Blades

The USGA conforming list photo and posted information tells us a couple of things about the Kirkland Signature irons. First, how could you miss that sweet, understated Kirkland Signature logo on the back? Costco had better also be making a Kirkland Signature golf bag to match that aesthetic.

Looks aside, let’s examine the type of iron Costco is making. Obviously, Costco knows we should all be playing blades. How will our games ever get better if we are not persistently properly punished for off-center strikes? Since the internet is full of scratch golfers, the market for these blades will be huge.

Come on, Costco, only about 0.01 percent of golfers can hit blades! That was my initial thought when I saw the photo. I blew these off immediately as blades are for sure not for me. Seeing the “forged” in the USGA description didn’t make them any more welcoming.

While I love the look of forged blades like Mizuno Pro irons, I know my game needs the hotter metal from the JPX iron line.

Initially, this Kirkland Signature iron looked akin to the Mizuno Pro 221 blade. No, thank you. Sure, it’s coming from Costco so it will cost less than the Mizuno iron. Don’t care. Making poor strikes with a cheaper blade will still be punishing, even with an extra $50 in my pocket.

I had almost moved on completely. Then I saw the little spot on the toe below the number 4 and I got excited.

Is that an Injection Port?

Admittedly, we don’t really know anything about these irons right now but that little spot below the number 4 looks like it could be a port. That could mean these are hollow and filled with magical forgiveness polymer! Bye bye, recalcitrant blade! Hello, hollow helper!

Hollow blade-shaped irons are a whole different story when it comes to playability. When you look at similar offerings from PING, TaylorMade, Sub 70 and others, you’ll see the target player is not the scratch golfer. While solid forged blades are for the best players, hollow blades are for the rest of us.

Like I said, we don’t know much about these. Maybe that spot under the 4 is just a reflection from something off-camera. (Please, let it be a port.) Hopefully, the irons are hollow and filled with performance polymer or Kirkland Signature’s new high-speed mayonnaise. I don’t care what is inside. Just put something in there that makes these easier to play.

Costco Has A Solid Golf Product Pedigree

Most of us should be excited to see these. Maybe they won’t be a paradigm-changing set of irons but they will be playable and affordable. Many current sets of irons only check one of those boxes.

Why do I think they will be playable? Consider Costco’s other golf products. Kirkland Signature balls, gloves, putter and wedges are all very playable. The balls and gloves are arguably some of the best at their price points. While the Kirkland Signature wedges tested in the middle of the pack, Costco shoppers get three wedges for the price of one of the other companies’ wedges.

Will custom options for the irons be available? Probably not. Will this eliminate some potential customers. Absolutely. I believe Costco made these irons for the masses, not for the elite player. An elite-level player is not looking at Kirkland Signature irons, anyway.

I see the target Kirkland Signature iron player as someone who got into golf during the pandemic. They’ve played a few rounds, maybe with borrowed or Craigslist-acquired clubs. Now they have the golf bug and they’d like some new irons but are put off by the $1,000-plus price tag. Maybe they don’t even know why you’d want tungsten in an iron but they know a grand for irons is tough to justify.

But they’ve been a Costco customer for decades. They love Costco. Maybe they already have the wedges and the putter. For sure, they are using the Kirkland Signature golf glove and ball. On their weekly Costco run, they see a palate of inexpensive Kirkland Signature irons. Do they buy them? Is the price right?

I made fun of the pricing a bit above but obviously that is one of the big draws for Costco products. We may not know much about the new Kirkland Signature irons but maybe we can use current Kirkland Signature club prices to guesstimate the iron price. If these follow the roughly $55 per club pricing model for their wedges, we could see an eight-club set of irons being priced at about $450.

Ruminate about that for a moment. A $450 set of forged irons. At that price, I’m not that concerned about the look of Kirkland Signature branding anymore.

Into the shopping cart go the irons!

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