Takomo Golf Iron 101 Review Golflink.com

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Takomo Golf Iron 101

The Takomo Iron 101 has a muscle-back look that could give the impression it’s reserved for the best golfers. But take a closer look and you’ll realize it’s actually ideal for the largest segment of players. It’s a game-improvement, distance iron packed with forgiveness, disguised as a players iron.

If you’re not going to let the looks fool you, don’t let that price tag fool you either. At $489 for a set, or $320 for just the heads, you might guess it’s a cheap knock-off, but you’d be wrong.

We put the Takomo Iron 101 through extensive testing, including several launch monitor sessions and a half-dozen rounds on the course. From our data and testing, we can confirm the Takomo Iron 101 is one of the best game improvement/players distance irons we’ve tested this year.

In this article

Who is Takomo Golf?

Spoiler Alert: The Takomo Iron 101 Final Verdict

Takomo Iron 101 Complete Review

Takomo Iron 101 Complete Specs

Who is Takomo Golf?

At this point, you’re probably wondering who exactly is Takomo Golf? If you’ve never heard of Takomo, that’s OK. The brand was only founded in 2020, and launched its first clubs, these Iron 101s, in 2021.

Takomo is a Scandinavian-born, Direct to Consumer golf club manufacturer with headquarters in Finland and an office in Dallas. The clubs are assembled in Hong Kong, where the cast heads, including the Iron 101 heads, are also made. Meanwhile, most of the forged heads are made in Japan.

Takomo embodies the Scandinavian mindset of built to last, built for functionality, and built for minimalism.

“You don’t see a lot of bells and whistles. It’s very clean, sleek and minimal because nothing else has to be there,” said Sean McCullum, Takomo’s Head of PR and Community Relations. “If we added additional patterning or additional milling, it’s not really doing much in terms of the performance of the iron, therefore we don’t do it.”

While we forgive you for being unfamiliar with Takomo to this point, there’s no excuse to ignore them now. If you like great-looking, premium-performing golf clubs that cost about half the price of the mainstream competitors, you’ll want to pay close attention to Takomo.

The Founding & Future of Takomo Golf

Spoiler Alert: The Takomo Iron 101 Final Verdict

The back and sole of the Takomo Iron 101

Takomo Iron 101: $489 | CHECK TAKOMO GOLF
Iron 101 Heads Only: $320 | CHECK TAKOMO GOLF

Price	$489 ($320 for heads only)
Set Make-Up	4-PW
Lofts (4/7/PW)	20.5/30/44
Shaft Options	KBS Tour: Regular, Stiff, X-Stiff, Lite Regular, Lite Stiff, Lite X-Stiff
Profile	Game-Improvement meets Players Distance

At under $500 for a set, and $320 for the heads, I urge any golfer shopping for new irons to give Takomo a serious look. Here’s why.

A few things really stood out about the Iron 101 from my testing. First was the forgiveness across the face. My miss is typically on the toe side, and with the Iron 101, even my most extreme toe misses flew straight with distance. I’ll elaborate more on this shortly.

The second thing I noticed about the Iron 101 is its workability. I normally just play my shot shape of the day, but while testing the Iron 101, I also worked on grooving an in-to-out swing path.

Knowing the Iron 101 isn’t Takomo’s go-to iron for shot-makers, I didn’t expect to see much shot-shaping action. What I did see, however, were satisfying draws that started at the edge of the green, worked back to the center, then stopped quickly.

When you pair its impressive performance with the minimalistic, muscle-backy look and absurd price, the Iron 101 is absolutely one of the top irons in its class.

Takomo Iron 101 Pros & Cons

Pros:

Sleek, minimalist design and muscle-back looks separate the Iron 101 from most other irons in the category, which often include loud color schemes or unnecessary design elements
Performance-wise, the Iron 101 is forgiving across the face yet workable with plenty of launch and stopping power to hold greens
Less than half the price of most of the irons it competes with in the game improvement and players distance categories
Option to purchase heads only appeals to players who were fit for their current shafts, or those who want to assemble their own clubs and save even more money
Six different premium KBS Tour shaft options ensure every player can pair the right shaft with the Iron 101
In our launch monitor testing, the Takomo Iron 101 performed better than most 2023 Game Improvement irons in launch, spin and accuracy

Cons:

Consumers aren’t able to try in retail before buying
Consumers who don’t already know the best shaft option for them need to figure that out (we recommend doing that with the help of a professional fitter) before buying

Takomo Iron 101 Complete Review

Takomo Iron 101: $489 | CHECK TAKOMO GOLF
Iron 101 Heads Only: $320 | CHECK TAKOMO GOLF

Here’s how the Iron 101 performed in every category based on our simulator and on-course testing.

Distance, Launch & Spin

Whether you consider it to be a game improvement iron, or a players distance iron, the Iron 101 prioritizes distance, and in our launch monitor and on-course testing, it churned out distance numbers that align it squarely with the top game improvement irons of 2023.

The Iron 101 also delivered better spin rates than the irons we tested from PING, Titleist, Callaway, TaylorMade and Cobra.

Lastly, throughout several testing sessions, we saw a very consistent launch window of between 19.5-21 degrees with the Iron 101 7 iron, right at the top end of the ideal 16-20 degree window.

Forgiveness & Accuracy

Sole and face of the Takomo Iron 101

During my first round on the course with the Iron 101, I hit an 8-iron on an uphill par-3 but struck it far off the toe. It was so far off the toe that only half the ball even touched grooves. I was relieved to see it still flew straight, knowing that my typical toe misses tend to flair into more of a push pattern.

Walking up to the green, there were three balls about 10 yards short and I assumed one of them had to be me. The first one wasn’t, neither was the second, or the third. So, I walked toward the green, where my ball was safely on the back fringe. I chipped it up to a couple feet and tapped in for par.

The fact that the Iron 101 retained so much distance despite missing the sweet spot so badly is why I think it's a great iron for a huge segment of golfers. Players who miss the sweet spot as often as they find it will appreciate that forgiveness.

Looks, Feel & Sound

Takomo Iron 101 at address

The look of the Iron 101 is quite satisfying. The game improvement category is full of irons with big logos, splashes of color, fake carbon accents and unnecessary metal. The Iron 101 is the exact opposite of that.

Utilizing a sleek, minimalist Scandinavian-style of design inspired by Takomo founder Sebastion Haapahovi’s Finnish roots, the Iron 101 has a thinner top line than many of today’s game improvement irons, and noticeably less offset, although there is still enough to help those who need it.

The hollow-bodied head resembles a muscle back, which gives it a players iron look, and when you pair that with the minimalist design that Takomo prides itself on, you’ve got an iron built to fit a wide segment of recreational golfers games, and one that visually should appeal to pretty much everyone.

“It’s definitely a mix between a players distance iron and a game improvement iron, that’s what’s interesting about the 101,” McCullum said. “When people hear game improvement, they think ugly, blocky, huge topline, looks like a monstrosity in the bag, basically a fist on a stick. But now with hollow-bodied construction, and certainly through Takomo’s minimalist approach to design, you’re able to put something in the bag that gives you the forgiveness and distance of a game improvement iron, but with the slightly sleeker look, without having to sacrifice any of the performance.”

The Iron 101 delivers a nice impact experience as well. Despite the forgiveness, the irons provide plenty of feedback on strike location, and sweet spot strikes come with a crisp sound and feel.

Shafts

Shaft selection, in my opinion, is a make or break piece of this puzzle.

Given Takomo’s Direct to Consumer model, you might be tempted to complete your order without paying much attention to the shaft, but that would be a mistake.

We’ve mentioned that the Iron 101 has six stock shaft options, all from KBS. You can choose between the Tour or Tour Lite shaft in Regular, Stiff or X-Stiff flex.

I first tried the Iron 101 with a standard KBS Tour shaft. However, in my current irons, which I was fit for, I use a KBS Tour Lite shaft. I also favored a lighter shaft when testing every other iron of 2023.

After a couple rounds with the Iron 101, I liked the distance and forgiveness, but I couldn’t quite find my tempo, and it affected my consistency. I knew it was because the shaft was heavier than what I was used to. So, I grabbed my torch, yanked the KBS Tour Lite shafts out of my TaylorMade irons, and stuck them in the Iron 101 heads. Instantly (after the epoxy set), it was the best of all worlds.

With the proper shafts, I got the complete package of distance, launch, spin, forgiveness and workability, in an iron I find to be extremely attractive.

If you were fit for your current irons and the shafts still work for you, but you want to upgrade or try something different, my suggestion is to get the heads only option and use the shafts you already have. At just $320 for Iron 101 heads, this option realistically saves you close to $1,000 when it comes time to upgrade your irons.

If you don’t want to keep your current shafts or you don’t know what shaft is the best fit for you, don’t guess. Instead, visit a local club fitter and test different shaft weights and flexes (preferably with the same head) and see what feels and performs best.

Value

We could talk about Takomo without diving into the attractive price point, because in our testing, it stood up to the top game improvement irons of 2023, regardless of cost. However, that wouldn’t paint the whole picture.

I tested the best game improvement irons of 2023 before I got the Takomo Iron 101 for testing, so it wasn’t included in that round-up. However, the Iron 101 performs as good or better than our 2023 game improvement iron winner, the TaylorMade Stealth irons. A 4-PW set of the Iron 101, at $489, checks in at less than half the price of the same 4-PW set of Stealth Irons ($999) when built with the same shaft and grip.