For the U.S. market – and even for U.S. PGA TOUR players – Callaway’s new X Forged irons have had a long and mysterious rollout, but they’ve finally arrived in retail.

Originally launched to the Japanese market, the X Forged irons gained popularity in 2024 on the DP World Tour, the Asian Tour, and on the ladies’ KLPGA and JLPGA tours. As Callaway tour reps noticed globally, better players took a strong liking to the new Japan-only X Forged irons due to their tri-sole construction that helped with turf interaction on various grass conditions, as well as the one-piece, 1020-carbon feel and the high-toe look at address.

While the X Forged 2024 irons were gaining popularity in Asia, the United States market was starting to catch wind of the designs in 2025. Players such as Nicolai Højgaard, Rasmus Højgaard and Min Woo Lee (4- and 5-iron) turned up using the irons in early 2025, causing some jealousy among fellow TOUR players who were interested in the models.

“This iron was originally designed by our Japanese team, with Japan, Korea, and all of the Asian markets in mind, so there are a lot of fingerprints that you’ll typically see on products coming out of those areas on the X Forged, specifically that high-polish chrome look, and then sort of a sharper, higher toe, which is a very Asian-preferred look,” said Callaway Tour rep Johnny Thompson. “They rolled them out in Asia, but there’s so much crossover with other tours outside of the PGA TOUR, like the LPGA and DP World Tour, so you get players on those tours working with our Asian teams, who had these golf clubs available for their staff. Then all of a sudden they started to see them, and they’re like, ‘This is the best-looking iron they’ve ever seen.’ So they started to show up on the DP, and with a lot of Korean, KLPGA, crossover to LPGA, and they just kind of trickled out that way. …

"Nicolai and Rasmus both came over and had them in play, so there were guys that started to see them. It’s not like we were trying to hide it, but we had a very successful iron lineup with TCBs and CBs and MBs. It didn’t feel like it was as much needed, but again it was kind of designed for that Asian consumer market and Tour. …

“Min Woo Lee played a part in sort of helping design them, concept-wise, so he basically got the first set (in America), which is not always an easy situation, where you create a really nice iron. You get machined heads that you need a tour player to test and to give feedback to see if we are where we need to be for that level of player, and Min Woo loved them. And, of course, he puts them in play. We can’t tell him: ‘No you can’t have them.’ He loved them, so we’re not going to take them out of his hands, but it did create a pretty envious situation where some players were like, ‘I want those, too!'"

So, after picking up steam in Asia and overseas, and with players such as the Højgaards and Lee creating even more intrigue in America, Callaway finally started to offer the new X Forged irons more broadly on the PGA TOUR at the 2025 Memorial Tournament.

And now, Callaway has officially announced that the X Forged irons – and the new X Forged Max irons – are coming to retail. According to Callaway, the pre-sale date is July 7, with a product at retail date of July 25. Both models will sell for $220 per iron. A six-piece X Forged Max standard set will sell for $1,320 and a seven-piece standard set of X Forged irons will sell for $1,540.

Per Callaway, the X Forged irons are crafted from a single piece of 1020 carbon steel and feature a streamlined cavity back, a compact profile, minimal offset, a thin topline, and a tri-level sole with a beveled leading edge and trailing edge. The X Forged Max irons are also made from a single piece of 1020 carbon, but they feature a more “player-friendly” cavity back and offset construction, with a “mid-compact” profile and a “refined” topline. They also come with beveled leading and trailing edges.

Compared to other cavity-back models in the Callaway lineup, Thompson says it’s the sole design that differentiates the new X Forged irons from the pack.

“I think the thing that separates (the X Forged irons) the most now is that it has a sole that a lot of players are finding is easier on all turfs,” Thompson said. “It kind of creates a tri-sole; there’s a lot of trailing edge relief, and there’s enough bounce to where you can get into the ground quickly, level out, and exit smoothly.”

Americans, wonder no longer, because the new Callaway X Forged irons are finally here.

PGATOUR.COM's Alistair Cameron contributed to this report.