Tour Edge C522 Irons Review 2023 – Are They A Good Choice for High Handicappers?

“Tour Edge is really making a name for itself in the game improvement iron market.”

We had recently tested the Tour Edge C521 irons and liked them enough that we immediately became intrigued by the Tour Edge C522 irons. So we got our hands on a set and took to the course.

Tour Edge says that the Tour Edge C522 irons are forgiving distance irons. And by the looks of them, we would be inclined to agree. But looks aren’t everything. So join us as we tell you about our experience with the Tour Edge C522 irons.

Tour Edge C522 Irons Overview

“The Tour Edge C522 irons feature a deep cavity back with a layer of soft urethane that you can actually see in the cavity.”

We’ll get this out of the way first: these irons look busy. There is a lot going on just in the cavities of these irons. The undercut is deep and you can actually see the layer of urethane sticking out from deep in the cavity.

But unless you get distracted easily, this shouldn’t affect your performance. One thing we noticed when we started swinging these irons is that they have a heightened heel area. The taper from toe to heel encounters a steep drop off which gives these irons a more squared profile.

There is also weighting in the toe to help lessen the effects of your high-toe mis-hits. Compared to the Tour Edge C521 irons, the Tour Edge C522’s have a narrower sole. It’s still cambered a bit so you get a soft leading edge; but it is certainly smaller.

The Tour Edge C522 irons feature a strong loft profile that is tempered by low CG. There is also a considerable amount of offset. Overall, the Tour Edge C522 irons look very much the part of GI irons at address. High handicappers will love the looks and will likely be able to  swing with more confidence.

“The Tour Edge C522 irons are priced well for high handicappers and beginners. And they certainly deliver the forgiveness that Tour Edge has advertised.”

Are the Tour Edge C522 Irons Forgiving?

“While the soles may be narrower than those of the C521 irons, they float above the turf very well.”

If you tend to chunk the turf, then the Tour Edge C522 irons will add an extra dimension of forgiveness to your bag. No matter how we swung them, the Tour Edge C522 irons didn’t want to dig in. Instead, they allow you to  get under the ball properly for optimal launch.

High toe mis-hits were forgiven and it was really hard to hook the ball. For the most part, you can expect straight or semi-draw from these irons. On mis-hits, you will see the draw widen out; but not by very much. We thought that the Tour Edge C522 irons would be hard to flight down but thanks to the strong loft profile, ballooning wasn’t an issue in our testing.

The heightened heel area also makes for better ball speed on heelside mis-hits. Tour Edge advertises these irons as distance irons. So how long are they? The 7-iron in this set produced an average of 146.2 yards for our testers. The distance wasn’t amazing on paper; but consider the fact that most of our testers for this session were high handicappers with sub 85 MPH swing speeds.

In that light, the distance is spot on. While spin rates are moderate to high, we didn’t experience any extreme rollout. The launch is high enough that your ball will stop relatively close to where it landed.

Would the Tour Edge C522 Irons Be Good for High Handicappers?

“The Tour Edge C522 irons would be excellent for beginners and high handicappers.”

If you’re at the stage of your game where you aren’t worried about working the ball, the Tour Edge C522 irons would be a great choice. So long as you are moderately accurate with your swing, you can expect these irons to go straight every time.

That’s another thing that bears mentioning: the Tour Edge C522 irons are surprisingly consistent. Despite being cast irons made from pretty standard metals, they perform consistently.