ONOFF 2015 Kuro Forged Irons Review

Introducing the ONOFF 2015 Kuro Forged Irons – Every couple of years ONOFF releases an updated version of the model  “FORGED” iron and this years looks to be their best version to date.  Early at the 2014 Japan Golf Fair TSG got a sneak peak of the CB358 which was designed for JPGA super star Shingo Katayama aka the Japanese Cowboy.   The CB358 was very sharp on all edges and lead the pack in this trend  of sharpness which is becoming more popular for Japan makers as companies claim it ever so slightly makes the golfer increase their focus and  looking back at the CB358 and even the 2013 ONOFF “Forged” iron it now appears that they have blended the two to create the new Kuro Forged.

So I’ve had a good few weeks putting the new Kuro through it’s paces and can say with confidence that It’s impressed me in all areas from it’s looks and feel to it’s forgiveness and distance.   In this review I’m going start with the #4 iron then work my way to the #7 ending with the PW to hopefully give everyone a good idea of what to expect.

The #4 iron above shows a couple of things,  the first is that the O logo is partially hidden,  almost cut in half pushed toward the bottom of the sole,  ONOFF in a really cool way was able to use their logo to dial in the center of gravity placement and this is important because you want a lower CG in the long irons to help get the ball up,  I just find the way it was done very creative and classy.  What you will notice is that as you move toward the shorter irons this squared shape “O” begins to lower which moves the CG higher giving you a more penetrating flight the lower the loft gets.  Ready to read more and see a ton more pictures?  Follow the Jump…

Many TSG’ers have owned multiple iterations of the ONOFF Forged Irons starting back in 2011,  it was previously known as a mid sized iron but what it’s become in 2015 is what I want to consider Semi-Mid sized as ONOFF has narrowed the sole,  reduced the offset,  shrunk the head size down,  and and even added a very nice leading edge grind across the entire set.

As you can see in the photo above this #4 iron is beautiful it also has a tungsten insert weighting to help get the ball up in the long irons and this is added from #3 thru #7 irons.  With other sets of irons I usually suggest 5-PW and maybe a couple of utilities or a driving irons but these long irons are forgiving enough that I do suggest you try #3 and #4 irons.

The ONOFF Kuro Forged also has progressive face heights and shapes and this helps further in providing the player with the trajectory needed depending on the iron.  Each iron is designed individually in Auto Cad then in Mold which is the proper way to build irons to the highest quality not to forget these are Forged at Endo of S20C like all previous versions of the ONOFF Forged.

For those that know previous versions of the ONOFF Forged this new Kuro version is not only more compact but it also has noticeably less offset,  I really think ONOFF has hit the mark  perfectly and now this iron can appeal to a much wider segment of player than ever before.  Previously it was semi game improvement aka mid sized and I would recommend it to the player wanting something like the Titleist VG3 or RomaRo Type-R but now it appeals to that same segment and even further into the players category as it’s no longer big nor clunky.

The last two versions of ONOFF Forged irons have had Laser Milled Faces which provide better spin when the club face or ball get’s wet,  now it doesn’t have to be raining for this to help we all notice a wet club face often because of the moisture in the grass,  there is a disclaimer that the face will wear faster due to the laser milling but I take that as a positive as it could be one of the reasons why the feel at impact is so pure and soft,  the more face the better,  the closer to raw without rusting the better.

Considering that this is a one piece head it doesn’t lose that pure forged and soft feel,  this is important because these irons are known to feel impressive at impact.  The lofts are strong as really with a 1 piece head ( well actually 2 piece with the tungsten )  but the face and body are one so I consider this 1 piece but back to my point to get this sort of distance it usually takes 2 piece heads where the face and body are separate and the design relies on a rebounding face material which also in my opinion has a negative effect on feel.

Moving on to the #7 iron below,  as you can see the shape is progressive it still has that real nice and deep cavity,  still has the tungsten insert in the sole which after 4 range sessions and 2 rounds I really can’t feel a difference at impact that it’s there.  These irons are much more forgiving than they should be based on it’s size and looks alone.   With the longer irons I was able to get the ball up in the air with east and compared to most utility woods its more accurate with results closely related to the mid irons of this set.  I always use a smoother tempo with my stronger lofted clubs and these produced an impressive mid/high trajectory with a tight dispersion,  of course much depends on the shaft and I’ll get to that in a bit.

The photo below now begins to show the dropping or lowering of the ONOFF “O” logo moving the CG closer to the top line of the iron,  the logic is that the shorter irons become your scoring clubs and accuracy is required more so than in the long irons where getting the ball up is often priority.

These irons are really about forgiveness and soft feel,  yes they are long but with irons and especially in the better player category consistent distances are more important than maximum distance,  I can say without a doubt that the new 2015 ONOFF Kuro Forged is not only as equally forgiving as it’s predecessor  but noticeably more workable,  how I test workability is by hitting low draws and high fades by manipulating grip, choking down, and the swing plane and with the long into the short irons it was not an issue whatsoever.

The #7 irons sole is still nice and narrow the leading edge grind evident as well as the tungsten insert in sole,  I can’t fault this grind for any reason it just glides through the turf and sand effectively.  I know this review sounds like I’m wearing rose colored glasses but these irons are hard to fault.  So if I were trying to be critical of how these could be improved,  maybe the finish?  and that’s a maybe as in the future I will send these to TSG Club Works to have them redone in Satin Finish or another cool look but I’m not sure if that is any better than standard.  While Satin is trendy,  this mirror chrome looks perfect and while looking down doesn’t reflect much if any.

The shape begins to round or tear drop a bit more as you transition into the shorter irons from the long,  this is all part of creating the space to raise the center of gravity and to increase forgiveness.  While the loft’s are strong they are not that crazy compared to other irons on the market today and this provides a little insight into who these irons are designed for,  so consider a players muscle back is 47-49* in the PW,  these are 45*  and that tells me ONOFF is targeting the low to mid capper segment.

So again the trend of minimal offset in the #7 iron is apparent,  still semi thick,  still a small touch of offset but a lot less than previous versions.

And now into the P-dub,  it’s more curvy yet somewhat now resembles the CB358 Labo Spec a little more.  The Squared “O” logo has now separated from the sole and attached itself to the top line of the back cavity.  Again just a classy concept that not only looks good but works!

Not many Pitching Wedges look this good from back or front,  the neck get’s taller, the CG moves higher and there is no tungsten insert from #8-PW  Single solid 1 piece and the feel doesn’t really change but the CG does making the short irons perform similar to most players CB although I must say these feel better softer and more pure than any players CB I have tried.

I can’t really say these are too soft,  they are in the middle of soft although they are not firm nor feedback oriented and you do get that soft feel across most of the face,  I found it hard to get harsh feeling even with the poorest of impacts.

One of my favorite parts about the new Kuro’s is how the short irons setup,  the pic below pretty much sums it all up.  The top line gets a hair thinner and the offset is reduced even further for more accurate scoring.

So let’s wrap this up,  ONOFF has done it again and in my opinion set’s the bar very high in this segment,  Even if your a blade player I could easily suggest this as a second set especially for colder temps as impact seems to feel more harsh in the hands and joints these should firm up to near perfect in cold weather conditions.  I can’t think of another iron available that can beat the new Kuro all around,  of course there is the Yamaha Tour Model CB which has the better shape and compact setup if that’s what you want but it loses in softness,  forgiveness,  distance, and ease of use.

Talking about the shaft options,  ONOFF has some of the best available,  you can go with pretty much anything in steel,  I opted for the all new NS Pro Modus3 Tour 125 shaft and it’s simply my favorite steel shaft period.  But I was tempted immensely to try these irons with either the Fujikura MCI’s or the Roddio I-10’s which yes are available as a custom option directly from TourSpecGolf/ONOFF.   Anyway hope you enjoyed the review and do expect many more as these sets are selling extremely well and already shipping into the hands of some of our top members here at TSG.  What’s cool is I don’t have to wait and see to figure out what will be said,  I can say with confidence these are the real deal.

For custom options please inquire with [email protected]  if you want to jump right in we have the proper product listing by “clicking here”