I am looking for the most forgiving iron head I can buy. In looking at the specs, I see some have more offset than others and also more bounce. Would it be accurate to say that the more offset and more bounce a club has, the more forgiving it is?
While it is true that most “forgiving” designs have those features, they have very little to do with how forgiving an iron is. That is mostly based on the mass and dimensional characteristics of the head. Generally sole bounce is designed to prevent digging, which would be a game improvement feature, but the amount that is right for any player is highly tied to their attack angle and more importantly the type of turf conditions they generally play in. Offset can move the CG a little farther back and give the clubface fractionally more time to close or square at impact. This too can be seen as a game improvement feature for some. Just because an iron may have these features, if the overall design is not good, a player will not get the “forgiving” results you expect. To reiterate, the key factor in a designs stability (forgiveness) on off center hits, the mass and dimensional characteristics (where the actual cg is located vertically, rearwardly and horizontally), and the MOI (moment of inertia) are the key factors in the forgiveness.
Based on what you said you want, our KE4 Max iron is the most stable and forgiving head we have and is an Ultra Game Improvement iron. You can go to our MPF data base at the link below and look at the MPF ratings on many for the newest and most popular models on the market. Ping, Callaway, TaylorMade, Titleist models are listed as well as others.
https://www.golfworks.com/head-mpf-ratings/
Britt Lindsey