TaylorMade Launches R11 Irons

[GrantD]

Because I suck.

In reality, I would probably say that the majority of my shots gained a little distance over the R9 irons. I know that there were more than a few shots that I hit where the ball carried a little longer than I expected. In particular, my layup shot on the par-5 17th hole on Sunday illustrated that. I was 250 out with the wind a little into me, so I took out a 7-iron. That is my 165 yard club with my R9 irons, and I thought that the wind would affect it a little bit so that the ball would go 160 yards, leaving me 90 yards in. I hit a really nice shot, and the ball probably rolled another 5 yards after it landed....I got up to the ball and the GPS said that I had 79 yards left! So basically I hit my 7-iron about 170 yards into a slight headwind, pretty strong stuff.

I'm going to take the R11 irons out to my local muni sometime this week, should get a better sense of distances during that round.

Thanks for the quick reply. I would be all about these irons if I could gain a little bit more distance with the same feel.

 

[arydolphin]

All right, I took some time to grab pictures of my new R11 irons vs my R9 irons. Pictures are of the 5 iron, 8 iron, and A-wedge. These pictures show that in the longer irons, the sizes are pretty much the same, but in the shorter clubs, the clubheads are a bit more compact in the R11 line. I think the pictures of the A-wedge show that the best. I took 4 pictures for each club: back of club, sole of club, face of club, and a view from above to show the topline. If you are wondering which club is from each line, the face that looks dirtier is the R9 iron, the shinier iron is the R11 iron.

5 iron pictures:

Spoiler

8 iron pictures:

Spoiler

A-wedge pictures:

Spoiler

 

[Minarets]

Question, what makes these better than the Forged CB? They are more forgiving and have better feel and are longer? They just look so much like the CBs....I actually prefer the look of the CBs and typically prefer forged to cast, but these sound awesome for sure.

 

[JB]

They are completely different irons than the Tour Preferred CBs. They are thicker and larger and way more forgiving in my opinion. THey are also longer distance wise by a large margin.
Ive never had a preference in the whole forged vs cast because experts tells me there is no difference in feel and I strongly agree, but if someone believes that makes them a better player, all the power to them.

 

[INgolfer]

I am really glad to hear some mid-low handicappers say how much they like these, I was worried they would most likely be geared toward high cappers. Ary, your photos definitely ease some of my worries about the size of the head now that I know how they compare to the R9 irons

 

[INgolfer]

They are completely different irons than the Tour Preferred CBs. They are thicker and larger and way more forgiving in my opinion. THey are also longer distance wise by a large margin.
Ive never had a preference in the whole forged vs cast because experts tells me there is no difference in feel and I strongly agree, but if someone believes that makes them a better player, all the power to them.

I never knew a cast club could feel so good until I hit the R9 TP irons and fell in love. I love them more than I love my forged split cavities, and havent found much else that feels as good to me as those TPs, but these new R11s sound like they may be even better!

 

[adwillingham]

Question, what makes these better than the Forged CB? They are more forgiving and have better feel and are longer? They just look so much like the CBs....I actually prefer the look of the CBs and typically prefer forged to cast, but these sound awesome for sure.

I have not gamed the CB's but I did hit them a couple of times. I felt like the R11s had a similar dispersion to the CBs, but had the distance and forgiveness closer to the Burner 2.0s. The feel of the the R11s was not as harsh as the CBs, but not as dead as the Burner 2.0s. There is slightly more offset on the R11s than the CBs, but less on the R11s than the Burner 2.0s.

Both from what I saw personally as well as the discussions we had with Charlie from TaylorMade, the R11s seem to be an engineered cross between the CBs and the Burner 2.0s with completely re-engineered grooves. The R11s seemed to generate a lot more backspin to me than either the Burner 2.0s or the CBs, but I don't have launch monitor numbers to back that up.

Looks - R11s have the more traditional single tone chrome finish like the CBs, unlike the two tone finish of the Burner 2.0s. The toplines of the R11s seem to be thicker than the CBs, thinner to similar as the Burner 2.0s. The weight port obviously mirrors the CBs engineering, but it is not something I ever noticed at address. Soles seem to be more similar width to the CBs while the Burner 2.0s have a thicker sole.

Distance - On a launch monitor a couple months ago, the Burner 2.0s were 10-15 yards longer than the CBs with similar launch angles for the same iron number. Granted the Burners have stronger lofts. The R11s for the same iron number are within 5 yards of the Burner 2.0s based on the first three rounds I've played with them. Where the R11's really win for me is distance consistency. Several guys I talked to at the Morgan Cup shared the opinion. For example, with the Burner 2.0s, I would hit a 9-iron 130 yards probably 80% of the time. 10-20% of the time it would just jump and go 150. I've never flown over more greens than I have in the 10 months I played the Burner 2.0s. In the first three rounds with the R11s, I was hitting the 9-iron 125 yards or so every time...no nuked outliers.

Preferences will obviously vary, but I am very impressed with these irons and didn't experience anything that encouraged me to consider putting the Burner 2.0s back in the bag.

 

[GrantD]

All right, I took some time to grab pictures of my new R11 irons vs my R9 irons. Pictures are of the 5 iron, 8 iron, and A-wedge. These pictures show that in the longer irons, the sizes are pretty much the same, but in the shorter clubs, the clubheads are a bit more compact in the R11 line. I think the pictures of the A-wedge show that the best. I took 4 pictures for each club: back of club, sole of club, face of club, and a view from above to show the topline. If you are wondering which club is from each line, the face that looks dirtier is the R9 iron, the shinier iron is the R11 iron.

Great looking pictures Ary. Thank so much for doing that. I really do like the more compact look of the R11s. I really need to find some where to hit the full set. I just don't think I could make the decision off of a 6 iron.

 

[cg13]

HAHA That is all I need is a staff bag. I already put enough crap in my stand bag. I would hate to see how heavy my staff bag would be.

I can fit just as much stuff in my taylormade Catalina cart bag, bc it's made for a cart. The staff bag is much sweeter in person, bc it's awesome looking with the patterns- and size. The clubs fit so much better in the staff ba, but it doesn't really fit a cart all that great.

the staff bag has pockets that are hidden in back when on a cart

 

[2Shoes]

Thanks for the pics and the info...right now I believe these will be my next set of clubs...coming off Nike (which played great), but I'm very interested at the look at address and these look great!

 

[GrantD]

I can fit just as much stuff in my taylormade Catalina cart bag, bc it's made for a cart. The staff bag is much sweeter in person, bc it's awesome looking with the patterns- and size. The clubs fit so much better in the staff ba, but it doesn't really fit a cart all that great.

the staff bag has pockets that are hidden in back when on a cart

I have really been pondering a Catalina bag or a Sun Mountian bag. How do you do at the range? I imagine the bags would fall over.

 

[JB]

Guys, this is the thread for the R11 irons. If one wants to discuss golf bags, there are threads for that.

 

[coolbreeze]

I have really been pondering a Catalina bag or a Sun Mountian bag. How do you do at the range? I imagine the bags would fall over.

Lets go to a different thread for that talk.

 

[GrantD]

Guys, this is the thread for the R11 irons. If one wants to discuss golf bags, there are threads for that.

Sorry. I think the R11s would look good in a cart bag.

 

[nickpergande]

These will deff be on the test swing list come winter time when i am getting a new set of irons. I love there looks and the ability to set the clubs up to fit each persons game

 

[TC]

I have not gamed the CB's but I did hit them a couple of times. I felt like the R11s had a similar dispersion to the CBs, but had the distance and forgiveness closer to the Burner 2.0s. The feel of the the R11s was not as harsh as the CBs, but not as dead as the Burner 2.0s. There is slightly more offset on the R11s than the CBs, but less on the R11s than the Burner 2.0s.

Both from what I saw personally as well as the discussions we had with Charlie from TaylorMade, the R11s seem to be an engineered cross between the CBs and the Burner 2.0s with completely re-engineered grooves. The R11s seemed to generate a lot more backspin to me than either the Burner 2.0s or the CBs, but I don't have launch monitor numbers to back that up.

Looks - R11s have the more traditional single tone chrome finish like the CBs, unlike the two tone finish of the Burner 2.0s. The toplines of the R11s seem to be thicker than the CBs, thinner to similar as the Burner 2.0s. The weight port obviously mirrors the CBs engineering, but it is not something I ever noticed at address. Soles seem to be more similar width to the CBs while the Burner 2.0s have a thicker sole.

Distance - On a launch monitor a couple months ago, the Burner 2.0s were 10-15 yards longer than the CBs with similar launch angles for the same iron number. Granted the Burners have stronger lofts. The R11s for the same iron number are within 5 yards of the Burner 2.0s based on the first three rounds I've played with them. Where the R11's really win for me is distance consistency. Several guys I talked to at the Morgan Cup shared the opinion. For example, with the Burner 2.0s, I would hit a 9-iron 130 yards probably 80% of the time. 10-20% of the time it would just jump and go 150. I've never flown over more greens than I have in the 10 months I played the Burner 2.0s. In the first three rounds with the R11s, I was hitting the 9-iron 125 yards or so every time...no nuked outliers.

Preferences will obviously vary, but I am very impressed with these irons and didn't experience anything that encouraged me to consider putting the Burner 2.0s back in the bag.

THanks for your thoughts ad. I know you and I spent some time discussing a lot of what you wrote above.

 

[cg13]

Question, what makes these better than the Forged CB? They are more forgiving and have better feel and are longer? They just look so much like the CBs....I actually prefer the look of the CBs and typically prefer forged to cast, but these sound awesome for sure.

IMO the forged CB felt terrible at impact, it was hard and solid. When you hit the sweet spot the ball felt like it weighed a lot. If you missed the sweetspot it was even worse, the ball would go nowhere, never get any height and it just never impressed me.

The look of the cb's is more traditional, so I assume you prefer simple clean lines. Like some mizuno mps or something?

The r11 breaks tradition with its red and black, and white cavity- so I can see where some people would be quick to judge them, but you really should hit them! They are an amazing iron.

I just never was impressed with the CBs, they were my least fav of the entire line.

The forgiveness of the r11is huge. In my match I had 188 to the center of the par 5 14th..I pulled a 5 iron but didnt hit it on the screws, out on the toe- It got up in the air but was tailing right, landed in the green side bunker, maybe 10 yards offline and lost maybe 10 yards. It wasnt a huge miss, so I must have hit some grooves but i could feel it out on the toe.

The irons when hit on the screws has the best feel of any iron I've hit. You dont even feel the ball leave the face.

And its CAST!! hahaha forged lovers can finally hit a cast club that is superior.

 

[Kmac]

All right, I took some time to grab pictures of my new R11 irons vs my R9 irons. Pictures are of the 5 iron, 8 iron, and A-wedge. These pictures show that in the longer irons, the sizes are pretty much the same, but in the shorter clubs, the clubheads are a bit more compact in the R11 line. I think the pictures of the A-wedge show that the best. I took 4 pictures for each club: back of club, sole of club, face of club, and a view from above to show the topline. If you are wondering which club is from each line, the face that looks dirtier is the R9 iron, the shinier iron is the R11 iron.

5 iron pictures:

Spoiler

8 iron pictures:

Spoiler

A-wedge pictures:

Spoiler

Man those are awesome pictures ary, thanks for that. Saw you hit some really nice shots with these sticks on the range.

 

[cg13]

Lets go to a different thread for that talk.

Thanks boss

 

[cg13]

Guys, this is the thread for the R11 irons. If one wants to discuss golf bags, there are threads for that.

Sorry was on a roll answering questions

 

[cg13]

All right, I took some time to grab pictures of my new R11 irons vs my R9 irons. Pictures are of the 5 iron, 8 iron, and A-wedge. These pictures show that in the longer irons, the sizes are pretty much the same, but in the shorter clubs, the clubheads are a bit more compact in the R11 line. I think the pictures of the A-wedge show that the best. I took 4 pictures for each club: back of club, sole of club, face of club, and a view from above to show the topline. If you are wondering which club is from each line, the face that looks dirtier is the R9 iron, the shinier iron is the R11 iron.

[/SPOILER]

Nice pics ary, I didn't realize how much smaller they were.

 

[arydolphin]

I have not gamed the CB's but I did hit them a couple of times. I felt like the R11s had a similar dispersion to the CBs, but had the distance and forgiveness closer to the Burner 2.0s. The feel of the the R11s was not as harsh as the CBs, but not as dead as the Burner 2.0s. There is slightly more offset on the R11s than the CBs, but less on the R11s than the Burner 2.0s.

Both from what I saw personally as well as the discussions we had with Charlie from TaylorMade, the R11s seem to be an engineered cross between the CBs and the Burner 2.0s with completely re-engineered grooves. The R11s seemed to generate a lot more backspin to me than either the Burner 2.0s or the CBs, but I don't have launch monitor numbers to back that up.

Looks - R11s have the more traditional single tone chrome finish like the CBs, unlike the two tone finish of the Burner 2.0s. The toplines of the R11s seem to be thicker than the CBs, thinner to similar as the Burner 2.0s. The weight port obviously mirrors the CBs engineering, but it is not something I ever noticed at address. Soles seem to be more similar width to the CBs while the Burner 2.0s have a thicker sole.

Distance - On a launch monitor a couple months ago, the Burner 2.0s were 10-15 yards longer than the CBs with similar launch angles for the same iron number. Granted the Burners have stronger lofts. The R11s for the same iron number are within 5 yards of the Burner 2.0s based on the first three rounds I've played with them. Where the R11's really win for me is distance consistency. Several guys I talked to at the Morgan Cup shared the opinion. For example, with the Burner 2.0s, I would hit a 9-iron 130 yards probably 80% of the time. 10-20% of the time it would just jump and go 150. I've never flown over more greens than I have in the 10 months I played the Burner 2.0s. In the first three rounds with the R11s, I was hitting the 9-iron 125 yards or so every time...no nuked outliers.

Preferences will obviously vary, but I am very impressed with these irons and didn't experience anything that encouraged me to consider putting the Burner 2.0s back in the bag.

Great writeup AD. As you alluded to, I also talked to Charlie on the range during Morgan Cup media day, and it really felt like they took the best part of the CB irons as well as the Burner 2.0 irons and made this great mashup in the R11 irons. Charlie said that these irons were in development for 2 years prior to being unveiled, which blew me away. I really wasn't overly impressed when I hit the CB irons at a demo day earlier this year as well as at the Taylormade Performance Lab, but I'm pretty impressed by the R11 irons, and am looking forward to giving more feedback on these irons in the near future.

The forgiveness of the r11is huge. In my match I had 188 to the center of the par 5 14th..I pulled a 5 iron but didnt hit it on the screws, out on the toe- It got up in the air but was tailing right, landed in the green side bunker, maybe 10 yards offline and lost maybe 10 yards. It wasnt a huge miss, so I must have hit some grooves but i could feel it out on the toe.

I saw the shot that CG is talking about, the ball got elevated very easily and did not lose much distance at all even though it faded, he was pin-high in a bunker to the right. Had the ball not faded, I'm sure the ball would have gotten to the back edge. I was maybe 2 or 3 yards in front of him on the same hole, and hit a club that I thought would get me to the center of the green (can't remember which club right now), and actually ended up on the back of the green. Like I've said earlier in this thread, I based my club selections throughout the Morgan Cup on what I would have hit with my R9 irons, and had the ball fly further than I expected multiple times with the R11 irons.

Man those are awesome pictures ary, thanks for that. Saw you hit some really nice shots with these sticks on the range.

OEM, thanks for that comment, you must have been looking away when I hit my bad shots. :wink: You were hitting a lot of good shots with your irons, but I could easily see these in your bag as well.

Nice pics ary, I didn't realize how much smaller they were.

I remember thinking when I put down the shorter irons (9-iron through AW) behind the ball at the MC that they were smaller than the R9 irons, but putting them side-by-side when I was taking the pictures really showed that to me today.

 

[Wake]

I ordered the R11's today. Went I went back out to the range today, there was just no question in my mind. They just feel SO sweet. I can not wait until I get my set. I am expecting them in the 2nd or 3rd week of September.

Specs of the set
4-AW
1/2 inch long, 3 degrees upright.
Dynalite Gold XP s300 hard stepped.

My accuracy went WAY up with these irons compared to the stock ones. And lucky for me there was no up charge. The 2nd choice according to the optimizer was the Project X 6.0's. 3rd was the KBS x flex soft stepped. I liked the feel of the Project X's but I was getting better results with the Dynalites.

Seriously, is it mid September yet?

 

[Hackin' Lefty]

Thanks so much for posting the pics Ary. The R11's really do look great. I will really have to look around to find a left handed set to hit as I think these will be the set that I will be getting at the end of this year or the beginning of next. I really love reading all of the feedback from the MCers and the more that I read the more I not only want but more to the point need. Keep them reviews coming.

 

[Tmex]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Cannot wait to just sneak a shot or two in with these haha.