TaylorMade R11 Irons Reviews

[Kmac]

Very nice update CB. Have you seen any inconsistencies with distance? Or are they always about the same, assuming the swing is consistent. How is the finish holding up so far?

 

[Hanks]

yo CB- how is the feel of these throughout your swing? noticeable? enough to notice? not enough to notice?

 

[bgammill]

Update time from my round yesterday afternoon with the R11 irons. It has taken me about 6 rounds or so, and about 6 range sessions to dial in my distances with these irons, but now that I have, they are deadly consistent and long.

Looks: We've all seen the pics, and I think they look fine, but in hand they are a great looking iron. In terms of performance which we will get into in a sec, they are a GI iron, but the head size and lines of this head look to me like more of a GE iron. The tour sole is quite thin, and while it doesn't have the topline of a blade, it is not a thick topline at all, and it blends nicely into the hosel. The pocket cavity at the back of the iron, cannot be seen at address ever (at least by me), and while it wouldn't bother me if you could. The Project X shafts don't hurt either as they are IMO the best looking steel shafts made.

Sound/feel: I'm going to be taking some video and sound from my round I will be playing this friday so you can get a better idea of what they sound like at contact, but the best thought I have so far is a muted crack. This is going to sound crazy, but on well struck shots in almost sounds "warm" like a soft, muted, deep, "warm" sound. I can tell just by the sound at contact, if I caught it perfect with these irons, and since IMO sound is very closely related to feel this adds to the feel I get from these irons. Of course feel is totally subjective and I don't really like to talk about it a lot, but here we go. You can feel the entire clubface and know exactly where you hit the ball, which is something I do like to look for. When you catch the ball on the sweetspot its like a lot of irons where it just feels almost like nothing was there. I think the iron feels better on shots struck closer to the heel, and is a little harsher on shots further out near the toe, but you can tell where either was hit. Thin shots are obvious as they are with most irons, and the sound and feel of a ball higher off the face is obvious as well.

Forgiveness: When I first picked up these irons, I thought there was no way these would be all that forgiving, the head was just too small, but man was I wrong. I won't say they are forgiving like other irons out there like Burner 2.0's or Di11's, but they are plenty forgiving. Balls hit low on the face and a little thin, still get surprisingly high and while they do go a little too far with roll out, they are not overly punished. There is much more forgiveness, closer to the heel than out on the toe, but you only lose 10-15 yards in either case, which is fine by me, just keep me in play. If you catch the ball fat, well, thats on you, and not many irons can help with that.

Distance: Long! Oh, and they are long. As many people can attest, I am not a long hitter of the golf ball, but these have made me a lot longer. I'm seeing consistent 10 yard gaps between all my irons, with my 6 iron carrying 175, which might not be long for some, but for me thats a ton. In my old distance iron sets, my 6 iron would go about 165-170, so not only are the R11 irons longer, but far far more consistent for me.

Overall: For now I can already safely say these are the best all around irons I have ever played. They look great, they are long, they are forgiving, they sound great, and most importantly I think they have lowered my scores. My dispersion with the R11 irons is much tighter, which has put me in a lot less trouble around the course. More to come as I have two more rounds schedualed this week, but for now, I like them just a little bit.

Oh, and yes you can work them.

This is what I was looking for with a pre-release item. Unbelievable write but and a lot great info CB. thank you


Tapatalk... Loved by me hated by the wife.

 

[coolbreeze]

Very nice update CB. Have you seen any inconsistencies with distance? Or are they always about the same, assuming the swing is consistent. How is the finish holding up so far?

Thanks Kev, I haven't seen any inconsistencies with distances at all. It took me a while to believe the yardages I was seeing, and truly dial in the carry yardage, but now that I have, I'm seeing the same yardage everytime.

yo CB- how is the feel of these throughout your swing? noticeable? enough to notice? not enough to notice?

I think the biggest difference for me, is the heavier PX shafts which to me allows me to feel the club more throughout the swing which I have liked so far. I don't think I've ever been able to 'feel' an iron clubhead in my swing, but I do like the heavier shafts for me.

 

[TRyan]

Great review CB. These irons are gorgeous and the performance you guys are getting with them makes them that much better.

 

[coolbreeze]

I played today and going in I thought it was going to be a good day because I thought I had my distances down with these irons but I was dead wrong. I was long all day, and just flushing the ball, I'm not ready to update my yardages as I'm going to have to spend more time on the range now to really figure it out. What I learned today from my round was that the dispersion with these irons is incredible, I don't really see a fade or a draw, just a straight ball for the most part, high and long. I'm IN LOVE with these irons.

[YOUTUBE]SW_g0U7B93Y[/YOUTUBE]

Thanks buddy, heres the result.

[YOUTUBE]72PJvuN1PJc[/YOUTUBE]

Another R11 video on 18, ended up being gps'ed at 135 yards, I'm going to guess in was 125 carry.

[YOUTUBE]EBjkm2EssTE[/YOUTUBE]

I dont' know if you saw these video's I made a while ago but here you bgammill

 

[Drumdog]

Great reviews by Biggsy and CB.
I have a question for both of you regarding the short irons...
How is the spin on these? Does the ball hop and stop or ????

 

[Tadashi70]

Thanks for the insite CB, these are on my radar for sure. I like that you have picked up 10 yards with these irons, that is a nice testament to the construction of the irons. I felt the same when I took a few cuts at the MC.
I do have a question for you, do you feel that it easier to hit the long irons (4 and 3) in this set then your previous set or any other long irons you have hit. I'm looking for a club that will give me some good loft on these clubs without too much swing adjustment.

Update time from my round yesterday afternoon with the R11 irons. It has taken me about 6 rounds or so, and about 6 range sessions to dial in my distances with these irons, but now that I have, they are deadly consistent and long.

Looks: We've all seen the pics, and I think they look fine, but in hand they are a great looking iron. In terms of performance which we will get into in a sec, they are a GI iron, but the head size and lines of this head look to me like more of a GE iron. The tour sole is quite thin, and while it doesn't have the topline of a blade, it is not a thick topline at all, and it blends nicely into the hosel. The pocket cavity at the back of the iron, cannot be seen at address ever (at least by me), and while it wouldn't bother me if you could. The Project X shafts don't hurt either as they are IMO the best looking steel shafts made.

Sound/feel: I'm going to be taking some video and sound from my round I will be playing this friday so you can get a better idea of what they sound like at contact, but the best thought I have so far is a muted crack. This is going to sound crazy, but on well struck shots in almost sounds "warm" like a soft, muted, deep, "warm" sound. I can tell just by the sound at contact, if I caught it perfect with these irons, and since IMO sound is very closely related to feel this adds to the feel I get from these irons. Of course feel is totally subjective and I don't really like to talk about it a lot, but here we go. You can feel the entire clubface and know exactly where you hit the ball, which is something I do like to look for. When you catch the ball on the sweetspot its like a lot of irons where it just feels almost like nothing was there. I think the iron feels better on shots struck closer to the heel, and is a little harsher on shots further out near the toe, but you can tell where either was hit. Thin shots are obvious as they are with most irons, and the sound and feel of a ball higher off the face is obvious as well.

Forgiveness: When I first picked up these irons, I thought there was no way these would be all that forgiving, the head was just too small, but man was I wrong. I won't say they are forgiving like other irons out there like Burner 2.0's or Di11's, but they are plenty forgiving. Balls hit low on the face and a little thin, still get surprisingly high and while they do go a little too far with roll out, they are not overly punished. There is much more forgiveness, closer to the heel than out on the toe, but you only lose 10-15 yards in either case, which is fine by me, just keep me in play. If you catch the ball fat, well, thats on you, and not many irons can help with that.

Distance: Long! Oh, and they are long. As many people can attest, I am not a long hitter of the golf ball, but these have made me a lot longer. I'm seeing consistent 10 yard gaps between all my irons, with my 6 iron carrying 175, which might not be long for some, but for me thats a ton. In my old distance iron sets, my 6 iron would go about 165-170, so not only are the R11 irons longer, but far far more consistent for me.

Overall: For now I can already safely say these are the best all around irons I have ever played. They look great, they are long, they are forgiving, they sound great, and most importantly I think they have lowered my scores. My dispersion with the R11 irons is much tighter, which has put me in a lot less trouble around the course. More to come as I have two more rounds schedualed this week, but for now, I like them just a little bit.

Oh, and yes you can work them.

 

[bmwnola]

Great review CB

 

[INgolfer]

Love the vids CB thanks for re-sharing. I saw the first one before but I had missed the other 2

 

[coolbreeze]

Great reviews by Biggsy and CB.
I have a question for both of you regarding the short irons...
How is the spin on these? Does the ball hop and stop or ????

Thanks DD, with the AW, PW, and 9 iron, I am seeing just a hit hop and stop, pretty much you can shot at your carry yardage. 6,7, and 8 irons I'm seeing minimal roll out, and with the 4 and 5 irons a bit more. I can say these are the best matching wedge set I've played and in fact the AW beat out my 50* xFT wedge, and I liked that wedge a lot.

Thanks for the insite CB, these are on my radar for sure. I like that you have picked up 10 yards with these irons, that is a nice testament to the construction of the irons. I felt the same when I took a few cuts at the MC.
I do have a question for you, do you feel that it easier to hit the long irons (4 and 3) in this set then your previous set or any other long irons you have hit. I'm looking for a club that will give me some good loft on these clubs without too much swing adjustment.

I don't have a 3 iron tadashi, but I have the 4 iron and I really like it and I find it easy enough to hit. Not as easy as say the Di11 4 iron, but that club plays more like a hybrid. I have a nice high ball flight with the 4 iron and having seen you swing Tadashi, you will no problems with them at all.

 

[Wake]

I got back out to the range today. I have been struggling with the irons, and I was really starting to worry about my purchase.

I hit ball after ball today, and could not make consistent contact. The last time I had played I was still hitting balls on the toe and was not seeing the distance I saw the first time I played them. I was seeing a bad slice today and the ball was not going any distance. Luckily my pro was giving a lesson, and walked over to talk to me after he finished. I told him I was struggling, and he watched two swings and figured out my problem. He pointed out a swing flaw I had developed while working on my driver (and DDelise had pointed out to me, but I hadn't gotten ironed out that day), and immediately had me hitting great shots. I spent an hour and a half trying to get my swing going in the right direction and made no progress, in 30 seconds he had it fixed. I guess that's why I pay him.

I hit another 25 balls after that, and just about every single one was a beautiful high straight shot that was going an estimated 175 with a 7 iron, back to the distance I was seeing before. When I played Saturday I lost a full club off what I had seen on the LM and during my first round, which was obviously troublesome. I am headed back to the course tomorrow afternoon, and may get on a LM in the morning. I'll report back with a full update tomorrow. But I am back to my original impression of the irons, THEY ARE SWEET.

 

[Tadashi70]

I don't have a 3 iron tadashi, but I have the 4 iron and I really like it and I find it easy enough to hit. Not as easy as say the Di11 4 iron, but that club plays more like a hybrid. I have a nice high ball flight with the 4 iron and having seen you swing Tadashi, you will no problems with them at all.

Thanks for the response, now you got me all excited....

 

[Oregon Golfer]

I got back out to the range today. I have been struggling with the irons, and I was really starting to worry about my purchase.

I hit ball after ball today, and could not make consistent contact. The last time I had played I was still hitting balls on the toe and was not seeing the distance I saw the first time I played them. I was seeing a bad slice today and the ball was not going any distance. Luckily my pro was giving a lesson, and walked over to talk to me after he finished. I told him I was struggling, and he watched two swings and figured out my problem. He pointed out a swing flaw I had developed while working on my driver (and DDelise had pointed out to me, but I hadn't gotten ironed out that day), and immediately had me hitting great shots. I spent an hour and a half trying to get my swing going in the right direction and made no progress, in 30 seconds he had it fixed. I guess that's why I pay him.

I hit another 25 balls after that, and just about every single one was a beautiful high straight shot that was going an estimated 175 with a 7 iron, back to the distance I was seeing before. When I played Saturday I lost a full club off what I had seen on the LM and during my first round, which was obviously troublesome. I am headed back to the course tomorrow afternoon, and may get on a LM in the morning. I'll report back with a full update tomorrow. But I am back to my original impression of the irons, THEY ARE SWEET.

That's awesome, I'm glad your pro helped you out. I guess that's why you hear, "Go see your local PGA pro". I look forward to the LM data. Play well.

 

[arydolphin]

I got some more time in with these irons today. This writeup won't be as thorough as coolbreeze's writeup earlier today (which was AWESOME, by the way).

I'm dialing in my distances a little better now, but I also played at a course where the wind was a factor, so some of my distances were affected by that. I stand by what I said in this thread earlier: I'm 5-10 yards longer with these irons as compared to my R9 irons. I have not hit the R11 irons side-by-side with my R9 irons yet, but to my untrained eye, it looks like the ball goes higher with these irons. However, there is no ballooning, the ball just carries which is what I think gives these clubs the extra distance. I also find that the ball stops a little better on the greens, but I'm not sure if that's due to the higher trajectory or increased spin off of the clubface.

One other thing: say what you want about stronger lofts, but I will say that with these irons, I'm more confident in the 150-180 yard range with these clubs. I had a shot that was 180 yards (GPS verified) to the center of the green from the left rough with a pretty good lie. I decided to grab my 6-iron, and I hit it with a little draw, ball ended up on the back third of the green. Like mentioned in another thread today, I'm going to start shooting for the center of greens more, so with that strategy and these irons, I'm hoping that my GIR stats will improve.

I have discovered that my miss with these clubs tends to be a thin shot as opposed to a fat shot or hitting it way out on the toe or near the heel. I don't think that the thin shots are a fault of the club, because I can take pretty good divots with these clubs, I think that it's more of me not making good swings. Anyways, on those shots, I'm not getting punished too badly: maybe comes up about 10 yards short of where the ball would normally go. One thing that I noted on the thin shots I had today is that those shots still had a decent amount of spin to hold the green, I didn't have any shots scream through the green with no spin.

Last thing for now: I put up some pictures of the R11 irons vs. the R9 irons to compare the size of the clubs. I was a little concerned about the smaller size of the short irons (9, PW, AW), but after a few rounds with these clubs, I don't notice it at all. On the flip side of that, I don't think that the long irons are in the "shovel" range in terms of how large they are. If anyone has any questions about these irons, please post them up here, I'll try to answer them as soon as I can.

 

[coolbreeze]

I got some more time in with these irons today. This writeup won't be as thorough as coolbreeze's writeup earlier today (which was AWESOME, by the way).

I'm dialing in my distances a little better now, but I also played at a course where the wind was a factor, so some of my distances were affected by that. I stand by what I said in this thread earlier: I'm 5-10 yards longer with these irons as compared to my R9 irons. I have not hit the R11 irons side-by-side with my R9 irons yet, but to my untrained eye, it looks like the ball goes higher with these irons. However, there is no ballooning, the ball just carries which is what I think gives these clubs the extra distance. I also find that the ball stops a little better on the greens, but I'm not sure if that's due to the higher trajectory or increased spin off of the clubface.

One other thing: say what you want about stronger lofts, but I will say that with these irons, I'm more confident in the 150-180 yard range with these clubs. I had a shot that was 180 yards (GPS verified) to the center of the green from the left rough with a pretty good lie. I decided to grab my 6-iron, and I hit it with a little draw, ball ended up on the back third of the green. Like mentioned in another thread today, I'm going to start shooting for the center of greens more, so with that strategy and these irons, I'm hoping that my GIR stats will improve.

I have discovered that my miss with these clubs tends to be a thin shot as opposed to a fat shot or hitting it way out on the toe or near the heel. I don't think that the thin shots are a fault of the club, because I can take pretty good divots with these clubs, I think that it's more of me not making good swings. Anyways, on those shots, I'm not getting punished too badly: maybe comes up about 10 yards short of where the ball would normally go. One thing that I noted on the thin shots I had today is that those shots still had a decent amount of spin to hold the green, I didn't have any shots scream through the green with no spin.

Last thing for now: I put up some pictures of the R11 irons vs. the R9 irons to compare the size of the clubs. I was a little concerned about the smaller size of the short irons (9, PW, AW), but after a few rounds with these clubs, I don't notice it at all. On the flip side of that, I don't think that the long irons are in the "shovel" range in terms of how large they are. If anyone has any questions about these irons, please post them up here, I'll try to answer them as soon as I can.

Thanks Ary and you have had some great writeups the past couple of days including this one. I think that the added distance for you coming from the R9's is probably due to the fact that while they have slightly stronger lofts, the center of gravity is lower so you get that added distance. Just my thought.

 

[arydolphin]

Thanks Ary and you have had some great writeups the past couple of days including this one. I think that the added distance for you coming from the R9's is probably due to the fact that while they have slightly stronger lofts, the center of gravity is lower so you get that added distance. Just my thought.

I definltely agree with this. It's interesting how the golf club manufacturers have been able to lower the center of gravity so that they can have stronger lofts, but still have the ball fly as high as irons in the past that had weaker lofts. So the trajectory is still the same, but you get more carry distance, who doesn't want that?

 

[coolbreeze]

I definltely agree with this. It's interesting how the golf club manufacturers have been able to lower the center of gravity so that they can have stronger lofts, but still have the ball fly as high as irons in the past that had weaker lofts. So the trajectory is still the same, but you get more carry distance, who doesn't want that?

I want it, these irons are just sick.

 

[Hawk]

Excellent info Breeze and Hairy.

 

[#Cookie]

I must ask the question to the guys that are gaming these: with these very long distances you are seeing, are you having issues at the bottom with gaps? While we can all appreciate hitting the ball further, if I was hitting a PW 140 yards just seems like I would have a need to carry more wedges than I am accustomed to.


Tappin' from my iPad!

 

[Thechosen1]

I must ask the question to the guys that are gaming these: with these very long distances you are seeing, are you having issues at the bottom with gaps? While we can all appreciate hitting the ball further, if I was hitting a PW 140 yards just seems like I would have a need to carry more wedges than I am accustomed to.


Tappin' from my iPad!

Funny, that's exactly what I have done. I have gotten more wedges(60* and 64*) for different shots and it hasn't bothered me at all. But I'm curious as for their answers though.

 

[coolbreeze]

I must ask the question to the guys that are gaming these: with these very long distances you are seeing, are you having issues at the bottom with gaps? While we can all appreciate hitting the ball further, if I was hitting a PW 140 yards just seems like I would have a need to carry more wedges than I am accustomed to.


Tappin' from my iPad!

I have a small gap at the bottom of my bag, my AW is going 125 and my 54* SW is my 110 club. Its not a bad gap but its there, nothing I can't handle. I don't think you would have to add another wedge to the bag, you could just play with a 54 sw, or have it bent to 53 if you wanted.

 

[Titleistforlife]

I would just go 5-GW. That way your lofts are the same and your normal wedges should remain unchanged.

 

[Staples]

I must ask the question to the guys that are gaming these: with these very long distances you are seeing, are you having issues at the bottom with gaps? While we can all appreciate hitting the ball further, if I was hitting a PW 140 yards just seems like I would have a need to carry more wedges than I am accustomed to.


Tappin' from my iPad!

Personally, I am having no issues with wedge gapping. I am playing the R11 PW and my next wedge is the 50* xFT. I think there could be some issues if I were playing a 52* instead of the 50*. The distance gap may be a bit much there with full swings. I haven't been hitting as many hard wedges lately though, which helps narrow the gaps. I know a 3/4 smooth PW is 115 yards and a hard 50* is 120ish, which leaves plenty of options.

 

[#Cookie]

I have a small gap at the bottom of my bag, my AW is going 125 and my 54* SW is my 110 club. Its not a bad gap but its there, nothing I can't handle. I don't think you would have to add another wedge to the bag, you could just play with a 54 sw, or have it bent to 53 if you wanted.

Thanks CB! I do not consider a 15 yard gap bad...definitely playable.

So does that mean for everything within 110 you are having to use a 1/2 or 3/4 wedge shot? Personally, I struggle with that and like having full shots from around 80 & 60, etc hence my reason for asking.


Tappin' from my iPad!