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TaylorMade RocketBladez - Review Thread

SuperStroke
You guys are doing real good in here. Enjoyed the updates!

jlukes - Clubbing up this time of year is hard for me as well. Just goes against what my instincts tell me to do for some reason.

tequila - Like seeing the confidence you have going buddy.

Barry - I muddied a couple clubs up enough yesterday that the slot area collected a little. As JB said, it's polymer filled, so it just took a quick surface wipe.
 
Hawk - glad to hear the long irons are performing bro! nice write ups the past few weeks- as is true with everyone! Great job testers !
 
Picked mine up from the clubhouse proshop today...too bad this is all I can do with them until Christmas...

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I'm no official tester or anything, but I've been whittling my high handicap down by playing a ton with my Callaway Big Berthas so I might can provide some info on comparing older game improvement clubs vs the Rocketbladez...but you too will have to wait...
 
Wicked Cool Bearded Man said:
Hawk - glad to hear the long irons are performing bro! nice write ups the past few weeks- as is true with everyone! Great job testers !
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Thanks buddy! So far, I'm surprised at how much I'm enjoying them. Bummed that golf isn't in the cards for the weekend, but I'm trying to arrange a way to at least get some swings in.

joeysmac said:
Picked mine up from the clubhouse proshop today...too bad this is all I can do with them until Christmas...

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I'm no official tester or anything, but I've been whittling my high handicap down by playing a ton with my Callaway Big Berthas so I might can provide some info on comparing older game improvement clubs vs the Rocketbladez...but you too will have to wait...
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Looking forward to your thoughts, joey. We want to hear from everybody, so please do stop back after you get to take that plastic off and swing them.
 
Can anyone that has played Ping I 20's and these Bladez comment on turn interaction? In other words how would you compare the turn interaction of these 2 clubs? Fat shots being a common miss is there much of a difference? Also interested in hearing thoughts comparing the offset of each. Really was underwhelmed with the original announcement of these but the more I'm reading the more these sound like the real thing. But the RocketBallz had similar ealy hype that seemed to fizzle pretty quickly once they were in the hand of the masses. Thanks for all the great info!
 
chas - Jman was playing the i20's prior to this. I'm sure he'll have some thoughts for you.
 
Thanks all for the answers on the shafts...I definitely think companies have come a long way in terms of engineering and matching ideal shafts to stock sets. Im going to order my set today...so excited!! I was more curious if anyone could stop the ball, even bring it back with the stock shafts versus what else is out there? For those of you that went to non-stock shafts, how did you decide - fitting? During my fitting last weekend, I only hit the 5-8 irons to get a feel and consistently saw 8-10 additional yards of carry...I've seen a lot of comments on the PW and AW, but what are the general thoughts? With my Vokeys at 54 and 58, Im not sure what the gapping will look like now... Anyway, store is going to order the set straight from TM, 2 degrees flat and GP cord grips. Can anyone say winter golf!!!!
 
Congrats on your new irons, spd! I am playing these with the KBS Tour 90's. I went with them because of success I'd seen with the Tours in the past and a recommendation from KBS.

As for the PW and AW, I've not really encountered any big gapping issues so far, but I generally don't full swing below a PW.
 
Great! Thanks Hawk - I'm assuming the best thing to do is get fitted including dialing in the shafts, however I'm not really sure if there are any facilities around me with that level of capability. Plenty of launch monitors, but I don't think the place I went for my fitting had the full offering of shafts. Im right between regular and stiff, so Im going to stick with regular flex on the irons. Maybe ill head out today to see if any of my local stores have other shaft options in stock.
 
Right on. Let us know how it goes if you do.
 
My round with my bladez went ok. Nothing to get excited about and that had more to do with having some great drives and leaving very short irons (9i or wedge) into the green. I wasn't making good contact when I did have a swing with a longer iron, but that wasn't the club's fault as I hit them fat....however, I was still getting a lot of distance out of them.

Case in point, on a dogleg left that requires a shot to an uphill landing area from 200 - 240 yards, I pulled my 3i. I hit it pretty fat and immediately stopped watching because I assumed it would be out of shape and in the rough. As we approached however, it was laying about 210 in fairway with a great look at uphill green about 185 away. I hit a 6i...again fat...but bounced twice and rolled onto the front of the green. Obviously not the shots I was hoping for, but I normally would have been penalized for hitting two dumpers and instead was still on the green in 2. There were other shots like this too...but this hole stood out in particular.

Playing again tomorrow morning and expect better contact as I seemed to get it lined out late in my round yesterday. As for distance, I'm at least 1-2 clubs longer with the bladez. I was 200 out and hit a 'clicking' 5i that missed just left and was slightly long. Normally this would have been 4i. On the 17th, a 195 yard par-3, I hit a 6i after seeing what I had seen throughout this round in terms of distance. This would normally have been a 4i or 5i depending on the wind, but I was pin high with the 6i.

Overall, I played a decent first round but didn't have to play many longer irons throughout this round thanks to some bombed drives....not a bad thing....just not conducive to really getting to test these irons. To be continued tomorrow.........
 
spdraser21 said:
Thanks all for the answers on the shafts...I definitely think companies have come a long way in terms of engineering and matching ideal shafts to stock sets. Im going to order my set today...so excited!! I was more curious if anyone could stop the ball, even bring it back with the stock shafts versus what else is out there? For those of you that went to non-stock shafts, how did you decide - fitting? During my fitting last weekend, I only hit the 5-8 irons to get a feel and consistently saw 8-10 additional yards of carry...I've seen a lot of comments on the PW and AW, but what are the general thoughts? With my Vokeys at 54 and 58, Im not sure what the gapping will look like now... Anyway, store is going to order the set straight from TM, 2 degrees flat and GP cord grips. Can anyone say winter golf!!!!
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Congratulations on the new clubs!

Remember, there are two sets of stock shafts - steel (85g) and graphite (65g) (the guy next to me during my fitting was hitting his new Bladez with graphite shafts and LOVING them). Be sure to get the right stock shaft for you.

I haven't gotten to the wedges' performance around the greens yet so I can't comment on that one.

I ordered the SW yesterday. Once it arrives I'll have more info on gapping at the bottom of the bag. I carry a Vokey 60* and am not sure if it will be needed (gap filler?) or not (ATV sole technology in the Bladez' wedges) going forward.
 
chasd3 said:
Really was underwhelmed with the original announcement of these but the more I'm reading the more these sound like the real thing. But the RocketBallz had similar ealy hype that seemed to fizzle pretty quickly once they were in the hand of the masses. Thanks for all the great info!
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Chasd3 - I used to work in marketing and have a certain bias toward not being swayed by it. When the clubs first came out I thought the slot and extra yardage claims were a bogus marketing ploy. They looked a little bulky in the pictures. I was very much in the same boat about being underwhelmed. I admittedly have only had the clubs out twice but already I am leaning heavily towards definitively saying there is zero hype going on, that these clubs are 100% legit. I try to be kind of careful about these types of proclamations and my limited sample size is the only thing that is holding me back. But I've seen nothing so far to indicate they aren't legit.
 
spdraser21 said:
Great! Thanks Hawk - I'm assuming the best thing to do is get fitted including dialing in the shafts, however I'm not really sure if there are any facilities around me with that level of capability. Plenty of launch monitors, but I don't think the place I went for my fitting had the full offering of shafts. Im right between regular and stiff, so Im going to stick with regular flex on the irons. Maybe ill head out today to see if any of my local stores have other shaft options in stock.
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Personally, my feeling is this - do not guess on the shafts. I am learning more and more how important this is. Even if you don't have a facility that can fit you to a precise shaft offering (KBS vs RocketFuels, etc.) they should definitely be able to measure your SS and get you in the correct strength stock shaft. I wouldn't buy the clubs without getting this part right.
 
spdraser21 said:
Maybe ill head out today to see if any of my local stores have other shaft options in stock.
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The clubs are new enough that many places aren't fully stocked yet. I hit them at Golf Galaxy and they didn't even know there were other shaft offerings. I hit them the next day at GolfSmith and they didn't have anything yet. I got fitted at my local pro shop yesterday - a top 100 pro shop in the country - and they had not yet received any of the club fitting stuff either.
 
tequila4kapp said:
Personally, my feeling is this - do not guess on the shafts. I am learning more and more how important this is. Even if you don't have a facility that can fit you to a precise shaft offering (KBS vs RocketFuels, etc.) they should definitely be able to measure your SS and get you in the correct strength stock shaft. I wouldn't buy the clubs without getting this part right.
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Thanks tequila! I agree - Most places only have the stock shafts as of now, and I would definitely be in the steel shafts...and probably pick the reg flex, just based on my game. When i have a tough shot, I just remember to swing easy and focus on contact-the club will do the work. For this reason, i have regs in all my clubs except for my driver and 3W. have a trip coming up and want to get the clubs beforehand so i can give them a whirl on the course! Thanks for the great advice.
 
i could not find any shop in my area that even had the head in the fitting cart so i order them with the only xflex shaft that they offer. the only shop that had a demo only had a reg flex graphite
 
stevie-a said:
My round with my bladez went ok. Nothing to get excited about and that had more to do with having some great drives and leaving very short irons (9i or wedge) into the green. I wasn't making good contact when I did have a swing with a longer iron, but that wasn't the club's fault as I hit them fat....however, I was still getting a lot of distance out of them.

Case in point, on a dogleg left that requires a shot to an uphill landing area from 200 - 240 yards, I pulled my 3i. I hit it pretty fat and immediately stopped watching because I assumed it would be out of shape and in the rough. As we approached however, it was laying about 210 in fairway with a great look at uphill green about 185 away. I hit a 6i...again fat...but bounced twice and rolled onto the front of the green. Obviously not the shots I was hoping for, but I normally would have been penalized for hitting two dumpers and instead was still on the green in 2. There were other shots like this too...but this hole stood out in particular.

Playing again tomorrow morning and expect better contact as I seemed to get it lined out late in my round yesterday. As for distance, I'm at least 1-2 clubs longer with the bladez. I was 200 out and hit a 'clicking' 5i that missed just left and was slightly long. Normally this would have been 4i. On the 17th, a 195 yard par-3, I hit a 6i after seeing what I had seen throughout this round in terms of distance. This would normally have been a 4i or 5i depending on the wind, but I was pin high with the 6i.

Overall, I played a decent first round but didn't have to play many longer irons throughout this round thanks to some bombed drives....not a bad thing....just not conducive to really getting to test these irons. To be continued tomorrow.........
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Loved reading about that beauty you had with the 6i on 17. How was the trajectory on that shot? Did it land softly?

Overall, it appears that you still got some pretty impressive distance despite not having the swing dialed in as much as you'd like!
 
Well, the weather outside was frightful (40 and raining) but the Rocketbladez were Delightful!!!

I took to the outdoor range today because the indoor one was booked, and it was too wet to play the course (hope to make it out there tomorrow). I hit 2 large buckets of balls with just the Rocketbladez, no wedge, fairways, or driver. I worked my way up through the set from AW to 4i through 3/4 of the first bucket to get a feel of the clubs and then focused on a few different things for the rest of the time.

Not to sound too corny and like TM is paying me, but I freaking LOVE these things!! I'm going to get the TM hat with the heart just to show my love to the world, lol. In all seriousness though, I was highly impressed with these irons off of the mats with rock solid range balls.

The AW was a nice departure for a "set wedge" in that it does not feel like a set wedge at any point in the swing. The AW in the 2.0's, while one of my favorite clubs in the set, felt like a shorter PW. The Rocketbladez AW feels like a true wedge and was very workable when trying to control loft with the standard shot producing a nice high trajectory and soft landing.

PW-8 were very similar in feel to my last set but seemed to get the ball up much quicker and with a more predictable trajectory. There was a good amount of feedback all the way through the swing with the 85g stiff Rocket Fuel shafts, I knew where the club head was at all times, which helped dial in my timing with the scoring clubs. I played around with these irons the most aiming at different targets and trying different pitches, chips, punches, and full swings (watching too much Michael Breed lately, lol) and truly surprised myself in what I could pull off and the confidence I felt.

7 & 6 were where the rubber hit the road for me in seeing a big difference. The sound of the irons with the speed slot is hard to describe, but maybe you could imagine it to sound like cracking an egg on a metal bowl with ear muffs on when properly struck. In very short order you get used to it though and swing to hear the sound. The ball had to trajectory of what I would expect from a club to a club and a half shorter but with more distance than I would normally see out of a 7 or 6. I can't wait to see the numbers on these! The other thing I noticed (similar to other testers) is with the miss-hits, when struck low on the face the ball still travels quite well and on line, when I crowded the ball I would have expected to either chunk it or miss way left but with these there was a little baby fade to it and landed just left of the "green."

The 4 & 5 took a little getting used to in order to get the timing down, but once I did I can't remember ever using the words "WOW," and "OH BABY!!" So much in relation to golf! The trajectory, while still penetrating, slowly climbed to about twice the height I am used to and right in line with what I'd been dreaming of seeing out of a long iron. The dispersion was very reasonable as well and there were 2 balls that I absolutely smoked and rolled into the back net (about 240 yds) which has never happened outside of a driver!

So in conclusion for today, extremely excited from what I saw first time out and praying that the rain slows down for tomorrow so I can get out on the course!


On my iPhone T.. T.. Tapatalking away!
 
This is such a great thread. Thanks for sharing so much information. THPers are really open and ready to share their knowledge and experience.
 
ecf10 said:
This is such a great thread. Thanks for sharing so much information. THPers are really open and ready to share their knowledge and experience.
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No problem! Let us know if you have any specific questions and we will do our best to answer them!
 
Here are my thoughts after spending some time with the four iron today on a sim. These are long and pretty consistent. I did not see any fliers according to sim. I did see a very high ball flight with fuel shafts and they were pretty light. Too light for me as I would opt for,something to flatten the ball flight a tad. As testers have mentioned, they have a distinct sound. I liked it as I am a fan of loudness in these types of clubs. You can really feel the ball explode off the club face with these and thats fun. Miss hit shots still go forever. My misses with these travel my current 4 distance give or take 5. Unless its off the hosel, i found it tough to feel my miss. Rather, distance would be the thing you would,notice as ball flight was tough to distinguish.

Cons- I am nit picking here. Shafts were not for me and I would want something heavier and thatnwillmhelp flatten things out. Price is high right now. Stock grip. That's it really.

Pro's- these are ok looking at address, I was expecting shovels. They are pretty good. Distance was nice. Sound great. Looks wise they have a nice finish. Shaft options with no upcharge.

Overall- my r11 irons were fun. These are more fun. I could and may buy 3-pw and eliminate the need for a hybrid. They are that easy to hit for me. I could pull of driver, irons, wedges, putter with this set. I could save a few hundy on FW and hybrid. For the weekend or less frequent golfer, these would be great. They are just fun clubs. Yet, if buying these,,consistent swing or not. Make sure thatnyourngetting the right shaft. Lie angle and loft I don't believe to be as important as I believe tmag realized that the casual infrequent golfer isn't going to get a fitting(my belief) and the forgiveness offered helps with any swing flaws. Ponder for these not the tours (surprisingly)!in full
 
No luck...no one had anything but the stock shafts, however the local pros I've polled say its probably one of the best stock shafts they've seen. Hit a few more to solidify my decision. high flight...launches off the face and amazing forgiveness. Mishits still travel as far as my current irons...placed my order today!! 5-AW, 2 deg flat...the countdown begins!
 
Got to use the Rbladez on grass for the first time today, awful round (not the Rbladez fault) mainly thanks to my driver being all over the place.
Here are some thoughts on the Rbladez:

Conditions- 75* scattered showers, windy.

The Rbladez performed well as I expected, about 1 club longer than my J38's on every shot. I adjusted to this prior to the round, so my distance control was good. I won't bore you with every hole, the results below were consistent throughout the round.

#1- Par 4, decent drive left me 143yds to the center of the green. 140~ is normally a choke down 8i since my 9i tops out at about 135yds. Knowing the Rbladez length I pulled out the 9i and hit a good shot pin high to the right-side of the green. Very pleased, except for the 3-putt which was not the Rbladez fault :(

#4- 195 yd par 3, into the wind. Typically I'll hit a hybrid here, as this hole always has at least 1-2 club head-wind. Good test for the Rbladez 4i- teed it up and hit bit of a thin shot low on the clubface which still traveled with decent height and landed on the front-half of the green :)

#5- Par 4, best drive of the day left me 60yds to the green. I left a half-swing sand wedge a few yds short, almost chipped in with Rbladez 50* AW. The gap wedge might be the most underrated club in the set, I loved it all day, great turf interaction & feel :good:

#6- Par 4, a poor drive left me 166yds to the green into another heavy head-wind. With the wind this shot was probably playing 180~, dangerous water short-left. I pulled out the 6i (normally would be a 5 iron w/ J38's) and hit a good high penetrating shot that ended up in a left-greenside bunker about 8yds past the pin (which was in the front). Very pleased with result.

#8- 125yd par 3, pin was in the back about 135yds out. Normally a 9i for me, I hit a nice high Rbladez PW that came up short of the green about 5yds. This one puzzled me a bit, as it felt good at impact. When I looked at the club face there was a grassy ballmark on the toe, that explained it. It didn't feel like a toe miss at impact, I definitely would have felt it with the J38's.

#11- 155yd par 3, middle pin. I hit a thin low on the clubface 8i which still had decent height and made it to the front of the green, go-go Rocketbladez :good:

#16- 177yd par 3, back pin. For some reason I always come up short with 5i here, so I've been using 4-hybrid with better results the last few times playing this course. Decided to give the Rbladez 5i a shot, hit a high shot that just missed the green pin high on the right side. Not a bad result, I always miss this green.

Some thoughts about short game with Rbladez, I need to get accustomed to the turf interaction with the Rbladez on pitches, chips and other short game shots. I frequently chip & pitch with my PW and 9i when I'm further from the green, the J38's thinner soles are great with these shots as they cut through the grass and rarely get caught up. The thicker sole of the Rbladez is going to take some practice to get comfortable with these shots. However I LOVED the turf interaction chipping around the green with the 50* AW, TM got it right with that club. As I mentioned in the beginning it was a poor round mostly due to my driver, but it was a good first test for the Rbladez. Looking forward to getting in more work with these beauties :)
 
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