It is hard to believe that it was six years ago now that TaylorMade golf caused a shockwave throughout iron design with the introduction of the P790’s. Six years later, today introduces a new fourth generation of the P790 and as has been the case, it may be the same name, but it is not the same old iron. No matter what you think of their direction in recent years, when it comes to this specific set of irons, TaylorMade has never stopped pushing.
So, the most versatile iron in TaylorMade’s arsenal is definitely back to try and keep its foothold as a premier part of the hollow body player’s distance segment it was a founding part of.
2023 TaylorMade P790 Irons
This time around, TaylorMade is flat out telling you, it’s what is inside that counts, but that has always kind of been the mantra for the P790 when you think about it. Sure, it is a more playable and forgiving iron that was among the first to break minds with its in hand looks by giving golfers who can’t game a traditional MB the chance to play something that looks like one.
Talking aesthetics, the 4th generation of the P790 is obviously going to be extremely familiar. It retains that muscleback like look thanks to its hollow body design, but TaylorMade has again massaged the shape to improve the appeal. The pearl satin finish this time is intersected by a single band of TaylorMade’s “tour satin scratch” that breaks things up and at the same time remains cohesive to the overall design.
Spec wise, TaylorMade has actually kept the lofts the same in the 2023 P790 as they did the 2021 version, with the irons playing off of a 30.5-degree 7i and 45-degree PW. That is in large part thanks to all of the internal changes going on. As you will see below, thanks to the fantastic cutaway internal pics that TaylorMade is putting out there of the four generations of P790, this is by far the busiest version under the hood.
The forged hollow construction itself has always allowed more ability for the designers to place discretionary weight to impact flight and forgiveness, but the development has kept pushing boundaries. This year the actual opening where the Forged 4041 face plate attaches to the body is larger than ever which means the tungsten weighting of each iron is now the furthest to the toe we have seen yet. There is up to 38g of tungsten per iron that has helped increase the sweet spot while also toning down any hot spot issues the previous versions have had.
Internally there is also a “Thick Thin Back Wall” which is now using a honeycomb structure to allow more mass to be moved while not sacrificing any strength. This is working in conjunction with the Sound Stabilization Bar and return of SpeedFoam Air which is 69% less dense than what was used in the first two P790’s creating a more solid sound/feel at impact which has improved with each version of the P790 we have seen thus far.
The biggest story this time, however, for TaylorMade is the “Individual Mass Optimization” and “FLTD CG”. In the past, they have designed unique faces for each club in the set, but now the internals of every single iron are also unique. All the previously discussed features are in each iron, but formed in a way to create optimal performance for each club and give the users what they need there. That blends to the FLTD CG which addresses some CG issues with the 2021 version moving the CG of the long irons down almost 1 mm (which in design is a ton) to increase launch and shifting it up into the 6/7 part of the bag to add a bit of spin.
Of course, we cannot forget that all of these things still work in tandem with TaylorMade’s long patented Thru Slot Speed Pocket. What does it all mean? Well, according to TaylorMade it means an iron that again looks more demanding than it plays. The P790 remains focused on speed, forgiveness, and distance but this time it would certainly appear that all of that is in the most tuned designs we have seen from TaylorMade thus far.
The Details
TaylorMade will be selling the 2023 P790’s for $1,399 (steel) or $1,499 (graphite) in 7-piece standard sets, and of course individual irons will be available. The irons will be available in 3-PW and AW in both right and left handed orientations. Standard shafts will be True Temper DG 105 (S) or DG 95 (S/R) in steel and Mitsubishi Chemical MMT in 75 (S), 65 (R), and 55 (A) with Golf Pride Z-Grip +2’s.
The P790’s will be available for pre-order on 8/8/23 and at retail on 9/1/23.
