TaylorMade Tour Preferred MC Review Thread

My question is how am I hearing so much about the TP CB's not being forgiving as people would expect but the MC's seem to be so much more forgiving than people expected...strange. Good, but strange.

Tempo, timing, tapping.
 
So I just sold the Burner 2.0's I was playing. I just could not stand to play them anymore. The big head and how they just sent the ball into orbit was a turn off for me. So now im strongly considering getting these. Its between these R11's and jumping the fence and hitting mizuno's mp-53. At my course we dont have taylormade demo's which sucks. But if anyone can give me insight and how these compare to the 53's if anyones hit both. Thanks

I've hit both the MCs and the r11s. I have to say they were similar but the R11s were maybe half a club longer. I believe everything else was equal on them as well (shafts and grip). If I had to go back, I'd still choose the MCs because they were consistent distance wise with my previous set.


Tap, tap, tap. Just tap it in Happy
 
Just got back from 18 played with these wonderful irons. I am still hitting them crazy high and the wind really effects me a lot. I did hit a lot of pure shots, as well as some not so pure ones. I love these irons, when you pure it, it just feel so good.
 
My question is how am I hearing so much about the TP CB's not being forgiving as people would expect but the MC's seem to be so much more forgiving than people expected...strange. Good, but strange.

Tempo, timing, tapping.

I think this is about expectations. The CBs are more forgiving than the MCs. Without question! However, I think what we are seeing is that many people who are looking for a cavity back iron are looking at the CBs and saying that they are not as forgiving as other cavity backs out there. I would agree with this. They definitely have a good amount of forgiveness, but here are more forgiving irons out there. Whereas with the MCs people are looking at other "Players" sets and finding that compared to other players irons (MP-53s, Nike Pro Combos, etc) the MCs are more forgiving and easier to hit.
 
After playing my last round, there is nothing out there that I am drawn towards in terms of switching irons. I though about R11 but after playing these, no go. While the curve was a little longer with the combo I have. I really like the ball flight, a nice arch then drops. More importantly, consistent distance.I rarely if at all shot over my expected distance. The sound is crisp and th ball flies off the face. Turf interaction is great although at first I found I could dig to china if needed causing some fat shots. I really do not know what else to say that has not been said here. I am so impressed by how smooth the kbs tours are. C-taps are seriously being considered but I can save
Money as these shafts have smooth and nice ball flight. I am not one for shaping shots unless i fluke out. I can put a fade or draw on these and they fly great when I can. I played a nice intentional fAde yesterday with 4i around some trees. I was happy!!! Rescued a bad tee shot.

It would really take some great marketing or a stellar club to take these out in the next few years.
 
Just thought i'd add an update to my initial post.

To recap, i bought these clubs about 6-7 weeks ago and i posted that i was impressed by the feel and performance after the first full round of play.

Well, since then i have played a lot of golf - prob 1-2 rounds per week and another 2-3 practice sessions per week, so have got fully used to the clubs. The things i notice about them are that i have become very confident with all the irons through the bag - i can command a strike over a 4 iron almost as easy as i can with an 8 or 9. I have been hitting irons pretty close to the hole on a regular basis (just on saturday i put an iron less than 2 feet from the pin with an 8 iron to win a 'closest to the pin' prize) particularly with the 7-PW. Also, the ball stops after one hop and regularly spins back around 1 or 2 feet, even on shots not hit 100% pure, which is very satisfying to see and improves your confidence.
I don't know if the accuracy is down to the clubs having a larger sweet spot than my previous blades, or if it's the lighter shafts (DG S300SL) and heads, or the consistent swing weights, lengths, lofts, lies or even the better grips (New Decade Multis). They also feel fantastic, so i suppose that promotes confidence by creating that 'reward' for a centre strike. The feel on mishits is great in the sense that you know where on the face you've made contact but, more importantly, loss of distance and accuracy is minimal - slightly fat and thin shots probably only lose around 5% distance, which usually leaves you on or near the fringe of the green, where you can salvage a par regularly. I think the sole width and nicely rounded finish adds greatly to the playability, particularly as my miss is usually either a thin or fat shot.

I think the playability and performance of these clubs is brilliant and i think the quality and suitability of the fitting process (thank you Taylormade!) is perfect for me. But i did try many different clubs (Mizuno JPX Pro 800/53/58/63's, Wilson FG Tour, Nike Pro V's etc) during several fitting sessions and none came close to the gorgeous feel that these clubs produced, even with unsuitable shafts. I wholeheartedly recommend these clubs but would add a note of caution - you need to be fitted by an expert, preferrably the manufacturer or a reputable club fitter, for them to work as well (in relative terms) as they are for me.
 
hit a few balls at the range last night with my dad. He was trying out the nunchuk shaft(more on that in the appropriate thread). Since my cousin will be up this week and his using my Razr X irons, I figured I'd take these out to the range considering I will be gaming them all week. I took out the 5-7-9 and hit about 10 balls with each. This is the first time that I really have gone out and hit them since I started taking some lessons over the summer. I still think they are one of the best feeling irons I have hit all year. The leading edge is most definitely sharper than those on the RX irons. Since the last time I have hit them I have worked on moving my ball position more forward than it was before, that has helped me get more consistent contact that I had been before. On the range yesterday things just seemed to go right. I wasn't swinging hard but I was producing some really good shots with the 7 and 9. I was hit or miss with the 5 iron. The ball flight was higher than I remember, but that could be because of the different ball position and better contact that I was making. I'm pretty excited to get them out on the course Weds and Thursday this week.
 
Hey guys, just joined this site because i feel the need to share with people that understand. I got fitted for a set of TP MC's 4 weeks ago now and for various reasons and mix-ups, I still don't have them yet. However, the tracking advice says they are on board with the delivery driver and should be here any minute. Anticipating this, I may have forgotten to go to work today and now every minute watching for delivery vehicles in the driveway seems like an hour. Anyhow great site, have read most of this thread now and really can't wait to get hold of these sticks and try them out. Cheers
 
Ok they came, and they are real pretty looking. Project X shafts and Winn Xi7 Blue/Black midsize grips, sweet looking combination, may put up some pics later if anyone is interested. They arrived at 2pm this arvo, so it was either take a lot of pics and admire them for a while or throw them in the bag and get to the course.
So there are plenty of reviews on this thread and another one is hardly needed but here are my initial thoughts anyway. Firstly, I play off a 22 handicap, but my ball striking is generally ok, if I learned to chip and putt, that would probably come down considerably. Previous set of irons are Taylormade Rac OS2, big and easy to hit. I have only been playing regularly for about 5 months now, before that played twice a year for around 10 years. So these irons are the first set I have ever been fitted for and the decision was made to switch as I am just starting to take golf a little more seriously.
What I found: Good, pure shots felt unbelievable!! Ball flight was amazing, just perfect, a little lower than my old irons, which is exactly what I was after as I was hitting really high. Unlike some others, I gained a little distance with these clubs, which was a little suprising as some of the lofts are a couple of degrees higher than my old irons. Can only attribute it to the lower ball flight (although I would still call it high). I found I hit these clubs really straight, which I wasn't sure was going to happen with these having a lot less offset than I am used to. I found particularly in the high irons I was pulling the ball a bit, not sure why, straight flight path, just consistently left of the target.
On the bad side, coming off the GI irons that I had, I found these a little unforgiving... at first. Now I only hit 40 range balls, then knocked a couple of balls around for 9 holes, so I would'nt say I'm used to these clubs by any stretch of the imagination. At first I was a little worried on the range, a lot of mishits and punished badly. Maybe we'll put it down to being a little over excited. After a few holes, calming down and really thinking about what I was doing, wasn't punished nearly as bad.
Overall, I love these things when used properly, not sure if they are in the right hands for that, hopefully they encourage me to think about my game a little harder and swing more consistently. Will get a few more games under my belt and see how they go. Cheers
 
PJ72 and flightrisk, its good hear about how the MCs are still finding their way into player's bags and performing. flightrisk, I think you're accurate in that they are not the most forgiving irons by any means. They do demand a fairly wells struck shot to do what they are meant to do.

But when you put a pretty good strike on these, oh my do they perform.
 
Once u beat the notion of 'who they are meant for' u will soon find they were meant for you. Just go out and play them and enjoy. Once u go down the path of these may not be for me, that is what u will find. At least I did. I really lime these irons in my lower range. I really cannot think of something i would want to play more.
 
Long term testing writeup and summary (long post, beware!)
So, for those who don't know, I was picked to be a part of the long term testing of the Taylormade TP MC irons. This process all started back in February of this year.
Since then, I've played at least 30 rounds of golf, and been to the range about 40 times, using these irons almost exclusively. I think its high time I write up a comprehensive, long term testing scorecard.
Inspired by the man Chunkylover, and his Wilson Di11 recap, I'm going to do this scoring based on several categories as listed below:

Looks:
Overall, these are some really stunning irons. Unlike many player's type irons, these have a modern look to them, with the carbon fiber - like badge on the back and the embedded weight nut looking all industrial and bad a**.
Adding to the overall look is the pleasingly slim top line adding to the overall sleek, small size club head. I find the looks add to my confidence as I'm standing over the ball, framing it nicely and making it very easy to focus on the shot at hand.
Grade: A
There are some really stunning blades out there, but for an iron with a cavity, it doesn't get much better than this.

Feel:
Like looks, feel is another subjective, but very important aspect to a club for me. If you don't like how a club provides feedback at impact, its not going to be as enjoyable to play even if the results are good.

When I first hit these back in February, the first thing that stood out to me was the "crack" of the club at impact. It triggered involuntary "oohs" and "aahs" from me on every swing I took that day. The sound is, in my opinion, is the perfect, solid "thwack" noise an iron should make. This club has become the new standard for me on what an iron should sound like, and all clubs I have hit since are put up against this one, and to this point, they've all fallen short.

Along with the sound, the feedback at impact is also excellent. You know instantly how well you hit it by feedback through the hands. For instance, my primary miss is out towards the toe. If I catch one even a quarter inch off the center towards the toe, I can feel that. Thin, fat or towards the heel equally easy to figure out through the feedback. But at the same time, the feedback is not punishing. I don't ever hit a bad shot and have stinging hands, just a reliable indicator of what went right or wrong.

As much as I love the sound and feedback of these irons, the best part about the feel of these is the weight in hand and how they feel throughout the swing. Maybe its the weight ports, maybe its the nice heavy DG X-100 shafts (probably both), but something about that stock offering together in these irons makes these feel "right" to me. I pick these up and swing and I feel like the club is an extension of my arms. The swing feels natural, and the results of that are measurable in the dropping of my handicap this year (about 1.5 points).
I like how I can feel the clubhead throughout the swing, and how effortless it is to let the clubhead "drop" through the hitting area sending the ball exploding away.

Grade: A+
Best feeling club I've ever played, period.

Forgiveness:
To be honest, when I first opened up this package and saw these compact muscle cavity irons, I was a little nervous that I was not going to be able to play these at all effectively. I'm no tour player, and I need some forgiveness to play this game. Thankfully, the muscle cavity does provide a certain amount of forgiveness for me, and has helped me avoid hitting some attrocious shots.

That being said, these are the most unforgiving irons I've ever had in my bag. You cannot hit these out an inch towards the toe and expect to get a decent result. Similarly, hitting one high on the face is a real distance killer with these irons as well. I've actually found thinned shots to be fairly effective, and heel shots are better than toe shots too. But overall, if you are struggling with your ball striking, these are not going to help you perform, and will probably frustrate you out on the course.

Some examples of distance loss on mis-hits I've measured:
PW on the toe (barely on the grooves): Loss of up to 15 yards.
6 iron on the toe (barely on the grooves): Loss of 25 or more yards.
PW high on the face: Loss of 15 to 20 yards.
6 iron high on the face: Loss of 30 or more yards.

Grade: C
They're going to give you more help than a blade, but they can't touch many of the game improvement irons out there today for forgivness.

Distance:
Along with forgiveness, this is the category I thought was going to suffer most with these irons. While my forgiveness concerns were partly proven valid, distance did not end up being a problem for me with these irons.

Through some pretty extensive testing of these irons against their game improvement competition (in the form of Burner 2.0s, Cobra S3s and Cleveland CG16s), I found that I was losing somewhere between 8 and 12 yards in distance to the competition.
Early on in the testing, the gaps were larger than this. I attribute this to the fact it took me a few months before I was comfortable going at these irons as hard as I did with the other clubs.

I believe a good portion of the distance gap is simply based on loft differences. For example, the MC PW has a loft of 47* while all of the GI irons I played against it had PW lofts in the 45 and 44* range. Despite the loft disadvantage, I was finding that the MCs were only about 8 to 10 yards shorter for the short irons, and about 10 to 12 yards shorter than the long iron counterparts.

For me, distance is not my primary concern anyways, and my standard carry distances range from 142 yards for the PW up to 205 for the 5 iron with the MCs.

If I could hit my PW with the same reliability 150 yards instead of 142, I'd definitely take that increase. But not at the expense of the accuracy and distance dispersion I'm currently enjoying with the MCs.

Grate: B
Not the longest hitters out there, but they hold their own for my needs for sure.

Workability:
Probably not as important a category as the others, but this is another strength of these irons. The smallish head and higher center of gravity in these irons really make these easy to work the ball. Left or right, up and down.

In general, I really do not try to work the ball left and right anymore. I'm finding my scores dropping as I work on hitting straight shots. But when my poor tee game puts me behind a tree or other ungodly places, I have used this club's ability to hit a low hook or a high fade to my advantage. Simply closing or opening the face and putting a regular swing on these will produce the desired effect.

What I do use a lot in my game with these is the ability to flight these low. There are certain links style courses and windy days where the ability to take extra club, put the ball back in the stance a bit and hit a nice, piercing shot is a definite advantage. Most of the GI clubs I've played have not been able to deliver this shot for me consistently. This has been a shot that has led to more GIRs and lower scores without a doubt.

The very first round I played with the MCs was a nice windy day. With one range session under my belt, I was able to play with these effectively, hitting something like 14 greens in regulation that round! Unfortunately I have not been able to repeat that performance to that level since, but it speaks to these clubs ability to let you hit the shot you need to hit given the conditions you are facing.

Grade: A
Short of a blade style iron, I have not found a more workable club than this one.

Durability:

I've put about 50 range sessions and 30+ rounds of golf on these irons, and they still look fantastic. I'm no club cover guy either so these have seen tons of bag chatter and still look great.
Below some up to date pictures of my PW. I hit about 20 shots per range session with my PW so there are at least 1000 swings on this club... probably closer to 1200.

sole.jpg


face.jpg


cavity.jpg


Grade: A
They still look fantastic. These are, dare I say, UBER-durable.


Overall Performance:
Just yesterday I entered about 20 scorecards of rounds of golf in OOB that were stacking up in my golf bag. My handicap has dropped from around 9 at the start of the season to 7.2 currently. Much of this improvment I can attribute to these irons. In a nutshell, I'm hitting more greens in regulation. In fact, this increase in handicap comes when my tee game has gone in the crapper. I'm at the point now where if I'm in the fairway and less than 170 yards away, I'm confident that I'm putting that ball on the green. Its a great feeling. I'm also confident that when I put a good swing on the ball, that its going to go the distance I want it to go. I've never had that confidence before with other irons I've gamed and that is HUGE to me.

Like most members of THP, I have the OEM bug, but its hard to imagine another set of clubs that are going to replace these for me right now. That being said, if there's a set out there that provides the control, dispersion, feel and could add some distance and forgiveness into the situation, I would have to at least give that a try. Until that time, I'll continue to use these irons to hit lasers at pins and enjoy the experience along the way.

Overall Grade: A-
Hard to give this a straight up A with the lack of forgiveness considering I'm no scratch golfer and some days that extra forgiveness would really help. But its darn close and the best iron I've had the pleasure of gaming regularly.
 
Great final review G4L!!! I would agree that these irons are fantastic, in fact for me they get a SOLID A! I have still not found anything that has come close to the overall package of these irons.
 
Great final review G4L!!! I would agree that these irons are fantastic, in fact for me they get a SOLID A! I have still not found anything that has come close to the overall package of these irons.

Thanks Doc!

I agree from a strict player's iron category they're a solid A for sure. They are a joy to play

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
 
Just a little follow up, have had three full rounds with these clubs with 40 balls at the range before each round and.... I love these clubs. I simply cannot believe how good they are. I am now consistently one club longer and not suffering any real forgiveness issues

Two major qualities of these clubs that astound me:

1. The longer irons (I only have down to a 5) are every bit as easy to hit as the higher clubs. I have more confidence with a 5 or 6 iron than ever before. I nearly went with a combo set with the 5 and 6 in a CB but I'm really glad I didn't because they feel so good off the club.

2. I have command over my shots that I have never seen before. I can play an 8 iron with a 10 yard draw at will... nobody that plays with me regularly can believe it.

To anyone like me that was worried if these clubs are for them... I can't see how they are not for everyone. With only three games behind me, I feel like I'm better at golf. My last game was 5 shots better than any score I have ever had at my course... and I three putted 6 holes!!

These irons are the best thing to happen to my golf, can't wait to see how they feel when I really get used to them.
 
I've got a question to give this thread a little play. For anybody who has the MC's, have you also hit the Adams Idea CB2's? And if so, how's the difference in forgiveness for you? In the same league? Or are the MC's quite a bit tougher to master? I only ask because it's been such a while since I tried out the MC's and I was loaned a set of CB2's to play today while my Z-Stars were being worked on. Was really liking those even though the guy at the shop said they are a "players iron" and that I might have problems with them. He said that I could use a set of his demo CB2's or demo MC's since they are basically the same club as far as forgiveness goes. Other than those all he had for demos was a bunch of Mizzy MP's and TMAG TP MB's.

Tempo, timing, tapping.
 
I've got a question to give this thread a little play. For anybody who has the MC's, have you also hit the Adams Idea CB2's? And if so, how's the difference in forgiveness for you? In the same league? Or are the MC's quite a bit tougher to master? I only ask because it's been such a while since I tried out the MC's and I was loaned a set of CB2's to play today while my Z-Stars were being worked on. Was really liking those even though the guy at the shop said they are a "players iron" and that I might have problems with them. He said that I could use a set of his demo CB2's or demo MC's since they are basically the same club as far as forgiveness goes. Other than those all he had for demos was a bunch of Mizzy MP's and TMAG TP MB's.

Tempo, timing, tapping.

Unfortunately, I've never hit the CB2s. Based on the pictures, they look like they have at least as much perimeter weighting as the MCs, maybe a little more. Playing them may give you a similar experience.

I did get to hit the newish Adams A12 forged irons. They have more perimeter weighting than the MCs for sure and seemed more forgiving, and are abosolutely gorgeous too.
 
I cannot comment on the Adams line. I can comment on how much I like these clubs! I had one bad miss on the toe fat with these on a 4i and although it pushed I still got good enough distance to allow a nice wedge shot from a bunker 40 out on a par 5. I was not happy with it but it did not kill me and left me with something. On the other two shot with the four, I hit one off the tee on a par 4 and according to my sky caddie it went 210, about 198 carry. Thats stellar, it old R9 distance. The ball flight brought a big smile to my face. Nice arch then drops. It was a tad windy so the ball penetrated well. I tried a prov for that shot. The second shot with it was very similar maybe 6 yards shorter. Love the sound and the smooth pillow feel when struck solid. The ball really fly off the face.

Still very very very happy with these in the long irons.
 
Took these out on the course this afternoon. I played them last Thursday in some horrible rain and wind so I didn't get a great feel for them. Today was picture perfect out so I decided to throw them back in the bag.

First swing of the day requires an iron shot off the tee to small landing area(stupid target golf hole). My nemesis the 5 iron was the weapon of choice. Contact was made jsut a little out towards to the toe and that resulted in a shot that flew about 165 yards when normally I would hit it around 185. The next shot was similar, poor contact, poor result with a weak fade. I wasn't scoring poorly, I was +2 after 4 when I said to Nerfny that I didn't hit a good iron shot yet and I didn't think these irons were a good fit for me anymore. Sure enough we reach a par 3 and I hit a 9 iron and BOOM...perfecting. A beautiful high draw that hits 15 feet behind the pin and spins back a couple feet. I decided to drop another and it was another great shot. Unfortunately I can only remember 1 more good iron shot for the rest of the day.

It's not that these irons don't feel great and look great. It's just that when I don't hit them great, I get nothing from them. Weak fades, distance loss, and some unwanted vibrations at times. I really need to be on my game to score well with these. I also need to have a sharp short game. With the irons I have been playing there is way more forgiveness and it just seems to make the game easier.
 
I got myself a set of the MC irons (4-PW) a couple of weeks back and I am having real fun playing them. I have dropped to handicap 15 from 19 in the process. I have played golf for about one year now and have gone through three sets of irons (Golden Bear, R9, Burner 2.0) before the MCs partly because club fitting is still not available in my country. With the MCs I have developed a lot of confidence to play many types of shots. A major difference from the previous irons is the shaft. I went for DG S300 stiff shaft unlike the regular shafts before after advise from a guy I met on the course. Hence I would still say one needs to be fitted.
 
One thing I have noticed lately, I think the lofts in my irons have changed. I have been hitting the ball unusually long lately with my lower irons. I am going to go get the lofts and lie angles checked sometime this week.
 
Is it possible for your clubs to just change lofts?
 
Played my first round with my newly aquired MC's today. Played at Kaneohe Klipper with DawgDaddy. Felt pretty good about the way I hit them considering I haven't gotten them bent and haven't dropped my 1/2" longer KBS Tours in them yet either. Only hit one poor shot today with them (a chunked 7i that no SGI club would have saved me on anyway). Can't wait to get them to my specs! I think this is going to be a great set.


Tempo, timing, tapping.
 
Took these out on the course this afternoon. I played them last Thursday in some horrible rain and wind so I didn't get a great feel for them. Today was picture perfect out so I decided to throw them back in the bag.

First swing of the day requires an iron shot off the tee to small landing area(stupid target golf hole). My nemesis the 5 iron was the weapon of choice. Contact was made jsut a little out towards to the toe and that resulted in a shot that flew about 165 yards when normally I would hit it around 185. The next shot was similar, poor contact, poor result with a weak fade. I wasn't scoring poorly, I was +2 after 4 when I said to Nerfny that I didn't hit a good iron shot yet and I didn't think these irons were a good fit for me anymore. Sure enough we reach a par 3 and I hit a 9 iron and BOOM...perfecting. A beautiful high draw that hits 15 feet behind the pin and spins back a couple feet. I decided to drop another and it was another great shot. Unfortunately I can only remember 1 more good iron shot for the rest of the day.

It's not that these irons don't feel great and look great. It's just that when I don't hit them great, I get nothing from them. Weak fades, distance loss, and some unwanted vibrations at times. I really need to be on my game to score well with these. I also need to have a sharp short game. With the irons I have been playing there is way more forgiveness and it just seems to make the game easier.

What exactly is a bad day to you? Not being smart or talking bad about your game, just asking because I feel like the stability/forgiveness of these irons noticeably surpasses what testers and other people who own these have been posting.

I'll elaborate a little with on course findings.

I hit several shots the other day that I thought I had struck extremely well (beautiful flight stopped dead in it's pitch mark or rolled back a bit) and when I looked at the face there was the true story of what happened. A couple a little high on the face *no noticeable difference*, one that was a couple of grooves too low *okay, I definately felt and heard this one but it still flew true to distance. just a little lower ballflight but still stopped only a few feet from it's pitch mark when I thought for sure it was rolling off the back of the green*, and even one a bit toward the toe but still in the grooves *I could feel the ball on this one and got just a few more yards of right to left movement than usual, but no noticeable loss in distance*. I didn't see any difference in flight that would be remarkable to the non-trained eye if I just kept the ball in a spot about the size of a fifty cent piece.
Actually, when I pick up a dry erase marker I'll draw a circle around what I feel is the playable hitting area on the face of these. Totally subjective of course, but it'll just be MY thoughts on the sweet...ish spot.


Tempo, timing, tapping.
 
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