TaylorMade RocketBladez - Review Thread

[Playdough]

The top-line actually doesn't seem as chunky in those pics as I thought, but I will say that the whole head its self is alittle larger than I like. The size of the 588 is more what I like. But that seems like a pretty impressive first outing for them Hawk, be interested to follow along.

 

[motoo344]

Thanks for all the pics and thoughts. I have never been a big TM guy but I like the looks of these irons and it sounds like they are promising.

 

[Hawk]

Thanks for all the pics and thoughts. I have never been a big TM guy but I like the looks of these irons and it sounds like they are promising.

I haven't been a big fan of their GI/Distance line in the past either, motoo. They just never really clicked with me for whatever reason. I'll say that the similarity to the Redlines was a nice surprise. Lots of testing to go, but first impressions were certainly good.

 

[dcbrad]

Whew these clubs look sharp! Looking forward to what the rest of the guys testing them think!

 

[Howzat]

I really like how TM's site is laid out with all the custom options available. It will be fun to follow with everyone getting the irons to their specs. Thanks TM for making that happen. I wonder if anyone went with the Matrix OZIK HD Programs?

 

[BirdieBob]

Hopefully, one of the testers can get on a LM and provide comparison information with current irons:

Current 5 irons specs
RocketBladez 5 iron specs

Now with a 5 iron RB vs. current 5 iron the following:

Club Speed;
Ball Speed;
Launch angle;
Carry distance.

Thanks,
BB

 

[Canes]

I enjoyed reading your writeups Hawk. You mentioned the face looked similar to the 2.0s. Any other similarities to that or the RBZ?

 

[Hawk]

Hopefully, one of the testers can get on a LM and provide comparison information with current irons:

Current 5 irons specs
RocketBladez 5 iron specs

Now with a 5 iron RB vs. current 5 iron the following:

Club Speed;
Ball Speed;
Launch angle;
Carry distance.

Thanks,
BB

I can do 6 iron and 7 iron from a few iron sets, Bob. Look for something later in the week.

I enjoyed reading your writeups Hawk. You mentioned the face looked similar to the 2.0s. Any other similarities to that or the RBZ?

I'll take some pics comparing the 2.0 here later today. I can't speak much for the RBZ's. I will say that the one think I remember most about the RBZ was that they felt really light in my hands. I didn't get that sensation with the RBladez.

 

[Perkins Rooster]

Hopefully, one of the testers can get on a LM and provide comparison information with current irons:

Current 5 irons specs
RocketBladez 5 iron specs

Now with a 5 iron RB vs. current 5 iron the following:

Club Speed;
Ball Speed;
Launch angle;
Carry distance.

Thanks,
BB

I second this. I think it's important that comparisons are done apples to apples as much as possible. With lofts and lengths varying so much, simply saying, 'My 5 iron is a club linger', doesn't mean as much anymore.

 

[Puttin4Bird]

My RocketBladez made their way to South Dakota just in time yesterday. I was able to immediately unbox them and head to the course for some testing.

When placing my order I went stock everything from grip to shaft. My R Bladez have the RocketFuel shaft in stiff flex.

Like the others I have a 4-AW setup with my set. I was so giddy to hit the 4 iron it wasn't even funny. I haven't had a 4 iron in a long time and frankly, I missed having one.

Yesterday was a nice late fall day, 52 degrees with about a 15 mph breeze that definitely made me work on manipulating the trajectory with the R Bladez, that is that one thing I really struggled with when I had the Burner 2.0 when they first came out. Like Hawk mentioned, the AW was a huge surprise and I really like how it's more in line with the ATV than just a regular R Bladez iron with more loft. I put that to the test right away with some various types of shots while I waited on the group ahead of me at one point. I had NO issues with working the flight of the shots from low punch type shots to flipping one up in the air a little more, no a flop shot mind you, just a higher lofted pitch shot that I find myself using a lot.

Looks- I am happy to report that R Bladez look even better in person than the first pics we saw a couple weeks back. I love the progression from long irons with more offset and a little more bulk to them on down the the scoring irons that really have a nice players iron look to them really.

Feel- the thing I've always been concerned with on distance irons is that they used to come at the expense of being able to feel where you hit the shot, sure everything was forgiving and distance was good but I hate not knowing where I hit the ball on the clubface. The R Bladez still allow that kind of feedback. I always knew when I hit one well and when I missed one a bit, but the nice thing was those misses don't cost you 20 yards of distance and a ball lost in the water.

Distance- this will be the biggest adjustment for me for sure. Coming from traditional loft players irons (Bridgestone J40 CB) having stronger lofted distance irons like this will be quite an adjustment. All day long I grabbed 1 club less than what I would with the J40 and that seemed to be pretty close for me. Now with the cooler temps the ball hasn't been traveling as far so I'm sure in warm weather I'll need to readjust some, but that's to be expected.

Quick story- the 18th hole at my course is a 351 yard hole with water all along the right side and trees (no comments...YES we have some) and deep rough/mounds to the left. The play is a 200 yard shot short of the water and big bunker then about a 150 yard shot left. This year I've been hitting my 4 hybrid out left of and equal to that bunker. Yesterday I grabbed the R Bladez 4 iron thinking it would leave me right short of that bunker. I hammered the shot, it was a gorgeous flight with just a tad bit of a draw on it, one of those shots that you just keep thinking back to because it felt so well and looked so good in the air. That bunker I told you about is long and narrow, you can't go over it because you'll be in the water, unless you hit a draw and get lucky, but then it's about 240 to clear it and if you do that you're sitting perfect. My shot with this 4 iron landed about 2/3 of the way into that bunker, so roughly 225 yards away from the tee box. My ball stayed in the bunker which isn't terrible but HOLY SMOKES, a 225 yard 4 iron?!? Yeah they're long, especially when you nail one right on the button as I did on this shot. The wind on this hole was a right to left wind too, so nothing straight helping. That baby was pured! For the record I had 119 left in that bunker and hit the 50 degree AW to about 18 feet, 2 putted for par.

Forgiveness- now that the temps are dropping I've been kind of wishing I had an iron with more forgiveness here lately and the R Bladez definitely shine in this area. Of all my shots into the greens all day I hit maybe 2 of them square on the sweet spot, I had a lot of them higher on the face and a couple out toward the toe. I only missed 2 greens yesterday and one was from 179 into and cross wind with my 4 iron so I can't complain one bit about that. It's early in my testing but I like the forgiveness that I saw yesterday, it was there but as I said earlier, not at the expense of any and all feel.

Here are some pics at address-

4 iron

8 iron

PW

AW

Overall I am really liking the R Bladez. I had a lot of fun with the 4 iron especially. On the par 3 11th hole yesterday I had about 170 to the pin into the wind. I put the ball in the back of my stance and hit this low stinger type a shot that stayed low and wound up about 10 feet from the hole, I made a birdie and birdies on the 11th hole are not real common. I am a fan! On the last par 3 of the day I had 200 yards with the wind helping a bit. I hit a 5 iron to about 15 feet, 2 putt par. To play holes 11 and 17 in -1 just does not happen....that's for sure.

Here's a look of the RocketBladez in the bag. I could get used to these.

 

[Hawk]

I second this. I think it's important that comparisons are done apples to apples as much as possible. With lofts and lengths varying so much, simply saying, 'My 5 iron is a club linger', doesn't mean as much anymore.

I get where you're going with that, but in reality, I don't think it matters that much to most people. For what it's worth, my 588's are bent 2° strong. The variance in lofts is anywhere from 0° to 2.5° from 5-PW. The TM set holds right around 5° from club to club, while my set has 4° gaps.

While I was addressing and hitting the ball, the 2.5° separation between the TM 7 iron and my 7 iron wasn't on my mind. I don't think differing lofts is a big mystery since they are published. Even average-educated consumers are pretty aware that lofts between irons may differ.

 

[Hawk]

Very nice, Jake! I imagine that you are going to really hit some awesome shots with the 4 iron buddy.

 

[TripleBogieTim]

Nice first write ups from Hawk and Jake, loving that you guys are both seeing extra distance and foregiveness without giving up the feel...that's huge...I know when hit something like the Burners everything felt the same....whether I hit the sweet spot or the toe...so it's nice to hear you can still feel the mishits.

Can't wait to see some LM stats and hear from Kmac and Jman.

 

[Jman]

Nice first write ups from Hawk and Jake, loving that you guys are both seeing extra distance and foregiveness without giving up the feel...that's huge...I know when hit something like the Burners everything felt the same....whether I hit the sweet spot or the toe...so it's nice to hear you can still feel the mishits.

Can't wait to see some LM stats and hear from Kmac and Jman.

I hope to get to chime in tomorrow evening! I'm excited to see the IN HAND. Its always so much different than through pictures IMO.

 

[Ole Gray]

Hawk & P4B bringing some interesting reviews on these new Bladze irons. I really like the gold/black combo colors for these irons as they have a rich tone to them. Sounds like they are strong on the performance side too. One of the things I am interested in following is how the shafts are working for each tester.

 

[adwillingham]

The top-line actually doesn't seem as chunky in those pics as I thought.

This was my thought as well. I will be very interested in trying these out when the opportunity arises. Great initial thoughts gentlemen.

 

[BirdieBob]

I can do 6 iron and 7 iron from a few iron sets, Bob. Look for something later in the week.

The RBladez speed slot is most valuable on the longer irons due to the loft of the irons, which is why I mentioned the 5 iron.
This is also the reason there is no speed slot in the 8> irons. The ball simply does not stay on the face but spins more on the more lofted irons, hence better speed slot results on the 3>5 irons.

Thanks for whatever you can do in this regards!

 

[Hawk]

No problem Bob. I did read something to that effect as well. I'll see what I can do to find a 5 iron for some comparisons

Posted via tapatalk.

 

[adwillingham]

For some reason, this has really started a combo set ponder in my head...4,5,6 irons RBladez; 7,8,9 irons R11s; PW and up into SCOR wedges.

 

[Jjmorris]

Nice info fellas. Man I think these irons looks better than I was expecting. Can't wait to hear more about these.

 

[JF]

I like the wedges a lot. Do they have any offset? Will they be available individually?

 

[JB]

I like the wedges a lot. Do they have any offset? Will they be available individually?

ATV wedges?

 

[Jman]

I like the wedges a lot. Do they have any offset? Will they be available individually?

They are literally pretty much just like ATV wedges dude.

 

[War Eagle]

They are literally ATV wedges dude.

ATV wedges?

Im just going off by the pictures posted, but they seem to be a bit more of a "blade" style wedge compared to the ATVs? Could just be the pics making me think that.

 

[Jman]

Im just going off by the pictures posted, but they seem to be a bit more of a "blade" style wedge compared to the ATVs? Could just be the pics making me think that.

There is a bit more of a cavity in the back, but outside of that I think its just alot of finish/paint differences that make them look so different at first glance. I do look forward to getting the AW in hand though.