Brianbigoats
Active member
there are no issues bending them mine are 3* upright and 1* weak
TaylorMade RocketBladez - Review Thread
Ole Gray
Mayor of the Woodshed
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2008
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- 31,292
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- Watkinsville, Georgia
- Handicap
- Average
(and they don't look as bad either)
Not a problem to bend these OG, I just dropped mine off to get bent 1* flat. Picking them up @ lunch time
Thanks guys! Some have said that bending a cast club will not hold as unlike forged they tend to reflex back to standard over time? Anyways you guys have made a believer out of me with your reviews. Great work and I appreciate ya!
gioguy21
Banned
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2012
- Messages
- 1,329
- Reaction score
- 6
- Handicap
- 2.7
awesome find rafdo!
Well, the package finally came in the mail yesterday after MUCH anticipation and excitement! I figured I'd take a little time to give some more information about myself, my golf, and what I look to accomplish through my testing:
First, a little about me; I’m 30 and live in RI with my very supportive girlfriend and my 8-year old golfing fanatic son. I started playing golf around age 5 and played right up until my senior year of high school, with a few local junior golf tournaments per year on my calendar. I was never REALLY good and barely made the golf team in HS. I gave up golf in college to focus more on my study of hops and barley, and just got back into golf fanatically over the past 18 months. In this time-frame I have switched from Titleist DCI Oversize+, to Burner 2.0’s this summer and finally took a lesson which switched my swing up BIG TIME!
I am currently a 19 HCP and usually play 2-4 times per week (weather and light permitting). My strengths are my length (Drive 270+), my short irons (7-AW), and my putting. I struggle with my mid and long irons, hybrid, fairway woods and inside of 110yds (somewhat). My struggle with the longer irons is hitting them a consistent distance with tight dispersion, I can hit a 4 iron 215 and hook or slice it like a champ! I feel that I am a 19 because of my mid-irons, and not being able to effectively scramble when I duff or shank a drive. My GIR is atrocious!!
My goal is to be able to make definitive statements after testing these irons to either confirm or disprove the marketing that Taylormade is throwing around. I’m going to put these irons through their paces in some pretty nasty conditions (think cold and damp) to see how the 3M polymer in the speed slot feels and if it’s consistent with the results in better conditions. I’ll provide hard numbers vs my current gamer irons in the beginning, just to show any differences in the initial transition, but then will try to solely speak to the Rocketbladez irons themselves through testing. There will also be some feedback on the irons from my friends and golfing buddies so I can get their first impressions out there as well.
My initial thoughts: These things are GORGEOUS!! :in-love: You have seen enough pictures of the box by now, but the lines, mix of finishes, colors, and industrial design is just classy! I opened the box at work and the guys were swarming around like women around a newborn cooing over these irons. Not a single person thought they were “unattractive” and most were extremely impressed with the looks of these irons. The biggest difference for me, is in the AW, the simplicity in design on the back of this iron is a 180 degree change from most “set wedges” that continue the cavity design down through the AW and some even through the SW and LW. The design on the Rocketbladez wedge makes me want to either buy the set SW and LW or buy the ATV wedges and paint-fill the red to yellow to match (hmmm potential project alert!).
I am so grateful to THP, Jb, GG, and TM for the opportunity to test these and voice my humble opinion and feedback. I will have more information tonight after my first range session. Thanks for reading!
First, a little about me; I’m 30 and live in RI with my very supportive girlfriend and my 8-year old golfing fanatic son. I started playing golf around age 5 and played right up until my senior year of high school, with a few local junior golf tournaments per year on my calendar. I was never REALLY good and barely made the golf team in HS. I gave up golf in college to focus more on my study of hops and barley, and just got back into golf fanatically over the past 18 months. In this time-frame I have switched from Titleist DCI Oversize+, to Burner 2.0’s this summer and finally took a lesson which switched my swing up BIG TIME!
I am currently a 19 HCP and usually play 2-4 times per week (weather and light permitting). My strengths are my length (Drive 270+), my short irons (7-AW), and my putting. I struggle with my mid and long irons, hybrid, fairway woods and inside of 110yds (somewhat). My struggle with the longer irons is hitting them a consistent distance with tight dispersion, I can hit a 4 iron 215 and hook or slice it like a champ! I feel that I am a 19 because of my mid-irons, and not being able to effectively scramble when I duff or shank a drive. My GIR is atrocious!!
My goal is to be able to make definitive statements after testing these irons to either confirm or disprove the marketing that Taylormade is throwing around. I’m going to put these irons through their paces in some pretty nasty conditions (think cold and damp) to see how the 3M polymer in the speed slot feels and if it’s consistent with the results in better conditions. I’ll provide hard numbers vs my current gamer irons in the beginning, just to show any differences in the initial transition, but then will try to solely speak to the Rocketbladez irons themselves through testing. There will also be some feedback on the irons from my friends and golfing buddies so I can get their first impressions out there as well.
My initial thoughts: These things are GORGEOUS!! :in-love: You have seen enough pictures of the box by now, but the lines, mix of finishes, colors, and industrial design is just classy! I opened the box at work and the guys were swarming around like women around a newborn cooing over these irons. Not a single person thought they were “unattractive” and most were extremely impressed with the looks of these irons. The biggest difference for me, is in the AW, the simplicity in design on the back of this iron is a 180 degree change from most “set wedges” that continue the cavity design down through the AW and some even through the SW and LW. The design on the Rocketbladez wedge makes me want to either buy the set SW and LW or buy the ATV wedges and paint-fill the red to yellow to match (hmmm potential project alert!).
I am so grateful to THP, Jb, GG, and TM for the opportunity to test these and voice my humble opinion and feedback. I will have more information tonight after my first range session. Thanks for reading!
Hit em straight!!40 degrees with a light rain? Testing time!
Tapped out on my EVO 4G LTE
rafdo
Active member
Awesome! Glad the wait is finally over for you :good:
Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2
Congrats on the arrival and very nice introduction!
I really like your discussion of the AW. I had a similar reaction but wasn't able to formulate my thoughts and articulate it as you did, and it got back burnered with all the other stuff. Great observation. (FWIW, I seriously pondered the SW vs ATV wedge and have landed on the SW from this set. I'm out of town this weekend but sometime next week plan to take the clubs in to get fitted for lie then order the SW so it will be bent at the factory).
I look forward to your reading about your initial experiences with the clubs.
Thank you! I'm going tonight (hopefully) to have mine fit as well and to get some hard numbers on the simulator vs my 2.0's so when I get on course tomorrow I'm at least in the ballpark on distances with these.
First 18 Impressions
Course: Mercer Oaks West, Blue Tees
Conditions: 40 degrees, overcast, light drizzle/mist, 0 MPH wind
Ground conditions: Damp, but nowhere near saturated. Greens hard, but had some give due to moisture - very slick
Ball: Srixon ZStar XV
Disclaimer - It's hard to focus on distance and spin this time of year since the air temperatures limit the compression of the golf ball quite a bit. I need to start storing my golf balls in my house to keep them warm prior to playing to keep the cores soft.
1st Hole: Pipe a driver down the middle leaving me 145 out. I take out my 9 iron figuring I would give myself an extra club in the conditions. I hit an absolutely beautiful shot, but it lands on the front of the green, about 10 yards short of the pin. I hit a few random irons to calibrate and discover that conditions are costing me about 2 clubs worth of distance.
2nd Hole: Par 4 Dogleg right playing about 340. Normally I hit 3 wood here, but I tee up the 4 Iron. Nice easy swing and the ball shot off the face with a gentle fade leaving me 125 to the pin in the middle of the fairway. Took out the AW (not knowing how far I would hit it) and came up just short of the green on a really solid swing. Great turf interaction with the AW off the moist fairway. Left me with a little a tough shot, mainly because I had to flop one over a group of turkeys. Not exactly the birdies I was looking for...
3rd Hole: Push the drive off the fairway to the right leaving me about 160 to the green. Hit a nice solid 8 iron out of the wet rough just short of the green (noticing a pattern with coming up short due to the conditions?). Really solid turf interaction through the wet rough. Ball was sitting up a bit, so that helped.
4th Hole: Dog leg right par 5, blasted a drive into the middle, about 220 out. Pulled out the 4 iron and hit a great shot, but the ball was a bit below my feet and thus faded to the right of the green. Really loving the 4 iron so far, very easy to hit.
5th Hole: Par 3, 190 yards. Take out the 6 iron to attack the front pin position, but put it a bit right of my target line, pin high, just off the green. Great ball flight with the 6 iron. Landed in the fringe and pretty much stayed within 2 feet of where it initially landed.
6th Hole: Long par 4, rip a drive down the center leaving me about 185 to the center and a little bit uphill. Take out the 6 iron again and put a good swing on it, but catch it VERY low on the club face. Was expecting a line drive that would leave me about 50 yards short, but the ball climbed a bit and landed about 5 yards short of the green, rolling up right to then collar. I was shocked. I really missed the sweet spot, but I was hardly penalized for it!
7th hole: Long Par 5. Driver followed by 3 wood and lob wedge
8th hole: Par 3, 157 yards. Hit an easy 8 iron, solid contact but pushed a bit right. Landed even with the front of the green in the right rough.
9th hole: Short Par 4 where you want to hit about a 200-230 yard shot to leave you with 130-150 yards over a pond to the green. Hit a nice easy 4 iron to about 140, and then a PW that caught the front of the green. You would think by now that I would have gotten over my ego and just started clubbing up one more club due to the temperature, but I am thick headed.
10th hole: Hit my drive in to the right fairway bunker, about 145 yards out. Hit a solid 9 iron to the front right of the green. LOVED the way the club interacted with the sand here. Sand was wet, but still a bit fluffy. The sole of the club had no issues at all.
11th hole: Hit another solid drive down the middle leaving me 145 out and uphill. Take out the 9 iron and stuck it about 9 feet from the pin. I just love watching the ball flight from these irons. I can't even imagine how much nicer it is on a warmer day when the ball is compressing more!
12th hole: Decided to hit the 4iron on this tee shot and I hit it off the toe. Ball still managed to travel 200 yards! Left me about 185 to the middle, so I took out the 5 iron and hit a high baby fade that ended up on the green about 20 ft short of the pin. Another shot with awe-inducing ball flight
13th hole: Par 3, 140 yards. Easy 9 iron to the middle of the green. Ball ended up about 5 feet further than the original landing spot.
14th hole: Par 4, Cut the corner - and left myself with a 30 yard lob shot into the green
15th hole: Dogleg left Par 5. Terrible drive into the right rough left me a long way off, so I hit the 3 wood to get me about 110 yards out, uphill. Hit an aggressive three-quarters shot with the AW right at the pin, coming up only 6 feet short. Birdie. Really enjoying the AW. Great turf interaction from the wet fairways. Wet fairways have always given me trouble, so this was great to see.
16th hole: Par 3, 210 yards. I knew the 4 iron wouldnt get me there, but the 3 wood would have been way too much club, so I hit the 4. Caught it off the toe, but the ball still went a solid 195-200 yards, leaving me with just a simple flop shot onto the green
17th hole: Another 4iron off the tee. By the time I had joined up with another single golfer on the course. When I hit the 4iron, he joked that he wouldnt hit his driver that far, and he was playing from the tees in front of me! The 4 iron I hit traveled about 210-215. Ball was well below my feet on the next shot and I just couldn't get comfortable with a stance. Hit an awful 6iron into the water to the right of the green. I need to really work on some situational golf so I can be comfortable hitting shots with the ball below my feet - it has always been an achilles heel of mine
18th hole: Par 5, I hit a laser of a drive that put me about 275 out. I promptly follow that up with an overswing with the 3 wood causing a worm burner that squirted to 155 yards out. Maybe it was God's way of saying "hey, hit another Rocketbladez iron before your day is done". I take out the 8 iron and hit a nice high shot that lands about 20 ft short of the pin. More great turf interaction with these irons off of wet grass. This was one of my biggest worries with the larger sole than I am used to, but they were awesome. Hell, shooting an 83 in these conditions made my month!
Quick Hits from the round:
- Grips were great, never even had to wipe them down! (I was wearing Footjoy rain gloves, so that may have helped)
- Lovely turf interaction
- mis-hits travel further and more accurate than any club I've played before
- I need to learn to swallow my pride and club up in these cold conditions!
Course: Mercer Oaks West, Blue Tees
Conditions: 40 degrees, overcast, light drizzle/mist, 0 MPH wind
Ground conditions: Damp, but nowhere near saturated. Greens hard, but had some give due to moisture - very slick
Ball: Srixon ZStar XV
Disclaimer - It's hard to focus on distance and spin this time of year since the air temperatures limit the compression of the golf ball quite a bit. I need to start storing my golf balls in my house to keep them warm prior to playing to keep the cores soft.
1st Hole: Pipe a driver down the middle leaving me 145 out. I take out my 9 iron figuring I would give myself an extra club in the conditions. I hit an absolutely beautiful shot, but it lands on the front of the green, about 10 yards short of the pin. I hit a few random irons to calibrate and discover that conditions are costing me about 2 clubs worth of distance.
2nd Hole: Par 4 Dogleg right playing about 340. Normally I hit 3 wood here, but I tee up the 4 Iron. Nice easy swing and the ball shot off the face with a gentle fade leaving me 125 to the pin in the middle of the fairway. Took out the AW (not knowing how far I would hit it) and came up just short of the green on a really solid swing. Great turf interaction with the AW off the moist fairway. Left me with a little a tough shot, mainly because I had to flop one over a group of turkeys. Not exactly the birdies I was looking for...
3rd Hole: Push the drive off the fairway to the right leaving me about 160 to the green. Hit a nice solid 8 iron out of the wet rough just short of the green (noticing a pattern with coming up short due to the conditions?). Really solid turf interaction through the wet rough. Ball was sitting up a bit, so that helped.
4th Hole: Dog leg right par 5, blasted a drive into the middle, about 220 out. Pulled out the 4 iron and hit a great shot, but the ball was a bit below my feet and thus faded to the right of the green. Really loving the 4 iron so far, very easy to hit.
5th Hole: Par 3, 190 yards. Take out the 6 iron to attack the front pin position, but put it a bit right of my target line, pin high, just off the green. Great ball flight with the 6 iron. Landed in the fringe and pretty much stayed within 2 feet of where it initially landed.
6th Hole: Long par 4, rip a drive down the center leaving me about 185 to the center and a little bit uphill. Take out the 6 iron again and put a good swing on it, but catch it VERY low on the club face. Was expecting a line drive that would leave me about 50 yards short, but the ball climbed a bit and landed about 5 yards short of the green, rolling up right to then collar. I was shocked. I really missed the sweet spot, but I was hardly penalized for it!
7th hole: Long Par 5. Driver followed by 3 wood and lob wedge
8th hole: Par 3, 157 yards. Hit an easy 8 iron, solid contact but pushed a bit right. Landed even with the front of the green in the right rough.
9th hole: Short Par 4 where you want to hit about a 200-230 yard shot to leave you with 130-150 yards over a pond to the green. Hit a nice easy 4 iron to about 140, and then a PW that caught the front of the green. You would think by now that I would have gotten over my ego and just started clubbing up one more club due to the temperature, but I am thick headed.
10th hole: Hit my drive in to the right fairway bunker, about 145 yards out. Hit a solid 9 iron to the front right of the green. LOVED the way the club interacted with the sand here. Sand was wet, but still a bit fluffy. The sole of the club had no issues at all.
11th hole: Hit another solid drive down the middle leaving me 145 out and uphill. Take out the 9 iron and stuck it about 9 feet from the pin. I just love watching the ball flight from these irons. I can't even imagine how much nicer it is on a warmer day when the ball is compressing more!
12th hole: Decided to hit the 4iron on this tee shot and I hit it off the toe. Ball still managed to travel 200 yards! Left me about 185 to the middle, so I took out the 5 iron and hit a high baby fade that ended up on the green about 20 ft short of the pin. Another shot with awe-inducing ball flight
13th hole: Par 3, 140 yards. Easy 9 iron to the middle of the green. Ball ended up about 5 feet further than the original landing spot.
14th hole: Par 4, Cut the corner - and left myself with a 30 yard lob shot into the green
15th hole: Dogleg left Par 5. Terrible drive into the right rough left me a long way off, so I hit the 3 wood to get me about 110 yards out, uphill. Hit an aggressive three-quarters shot with the AW right at the pin, coming up only 6 feet short. Birdie. Really enjoying the AW. Great turf interaction from the wet fairways. Wet fairways have always given me trouble, so this was great to see.
16th hole: Par 3, 210 yards. I knew the 4 iron wouldnt get me there, but the 3 wood would have been way too much club, so I hit the 4. Caught it off the toe, but the ball still went a solid 195-200 yards, leaving me with just a simple flop shot onto the green
17th hole: Another 4iron off the tee. By the time I had joined up with another single golfer on the course. When I hit the 4iron, he joked that he wouldnt hit his driver that far, and he was playing from the tees in front of me! The 4 iron I hit traveled about 210-215. Ball was well below my feet on the next shot and I just couldn't get comfortable with a stance. Hit an awful 6iron into the water to the right of the green. I need to really work on some situational golf so I can be comfortable hitting shots with the ball below my feet - it has always been an achilles heel of mine
18th hole: Par 5, I hit a laser of a drive that put me about 275 out. I promptly follow that up with an overswing with the 3 wood causing a worm burner that squirted to 155 yards out. Maybe it was God's way of saying "hey, hit another Rocketbladez iron before your day is done". I take out the 8 iron and hit a nice high shot that lands about 20 ft short of the pin. More great turf interaction with these irons off of wet grass. This was one of my biggest worries with the larger sole than I am used to, but they were awesome. Hell, shooting an 83 in these conditions made my month!
Quick Hits from the round:
- Grips were great, never even had to wipe them down! (I was wearing Footjoy rain gloves, so that may have helped)
- Lovely turf interaction
- mis-hits travel further and more accurate than any club I've played before
- I need to learn to swallow my pride and club up in these cold conditions!
Last edited:
jlukes: Great initial 18 thoughts...I'm dying to get out there tomorrow! Did you feel that the Rocketbladez were more enjoyable to hit around the course than what you normally play? Also, any thoughts on teeing up the 4i vs long 4i off the deck?
I loved my previous irons, but I do find the Rocketbladez more enjoyable. The main reason is how they perform when I don't make perfect contact. I am not penalized nearly as much as I was when I would hit shots off the toe with my old irons. I am all about hitting the ball straight and not trying to shape the ball, so these clubs are a much better fit.
I had not problem hitting the the 4iron off the deck. I would say that I was about 5-10 yards longer with it off the tee, but that is to be expected.
Another thing to note, for as cold as it was today, I did not have any "hand stingers" - and I definitely hit enough shots off the toe that I should have had one or two. Just another thing that points to the forgiveness of these clubs.
rafdo
Active member
Nice write-up jlukes, this 6i shot illustrates my favorite part of the Rbladez thus far.
Yup, it's absolutely my favorite part so far as well
Sibbers
New member
Jjukes - great write up. Would be interested if yo ucould post the yardage of each hole, you do it for the par 3s, but would be good for the other holes too.
And yes, man up, I have learnt over the years that I like to be the big man and hit less club.....and always come up short. It is a mental thing, you can see what is short of the green, unless there is water you will be happier taking one less club unless you can see what is behind the green!
And yes, man up, I have learnt over the years that I like to be the big man and hit less club.....and always come up short. It is a mental thing, you can see what is short of the green, unless there is water you will be happier taking one less club unless you can see what is behind the green!
dcbrad
locked and reloaded
Great write-up lukes, sounds like those sticks are working out super well for you!
REFERENCE LINKS:
REFERENCE INFO:
· Driver Swing Speed: 95mph
· 7i Swing Speed: 83mph
· ScoringAvg: Low 90s, occasionally in the high 80’s
· Typical Miss: Off the heel / block right
Conditions:
49* and drizzly. No discernible wind.
Surface / Balls:
Fitting – really nice mats / nice Nike range balls / Trackman machine
Range – substandard mats / beater Nike range balls / no Trackman
Session:
If there are any Seinfeld fans out there you may remember the episode where George gets a massage from a man and comes back to Jerry’s place nervously saying “it moved.” Well my fellow THPrs, I’m here to tell you there was some figurative golf club induced “movement” today.
Okay, quick interjection of bad news: I went to the range where I used to take lessons. Even after doing a fitting and buying a club they made it clear they are not going to let me on the Trackman machines. Obviously this negatively impacts my ability to do testing. I’ll have to figure something out. Other than that minor hiccup today was just WOW.
The purpose of today’s trip to the range was multi-fold. First, I wanted to get the clubs fitted for lie. Second, I wanted to order the SW, bent to spec’s. Third, I wanted to bang some balls.
First swing with the club fitter: smooth 7i flew high, long and straight. 170 yards. That is LONG for me. And remember, that’s with cold weather and a range ball (a regular warm season 7i with my old clubs is 155yds). My swing speed was up to @85-86, but I wasn’t swinging harder at all from last session…if anything I was putting a more compact, smooth and efficient swing on the ball. The fitter had me work my way through the bag. This pattern repeated itself over and over. Smooth swing, long, high, straight ball. The fitter asked me my handicap. I told him I’m about an 18. He laughed at me and started calling me a sandbagger. He was not trying to sell me anything…he literally could not correlate the shots he was seeing with that index.
The result of the fitting is that I am like ½ a degree too flat. The fitter recommended we leave the clubs alone for now. I will come back in a few months after I’ve played them and we’ll confirm the ‘do nothing’ diagnosis. That was good enough for me so I ordered the SW.
From there I went to the regular bays and hit a bucket of balls.
If the slotted irons are Ginger the non slotted irons are Mary Ann: they fly a little under the radar but are smoking hot in their own right. I am falling in love with the 8-AW. I spent a decent amount of time taking ¾ 9i swings at a pin advertised as 127 (I think it was further for me because of the bay I was in). The goal here wasn’t distance, I was looking at playability and control. Man was I impressed.
To give you some perspective, I come to this testing hitting the ball relatively well off the tee but actually struggling with my iron play. I played two rounds Thanksgiving week where I was in the fairway all day long and had like 2 GIRs per round. Back to testing… I was dialed in with the 9i. Shot after shot was high and straight. Then I decided to try working the ball. I was able to turn it over and put a little draw on it. I was able to play a little fade. This isn’t tour level ball maneuvering, but remember I play to an 18 and I have been struggling mightily with the irons. Yet here I was moving old range balls left and right on demand.
More or less the other clubs were equally impressive (minus shaping shots). So I took a chance and faced my nemesis, the 4i, head on. My swing was still mediocre but improved from the first session. The results reflected my swing. I hit more than my fair share of bad shots. I hit some mediocre shots that didn’t look pretty but would have been plenty playable on the course. Then there were a couple of times when I put a solid swing on this club. I lost sight of the ball beyond the 200 yard marker. Ball flight was penetrating. I didn’t hit many like this but I’ve never hit a 4i like that in my life before today. I’m not sure I am good enough to bag a 4i long term (and I love my hybrid) but if it can be done there are some early indications it will be this 4i.
I’ll wrap up with this thought. I was one of those guys who pooh-poohed the notion of getting fit for shafts. That is so wrong. These shafts feel so much better to me than what I was playing before. Per the fitter I should have been in Stiff all along. Maybe some of what I’m experiencing can be attributed to being in the right shaft. I don’t know. What I do know is it has been only two range sessions and this guy, who is genetically inclined toward cynicism and being overly critical, is on his way to being seriously impressed. That does not happen with me very often.
I can’t wait to get these out on the course this Sunday.
- Background Info & Testing Thoughts: CLICK HERE
- Initial Impressions and First Range Session: CLICK HERE
REFERENCE INFO:
· Driver Swing Speed: 95mph
· 7i Swing Speed: 83mph
· ScoringAvg: Low 90s, occasionally in the high 80’s
· Typical Miss: Off the heel / block right
Conditions:
49* and drizzly. No discernible wind.
Surface / Balls:
Fitting – really nice mats / nice Nike range balls / Trackman machine
Range – substandard mats / beater Nike range balls / no Trackman
Session:
If there are any Seinfeld fans out there you may remember the episode where George gets a massage from a man and comes back to Jerry’s place nervously saying “it moved.” Well my fellow THPrs, I’m here to tell you there was some figurative golf club induced “movement” today.
Okay, quick interjection of bad news: I went to the range where I used to take lessons. Even after doing a fitting and buying a club they made it clear they are not going to let me on the Trackman machines. Obviously this negatively impacts my ability to do testing. I’ll have to figure something out. Other than that minor hiccup today was just WOW.
The purpose of today’s trip to the range was multi-fold. First, I wanted to get the clubs fitted for lie. Second, I wanted to order the SW, bent to spec’s. Third, I wanted to bang some balls.
First swing with the club fitter: smooth 7i flew high, long and straight. 170 yards. That is LONG for me. And remember, that’s with cold weather and a range ball (a regular warm season 7i with my old clubs is 155yds). My swing speed was up to @85-86, but I wasn’t swinging harder at all from last session…if anything I was putting a more compact, smooth and efficient swing on the ball. The fitter had me work my way through the bag. This pattern repeated itself over and over. Smooth swing, long, high, straight ball. The fitter asked me my handicap. I told him I’m about an 18. He laughed at me and started calling me a sandbagger. He was not trying to sell me anything…he literally could not correlate the shots he was seeing with that index.
The result of the fitting is that I am like ½ a degree too flat. The fitter recommended we leave the clubs alone for now. I will come back in a few months after I’ve played them and we’ll confirm the ‘do nothing’ diagnosis. That was good enough for me so I ordered the SW.
From there I went to the regular bays and hit a bucket of balls.
If the slotted irons are Ginger the non slotted irons are Mary Ann: they fly a little under the radar but are smoking hot in their own right. I am falling in love with the 8-AW. I spent a decent amount of time taking ¾ 9i swings at a pin advertised as 127 (I think it was further for me because of the bay I was in). The goal here wasn’t distance, I was looking at playability and control. Man was I impressed.
To give you some perspective, I come to this testing hitting the ball relatively well off the tee but actually struggling with my iron play. I played two rounds Thanksgiving week where I was in the fairway all day long and had like 2 GIRs per round. Back to testing… I was dialed in with the 9i. Shot after shot was high and straight. Then I decided to try working the ball. I was able to turn it over and put a little draw on it. I was able to play a little fade. This isn’t tour level ball maneuvering, but remember I play to an 18 and I have been struggling mightily with the irons. Yet here I was moving old range balls left and right on demand.
More or less the other clubs were equally impressive (minus shaping shots). So I took a chance and faced my nemesis, the 4i, head on. My swing was still mediocre but improved from the first session. The results reflected my swing. I hit more than my fair share of bad shots. I hit some mediocre shots that didn’t look pretty but would have been plenty playable on the course. Then there were a couple of times when I put a solid swing on this club. I lost sight of the ball beyond the 200 yard marker. Ball flight was penetrating. I didn’t hit many like this but I’ve never hit a 4i like that in my life before today. I’m not sure I am good enough to bag a 4i long term (and I love my hybrid) but if it can be done there are some early indications it will be this 4i.
I’ll wrap up with this thought. I was one of those guys who pooh-poohed the notion of getting fit for shafts. That is so wrong. These shafts feel so much better to me than what I was playing before. Per the fitter I should have been in Stiff all along. Maybe some of what I’m experiencing can be attributed to being in the right shaft. I don’t know. What I do know is it has been only two range sessions and this guy, who is genetically inclined toward cynicism and being overly critical, is on his way to being seriously impressed. That does not happen with me very often.
I can’t wait to get these out on the course this Sunday.
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spdraser21
New member
Hey all. What's the general feeling on the stock shafts with the bladez? Thanks!!
Brianbigoats
Active member
So i had my second range session with these irons they seem to get better every time i was hitting the 4i so far i took my 3 hybrid out of the bag my 5 wood goes 240- 235 my blades 4i is about 220-215 same as hybrid. i have gained about 10 yards and accuracy has gone way up both the gm and pro at my course were hitting my irons today both are on staff with Titleist the pro is ready to sell his 2mo old 712 mb and get tour bladez because he loves the way the reg bladez play he said my irons were the best he had ever hit and thought "this little thing" would change the way we look at irons. after 2 range sessions i feel super confident every time i take a swing
It is early for me with the clubs but my initial impression is these shafts are a massive upgrade over my prior shafts. I don't have a lot of experience with different shafts so I'm hesitant to say much more than that. I am sure other testers are much better qualified to speak to this more intelligently though.
barryboymunro
Active member
How easy is it to clean the slots after each shot?
rafdo
Active member
The shafts are a well balanced match to the heads. The lighter weight (85g) allows you to feel the clubhead through the swing, its a feeling I prefer. I'm sure they also contribute to the higher launch and faster clubhead speeds we are all seeing.
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Do you mean the slot on the sole? It is polymer filled, so nothing really accumulates in there.