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TaylorMade SpeedBlade Irons Review Thread

SuperStroke
Got out for another round today with the SpeedBlades. Wind was up around 20 mph the entire round which made it all the more interesting. I've gathered 2 things from today: 1) When struck pure, these fly through the wind better than I had anticipated (purely based off of the launch height killing momentum into the win) and 2) I rarely hit any iron pure. That being said, it was a fun day out there. I'm slowly learning that trying to really get into a swing and kill the ball will not produce the desired results. One thing that I've noticed is these clubs really clean up well, especially the sole for all us diggers out there. A little water, slight brushing, and a towel and these are fresh and clean. Definitely beneficial for neat freaks like me!
 
My pro just texted and let me know my SpeedBlades with standard graphite shafts have arrived. Of course that happens while I'm out of town. I'll be getting to these Friday and possibly over the weekend, so I'll post my thoughts once I have the chance.
 
Ill get a chance to give these a whack next week, I've hit the rocketbladez before and they were explosive, so I've got high hopes.
 
Can anyone speak about the stock shafts? 85 g seems too light. I'm currently using kbs tour stiff 120 g in my rbz tours. I fear that the difference may be too much for me. Does anyone like the stock shafts or are more people choosing other shafts?

My dream setup would probably be speedblade with kbs tour 90 (102 g).
 
Kchauv said:
Can anyone speak about the stock shafts? 85 g seems too light. I'm currently using kbs tour stiff 120 g in my rbz tours. I fear that the difference may be too much for me. Does anyone like the stock shafts or are more people choosing other shafts?

My dream setup would probably be speedblade with kbs tour 90 (102 g).
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The stock shafts are surprisingly solid for me. Like others have noted, when you really want to lean on one and get a few extra yards, it's easy to lose it. I think based on what you are playing, the tour 90s would be a solid combo. Only real way to find out is to give them a try.
 
Kchauv said:
Can anyone speak about the stock shafts? 85 g seems too light. I'm currently using kbs tour stiff 120 g in my rbz tours. I fear that the difference may be too much for me. Does anyone like the stock shafts or are more people choosing other shafts?

My dream setup would probably be speedblade with kbs tour 90 (102 g).
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I have been quite impressed with the stock shafts in these, for sure. Having come from irons with the Tour 90s in them, I can say that they play a bit similar. Both of the shafts offer a nice ball flight for me, giving me a bit of assistance with getting the ball up in the air. I can tell you this, dont confuse the weight of them with the stiffness. For being a light shaft, they still have a stoutness to them.
 
War Eagle said:
I have been quite impressed with the stock shafts in these, for sure. Having come from irons with the Tour 90s in them, I can say that they play a bit similar. Both of the shafts offer a nice ball flight for me, giving me a bit of assistance with getting the ball up in the air. I can tell you this, dont confuse the weight of them with the stiffness. For being a light shaft, they still have a stoutness to them.
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Precisely, the lighter is weaker thing doesn't stand true like it once did, at all. I've seen some BIG swingers play the stock shafts and get really really nice numbers and performance from them.
 
Jman said:
Precisely, the lighter is weaker thing doesn't stand true like it once did, at all. I've seen some BIG swingers play the stock shafts and get really really nice numbers and performance from them.
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What have I told you about referring to me as a big swinger?
 
Had an interesting day with these. After I stopped being lazy the first 7 holes and started TURNING I remembered why I enjoy these so much. High and easy ballflight with a soft down again and again. Plus, for the 1,000th time, they just look damn good IMO.
 
Jman said:
Had an interesting day with these. After I stopped being lazy the first 7 holes and started TURNING I remembered why I enjoy these so much. High and easy ballflight with a soft down again and again. Plus, for the 1,000th time, they just look damn good IMO.
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They sure are pretty, arent they?

For me, the biggest thing I find that I like about these is that I dont have to try and get after it to get the shot that I want. Smooth swing gives me distance, ball flight, and accuracy that I need. Hoping to get out and play this weekend, as I need to spend more time with these.
 
War Eagle said:
They sure are pretty, arent they?

For me, the biggest thing I find that I like about these is that I dont have to try and get after it to get the shot that I want. Smooth swing gives me distance, ball flight, and accuracy that I need. Hoping to get out and play this weekend, as I need to spend more time with these.
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I agree, in fact that very thing has made me start taking partial shots, which is something I have NEEEEEEVER done.
 
Jman said:
I agree, in fact that very thing has made me start taking partial shots, which is something I have NEEEEEEVER done.
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Over the past few months, I have become a big believer in the "Club up, swing easier" thought.
 
i went to the range today, hit 3 buckets, and i think a solid two of them were just with my new 55*. And I couldn't hit a bad shot. I swear the arc on these are ridiculous. I was just slightly short than the G25 SW I had (which kinda makes sense since those were 54*), but man, I was all over a 105 yard flag/green on my range. Literally would say i hit 100 balls, and if 5 of them were outside of a 10 yard radius I'd be shocked. I'm playing a one-day tourney end of this month, and unless my iron play forces me to keep them..i'm buying the set. I'm half tempted though to ditch my 60* vokey and Amp GW and get the whole speedblade wedge set regardless... it was that good. I don't think I've ever had a better range session with a single club. I felt like Phil
 
Kchauv said:
Can anyone speak about the stock shafts? 85 g seems too light. I'm currently using kbs tour stiff 120 g in my rbz tours. I fear that the difference may be too much for me. Does anyone like the stock shafts or are more people choosing other shafts?

My dream setup would probably be speedblade with kbs tour 90 (102 g).
Click to expand...

I am coming from an 85 gram shaft with my Burner HT set. I actually added lead tape to the HTs as I was having issues with knowing where the club head was at during the swing since it was a light head. The head on the SpeedBlade is heavier and is a much better fit for the 85 gram shaft. Coming from 120 gram shaft though I would think that the KBS Tour 90 would be a good fit.
 
Played 18 yesterday and it was a tale of 2 nines. I was not feeling real well for the first 9 and could not concentrate at all. I didn't hit a single fairway off the box and the rough at Sugarloaf is brutal so I was limited on my iron selection. Mainly just hacking it out back into play and I failed miserably at that task more often than not. I really don't think that had a single shot worth commenting on other than some decent putting.

The back 9 was a totally different story. I was able to take measures that made me feel better then I went out and had one of my best 9 holes in years, shooting a 45 (with a triple after a tee shot ricocheted back into the water on a par 3). I didn't miss a fairway at all which allowed me to actually use the SpeedBlades and I was able to put good swings on them. I still stayed away from the 4 and 5 irons, but the 6 - PW shinned. I hit more good shots with these irons than I think that I have ever hit before. Including a PW from about 115 yards out that landed pin high about 5 right off the pin and then rolled out just about 3 feet. Of course I just missed the putt for a par, but it left me a tap in for bogey. And I am always happy with a bogey or better. I know that this review isn't getting into a lot specifics about the irons, but so much has been said (and said so very well) by others that all I can do is echo those thoughts. This clubs flat out perform when a even decent swing is made.
 
Rebel420 said:
One thing I haven't seen in this mega-thread, is how well the smoke satin finish holds up. I know these are new, but if some of the original posters who have put in any serious time could chime in, perhaps with a pic or 2 of the worst wear they have, it would be great!
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In follow up of this post, I cleaned (apparently poorly) the irons and snapped a few photos. We are a full month after reception of the irons, so there's been plenty of range time and quite a number of rounds played.

First, the bottom... I expected the lighter chrome finish to scuff a lot more than it has, honestly.

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The backing of the irons has maintained a pretty consistent look overall. With the soft matte finish, I fully expected some wear and notable lines, but again, I have been pleasantly surprised with the consistency across the iron set to maintain finish. I would have called it bag chatter, but it's more... bag rub?

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Faces. It's what you'd expect swinging a club towards a ball and ground over the course of a month. Notable finish change to more of a shine than a matte along the base of the face upwards a couple of grooves. From what I can tell, the grooves are holding strong and all changes to the face are cosmetic, leaving the clubs in perfect playing shape (if not grooved gloriously for success).

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Here are some face-on-into-light pics. I think this does a great job of showing the wear, but a poor job of representing how they actually look to the naked eye.

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Because of that, I opted to snap a photo of the most used club in the bag, the 7 iron, at address. Magically, it looks like it just got the wrapping pulled off..

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I hope that offers a good look towards the longevity of the finish, and what most would expect from TaylorMade in this type of club design. Very much consistent if not improved from their Burner 2.0 line, with a slightly more unique look overall.
 
Back at it with these in the bag tomorrow. It's always quite telling about a set of irons, when you crave to hit the irons after a week away from the course.
 
Picked these up my set with the newly installed graphite shafts in them today. Hit them a handful of times and had my Dad game them during the round, as he usually plays the Rocketballz irons. I'll have a lot more thoughts at the end of the weekend, but for now, I can say these are more forgiving than I expected. I had a few mis hits, but they still held on my line and hit the green. This excites me.

My Dad liked them too, but I think he was so enamored with the R1 that he wasn't at full attention. He thought they (SpeedBlades) looked a lot sharper and was getting more distance than he expected.

Range session tomorrow and will get some pics going, but if the 4i doesn't some how win a spot in my bag by the end of the month, I'd be pretty surprised.
 
Took these to the range this morning with a couple other sets of irons for comparison sake.

As far as looks go, here are a few photos of the stock graphite shafts and and how they look at address. They compliment the clubhead well.

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It's been a couple weeks since I've been able to hit these, and that was with the steel shafts. But I forgot how much I liked the look of them; the darker club head is visually appealing and the slightly thinner top line (compared to my Mizunos) made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside at address.

I did a straight Pepsi taste test between the SpeedBlades, my JPX 825's and some Diablo Forgeds with KBS Tour 90 stiff shafts that my pro set up for me. It's ironic that I'm able to hit the DF's when I decided to switch these to graphite, but I attribute my time with the stiff steel shafts in the SpeedBlades to understanding that it's not a stretch for me to play steel shafts with proper weighting. At any rate, I would take a certain iron, hit it a couple times, then take the same number iron in the other two models. I was interested if I could tell any differences between them and if I could even decide which set I'd put in my bag after the range session.

I started with the PW. Putting a nice tempo swing that worked with the steel shafts worked with the graphites too. Quite honestly, I was hitting the Mizzies and the SB's pretty much the same. The DF was a tad lower and going a little to the left. I've said in previous posts that the SB's in graphite feel very similar to my 825's and it felt that way when I was swinging them.

Next up was the 8i. The JPX 825's have always launched high and far for me and I was getting great dispersion. Now that I was warmed up, I put a little more of a swing on the SpeedBlades and wow, I was getting the height and launch I saw in Orlando, but was getting it much more often. I also probably saw about 10-15 yards more length as well. For me personally, this got me all excited and I started swinging out of my shoes, so had to simmer down and get down to business.

I went down to the 5i. I've been using a hybrid in this slot for years and don't even have a 5i with my 825's, but did have one from the DF set. I was particularly interested in the 4i and 5i from the SpeedBlades and it was the primary reason I switched to graphite. Ultimately I'd like an iron set where I can play every club from the bottom to top and move to one or two hybrids. I hit the 5i well. I saw ball flight come down a little, but distance was consistent with my current 5h. This will probably be the biggest battle in my bag for a while, as I love my 5h, but I found that even the nice tempo swing on the SB worked well. Where I think the SpeedBlade 5i may win out over my 5h were on the mis hits. I think the forgiveness really shined here, as I saw a loss of distance yet remained straight, which is a miss I'd prefer over a long sweeping hook 75 yards to the left I see with my 5h now. The DF went straight and high for me, but I wasn't getting the distance I was looking for, or getting, with the SpeedBlades.

Then to the 4i, the moment of truth. Could I hit this club with any consistency and distance or would I stick with the hybos? That will take a while to figure out, but things were promising here. The highlight was getting the 4i out to 195-200 yards. That's a little longer than my 4h and was fun to hit it that far, but again, the forgiveness is what really impressed me. Mis hits stayed straight with a loss of distance. And you know what that reminds me of? My beloved R1. I know with my current skill level, I'm going to have some mis hits, so figuring out where the ball goes on mis hits is almost as important to me as where the ball goes when I hit it well. So staying straight and losing distance on mis hits is a major factor IMO.

I had the AW put in graphite as well and it went even higher than it did in steel. This will be another big battle in my bag, as my current 50 degree wedge is pretty money. The height on the AW, however, is tough to ignore and I can see it being a big help in sticking a lot more greens.

Ultimately, it was a great range session and I'm genuinely excited to get the SpeedBlades in play more and more to see what progress I can make with them. It was too tough to call a winner between the sets, but I was really impressed with what I saw in the graphite shafts. Towering shots with great distance and a nice spring effect at impact that reminded me of my 825's. Yet the forgiveness and flight on mis hits really stuck with me. I will be taking the 6- AW with me for a round on Monday, so we'll see if I can take the great stuff I saw on the range to the course. I'd also like to explore the workability and gapping of the SpeedBlades, so will be figuring out that as well. Finally, we'll see if the 4 and 5i are able to take over the entrenched hybrids. It will be interesting how everything shakes out in the next few weeks.
 
Great recap PGG!

I really liked the detail on the 4i & 5i. Like you, I have played a 5h as much as possible over the last few years and seek a good amount of forgiveness with any club in that spot. Very nice to hear that even on mishits you are still seeing that straight shot instead of a sweeping miss.
 
Jman said:
I agree, in fact that very thing has made me start taking partial shots, which is something I have NEEEEEEVER done.
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So jmantestingmachine can I expect some speedblade vs s55 head to head battle stories? 2 different weapons thats for sure but id be interested to see how they perform head to head with some solid swings.
 
Enjoyed reading all of that PGG. It's been a while since I have tried graphite shafted irons, and it seems like the technology has gotten better and better, even in stock offerings.
 
Finally got a chance to hit the Speedblades....only took out the 4,5 and 7 iron.

The 7 iron was pretty easy to hit. Felt abit odd as these shafts are lighter than my 115g PX's I am used to. That said, I was hitting it abit fat at first despite it being same exact length as current 7 iron. I think I was swinging too hard at first. Once I got used to it I was hitting high fades. When I hit it flush, it didnt go any further than my DPC 7 iron and it shouldnt as its same loft and length. Face felt more firm as expected and I did lose some feel...no surprises really.

But then I hit the 5 and 4 iron and thats where the biggest difference is imho. Quite abit easier to hit and launches it higher that my DPC. All shots that arent flushed launch better with SB's. The thinned shots launch higher and further with these clubs.

Question for me now is do I just play the entire SB set or just put the SB 4-6 iron in the bag and go DPC for everything else?
 
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