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TaylorMade Tour Preferred MB Irons Review Thread

SuperStroke
GregDan said:
Trout I wonder if maybe you couldn't try and have the leading edges ground down a bit to give it a little more rounder leading edge so it doesn't dig so much.

Or if you did that would it totally screw up the bounce and the overall performance?
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I did think About sending them to someone and doing that but honestly I don't want to ruin the looks of them, I figure they're either the right sticks or they're not to be honest. I'm willing to say at this point that they are a ton of club and you really have to be on and practicing a ton to play them which I'm not able to do right now lol. It's frustrating putting something down but I'm doing it out of respect for them more than anything. They are beautiful though.
 
Jman said:
The launch angle off of these is shocking. I've not seen much quite like it out of an MB to be honest.

When I can hit a towering 3i? That be cray cray.
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I had great flight with the 6 and the 4 iron in multiple different shafts, and found some really impressive accuracy with the head. For whatever reason, I just don't find these to be an incredibly intimidating club when I pull them from a bag and take a few swings like I might with some bladed irons. That they can include some launch for people is great.

Bullfrog said:
I liked them too. But know I would have liked them better if the shafts were better fit for my game. I'm hoping I get a chance to hit these. I'm not in the mindset of changing irons cuz I love my ACP's but I love the looks of these too.
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Totally understandable, but they'll never know if you take a quick look at these beauties!
 
Took these out for my round today in warmer, yet standing water fairways. Results were about a half a club short every time. Most results ended up about half a ball off sweet spot towards the toe.

With them being half an inch too long and 2 upright for me, to me it makes sense. They're a degree stronger than my 588mb's were, so I would imagine I'd have similar yardages when they're apples to apples comparable.

It's driving me crazy through when I have a flat lie and I see a ball just do the exact opposite of what I'm used to with the same clubs in hand.
 
Mward said:
Took these out for my round today in warmer, yet standing water fairways. Results were about a half a club short every time. Most results ended up about half a ball off sweet spot towards the toe.

With them being half an inch too long and 2 upright for me, to me it makes sense. They're a degree stronger than my 588mb's were, so I would imagine I'd have similar yardages when they're apples to apples comparable.

It's driving me crazy through when I have a flat lie and I see a ball just do the exact opposite of what I'm used to with the same clubs in hand.
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You choking up at all? Seems like a pretty simple move that would make all the difference (beyond chopping them with that pipe cutter I know you have hahaha).

Interesting that you're experiencing distance loss. What's the difference in shafts from your other gamers?
 
Canadan said:
You choking up at all? Seems like a pretty simple move that would make all the difference (beyond chopping them with that pipe cutter I know you have hahaha).

Interesting that you're experiencing distance loss. What's the difference in shafts from your other gamers?
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I am choking up on them yeah which is why I think I might be having the consistency issues them. The amount of gripping down is never consistent and never feels comfortable knowing that they're not quite right. I thought they were a degree different but on a second glance but they're identical in loft to my 588's.

Current shaft in these are KBS Tours, the other gamers are KBS Tour V2's. The shafts prior to that were both KBS Tours and S300's. On what I've hit solid, I've enjoyed quite a bit but ARRRGGGH it sucks knowing what the center of the clubface feels like, and then hitting these just fractions off consistently.

I'm sure once they're corrected, these will be much less frustrating. Then again, I'll have no excuse left for poor swings hahaha
 
Here is my review:

I made quite the leap when I chose the MB irons. Having gamed the S55 irons for some time, I thought the MC would be too similar in style and size, so took the leap. My handicap has progressively dropped with lessons and practice, to its current point of 4.9. Ball striking is one of my strongest assets, but I still fight inconsistencies that requires scrambling and a hope and a prayer. I went into Ultimate Testing confident in my game and I hit the ball well so the MB's certainly were not a liability. I have had 4 rounds of golf with them now and here are the pros and cons.

Pros: Having never gamed a true blade before, I was uncertain what to expect. What I found was an irons that truly allowed shot shaping and control that you hear about from better players. What surprise me was the high, consistent ball flight. I was fighting a lot of swing issues in Florida and found myself under trees and other obstacles and I really learned how to hit a knock down trap draw with precision! Solid, well struck shots feel as good as you imagine. The clubs were actually a tad more forgiving then expected. Of course, badly struck shots were punished but not to the degree I expected. The club frames the ball well and TaylorMade made the right choice in the brushed finish. Having played Mizuno MP-64's before, I never was comfortable with the bright chrome finish. These look about as perfect as possible.

Cons: The cons so much aren't the clubs but where I am at with my game. I am working on some swing adjustments courtesy of Panda Kong, so I am focusing on certain swing thoughts during my game. What these irons introduce however is an additional thought, "is this club what I should be playing right now?" My ball striking is good, but I have enough going on in my dome, I don't need to doubt myself that I am ready to make these my primary gamers. My Morgan Cup preparation has me focusing solely on my game and I am trying to limit as many distractions as possible and these clubs introduce an unnecessary thought. Don't get me wrong, I firmly believe my Morgan Cup bag will include some iteration of the MB irons, probably as part of a mixed set. How high that set goes depends largely on the progress I make in the next few months.

I am not trying to discourage anyone from picking these up, as they are an amazing set of clubs. If you are a good ball striker and want to better control you're shots, these are certainly my choice of say the MP-4 to Titleist MB. But for me, this is a set I will need to grow into so for right now they will serve as inspiration and reward for future progress.
 
Great review, Fupresti.

I think a lot of learned a lot that weekend from the TM guys. And what we "thought" we wanted, we all kind of realized that we needed to take one step up on the iron list. Case in point; I picked the MCs, but found out quickly the CBs were what should have been in my bag all along.
 
War Eagle said:
Great review, Fupresti.

I think a lot of learned a lot that weekend from the TM guys. And what we "thought" we wanted, we all kind of realized that we needed to take one step up on the iron list. Case in point; I picked the MCs, but found out quickly the CBs were what should have been in my bag all along.
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Yeah. I have see in you swing and I know you can play the MC's, but what matters is whats between your 2 ears and I think a tad more forgiveness is what is needed. Last thing you want to be doing is questioning your equipment.
 
fupresti said:
Yeah. I have see in you swing and I know you can play the MC's, but what matters is whats between your 2 ears and I think a tad more forgiveness is what is needed. Last thing you want to be doing is questioning your equipment.
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No doubt, dude. I gamed the MCs without a problem, really. But, what I found was that the results were just achieved a bit easier with the CBs.

During my round with the MCs when Jman and JB were riding around, I think I referred to them as a "thinker set". As in, I had to 100% dial in my focus to get the results as I wanted. With the CBs, and the added forgiveness, I found that I could swing a bit looser and comfortable to get the desired result.

That "looseness" is something that I need in my game, I dont need to be mental on the golf course when it comes to equipment, I have too many other issues going on that I need to take care of, lol.
 
I had a chance to take my MB 6 iron out for a spin and I was worried because some of the feedback. I expected a harsh feeling, a low ball and instant discouragement. What I found was something entirely different.

The he head is small, sharp top line, short from toe to heal and no room for error. I took one practice swing, set up and hit my intended line. I took another practice swing and setup 20 yds right of my previous line and hit that line.

Toe holes later I attempted a sweeping drawing and was greeted with a solid shot that just hung to the right. I drop a ball at 150 choked down and hit a low stinger directly at the flag that never left its target.

I finished my testing with a few cuts on the range. The same mid ball flight was present, divots were small and shallow and in one piece as they settled 10 or so feet in front of me. I do manage a thin shot that lost distance and trajectory. But all in all, one of the easiest true forged blades I have had the pleasure of swinging.

TaylorMade hit it on the once with these. A true blade in every sense of the word. I'm sure the long irons will produce a lower shot but the feel and interaction I saw was very promising.
 
Nice write up Freddie, actually the long irons are high and accurate as a lazer, I've never hit any like them. They're beautiful.
 
Freddie doing work! Nice dude!
 
Trout Bum said:
Nice write up Freddie, actually the long irons are high and accurate as a lazer, I've never hit any like them. They're beautiful.
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I agree, the long irons launched really really nicely for me in the MB's on the range as well. Gorgeous irons, way too much iron for me though hahaha.
 
Tadashi70 said:
I had a chance to take my MB 6 iron out for a spin and I was worried because some of the feedback. I expected a harsh feeling, a low ball and instant discouragement. What I found was something entirely different.

The he head is small, sharp top line, short from toe to heal and no room for error. I took one practice swing, set up and hit my intended line. I took another practice swing and setup 20 yds right of my previous line and hit that line.

Toe holes later I attempted a sweeping drawing and was greeted with a solid shot that just hung to the right. I drop a ball at 150 choked down and hit a low stinger directly at the flag that never left its target.

I finished my testing with a few cuts on the range. The same mid ball flight was present, divots were small and shallow and in one piece as they settled 10 or so feet in front of me. I do manage a thin shot that lost distance and trajectory. But all in all, one of the easiest true forged blades I have had the pleasure of swinging.

TaylorMade hit it on the once with these. A true blade in every sense of the word. I'm sure the long irons will produce a lower shot but the feel and interaction I saw was very promising.
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In my experience, I hit the 5-iron 4 times in the two days of testing and every single one produced a nice high fade with control. No problems with turf interaction and stingers.
 
I've yet to see these live, but I can't imagine not having the short irons from this set in my bag.

I don't feel discouraged by blades, on the contrary.

Question about the offset, the MB's have less offset...on the other hand...I'll start a thread about offset...
 
Yesterday I went to the range for a bit and brought along the 5 and 8 irons from the set so I could do some real comparisons against my irons. The 5 irons are very similar, easy to get up in the air with a nice soft 5 yd cut and even though the Tour Preferred is a little higher it was a half club shorter than my MP68's the divots were identical and the turf interaction was fine. The 8 irons were different, the MP68 was smooth and piercing, it glides through the turf with little effort and is just plain ole predictable. The Tour Preferred MB is better looking at address and launches a bit higher, but the turf interaction drives me crazy. Most shots dug and took huge divots which resulted in the club being about a 10 to 15 yds shorter than I'm used to and I had no confidence with it in my hand. My personal thinking is that the shaft is totally the wrong shaft for me and I'm really pondering going with my trusty S300 in these. It has to be the shaft, the irons are very similar in many regards with the Tour Preferred MB having a little sharper leading edge but other than that the difference is in the finish and shaft, there's no reason I should have difficulty hitting these. I love them and will get the right shafts soon and give them another run after that.
 
Announcement

Thanks to Taylormade and THP our concierge service just got a little better.
With this service you typically have to send your clubs in to have all of these changes made and then sent back to you.

NOT FOR US!!!! TM now has a list of our 12 names and when we call in, they will get our info and send us a BRAND NEW SET. Once received you will have to send the old set back to TM.

If you have any other questions, please let GG know. Obviously if you have already sent your clubs in before this announcement, this arrangement would not apply to you.

thanks
 
Do you have to call again then? When I made that call an hour ago, they told me I had to send my own box etc.
 
Took these out for a quick 9 before an unexpected rain shower threw a wrench in my late afternoon. Best ball striking round to date with these. Choked down much more than usual to get the club sitting flush on the ground instead of toe up like it had been. Even when choked down a smidge to lose the half inch over, the toe was still hanging in the air and I could never hit what I thought was a solid shot. A little tweaking here and there and it was nice to finally hit these solid.

Distance was back on par with my 588mb's as well as the Apex Pros, but with a higher flight than both due to KBS Tours vs S300's/weaker lofts than my Apex Pros. All I can say is FINALLY.

I was able to hit a high or mid flight shot, but was having difficult hitting anything low. Might still have the mental issue of these not quite fitting right, so I won't know until next week when that's been fixed. I was just happy to be hitting these in the center of the face again.
 
Mward said:
Do you have to call again then? When I made that call an hour ago, they told me I had to send my own box etc.
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Just got off the phone, easy peasy and handled.
 
These are some beautiful looking irons. One of these days I'll be able to afford a new set, but I love reading about them. When the day comes for a new set these OME are making it harder and harder to decide what to buy, but these are up there.
 
Mward said:
Took these out for a quick 9 before an unexpected rain shower threw a wrench in my late afternoon. Best ball striking round to date with these. Choked down much more than usual to get the club sitting flush on the ground instead of toe up like it had been. Even when choked down a smidge to lose the half inch over, the toe was still hanging in the air and I could never hit what I thought was a solid shot. A little tweaking here and there and it was nice to finally hit these solid.

Distance was back on par with my 588mb's as well as the Apex Pros, but with a higher flight than both due to KBS Tours vs S300's/weaker lofts than my Apex Pros. All I can say is FINALLY.

I was able to hit a high or mid flight shot, but was having difficult hitting anything low. Might still have the mental issue of these not quite fitting right, so I won't know until next week when that's been fixed. I was just happy to be hitting these in the center of the face again.
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Did you get the new irons cut down? Why do you think they were shorter before and not now? I'm still a half club short with mine.
 
Trout Bum said:
Did you get the new irons cut down? Why do you think they were shorter before and not now? I'm still a half club short with mine.
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They're not cut down yet, I just choked down maybe an inch and a half until the sole was flush on the ground. Before, it was toe up at where my hands would normally sit length wise on the club. Everything just felt like I was glancing off of it, no matter how angry I was getting and swinging harder and harder like when you and I went to the range with these after our Saturday rounds.

It was shorter in length and still didn't feel as comfortable as a proper fit club, but at least I felt like I could take a confident and aggressive swipe at the ball instead of that timid weak crap I had been doing.
 
y6u7erup.jpg


Hello again old friend. Just got my tweaked set from Taylormade. Decided to stick with what I was selected for, as I like these but they just needed to fit me.

-1/2
2 flat
White and black NDMC
 
TaylorMade Tour Preferred MB Irons Review Thread

For me...This the point when want just steamrolled need.
 
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