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TaylorMade SpeedBlade Irons Review Thread

SuperStroke
#Cookie said:
Nice! They would be my choice without question having played them and the CB's...unless TM is unveiling a hybrid iron set anytime soon. :)
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Don't tease me like that, a TM hybrid iron set at this point would throw my brain into overload!
 
To those who receive(d) a SB 6i, in the recent contest, and are interested in getting the full set, you can purchase the 6 thru 8 piece set excluding the 6I through Global Golf (custom order), and also get the $100 trade in bonus. My set cost me $599 minus $225 and $100 ($325 total) trade in for my r11s . I liked my R11s but I love the feel of that SB 6 iron; and hope the rest of the set is as sweet.

Being 75, I can certainly use the help this club provides. The free 6I, and the clubs I ordered are Left Hand, Senior graphite, standard length and lie.

More forgiving, higher launch, better dispersion pattern, and great feel. What's not to like?

Note: This info has also been posted under the Speedblade 6i contest thread (333) but is repeated here in view of the potential importance to winning members.
 
It was TaylorMade Demo Day at my club today and I got to do some work with the Speed Blade irons. I took my RocketBladez 6 iron with me to get some comparison data. Things didn't work out ideally. TM only brought 7 irons, and my club didn't want us hitting off of grass (what grass?)! The LM was set up for drivers, and the irons were to be hit off of mats without the LM. I convinced them to let me hit off of a lie board where the LM was, so it was SB 7 iron vs. RB 6 iron. SB had stock graphite shaft; RB has custom fitted PX graphite shaft. I hit 5 balls with each and we averaged them. Short story is that the SB 7 iron was only 3 yards shorter than my RB 6 iron. That would imply that the SB irons would be almost a club longer for me. It's a small sample size, I realize, but I'm thinking it will hold true.
 
v.man said:
It was TaylorMade Demo Day at my club today and I got to do some work with the Speed Blade irons. I took my RocketBladez 6 iron with me to get some comparison data. Things didn't work out ideally. TM only brought 7 irons, and my club didn't want us hitting off of grass (what grass?)! The LM was set up for drivers, and the irons were to be hit off of mats without the LM. I convinced them to let me hit off of a lie board where the LM was, so it was SB 7 iron vs. RB 6 iron. SB had stock graphite shaft; RB has custom fitted PX graphite shaft. I hit 5 balls with each and we averaged them. Short story is that the SB 7 iron was only 3 yards shorter than my RB 6 iron. That would imply that the SB irons would be almost a club longer for me. It's a small sample size, I realize, but I'm thinking it will hold true.
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I would be shocked if this weren't the case. Do you have a set of TP CBs? If so, how do you think they feel​ comparatively?
 
O'Carroll said:
I would be shocked if this weren't the case. Do you have a set of TP CBs? If so, how do you think they feel​ comparatively?
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I love the feel of the TP CB's with Aerotech steel fiber shafts a lot. But, they are not as forgiving, distance wise, on slight miss hits. The feel of the Speed Blade with the stock graphite shaft was nice though.
 
v.man said:
I love the feel of the TP CB's with Aerotech steel fiber shafts a lot. But, they are not as forgiving, distance wise, on slight miss hits. The feel of the Speed Blade with the stock graphite shaft was nice though.
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You sound like me buddy. I think the TP feels better but the speedblades just outperform them in both distance and forgiveness.
 
Just finished a round in a nice steady 25 mph wind with gusts hitting 30-35. I'll set the overall score aside as the results were not stellar but moreso due to lost OB and elevating a few in the sand. I am very pleased with the performance if the irons themselves. This is only the 5th round I've played with them so I'm still getting a feel for them. Despite these being designed to get the ball up and in the air, I was able to keep the ball low and under the wind on approaches and par 3s today. Freshly aerated greens made it tough to hold them close to the pin on a few when hitting some knock downs but otherwise that strategy was effective and worked well. I won't say I'm a pro at working the ball but I do feel confident that I can work it to my level of ability and the results are consistent and expected. Some notable shots were 160yd approach in 1 where I hit a 6 iron in to 5ft from the pin (and 2 putted for par....doh!) and a 170 yd with a 5 iron dead into the to within 10 ft on a par 3. Also hit a nice 185 yd 4 iron fade into a green from the high rough. These are not my usual distances but given the wind I'm not complaining! Can't wait for warmer less windy weather here in the northeast!


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ddec said:
You sound like me buddy. I think the TP feels better but the speedblades just outperform them in both distance and forgiveness.
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One fault of mine that the SB's has brought out is a tendency to try to horse them for extra distance. Meaning, after occasionally hitting an SB iron to an absurd (for me) length (like an 8 iron 175) my subconscious started to think I could do it all the time. I pushed my mental grid upwards and I started thinking, "Yeah, I can get this 3 iron to 240, I did it before!" So then I take a big swipe and make a big miss.

I'm now working on taking slower, easier cuts and downgrading my expectations a tad. Old 8 iron only went 150, SB goes 162, but if I take a bit off it I can still get great spread, great height and cleaner contact around 157. The SB's really do like to be swung slow and easy, and you have to fight the urge to get carried away with them. .
 
Just a little education
@TaylorMadeGolf: We asked @Sport_Science to help us explain the power of the SpeedPocket in the SpeedBlade iron.

http://t.co/pTI2BEwRpQ
 
So almost a fortnight ago, I got a brand spanking new Speedblade 6i from Golfever in the mail! And I just want to chime in and share some quick thoughts

I was super excited to get this in the mail. Golfever is a scholar and a gentleman, he would not even accept being reimbursed for shipping it out to me, it came in about 2 days flat once he mailed it out!

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As a side not, the 6i has the black cap which I'd been asking about earlier in the thread. Anyway, I digress...

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't cooperating as we still had about 2 feet of snow on the ground. In the meantime, I went to an indoor dome and hit some golf balls with the SB 6i comparing to my current R11 6i. I was worried about the stock stiff shaft, but I'd say that comparing the two, the 85g stock in the SB works better with a smoother tempo and launches a bit higher than the 90g KBS in the R11

Last week, I got to go to range nearby, one of the first ones to open near me for the Spring, and hit both irons side by side. I found the SB to definitely be about a good 10 - 12 yards further, and it flew even higher. Off a tee, I was hitting this thing almost as long as my 4i (just over 200y), it was crazy! And this past Sunday, I got to kind of play something resembling a round at a short course that had just opened for the season on Friday. Disappointingly enough, my swing wasn't very good, and the course grounds were... well, not that I expected anything great, it's been a long winter! So I'm looking forward to more time with the SB 6i, both on the range and course, but I don't think I'll need much more convincing on the performance of this iron so far

I just wanted to say a big "Thank you" to Golfever again. I've seen a lot of folks trying to sell these 6i's and for him to just ship it to me at his expense is amazing, and speaks volumes about the THP community. Thanks a lot man, I hope some good karma catches up with you on the course this season!
 
mark blanchard said:
One fault of mine that the SB's has brought out is a tendency to try to horse them for extra distance. Meaning, after occasionally hitting an SB iron to an absurd (for me) length (like an 8 iron 175) my subconscious started to think I could do it all the time. I pushed my mental grid upwards and I started thinking, "Yeah, I can get this 3 iron to 240, I did it before!" So then I take a big swipe and make a big miss.

I'm now working on taking slower, easier cuts and downgrading my expectations a tad. Old 8 iron only went 150, SB goes 162, but if I take a bit off it I can still get great spread, great height and cleaner contact around 157. The SB's really do like to be swung slow and easy, and you have to fight the urge to get carried away with them. .
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I fit into the over swinging category as well. I hit a few good one and then I try to send one to the moon and end up hitting it anywhere but where I want it. I have really found that the SBs like a smooth consistent swing tempo. I don't have to try to kill the ball to get the results. I think that applies to the game in general but when it feels effortless you know you're doing it right.


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I have a slow, fairly consistent swing, and I can't really overswing even if want to. It seems like every time I put an even, smooth swing on it, the ball climbs and flies effortlessly, and that's for all my clubs from 5 iron to approach wedge.
The feel off the club face is amazing too. Very glad I chose these...
 
Tee1Up said:
Blue cap is retail, Black cap is free 6 iron giveaway.
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Do you have a source for this? I have now seen two full sets with the black caps, and on TM's Japan site, you have a choice of the blue/black cap
 
So I bought these a set of these about 2 weeks ago and just got back from playing my first 3 rounds with them over the weekend. Only thing I can say is HOLY ****.

I came from an older set (2008ish) of Titleist AP2's that might have been too difficult to hit, then prior to that I was gaming some old Cleveland TA5's, so maybe this is just me catching up to the times and getting some sticks with modern technology built in. But either way, I'm in love.

Misses are still straight, long, and up in the air. When I hit them pure though, it's like no other feeling or shape I've ever had. I played some very challenging courses (for what I'm used to) in Scottsdale over the weekend with some very tough, fast, tight, and protected greens. Approaches in to the green were amazing. The ball got really high up in the air and just dropped so nicely onto the green and stuck. Got some nice backspin with a few of the shots, and landed a few approaches within 5feet. I don't think this would have been possible with my old irons.

It was a bit tough to get the new distances dialed in since these clubs truly add some nice yardage (especially coming from my older clubs). The combination of added distance with a higher shot trajectory equaled unreal results. Again, these were my first 3 rounds since October of last year, and I shot an 84, 80, and 87 respectively. My personal best up to last weekend was an 82, so I'm in shock. Can't say enough good things about these clubs.
 
brepublican said:
Do you have a source for this? I have now seen two full sets with the black caps, and on TM's Japan site, you have a choice of the blue/black cap
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A rep told me. May be true, may not be.
 
Excited to start posting in here. Getting my first round in this weekend. Really looking forward to it, I love these clubs
 
I walked 9 today and spent a lot of time hitting 3/4 wedges from 65 to 105 yards. I was seeing great trajectory and consistent distance out of these wedges. SR2 balls were one hop and stopping on well struck shots. The set wedges fit in seamlessly with the rest of the irons distance wise.
 
Tee1: Not true!!! I won a SpeedBlade iron with black cap. Then purchased rest of set. They were also black cap.
 
Evok said:
Excited to start posting in here. Getting my first round in this weekend. Really looking forward to it, I love these clubs
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Ditto on the LOVE part!!!
 
Holy s**t these clubs are amazing!! Finally was able to play some holes and even get some range time in before hand. These are such a step above my old burners its just insane. The kbs tours paired with these were just giving me the best trajectory and distance ive ever seen by far. I actually slightly struggled during my round due to the distances being too far haha still gotta get used to the increase. The height I was getting and piercing flight was such a nice thing for me to see. I just felt really confident with these (besides the occasional distances). The sound, feel, look, everything was a win. I really haven't been this excited about clubs in a long time. I also must say the distance and forgiveness these were giving me on a couple of toe shots doesn't seem fair. If you cant tell, ive got a huge smile on my face
 
Good stuff Evok. I too struggled for about 10 or 11 holes trusting the added distances when I first got mine.
 
O'Carroll said:
Good stuff Evok. I too struggled for about 10 or 11 holes trusting the added distances when I first got mine.
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Yeah its definitely something to get use to. Everything felt so crisp its amazing. The forgiveness is just crazy, few times I thought no way that's getting there and it did. Absolutely cannot wait to get back out with them
 
So yesterday I got my Speedblades re-shafted with the SteelFiber i95 shafts (stiff) and took them out to the range for their maiden voyage. I went with the Taylormade Speedblades/TP CB combo. Decided to go with the Speedblades 5-8 and CB's 9-AW. Hit about 15 shots with the 6 and 8 irons yesterday at the range and the results were what I saw when I did my head to head demoing at Golfsmith. These irons are long and really forgiving. I would say a full club longer than my R11 irons. Also, the forgiveness on these are great. I am one who will miss low and toward the heel with my irons. On low misses the ball still got up and saw very little distance loss. There was one shot that I caught real low on the face that I thought was going to be a line drive and wound up getting pretty good trajectory. At times, it felt like cheating with how easy these are to hit. For a long iron like the 6, it is the easiest long iron I've ever hit. Can't wait to get these out more. Going to have to find a way to get my distances dialed in more since they are definitely longer than my previous irons. Will probably have to go to a different range where it is easier to judge distances. Below are some pics.






 
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