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TaylorMade SLDR Irons Preview

SuperStroke
Mward- You know my game and what I like in a set of irons/shafts.. Are these going to be something I enjoy?
 
How well do you think a combo set of these and the Speedblades would get along? These look perfect in the scoring irons but I need a little more help with the long irons.
 
War Eagle said:
Mward- You know my game and what I like in a set of irons/shafts.. Are these going to be something I enjoy?
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It'll be something you'll want to hit. I think for you it'd be SLDR irons with either Tour 90's or these as the shaft.
 
Mward said:
Hit them today. At address, they look very much like the Speedblades. I put the SB 6i side by side the sldr and they were very close.

Distance is about on par with them as well I thought. Wasn't super fond of the stock shaft but the wind was flaring up a lot on the range.

The only feedback I had that I didn't like at all was the finish. Chrome is pretty brutal in the sun. It's not a huge deal but at the right time of day, oof.
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Ward.... How did these feel? Anything you can compare them to?


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flog2424 said:
Ward.... How did these feel? Anything you can compare them to?


Proud Member of #TeamParadise
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Felt just like the Speedblades do to me. They do go long and high that's for sure.

I'd love to have spent more time with them, and hopefully not into a 2 club wind though. No club was looking pretty in that mess haha
 
Here's my 2 cents..

Not the best "feeling clubs" imo...a combo of the rocketbladez and Speedblades kinda meshed together.

The CTaper 90s do launch high that's for sure...hitting into the wind didn't help matters much.

I saw shorter distances between these irons (only hit 7 iron) and my apex 7i.
 
Interesting thoughts, Mike. Would have though they would have been closer to a Speedblade/CB combo
 
jlukes said:
Interesting thoughts, Mike. Would have though they would have been closer to a Speedblade/CB combo
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Just my 2 cents will vary in the group.

And I hate cb and have tried to block out any experiences with them. Feel is probably pretty similar to those now that I think about it.
 
Only got a few swings with them on sat but enough to say the shinny chrome would drive me crazy, the feel is lacking for me just like the speedblades and CB's, they do launch the ball high really high for me and that's no good

Just my thoughts
 
mikedean441 said:
Here's my 2 cents..

Not the best "feeling clubs" imo...a combo of the rocketbladez and Speedblades kinda meshed together.

The CTaper 90s do launch high that's for sure...hitting into the wind didn't help matters much.

I saw shorter distances between these irons (only hit 7 iron) and my apex 7i.
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I wonder if the high launch would be partly responsible for the lost distance
 
Brianbigoats said:
I wonder if the high launch would be partly responsible for the lost distance
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Could very well. Was definitely higher than my apex with 90s.

Oh and the chrome would drive me insane it's way too shiny and the sun just beats off of them.
 
mikedean441 said:
Could very well. Was definitely higher than my apex with 90s.

Oh and the chrome would drive me insane it's way too shiny and the sun just beats off of them.
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Some of these early reports are scaring me from getting a 4i i might just stay with the CB's and keep it a CB/MC combo
 
Definitely not as much love as expected. Wierd how in the first pics we saw it looked almost like an MC but in person more like a Speedblade.
 
The range was dead into a stiff breeze yesterday. I don't think anyone could have really fallen in love with anything, especially something high launching, yesterday.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk.
 
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I had a chance to hit the demo 7i last Friday at Golf Galaxy when it came in. It's a nice looking iron. Very sexy lines. I compared it to the CB, RB Tour, AP2 and Apex Pro. There's not a whole lot between them IMO in terms of looks at set up. The club looks like the CB and the RB Tour had a baby to be honest. The sole and topline of the CB and the finish of the RB Tour.

I spent about 30 minutes hitting balls with the 7 and never really was blown away by it. I owned a set of R11 irons and they had a nice smooth sound to them. These are very close to the CB and RB Tours in terms of the impact sound. The club had the stock CTL 90 which made the club very light. But it also took away some of the feel (where the club was during my swing). Pure shots feel/sound about the same as with the CBs. "Firm" would be the word I would use. I would say it's a combination of the AP2 and the CB. There's some softness there, but you feel bit of a pop at impact. Not a bad thing if you're looking for that.

Shots were comparable to what I saw with my Apex Pros. Launch wasn't noticeably higher (between 17-20) and the ball didn't go so far that you said, "OH MY GOD". Dispersion was pretty good. Everything was pretty consistent. Misses feel harsh and you know where you missed, but they aren't as penal as they feel. I lost about 15-20 yards, but everything stayed on line with my target.

I think if you're looking to replace the R11s or RB Tours, or you don't like the look of the CBs, these would be a good start. The price point on these is pretty good considering the tech that's going into the club.

It's a nice iron, but not something I would see replacing anything I've played this year.
 
adamw238 said:
I had a chance to hit the demo 7i last Friday at Golf Galaxy when it came in. It's a nice looking iron. Very sexy lines. I compared it to the CB, RB Tour, AP2 and Apex Pro. There's not a whole lot between them IMO in terms of looks at set up. The club looks like the CB and the RB Tour had a baby to be honest. The sole and topline of the CB and the finish of the RB Tour.

I spent about 30 minutes hitting balls with the 7 and never really was blown away by it. I owned a set of R11 irons and they had a nice smooth sound to them. These are very close to the CB and RB Tours in terms of the impact sound. The club had the stock CTL 90 which made the club very light. But it also took away some of the feel (where the club was during my swing). Pure shots feel/sound about the same as with the CBs. "Firm" would be the word I would use. I would say it's a combination of the AP2 and the CB. There's some softness there, but you feel bit of a pop at impact. Not a bad thing if you're looking for that.

Shots were comparable to what I saw with my Apex Pros. Launch wasn't noticeably higher (between 17-20) and the ball didn't go so far that you said, "OH MY GOD". Dispersion was pretty good. Everything was pretty consistent. Misses feel harsh and you know where you missed, but they aren't as penal as they feel. I lost about 15-20 yards, but everything stayed on line with my target.

I think if you're looking to replace the R11s or RB Tours, or you don't like the look of the CBs, these would be a good start. The price point on these is pretty good considering the tech that's going into the club.

It's a nice iron, but not something I would see replacing anything I've played this year.
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Like you, i was able to Demo the 7i today at lunch, and as far as how they look in hand, i think TM did a good job here.

My two main sets are Epons and CB3s, and as far as feel, i would say they are about a 6.5-7.0, compared to the Epons (10) and CB3s(8.5)

Since i am playing the KBS 90s in my CB3s, weight of the SLDR iron felt fine, as i am just getting use to a lighter shaft this season. I would need to get a 7i and maybe a 9i out on a range and hit them before forming any serious opinion.
 
golfdawg said:
Like you, i was able to Demo the 7i today at lunch, and as far as how they look in hand, i think TM did a good job here.

My two main sets are Epons and CB3s, and as far as feel, i would say they are about a 6.5-7.0, compared to the Epons (10) and CB3s(8.5)

Since i am playing the KBS 90s in my CB3s, weight of the SLDR iron felt fine, as i am just getting use to a lighter shaft this season. I would need to get a 7i and maybe a 9i out on a range and hit them before forming any serious opinion.
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I agree with you on the looks. They are nice looking. I'm a fan of shiny things. I would agree with you on the sound/feel, only I would use Mizuno as the 10 since I've never hit an Epon iron. It's just my opinion, but I like the feel/sound of the R11s a bit more. But again, sound/feel are very subjective. I like a little heft in the feel of my clubs, helps me maintain tempo. It's something that could easily be fixed with some weights.

Like I said, they're not bad. Just not something I feel like I have to run out and buy when they're released.
 
adam i feel the same, i would have to wait about 6 months, maybe next season and try these outside.
 
Thanks to GolferGal, she brought the whole SLDR line to the Love is in the Air event this past weekend. I hit the 6i and the 3wood. 6i felt good and had a nice ball flight. Did not care for the shiny chrome finish, it was blinding.
 
I had the chance to swing the 7i in this set on Saturday thanks to GolferGal. I liked the look of them, but I could see where the high shine would be bothersome at address. I was having a lot of trouble with my swing this weekend so I am not the best one to give feedback on these irons and I believe that they were stiff shafted and heavier than I usually play. With that said, I was able to get a few good swings and liked the results. The wind was blowing into us so the distance was diminished. All in all I liked, but not loved the SLDR irons. I will hope to get a chance to swing them in a regular shaft in less wind to get a better idea of how they perform with a hacker like me.
 
I got to experiment with these today and I was overall impressed. They only had the graphite shafts at The Kingdom but I came away liking these. We were contemplating using these as my long irons but they were honestly too long and left a huge gap. The ball just explodes off the face on these and the biggest issue we saw in my fitting was the angle of decent left me no chance of really landing soft for what I was looking for. I would recommend these and feel with the right shaft option these could be a game changer. If anyone needs anymore specifics let me know as I hit the 4,7 and 9


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flog2424 said:
I got to experiment with these today and I was overall impressed. They only had the graphite shafts at The Kingdom but I came away liking these. We were contemplating using these as my long irons but they were honestly too long and left a huge gap. The ball just explodes off the face on these and the biggest issue we saw in my fitting was the angle of decent left me no chance of really landing soft for what I was looking for. I would recommend these and feel with the right shaft option these could be a game changer. If anyone needs anymore specifics let me know as I hit the 4,7 and 9


Proud Member of #TeamParadise
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So you're saying they were launching too low for you? I thought they would be a higher launching iron similar to the Speedblades.
 
It wasn't that it was launching too low compared to a norm. For the amount of ball speed it was producing the angle of decent was kind of scary and we were afraid that it would just hit and run out quite a bit. This was just for the stock offering they had, a change in shaft could probably fix this


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flog2424 said:
It wasn't that it was launching too low compared to a norm. For the amount of ball speed it was producing the angle of decent was kind of scary and we were afraid that it would just hit and run out quite a bit. This was just for the stock offering they had, a change in shaft could probably fix this


Proud Member of #TeamParadise
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Thanks Kyle. Extra ball speed is something I could use, so these are on my short list of irons for the MC. I can't wait to check them out head to head with the SB.
 
Parshooter36 said:
Thanks Kyle. Extra ball speed is something I could use, so these are on my short list of irons for the MC. I can't wait to check them out head to head with the SB.
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I think you will really like these. They felt great in my opinion and if you like a more traditional look with the added forgiveness I don think you can go wrong


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