TaylorMade RSi 1 Irons Review Thread

[fupresti]

I will also add, I had my former boss hit them. He's in his mid-60's and has trouble getting the ball to launch. He carries a hybrid down to the 7-iron.

He was able to hit the 4 iron off the deck with little issue. I think one of the real benefits in this set is how much easier it is to hit the long irons, even with the stronger lofts. The 3-iron is 17* in this set and I had no problem crushing it off the deck.

 

[Scarnici]

Great info and pics so far guys. I love the looks of these irons. What an awesome gesture from TM. I love the notes from Dave.

 

[MWard]

Wardy how big of a gap are seeing in your scoring ckubs

PW needs to be smooth or it'll jump to 150-155 on me. I can jump on my wedges for yardage but even then I could have a 20-25yd gap between 50 and PW. That being said, the 50 is a blade style wedge and not set.

My SLDR AW kept the PW in check in that set, my guess is the RSI wedge would do the same

 

[MPlefty]

interesting set guys, I didn't expect to see the slots on the faces, but the idea make sense, I might go try them

 

[flog2424]

Wardy did a pretty dang good job of laying these out so I want to add a few things that I have seen. I self admittedly have never used a SGI type iron so these are a bit out of my comfort zone. As bulky as they look when holding them, they do set up nicely address IMO. The thing that I was most impressed with were the ease in hitting them and getting them airborn. It didnt seem to matter what type of swing you put on these the results were pretty consistent. They are also extremely lightweight. I feel Tm did a great job of matching the shafts with these.

I remember testing the misshits happen theory with the longer irons, specifically the 4 iron. I hit some off the toe and heel and the misshits still had a consistent trajectory and might have lost a few yards but nothing too bad.I know in the past the SB and Rocketbladez had issues with some areas of the club hitting the ball alot farther. In my limited time with these I feel they are very consistent and didnt see wide dispersions of distance.

I am looking forward to trying the II and TP versions of these. If the TP version has some extra forgiveness and plays similar to the MC line then I feel there is a pretty good chance I will game them.

 

[jlukes]

Definitely interesting looking - people said the same about the Rocketbladez when they came out and I loved those so I am really anxious to hear more about them

 

[Hawk]

Interesting stuff. Looks are pretty good and I suspect they'll perform very well based on the last few GI irons they've put on the market.

I'm not sure I am really grasping how the face slots work and can't find much in the way of explanations. Anybody see anything? I get the concept of something that compresses backwards towards the rear of the club, but how does this change flexion?

 

[Just_Hacking]

Oh my...I do love the look of these clubs. I have been playing the Speedblades and didn't see that changing anytime soon, but I have to give these a try. Thanks for the info Wardy and Flog.

 

[Daddio]

That does look nice down by the ball. Not a giant fan of the high polish, but the ball sits very squarely between the wickets, doesn't it?

If anything it looks like it would inspire more confidence at address for me as the effective hitting area LOOKS even larger. I guess if the tech does what they say, the effective hitting area IS larger.

 

[golfdawg]

Wardy did a pretty dang good job of laying these out so I want to add a few things that I have seen. I self admittedly have never used a SGI type iron so these are a bit out of my comfort zone. As bulky as they look when holding them, they do set up nicely address IMO. The thing that I was most impressed with were the ease in hitting them and getting them airborn. It didnt seem to matter what type of swing you put on these the results were pretty consistent. They are also extremely lightweight. I feel Tm did a great job of matching the shafts with these.

I remember testing the misshits happen theory with the longer irons, specifically the 4 iron. I hit some off the toe and heel and the misshits still had a consistent trajectory and might have lost a few yards but nothing too bad.I know in the past the SB and Rocketbladez had issues with some areas of the club hitting the ball alot farther. In my limited time with these I feel they are very consistent and didnt see wide dispersions of distance.

I am looking forward to trying the II and TP versions of these. If the TP version has some extra forgiveness and plays similar to the MC line then I feel there is a pretty good chance I will game them.

Seeing the review by Rick Shiels on the II they look very interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8d-l1Vwzek&list=UUFHZHhZaH7Rc_FOMIzUziJA

 

[MWard]

Interesting stuff. Looks are pretty good and I suspect they'll perform very well based on the last few GI irons they've put on the market.

I'm not sure I am really grasping how the face slots work and can't find much in the way of explanations. Anybody see anything? I get the concept of something that compresses backwards towards the rear of the club, but how does this change flexion?

I think TM has their official release at 9am, I would be surprised if that wasn't mentioned

 

[flog2424]

Interesting stuff. Looks are pretty good and I suspect they'll perform very well based on the last few GI irons they've put on the market.

I'm not sure I am really grasping how the face slots work and can't find much in the way of explanations. Anybody see anything? I get the concept of something that compresses backwards towards the rear of the club, but how does this change flexion?

I know that the slots that were released in the SLDR irons behind the clubface are a little more previlent in these irons and the faces slots might have something to do in terms of getting the most out of the technology and helping with the construction. I dont know if anyone else has noticed anything but they feel a little softer to me, almost as though it is dampening the vibration a little

 

[captaincaution]

I believe in the speed slots! I don't think I would replace my speedblades at this point, but I will definitely try these out for comparison.

 

[captaincaution]

I'm not sure I am really grasping how the face slots work and can't find much in the way of explanations. Anybody see anything? I get the concept of something that compresses backwards towards the rear of the club, but how does this change flexion?

Having the slots at the edge of the hitting are would make the face more flexible at the edges. As face cup tech removes the welds that stiffen the face, adding the slot makes the face more flexible near them.

 

[ShanksaloT]

My iron miss is 90% of the time out on the toe - I will be reading this thread closely to see what the testers thoughts are!

 

[jlukes]

Seems while other companies are finding ways to make the face thinner around the perimeter in order to retain ball speeds on off center hits, TaylorMade went ahead and said "what's thinner than practically nothing" and added the face slots.

 

[Hawk]

Having the slots at the edge of the hitting are would make the face more flexible at the edges. As face cup tech removes the welds that stiffen the face, adding the slot makes the face more flexible near them.

I guess I see that a little bit, but there's still the rigid portion directly above and below. What if you hit the slot? What effect would that have I wonder. I'm just curious about this because it doesn't immediately stand out to me why it could be beneficial.

 

[marshallucf]

What's with the little notch cut out on the hosel/heel? There has to be a reason/purpose for it.

Cutting a little weight out of the heel end maybe?

 

[jlukes]

What's with the little notch cut out on the hosel/heel? There has to be a reason/purpose for it.

Cutting a little weight out of the heel end maybe?

Rocketbladez had something similar, albeit much smaller. Was supposed to make the irons easier to bend.

 

[fupresti]

What's with the little notch cut out on the hosel/heel? There has to be a reason/purpose for it.

Cutting a little weight out of the heel end maybe?

Rocketbladez had something similar, albeit much smaller. Was supposed to make the irons easier to bend.

Exactly. Makes bending a bit easier.

 

[marshallucf]

Rocketbladez had something similar, albeit much smaller. Was supposed to make the irons easier to bend.

That makes sense. Reminded me of some of the Ping and Callaway irons. But it looked different being just a little square cutout.

 

[captaincaution]

I guess I see that a little bit, but there's still the rigid portion directly above and below. What if you hit the slot? What effect would that have I wonder. I'm just curious about this because it doesn't immediately stand out to me why it could be beneficial.

Just don't hit the slot!

You've got to have a more rigid portion of the face somewhere, the slots should minimize that amount.

 

[captaincaution]

What's with the little notch cut out on the hosel/heel? There has to be a reason/purpose for it.

Cutting a little weight out of the heel end maybe?

That is there to facilitate lie adjustments.

 

[drp3434]

I guess I see that a little bit, but there's still the rigid portion directly above and below. What if you hit the slot? What effect would that have I wonder. I'm just curious about this because it doesn't immediately stand out to me why it could be beneficial.

Imagine holding a thin square sheet of some material on all four sides and how it might deflect if you pushed on it in different areas. Now imagine releasing the two sides and holding only the top and bottom. It will flex/move a lot more. Obviously this is an extreme example since the club face isn't that thin, but it gives an idea of increased flexibility when you remove support. If you hit on the slot or outside of it I'd imagine you'd lose its benefits.

Speaking of that, does the slot sit perfectly flush to the face? Wondering if the ball could potentially shoot off the face crooked by hitting the edge of one side of the slot. Maybe they're too thin for that to be possible...

 

[Hawk]

Like I said, I have no doubt they'll perform. I'm just a tech junky and want to connect the dots. Would love to see some tech information on them for sure. Or maybe one of you guys can get on a monitor with some similar irons and impact tape to measure some misses.