TaylorMade Tour Preferred CB Review Thread

I went to the range again last night to try and work out the issues I've encountered in my last two rounds. I had an aha moment when I started focusing of just making solid contact. I've stated before that these clubs work with smooth tempo and an easy stroke. I was focusing on hacking the ball and trying to hit it as far as possible. In the case of these clubs, smooth and steady wins the race. Along with figuring out these clubs I also worked on my swing a bit and noticed that throwing the club head out at the ball helps with smooth contact. I hit about 80% solid shots and the other shots that I hit were thin, I didn't lose accuracy just distance.
 
Yes, keeping a smooth swing will definitly give you the best results. When I try to put over say 85% into a swing, I notice that the ball goes left. There could be numerous factors in this, however, playing to the 80 ish % power always gives me nice shots. As of today, would I recommend these to my friends. Yes, I would. As a TM guy, my vision gets somewhat clouded in their product. I am always happy with their equipment (exept the R11 bottom finish) and these irons have delivered for me. I shot my lowest round ever with these and by my choice I will keep them in my bag. Unless something drastic happens. For a players iron(ge/gi), they deliver an amount of forgiveness and distance I like. I do like little to no offset, and a thin top line. These have that to an extent. Are these a category leader, in my opinion yes. If you step out into the combo, split, blade, there are some awesome clubs out there that will feel better (NIKE COMBO, TM COMBO). For now, these have impressed me.
 
I went to the range again last night to try and work out the issues I've encountered in my last two rounds. I had an aha moment when I started focusing of just making solid contact. I've stated before that these clubs work with smooth tempo and an easy stroke. I was focusing on hacking the ball and trying to hit it as far as possible. In the case of these clubs, smooth and steady wins the race. Along with figuring out these clubs I also worked on my swing a bit and noticed that throwing the club head out at the ball helps with smooth contact. I hit about 80% solid shots and the other shots that I hit were thin, I didn't lose accuracy just distance.

I think needing to use a smooth tempo is just a function of your swing and mine and the level of forgiveness in the club. I think a better ball striker can hit the bejesus out of these without any ill effects. For me at least, when I try to muscle a club, my swing destabalizes a bit and my contact pattern isn't as consistent which in a more forgiving GI or SGI club is not going to be noticeable but is for these sticks. I like the fact that they are making me put a better swing on the ball as that is good for my game in the long run and at the same time I don't feel like I am hurting my game in the short run either except that last round. I've been to the range twice since and I am back to hitting these nicely. We shall see what the weekend brings and the tournament I am playing in next Tuesday.
 
I have two rounds this week one tomorrow and one Sunday so I'll be reporting back on my swing tweaks with the CB's.
 
Had an pretty solid round with these irons today. For the most part they did their job. There was only two times where they came up short. I've been working on making my swing more compatible to work with these clubs. These clubs, like most, thrive on compacting the ball, but these clubs so, because the balls impact off of the forged face. I had great success with my 4 iron in a few layup situations and placed the ball exactly where I needed. Even though these aren't the longest clubs around they have helped my course management but allowing me to dial in my numbers and be precise especially with the 8-PW. Each round I play (both good and bad rounds) reinforces my decision in buying and playing these clubs.
 
Greetings...

My MCs should be here next week. Can't wait to get out to the range and bang a few buckets to get them dialed in!

OK..they showed up about a week earlier than planned which was a great surprise. I played yesterday and wow, they are nice, but require meto pretty much give them my full attention!
 
Was fitted into these last weekend. I like the results so much that I ordered a set and wanted to share my thoughts. Keep in mind this is based purely on my fitting session and I have not yet played the irons on course. I am currently a 6.7 handicap, trending up due to my iron woes, so I decided it was time to get fit into something that works for me once and for all. In the past two seasons I have played Adams Idea A4's and Adams Idea Pros. The A4's worked better for me but I was too tempted to switch to a more "player's" type iron. Anywhoo on to the Tour Preferred CB's:

Look: A little chunkier than a full-on player's iron, but nowhere near as chunky as some of the shovels out now. The sole and topline are very close to the Adams A4's that I played for a good while. Offset is only really noticable in the longer irons, other than that my eye can't see 1mm here or there at address. The over-all lines are clean and the cavity insert is understated. The weight screw actually works well with the insert to produce an attractive looking club.

Feel/Sound: Weighting of the club is very nice. Balanced and not too heavy or too light. Swings nicely with good feel for where the head and face is. On solid contact the forged face produces a nice soft feel through the ball accompanied by a nice "whack" sound. On mis-hits the feel is not the harsh "twang" you get with most player's irons. You get good feedback but without the harshness, also the "whack" is more muted.

Performance: For me in combination with the hard stepped DG R300's these produced a nice mid-level launch. Spin was good, in the 5500 RPM range with the 6 iron and a tour level ball. Over-all flight was great. No ballooning and the descent was nice and controlled providing good carry and predictable roll-out. I felt like I could really juice these without fear of planting the club into the ground or producing some sort of major mis-hit. The more I hit them the more confident I got and was very comfortable manipulating the ball flight.

I went into the fitting expecting to come out with Mizuno JPX 800Pros but was more than happy to put my order in for these. Just can't wait until they arrive and game these gems.
 
Congrats on the new clubs JMS. You will have to let us know how they work for you on the course. Plus it's always nice to see another Pennsylvanian here on THP. Welcome aboard.
 
I have the burner 2.0s but the Taylormade truck is coming to my club and I am seriously considering an upgrade to the CBs. I am not a big hitter and like the distance on the 2.0s but like the CBs feel. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
 
I have the burner 2.0s but the Taylormade truck is coming to my club and I am seriously considering an upgrade to the CBs. I am not a big hitter and like the distance on the 2.0s but like the CBs feel. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

My thoughts for you are this:

Enjoy hitting the CBs, because they are great clubs. However, I want to point out a recent post just above where an 11 handicap golfer said the CBs required his full attention. Also, what I've noticed with my CBs is that I'm more successful with them on the range than I am on the course. I'm still analyzing this, but I believe that the greater stress during a round has me going back to some old/bad habits that don't work as well with the CBs as my GI irons. Also I'm thinking that the range (which is grass) is relatively flat with consistent lies, and on course, you have uphill, downhill, sidehill stances, play from rough, etc. So the variables are greater on the course than the range, and I have more trouble getting the club face squarely on the ball because of that. So my advice is to play a round with them if you can, and don't just rely on a few demo swings. I'm saying that because you list yourself as a 20 handicap so I'm assuming, like me, that your shots aren't even 90% consistent. Forgive me if that generalization isn't true for you.
 
I have the burner 2.0s but the Taylormade truck is coming to my club and I am seriously considering an upgrade to the CBs. I am not a big hitter and like the distance on the 2.0s but like the CBs feel. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I think feel is overrated. I think you'd be far better off playing the set that helps you score lower rather than the set that 'feels' better.
 
I have the burner 2.0s but the Taylormade truck is coming to my club and I am seriously considering an upgrade to the CBs. I am not a big hitter and like the distance on the 2.0s but like the CBs feel. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

If you think the feel of the CB's is better than the 2.0's and you don't notice a big difference in distance then go with what feels the best. Being comfortable with a club or clubs can be just as important as results at times


^^^^^^ I Tapped That ^^^^^^
 
My striking is getting better and I liked the feel of the demo set. I am going to let the fitting truck spec me out and see how much feel/ confidence/performance difference there is between the 2.0 and CB. My irons are typically the best part of my round so investing there is not a problem. My biggest concern is performance when I miss the sweetspot.
 
I've noticed that mishits off the sweet spot are felt and though I haven't been affected on accuracy on minor mishits these clubs don't deliver the same forgiveness like 2.0 when it comes to distance. We all know they are not a distance club, so I would expect to lose about a 1/2 club in distance when you switch from the 2.0's to the CB's and then add another 1/2 club in distance on mishits. So on your worse days it's 1 full club you will be losing compared to the 2.0's. I've never been a big hitter so distance isn't a big deal for me. I was already a decent iron player before buying these clubs and now after having them I can truly say that my swing had to get a bit better and conform to these clubs a bit. I love them because for the most part they have helped me deliver consistency and accuracy on the range. I'm still getting dialed in on my yardages as I haven't lost as yardage with my old set and even gained yardage with my 4 iron.

So in the end if you just want an iron that will perform under any swing conditions I'd stay with the 2.0', but if you are a good ball striker I'd say heavily consider the CB's and how they might change your game.
 
A couple weeks ago I let my FIL game the CB's while I was gaming the Redlines. At a par 3 I took a Redline 6 iron and mishit it. It was a toe shot with at OTT swing. High, lazy slice that fell about 15 yards short of the green and off to the right. Out of curiosity, I grabbed the CB 6 iron to take a shot. Hit it pure, high, and straight. It ended up exactly the same distance as the Redline.
 
A couple weeks ago I let my FIL game the CB's while I was gaming the Redlines. At a par 3 I took a Redline 6 iron and mishit it. It was a toe shot with at OTT swing. High, lazy slice that fell about 15 yards short of the green and off to the right. Out of curiosity, I grabbed the CB 6 iron to take a shot. Hit it pure, high, and straight. It ended up exactly the same distance as the Redline.

But have you spun your balls? No way to tell the true issue until you have spun your balls.
 
But have you spun your balls? No way to tell the true issue until you have spun your balls.

What do you mean spin the balls? with the pitching and A wedges???
 
But have you spun your balls? No way to tell the true issue until you have spun your balls.

Hawk has tried the float method many times without success. His balls keep sinking to the bottom of the ponds
 
Just want to say thanks to all the people in this thread who have been reviewing these clubs. I think I'll be buying a set soon online and getting them fit locally. This will be a hell of a step up from my bertha 2003 irons! Looking forward to adding my review soon.
 
Happy to read that u have found what u are lookin for at THP! These are really nice clubs and hard to beat.
 
I got to use my 5 & 4 iron a few times this morning. I LOVE my 5 iron. It has become one of my favorite irons to hit in my bag. I think I hit it about 5 times during the round and each time it went where I was aiming. Only time I had it not end up where I wanted I came up short when I hit into the wind. This was me not accounting enough for the wind.

Now, my 4 iron is the one iron in my bag that I try to avoid. I did have to hit it twice and both times I was on the green, pin high. My biggest miss with my 4 iron has been a dramatic fade/slice. None of that today. When I hit this well it just flies so nice, like my 5 iron. These are fantastic irons.
 
Just want to say thanks to all the people in this thread who have been reviewing these clubs. I think I'll be buying a set soon online and getting them fit locally. This will be a hell of a step up from my bertha 2003 irons! Looking forward to adding my review soon.

Congrats Brendoh! Hope you enjoy them. I have been following the reviews for the TP lines as well as the Burner 2.0 pretty extensively to figure out what the next set is that I want to buy. I may go with a combo set of TP or I may end up going with the 2.0's, I'm just not sure because I haven't been consistent with my swing at all lately so I don't know what to do.
 
I got to use my 5 & 4 iron a few times this morning. I LOVE my 5 iron. It has become one of my favorite irons to hit in my bag. I think I hit it about 5 times during the round and each time it went where I was aiming. Only time I had it not end up where I wanted I came up short when I hit into the wind. This was me not accounting enough for the wind.

Now, my 4 iron is the one iron in my bag that I try to avoid. I did have to hit it twice and both times I was on the green, pin high. My biggest miss with my 4 iron has been a dramatic fade/slice. None of that today. When I hit this well it just flies so nice, like my 5 iron. These are fantastic irons.

Other than the scoring irons in this set the 4i has been my go to club for consistent well placed shots distance shots. I've even considered replacing my 4 hybrids with it. But the hybrids always comes in handy.
 
Back
Top