INgolfer
Internet Golfer
I wanted to post some updated thoughts on these after having them for about a month now. This year has been a really odd year for me, before this year I was consistently shooting around my handicap (whatever it was as I improved). I began this year as a 9.5 handicap, and am currently about 8.9. For whatever reason I just was unable to lower my handicap much this year, because I was VERY inconsistent. I started the year shooting about my handicap and was keeping it consistently at 80-82, and even had a round pretty early in the 70's which I had only done once in my life before. Anyhow, after about a month I developed the sh*nks in case anyone remembers me mentioning that in a different forum. It lasted for about 2 weeks, then once I fixed that I went back to hitting great for 2 weeks, then I started pushing the ball about 20 yards right on every shot for about 2 weeks, then I would hit great for about 2 weeks, etc...so pretty much I was on two week cycles every time, but my miss was always a push. Overall my ball striking was good, I would hit the center of the face most often, but I just couldn't figure out the push. When I got these irons about a month ago I was having a good streak, I had been shooting well for a couple weeks, I shot in the 70's twice within those weeks. In my first few rounds with these irons I was hitting them near flawlessly, however my driver started struggling with a slice which I hadn't seen FOREVER (I think this is due to using the PureShot driver as a training aid). Even though I wasn't driving well I was still shooting pretty well because I was hitting the irons so well and putting myself in good positions on the greens. Then about 2 weeks ago it happened....the push started coming back throughout the whole bag, with the driver still slicing. I had a friend of mine here look at my swing and he just said I wasn't keeping my hands in front of the club through impact, so I had no lag. For whatever reason it was causing a push, and my ball striking started struggling a little bit. Let me tell you something about these clubs when you are not having a good ball striking round....they are not very fun. I really wish I could have had a lot more forgiveness during my rounds in Florida last week, because I wasn't catching the ball pure and I was pushing quite a few. When you don't hit these solid you have no idea how far they are going to go. I was hitting some a couple grooves too high and I was loosing a good amount of distance, which is not good on a course where there is a lot of water, and then I was hitting some thin that just sailed over the green and rolled to places I never want to be in again. I finally got the tip I needed to get my swing on track, and I am now striking the ball better than I ever have in my life. Its amazing how one little thing can make such a big difference in your swing. My last couple of rounds have been nothing but beauty with the irons. My hands are now staying ahead of the clubhead through impact which has lowered the ball flight slightly, but I would still call it a mid-high flight and I am still getting the same distance. This has worked great for me my last couple of rounds here in Indiana because it has been pretty breezy so I haven't really wanted to hit it too high. I am getting great spin with all my irons, and my short irons are even backing up about 5 feet on quite a few shots because of the spin I am putting on them. I am still amazed by the feel and sound of these at impact when I am striking them well. Again, the feel and sound are not good at all when you don't hit them well. I was hoping to show some fellow THPers how great these clubs are when I was in Florida but that didn't happen, I guess I will have to make sure I make it to the demo day or MC 2.0 to show them what these things can do. I have never felt anything as good as these irons and I am starting to get sad that the season is almost over. I have an indoor golf dome nearby where you can hit balls but it is only about 100 yards long, and I also have a heated range nearby but its so cold in the winter time its hard to tell what the ball flight is really going to be like, but I am definitely going to be taking these out to hit them through the winter and keep this new swing fresh. I also have a simulator I can use at the gym I do personal training at. I will continue to post thoughts on these as I work with them but after having a couple of rough weeks striking the ball I would have to say that while I am surprised at how much better I hit these than my previous split cavities and even other blade sets, these are definitely not the set for everyone if you are not confident with your ball striking. There is not much here for forgiveness. I would not trade this set for anything in the world right now, and as long as I keep this new swing fresh these clubs are going to take me down to a pretty low handicap next year. I definitely recommend trying these if you are a good ball striker, you will have a hard time finding anything to match the look, feel, and performance of the Taylormade Tour Preferred MB irons.