TaylorMade Tour Preferred CB Review Thread

I know this I'm not likely to get the answer to this first question, but here goes. I currently have Taylormade 300 forged irons, which, for various reasons and costs, are getting replaced. The CBs have my interest, and are the likely replacement. Has anyone ever hit the two to compare them?

Also, here is a pic of my current iron? Would you classify it more as an MC iron, or as a CB iron?

80_300.jpg
 
I have not buddy....but I can tell you that technology has changed since the 70's...hehe. I kid! I am sure JB has hit those irons you speak of, if not, hopefully someone will chime in
 
I know this I'm not likely to get the answer to this first question, but here goes. I currently have Taylormade 300 forged irons, which, for various reasons and costs, are getting replaced. The CBs have my interest, and are the likely replacement. Has anyone ever hit the two to compare them?

Also, here is a pic of my current iron? Would you classify it more as an MC iron, or as a CB iron?

80_300.jpg

Loved the 300 irons. Designed by the man himself, John Hoeflich. Played them about a decade ago when they first came out and always liked them. Where these are different, I think they shine. Better weight feel throughout the head on full swings. Better forgiveness on the toe and heel as well. You will also see a higher ball flight or at least I am (going off of memory).

I think the CBs would be a great replacement, as I am all for forgiveness without sacrificing feel and performance.
 
I know this I'm not likely to get the answer to this first question, but here goes. I currently have Taylormade 300 forged irons, which, for various reasons and costs, are getting replaced. The CBs have my interest, and are the likely replacement. Has anyone ever hit the two to compare them?

Also, here is a pic of my current iron? Would you classify it more as an MC iron, or as a CB iron?

I would say MC. I know some people that still use those and consider them some of the better irons that TM has ever released until this year.
 
One-T, did you ever get a chance to hit that 3-iron?
 
Thanks folks, your feedback is really helping. I am gonna go hit these for a few hours side by side. I will let you know my opinions. I wish I could hit off grass and compare. Unfortunatly there is a foot of snow still. The R9's have great turf interaction in that my clubs seem to glide right through. I am guessing that these CB's have equal if not better performance off the turf. Thanks for helping out folks :)
 
One-T, did you ever get a chance to hit that 3-iron?

no, I plan on doing that this saturday! I will get back to you on it.

Thanks folks, your feedback is really helping. I am gonna go hit these for a few hours side by side. I will let you know my opinions. I wish I could hit off grass and compare. Unfortunatly there is a foot of snow still. The R9's have great turf interaction in that my clubs seem to glide right through. I am guessing that these CB's have equal if not better performance off the turf. Thanks for helping out folks :)

I would say that the CB's have better truf interaction. Thats actually one place that these truly shine!
 
Loved the 300 irons. Designed by the man himself, John Hoeflich. Played them about a decade ago when they first came out and always liked them. Where these are different, I think they shine. Better weight feel throughout the head on full swings. Better forgiveness on the toe and heel as well. You will also see a higher ball flight or at least I am (going off of memory).

I think the CBs would be a great replacement, as I am all for forgiveness without sacrificing feel and performance.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. That is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for in a club, except maybe the higher ball flight. Just depends how high it is, and whether I can lower the ball flight when needed. Seems like from previous posts, I shouldn't have any issues lowering the ball flight when needed with the CBs.
 
So, the Fedex guy just dropped off a 2.0 6 iron for me to try out. I will be able to get a decent idea of my thoughts between it and the CB's. Well, the 6 irons at least.
 
So, the Fedex guy just dropped off a 2.0 6 iron for me to try out. I will be able to get a decent idea of my thoughts between it and the CB's. Well, the 6 irons at least.

I should be getting one soon as well so I plan on doing the same
 
I had what I'd call another really good day with these irons today. I actually had the opportunity to use some of the longer irons more and found out a few things. First of all, I can hit a 5 iron well and it will go just as high as any other club in my bag. I felt absolute confidence in it today and that was huge to me. Last year, I didn't even carry an 5 iron (hybrid instead). I've noticed that I tend to get a bit of fade with it, but that's my normal shot and I usually play for it.

Also, I used the 6 iron quite a bit today and came away really loving it as well. Again, I was just amazed at how high I was hitting it. One par 3 was playing at my 6 iron distance and I put two shots within 15 yards of each other. Not exactly throwing darts, but that's actually really good for me, especially when I look back at last year. I've honestly never been that comfortable with a 6 iron in my hand. I'm thinking that I will get some more yardage out of it when it warms up a bit, but I'm fine with what I have right now. I've always had a club that I could hit 160 with, but I didn't necessarily feel confident in my ability to put the ball on the green from there. Huge stuff for me. Last thing on my mind concerning the long irons is something I already mentioned. Ball flight. It was high and really, really nice.

Feel was once again spectacular as was sound. I'm really starting to be able to tell my misses right away. They are most noticeable when you hit either low on the face or out on the toe for me. I think that I'm able to tell now when I miss low on the face by a couple grooves, wheras I just didn't notice that miss with other irons I've had. Heel shots aren't as noticeable to me and shots high on the face sort of feel dead if that makes sense.

As for forgiveness, I continue to notice that shots lower on the face are the ones that turn out the best (for me) in terms of misses. I hit a couple thinner shots and the ball flight wasn't quite as high and the distance was slightly off, but not by much. I don't recall hitting the ball high on the face today, so I can't really comment on that.

Now for a little distance talk. The Di11 thread and some of the talk in here had me really wondering if these irons were right for me and if I needed something a little bit longer. I don't know if I have a complete answer to that question yet, but I did come away with some thoughts today. The first thing I thought of was my gaps at the lower end of my bag. So far, I'm finding that the gap between my 5 iron to my 4 hybrid are right in line and I really like having the 4 hybrid for many reasons. If my gaps are in line, I'm not sure if I need a longer set of irons. Also, I just feel confident in my swing with the CB's and that is a huge, but intangible part of it as well. I don't know why, but I like how they feel and look and they make me think I'm going to hit the ball well with them.

I hit the 2.0 6 iron and really flushed one that was a great shot. I then hit a CB 6 iron that was a groove or two low. The difference in distance was in the 10-15 yard range. I'm thinking if I had hit the CB flush it would have been right around 10 yards in difference, but I can't say for sure. I think I need to spend more time with the 2.0 6 iron to see if I'm more accurate with it than I am with the CB 5 iron, because if not, I don't know if there is that much of a difference to me. Of course, all of this is subject to change at any moment haha.

My favorite things about these irons today were 1) ball flight 2) accuracy 3) confidence
 
Thorough write up Hawk. I think your distance you are seeing and mine are very similar. About 10 yards distance between these and the other irons I am testing. Lofts obviously play a role in that and some are okay with that and others are not.

I agree about the sound and feel. More than anything to me, these irons have a distinct crisp sound that I am really enjoying.
 
Thorough write up Hawk. I think your distance you are seeing and mine are very similar. About 10 yards distance between these and the other irons I am testing. Lofts obviously play a role in that and some are okay with that and others are not.

I agree about the sound and feel. More than anything to me, these irons have a distinct crisp sound that I am really enjoying.

I still don't know what to think about them being shorter in distance. I feel like I should care and part of me does, but then I think about all of the other things and think that they are important too. For now, I'm loving them and I'm going to continue to enjoy testing them.
 
Hawk and I went out to play a round of 18 today, first time out fore me, Hawk has clearly been practicing over winter. He let me take a few swings with the forged CBs, I loved these clubs, with a good hit they felt soooo good and I found them to be very accurate. If I were looking at new irons these would be on my short list. In comparison to my WS Pi7s they were a hair longer (not one to judge clubs on length but for those who want to know), top line was thicker (I could care less), otherwise were very similar in overall size and shape, where they excelled was striking the ball same forgiveness (hits off the toe went nearly full distance) but felt so soft. Also hit some shots with the Burner 2.0, this club is long, 10 to 20 yards longer but is not in the same league as the forged CBs or my Pi7s just felt harsh.

Thanks Hawk, was very enjoyable round today. Was nice to just go out and enjoy hitting balls with no score keeping and generally just goofing around swinging clubs. Something I need to do more often rather than always trying to put up a score.
 
again, I am confused here because I am not seeing these distance losses.

Skimming a little here but maybe you are playing a shaft that is better for your swing? What were your old irons again? I think they were the CG7's. What shafts were in them?
 
good write up Hawk glad these are working for you!

I had what I'd call another really good day with these irons today. I actually had the opportunity to use some of the longer irons more and found out a few things. First of all, I can hit a 5 iron well and it will go just as high as any other club in my bag. I felt absolute confidence in it today and that was huge to me. Last year, I didn't even carry an 5 iron (hybrid instead). I've noticed that I tend to get a bit of fade with it, but that's my normal shot and I usually play for it.

Also, I used the 6 iron quite a bit today and came away really loving it as well. Again, I was just amazed at how high I was hitting it. One par 3 was playing at my 6 iron distance and I put two shots within 15 yards of each other. Not exactly throwing darts, but that's actually really good for me, especially when I look back at last year. I've honestly never been that comfortable with a 6 iron in my hand. I'm thinking that I will get some more yardage out of it when it warms up a bit, but I'm fine with what I have right now. I've always had a club that I could hit 160 with, but I didn't necessarily feel confident in my ability to put the ball on the green from there. Huge stuff for me. Last thing on my mind concerning the long irons is something I already mentioned. Ball flight. It was high and really, really nice.

Feel was once again spectacular as was sound. I'm really starting to be able to tell my misses right away. They are most noticeable when you hit either low on the face or out on the toe for me. I think that I'm able to tell now when I miss low on the face by a couple grooves, wheras I just didn't notice that miss with other irons I've had. Heel shots aren't as noticeable to me and shots high on the face sort of feel dead if that makes sense.

As for forgiveness, I continue to notice that shots lower on the face are the ones that turn out the best (for me) in terms of misses. I hit a couple thinner shots and the ball flight wasn't quite as high and the distance was slightly off, but not by much. I don't recall hitting the ball high on the face today, so I can't really comment on that.

Now for a little distance talk. The Di11 thread and some of the talk in here had me really wondering if these irons were right for me and if I needed something a little bit longer. I don't know if I have a complete answer to that question yet, but I did come away with some thoughts today. The first thing I thought of was my gaps at the lower end of my bag. So far, I'm finding that the gap between my 5 iron to my 4 hybrid are right in line and I really like having the 4 hybrid for many reasons. If my gaps are in line, I'm not sure if I need a longer set of irons. Also, I just feel confident in my swing with the CB's and that is a huge, but intangible part of it as well. I don't know why, but I like how they feel and look and they make me think I'm going to hit the ball well with them.

I hit the 2.0 6 iron and really flushed one that was a great shot. I then hit a CB 6 iron that was a groove or two low. The difference in distance was in the 10-15 yard range. I'm thinking if I had hit the CB flush it would have been right around 10 yards in difference, but I can't say for sure. I think I need to spend more time with the 2.0 6 iron to see if I'm more accurate with it than I am with the CB 5 iron, because if not, I don't know if there is that much of a difference to me. Of course, all of this is subject to change at any moment haha.

My favorite things about these irons today were 1) ball flight 2) accuracy 3) confidence
 
Hawk, you have some good thoughts going on in your head. And to be honest, it's really a nice predicament to be in when you think about it. You are obviously striking the ball well. You are seeing decent forgiveness, ball flight, and you love the sound/feel. I think it's only natural to wonder if a club is what you want when it comes to distance. I really enjoyed that write up, it was honest and thorough. To tell you the truth, I'd probably be wondering the same things as you are buddy.

Keep up the good work.
 
Hawk excellent thoughts man. Love the honesty and look forward to hearing more.
 
Nice write up Hawk. I'm jealous that while you were playing golf, I was probably still working. Everyone talks about distance loss with these clubs. I have the benefit of never knowing, because the CBs are 1-2 degrees stronger in loft than my current irons. So I should actually see a slight distance increase.

Now if golf galaxy would just get these in so I can hit them.
 
Hawk, I gotta tell you I'm really liking your write ups buddy. You and I seem to have very similar distances and game in general from the fw. From reading all the reports I'm seriously considering a mixed set of these.

My distance just isn't there and while you, at your age, will likely see a distance growth in your game, I need to think about distance gain from the clubs. The confidence gained from the CB irons in the scoring clubs and possibly more distance from the MB's or something along that route may be my answer, just not sure yet.

Great job, thanks!

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Took these to the course this weekend for their introduction to grass and was generally pleased with the results. The turf interaction that other testers are seeing with these and the other TP Forged iron offerings is definitely there. I came in fat on a few shots today and where other irons would dig in or take a massive chunk of the earth with them these just skimmed along through the shot and while the shot was short, it was at least straight. These are still definitely a good club shorter than my previous set (x-24's) and don't offer a ton of forgiveness for those days/rounds when your swing is off but the feedback in consistent and the ball flight is predictable. While the weighting and balance on the CB's is nice, I actually would like to see a little bit more mass in the head to gain some more distance and potentially some more forgiveness. When caught flush these irons feel perfect. My best shot of the day with these was on a 167 yd par 3 into a 15mph wind where I flushed a 6 iron to within 10 ft of the pin. The ball flight was slightly penetrating which ended up as a fairly high shot that landed softly with a one hop stop.
 
I really enjoyed your write up Hawk. In my case I'll take accuracy and consistency over distance anyday. It seems like the CB's are give you a little bit of both. What kind of grips came with your CB's?
 
I really enjoyed your write up Hawk. In my case I'll take accuracy and consistency over distance anyday. It seems like the CB's are give you a little bit of both. What kind of grips came with your CB's?

I think he went with some Winn's. I can't remember which ones exactly. I want to say it was PCI's but I'm not positive.
 
The turf interaction that other testers are seeing with these and the other TP Forged iron offerings is definitely there. I came in fat on a few shots today and where other irons would dig in or take a massive chunk of the earth with them these just skimmed along through the shot and while the shot was short, it was at least straight.

Hanks,
Great info from the writeup today. One quick question based on my testing is that I see that the turf interaction with the thinner sole is leading towards solid divots, yet with the clubs with the wider soles I found those clubs bouncing off the turf rather than taking huge divots. Im guessing you are seeing something totally different? That the wider soled X-24s when caught heavy are digging?
 
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