I figured I’d give an update and my impressions of the clubs I hit since you all were really helpful with your suggestions. I pulled the trigger this weekend and set an appt with Edwin Watts Saturday. All the testing was done with a 7 iron.
My 7 iron: I have a ‘98 TaylorMade Burner Oversize standard length, 1° up lie, and regular flex steel shafts. I hit 8 balls averaging 144 carry with a total distance of 152. All balls went left of target furthest was 14 yards and closest was 2. My average swing speed was 91 which I was a little surprised about.
TaylorMade Sim Max: I guess the fitting irons they have are these clubs because they had all of the interchangeable heads and shafts for this club. These swings were to get the shaft and lie angle down. The ball jumped off the face, it was kind of eye opening. Once I got the shaft and lie down. (105 Stiff, with a 1° flat), I was averaging 178 carry with total distance of 188. All shots went left with biggest being 23 yards and smallest being 8. I naturally draw the ball so the club face felt closed because it is offset. I could feel thin and fat shots but not toed or heeled. I hit several toe shots that still got to that 170 carry mark which was impressive. My best hit was 8 yards left 184 carry with total distance 196.
Titleist T200: The club looked gorgeous and was neutral. It felt a lot softer and I could feel the mis-hits and they showed. I hit 3 out of 10 shots well. Of the 7 bad ones, the two real bad ones (fat) went 135 yards. The 5 marginal ones went 150 some left some right. The 3 good ones carried 155 with a total of 162. Between 4-12 yards left of target. My Launch numbers weren’t great and spin was upper mid 5000s.
TaylorMade P790: Again, the club looked good. It felt neutral and had a good sound. I could feel mis-hits but they were forgiving. I also hit my first ball right of target! I averaged 161 carry with total of 169. Spin rate was mid 6000s and the angles looked good. Furthest left was 9 yards and the one right was 3 yards.
Callaway Apex: Wow! First off the club size instills a lot of confidence but it was offset so it felt very closed to me. I hit the first shot and it EXPLODED off the face. All I felt was that. It went 28 yards left of target, carried 192 and totaled 204. At this point, Lee, the fitter put a magnet alignment tool on the face and demonstrated how closed I had the face at alignment. I opened it up and ripped a 188 carry 198 total 5 yards left of target. The rest of the shots were similar but I felt like I had to purposely try and cut the ball and still never got anything right of target. My best hit was 196 carry with 204 total and while the idea of hitting 7 iron into 190 yard par 3s is enticing. I don’t need a 40 yard gap between the AW and my current SW and I don’t want to have to purposely think about opening up the face on every shot.
Mizuno King Cobra Ping: All of these performed than my current iron but they all had their flaws that kept them out of the running.
Final test: I hit 5 good shots with each club (Mizuno, TM P790, Callaway, Titleist) and told him to delete a shot if I felt it wasn’t good. I wouldn’t look at the numbers until after I hit them all.
Mizuno-8 shots, 3 felt dead. 158 carry 167 total, 18-7 yards left of target.
Titleist- 7 shots, 1 chunky, 1 dead, 157 carry 167 total 14 left to 6 right
Callaway- 5 shots, all felt great 185 carry 197 total 25 yards left to 10 yards left.
TM - 6 Shots 1 pull, 163 carry 172 total. 7 yards left to 2 yards right. 4 shots were 3 yards left straight and 1 and 2 yards right.
I went with the TM P790 5-AW. It checked off the boxes of closing the Gap on the top end by adding distance and still giving me spin and workability. Again thanks to everyone for their suggestions. Here’s to some low scores.
My 7 iron: I have a ‘98 TaylorMade Burner Oversize standard length, 1° up lie, and regular flex steel shafts. I hit 8 balls averaging 144 carry with a total distance of 152. All balls went left of target furthest was 14 yards and closest was 2. My average swing speed was 91 which I was a little surprised about.
TaylorMade Sim Max: I guess the fitting irons they have are these clubs because they had all of the interchangeable heads and shafts for this club. These swings were to get the shaft and lie angle down. The ball jumped off the face, it was kind of eye opening. Once I got the shaft and lie down. (105 Stiff, with a 1° flat), I was averaging 178 carry with total distance of 188. All shots went left with biggest being 23 yards and smallest being 8. I naturally draw the ball so the club face felt closed because it is offset. I could feel thin and fat shots but not toed or heeled. I hit several toe shots that still got to that 170 carry mark which was impressive. My best hit was 8 yards left 184 carry with total distance 196.
Titleist T200: The club looked gorgeous and was neutral. It felt a lot softer and I could feel the mis-hits and they showed. I hit 3 out of 10 shots well. Of the 7 bad ones, the two real bad ones (fat) went 135 yards. The 5 marginal ones went 150 some left some right. The 3 good ones carried 155 with a total of 162. Between 4-12 yards left of target. My Launch numbers weren’t great and spin was upper mid 5000s.
TaylorMade P790: Again, the club looked good. It felt neutral and had a good sound. I could feel mis-hits but they were forgiving. I also hit my first ball right of target! I averaged 161 carry with total of 169. Spin rate was mid 6000s and the angles looked good. Furthest left was 9 yards and the one right was 3 yards.
Callaway Apex: Wow! First off the club size instills a lot of confidence but it was offset so it felt very closed to me. I hit the first shot and it EXPLODED off the face. All I felt was that. It went 28 yards left of target, carried 192 and totaled 204. At this point, Lee, the fitter put a magnet alignment tool on the face and demonstrated how closed I had the face at alignment. I opened it up and ripped a 188 carry 198 total 5 yards left of target. The rest of the shots were similar but I felt like I had to purposely try and cut the ball and still never got anything right of target. My best hit was 196 carry with 204 total and while the idea of hitting 7 iron into 190 yard par 3s is enticing. I don’t need a 40 yard gap between the AW and my current SW and I don’t want to have to purposely think about opening up the face on every shot.
Mizuno King Cobra Ping: All of these performed than my current iron but they all had their flaws that kept them out of the running.
Final test: I hit 5 good shots with each club (Mizuno, TM P790, Callaway, Titleist) and told him to delete a shot if I felt it wasn’t good. I wouldn’t look at the numbers until after I hit them all.
Mizuno-8 shots, 3 felt dead. 158 carry 167 total, 18-7 yards left of target.
Titleist- 7 shots, 1 chunky, 1 dead, 157 carry 167 total 14 left to 6 right
Callaway- 5 shots, all felt great 185 carry 197 total 25 yards left to 10 yards left.
TM - 6 Shots 1 pull, 163 carry 172 total. 7 yards left to 2 yards right. 4 shots were 3 yards left straight and 1 and 2 yards right.
I went with the TM P790 5-AW. It checked off the boxes of closing the Gap on the top end by adding distance and still giving me spin and workability. Again thanks to everyone for their suggestions. Here’s to some low scores.
