TaylorMade Tour Preferred Irons

shane0007

I have a set of Callaway X20 for quite a few years now. I like them but I fancy a change or hopefully an improvement.

I was thinking of the Taylormade Tour Preferred irons.

Does anybody have them, pros & cons, reviews, etc.?

My existing handicap is 17.5, but I gave up the game for about 12 years due to a back operation. Back playing 3 years. Before the injury, I was down to 5 handicap so I am really trying to get my handicap down as much as I can. Knocked 2.5 off it this year & I think I can get to 12 this year, fingers crossed.

Tilikum

shane0007 wrote: »

I have a set of Callaway X20 for quite a few years now. I like them but I fancy a change or hopefully an improvement.

I was thinking of the Taylormade Tour Preferred irons.

Does anybody have them, pros & cons, reviews, etc.?

My existing handicap is 17.5, but I gave up the game for about 12 years due to a back operation. Back playing 3 years. Before the injury, I was down to 5 handicap so I am really trying to get my handicap down as much as I can. Knocked 2.5 off it this year & I think I can get to 12 this year, fingers crossed.

I have a set of R9 tp's. Nicest set I've ever had,

shane0007

I bought the TaylorMade ATV wedges & find them nice but very light. I am more used to a heavier head. Do you find the R9's light & thinney?

Or does anybody have suggestions for other clubs? I was looking at the Callaway Razr X Tour irons. Any thoughts?

spacecoyote

A pro I saw last year actually recommended the rocketbladez tour irons to me last year as a great bridge between a game improvement & blade. He said he'd tried them out & was amazed by how tight the dispersion was on them. Could probably pick them up relatively reasonably now too given they are about to be replaced by the jetspeed irons or whatever it is they are calling their next piece of wonder kit. Worth a look anyway?

I still find it difficult to look beyond mizuno myself for irons, but the titleist ap2 is a lovely looking club too

Russman

[QUOTE=spacecoyote;88285545
I still find it difficult to look beyond mizuno myself for irons,[/QUOTE]

Amen to that !

Op, best bet, if you haven't decided on a set yet, is to try as many as possible. Nothing wrong with your own X-20 and they're certainly not stopping anyone lowering their handicap.
I'm actually considering taking the reverse route to you and going to a more forgiving iron for the coming season.

Dr_Colossus

shane0007 wrote: »

I bought the TaylorMade ATV wedges & find them nice but very light. I am more used to a heavier head. Do you find the R9's light & thinney?

I have the TaylorMade Tour Preferred MC Forged in 2 to 4 iron and the MB Forged in 5 to PW along with the ATV wedges in a 52 and 58 degree. I have the irons 12 months now and the wedges 9 months and overall find them very enjoyable. It's my first set of forged irons as my previous set were Lynx Black Cat irons I got second hand about 15 years ago before giving up the game for nearly 10.

I prefer the MBs at address over the MCs with the slightly smaller head and thinner top line and their feel is very responsive. That said the MCs offer that little bit extra forgiveness in the long irons so it's a nice balance.
It terms of weight, I like to feel the club head position throughout the swing and as such was recommended a D5 swing weight. I got the irons custom fitted at ForeGolf with a light DG Lite X100 shaft which offers nice feedback and you certainly know the pure strikes from the bad but the forged over cast iron has an element to play there also I think. With the newer TaylorMade TP irons the club builder can adjust the head weight by changing the weight behind the club face rather than by adding lead inserts in the hossel or lead tape to the head itself so you should be able to get one that suits.
With regards the wedges, I ordered these from TaylorMade through McGuirks with vouchers I had and matched the shaft and swing weight. The shaft weight itself has a big bearing on the swing weight so if you're finding your wedges very light it could be worth looking at changing the shafts as some of the stock shafts are not necessarily the best.

pinkdoubleeagle

Russman wrote: »

Amen to that !

Op, best bet, if you haven't decided on a set yet, is to try as many as possible. Nothing wrong with your own X-20 and they're certainly not stopping anyone lowering their handicap.
I'm actually considering taking the reverse route to you and going to a more forgiving iron for the coming season.

Have a few sets you could try out. I seem to remember hit youbare left handed?

shane0007

pinkdoubleeagle wrote: »

Have a few sets you could try out. I seem to remember hit youbare left handed?

Yes, left handed. Actually right handed & left footed but swing left handed!

shane0007

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

I have the TaylorMade Tour Preferred MC Forged in 2 to 4 iron and the MB Forged in 5 to PW along with the ATV wedges in a 52 and 58 degree. I have the irons 12 months now and the wedges 9 months and overall find them very enjoyable. It's my first set of forged irons as my previous set were Lynx Black Cat irons I got second hand about 15 years ago before giving up the game for nearly 10.

I prefer the MBs at address over the MCs with the slightly smaller head and thinner top line and their feel is very responsive. That said the MCs offer that little bit extra forgiveness in the long irons so it's a nice balance.
It terms of weight, I like to feel the club head position throughout the swing and as such was recommended a D5 swing weight. I got the irons custom fitted at ForeGolf with a light DG Lite X100 shaft which offers nice feedback and you certainly know the pure strikes from the bad but the forged over cast iron has an element to play there also I think. With the newer TaylorMade TP irons the club builder can adjust the head weight by changing the weight behind the club face rather than by adding lead inserts in the hossel or lead tape to the head itself so you should be able to get one that suits.
With regards the wedges, I ordered these from TaylorMade through McGuirks with vouchers I had and matched the shaft and swing weight. The shaft weight itself has a big bearing on the swing weight so if you're finding your wedges very light it could be worth looking at changing the shafts as some of the stock shafts are not necessarily the best.

Thanks, some greet tips. I think you are correct & I think the personal fitting is the best way forward.
Where's the best place? I'm in Kilkenny but nearly every week in Dublin.

Russman

pinkdoubleeagle wrote: »

Have a few sets you could try out. I seem to remember hit youbare left handed?

Thanks for that, much appreciated !
Yep, I'm a lefty alright, which limits the choices unfortunately. Mizuno have really given us lefties a hard time in the last few years, JPX825 Pro in left hand would be just the ticket !!

I'm out of action with injury until April/May but will PM you closer to the comeback.

Russman

shane0007 wrote: »

Thanks, some greet tips. I think you are correct & I think the personal fitting is the best way forward.
Where's the best place? I'm in Kilkenny but nearly every week in Dublin.

Probably Foregolf is the best, but opinions on them will differ re the premium you pay if you buy from them. Or you could try Titleist in Carton House, but obviously that's only for Titleist equipment. Its a great set-up out there, I don't know who the fitter is now, but I'm good friends with the previous guy and had a few sessions on their trackman, really interesting.

shane0007

I think I will try look into a few. My own club pro might know where to go also.

I think Callaway do a touring fitting but not sure where & when.

Dr_Colossus

shane0007 wrote: »

Thanks, some greet tips. I think you are correct & I think the personal fitting is the best way forward.
Where's the best place? I'm in Kilkenny but nearly every week in Dublin.

Best place for custom fitting is undoubtedly ForeGolf based in Killeen Castle near Dunshaughlin, Co. Meath. Plenty of threads about them here with predominately positive reviews, I wrote a long review of my own experiences here if interested:
http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2056142869/20/#post82214768
That said there are plenty of other options for custom fitting with the Titleist Fitting Centre in Carton House and the pro shop in Birr Golf Club getting very positive reviews and that's before the options from the big golf chains and other pro shops around the country.

One piece of advice however if going the custom fitting route is to have a very good idea of what you want. If possible try and narrow your selection to a few manufacturers and models as otherwise you'll spend most of your time trying the clubs rather than the best shaft options. Certain driving ranges (only know of Leopardstown and Kinsealy in Dublin) have shops associated with them with demo clubs available to try so this should help you narrow your selection.

Enjoy the quest as it's certainly an informative and interesting process.

pinkdoubleeagle

Russman wrote: »

Thanks for that, much appreciated !
Yep, I'm a lefty alright, which limits the choices unfortunately. Mizuno have really given us lefties a hard time in the last few years, JPX825 Pro in left hand would be just the ticket !!

I'm out of action with injury until April/May but will PM you closer to the comeback.

No worries

shaneon77

The new "tour preferred" irons from TM don't have the weight screw but they look really nice. https://www.google.com/search?q=tm+tour+preferred+2014&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=rDHHUo_7OKqs7Qb8hICgBQ&ved=0CDQQsAQ&biw=506&bih=767#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=wSpF-wShTh3PbM%3A%3BHWugNn19LJztvM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fthesandtrap.com%252Fcontent%252Ftype%252F61%252Fid%252F86296%252Fwidth%252F640%252Fheight%252F1000%252Fflags%252FLL%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fthesandtrap.com%252Ft%252F71021%252Fnew-taylormade-mb-mc-and-cb-irons-for-2014%3B640%3B640 apologies, that's a bit of a long link. I recommend copy and paste ��

shane0007

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

Best place for custom fitting is undoubtedly ForeGolf based in Killeen Castle near Dunshaughlin, Co. Meath. Plenty of threads about them here with predominately positive reviews, I wrote a long review of my own experiences here if interested:
http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2056142869/20/#post82214768
That said there are plenty of other options for custom fitting with the Titleist Fitting Centre in Carton House and the pro shop in Birr Golf Club getting very positive reviews and that's before the options from the big golf chains and other pro shops around the country.

One piece of advice however if going the custom fitting route is to have a very good idea of what you want. If possible try and narrow your selection to a few manufacturers and models as otherwise you'll spend most of your time trying the clubs rather than the best shaft options. Certain driving ranges (only know of Leopardstown and Kinsealy in Dublin) have shops associated with them with demo clubs available to try so this should help you narrow your selection.

Enjoy the quest as it's certainly an informative and interesting process.

Great link/review. Thanks. A lot to take in, but a lot more investigating, me thinks.

DuckSlice

+1 for ForeGolf.
I was there just before christmas and the difference in the irons that they fitted me for was unbelievable. i cant look at my old wilson fatshafts without remembering how great the JPX 825 Pro's felt. i was getting an extra 18 yards from a 6 iron with less clubhead speed and the reason was i was hitting the sweetspot every time. Yes they are expensive if you buy off them, i could go out and buy the set with the same shafts but what i dont know is the specific lengths and swingweights they fitted me for. if i bought some off the shelf and didnt get the same results i would be disgusted with myself. so i think they are worth the extra money. its not a lot when you think these will probably last you up to 10 years. when i order the irons i will be sending my wedges into get the same shafts and weighting. you can even just get the fitting session done with them, its an amazing experience in itself.

I'll never buy off the shelf again, but thats just a personal preference. my Wilsons got me from a 20h/c to 16 when i stopped playing 4 years ago, started again 2013 and now off 13 so there is still a lot to say for off the shelf clubs. my quest is for single figures(5/6) over the next 2 years and i probably dont have the natural ability to get there easy so professionally fitted clubs will be a great help to me.

As Dr_Colossus said tho, have an idea what you want. i wanted mizuno irons so he went straight into them and saved time for my woods as i didnt know what i wanted in them. so ended up trying quite a few drivers and 3 woods.

shane0007

If you don't mind me asking, what did your clubs cost you including the fitting service?

uberwolf

lot of useful information here. I'm in to foregolf this week. I'd like to make use of my hour. Are there particular areas that I should have a think about in order to make my time effective with them?

DuckSlice

uberwolf wrote: »

lot of useful information here. I'm in to foregolf this week. I'd like to make use of my hour. Are there particular areas that I should have a think about in order to make my time effective with them?

Just have a think about your game, where you want the most improvement. Think about where do you mostly miss with your irons, left or right, same with woods. They are pretty efficient with using up your time. Woods take most of the time as they have to go through driver, fairways and hybrids if you have them. All the iron fitting will be done with a 6 iron.

Dr_Colossus

shane0007 wrote: »

If you don't mind me asking, what did your clubs cost you including the fitting service?

PM sent with prices paid.

george67

I changed from x20 tours to Taylor made Mc irons last year and I find them very soft and quite forgiving. They have less offset than the x20 tours so they would be a big jump from standard x20s. I draw my irons what is your swing type?

shane0007

george67 wrote: »

I changed from x20 tours to Taylor made Mc irons last year and I find them very soft and quite forgiving. They have less offset than the x20 tours so they would be a big jump from standard x20s. I draw my irons what is your swing type?

I do a bit of both, more of a fader but can draw when I need to or when I put my mind to it.

george67

shane0007 wrote: »

I do a bit of both, more of a fader but can draw when I need to or when I put my mind to it.

Be careful that the degree of offset doesn't turn your fade into a slice. I recommend you try before you buy. But I'm sure you will find them a cut above the x20s they feel like butter

shane0007

I spoke to one of our club pros at the weekend & Ping are doing a free fitting service at the club on 7th Feb so he booked me in on that.

Can't hurt, me hopes!

I quite like Pings also as I when previously got down to single figures it was with measured Ping Zing 2's many moons ago, red dot if I remember correctly.