Editor’s note: Looking ahead to where we take our golf equipment coverage in the future (launch season will be here soon enough!), we want to look behind us more frequently. What does that mean, exactly? Well, we want to both place new releases in their historical contexts and highlight past coverage by, as we have done from time to time, opening the GolfWRX archives.
For this installment, we’re returning to September of 2017 when we featured GolfWRX Member reviews of TaylorMade’s groundbreaking first-generation of P790 irons.
We pick up the piece with two of the WRXer reviews.
Mike Randall (lvmike)
Mike Randall out of Las Vegas came to the Kingdom with a set of Callaway Apex Pro irons. His miss, according to him, was a weak baby-fade that lost distance and trailed off to the right of his target; he thought it was due to an over-the-top move. His GEARS session showed that he was actually square with his path, but his club face did tend to stay open, thus causing that weak miss to the right that Mike was sensitive to.
With his Apex Pro irons, Mike averaged 106.2 mph of ball speed, a launch angle of 21 degrees and a spin rate of 6915 rpm. With the TaylorMade P-790 irons (Nippon Pro Modus105 Stiff shafts) that he was fit into, he saw a jump to 110.5 mph of ball speed with 20.6 degrees of launch and a spin rate of 6511 rpm. So while the launch and spin was slightly lower than his Apex Pro irons, he saw significantly faster ball speeds, leading to more distance.
IN MIKE’S OWN WORDS
I averaged 80 mph with my Apex 7 iron, and I averaged 84 mph with the P-790 iron. I went from XP 115 shafts to Modus 105 shafts. Trajectory was dead even at 20 degrees but picked up 8 yards on average in distance. “But it’s a degree stronger.” At my swing speed, a degree doesn’t equate to 8 yards.
The biggest plus for me is feel. While the P-790s are not as buttery as the P-730 (blade irons)… yes, even I striped that 5 iron that was making its rounds. That said, after 2 solid swings I knew it couldn’t get any better, so I passed it off to Inkoo (dude has a legit swing!). Anyway, the Apex have a notable click that’s not that muted forged feel that I get off of a Mizzy JPX Tour 900 (as a point of buttery reference). The P-790s are much closer to that. It’s got a ton of technology but it’s all hidden by a forged face attached to a ‘softer’ forged body.
Even though I was trying to bring my launch angle down, TJ (my fitter) showed me that with the same launch angle, the Modus 105 was getting me 4 mph faster club head speed, 400 rpm less spin and ball speed up to 111 mph. These 3 components were key to me because I was getting more distance without having to worry about run out on the greens.
Face on, I prefer the P790s. The overall shape is a bit more boxy, which I prefer and the top line merges smoothly into the hosel with a crook or dip (see Callaway Steelhead irons or Ping irons). I love that transition. The bottom line of the sole is fantastic. It’s not a hard straight line. It has just a bit of radius without getting too round.
The overall satin finish is a huge sell to me. Love that look. The slim piece on the back that’s polished reminds me of something else that’s pretty classy; my wedding band. It’s satin with a polished edge in the middle. We’ll see if these irons will stand the test of time like that has.
The sole is nothing special to look at…no v-sole like Srixon, no beveled edge like Mizuno, but it certainly doesn’t have to be. I realize this section is about LOOKS, but the performance of the sole has been fantastic so far. No high bounce thin shots to note and, well, I don’t hit too many fat shots (unless it’s a chip), but nothing there either. Speaking of which, I’ve chipped a few times with the AW, which is something I don’t do, due to sole interaction (chunk) and it’s batting 1,000 percent. May start incorporating that into the short game.
The hollow iron ‘look’ has no bearing at address. If anything, it hides it well for those who might think it would bother them. The bonus of the whole hollow iron look? Cleaning the clubs is a breeze! No nooks and crannies to clean if you’re a cavity back guy. My first shot with my 5 iron (hit the green to 15 feet with a punch shot from under a tree!) beared witness to that. I was irritated to be under that tree in the first place and it was broken up by, ‘wow, that was a nice surprise. Note! Quick and easy to clean!’
The lack of colors, badging, and various other potential tackiness is also a big plus. It’s just a clean look. TaylorMade knows players in the handicap range they’re targeting prefer that look. Good job there!
Overall, a really good looking club. Better than most when it comes to this category. Best looking iron ever in my bag? Maybe not, but definitely top 3 (MP-32s…c’mon guys. Although I’d argue that face to hosel transition is executed better by TM on the 790s).
I think they are legitimately one club longer.
To sum it up, the feel and sound are better than the Apex, the offset (or lack thereof) is just very nice to look down at, and the fact that I’ve picked up length and haven’t sacrificed any accuracy is just tremendous for me.
Bobby Stroud (imburningstarIV)
Texan Bobby Stroud came to the Kingdom donning a set of Mizuno MP-53 irons with True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shafts. He says he prefers a fade, which made sense since his GEARS session showed an outside-to-in swing path and an open club face. Who can argue with wanting to play a reliable fade? Not me, and not his fitter.
After getting a baseline with his gamer 7 iron, his fitter had Stroud try a few different shafts — a KBS Tour and a Nippon Pro Modus to no avail. Stroud said he didn’t like the weighting of the KBS Tour or the kick point of the Modus. Back to the X100, and Stroud regained his comfort. If it ain’t broke…
Ultimately, Stroud gained 2 mph of club head speed and 4.3 mph of ball speed with the P-790 7-iron head vs. his Mizuno MP-53 iron with the same shaft. He also peppered his target, or at least the center line of Trackman, more often.
IN BOBBY’S OWN WORDS
I was fit for P790’s with Tour Issue X100’s, 2 degrees flat, 3-AW.
I really think anyone who played Mizuno MP-53’s, 54’s and into the H-4/5 will really be drawn to these.
Well it took me about four holes to start hitting anything good, but very impressed with the feel and looks. Now that said, these things are LONG, maybe not so much in the shorter irons, but as I go up through the set towards the long irons they get really long, like maybe I have 12-15 yard gaps in the set as opposed to the 10 yards I’m used to. Just going to take some rounds to figure things out, but forgiveness is incredible. I got away with a couple of stinkers today, including a 3 iron off the tee I know my MP-53 3 iron might not have even made the fairway.
So far I have been extremely surprised with how good and how solid the P790’s feel. I’m not sure I’ve ever had an iron this forgiving, and I thought my MP-53’s were forgiving irons, but this is just different, not to mention the confidence when you have a long iron in your hand from the fairway to just swing.
I would say 4-7 (3 iron is an absolute monster off the tee, and a huge weapon for my course) I’ve still not had enough shots with to get them figured out exactly, but getting there. Reactions from playing partners have been very positive, everybody loves the look and feel. I have to say I’m becoming more impressed with them each round.
As someone who has only ever just played your standard forged cavity back, I was impressed with the amount of tech packed into this iron. Seems to me like the SpeedFoam is the real breakthrough here, and is what is allowing these clubs to feel and look like a players iron. Now I have been known to be extremely whiny and critical of new club prices these days, irons and drivers seem to just be getting too expensive, but I’m going to be honest, after Tomo Bystedt’s presentation to us on the P790’s I’m kind of shocked they’re at the price point they are, and it seems very reasonable when you compare it to similar clubs.
I was really impressed with the feel of the P790, so solid.
I was fit for the same shafts I was playing, the lofts on the 790’s are stronger than my 53’s, but if I take same lofts and compare 6 iron example; MP-53 5 iron: 27 degrees and P790 6 iron: 26.5degrees, I was 185 yards tops in the Mizuno 5 iron, and had no problem hitting the 790 6 iron 195 yards, BUT with a bit higher flight, and it still hit and stopped no problem.
I haven’t encountered one single shot yet that had the “hot spot” feeling. I was actually thinking about that during testing and the couple of rounds I’ve played since because of the design. VERY consistent with the yardages so far.
My miss tends to be thin and the 790’s are WAY better than my Mizuno’s on thin shots, almost like it doesn’t even effect the shot, just comes off lower and still stops on the green. But noticeably more forgiving all around than what I was playing. I hit a lot of 3 irons off the tee and can honestly say I’ve had two fat ones end up OK, that I don’t think would have been saved from my MP-53 3 iron. I think a 10-12 handicap will be perfectly fine with these.
As you’d expect, the rest of the article features four more WRXingly in-dept assessments of the irons.
For a trip down equipment memory lane, head over to the full piece.
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