"Final" Review (you know I'll be back for more -- the season is winding down up here in Wisconsin, but we still have a month left plus indoor sims and a heated outdoor range, so it's not over-over)
For the overall score, I wish there was a 4.5 -- averages across the scored categories points closer to 5, but there are a few things holding me back from calling these irons a full 5/5.
Reminder of the set that I’m testing:
T100S 4-PW, Nippon Modus 120X (Core test set)
T200 Utility Build 3 iron, Graphite Design Tour AD-IZ 95X (Bonus addition – had the choice between this or the T100S 3 iron)
TL;DR Summary/Conclusion (Overall (and a half))
The bag setup with T200 Utility plus T100S irons is awesome. I feel very confident over the ball. With the added distance, I’m more willing to lay back in the fairway vs. hitting riskier drivers. Even though lofts are stronger, it doesn’t show in terms of ball flight or spin (something that I think is very impressive) – my individual irons fly farther, fly higher, and stop faster, which makes me feel like I can hit any shot inside of 225, and the T200 3 iron gives me confidence even outside of that. If your swing is strong enough to hit a player’s iron (not quite blade, just something smaller), I’d highly recommend this set.
Looks ()
General Feedback: When it comes to the finish of an iron, I’ve always preferred a matte or brushed finish – something less shiny, less reflective. The T100S fits my eye very well in that category (although to be honest, I actually do prefer the “Pearl Brush” finish of my Mizunos – a lighter, softer color).
I love the way the back looks – the design of their “muscle channel” and placement of the T100S logo are very appealing. Face is pretty standard. From above…the soles look slick (and make it look like you can play, or at least think you can play), but as I noted in my intro post, there’s something about the numbering that I don’t like (and haven’t liked on other Titleist irons) – that’s super unimportant, so no points docked for that.
In play: At address, these are awesome. Their marketing says they “refined optics for a cleaner, more confident look”, and they nailed it. Very clean look, thin topline, comparable to other players’ irons that I’ve played. These things inspire confidence.
T200 3 iron: Similar feedback. This has a smaller profile than I expected, which I really like. It does not have the same matte finish – it’s the shiny, reflective steel finish that I don’t really like (minor, but notable). The muscle plate looks kinda cool, but it feels kinda cheap (like plastic) – although maybe that was necessary to make it perform the way it does.
Top to bottom, that's the T200 3 iron and T100S 4-PW. In these next couple photos, I'm trying to show the look of the Titleist vs. my current gamers -- T200 3 iron vs. Srixon U85 2 iron; T100S 6 iron vs. JPX919 Forged 6 iron; T100S 7 iron vs. JPX919 Tour 7 iron. Visualize it from left-to-right (in the photos, top-to-bottom) -- the longer clubs are on the top of the photos, and it's always the Titleist as the left/top club:
IMO, the T200 3 iron looks so much smaller than the U85 (not just because of 3 vs. 2); the 7 irons look almost identical; the 6 irons actually look closer than I expected. Titleist seems to have slightly less offset.
Feel ()
Initial feedback was that these felt a little heavier than what I’m used to. They do have slightly heavier shafts (by a couple grams) than what I played in my Mizunos, so that could be a factor. Feels fairly easy to control the clubhead, solid shots feel crisp, toe hits get immediate feedback in the hands. I meant to shank one to see how that feels but that just wasn’t in the cards. Shafts feel great too, but they’re fitted to me, so I’m shying away from too much feedback there.
T200 is similar, with solid shots feeling even better (maybe I need to convince myself to go to bigger clubs? ).
Basic Characteristics
Relative to my current gamer, the T200 is 2* weaker than my Srixon U85 2 iron; the T100S 4-6 are the same loft as my JPX919 Forged, and the 7-PW are 2* stronger than my JPX919 Tour. So…logic says the utility should be shorter and higher, 4-6 shouldn’t see much difference, and the 7-PW should be longer with more rollout, right? Not so much… My feedback based on my main launch monitor session is here: https://forum.mygolfspy.com/tests/19-test-in-progress-titleist-t-series-irons/?do=findComment&comment=6455
Distance ()
The 3 iron hits bombs . Based on both range and on-course performance, I’d say it’s about 10 yards longer than the U85 (some of that might be the shaft, but still never expected that…). It looks nicer too. It took a bit to get used to, but it did get more consistent over time – went from hitting big hooks for the first couple weeks and thinking there’s no way I’m keeping it, to striking it well and hitting the center of fairways (the combination of distance and accuracy was very helpful when the driver and 3wood were going sideways). I do have a lingering question on whether this was the right call – the shaft selection was great for a long iron, so I’m happy with that part, but I do sit here and wonder if the T100S 3 iron or the T200 2 iron would have been the better call (as noted in another post, after seeing the performance of the 3 iron, I might look into getting the 2 iron or a U505 1 iron with similar build).
The long-mid irons are a bit longer than the JPX, at least in terms of carry distance. Ball speed was comparable; the T100S launched higher, had a higher apex, and landed at a steeper angle. Both clubs were roughly the same total distance at the range, just different carry distances (the T100S had 3-5 yards longer average carry difference across the 3 head-to-head comparisons). Dispersion was a bit tighter with the T100S as well.
The shorter irons – dispersion got tighter with both sets (as expected), and the two were pretty comparable in that category. As expected, the T100S were longer in both carry and total distance. But now the surprising part: despite being 2* stronger and having a shaft that I expected to influence lower ball flight, the T100S: launched higher, had a higher apex, and landed steeper than the JPX919 Tour. The only exception was the Pitching Wedge: I didn’t have the best session with the PW on the monitor, and the sample set was smaller – however, it did have the highest single ball of the set.
Forgiveness ()
For the T100S in general, mishits were forgiving, but not that forgiving (T200 was actually similar, but a little more forgiving). They flew straight and still looked nice, just dropped well short of a solid shot – that’s something I expect from a Players’ iron, so no big deal. The bigger concern was when the opposite happened: every once in a while (both on the range and on the course), a monster would come out – no attempt to hit it further, no different feel from another stock solid shot, similar ball flight and height, it just kept flying. That’s not something I really saw with the Mizunos, and I think I’ll need to keep monitoring this to see if it truly is just that I struck those shots better vs. something else.
Some of the monitor data I was working with:
Note that this is with the outliers removed. The thing that gives me pause with this is how big of a gap there is between smoked-> solid -> toey on a stock swing (not intentionally trying to get more out of it), especially in the longer irons.
On-Course Performance ()
The best thing about the T200/T100S bag setup: it gave me a lot more versatility in shot selection, or at least gave me more confidence to hit different shots (especially tee shots to set up a hole differently). On certain holes on my typical courses, even though the hole didn’t set up well for a driver/3-wood, I’d give it a rip anyway to try to get a shorter club in my hand for the approach. With my Srixon/Mizuno setup, the alternative was a 2-iron off the tee and something like a 5-iron in (doable, but not preferred) – now with the T200 3 iron off the tee and the T100S for the approach, a solid tee shot on that same hole would put me closer to 7-iron range, which is a higher percentage / higher confidence shot for me. I started hitting the 3-iron where I’d typically play something longer, and the approaches actually worked out well, plus I was getting better looks (fairways with better angles, just a bit further back). Adding to the benefit here, the T100S 4 iron is also a great option off the tee on a short or mid-length Par 4, with mishits still flying pretty well over 200 and solid strikes being more in the 230 range.
Par 3 confidence is very high, and just having a shorter iron in hand for approach shots improves my confidence as well. My first couple times out with the irons, I was pulling 9 irons from 160-165 and getting them close (previous 9 iron distance was 150-155 – I think an excitement factor had me trying to hit it further). In more recent rounds, it has felt similar, and I’ve backed off of them a bit without losing much of the distance from those first couple rounds. I’m still pulling at least one club less than what I would have pulled with my Mizunos in nearly all cases (in a few exception cases, I’m going with the same club).
These are very workable too. On the course, I’ve worked them in both directions and done so reasonably accurately (comparable to the JPX Tour; feel easier to curve than JPX Forged). Flighting the ball feels fairly easy too – at least one of my rounds was in high winds, and I was able to work the ball through the wind with quite a bit of success (that was a 9 hole -1 with quite a few of the iron shots not being full/stock).
Distance control (trying to hit a specific number, not full swings)…I think it’s there, I just don’t have it down yet. With the added distance, it has been a little more difficult for me to take something off of a mid- or short-iron and have it fly the distance I’m expecting. I’ve done it successfully a couple times, but also hit a few that I expected to land next to the hole that fell short of the green (e.g. at least twice I took a PW from 130, which is more than I have in my 50* but needs to be ~15-20 off of this PW, and I haven’t quite figured out that 130 swing yet and only hit those ones ~120). I think it will come with time and practice. An example is here, which is actually a mishit 4-iron (displaying what I mentioned above) followed by a "take something off of it" PW that was not hit poorly (at impact, I thought I was going to have a 15ft birdie putt):
*On full shots as mentioned in the last section, that monster does rear its head every once in a while, but only on full shots so far.
Aside from the ball flying too far, my main miss is what we call “playing for the Yankees” (Tommy Boy, anyone?). A few shots went absurdly left to the point of making me question the lie angles (I’m well aware that I hit poor shots, but these were next-level left). It came out a few times in my rounds with these clubs, but I’m not actually concerned with it – the last few rounds haven’t had anything wild like that, and it was likely a combination of things, with club specs possibly influencing the outcome a bit.
Scores have been mixed, but that’s consistent with this year for me. I have a couple very good scores with these irons, and a couple disappointing rounds. However, the struggles were swing-related, not equipment-related – I was missing greens with my 9 iron and PW, but in the exact same way I was missing with my (non-Titleist) 50* and 55* wedges. My most recent round was a scramble, so iron play was limited (lots of drivers and wedges), but I felt very confident whenever they were in my hands – stuck a couple close ones with longer irons on par 5s.
My history with Titleist irons is not super positive, but also outdated. I struggled with the demos that I did many years ago. I held onto that perception and doubted the claims I saw about their lines of irons over the years. I silently questioned my friends’ decisions when they chose Titleist over a couple other select brands, thinking they made the wrong decision. It’s not that I thought they were poor quality clubs – I thought they were just too hard to hit, and that my friends and I needed to get better before considering them. After this test, I’m coming around – I don’t regret playing Mizuno for all of these years, but I do think it would have been worth considering Titleist (in my last couple fittings, I didn’t even try them).
Play it or Trade it?
These are 100% staying in the bag, at least through the end of this season and start of next season. I need to make a few swing tweaks, and a couple are underway – I think those will actually improve the performance of these and discourage a change, but we'll see. I have little advice on how to improve the T100S from a looks or performance angle – long, high, stop quickly, it’s the full package. The T200…all of the performance metrics are great, the back plate just feels a bit flimsy – something that feels more secure would be nice.
To be honest, the pricing is a little steep, especially when dealing with custom options. The stock price for my test setup is $1300 for T100S 4-PW plus $249 for the T200 3 iron, which is pretty well in line with the industry for this type of club (maybe a bit high, but not bad) – after the shaft upgrades (excluding grip), it’s $1400 plus $369. The $369 price tag is the one thing that’s making me hesitant to pull the trigger on that 1- or 2-iron to supplement the 3 (and a $120 upcharge feels steep for a shaft that’s marketed as “Featured” for the club). Comparing to the newest line of my gamers, Mizuno’s JPX921 are $1127 for Tour or $1225 for Forged for the same 4-PW, with my shaft as a no-charge upgrade – however, I don’t think they have a comparable 3 iron/utility, so I’m not sure how that would compare.
I think the T100S can outperform the competition, but is it worth the upcharge? For an elite amateur, absolutely; for an OK amateur like me, maybe (I’ve enjoyed the experience and would be OK paying the extra couple hundred bucks for slightly better performance). For someone below the elite level that might be working on a budget, I’m not as convinced – might be able to find something comparable that’s cheaper.
My advice for Titleist for this and future releases: find a way to narrow the gap with Mizuno’s custom pricing, which is something that has kept me with the brand for my last couple fitted sets – with Mizuno, my Nippons are $0 upcharge vs. $15/club with Titleist; for C-Taper or $-Taper, it’s $0 vs. $25/club; if you’re into graphite, Recoil 95 are $0 vs. $32/club. It feels like both companies have the initial angle of “get the clubs in the consumer’s hands”, but Mizuno seems to take it a step further by adding “with the build that’s best for them at the same price”, while Titleist will charge $100-$225 more for that. I didn’t have to pay any of that, so I’m very happy, but if I was out getting fitted, this would be a factor.
First, a big thank you to for letting us customize the build of these irons, and for securing me some shafts that are apparently very high demand right now (supposedly a big shortage, very difficult to obtain, some companies even taking them off of their upgrade lists). Initially I thought I'd need to go with stock or no-charge-upgrade shafts -- they would've worked well enough, but it would have thrown off comparisons to my current custom-fit set -- no reason the standard PX or LZ 6.5 wouldn't work for me, it's just not the "best" fit. After the fitting and the custom order (plus the bonus that the T100/T100S testers can get a long iron as T200), I ended up with:
3-iron: T200, Graphite Design Tour AD IZ 95X
4-PW: T100S, Nippon Modus Tour 120X (same shaft I use in my Mizunos, only X instead of S...honestly, I think I was fit into S in the past because they were off-season fittings -- this time the fitter said X was a no-brainer).
All have Golf Pride MCC Align grips (also an appreciated upgrade -- if we went stock, I have a stockpile of grips in the basement that I would've switched into). All standard length/lie/loft (the T100S are 2 degrees strong to start; usually I'm 1-2 degrees upright, but it looks like Titleist starts a bit more upright than Mizuno, so standard makes sense).
The clubs were all originally scheduled to show up last Thursday. But, you know, shipping issues Mine came in two packages, both looking like they were shipped at the same time from the same location using the same carrier, and both were roughly the same size (although one significantly heavier, for good reason). They took two completely different paths across the country -- end result is that the T200 showed up last Wednesday; the T100S didn't make it until this past Tuesday. That means the T200 has been in the bag for 45 holes so far (36 scramble, 9 normal), while the T100S are only at 9. Everything was packed very well, very secure, no issues upon arrival.
So first, the T200: fair warning, I have not played with any of the recent Titleist irons, so I didn't my first reaction to this was "wow, that's smaller than I expected". I'm using this to replace a Srixon U85 2 iron, which is a beast for an iron, so the small profile was a little shocking at first, but I like the look. I'll be honest, this isn't a club I plan to hit often -- the main use is tee shots on target par 4s and approaches on some par 5s, otherwise it stays in the bag covered by one of my foreign dictators for show (switch between Putin and Kim Jong Un utility covers, both homemade). I did hit some on-course practice shots with it, and my first impression is "good, maybe great, but needs more work". From a looks standpoint, I love it - I miss the days of using small 2- and 3-irons, and I really like looking at the smaller profile. However, as I age and play less often (kids, ya know), I'm currently debating whether the bigger iron is best. The shots I've hit with it so far have been OK -- miss is hooky, which I've found to be true with just about all graphite-shafted long irons (including hybrids), but hit a few good shots so far. I need to use it more and/or take some range sessions to give it a fair shot. On the potentially negative side of things, the back plate feels fragile, almost plastic - likely necessary for weight reasons, just feels like it could break easily (my concern is more with travel/similar jostling; my buddy said something about "if you hit a ball with the back of the club it might break", but why would anyone do that?).
The T100S: first impression? Love them. The look at address is exactly what I'm looking for. Distance and forgiveness are both TBD, but early signs point positive. In the first 9, the flight seemed comparable to my Mizunos, if not higher. Solid shots traveled far; mishits (predominantly toey) fell short but were pretty straight (2 drew right on target but just fell 10-15 yds short). Hit two knockdowns because of wind -- they felt easy, and both hit the green in very good position. Based on the initial round, I think I just need to swing a little better, and if I do, I expect to gain 5-10 yards over my JPX919 combo set. As you may have seen in my Comments posts, that first 9 holes is in the books at 1-under 35. In that round, I did hit my longest 4 iron on record by 14 yards -- 265 yards (flat, downwind), which is awesome, but unfortunately the fairway ran out at around 240, so I had to navigate some trees for the approach (apparently should've hit a ~6 iron -- gotta get used to these beasts).
So what don't I like? Two things, and they're both purely cosmetic (and I recognize they are very petty). I do prefer the less shiny/glossy look of the JPX over the shiny chrome Titleists. Also, there's something about the numbers on the sole that I just don't like -- not sure if it's font, size, depth, color, contrast with the sole, some combination of those things, or something completely different. I've noticed this with friends' Titleist irons in the past, and I can't quite put my finger on what I don't like, but I felt the same about these ones.
Now, for some photos -- sorry for the shoddiness here, but my phone camera died at the worst possible time (been having problems for months, but starting the day before the T100S arrived, the main camera is completely inoperable). So, starting out, here's an attempt at an unboxing photo using the phone's selfie-cam (which, as a reminder, were rushed because I had ~30 minutes between package pickup and tee time):
(apologies for the mess, and for the unintentional product placement ). Switching from Selfie Cam to my nearly 15-year-old Canon Digital Elph...
Now, a comparison pic -- this is the T200 3 iron vs. a Srixon U85 2 iron, the T100S 6 iron vs. JPX919 Forged, and the T100S 7 iron vs. JPX919 Tour:
Size seems to fall between the Tour and Forged. The 3-iron is significantly smaller than the U85, which, as I noted above, might be a good thing or might end up hurting. In this photo, you should be able to see the "negatives" I noted above -- totally up to personal preference, and some of you might like the Titleist design better, but I prefer the Mizuno from this angle. From address, it's a totally different story, and that's all that really matters in terms of cosmetics, so I'm not going to let this affect the overall review ("oh cool, Mizuno did their sole numbers in white in a different font? I bet that makes the ball fly straighter" ).
In the bag:
(considering this is a Titleist review, maybe I should've put my '18 Ryder Cup American Flag Vokeys back in the bag for this? )
I'm looking forward to the next few trials-- coming up, I have Tuesday night golf league and a likely Wednesday evening range session, which should give me a chance to hone in on things like launch/spin/distance numbers compared to my past gamers (they use TopTracer, but it's with range balls, so it's all relative). I'm going to try to get out to the range or something similar before Tuesday, but family holiday weekend plans might not let that happen...
Any specific questions? Tag me in the Comments section - I'd be glad to answer them!
The Basics: Mike, 37, 2.8 Index, currently in Madison, WI. I’m married with two kids, Devon (almost 3) and Bryce (4.5 months).
Golf has always been an obsession. I have way too much golf equipment in the house (e.g. 3+ sets of wedges, old clubs I can’t part with, more balls+ball markers+headcovers than I could possibly use in one season). I love trying new things, especially when it comes to golf gadgets and clubs (somehow never satisfied with what I have…), and I’m always looking to try out up-and-coming / smaller brands.
I’m a long-time reader of MGS, at least the main site, but didn’t know much about the forum until somewhat recently. I finally joined the forum in 2018 because I was enticed by the Cobra Connect Challenge article on the main MGS website, but now love the community and try to participate actively whenever I can (it goes in waves). I also stumbled on the MGS Fantasy Sports leagues a couple years back, and was lucky enough to take home the prized Golden Ticket from the 2020 Football season, which is how I was able to secure this testing opportunity.
There were at least two other tests that I wanted to do but passed on them for specific reasons (Epic Speed felt too similar to my gamer; for Rapsodo, I don’t have an iOS device, and seriously considered bumming an old device off of a friend to do it) – it started to feel like I was holding out too long, but in the end, I’m glad I waited. When I won, I created a “hopeful” list of four test categories and specific things in each category, telling myself I’d sign up for the first one that comes up – based on the product releases we’ve seen this year, this specific test falls roughly in the #2 spot of my overall list (other things high on the hope list included Cobra drivers, personal launch monitors, and just about anything Exotics).
My Golf Journey – The Younger Years: I started playing at a young age, when my dad would take us out to putt while he played, then shifted back to teeing off from the 150 yd marker, then back to various tee boxes. I started taking the game more seriously after getting cut from the HS team in 7th grade, determined to make sure that doesn’t happen again. Around 9th grade, we joined a decent 9-holer right down the road from our house and stashed our clubs there, so my brother and I would ride our bikes to the course just about every day in the summer. We practiced and played a lot. I took lessons fairly regularly. I played aggressively, hit bombs, and made a lot of birdies, especially at the rinky dink courses we were playing. But I never got “good”. Being a “good golfer” is relative – it was more “pretty good for a junior golfer in an area that only has a few good players” good, not actually good at the game.
Reflecting back, my swing can be described as “basic motions guided by lessons combined with athleticism” – I didn’t understand anything about what was actually happening throughout the swing (controlling the face, swing planes, how to hit a wedge compared to a full iron, etc.), just roughly the path the club should take. This meant that if things went sideways (and they could go really sideways), I had no idea how to correct it, and no idea where the next shot would go – those bombs and birdies were offset by a bunch of bogeys and doubles. Also, I was a headcase. I never took accountability for poor play. Missed cuts / middle of the road finishes were because “they got lucky” or “I got a lot of bad breaks” (I’m sure it had nothing to do with the 5 bogeys I made from inside 100 yards again ). And to top it all off, I didn’t focus on how to attack the course, instead focusing on how difficult certain holes or courses were (influenced by my dad and HS coach talking those things up) – with that mentality, you’re doomed before you even hit a shot (why would I ever step up to a tee box and think “I need to get through this one with a bogey”? – that’s now completely out of my game).
I put up some decent scores and thought I was hot sh…stuff. I compared my scores to some college teams, and decided I was going to go D-III and compete for the top spot on a team. Man, was that humbling. We played a tough Ross design with lightning greens and a hole that I still consider one of the toughest I’ve played. On day 1, it didn’t help that I was hitting the ball like Roy McAvoy leading up to the US Open
but I finished that round dead last. I was able to climb my way up to the 10th spot on a 12-man team by the end of tryouts, stuck it out on the practice squad for two years, then broke into the top 5 for the last two years (ended up being a “middle-of-the-road golfer on a middle-of-the-road D-III team”). My highlight was sneaking into the Top 10 at Regionals my senior year, but really no other finishes to write home about. The experiences I had on the college team also completely changed how I approach the game from both a mental and strategic perspective, largely thanks to one teammate that didn’t hesitate to give you a reality check (saying things like “you’re not good enough to get that angry” and “that wasn’t a bad kick, you hit a draw to a left-sloping fairway and it kicked left”).
The More Modern Times
Then I took an unfortunate break, which I regret a bit. I went to grad school at FSU, which had a full-year golf season and I could play a solid course for $10 pretty much whenever I wanted. I played that course exactly 1 time in my 2.5 years there (and only the front 9). Moved to Madison in ’08 for a full-time job in Healthcare IT, and started to pick the game back up, but it was (is) a demanding job, so it was tough to get out as much as I wanted. I made some friends in the area that also like to play, found some leagues to join, and set up games whenever we could. We starting taking some golf-specific trips to try to tackle the Top 100 Public lists, and put together a solid, consistent scramble team for some fun tournaments in the area. Over those years, I put some of the new perspectives into play, took some lessons with GolfTEC, and enjoy the game much more than I did while trying to be competitive.
Today, I’m a 3 handicap that can shoot anywhere from a few under to bogey golf depending on what’s hot or cold that day. Overall, I’m a better golfer than I was when I was younger, but for very different reasons (still trying to piece together how I pulled off some of the things I did back then and wish I could still do some of them, but I actually understand more about the golf swing and finally learned how to hit a wedge!). I dabble in tournaments from time to time, but not so much to compete – I do want to be competitive, but I pick my tournaments based on the host courses (e.g. I’ll play the City Am if there are one or two nicer private tracks in the rotation that year; last year I tried my hand at a State Am qualifier because the Championship was at Milwaukee Country Club, and although I didn’t make it there, I was able to pick the qualifier at Oconomowoc Country Club, which is one of only two Ross designs in Wisconsin). I play whenever I can, but in the end, family comes first – I plot out my golf schedule around the kids (for the most part), which has limited play this year. I get out most Tuesday evenings in an Old Man League at a local muni, hit the range after toddler bedtime from time to time, and take time off of work to play while the kids are at daycare (aside from certain charity scrambles, weekend golf doesn’t happen often these days). But don’t worry, COVID helped me save up plenty of PTO that I plan to use to make sure I have enough time to give this test a fair shot.
Specs/Stats/Fun Stuff:
My current irons are a combo of Mizuno JPX 919 Forged (4-6 irons) and Tour (7-PW) with Nippon Pro Modus 120 S flex. I’ve bounced between Mizuno and Ping since high school, never really considering Titleist in the iron category until recently (although I have had success with many of their other clubs, including woods, hybrids, and wedges). The only time I tried Titleist irons seriously was back in ~2000 when I was picking out a set to replace my first full-size set – the beautiful Cleveland VAS (I still have them in the basement, 2-LW, somehow with the original grips still intact). I think I demo’d the DCI 990 or 990B, but ended up picking Ping i3 Blades, and when those had to go on the bench (fun story, maybe I’ll tell it sometime, but this is getting long), I won a tournament with borrowed Mizunos that set off an 18 year back/forth between the two brands for me. I’m excited to try something new.
Career Low: 68 (Casual), 70 (Tournament), 67 (Handicap Card – it was a Combo, but it looked cool while it was there)
Albatrosses: 0 (Official), 1 (Unofficial) – scramble with preferred lies, used both my tee shot and second shot. Launched drive over trees on a hard dog-leg, holed a gap wedge from the go grass.
Aces: 0. Still chasing that dream.
Drives that went not only into the next fairway but across that fairway and OB on the other side: 3 in competition (2 in college, 1 in our City tournament a few years ago )
All-Time Favorite Clubs (not limited to one per category): Mizuno T-Zoid Pro irons; TaylorMade VSteel and Yonex 200 3 Woods; Cobra Speed Pro, Callaway FT-3 Fusion, and Titleist 975D (yes I still have it, and yes it's still awesome) Drivers; Original Rife Pro 2 Bar and TaylorMade Rossa Monza putters
Current driver swing: roughly 110-112mph (remember when I said I used to hit bombs? Not so much anymore – back in the college days I registered ~122mph one of the few times I actually got it measured).
7 iron distance (used the 7 for fitting): 170-175 yards, which is in line with how far I used to hit it.
Strength: Apparently Driving based on Arccos data, although the last 1-2 months have been abysmal compared to average (I would've said approach shots without the data). Weakness: Putting, and it's not even close.
Fitting: My fitting felt uneventful, so I’m hoping stories from others will be more entertaining or insightful. I ended up in standard loft/lie/length (slightly surprising considering I’ve always been 1-2 degrees upright, but Titleist’s starting lie angles are in the right spot for me), and the Nippon Pro Modus 120 (but this time in X flex! No idea why I’ve been fitted into S every time in the past…which my fitter acknowledged, even though one of his fitters previously fit me into a lightweight S flex ).
Goals for this Test: With the T110S, I’m chasing distance. This felt like the perfect balance for me – Players iron size and shape with added distance so I can feel good about myself. Based on initial data, I'm actually expecting an extra 8-12 yards out of these vs. my current set. My fitter/coach thinks that distance is going to come with too low of spins, but I was intent on trying the longer model, so I’m hoping I can prove him wrong. I'm also hoping to close the gap at the top of my irons, and hoping the added distance will lead to closer approaches on longer holes.
Pre-test Arccos data – approach shots adjusted for clubs I'll be using as part of the test. I will try to figure out if I can reset it to compare to the net new set, or maybe it's an excuse to play 10 rounds to wipe out the old data. Note the long vs. short distribution: that Ross course in college groomed me into under-clubbing a bit -- short was tough but manageable, but long was dead on just about every hole, so I'm usually playing short of the flag:
Good luck to the other testers – looking forward to getting my hands on these beasts!
Titleist T-Series Irons
Posted
"Final" Review (you know I'll be back for more -- the season is winding down up here in Wisconsin, but we still have a month left plus indoor sims and a heated outdoor range, so it's not over-over)
For the overall score, I wish there was a 4.5 -- averages across the scored categories points closer to 5, but there are a few things holding me back from calling these irons a full 5/5.
Reminder of the set that I’m testing:
T100S 4-PW, Nippon Modus 120X (Core test set)
T200 Utility Build 3 iron, Graphite Design Tour AD-IZ 95X (Bonus addition – had the choice between this or the T100S 3 iron)
TL;DR Summary/Conclusion (Overall
(and a half))
The bag setup with T200 Utility plus T100S irons is awesome. I feel very confident over the ball. With the added distance, I’m more willing to lay back in the fairway vs. hitting riskier drivers. Even though lofts are stronger, it doesn’t show in terms of ball flight or spin (something that I think is very impressive) – my individual irons fly farther, fly higher, and stop faster, which makes me feel like I can hit any shot inside of 225, and the T200 3 iron gives me confidence even outside of that. If your swing is strong enough to hit a player’s iron (not quite blade, just something smaller), I’d highly recommend this set.
Looks (
)
General Feedback: When it comes to the finish of an iron, I’ve always preferred a matte or brushed finish – something less shiny, less reflective. The T100S fits my eye very well in that category (although to be honest, I actually do prefer the “Pearl Brush” finish of my Mizunos – a lighter, softer color).
I love the way the back looks – the design of their “muscle channel” and placement of the T100S logo are very appealing. Face is pretty standard. From above…the soles look slick (and make it look like you can play, or at least think you can play), but as I noted in my intro post, there’s something about the numbering that I don’t like (and haven’t liked on other Titleist irons) – that’s super unimportant, so no points docked for that.
In play: At address, these are awesome. Their marketing says they “refined optics for a cleaner, more confident look”, and they nailed it. Very clean look, thin topline, comparable to other players’ irons that I’ve played. These things inspire confidence.
T200 3 iron: Similar feedback. This has a smaller profile than I expected, which I really like. It does not have the same matte finish – it’s the shiny, reflective steel finish that I don’t really like (minor, but notable). The muscle plate looks kinda cool, but it feels kinda cheap (like plastic) – although maybe that was necessary to make it perform the way it does.
Top to bottom, that's the T200 3 iron and T100S 4-PW. In these next couple photos, I'm trying to show the look of the Titleist vs. my current gamers -- T200 3 iron vs. Srixon U85 2 iron; T100S 6 iron vs. JPX919 Forged 6 iron; T100S 7 iron vs. JPX919 Tour 7 iron. Visualize it from left-to-right (in the photos, top-to-bottom) -- the longer clubs are on the top of the photos, and it's always the Titleist as the left/top club:
IMO, the T200 3 iron looks so much smaller than the U85 (not just because of 3 vs. 2); the 7 irons look almost identical; the 6 irons actually look closer than I expected. Titleist seems to have slightly less offset.
Feel (
)
Initial feedback was that these felt a little heavier than what I’m used to. They do have slightly heavier shafts (by a couple grams) than what I played in my Mizunos, so that could be a factor. Feels fairly easy to control the clubhead, solid shots feel crisp, toe hits get immediate feedback in the hands. I meant to shank one to see how that feels
but that just wasn’t in the cards. Shafts feel great too, but they’re fitted to me, so I’m shying away from too much feedback there.
T200 is similar, with solid shots feeling even better (maybe I need to convince myself to go to bigger clubs?
).
Basic Characteristics
Relative to my current gamer, the T200 is 2* weaker than my Srixon U85 2 iron; the T100S 4-6 are the same loft as my JPX919 Forged, and the 7-PW are 2* stronger than my JPX919 Tour. So…logic says the utility should be shorter and higher, 4-6 shouldn’t see much difference, and the 7-PW should be longer with more rollout, right? Not so much… My feedback based on my main launch monitor session is here: https://forum.mygolfspy.com/tests/19-test-in-progress-titleist-t-series-irons/?do=findComment&comment=6455
Distance (
)
The 3 iron hits bombs
. Based on both range and on-course performance, I’d say it’s about 10 yards longer than the U85 (some of that might be the shaft, but still never expected that…). It looks nicer too. It took a bit to get used to, but it did get more consistent over time – went from hitting big hooks for the first couple weeks and thinking there’s no way I’m keeping it, to striking it well and hitting the center of fairways (the combination of distance and accuracy was very helpful when the driver and 3wood were going sideways). I do have a lingering question on whether this was the right call – the shaft selection was great for a long iron, so I’m happy with that part, but I do sit here and wonder if the T100S 3 iron or the T200 2 iron would have been the better call (as noted in another post, after seeing the performance of the 3 iron, I might look into getting the 2 iron or a U505 1 iron with similar build).
The long-mid irons are a bit longer than the JPX, at least in terms of carry distance. Ball speed was comparable; the T100S launched higher, had a higher apex, and landed at a steeper angle. Both clubs were roughly the same total distance at the range, just different carry distances (the T100S had 3-5 yards longer average carry difference across the 3 head-to-head comparisons). Dispersion was a bit tighter with the T100S as well.
The shorter irons – dispersion got tighter with both sets (as expected), and the two were pretty comparable in that category. As expected, the T100S were longer in both carry and total distance. But now the surprising part: despite being 2* stronger and having a shaft that I expected to influence lower ball flight, the T100S: launched higher, had a higher apex, and landed steeper than the JPX919 Tour. The only exception was the Pitching Wedge: I didn’t have the best session with the PW on the monitor, and the sample set was smaller – however, it did have the highest single ball of the set.
Forgiveness (
)
For the T100S in general, mishits were forgiving, but not that forgiving (T200 was actually similar, but a little more forgiving). They flew straight and still looked nice, just dropped well short of a solid shot – that’s something I expect from a Players’ iron, so no big deal. The bigger concern was when the opposite happened: every once in a while (both on the range and on the course), a monster would come out – no attempt to hit it further, no different feel from another stock solid shot, similar ball flight and height, it just kept flying. That’s not something I really saw with the Mizunos, and I think I’ll need to keep monitoring this to see if it truly is just that I struck those shots better vs. something else.
Some of the monitor data I was working with:
Note that this is with the outliers removed. The thing that gives me pause with this is how big of a gap there is between smoked-> solid -> toey on a stock swing (not intentionally trying to get more out of it), especially in the longer irons.
On-Course Performance (
)
The best thing about the T200/T100S bag setup: it gave me a lot more versatility in shot selection, or at least gave me more confidence to hit different shots (especially tee shots to set up a hole differently). On certain holes on my typical courses, even though the hole didn’t set up well for a driver/3-wood, I’d give it a rip anyway to try to get a shorter club in my hand for the approach. With my Srixon/Mizuno setup, the alternative was a 2-iron off the tee and something like a 5-iron in (doable, but not preferred) – now with the T200 3 iron off the tee and the T100S for the approach, a solid tee shot on that same hole would put me closer to 7-iron range, which is a higher percentage / higher confidence shot for me. I started hitting the 3-iron where I’d typically play something longer, and the approaches actually worked out well, plus I was getting better looks (fairways with better angles, just a bit further back). Adding to the benefit here, the T100S 4 iron is also a great option off the tee on a short or mid-length Par 4, with mishits still flying pretty well over 200 and solid strikes being more in the 230 range.
Par 3 confidence is very high, and just having a shorter iron in hand for approach shots improves my confidence as well. My first couple times out with the irons, I was pulling 9 irons from 160-165 and getting them close (previous 9 iron distance was 150-155 – I think an excitement factor had me trying to hit it further). In more recent rounds, it has felt similar, and I’ve backed off of them a bit without losing much of the distance from those first couple rounds. I’m still pulling at least one club less than what I would have pulled with my Mizunos in nearly all cases (in a few exception cases, I’m going with the same club).
These are very workable too. On the course, I’ve worked them in both directions and done so reasonably accurately (comparable to the JPX Tour; feel easier to curve than JPX Forged). Flighting the ball feels fairly easy too – at least one of my rounds was in high winds, and I was able to work the ball through the wind with quite a bit of success (that was a 9 hole -1 with quite a few of the iron shots not being full/stock).
Distance control (trying to hit a specific number, not full swings)…I think it’s there, I just don’t have it down yet. With the added distance, it has been a little more difficult for me to take something off of a mid- or short-iron and have it fly the distance I’m expecting. I’ve done it successfully a couple times, but also hit a few that I expected to land next to the hole that fell short of the green (e.g. at least twice I took a PW from 130, which is more than I have in my 50* but needs to be ~15-20 off of this PW, and I haven’t quite figured out that 130 swing yet and only hit those ones ~120). I think it will come with time and practice. An example is here, which is actually a mishit 4-iron (displaying what I mentioned above) followed by a "take something off of it" PW that was not hit poorly (at impact, I thought I was going to have a 15ft birdie putt):
*On full shots as mentioned in the last section, that monster does rear its head every once in a while, but only on full shots so far.
Aside from the ball flying too far, my main miss is what we call “playing for the Yankees” (Tommy Boy, anyone?). A few shots went absurdly left to the point of making me question the lie angles (I’m well aware that I hit poor shots, but these were next-level left). It came out a few times in my rounds with these clubs, but I’m not actually concerned with it – the last few rounds haven’t had anything wild like that, and it was likely a combination of things, with club specs possibly influencing the outcome a bit.
Scores have been mixed, but that’s consistent with this year for me. I have a couple very good scores with these irons, and a couple disappointing rounds. However, the struggles were swing-related, not equipment-related – I was missing greens with my 9 iron and PW, but in the exact same way I was missing with my (non-Titleist) 50* and 55* wedges. My most recent round was a scramble, so iron play was limited (lots of drivers and wedges), but I felt very confident whenever they were in my hands – stuck a couple close ones with longer irons on par 5s.
My history with Titleist irons is not super positive, but also outdated. I struggled with the demos that I did many years ago. I held onto that perception and doubted the claims I saw about their lines of irons over the years. I silently questioned my friends’ decisions when they chose Titleist over a couple other select brands, thinking they made the wrong decision. It’s not that I thought they were poor quality clubs – I thought they were just too hard to hit, and that my friends and I needed to get better before considering them. After this test, I’m coming around – I don’t regret playing Mizuno for all of these years, but I do think it would have been worth considering Titleist (in my last couple fittings, I didn’t even try them).
Play it or Trade it?
These are 100% staying in the bag, at least through the end of this season and start of next season. I need to make a few swing tweaks, and a couple are underway – I think those will actually improve the performance of these and discourage a change, but we'll see. I have little advice on how to improve the T100S from a looks or performance angle – long, high, stop quickly, it’s the full package. The T200…all of the performance metrics are great, the back plate just feels a bit flimsy – something that feels more secure would be nice.
To be honest, the pricing is a little steep, especially when dealing with custom options. The stock price for my test setup is $1300 for T100S 4-PW plus $249 for the T200 3 iron, which is pretty well in line with the industry for this type of club (maybe a bit high, but not bad) – after the shaft upgrades (excluding grip), it’s $1400 plus $369. The $369 price tag is the one thing that’s making me hesitant to pull the trigger on that 1- or 2-iron to supplement the 3 (and a $120 upcharge feels steep for a shaft that’s marketed as “Featured” for the club). Comparing to the newest line of my gamers, Mizuno’s JPX921 are $1127 for Tour or $1225 for Forged for the same 4-PW, with my shaft as a no-charge upgrade – however, I don’t think they have a comparable 3 iron/utility, so I’m not sure how that would compare.
I think the T100S can outperform the competition, but is it worth the upcharge? For an elite amateur, absolutely; for an OK amateur like me, maybe (I’ve enjoyed the experience and would be OK paying the extra couple hundred bucks for slightly better performance). For someone below the elite level that might be working on a budget, I’m not as convinced – might be able to find something comparable that’s cheaper.
My advice for Titleist for this and future releases: find a way to narrow the gap with Mizuno’s custom pricing, which is something that has kept me with the brand for my last couple fitted sets – with Mizuno, my Nippons are $0 upcharge vs. $15/club with Titleist; for C-Taper or $-Taper, it’s $0 vs. $25/club; if you’re into graphite, Recoil 95 are $0 vs. $32/club. It feels like both companies have the initial angle of “get the clubs in the consumer’s hands”, but Mizuno seems to take it a step further by adding “with the build that’s best for them at the same price”, while Titleist will charge $100-$225 more for that. I didn’t have to pay any of that, so I’m very happy, but if I was out getting fitted, this would be a factor.
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First Impressions:
First, a big thank you to
for letting us customize the build of these irons, and for securing me some shafts that are apparently very high demand right now (supposedly a big shortage, very difficult to obtain, some companies even taking them off of their upgrade lists). Initially I thought I'd need to go with stock or no-charge-upgrade shafts -- they would've worked well enough, but it would have thrown off comparisons to my current custom-fit set -- no reason the standard PX or LZ 6.5 wouldn't work for me, it's just not the "best" fit. After the fitting and the custom order (plus the bonus that the T100/T100S testers can get a long iron as T200), I ended up with:
All have Golf Pride MCC Align grips (also an appreciated upgrade -- if we went stock, I have a stockpile of grips in the basement that I would've switched into). All standard length/lie/loft (the T100S are 2 degrees strong to start; usually I'm 1-2 degrees upright, but it looks like Titleist starts a bit more upright than Mizuno, so standard makes sense).
The clubs were all originally scheduled to show up last Thursday. But, you know, shipping issues
Mine came in two packages, both looking like they were shipped at the same time from the same location using the same carrier, and both were roughly the same size (although one significantly heavier, for good reason). They took two completely different paths across the country -- end result is that the T200 showed up last Wednesday; the T100S didn't make it until this past Tuesday. That means the T200 has been in the bag for 45 holes so far (36 scramble, 9 normal), while the T100S are only at 9. Everything was packed very well, very secure, no issues upon arrival.
So first, the T200: fair warning, I have not played with any of the recent Titleist irons, so I didn't my first reaction to this was "wow, that's smaller than I expected". I'm using this to replace a Srixon U85 2 iron, which is a beast for an iron, so the small profile was a little shocking at first, but I like the look. I'll be honest, this isn't a club I plan to hit often -- the main use is tee shots on target par 4s and approaches on some par 5s, otherwise it stays in the bag covered by one of my foreign dictators for show (switch between Putin and Kim Jong Un utility covers, both homemade). I did hit some on-course practice shots with it, and my first impression is "good, maybe great, but needs more work". From a looks standpoint, I love it - I miss the days of using small 2- and 3-irons, and I really like looking at the smaller profile. However, as I age and play less often (kids, ya know), I'm currently debating whether the bigger iron is best. The shots I've hit with it so far have been OK -- miss is hooky, which I've found to be true with just about all graphite-shafted long irons (including hybrids), but hit a few good shots so far. I need to use it more and/or take some range sessions to give it a fair shot. On the potentially negative side of things, the back plate feels fragile, almost plastic - likely necessary for weight reasons, just feels like it could break easily (my concern is more with travel/similar jostling; my buddy said something about "if you hit a ball with the back of the club it might break", but why would anyone do that?).
The T100S: first impression? Love them. The look at address is exactly what I'm looking for. Distance and forgiveness are both TBD, but early signs point positive. In the first 9, the flight seemed comparable to my Mizunos, if not higher. Solid shots traveled far; mishits (predominantly toey) fell short but were pretty straight (2 drew right on target but just fell 10-15 yds short). Hit two knockdowns because of wind -- they felt easy, and both hit the green in very good position. Based on the initial round, I think I just need to swing a little better, and if I do, I expect to gain 5-10 yards over my JPX919 combo set. As you may have seen in my Comments posts, that first 9 holes is in the books at 1-under 35. In that round, I did hit my longest 4 iron on record by 14 yards -- 265 yards (flat, downwind), which is awesome, but unfortunately the fairway ran out at around 240, so I had to navigate some trees for the approach (apparently should've hit a ~6 iron -- gotta get used to these beasts).
So what don't I like? Two things, and they're both purely cosmetic (and I recognize they are very petty). I do prefer the less shiny/glossy look of the JPX over the shiny chrome Titleists. Also, there's something about the numbers on the sole that I just don't like -- not sure if it's font, size, depth, color, contrast with the sole, some combination of those things, or something completely different. I've noticed this with friends' Titleist irons in the past, and I can't quite put my finger on what I don't like, but I felt the same about these ones.
Now, for some photos -- sorry for the shoddiness here, but my phone camera died at the worst possible time (been having problems for months, but starting the day before the T100S arrived, the main camera is completely inoperable). So, starting out, here's an attempt at an unboxing photo using the phone's selfie-cam (which, as a reminder, were rushed because I had ~30 minutes between package pickup and tee time):
(apologies for the mess, and for the unintentional product placement
). Switching from Selfie Cam to my nearly 15-year-old Canon Digital Elph...
Now, a comparison pic -- this is the T200 3 iron vs. a Srixon U85 2 iron, the T100S 6 iron vs. JPX919 Forged, and the T100S 7 iron vs. JPX919 Tour:
Size seems to fall between the Tour and Forged. The 3-iron is significantly smaller than the U85, which, as I noted above, might be a good thing or might end up hurting. In this photo, you should be able to see the "negatives" I noted above -- totally up to personal preference, and some of you might like the Titleist design better, but I prefer the Mizuno from this angle. From address, it's a totally different story, and that's all that really matters in terms of cosmetics, so I'm not going to let this affect the overall review ("oh cool, Mizuno did their sole numbers in white in a different font? I bet that makes the ball fly straighter"
).
In the bag:
(considering this is a Titleist review, maybe I should've put my '18 Ryder Cup American Flag Vokeys back in the bag for this?
)
I'm looking forward to the next few trials-- coming up, I have Tuesday night golf league and a likely Wednesday evening range session, which should give me a chance to hone in on things like launch/spin/distance numbers compared to my past gamers (they use TopTracer, but it's with range balls, so it's all relative). I'm going to try to get out to the range or something similar before Tuesday, but family holiday weekend plans might not let that happen...
Any specific questions? Tag me in the Comments section - I'd be glad to answer them!
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Jumping on the Intro Train!
The Basics: Mike, 37, 2.8 Index, currently in Madison, WI. I’m married with two kids, Devon (almost 3) and Bryce (4.5 months).
Golf has always been an obsession. I have way too much golf equipment in the house (e.g. 3+ sets of wedges, old clubs I can’t part with, more balls+ball markers+headcovers than I could possibly use in one season). I love trying new things, especially when it comes to golf gadgets and clubs (somehow never satisfied with what I have…), and I’m always looking to try out up-and-coming / smaller brands.
I’m a long-time reader of MGS, at least the main site, but didn’t know much about the forum until somewhat recently. I finally joined the forum in 2018 because I was enticed by the Cobra Connect Challenge article on the main MGS website, but now love the community and try to participate actively whenever I can (it goes in waves). I also stumbled on the MGS Fantasy Sports leagues a couple years back, and was lucky enough to take home the prized Golden Ticket from the 2020 Football season, which is how I was able to secure this testing opportunity.
There were at least two other tests that I wanted to do but passed on them for specific reasons (Epic Speed felt too similar to my gamer; for Rapsodo, I don’t have an iOS device, and seriously considered bumming an old device off of a friend to do it) – it started to feel like I was holding out too long, but in the end, I’m glad I waited. When I won, I created a “hopeful” list of four test categories and specific things in each category, telling myself I’d sign up for the first one that comes up – based on the product releases we’ve seen this year, this specific test falls roughly in the #2 spot of my overall list (other things high on the hope list included Cobra drivers, personal launch monitors, and just about anything Exotics).
My Golf Journey – The Younger Years: I started playing at a young age, when my dad would take us out to putt while he played, then shifted back to teeing off from the 150 yd marker, then back to various tee boxes. I started taking the game more seriously after getting cut from the HS team in 7th grade, determined to make sure that doesn’t happen again. Around 9th grade, we joined a decent 9-holer right down the road from our house and stashed our clubs there, so my brother and I would ride our bikes to the course just about every day in the summer. We practiced and played a lot. I took lessons fairly regularly. I played aggressively, hit bombs, and made a lot of birdies, especially at the rinky dink courses we were playing. But I never got “good”. Being a “good golfer” is relative – it was more “pretty good for a junior golfer in an area that only has a few good players” good, not actually good at the game.
Reflecting back, my swing can be described as “basic motions guided by lessons combined with athleticism” – I didn’t understand anything about what was actually happening throughout the swing (controlling the face, swing planes, how to hit a wedge compared to a full iron, etc.), just roughly the path the club should take. This meant that if things went sideways (and they could go really sideways), I had no idea how to correct it, and no idea where the next shot would go – those bombs and birdies were offset by a bunch of bogeys and doubles. Also, I was a headcase. I never took accountability for poor play. Missed cuts / middle of the road finishes were because “they got lucky” or “I got a lot of bad breaks” (I’m sure it had nothing to do with the 5 bogeys I made from inside 100 yards again
). And to top it all off, I didn’t focus on how to attack the course, instead focusing on how difficult certain holes or courses were (influenced by my dad and HS coach talking those things up) – with that mentality, you’re doomed before you even hit a shot (why would I ever step up to a tee box and think “I need to get through this one with a bogey”? – that’s now completely out of my game).
I put up some decent scores and thought I was hot sh…stuff. I compared my scores to some college teams, and decided I was going to go D-III and compete for the top spot on a team. Man, was that humbling. We played a tough Ross design with lightning greens and a hole that I still consider one of the toughest I’ve played. On day 1, it didn’t help that I was hitting the ball like Roy McAvoy leading up to the US Open
but I finished that round dead last. I was able to climb my way up to the 10th spot on a 12-man team by the end of tryouts, stuck it out on the practice squad for two years, then broke into the top 5 for the last two years (ended up being a “middle-of-the-road golfer on a middle-of-the-road D-III team”). My highlight was sneaking into the Top 10 at Regionals my senior year, but really no other finishes to write home about. The experiences I had on the college team also completely changed how I approach the game from both a mental and strategic perspective, largely thanks to one teammate that didn’t hesitate to give you a reality check (saying things like “you’re not good enough to get that angry” and “that wasn’t a bad kick, you hit a draw to a left-sloping fairway and it kicked left”).
The More Modern Times
Then I took an unfortunate break, which I regret a bit. I went to grad school at FSU, which had a full-year golf season and I could play a solid course for $10 pretty much whenever I wanted. I played that course exactly 1 time in my 2.5 years there (and only the front 9). Moved to Madison in ’08 for a full-time job in Healthcare IT, and started to pick the game back up, but it was (is) a demanding job, so it was tough to get out as much as I wanted. I made some friends in the area that also like to play, found some leagues to join, and set up games whenever we could. We starting taking some golf-specific trips to try to tackle the Top 100 Public lists, and put together a solid, consistent scramble team for some fun tournaments in the area. Over those years, I put some of the new perspectives into play, took some lessons with GolfTEC, and enjoy the game much more than I did while trying to be competitive.
Today, I’m a 3 handicap that can shoot anywhere from a few under to bogey golf depending on what’s hot or cold that day. Overall, I’m a better golfer than I was when I was younger, but for very different reasons (still trying to piece together how I pulled off some of the things I did back then and wish I could still do some of them, but I actually understand more about the golf swing and finally learned how to hit a wedge!). I dabble in tournaments from time to time, but not so much to compete – I do want to be competitive, but I pick my tournaments based on the host courses (e.g. I’ll play the City Am if there are one or two nicer private tracks in the rotation that year; last year I tried my hand at a State Am qualifier because the Championship was at Milwaukee Country Club, and although I didn’t make it there, I was able to pick the qualifier at Oconomowoc Country Club, which is one of only two Ross designs in Wisconsin). I play whenever I can, but in the end, family comes first – I plot out my golf schedule around the kids (for the most part), which has limited play this year. I get out most Tuesday evenings in an Old Man League at a local muni, hit the range after toddler bedtime from time to time, and take time off of work to play while the kids are at daycare (aside from certain charity scrambles, weekend golf doesn’t happen often these days). But don’t worry, COVID helped me save up plenty of PTO that I plan to use to make sure I have enough time to give this test a fair shot.
Specs/Stats/Fun Stuff:
My current irons are a combo of Mizuno JPX 919 Forged (4-6 irons) and Tour (7-PW) with Nippon Pro Modus 120 S flex. I’ve bounced between Mizuno and Ping since high school, never really considering Titleist in the iron category until recently (although I have had success with many of their other clubs, including woods, hybrids, and wedges). The only time I tried Titleist irons seriously was back in ~2000 when I was picking out a set to replace my first full-size set – the beautiful Cleveland VAS (I still have them in the basement, 2-LW, somehow with the original grips still intact). I think I demo’d the DCI 990 or 990B, but ended up picking Ping i3 Blades, and when those had to go on the bench (fun story, maybe I’ll tell it sometime, but this is getting long), I won a tournament with borrowed Mizunos that set off an 18 year back/forth between the two brands for me. I’m excited to try something new.
Career Low: 68 (Casual), 70 (Tournament), 67 (Handicap Card – it was a Combo, but it looked cool while it was there)
Albatrosses: 0 (Official), 1 (Unofficial) – scramble with preferred lies, used both my tee shot and second shot. Launched drive over trees on a hard dog-leg, holed a gap wedge from the go grass.
Aces: 0. Still chasing that dream.
Drives that went not only into the next fairway but across that fairway and OB on the other side: 3 in competition (2 in college, 1 in our City tournament a few years ago
)
Broken Clubs: 1 (anger, 2003), 2 (accidental / regular play)
All-Time Favorite Clubs (not limited to one per category): Mizuno T-Zoid Pro irons; TaylorMade VSteel and Yonex 200 3 Woods; Cobra Speed Pro, Callaway FT-3 Fusion, and Titleist 975D (yes I still have it, and yes it's still awesome) Drivers; Original Rife Pro 2 Bar and TaylorMade Rossa Monza putters
Current driver swing: roughly 110-112mph (remember when I said I used to hit bombs? Not so much anymore – back in the college days I registered ~122mph one of the few times I actually got it measured).
7 iron distance (used the 7 for fitting): 170-175 yards, which is in line with how far I used to hit it.
Strength: Apparently Driving based on Arccos data, although the last 1-2 months have been abysmal compared to average (I would've said approach shots without the data). Weakness: Putting, and it's not even close.
Fitting: My fitting felt uneventful, so I’m hoping stories from others will be more entertaining or insightful. I ended up in standard loft/lie/length (slightly surprising considering I’ve always been 1-2 degrees upright, but Titleist’s starting lie angles are in the right spot for me), and the Nippon Pro Modus 120 (but this time in X flex! No idea why I’ve been fitted into S every time in the past…which my fitter acknowledged, even though one of his fitters previously fit me into a lightweight S flex
).
Goals for this Test: With the T110S, I’m chasing distance. This felt like the perfect balance for me – Players iron size and shape with added distance so I can feel good about myself. Based on initial data, I'm actually expecting an extra 8-12 yards out of these vs. my current set. My fitter/coach thinks that distance is going to come with too low of spins, but I was intent on trying the longer model, so I’m hoping I can prove him wrong. I'm also hoping to close the gap at the top of my irons, and hoping the added distance will lead to closer approaches on longer holes.
Pre-test Arccos data – approach shots adjusted for clubs I'll be using as part of the test. I will try to figure out if I can reset it to compare to the net new set, or maybe it's an excuse to play 10 rounds to wipe out the old data. Note the long vs. short distribution: that Ross course in college groomed me into under-clubbing a bit -- short was tough but manageable, but long was dead on just about every hole, so I'm usually playing short of the flag:
Good luck to the other testers – looking forward to getting my hands on these beasts!