hartrick11

Ugh I told myself I was going to wait another year before even trying out any new drivers but this thread has me shook.... My only challenge with the TSi3 (10* at C1 with T1 weight) which has been the best driver for me since the R11 is that when I start to early extend which happens more when I am not playing as much (those pesky kids getting in the way) and miss heel side, I see high spinny fades that lose a fair amount of distance. When I tinker with the weight/adapter it just creates other issues, so I keep it at the settings I was fitted for and deal with the misses. The purchase justification side of my brain wonders if an 8* or 9* TSr2 would mitigate that spin on heel misses without messing with all the other positives with the TSi3...only one way to find out!

Already putting in a new King Tour pre-order??

These are gorgeous. @Golfspy_CG2 I am free if you need me to run back the TSi fitting at the TPI... just saying!

My brother recently benched his G425 5 wood so I decided to give it a whirl. It has a KBS TD 80g Category 4 shaft on it, and it was possibly the most automatic club I have ever tried on a range. Second range trip out, same thing. Tight bullet fades that were carrying 235, within 10 yds of my TSi2 3 wood despite a 2.5* loft difference, and rolling out to about the same total distance (the KBS launches a good bit lower than the AD IZ in my TSi). I know I don't really need to hype up the quality of Ping woods on MGS, but I have pretty much zero Ping wood experience because I have always hated the sound they make as well as looking down at turbulators; this was eye opening to say the least though. The forgiving head (you can really miss the middle by a good amount on either side and still be fine) and the KBS shaft seems like a ridiculous combo... Of course I brought it out with me on my last round and decided to use it off of 1, 2, 4, and 5 which are holes that call for well-placed drives 250 or less to avoid trouble: snap hook on 1, snap hook on 2, pulls deep and into trouble on both 4 and 5! +8 through 5 and back to the bench for the rest of the round lol. I have the speed to hit stout shafts but tend to overswing when I have something that really feels stout in my hand and I think that was the culprit on the course, which is why Graphite Design treats me so well. I did bring it back out to the range for my most recent session yesterday and was bombing it again, so it will get another chance but I am almost rooting for it to fail again so I don't have to pony up cash to my brother or make any other changes to the top end of my bag which I had just started to get dialed in with. Don't know how many times I need to be reminded to not try anything else when things are otherwise working...

I am also playing my last set of steel shafted irons at the moment and have started dabbling but it is still early days in my graphite journey. I have tried out the MMT 125tx in a i500 3i and liked it but found it to be more stout than the X100 that it is designed to perform/feel like; too much for a driving iron for me. I top out at 110mph driver and 95mph 7i with an aggressive transition and play a bit below those numbers on the course FWIW. It's not in the forum header but I am also currently trying out the KBS PGI 100 in a UDI hard stepped so playing S+; still very early but I think I like it in a 17* driving iron; tip is stiff but it is a bit less stout in the middle, for me it reminded me of AD DI a bit. PGI probably would not be a fit for a full set for me unless they came out with something a bit heavier though. Look forward to testing the MMT 105tx and 125 Stiff along with Seelfiber and Recoil offerings that are around +-120g weight which proved to be much more important to my results in a fitting than a specific profile or flex - will be curious to see if that holds true for graphite.

After getting a chance to play the IZ in my TSi 3 driver test a couple of years ago I added it in my 3w and later my hybrid. I love it and haven't even been tempted by any other shaft lately, at least until I happened to try out my brother's G425 5 wood with the KBS TD fairwary wood shaft last week...but that is another story for another post The Tensei Raw Blue was giving me the most similar results to the IZ in my TSi fitting and also felt great FWIW, with the IZ just beating it out by a hair in both feel and dispersion. Would have had zero problem with the Tensei going right in the bag if I hadn't been able to test/get the IZ.

Anyone else well aware of the fact that we have another ~week to go (and winners would get a PM anyway) but still coming back and checking this thread daily...?

I have tried a number of different setups at that position, starting with the adjustable Cobra and then a Gapr...along with several hybrids. I will have stretches where I am on fire with my DI, and then stretches where I stink. Not all that different from the rest of my bag to be honest...the life of a weekend golfer. The difference is there are so many options at this part of the bag that it invites more tinkering, and really endless tinkering if you are already prone to try out new shiny objects... My latest was an i500 3 iron with an MMT 125tx shaft - bought it to try out the MMT knowing it wasn't really the right fit, but I figured with how popular the MMT is at the moment that I would be able to sell it without taking much of a hit (it ended up costing me $40 for about 10 months of use). That thing was a monster when I was on - as someone who fights a left miss this was truly anti-left and with San Diego conditions I could carry 230 and easily roll it out past 250 which made it a major weapon at my tight home course with a lot of white stakes on the left side; but the i500 head was a bit too penalizing IMO, and the shaft was too heavy/stout for my swing speed, so it was only a sometime-major weapon, with thin misses losing a ton of distance and peeling right. After seeing how forgiving my P790 4 iron is compared to it, I sold the i500 and picked up a P790 UDI head that I am getting a KBS PGI 100 shaft on that seems to pair well with my beloved $ taper iron shafts. Picking it up later today at the KBS shop in Carlsbad; if this one isn't the goldilocks driving iron for me I will officially give up on the idea of a DI. I think

My lowest number in forever: 2! Titleist metals, Vokey wedges and Scotty TM irons Cobra and Ping are both out of my bag for the first time since the GW administration. I really like my bag at the moment but am sure that one of those two will find their way back before too long...

This is where I always have struggled mentally...I don't mind and in fact actually like a bit of heft in the long irons, but in the scoring irons it starts to bug me (even though I fully acknowledge that there is no technical/logical reason for a slightly chunkier club to impact my swing). That is why I have a blended set currently and was in love with my prior CB scoring irons; before that I had iE1s that were progressive and got much smaller in the short irons. Extra top line heft & blade length on the short irons is why I didn't get a full set of P770s for my current gamers, or Forged Tec Blacks with my previous set. That said I have never played extensively with a set like this; I would be curious how quickly the squirrels running around in my head would calm down after more reps because I have heard plenty of commentary about how you just get used to what you're looking down at after a little while; I am just not the type to take a chance on that happening when I am making a ~$1400 purchase every ~3 years.

Nice write up! I think it was genius to split the model into two offerings to capture both the GI segment in one of the best looking GI offerings along with the more players iron offering. Does the FT have a progressive blade length from top to bottom, a la 223/i210? Also, what is the verdict for you...I know you love the MIMs, are you a) back into MIMs, b) kicking the MIMs to the garage, or c) going to blend in any FT irons at the top? I didn't play the '20 FTs at all but had a forged tec black 4i in my previous set and my brother played a full set of the forged tec blacks that I got a fair amount of tinkering time with - I thought they were pretty awesome feel and performance wise for a players distance iron, albeit with a bit more offset and top line heft than I like to look down at in the short irons. Did you ever take the FTB for a spin way back in 2018-2020 to compare it against this model? I am still really liking my P7 series combo after ~5 months and have avoided trying anything new since I got them because I am easily influenced by shiny objects and need to keep my spending in check at the moment... but if it offers improved performance/feel in what seems to be a sleeker, more player-centric package I am going to be very intrigued.

Having messed around with the 125tx, which is billed as playing like an x100 but I found to be more stout than x100, my guess is that the 105tx will play a bit more stout than Modus 120x which is on the softer side of X, if I recall correctly. YMMV

Explain why you chose the model you did and what you'd hope to get out of them performance wise: After wading into power distance irons and trying out graphite in long irons, I am super curious to see if my performance improves with more forgiveness (and less aches in my hands) throughout the set. List your first name/city state (US Only entries): Patrick. San Diego, CA What current irons you're playing: Taylormade P7 combo set (790 4i, 770 5-7i, MC 8-P) Handicap: 7 Will you agree to patriciate in discussions on the forum about your experience with the irons after receiving them. Yes!

When I hit the $800mm mega millions jackpot I will go ahead and buy the company. After all, someone needs to carry the torch offering the beautiful and indestructible DBM finish

IMO despite making good quality clubs, especially irons, they tried to expand into too many SKUs & leverage a declining name recognition without doing anything at the highest level. I think more focus would have served them well, such as limiting product & production costs to irons/wedges with better customization options to get as many diehard golfers as possible. Then you can direct resources to service rather than, say, woods where they are at a massive disadvantage from a tech/R&D standpoint vs. the big players, and build a loyal fan base to grow from. I would even be willing to bet if they had followed that playbook that the other DTC companies have used successfully and are now expanding from, they would be the biggest fish in that pond today given the Hogan name does still carry some weight.

Well that is interesting, I have worn through the heel on two pairs of similar Pumas over the last couple of years despite the shoes being in otherwise great shape still...I had moved on to try out the Truelinks shoes (love them), but cool to see they are providing that level of service even for soft goods.

These look great (for non-matteheads at least) and I am sure they are incrementally better than TSi, but for the first time in, well, since I got into golf, I can say that I am not tempted to even test other drivers or fairway woods at the moment. It should be satisfying but is oddly sad since trying new gear is part of the fun. Oh well, currently focusing my near term spending overanalyzing on the hybrid/DI section of the bag.

I came here when I was just starting to learn about the idea of not simply buying used clubs on ebay without fitting or even verifying any specs; while it was too late for a mulligan on my Ping iE1s that were 3 degrees too upright, half an inch too short and ~5 points light on the swing weight scale despite being billed as standard length and lie , I learned so much on here that has only deepened my golf addiction over the years. Posters here are nice, helpful, and generous with their time which is truly an outlier when it comes to online forums. I will still be a regular lurker and sometime poster in the forum regardless of testing opportunities in the future. That said, it is completely baffling to see HQ focus only on sponsors after bashing other websites for doing the same thing. That hypocrisy combined with what seems like an antagonistic attitude towards "big OEM" and click-bait social media has been a major turn off for me, and as a result I do not visit the HQ website anymore, unfollowed MGS on all social platforms, and absent the ability to direct future donations to the forum only, will no longer be making an annual donation to MGS. While I think it is extremely cool to see emerging brands like Sub70 and others find their groove with the help of forums like MGS, and the stated goal of helping golfers make objectively better purchasing decisions given ability & budget is very admirable, the fact is that most golfers are still more interested in what the big OEMs come out with that they see on TV every week; it only takes a cursory look through historical tests to see that the big OEM tests that happen right around a product's release drive engagement that is exponentially higher and stickier than gadgets or single club tests from DTC/emerging brands. The big one that came up when I was still pretty new here was the Ping i210/i500 test and I came back to that thread every day for months to see what members (from official testers, inquisitive would-be buyers, and knowledgeable regulars) were saying about those new and exciting product lines; it is probably the single thread that contributed the most to my golf equipment education over the years and I can honestly say that I would not have engaged with the forum nearly as much since then if it had never come about. I'm glad to hear that the mods are pushing HQ on this front and really appreciate all that you all do on a daily basis; I can only hope that continued feedback eventually moves the needle.

Just read through this whole thread and I share the sentiments and frustrations of most everyone here, with 99% of my ire directed at HQ not the forum. As for forum-specific feedback I think I am probably the 10th person to "second" @jlukes organizational suggestions, so that seems like a natural focus area to the extent feasible for the mods. The only thing I would add is on testing threads specifically, it would be nice to be able to filter for a certain tester's posts - both their review stages and their ongoing thread posts with new updates and responses to questions which in my experience are just as informative as the review itself. I have always found that there are 1-2 testers that I gravitate to throughout a review period, either because they are similar to my game or I recognize and trust their thoughtful posts/feedback. I know I can "follow" certain users but in my experience that doesn't allow me to focus my reading on the one area I am looking for information on, and for new members looking to learn about a new product that is being tested it could help them arrive at their desired content much more quickly and make them more likely to keep coming back. For example, I was lucky enough to be a tester for the TSi driver a couple of years ago and we had 40-something pages on that thread. Other threads over the years instantly come to mind like the i210/i500 review, the t100 review, and the various CCC threads. If the intro to the topic had a simple table with high level information on each tester (Handicap & Driver SS) and then a link to filter for just each tester's posts in the thread you could save readers a TON of time in finding the information they might be looking for.

I finally went with the Costanza approach and did the opposite of what my instinct said to do. Here comes a W! #summerofgeorge

I don't necessarily blame a lot of those guys for opting for generational wealth without having to put in any extra work, but I am happy that they were kicked off the tour Doug. Hope LIV fails hard.

I believe on the P770s there is a "Tungsten" written on the back of the club head up through the 7i and then it is not on 8-AW. Interesting that you didn't notice a difference in feel - that is a good sign! Part of why I did MCs in 8-P was launch angle. I was launching the 770s a bit on the high side (not crazy or unplayable, but higher than ideal) even though the shaft was a perfect fit otherwise, and the MC brought it down into the right window. The fitter actually suggested I break the combo to include the 7i in MC from a launch perspective (and on the simulator I tend to look much more like a 4 handicap than my actual 8 ), but being "prudent" as you say, I wanted the extra forgiveness in that one since it does have the tungsten helping, and can live with the occasional shot that goes a bit too high into a wind when I am getting more forgiveness on the vast majority of shots. I reckon the difference in forgiveness between 770 and MC in 8i and up (down?) is still noticeable due to size & construction differences, but a lot less than the difference in the longer clubs that have up to 46g of tungsten. Obviously every iron decision has trade offs, but for me, in my scoring clubs the launch and feel won out.

Do you notice much of a difference in feel between the 7i and the 8i where they remove the tungsten and the "power slot" or whatever that is called? I go from 770 7i to P7MC 8i so I couldn't say, but do notice a real difference between my 7 & 8 so was curious.

Wow so cool! Every time I come in 350th+ and I tell myself that next time I will just pick at random and do better, and every next time when I have the chance, I dig into research for 5-10 mins and convince myself that my lineup is THE lineup. Rinse and repeat lol.

Funny how that happens. My Cobras were protesting big time but I didn’t want to hear it and they have been stuffed unceremoniously into the travel bag in the garage ever since the new ones came!