Takomo Irons - 2023 Forum Review

[TylorJudd]

Let's see who was closest!

I am playing at a 4.8 I dex currently, chose Pe ticton Golf and Country as by all definitions it's my home course. Par 70, I normally score 71-78 but let's say 75 for my index. I play from the back tees and this course measures 6600 from there. I had no wind, no rain and a cool 27 degrees. 

I am fortunate to have never received my first wedge until I was in my 20's and my dad taught me how to bump and run everything with my irons. I used my 8 iron primarily for this, but would turn to the 6 if the distance called for it. My 4 iron was a laser, still is. It's the easiest 4 iron I have ever hit in my life. It's distance really took a lot of my brunt off. I got very fortunate that my putter came to play as it helped out on the longer bump and runs that didn't quite stick. Honestly, if given my wedges I would have shot close to par but I didn't run into many times where I wanted a wedge ( thank god I didn't hit a bunker) so I will settle with a 74 +4. Playing my trusty TP5x, the putter rolled true all day!

 

I will say this though, I did have to split it into two separate 9's on the same day as we were taking possession of our new house, that was the best I could get my wonderful partner whom is also a member on here! Shout out @LBee Pretty sure Jim and I tied  

Just now, TylorJudd said:

Let's see who was closest!

I am playing at a 4.8 I dex currently, chose Pe ticton Golf and Country as by all definitions it's my home course. Par 70, I normally score 71-78 but let's say 75 for my index. I play from the back tees and this course measures 6600 from there. I had no wind, no rain and a cool 27 degrees. 

I am fortunate to have never received my first wedge until I was in my 20's and my dad taught me how to bump and run everything with my irons. I used my 8 iron primarily for this, but would turn to the 6 if the distance called for it. My 4 iron was a laser, still is. It's the easiest 4 iron I have ever hit in my life. It's distance really took a lot of my brunt off. I got very fortunate that my putter came to play as it helped out on the longer bump and runs that didn't quite stick. Honestly, if given my wedges I would have shot close to par but I didn't run into many times where I wanted a wedge ( thank god I didn't hit a bunker) so I will settle with a 74 +4. Playing my trusty TP5x, the putter rolled true all day!

 

I will say this though, I did have to split it into two separate 9's on the same day as we were taking possession of our new house, that was the best I could get my wonderful partner whom is also a member on here! Shout out @LBee Pretty sure Jim and I tied  

Correction on woñderful, she's the absolute best human being on the planet

[ZackS]

1 hour ago, TylorJudd said:

Let's see who was closest!

I am playing at a 4.8 I dex currently, chose Pe ticton Golf and Country as by all definitions it's my home course. Par 70, I normally score 71-78 but let's say 75 for my index. I play from the back tees and this course measures 6600 from there. I had no wind, no rain and a cool 27 degrees. 

I am fortunate to have never received my first wedge until I was in my 20's and my dad taught me how to bump and run everything with my irons. I used my 8 iron primarily for this, but would turn to the 6 if the distance called for it. My 4 iron was a laser, still is. It's the easiest 4 iron I have ever hit in my life. It's distance really took a lot of my brunt off. I got very fortunate that my putter came to play as it helped out on the longer bump and runs that didn't quite stick. Honestly, if given my wedges I would have shot close to par but I didn't run into many times where I wanted a wedge ( thank god I didn't hit a bunker) so I will settle with a 74 +4. Playing my trusty TP5x, the putter rolled true all day!

 

I will say this though, I did have to split it into two separate 9's on the same day as we were taking possession of our new house, that was the best I could get my wonderful partner whom is also a member on here! Shout out @LBee Pretty sure Jim and I tied  

Correction on woñderful, she's the absolute best human being on the planet

Another great round. 

[Jim Shaw]

1 hour ago, TylorJudd said:

Let's see who was closest!

I am playing at a 4.8 I dex currently, chose Pe ticton Golf and Country as by all definitions it's my home course. Par 70, I normally score 71-78 but let's say 75 for my index. I play from the back tees and this course measures 6600 from there. I had no wind, no rain and a cool 27 degrees. 

I am fortunate to have never received my first wedge until I was in my 20's and my dad taught me how to bump and run everything with my irons. I used my 8 iron primarily for this, but would turn to the 6 if the distance called for it. My 4 iron was a laser, still is. It's the easiest 4 iron I have ever hit in my life. It's distance really took a lot of my brunt off. I got very fortunate that my putter came to play as it helped out on the longer bump and runs that didn't quite stick. Honestly, if given my wedges I would have shot close to par but I didn't run into many times where I wanted a wedge ( thank god I didn't hit a bunker) so I will settle with a 74 +4. Playing my trusty TP5x, the putter rolled true all day!

 

I will say this though, I did have to split it into two separate 9's on the same day as we were taking possession of our new house, that was the best I could get my wonderful partner whom is also a member on here! Shout out @LBee Pretty sure Jim and I tied  

Correction on woñderful, she's the absolute best human being on the planet

not a chance, you lapped me buddy, great round, It was so much fun playing with irons only and so nice playing from the centre of the fairway, really eye opening for me, I am currently a 0.8 index so your 74 is way better than mine, what is the slope of Penticton these days, I used to play the Penticton Open back in the day before they had some of the land changed and changed the course.

[KC Golf]

I wish I could suggest I played like Jim or Tylor, but I didn’t play as well as I had hoped.  The wind was a bit gusty, but not too bad, so I got off a little lucky today weather wise.
I normally shoot 84 to 86 off of the Blue tees.  It was a bit hit or miss with the driving 4 iron.  Not as good as my practice 9.
I did have some interesting shots from a few fairway and green side bunkers.  Getting it out of a deep bunker with a PW was interesting to say the least.  Even thought about putting it out of bunker a few times!  Also approach shots without a trusty 52 or 56 was interesting too, since I had to scramble. 
The round was fun and the Takomo were definitely in prime form, but the Par 5s were a beast.  Some long par 4s were no cake walk either.  I wish I had played from a more forward tee.
I would say the par 3s were okay.  I did have a few birdie looks and sank one of them.  Chipping around the green was humorous since it was a combination of toe chipping with a 7 or 8 iron or trying a bump and run with a 4 iron from the rough.
Shot a somewhat respectable 95.  Not great but not bad.  Missed a few putts so definitely could have been better.

[TylorJudd]

1 hour ago, Jim Shaw said:

not a chance, you lapped me buddy, great round, It was so much fun playing with irons only and so nice playing from the centre of the fairway, really eye opening for me, I am currently a 0.8 index so your 74 is way better than mine, what is the slope of Penticton these days, I used to play the Penticton Open back in the day before they had some of the land changed and changed the course.

Honestly Jim, I broke my driver shaft while this happened and very eye opening for me as well. I was thankful for the iron challenge as I played yesterday and wind was 50-60km/h, driver didn't really come out and it went fine with the irons. 

The slope at Penticton is rated at 127, I'd say it's a little easier than that, not much though. They haven't changed much other than the orientation of the course. Hole 1 is now #14 #6 has changed a touch and is now #10, #10 is #1. New clubhouse 10 years ago, prices are higher than the course can warrant but they did do a 1.5 million irrigation upgrade last year.

The Andy Moog Classic, was a casualty of COVID, and the Penticton Open as well to the best of my knowledge. A new amateur tour opened in the Okanagan called 12 Stix and Penticton is one of the 10 stops. 

[TylorJudd]

14 minutes ago, KC Golf said:

I wish I could suggest I played like Jim or Tylor, but I didn’t play as well as I had hoped.  The wind was a bit gusty, but not too bad, so I got off a little lucky today weather wise.
I normally shoot 84 to 86 off of the Blue tees.  It was a bit hit or miss with the driving 4 iron.  Not as good as my practice 9.
I did have some interesting shots from a few fairway and green side bunkers.  Getting it out of a deep bunker with a PW was interesting to say the least.  Even thought about putting it out of bunker a few times!  Also approach shots without a trusty 52 or 56 was interesting too, since I had to scramble. 
The round was fun and the Takomo were definitely in prime form, but the Par 5s were a beast.  Some long par 4s were no cake walk either.  I wish I had played from a more forward tee.
I would say the par 3s were okay.  I did have a few birdie looks and sank one of them.  Chipping around the green was humorous since it was a combination of toe chipping with a 7 or 8 iron or trying a bump and run with a 4 iron from the rough.
Shot a somewhat respectable 95.  Not great but not bad.  Missed a few putts so definitely could have been better.

I think you nailed how fun it was. The weird things your brain starts doing with only 7 clubs to use!!!

[ZackS]

7 hours ago, TylorJudd said:

The Andy Moog Classic, was a casualty of COVID

I haven’t heard that name since the mid 90s when he was playing for the Dallas Stars

[Jim Shaw]

3 minutes ago, ZackS said:

I haven’t heard that name since the mid 90s when he was playing for the Dallas Stars

I think he played for the Penticton "V's" or maybe grew up in Penticton, kindof a celebrity there

[TylorJudd]

Both! He played junior hockey in the 80's for the Penticton Knights, he's from here as well. Was a big part of the Okanagan hockey school for a long while too!

[TylorJudd]

2 hours ago, ZackS said:

I haven’t heard that name since the mid 90s when he was playing for the Dallas Stars

Penticton is home to some crazy good athletes. Duncan Keith lives here, Brent Seabrook, Larry Lund but that's going back a ways, Josh Gorges has a place here.

None of them played Takomos though!

[Jim Shaw]

3 minutes ago, TylorJudd said:

Penticton is home to some crazy good athletes. Duncan Keith lives here, Brent Seabrook, Larry Lund but that's going back a ways, Josh Gorges has a place here.

None of them played Takomos though!

loosers... Takomo is the way to way better

[ZackS]

35 minutes ago, Jim Shaw said:

loosers... Takomo is the way to way better

[TylorJudd]

4 hours ago, ZackS said:

Literally have this as my towel

[GolfSpy_BNG]

Alright guys here is what I’m seeing for scores. Please correct me if I’m wrong as I could miss something. 
 

@ZackS with a +7 differential 

@TylorJudd with an amazing -1 differential 

@KC Golf with a +9 differential 

@Jim Shaw didn’t say what he normally shoots but I’m assuming he is a +1 or 2 differential. 

 

Which means @Vegan_Golfer_PNW chose the right horse!  Be in the lookout for a PM from me  

 

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

23 minutes ago, GolfSpy_BNG said:

Alright guys here is what I’m seeing for scores. Please correct me if I’m wrong as I could miss something. 
 

@ZackS with a +7 differential 

@TylorJudd with an amazing -1 differential 

@KC Golf with a +9 differential 

@Jim Shaw didn’t say what he normally shoots but I’m assuming he is a +1 or 2 differential. 

 

Which means @Vegan_Golfer_PNW chose the right horse!  Be in the lookout for a PM from me  

 

looking forward to it

[ZackS]

40 minutes ago, GolfSpy_BNG said:

Alright guys here is what I’m seeing for scores. Please correct me if I’m wrong as I could miss something. 
 

@ZackS with a +7 differential 

@TylorJudd with an amazing -1 differential 

@KC Golf with a +9 differential 

@Jim Shaw didn’t say what he normally shoots but I’m assuming he is a +1 or 2 differential. 

 

Which means @Vegan_Golfer_PNW chose the right horse!  Be in the lookout for a PM from me  

 

Congrats @TylorJudd that’s was a heck of a round. 

[Jim Shaw]

4 hours ago, GolfSpy_BNG said:

Alright guys here is what I’m seeing for scores. Please correct me if I’m wrong as I could miss something. 
 

@ZackS with a +7 differential 

@TylorJudd with an amazing -1 differential 

@KC Golf with a +9 differential 

@Jim Shaw didn’t say what he normally shoots but I’m assuming he is a +1 or 2 differential. 

 

Which means @Vegan_Golfer_PNW chose the right horse!  Be in the lookout for a PM from me  

 

yeah, +1 from the whites I think, and thanks @GolfSpy_BNG for not only organizing a fun event but helping me remember how much fun it is to try new things like this, I get tunnel vision and forget to have fun sometimes

[tortoise1956]

Lucky man! 

I recently bought a set of Takomo 301MB iron heads, and paired them with Nippon 950GH taper shafts in stiff flex and Golf Pride Tour Velvet grips. The swingweight is approximately D4 for 4-8, D4+ for the 9 and about D6 for the PW.(As measured on My SwingW digital scale, and my swingW XL).

My initial findings:

Long irons (4-5) are pretty easy to hit well. It has forced me to swing a little easier, but that needed to happen anyway.

mid irons (6-8) are smooth and have a fairly large sweet spot. 

Short irons (9-PW) are easy to control, and provide plenty of backspin for me. 

One thing I discovered: you can put some serious curve on the ball. I went to draw a 9-iron around a tree, and the next thing I know I'm looking at 30+ yards of hook for a 130 yard shot! Luckily there was no trouble to the left of the green...

I hope you enjoy these irons. I definitely have!

 

[KC Golf]

16 hours ago, GolfSpy_BNG said:

Alright guys here is what I’m seeing for scores. Please correct me if I’m wrong as I could miss something. 
 

@ZackS with a +7 differential 

@TylorJudd with an amazing -1 differential 

@KC Golf with a +9 differential 

@Jim Shaw didn’t say what he normally shoots but I’m assuming he is a +1 or 2 differential. 

 

Which means @Vegan_Golfer_PNW chose the right horse!  Be in the lookout for a PM from me  

 

Looks right to me.  Tylor is the Takomo iron slayer!  That’s an amazing score. Congrats… well earned.  I will buy beers the next time you are in Calgary!

[Jim Shaw]

7 hours ago, KC Golf said:

Looks right to me.  Tylor is the Takomo iron slayer!  That’s an amazing score. Congrats… well earned.  I will buy beers the next time you are in Calgary!

Hold it, did someone say they were buying good cold Canadian beer???? 

[TylorJudd]

8 hours ago, KC Golf said:

Looks right to me.  Tylor is the Takomo iron slayer!  That’s an amazing score. Congrats… well earned.  I will buy beers the next time you are in Calgary!

My wife is from Lacombe, we go back every once in a while. I'll take ya up on that next time I'm in Alberta, let's throw a round of golf in there too!

[KC Golf]

2 hours ago, TylorJudd said:

My wife is from Lacombe, we go back every once in a while. I'll take ya up on that next time I'm in Alberta, let's throw a round of golf in there too!

Sounds good Tylor.  Jim, you definitely deserve beers too.  So hit me up if you come through town!

[ZackS]

I rented some trackman time to get some numbers compared to my current irons. 

 

I will start by saying that the Golf Galaxy where I can rent Trackman time has pretty soft mats which cause the strikes to be be higher then normal on the blade. This causes the launch to be higher and the spin to be lower then off turf. For example when I did ball testing at PGA Super Store that has much firmer mats.  With this same ball I was getting getting 19.7 degrees of launch and 7039 RPM spin which is about 1.5 degrees lower and 1000 RPM more spin. I point this out as one of the things about the players distance iron category that the Takomo 101t’s fall into is they are high launch and low spin and don’t want you to think they are to low spinning based on the numbers below. For the testing I hit 10 shots with each club to try and get a good average. My ball striking has been a little off and had a tendency to hit fat. I did remove fat shots but left all other miss hits.

I feel as these is a good comparison as the Adams A12 Pro irons I am comparing the Takomo 101t’s against are a classic forged cavity back. In my option the hollow body “players” distance and forged “players” cavity back iron are in the same category of a iron for someone looking for something with some added forgiveness without the blade getting to big. I will point out that I have the Adams bent 1 degree strong from factory, here is a comparison of lofts.

Comparing the numbers with the exception of for some reason I was delivering 2.5 degrees less dynamic loft on the Takomo 4 iron. The rest of the numbers differences can be contributed to the loft differences. I think this shows that the hollow body style is not inherently lower spin, at least not in this case. Now for trends that I noticed. The consistency and dispersion are better with the Takomo’s across all 3 irons. There was not a big difference difference.  But one of the common knocks you hear on this style of iron compared to forged is getting hot spots and flyers. This test is not big enough to eliminate that as a possibility but at least in this test that is not the case. The other thing I noticed was very small but interesting that on average I was .8 degrees steeper on attack angle and .5 degrees less outside to in on the club path. I haven’t got them measured on a scale but at home measurements using a swing weight calculator, the Takomo’s are 1 to 2 swing weights lighter. Also the shafts are 10 grams lighter . So I am thinking the heavier overall weight and swing weight are probably causing the club to lag slightly more behind and inside. That said my dispersion was better with the Takomo’s so slightly lighter might be a good thing for me.

Edited July 8, 2023 by ZackS

[Jim Shaw]

3 hours ago, ZackS said:

I rented some trackman time to get some numbers compared to my current irons. 

 

I will start by saying that the Golf Galaxy where I can rent Trackman time has pretty soft mats which cause the strikes to be be higher then normal on the blade. This cause the launch to be higher and the spin to be lower then off turf. For example when I did ball testing at PGA Super Store that has much firmer mats.  With this same ball I was getting getting 19.7 degrees of launch and 7039 RPM spin which is about 1.5 degrees lower and 1000 RPM more spin. I point this out as one of the things about the players distance iron category that the Takomo 101t’s fall into is they are high launch and low spin and don’t want you to think they are to low spinning based on the numbers below. For the testing I hit 10 shots with each club to try and get a good average. My ball striking has been a little off and had a tendency to hit fat. I did remove fat shots but left all other miss hits.

I feel as these is a good comparison as the Adams A12 Pro irons I am comparing the Takomo 101t’s against are a classic forged cavity back. In my option the hollow body “players” distance and forged “players” cavity back iron are in the same category of a iron for someone looking for something with some added forgiveness without the blade getting to big. I will point out that I have the Adams bent 1 degree strong from factory, here is a comparison of lofts.

Comparing the numbers with the exception of for some reason I was delivering 2.5 degrees less dynamic loft on the Takomo 4 iron. The rest of the numbers differences can be contributed to the loft differences. I think this shows that the hollow body style is not inherently lower spin, at least not in this case. Now for trends that I noticed. The consistency and dispersion where better with the Takomo’s across all 3 irons. There was not a big difference difference.  But one of the common knocks you here on this style of iron compared to forged is getting hot spots and flyers. This test is not big enough to eliminate that as a possibility but at least in this test that is not the case. The other thing I noticed was very small but interesting that on average I was .8 degrees steeper on attack angle and .5 degrees less outside to in on the club path. I haven’t got them measured on a scale but at home measurements using a swing weight calculator, the Tacoma’s are 1 to 2 swing weight lighter. Also the shafts are 10 grams lighter . So I am thinking the heavier overall weight and swing weight are probably causing the club to lag slightly more behind and inside. That said my dispersion was better with the Takomo’s so slightly lighter might be a good thing for me.

Great post my friend, very informative

[GolfSpy_BNG]

I can’t believe how much spin these 101T’s have. This is a 7-iron on the 157 yard par 3 at my course. Dead straight at the pin and thought I had a chance at the ace from the tee. Zero roll out cost me the ace

[GolfSpy_APH]

Have my fingers crossed for your next round! You've been playing good golf so let's hope it is just around the corner!

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

The mystery box came in. Thanks for the hook up @GolfSpy_BNG  The ball marker is sweet. 

[GolfSpy_BEN]

@ZackS & @KC Golf

To this point in your testing, how has the distance for these clubs performed vs your gamers or expectations? Are they fairly consistent? I know with other similar irons I’ve tried out, that there is the occasional “hot” one. E.g. the 7 iron averages 160 but a center strike might go 180 type of thing. Thanks!

[ZackS]

1 hour ago, Ben Joest said:

@ZackS & @KC Golf

To this point in your testing, how has the distance for these clubs performed vs your gamers or expectations? Are they fairly consistent? I know with other similar irons I’ve tried out, that there is the occasional “hot” one. E.g. the 7 iron averages 160 but a center strike might go 180 type of thing. Thanks!

Overall the distance based on loft difference with my current iron are pretty much expected. I think they are a little hotter than my current base on the trackman #s. As the PW went basically the same difference despite being a degree weaker, and the 7 and 4 irons go about 6 yards further which I would expect more like 3 to 4 yards for the 1 degree stronger. As for fliers, I have had a few that went further than expected. Most of them were on the first round and the wind was a little gusty that day. Also all of the ones that have been off have been on none stock shots. For instance one where the ball was well above my feet and I was going up a club and chocking all the way to the bottom of the grip. Or when trying to hit a punch shot, had one I was trying punch them at was hit a little fat so I was convinced was going to be short and ended up being maybe 5 yards long. It has been enough to make me think since distance control has always been a strong part of my game. That said my ball striking has been a little off lately with working on a few things and I have had some wedges be a little off as well. I think the changes I am working on are possibly adding some distance even though it was not the goal, but who would complain about extra distance if you can get it . That’s a long way of saying at this point I don’t think I can provide a definitive answer. At this point I would lean towards it’s not something to worry about. I will say I have had multiple miss hits go further then expected. But that’s a good thing. 

Edited July 9, 2023 by ZackS

[ZackS]

I would be interested in @GolfSpy_BNG thoughts on this as well. I think he might have more rounds in with these than me.