Titleist T Series Irons - 2023 Forum Review

[chisag]

49 minutes ago, funkyjudge said:

Must have driven ol’ Weaselbagger crazy when/if you played golf with him.

 

... Haha you know when in Rome. I didn't wanna be a stick in the mud and I played a round the last day of our time in Dallas vs Weasel, Sessm and his brother, so 3 against one in best ball straight up and I won by 1 stroke taking 18 with a birdie. I think Weasel enjoyed it even more than I did. 

[funkyjudge]

4 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... Haha you know when in Rome. I didn't wanna be a stick in the mud and I played a round the last day of our time in Dallas vs Weasel, Sessm and his brother, so 3 against one in best ball straight up and I won by 1 stroke taking 18 with a birdie. I think Weasel enjoyed it even more than I did. 

Weasel and I pocketed lots of cash playing together as partners (much of it from Evan). The first time that Larry and I played as partners was against Evan and SESSM at Bethpage Black on Easter Sunday, 2002 — less than two months prior to the ‘02 U. S. Open. On a $5 Nassau with lots of “junk” bets and a few automatic presses, Weasel and I walked away with close to $90 each.

[chisag]

5 minutes ago, funkyjudge said:

Weasel and I pocketed lots of cash playing together as partners (much of it from Evan). The first time that Larry and I played as partners was against Evan and SESSM at Bethpage Black on Easter Sunday, 2002 — less than two months prior to the ‘02 U. S. Open. On a $5 Nassau with lots of “junk” bets and a few automatic presses, Weasel and I walked away with close to $90 each.

 

... Nice! It is still a head scratcher to me how Steve and Larry could be friends with Evan. I have never been with a more unpleasant guy on a golf course. 

[Javs]

1 hour ago, chisag said:

 

... Ain't money a funny thing? I have no problem at all giving a couple thousand dollars to Feeding America every year but I won't bet $10 on a round of golf. Or even a quarter a hole. I don't like giving someone else my money and I don't enjoy taking theirs. Yet I'll tip the cart kid that same $10 event though I won't let him touch my clubs for working in 115* heat with a smile on his face. Every now and then I run across someone that just can't seem to play without some money on the line and when I refuse, after a few holes they get desperate and start offering me silly odds and I just have to chuckle while saying I am just not interested. Ain't money a funny thing?

Do you gamble on the golf course and if so for what amount? That could be its own forum thread. I can understand your point of view. Often guys I play with just want to play and that is fine. Normally I am giving shots, however; I do enjoy playing for something. It doesn’t need to be much, but something to keep me focused. Most games here are not much. Only 3 or 4 bucks a player in some groups. The Tuesday group plays 3 dollars a side with 4 of us playing. The Saturday group is a team event. It is 2 dollars a bet, but there are automatic presses if you go 2 down. So, some days it isn’t much, but others it can get up to 12 or 14 dollars. None of these games are outrageous. I will say when I moved here I had a plastic bag in my golf bag with 9 dollars in ones. A year and a half later there is 160 dollars in there. So, it has been a favorable outcome thus far.

[funkyjudge]

24 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... Nice! It is still a head scratcher to me how Steve and Larry could be friends with Evan. I have never been with a more unpleasant guy on a golf course. 

No comment.

[Langstonha]

Yes, congratulations testers.  I love my 718's and would like to hear about the T series.

[chisag]

12 minutes ago, Javs said:

Do you gamble on the golf course and if so for what amount? That could be its own forum thread. I can understand your point of view. Often guys I play with just want to play and that is fine. Normally I am giving shots, however; I do enjoy playing for something. It doesn’t need to be much, but something to keep me focused. Most games here are not much. Only 3 or 4 bucks a player in some groups. The Tuesday group plays 3 dollars a side with 4 of us playing. The Saturday group is a team event. It is 2 dollars a bet, but there are automatic presses if you go 2 down. So, some days it isn’t much, but others it can get up to 12 or 14 dollars. None of these games are outrageous. I will say when I moved here I had a plastic bag in my golf bag with 9 dollars in ones. A year and a half later there is 160 dollars in there. So, it has been a favorable outcome thus far.

 

... It would be an interesting thread. I am a lifelong athlete and as my son once said "Dad, you aren't addicted to competition, you are addicted to winning" so every round I play, every shot I take I want it to be the very best I have. Money kinda takes away from the purity of that, at least for me. That said, I certainly understand different personalities respond in different ways so I get how it is fun for others. It certainly seems to be the norm for practice rounds on the PGA Tour. 


 

1 hour ago, ole gray said:

We have individual bets occasionally however it's mostly based on points where it's fair for everybody with a couple of par three close-ups thrown in.  Most you can win is between $15.00 to $30.00 for first place with 2nd & 3rd place an option pending how many players are in for that day.  The good thing is you only have to throw 5 bucks in the pot. 

 

.... I will gladly throw some cash in the pot for a group competition. Just put it in then forget about it. It's the betting against another player I really don't like as I think it is natural to enjoy their bad shots if it helps you win $. I prefer to wish the best for my opponent or those I am paired up with and I always feel bad for their poor shots. 

[Javs]

34 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... It would be an interesting thread. I am a lifelong athlete and as my son once said "Dad, you aren't addicted to competition, you are addicted to winning" so every round I play, every shot I take I want it to be the very best I have. Money kinda takes away from the purity of that, at least for me. That said, I certainly understand different personalities respond in different ways so I get how it is fun for others. It certainly seems to be the norm for practice rounds on the PGA Tour. 


 

 

.... I will gladly throw some cash in the pot for a group competition. Just put it in then forget about it. It's the betting against another player I really don't like as I think it is natural to enjoy their bad shots if it helps you win $. I prefer to wish the best for my opponent or those I am paired up with and I always feel bad for their poor shots. 

Good points. I approach each shot much like you do. I would say 95 percent of our games are team events and I enjoy those the most. We most often play 54 with up to 5 groups of foursomes. It is a good game. It makes you focus to get your points while rooting for your teammates. In the individual games I do not root against an opponent. However, I do not root for them either. Exception is I always like seeing and complement good shots. I do enjoy beating someone head to head. I have always been ultra competitive in everything. Sports to life, I get up in the morning wanting competition. 

[chisag]

1 minute ago, Javs said:

However, I do not root for them either. Exception is I always like seeing and complement good shots. I do enjoy beating someone head to head. I have always been ultra competitive in everything. Sports to life, I get up in the morning wanting competition. 

 

...  Right there with you and just so many ways to approach this game and life. My exception is I always root for my opponent because it's just the way I am wired. I want them to play their best and then still beat them. This of course is casual and outing play, not competition where my singular focus is on my game so I don't wish good or bad for my opponent. Unless he is a jerk  

[Javs]

5 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

...  Right there with you and just so many ways to approach this game and life. My exception is I always root for my opponent because it's just the way I am wired. I want them to play their best and then still beat them. This of course is casual and outing play, not competition where my singular focus is on my game so I don't wish good or bad for my opponent. Unless he is a jerk  

I am with you there!

[funkyjudge]

26 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

...  Right there with you and just so many ways to approach this game and life. My exception is I always root for my opponent because it's just the way I am wired. I want them to play their best and then still beat them. This of course is casual and outing play, not competition where my singular focus is on my game so I don't wish good or bad for my opponent. Unless he is a jerk  

I’m kind of with you there, in that I want my opponents to play their best and still beat them. I don’t actively “root for” my opponents, but I always compliment them on good shots and for pulling off a tricky shot, even if it wins the hole against me.  That said, I absolutely strive to win every single available point that I am playing for in any type of competition.

I play in several competitive leagues, including the statewide New Jersey Senior Men’s Golf League, which has (28) teams and more than 310 individual golfers, plus on the Caliendo Winter Golf Tour, which is comprised of more than 150 golfers, approximately 120 of whom play in each of the (22) one and two-day tournaments (this tour has an “open” division, where about 40 professionals and NCAA college golf coaches play). Amateur golfers can play in the open division without a handicap, but they are not eligible to win the cash prizes — only pro shop credits, other than the cash awards for skins and closest-to-the-pin competitions. I generally only play in the senior gross and net divisions; however, when I first joined this tour 5 years ago I sometimes paid the extra entry fee to play in the open division as well (these days, with a 14-something handicap index, I no longer do that). A few years ago, in the final regular-season tournament prior to our Tour Championship, I was entered in both the senior and the open divisions, and I was the only golfer, including all of the pros, who shot under par — it was raining sideways that day and the temperature was barely above freezing (below 40* F all day).

This year in my NJ Senior Golf League, I have been in the top ten in points for Player of the Year for most of the season, reaching as high as a tie for 3rd place out of 312 eligible golfers at the beginning of last week. Of course, then I went and lost 2.5 of the 3 available points last Tuesday, while shooting 4 strokes below my handicap. However, I staged a comeback this week, winning all three available points to get back into the top seven on the POTY leaderboard. Only two more regular-season matches plus playoffs, and I will probably have to win 2.5 or 3 points every week to grab that POTY trophy.

Does it sound like I am competitive?  You bet, I am! However, I never actively (or passively) root against my opponent; I just strive to play better than whomever I am playing against …. and for my teammates to do the same.

[ole gray]

1 hour ago, chisag said:

 

... It would be an interesting thread. I am a lifelong athlete and as my son once said "Dad, you aren't addicted to competition, you are addicted to winning" so every round I play, every shot I take I want it to be the very best I have. Money kinda takes away from the purity of that, at least for me. That said, I certainly understand different personalities respond in different ways so I get how it is fun for others. It certainly seems to be the norm for practice rounds on the PGA Tour. 


 

 

.... I will gladly throw some cash in the pot for a group competition. Just put it in then forget about it. It's the betting against another player I really don't like as I think it is natural to enjoy their bad shots if it helps you win $. I prefer to wish the best for my opponent or those I am paired up with and I always feel bad for their poor shots. 

Well said! 

[GregB135]

20 hours ago, Ben Joest said:

As this test is nearing the end, it occurred to me that we haven’t done an irons-only round yet. Since the make-up of each of our bags is quite unique, perhaps it would be more accurate to say the “7 clubs you’re testing for Titleist” round. What say you, @bens197 @ole gray @GregB135@Golfspy_CG2 @GolfSpy_APH ? 
 

Also, the invite goes out to all that follow this thread or swing by to see how things are going. The more the merrier! 

I did get one 9 hole round in using only the 4H-PW and managed a 38 with just the "irons"

I just had a really good practice session getting ready for this weekend's Team Cup event. Coming on heels of a round where I hit 10 GIR with the test irons in play, and came two yards of carry short of carding my best round ever, I'm feeling really good about the makeup of this set of irons. In practice today I was hitting the ball really solid, and I'd say 8 of 10 shots were right down the line. The miss was about a 5 yard pull. Ball flight was straight and high, even with the longer clubs.

I might be able to sneak in one more 'irons only' round next week, but my work schedule is going to make that tough to manage.

 

[GolfSpy_BEN]

At the range today for lunch. While I was there working out some kinks in the top end of the bag, I couldn’t not hit some irons as well. 

Distance was a little off, but the dispersion was a tight cluster. Frankly this is what I’ve come to expect out of these irons, they just flat out perform. 

[GolfSpy_APH]

4 hours ago, Ben Joest said:

At the range today for lunch. While I was there working out some kinks in the top end of the bag, I couldn’t not hit some irons as well. 

Distance was a little off, but the dispersion was a tight cluster. Frankly this is what I’ve come to expect out of these irons, they just flat out perform. 

It is interesting to see the jumps in club head speed. Something I guess which can be tossed out and as the rest seemed to be pretty darn consistent!

[GolfSpy_BEN]

5 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

It is interesting to see the jumps in club head speed. Something I guess which can be tossed out and as the rest seemed to be pretty darn consistent!

The club head speed measurement on the MLM is the least trustworthy metric it offers. When watching the video playbacks, there is no apparent difference between a 110 mph swing and a 72 mph swing.

[bens197]

Morning everyone. 
 

Speaking for myself, the fall golf season is my favorite of any time of the year in the northeast. 
 

Turf interaction was a key talking point with the T100’s and the softer terrain should give me some additional material to work with. 
 

Expecting to be out this week with more. Hope you all have a good weekend. 

[ole gray]

LOVE Fall Golf! Looking forward to a trip to North Georgia mountains next weekend with a large group. Myself and the T350s are going to bring home some cabbage!


Three rounds at my course this week to tune up and get ready to rumble ️


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[GolfSpy_BEN]

Played my last match play round today. My team isn’t advancing to the playoffs, so my next round will be an irons only. I got a little bit of a jump on that today. I took iron off the tee on a handful of holes where it made sense. The round itself was a very pedestrian 75, 4 bogeys and 14 pars. Not a great round, not a terrible round, but rather what felt like a safe round. The irons performed well and the more I play them, the more comfortable I have become. 
 

 

[GolfSpy_APH]

4 hours ago, Ben Joest said:

Played my last match play round today. My team isn’t advancing to the playoffs, so my next round will be an irons only. I got a little bit of a jump on that today. I took iron off the tee on a handful of holes where it made sense. The round itself was a very pedestrian 75, 4 bogeys and 14 pars. Not a great round, not a terrible round, but rather what felt like a safe round. The irons performed well and the more I play them, the more comfortable I have become. 
 

 

I will be doing the same I think this week as I do have two rounds booked. Waiting to see how everything shakes out! However I do intend one of the rounds to be irons only. 

[ole gray]

On 9/20/2023 at 10:01 PM, Ben Joest said:

As this test is nearing the end, it occurred to me that we haven’t done an irons-only round yet. Since the make-up of each of our bags is quite unique, perhaps it would be more accurate to say the “7 clubs you’re testing for Titleist” round. What say you, @bens197 @ole gray @GregB135@Golfspy_CG2 @GolfSpy_APH ? 
 

Also, the invite goes out to all that follow this thread or swing by to see how things are going. The more the merrier! 

 

Ok, today will be my "7 Club" Titleist round during our Monday Senior Blitz. I will be donating my $ 7.00 unless I can win one of the par 3 close-up holes but I'm actually looking forward to this little experiment.  This will no doubt have me hitting longer approach shots into several of the shorter par 4 holes as I'm pretty long with my driver (for my age bracket) and normally I hit a lot of short irons and wedges.  Using my 4H off the tee on the long par 4 holes and par 5s will be interesting, to say the least!    My driver will stay in the truck so I won't grab it by mistake. Let's get er done! 

[ole gray]

Using only 7 Titleist clubs today from my regular tees (Senior) I shot 43/46 89.   I missed only two fairways with my 4 hybrid on the front and two on the back side and each time I was over-swinging trying to squeeze out more distance.  Honestly, I didn't need to as I was absolutely striping it with a good smooth swing.  I LOVE the TSR1 Hybrids!  I made par on two out of the three par fives and a bogey on the 3rd one.  I hit two out of four par three holes and my misses with the irons were from aiming right and hitting it straight.  I'm still having issues with my shots not drawing as I always did with my other irons.  It's hard for me to aim the T350s straight so the 2 degrees flat is causing my misses to be a little right.  Not bad mind ya but it brings the worst part of my game into play which is greenside chipping. I suck like an Electrolux vacuum cleaner on steroids with my chipping.  I'm going through a stretch with the chipping yips.  Bad stuff!

I had 27 putts today which sucks like a fat boy on a popsicle so with the chipping yips and a few of my iron shots sliding off to the right, I did break 90 which is ok. 

So what did I learn from the 7 Club experiment?

Two things   

1. The TSR1 4 Hybrid is soooooooooooo sweet on center strikes and not bad at all on heel and toe strikes.  I hit a few tee shots with it that were absolutely nuked.  Great hybrids!!  A tiny bit of tingy sound but the beautiful high long shots are oh-so worth it. Awesome off the tee on short par four holes. 

2. Trust my swing to aim less right playing for my draw with the T350s.  I was smashing beautiful shots but just a tad offline.  These irons are sweeter than pancakes smothered in hot butter and Aunt Jemima syrup. 

STATS

4 Hybrid:  10 out of 14 fairways

Irons:  11 out of 18 greens however misses were very close.

Putter: 37 putts 

Chipping: worse than a year-long case of the jock itch.

In closing, I threw a ton of strokes away during this 7 club challenge and it was with the putter and my chipping. Overall ball striking was really good to have shot the score I did. 
 

[Shrek74]

16 minutes ago, ole gray said:

 I'm still having issues with my shots not drawing as I always did with my other irons.  It's hard for me to aim the T350s straight so the 2 degrees flat is causing my misses to be a little right. 

Have you given much thought to bringing the lie angle back to standard and see if that helps your miss stay more neutral and possibly bring a tiny bit of your draw back? Just something that popped into mind as I was reading your post.

[ole gray]

Have you given much thought to bringing the lie angle back to standard and see if that helps your miss stay more neutral and possibly bring a tiny bit of your draw back? Just something that popped into mind as I was reading your post.

You read my mind The awesome thing about these irons is they’re forged and easy to bind.


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[chisag]

7 minutes ago, ole gray said:

You read my mind The awesome thing about these irons is they’re forged and easy to bind.

 

 

 

 

... OK Conspiracy Cowboy slow your roll.  I think the only thing forged with the T350's is the face. But that aside the modern ball and certainly modern SGI's and most GI's are designed to go straight with a higher trajectory and reduced spin. All of that combined means a draw or fade is just more difficult to produce. For you that should be good news as you can keep aiming farther left incrementally until you become comfortable knowing your ball isn't gonna draw like it used to. As I have said before, my 80yr old Pard is playing the previous T300 version and I have never seen him hit it straighter, higher and longer. 

[ole gray]

 
 
... OK Conspiracy Cowboy slow your roll.  I think the only thing forged with the T350's is the face. But that aside the modern ball and certainly modern SGI's and most GI's are designed to go straight with a higher trajectory and reduced spin. All of that combined means a draw or fade is just more difficult to produce. For you that should be good news as you can keep aiming farther left incrementally until you become comfortable knowing your ball isn't gonna draw like it used to. As I have said before, my 80yr old Pard is playing the previous T300 version and I have never seen him hit it straighter, higher and longer. 

My fitter put me at 2 degrees flat so don’t you think that could be causing a little right miss ?


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[chisag]

20 hours ago, ole gray said:

My fitter put me at 2 degrees flat so don’t you think that could be causing a little right miss ?

 

... My purely educated guess is 2* one way or the other rarely results in a big difference. Subtle difference? For sure and it you are catching it just a hair fat it will be exaggerated. I would ad too upright or too flat usually results in a slight push or pull more than the ball curving more or less. Pretty easy to just take a look at your divots and if they are all toe deep you may have an issue but again my guess is if your divots aren't super consistent, it is more the perimeter weighting and iron design producing less draw. 

[ole gray]

 
... My purely educated guess is no. 2* one way or the other rarely results in a big difference. Subtle difference? For sure and it you are catching it just a hair fat it will be exaggerated. I would ad too upright or too flat usually results in a slight push or pull more than the ball curving more or less. Pretty easy to just take a look at your divots and if they are all toe deep you may have an issue but again my guess is if your divots aren't super consistent, it is more the perimeter weighting and iron design producing less draw. 

I’ll pay close attention tomorrow and see how this shakes out


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[GregB135]

Not sure I'll get another chance to get the T200s out on the course before we craft our final reviews, but here's how the weekend went with them in my league 'ryder cup' event.

I didn't really have my A swing going in the Saturday morning round. I struggled off the tees, and that really impacted my number of GIR. My well struck irons though provided good consistene distance, and continued to give that nice high ball flight we saw during the fitting. The Saturday afternoon alternate shot round was a little better. The higher ball flight did make the breezy conditions a little more challenging. But, I hit a little better than 50% GIR on my approach shot holes. That's better by a few than my previous average.

I had a bit of a Jekyll/Hyde round in Sunday singles. Started strong and got away with a few misses on the front 9. With a birdie and only 1 double bogey, I carded 39. My entire swing took a four hole vacation and I had a run of big numbers on the back nine, but I rallied and reigned things back in to finish with just one bogey and three pars over the final four holes. 

On both days, I got some pretty strong performance out of the longer irons and 4h, where I'm still getting a feel for the shorter irons. It's now pretty clear, the stronger PW stretched the gap out between that and my current gap wedge enough it warrants looking into the set GW and adjusting my other wedges to match. I just don't have a club to fit the 100-110 spot.

Weekend headline: Greg With The Hat goes 2-1-0 for the weekend earning two points to help "Team Europe" retain the Tampa Cup in 2023. Ole Ole Ole Ole... Ole... Ole

 

[ole gray]

32 minutes ago, GregB135 said:

Not sure I'll get another chance to get the T200s out on the course before we craft our final reviews, but here's how the weekend went with them in my league 'ryder cup' event.

I didn't really have my A swing going in the Saturday morning round. I struggled off the tees, and that really impacted my number of GIR. My well struck irons though provided good consistene distance, and continued to give that nice high ball flight we saw during the fitting. The Saturday afternoon alternate shot round was a little better. The higher ball flight did make the breezy conditions a little more challenging. But, I hit a little better than 50% GIR on my approach shot holes. That's better by a few than my previous average.

I had a bit of a Jekyll/Hyde round in Sunday singles. Started strong and got away with a few misses on the front 9. With a birdie and only 1 double bogey, I carded 39. My entire swing took a four hole vacation and I had a run of big numbers on the back nine, but I rallied and reigned things back in to finish with just one bogey and three pars over the final four holes. 

On both days, I got some pretty strong performance out of the longer irons and 4h, where I'm still getting a feel for the shorter irons. It's now pretty clear, the stronger PW stretched the gap out between that and my current gap wedge enough it warrants looking into the set GW and adjusting my other wedges to match. I just don't have a club to fit the 100-110 spot.

Weekend headline: Greg With The Hat goes 2-1-0 for the weekend earning two points to help "Team Europe" retain the Tampa Cup in 2023. Ole Ole Ole Ole... Ole... Ole

 

I'm enjoying the heck out of T350 48-degree/GW set wedge!