Titleist T Series Irons - 2023 Forum Review

[Golfspy_CG2]

8 minutes ago, KC Golf said:

Shafts is a rabbit hole that with irons can  get very expensive. I am also curious what shaft guys playing the T150s will pick.  I tried a few higher end graphite iron shafts and the feel differences were noticeable but the GC Quad numbers were not hugely different among the 2-3 contenders I ended up with. The prices of some of these shafts were eye opening for sure. 

So my "gamer" set is the T350 with the SteelFiber I80 and so far has been solid.

When I decided to add the combo portion of T200 and T150 I debated on shafts.  Logic says go with the I80 right, so they will be consistent?   Well what fun would that be, so I went down that shaft rabbit hole you are speaking of.  I went from Lightweight steel like 850GH to premium GD AD75 and everything in between.   I really really wanted those AD75, but like you said was it going to make a huge difference in my game especially at my level.   So I actually ended up making a practical logical decision, I went with the shafts that were a very close 2nd in my fitting, the Tensei Red.  I will tell you they feel noticeably lighter than the Steelfiber.   But so far I've only hit some range balls with them, haven't put them in play. 

[ole gray]

6 hours ago, golfinnut said:

Great intro @ole gray I always love your commentary   

Thanks buddy!

[rapa7846]

Exciting. Congrats Testers!

[GregB135]

Fitting

Well, once we were notified of our selection for this test, we all set about coordinating our fittings. Titleist stepped up with the option to coordinate with their affiliated fitters if we didn't have one of our own to work with. I was extremely fortunate in this regard as Joe, my local club fitter, is a Titleist Fitting Partner. He had fit me previously for a D/3W setup, as well as my current gamer set of gen 1 T200 irons. He is consistently one of the top fitters in the region for Titleist and Callaway. Though not completely 'brand agnostic' he is not brand exclusive either. Joe is very knowledgeable and thorough with his fitting process.

It took a bit of coordination but we got me on his schedule for last Thursday afternoon and I showed up to....

Shortly after taking this photo we got rain and lightning like a prelude to resounding trumpets and flaming chariots descending from the sky. So we rescheduled.... And got to chat a little while about expectations and goals for what we wanted out of the fitting.

What a difference a day makes

You can see from Joe's setup he has a wide variety of heads/shafts on hand to work with. He does his fittings exclusively outside on the turf with Trackman, so you get to see actual ball flight (with Titleist practice balls not range balls), see and feel the turf interaction, and then see what the numbers say on Trackman to compare performance and targets. 

Like any fitting, we started by rehashing goals and expectations and then he had me warm up with my 7-iron to get some baseline numbers and then we got to work.

Sorry about the pocket, nobody spoke up...

We went through a thorough series of talking about each shaft, hitting a few swings, then looking at the numbers to see where we were relative to current set and targets

We tried the True Temper AMTs, Nippon Zelos7, and KBS $ Taper steel shafts and worked in the Mitsubishi Tensei Blue and Recoil graphite shafts. Eventually it came down to a virtual dead heat between the Zelos and Tensei Blue. Both shafts felt great and were giving me almost ideal peak height, carry and descent angle numbers. All the way through though, Joe did a great job of describing each combination's performance and what the adjustments from shaft to shaft, and setup to setup should change in the target numbers. In the end, after discussing the benefit of the graphite shaft dampening impact vibration and how that reduces fatigue and wear and tear on the joints, we settled on the Tensei Blue in T200 through the set. This was a bit of a surprise to me as I've never played anything but steel shafted irons before. But, after hitting these and seeing the performance and understanding the benefits, I have no reservations at all about the results.

We talked a bit further on set makeup and elected to go with a 4 hybrid at the top of the set rather than gap wedge at the bottom. It didn't take very long from there to dial in the fit on a TSR2 hybrid. The end result is a set I'm sure I'm going to be happy with

I'll say again, Joe is an extremely knowledgable and thorough club fitter. He is engaging and informative throughout his process. I have never been disappointed after working with him in a fitting session, or even for club  repair work and just asking him equipment questions in general. If you are anywhere in or near the Tampa area, I highly recommend Joe for any of your fiting needs.

The Mods have told us the orders all went in on Monday, so for now...

 

[GregB135]

On 8/21/2023 at 10:14 PM, Golfspy_CG2 said:

I can’t speak for everyone. But we get great service at our course from Fed Ex.   Rarely ever a delay from the scheduled arrival date.   And when there is, it’s usually due to weather somewhere in the route. 

I definitely have a story to tell here. When I purchased my original set of T200s, we blended the set with the T300 4 and 5 iron. Even knowing that, at the time, Titleist was almost violently opposed to blending sets. They seemed to clilng to the belief that if you were a T200 or a 620MB player or whatever, then that's where you belonged through the whole set. Maybe they were onto something at the time because I wound up being horribly inconsistent with the two T300s, to the  point I dreaded pulling the 5 iron for any shot and tended to just leave the 4 clean and shiny in the bag. So I went back to Joe and asked if we could get the T200 4 and 5 iron to fill out the set. 

Oh yeah, and then Covid hit. I made the original request in August of 20 and Joe told me expect it to be a couple of weeks. Then it became a back order delay for shafts with the answer being 'maybe by late Feb or early March'. Then we remembered, 'duh, I have shafts in the other two irons', and we asked for just the club heads, and were back to 'two to three weeks'. Keep in mind this is now October.  More delivery delay questions were answered by, 'those heads are out of stock, can we interest you in the gen2 T200 heads'. By the end of it all it was nearly 10 months to replace just two club heads.

Needless to say, this all peaked my interest when it looked like Titleist was actually promoting the new T series irons as if they wanted the sets to be blended. Word on the street is the T100 and T150 heads are in short supply, so hopefully we are not sitting in the doldrums too long as we are preparing our testing strategies.

[ole gray]

While I was hitting my 48-degree Cleveland wedge yesterday was thinking how it would be to have a set  (T350)wedge at 48 degrees.  I haven't played a set wedge in years so this will be an interesting part of my test. 

[Shrek74]

1 hour ago, ole gray said:

While I was hitting my 48-degree Cleveland wedge yesterday was thinking how it would be to have a set  (T350)wedge at 48 degrees.  I haven't played a set wedge in years so this will be an interesting part of my test. 

I like to keep both PW and GW from the set. The GW is my last full swing club, so I believe it's best to keep it the same as the iron set for the feels and overall performance similarities. Others have differing opinions, but this is what I've discovered for my game.

But always love a little extra test within the test.

[GolfSpy_BEN]

1 hour ago, ole gray said:

While I was hitting my 48-degree Cleveland wedge yesterday was thinking how it would be to have a set  (T350)wedge at 48 degrees.  I haven't played a set wedge in years so this will be an interesting part of my test. 

The PW for the T150’s is 44 degrees. My current GW is 50 degrees, and I play a 54 and 58 as well. Depending on the yardage gap between the PW and the 50, I may have to rethink my wedge setup and go 48, 54, 58. I’d rather have that 6 degree gap between GW and SW than the PW and GW. 
 

Although the sooner these clubs get here, the sooner I can stop worrying about hypotheticals and start figuring it out.

[GolfSpy_BEN]

11 hours ago, Ben Joest said:

The PW for the T150’s is 44 degrees. My current GW is 50 degrees, and I play a 54 and 58 as well. Depending on the yardage gap between the PW and the 50, I may have to rethink my wedge setup and go 48, 54, 58. I’d rather have that 6 degree gap between GW and SW than the PW and GW. 
 

Although the sooner these clubs get here, the sooner I can stop worrying about hypotheticals and start figuring it out.

I’m not saying I spent way too much time building a new set of SM9 wedges on the Titleist site today. But I’m not not saying it either

I love my MG3 54 & 58, but swapping out the SM8 50 for a SM9 48, using the same specs from the irons, is definitely in play

[GolfSpy_APH]

@Ben Joest would you maybe think of doing what I ended up doing and going T100 for the gap wedge? 

[bens197]

10 hours ago, Ben Joest said:

I’m not saying I spent way too much time building a new set of SM9 wedges on the Titleist site today. But I’m not not saying it either

I love my MG3 54 & 58, but swapping out the SM8 50 for a SM9 48, using the same specs from the irons, is definitely in play

It's all in play...I wish the SM9 had the same head shape as the MG3/4 because IMO, those wedges have the best look at setup.  Sadly, after trying several models I just cannot vibe with them.  Feel, spin & performance take a distant second to the Vokeys.  

[GolfSpy_BEN]

5 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

@Ben Joest would you maybe think of doing what I ended up doing and going T100 for the gap wedge? 

At this point, everything is still in play including a T100/150 gap wedge. Also, still want to hit ‘em and figure out if it’s even an issue

[ole gray]

I'm fortunate to have a nice driving range about one mile from my house.  I went up this morning to spend more time with my Apex DCB irons that were converted to  2-degrees flat.  Each time out with this new spec I see such an improvement in dispersion, ball flight, and overall distance. This new lie angle will feel natural by the time the T350s hit my front porch.  Getting pumped!   A proper fitting is slicker than a fat pig at the county fair!

[Golfspy_CG2]

15 hours ago, Ben Joest said:

I’m not saying I spent way too much time building a new set of SM9 wedges on the Titleist site today. But I’m not not saying it either

I love my MG3 54 & 58, but swapping out the SM8 50 for a SM9 48, using the same specs from the irons, is definitely in play

If there is one club that is firmly in my bag.  It is without a doubt my 48* SM9 

I’m so confident in it, that anytime I’m laying up short of a green  I’ll try for 85 yards out.  I just seems to have that swing and distance locked in for it   And I’ve gotten pretty good at using it on a 45 to 50 yard pitch shot with a 1/4 swing and getting a one hop and stop or slightly release from it  

I then go to a 54/58    Next year when the SM10? come out I plan to go to TPI for another wedge fitting and perhaps go 52/56 then depending on Bob or Aaron say

 

 

[GolfSpy_KFT]

On 8/23/2023 at 8:56 AM, GregB135 said:

Fitting

Well, once we were notified of our selection for this test, we all set about coordinating our fittings. Titleist stepped up with the option to coordinate with their affiliated fitters if we didn't have one of our own to work with. I was extremely fortunate in this regard as Joe, my local club fitter, is a Titleist Fitting Partner. He had fit me previously for a D/3W setup, as well as my current gamer set of gen 1 T200 irons. He is consistently one of the top fitters in the region for Titleist and Callaway. Though not completely 'brand agnostic' he is not brand exclusive either. Joe is very knowledgeable and thorough with his fitting process.

It took a bit of coordination but we got me on his schedule for last Thursday afternoon and I showed up to....

Shortly after taking this photo we got rain and lightning like a prelude to resounding trumpets and flaming chariots descending from the sky. So we rescheduled.... And got to chat a little while about expectations and goals for what we wanted out of the fitting.

What a difference a day makes

You can see from Joe's setup he has a wide variety of heads/shafts on hand to work with. He does his fittings exclusively outside on the turf with Trackman, so you get to see actual ball flight (with Titleist practice balls not range balls), see and feel the turf interaction, and then see what the numbers say on Trackman to compare performance and targets. 

Like any fitting, we started by rehashing goals and expectations and then he had me warm up with my 7-iron to get some baseline numbers and then we got to work.

Sorry about the pocket, nobody spoke up...

We went through a thorough series of talking about each shaft, hitting a few swings, then looking at the numbers to see where we were relative to current set and targets

We tried the True Temper AMTs, Nippon Zelos7, and KBS $ Taper steel shafts and worked in the Mitsubishi Tensei Blue and Recoil graphite shafts. Eventually it came down to a virtual dead heat between the Zelos and Tensei Blue. Both shafts felt great and were giving me almost ideal peak height, carry and descent angle numbers. All the way through though, Joe did a great job of describing each combination's performance and what the adjustments from shaft to shaft, and setup to setup should change in the target numbers. In the end, after discussing the benefit of the graphite shaft dampening impact vibration and how that reduces fatigue and wear and tear on the joints, we settled on the Tensei Blue in T200 through the set. This was a bit of a surprise to me as I've never played anything but steel shafted irons before. But, after hitting these and seeing the performance and understanding the benefits, I have no reservations at all about the results.

We talked a bit further on set makeup and elected to go with a 4 hybrid at the top of the set rather than gap wedge at the bottom. It didn't take very long from there to dial in the fit on a TSR2 hybrid. The end result is a set I'm sure I'm going to be happy with

I'll say again, Joe is an extremely knowledgable and thorough club fitter. He is engaging and informative throughout his process. I have never been disappointed after working with him in a fitting session, or even for club  repair work and just asking him equipment questions in general. If you are anywhere in or near the Tampa area, I highly recommend Joe for any of your fiting needs.

The Mods have told us the orders all went in on Monday, so for now...

 

Great write up on the fitting @GregB135! Sounds like it was a great one!

[ole gray]

5 hours ago, Golfspy_CG2 said:

If there is one club that is firmly in my bag.  It is without a doubt my 48* SM9 

I’m so confident in it, that anytime I’m laying up short of a green  I’ll try for 85 yards out.  I just seems to have that swing and distance locked in for it   And I’ve gotten pretty good at using it on a 45 to 50 yard pitch shot with a 1/4 swing and getting a one hop and stop or slightly release from it  

I then go to a 54/58    Next year when the SM10? come out I plan to go to TPI for another wedge fitting and perhaps go 52/56 then depending on Bob or Aaron say

 

 

Did you try the T350 48?

[Golfspy_CG2]

41 minutes ago, ole gray said:

Did you try the T350 48?

No I has no intention of replacing my Vokey 48, so I don’t bother.  But I bet it’s a sweet one

[ole gray]

11 hours ago, Golfspy_CG2 said:

No I has no intention of replacing my Vokey 48, so I don’t bother.  But I bet it’s a sweet one

I'll let ya know 

[ole gray]

18 hours ago, Golfspy_CG2 said:

If there is one club that is firmly in my bag.  It is without a doubt my 48* SM9 

I’m so confident in it, that anytime I’m laying up short of a green  I’ll try for 85 yards out.  I just seems to have that swing and distance locked in for it   And I’ve gotten pretty good at using it on a 45 to 50 yard pitch shot with a 1/4 swing and getting a one hop and stop or slightly release from it  

I then go to a 54/58    Next year when the SM10? come out I plan to go to TPI for another wedge fitting and perhaps go 52/56 then depending on Bob or Aaron say

Geez I was looking at these wedges and dayuuuummmmmm  there are more options with bounce and and grind/sole you would be crazier than a hiker poking a bear in the arse while he's taking a dump not to get fit. 

 

[KC Golf]

21 hours ago, Golfspy_CG2 said:

If there is one club that is firmly in my bag.  It is without a doubt my 48* SM9 

I’m so confident in it, that anytime I’m laying up short of a green  I’ll try for 85 yards out.  I just seems to have that swing and distance locked in for it   And I’ve gotten pretty good at using it on a 45 to 50 yard pitch shot with a 1/4 swing and getting a one hop and stop or slightly release from it  

I then go to a 54/58    Next year when the SM10? come out I plan to go to TPI for another wedge fitting and perhaps go 52/56 then depending on Bob or Aaron say

 

 

I need the confidence that you have in this part of the bag.  I am struggling with this right now.  I am usually pretty good, but a change in irons has caused some issues for me.

This is something I am seriously thinking about my Takomo 101T PW is not the confidence inducing club the rest of the set is, so I thinking about something to fit into the gap between my Vokey 52F and my 101T 9 iron,  I think it’s a 46 or 28 Vokey F.  Time for a fitting.

It’s hilarious, I am starting to replace my wedges slowly with Vokeys.  It’s almost painful looking at the cost of these things…

[GolfSpy_APH]

28 minutes ago, KC Golf said:

I need the confidence that you have in this part of the bag.  I am struggling with this right now.  I am usually pretty good, but a change in irons has caused some issues for me.

This is something I am seriously thinking about my Takomo 101T PW is not the confidence inducing club the rest of the set is, so I thinking about something to fit into the gap between my Vokey 52F and my 101T 9 iron,  I think it’s a 46 or 28 Vokey F.  Time for a fitting.

It’s hilarious, I am starting to replace my wedges slowly with Vokeys.  It’s almost painful looking at the cost of these things…

I am not sure if this is the same for most here on the forum, but the two hardest spots in my bag to find the right clubs are between my 54 and PW and from my 5 iron to my 3 wood. I have tried so many different things and various clubs, but have yet to find that solid 100% solution for them. 

[gingerbeast87]

3 minutes ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

I am not sure if this is the same for most here on the forum, but the two hardest spots in my bag to find the right clubs are between my 54 and PW and from my 5 iron to my 3 wood. I have tried so many different things and various clubs, but have yet to find that solid 100% solution for them. 

My biggest pain is going from 5-iron to 3 wood. I have a 4 hybrid to bridge the gap but am unsure if I should ditch out the iron in favour of a 5 hybrid, or look to a 5 wood instead .

[Preeway]

31 minutes ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

I am not sure if this is the same for most here on the forum, but the two hardest spots in my bag to find the right clubs are between my 54 and PW and from my 5 iron to my 3 wood. I have tried so many different things and various clubs, but have yet to find that solid 100% solution for them. 

I too have a lot of work to do from my PW (46°) to my 56°. I’m going to look at some different wedge options at 50° to replace my 52° and put in some work in the spring on getting those two clubs dialed in at 5-10 increments from 145-100 yards. I’m way too inconsistent when trying to account for wind and slope adjustments. 

[Golfspy_CG2]

3 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

I am not sure if this is the same for most here on the forum, but the two hardest spots in my bag to find the right clubs are between my 54 and PW and from my 5 iron to my 3 wood. I have tried so many different things and various clubs, but have yet to find that solid 100% solution for them. 

When Titleist is at our course in two weeks for fittings. I’m going to have one of the slots for a “long game” fitting. I haven’t done tbey since my trip to PING a few years ago.   
 

But after driver and down to 5 iron possibly 6.  I need a set up that makes sense.  
 

Rogjt now in the bag  are the following TSR1 15* G430 18* G430 22* 

Then rotating in and out are

G430 15* TSR2 16.5 and G430 7wood (21*) 

I think ild really like a TSR1 hybrid around 20 degrees.  
 

But I need to find out exactly how far I hit all those and find the ones I’m comfortable hitting. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

3 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

I am not sure if this is the same for most here on the forum, but the two hardest spots in my bag to find the right clubs are between my 54 and PW and from my 5 iron to my 3 wood. I have tried so many different things and various clubs, but have yet to find that solid 100% solution for them. 

Never had an issue fitting my wedge setup. It’s vokey all the way and 50/54/58 or 50/54/60 is the setup.

Other than vokey it’s TM MG wedges as a second option. I have the Tiger wedge release and can fit my vokeys and bag around them

[KC Golf]

4 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

I am not sure if this is the same for most here on the forum, but the two hardest spots in my bag to find the right clubs are between my 54 and PW and from my 5 iron to my 3 wood. I have tried so many different things and various clubs, but have yet to find that solid 100% solution for them. 

I totally agree!

The way I have gotten a bit better is looking at the carry numbers using the GC Quad to look at gapping in my bag.   Because you can use your best shots to average it out, it’s been a really great tool.  I have able to find loft and lie issues when I got anomalies in data in my iron set too.

The one thing it won’t do is give you a sense on feel for 3/4 distances and turf interaction.  So I find the 9i to 56 is a really tricky space for me.  Since it also includes grind, bounce and loft.  All of it is kind of trial and error for me even when I get fit since some days and some turf conditions vary and this affects my results.  The other variable is my swing changes a bit all the time in the shorter end of the bag and that throws thing off too… pros are lucky since they get lots of wedges to try and leave in their bags and get lofts and lies checked weekly.

[bens197]

GPOD finally arrived yesterday…This will be super helpful when the T100’s make their entrance.  Playing a scramble tomorrow AM with the Mizuno’s that just won’t quit.  7/9 greens on Thursday and showing no signs of cooling off.  I don’t know yet how I plan to integrate the GPOD but I have a couple ideas…

[GolfSpy_BEN]

37 minutes ago, bens197 said:

GPOD finally arrived yesterday…This will be super helpful when the T100’s make their entrance.  Playing a scramble tomorrow AM with the Mizuno’s that just won’t quit.  7/9 greens on Thursday and showing no signs of cooling off.  I don’t know yet how I plan to integrate the GPOD but I have a couple ideas…

I’ve looked in to using one of these, but haven’t pulled the trigger, so I’m interested to see how it works for you. Also, are you going to try any particular app for shot tracing?

The Rapsodo does a decent enough job of providing a tracer for shot shape but I think I would like a better camera angle for studying my swing

[jbern]

11 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

I am not sure if this is the same for most here on the forum, but the two hardest spots in my bag to find the right clubs are between my 54 and PW and from my 5 iron to my 3 wood. I have tried so many different things and various clubs, but have yet to find that solid 100% solution for them. 

Thankfully, I am a big fan of my 4 hybrid and 5 wood, so things fit in pretty well for that gapping on that end of the bag. 5i flys 185, 4hy flys 200, 5w flys 220.

On the other end of the bag, I like the "set" 46*PW and 50*AW wedges better than "real" wedges at 46* and 50*. I'm not sure why, but I just find it more comfortable. Gapping isn't great, but I don't mind non-full swings. For full swings my distances are 46* PW flys 123, 50* AW flys 110, 54* flys 85, 58* flys 70. I guess I'm saying to give set wedges a try, if you haven't already.

[bens197]

10 hours ago, Ben Joest said:

I’ve looked in to using one of these, but haven’t pulled the trigger, so I’m interested to see how it works for you. Also, are you going to try any particular app for shot tracing?

The Rapsodo does a decent enough job of providing a tracer for shot shape but I think I would like a better camera angle for studying my swing

I haven’t until now. I was more interested in giving better angles for impact. If I can get the phone close to impact I can do side by side impact sound between Mizuno and Titleist as well. 
 

The setup is super easy. It’s a great idea and the magnet is adhesive meanwhile easy to detach from my phone.