Toura Golf Irons Build Test: 2024 Forum Review

[JRDuck40]

Update 6/5/24

Full H2H testing Toura CBs vs Takomo 101T

This past weekend, I was invited to a Ryder Cup style event at Lawsonia / Mascutin golf courses. Perfect setting to test out the irons against one another.

Sizing, both irons are relatively the same in size from heel to toe. From there, the difference is pretty much all different. The Takomo is more of a forgiving look overall. Whereas the Toura CBs have a very menacing, blade style top line leading edge.
 

For feel, I have to give the edge to Toura. When you flush a shot, oh baby it feels like a hot knife through butter. On my 101Ts, you feel every shot, good and bad. The Toura also is crazy forgiving. I have a tendency to hit off the toe from time to time and the Toura still flies. The 101Ts will also allow this to an extent, but not to the same amount of distance. However, I am able to work the 101s a little more than the CBs, so far. Mind you, I had an entire winter / sim league and travel with the 101s and the CBs for only a few weeks now.

As of Tuesday the 4th, I have decided to put the CBs in the bag for the remainder of the summer. And my Takomos will be getting a little dusty, same as my 3 wood after this weekend, haha.

A few highlights, from the past weekend.

#8 – Mascutin / White 9 – Par 3, 190 yd.

Overcast, slight rain, but earlier in the day the rain was much more heavy. Hence why I did not hit the CBs. Wanted to keep the shafts dry to cure a little while longer.
Ended up hitting the 4 iron off the tee to around 10 feet. This was quite possibly made me want to make the switch from the 101s to the CBs. The feel on the CB was flush and smooth. On the 101s, it would’ve felt more mechanical and not as fluid. Also the turf interaction was again, silky, not clunky and hard to transition.

Another great example was my approach on the last hole for league this past Tuesday. Par 4, 340 yd, New Berlin Hills GC #9. Hit my 4 iron to 130 left. Front left pin location with traps pin high left and short right. Nowhere to miss essentially. Took out the 9 iron and flushed it to 15 feet. Oh, and I landed 4 feet past and sucked it back to 15 short. If you get the ball in the air, I don’t care if it’s the 4 iron, 7 iron or wedge, the CBs land soft and stick. Love it so far.

One downside, and this is partially on me, but somewhat one Toura. The durability.

Lawsonia has a lot of great things going on. Motorcycle Carts, yes you read that right. They are sick. Also both courses, The Links and Woodlands are in tip top shape. Greens roll like lightening. They all play at a realitivly good pace, ~4:20 minutes. Free bottled water on every 1st and 10th holes. Also, the clubhouse / restaurant has a great menu. The biggest problem. Their driving range. It is a sand pit of despair. Almost after every shot, I had my club brush working overtime. The Takomos faired much better with the range than the Toura. The Toura CBs did end up getting a little torn up. Especially the 7i and PW. The 7i, pictured alongside my 101T 7i below, is even starting to show some sweet spot wear. I know clubs will never look new for long. Heck, they are being put through a gauntlet of sand, mud, dirt and grime each and every time out. But to have this happen after 5 rounds, it is a little concerning to me. (101T top / Toura bottom)

But to be 100% honest, if you have a sweet spot wear on the face, that’s usually a good thing.

Onward.

Edited June 6 by JRDuck40

[Rob Person]

Just caught up on this test, and have to tell all of you how impressive your reviews have been.

I have a question.

Would these be a set that a newer player, who wanted to get into building and using these clubs, be able to play well with? Or are these more suited for someone who has a solid foundation and abilty to game already?

 

Now I know from my own golfing abilities these would not be very gameable for ME.  But the question is derived for newer golfers who read this testing thread and see the ooohs and ahhhs.

[ctg44]

4 hours ago, Rob Person said:

Just caught up on this test, and have to tell all of you how impressive your reviews have been.

I have a question.

Would these be a set that a newer player, who wanted to get into building and using these clubs, be able to play well with? Or are these more suited for someone who has a solid foundation and abilty to game already?

 

Now I know from my own golfing abilities these would not be very gameable for ME.  But the question is derived for newer golfers who read this testing thread and see the ooohs and ahhhs.

I think there's a pathway that a newer player COULD hit these well, because the CBs can be surprisingly forgiving, but it would take 3 conditions for that newer player:

1. Someone who knew their swing speed was high enough to handle the heaviness of the CB head weights.  They are quite heavy due to all of the mass at the base of the club.  While that mass brings some forgiveness, it is not necessarily easy to move around.
2. Someone who had been fitted for a shaft and knew the right ones to match up with these heads.  
3. I think that these are a decent place to start for a new builder because Toura makes such a high-end product and it's so clean to start with there's not a lot to do before you begin building.  I would not necessarily recommend building with the pure raw finish clubs as one's first set, as they're not the most "newb" friendly, and anything that happens to them in the build process will show almost immediately as a scratch or damage.

As @JRDuck40 said above, the forgiveness of the CB iron is fairly surprising in the lower toe area.  The ball still just goes.  Even a thin slightly heeled ball goes pretty far.  However, anything up the face toward the heel, or frankly all the way into the edge of the grooves towards the heel / hosel is dead, as there's nothing there to help that shot out.  

 

My wife's new clubs arrived at the PGA Coaching Center in Frisco yesterday, but we can't pick them up until next week when she's back in town and I have enough time off of work.  While she's going through her irons trying them out, I'm going to see if the pro will take a quick look at my set and see if he has any feedback for me since he's not only a master fitter, but also has an amazing build shop there on site.

[ctg44]

13 hours ago, ctg44 said:

On Saturday (06-01) and Sunday (06-02), I spent about 90 minutes each in the simulator at PGA Superstore practicing irons and wedges. Here is just some of that data for your review. I hit a lot more shots than this, but this is what I forwarded myself for review.  I did my best to go back and try to piece together which clubs were which after the fact because some of the names were cut off.  

Frankly, after all of these shots off artificial mats, I'm kind of surprised that my 50 1/2-year-old elbows aren't sore. However, I am guessing that the Toura irons are soft enough that I'm not getting a lot of vibration up into the elbows with them, even with the X100 shafts and taking 100s of shots each day.

 

I wanted to come back to all of this data and talk about spin #s and raw carry distance.  If you look at what kind of distance I'm getting with the Toura CB irons vs. the P7MC irons, it's clear I'm giving up about a "half club" of distance if I permanently stick with the Toura irons.  The other concern I would have as a golfer here in Texas is the spin and launch angle combination.  High spin rates in combination with high launch angles don't often work out in practice on the course in Texas, and while my simulator experience with the irons has been amazing, it's been less so on the course on those days (which is almost all of them in DFW) when the wind is in the 10-20 MPH range at least.  If anything keeps the Toura irons out of my bag, it would be the launch / spin #s, though I have an idea on that, which is to have the lofts strengthened to not only close up that distance gap between the P7MC irons, but to decrease the launch angles and spin rates to a more manageable #.  I don't necessarily feel like paying Golf Galaxy or anyone to do this for me again, so maybe I'll ask the teaching pro at our club to show me how to use the loft / lie machine in the back room at the club and see if he'll let me work on them myself.

[David Leighton Reid]

6 hours ago, Rob Person said:

Would these be a set that a newer player, who wanted to get into building and using these clubs, be able to play well with? Or are these more suited for someone who has a solid foundation and abilty to game already?

Hey Rob!  Great question.  I personally would not recommend any set of irons for a newer player that have small, compact heads and less offset.  I believe Toura Golf has a fantastic opportunity to add a larger, more forgiving iron head to their lineup for higher handicap golfers who need a game improvement set of irons.  

Edited June 6 by David Leighton Reid

[JRDuck40]

7 hours ago, Rob Person said:

Just caught up on this test, and have to tell all of you how impressive your reviews have been.

I have a question.

Would these be a set that a newer player, who wanted to get into building and using these clubs, be able to play well with? Or are these more suited for someone who has a solid foundation and abilty to game already?

 

Now I know from my own golfing abilities these would not be very gameable for ME.  But the question is derived for newer golfers who read this testing thread and see the ooohs and ahhhs.

Rob, great question. 

ANY iron labeled MB / Blade / Players Iron or is described as "workable" stay far, far away if you are just starting out. Anyone that is both looking to start a build and get a set of GI (game improvement) irons, I would highly suggest looking into the CBs. Much easier to hit, larger sweet spot and consistent throughout the face.  The MBs that @azstu324 and @ctg44 are testing are more of a MB / Players scoring iron and have very little forgiveness. I would highly suggest the CBs for ease of build as well. They provided tipped shafts. All you need to do from there is cut to length. Also the grips provided are very nice as well. Not typical from other DTC brands. I know, my Toura 101's came standard with a not so great set of Lamkin grips. I'm just super particular. 

One thing I would like to point out would to be if you are looking to get into club building, here are a few items you WILL need. 

First and foremost - A good / clean work area. You will need a dedicated workspace. 

1- Vice grip

2 - Club vice clamp

3 - Grip tape

4 - Steel bonding epoxy. I recommend JB Weld. Cheap, readily available at damn near any hardware store, works great and stores very well. 

5 - Grip solvent / lighter fluid - for grip installation. 

6 - Goo Be Gone (it's stupid, but works great for any sticky / messy clean up. 

That is pretty much it. @azstu324 @ctg44 @David Leighton Reid did I miss anything that you all would recommend for our guy to get started?  

 

Edited June 6 by JRDuck40
Removed 2nd photo

[azstu324]

7 hours ago, Rob Person said:

Just caught up on this test, and have to tell all of you how impressive your reviews have been.

I have a question.

Would these be a set that a newer player, who wanted to get into building and using these clubs, be able to play well with? Or are these more suited for someone who has a solid foundation and abilty to game already?

 

Now I know from my own golfing abilities these would not be very gameable for ME.  But the question is derived for newer golfers who read this testing thread and see the ooohs and ahhhs.

Hey Rob!

Excellent and well thought out question that shows you're really serious about your game and club building. 

I'll never discourage anyone from wanting to learn to build their own set of clubs. It makes this game even more rewarding when you can wield your own clubs that you put together. It gets even better when your game begins to improve with those clubs. 

I think the others have voiced their opinions on the CB's in reference to your question. The MB's take it further into the "not recommend" category if you're anything over about a 10 hdcp. While I can't compare anything side by side, I'd say that these are slightly smaller and thinner in profile. For reference, I'm hovering around about a 7 hdcp and these even look a little intimidating for me. That said they are incredibly easy to hit and play given their profile and looks. Anything more than a 10 hdcp, unless your ball striking is excellent, these might be a bit much to handle. 

Now would these be something to keep in your memory for when your game is at that level? 100%! I'm keeping these things forever! They are everything that a player's club should be and check all of the boxes. 

If club building is something that you are serious about getting into, this is the best forum on the planet IMO. It's where I started learning. First it was removing and installing grips. Then that grew into taking clubs apart and building them individually. Eventually that blossomed into full sets, woods, drivers, putters, specialty custom lengths, and swing weights, electro etching, etc, etc. you will find a ton of helpful folks that are more than willing to share their secrets here. 

Lastly, and I know this is not promoting Toura, but Maltby is a fantastic place to start with club building. Not only do they have a bunch of heads to choose from that cover all levels, but they're very inexpensive. You can start with 1 head and go from there. Additionally they have every component that you would want. These Touras are clubs that you will want to have a pretty dialed in set of building skills for. They're definitely inexpensive for what they are but still quite costly in the event that you happened to make any mistakes. 

Hopefully that was at all helpful.

Edited June 6 by azstu324

[Shrek74]

2 hours ago, ctg44 said:

I think there's a pathway that a newer player COULD hit these well, because the CBs can be surprisingly forgiving, but it would take 3 conditions for that newer player:

1. Someone who knew their swing speed was high enough to handle the heaviness of the CB head weights.  They are quite heavy due to all of the mass at the base of the club.  While that mass brings some forgiveness, it is not necessarily easy to move around.
2. Someone who had been fitted for a shaft and knew the right ones to match up with these heads.  
3. I think that these are a decent place to start for a new builder because Toura makes such a high-end product and it's so clean to start with there's not a lot to do before you begin building.  I would not necessarily recommend building with the pure raw finish clubs as one's first set, as they're not the most "newb" friendly, and anything that happens to them in the build process will show almost immediately as a scratch or damage.

Do you feel you need a certain swing speed to really make these clubs "work" for a player? Weight can be altered with counterweights in the handle, but with them being single-piece, forged irons, there tends to be an issue with not enough swing speed to a degree.

[Shrek74]

7 hours ago, Rob Person said:

Just caught up on this test, and have to tell all of you how impressive your reviews have been.

I have a question.

Would these be a set that a newer player, who wanted to get into building and using these clubs, be able to play well with? Or are these more suited for someone who has a solid foundation and abilty to game already?

 

Now I know from my own golfing abilities these would not be very gameable for ME.  But the question is derived for newer golfers who read this testing thread and see the ooohs and ahhhs.

I actually reached out to Toura about this, asking if they have a more forgiving option over the CB/MB's. They pointed me to the Split-Step CB's. It's still a single piece forged club, so nowhere near a GI type iron. So it's more for someone transitioning away from GI and into something more workable and player-like. But for a newer player, I wouldn't go anywhere near any of their irons, unless you subscribe to the idea of playing blades helps improve your swing and contact.

[David Leighton Reid]

50 minutes ago, JRDuck40 said:

Rob, great question. 

ANY iron labeled MB / Blade / Players Iron or is described as "workable" stay far, far away if you are just starting out. Anyone that is both looking to start a build and get a set of GI (game improvement) irons, I would highly suggest looking into the CBs. Much easier to hit, larger sweet spot and consistent throughout the face.  The MBs that @azstu324 and @ctg44 are testing are more of a MB / Players scoring iron and have very little forgiveness. I would highly suggest the CBs for ease of build as well. They provided tipped shafts. All you need to do from there is cut to length. Also the grips provided are very nice as well. Not typical from other DTC brands. I know, my Toura 101's came standard with a not so great set of Lamkin grips. I'm just super particular. 

One thing I would like to point out would to be if you are looking to get into club building, here are a few items you WILL need. 

First and foremost - A good / clean work area. You will need a dedicated workspace. 

1- Vice grip

2 - Club vice clamp

3 - Grip tape

4 - Steel bonding epoxy. I recommend JB Weld. Cheap, readily available at damn near any hardware store, works great and stores very well. 

5 - Grip solvent / lighter fluid - for grip installation. 

6 - Goo Be Gone (it's stupid, but works great for any sticky / messy clean up. 

That is pretty much it. @azstu324 @ctg44 @David Leighton Reid did I miss anything that you all would recommend for our guy to get started?  

 

The only thing I would add is a shaft trimming tool, such as a pipe-cutter or preferably, a chop saw.  

[Shrek74]

3 minutes ago, David Leighton Reid said:

The only thing I would add is a shaft trimming tool, such as a pipe-cutter or preferably, a chop saw.  

https://www.harborfreight.com/55-amp-6-in-cut-off-saw-61204.html

[azstu324]

11 minutes ago, David Leighton Reid said:

The only thing I would add is a shaft trimming tool, such as a pipe-cutter or preferably, a chop saw.  

100% agree! This might be my MVP (most valuable purchase) of all my build tools!

9 minutes ago, Shrek74 said:

https://www.harborfreight.com/55-amp-6-in-cut-off-saw-61204.html

Yep that's the one!

[ctg44]

1 hour ago, JRDuck40 said:

Rob, great question. 

ANY iron labeled MB / Blade / Players Iron or is described as "workable" stay far, far away if you are just starting out. Anyone that is both looking to start a build and get a set of GI (game improvement) irons, I would highly suggest looking into the CBs. Much easier to hit, larger sweet spot and consistent throughout the face.  The MBs that @azstu324 and @ctg44 are testing are more of a MB / Players scoring iron and have very little forgiveness. I would highly suggest the CBs for ease of build as well. They provided tipped shafts. All you need to do from there is cut to length. Also the grips provided are very nice as well. Not typical from other DTC brands. I know, my Toura 101's came standard with a not so great set of Lamkin grips. I'm just super particular. 

One thing I would like to point out would to be if you are looking to get into club building, here are a few items you WILL need. 

First and foremost - A good / clean work area. You will need a dedicated workspace. 

1- Vice grip

2 - Club vice clamp

3 - Grip tape

4 - Steel bonding epoxy. I recommend JB Weld. Cheap, readily available at damn near any hardware store, works great and stores very well. 

5 - Grip solvent / lighter fluid - for grip installation. 

6 - Goo Be Gone (it's stupid, but works great for any sticky / messy clean up. 

That is pretty much it. @azstu324 @ctg44 @David Leighton Reid did I miss anything that you all would recommend for our guy to get started?  

 

My process isn't too different than that of @JRDuck40.  See below:

I would like to make a quick correction that I'm testing the Pure Raw CB Irons:  Here's a current photo update of the status of the patina of my clubs:   https://photos.app.goo.gl/sX21biRxqwAqrLWh8

1 - A vice attached firmly to a clean workspace is a must.  Great call on both sir!

2 - Vice clamp - I have both the rubber only style and one that has an aluminum guard to help protect graphite clubs a little better to help prevent cracking.

3 - Grip Tape - I prefer the GolfWorks brand tape, as it's the most reliable and durable.  Plus, when you go to remove it, the stuff ACTUALLY comes off in 1 piece like you want it to.  The random junk I'm using now from Amazon is killing me every time I change grips...

4 - I use the 3M DP810NS Epoxy.  I find that in the 1:1 dispenser "gun" it simply works the best by ensuring you have a perfect ratio every time you go to make a mix.  Yes, it's expensive, but it also works EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.  I've never built a club with it that failed, and almost as importantly, when I've needed to rebuild a club that I didn't like the performance of (because a shaft wasn't a fit for me, needed to realign the head or shaft adapter, etc), the DP810NS cleans up the best of anything I've ever used, and it's not even close.  I mean, we're talking probably 75% faster cleanup time over the next best epoxy I have used, which was the GolfWorks Tour Set Beaded Max Hold epoxy.

5 - I use the Moxie Sports Pure Golf grip solvent.  I've never liked using non-purpose-designed solvents for this process, especially since the lighter fluid has such a strong odor that I tend to find pretty offensive (especially when people pollute otherwise good food with that garbage!).

6 - Instead of Goo Be Gone, I use a large amount of mostly 70% (occasionally a mix of 70% / 91%) isopropyl / rubbing alcohol.  It cuts through both grip solvent and epoxy residue and leaves a clean, shiny club behind. I use quality paper towels and follow up with old microfiber towels to ensure that I get everything spotlessly clean.

Edited June 6 by ctg44
Updated with links and comments, plus Raw Irons Clarification

[ctg44]

2 hours ago, Shrek74 said:

Do you feel you need a certain swing speed to really make these clubs "work" for a player? Weight can be altered with counterweights in the handle, but with them being single-piece, forged irons, there tends to be an issue with not enough swing speed to a degree.

I think if you took the heads to a competent fitter and builder who was willing to work with you and also knew how to get you into the right shaft build for your swing so that the weight was properly balanced, the mass of these iron heads being so deep in the bottom and toe of the head s would allow a less consistent iron ball-striker to play these clubs for sure.  Now, that said, these are NOT game improvement irons in any way, shape, or form.  They are just not.  They are smaller than Mizuno Pro 223s in almost every metric and dimension, other than maybe for the head weights.

I don't think you'd want to try hitting these if you were down in the 70s for a driver swing speed, but you don't need to be in the 110s either.  I don't think @David Leighton Reid is firing at 108-115 like I am right now, and he's having success with his CB irons.  I do think you need to be willing to practice with these to put them in the bag.  If you roll up to the course and throw the bag on the cart, and hit the 1st tee 3 minutes later, these might not be for you unless you're still a +1 despite that bad habit...

All that said, if you are willing to put in the work, these CAN be very satisfying irons to use.  I have hit some amazing shots recently, including winning a golf bag as the closest to the pin on a par 4 with the Toura PW this week in a scramble after bombing a drive.  Nothing like being able to cover one's expenses for the week of golf (balls and a new polo = paid for even after eBay fees!) to keep the home boss happy when you deliver with the wedge! 

[ctg44]

2 hours ago, David Leighton Reid said:

The only thing I would add is a shaft trimming tool, such as a pipe-cutter or preferably, a chop saw.  

I've been using a good quality Rigid brand mini pipe cutter from Home Depot.  It leaves a great smooth edge that takes very little post-cutting prep to get ready for grip installation.

[ctg44]

2 hours ago, Shrek74 said:

I actually reached out to Toura about this, asking if they have a more forgiving option over the CB/MB's. They pointed me to the Split-Step CB's. It's still a single piece forged club, so nowhere near a GI type iron. So it's more for someone transitioning away from GI and into something more workable and player-like. But for a newer player, I wouldn't go anywhere near any of their irons, unless you subscribe to the idea of playing blades helps improve your swing and contact.

@Shrek74 - I think the Split CB would be a great option, as those look a lot like a 2020 TaylorMade P7MC, which I have found to be a slightly more forgiving and longer cavity back iron using the same shaft than the Toura CB.

 

[David Leighton Reid]

30 minutes ago, ctg44 said:

  I don't think @David Leighton Reid is firing at 108-115

So true...the last time I checked my swingspeed with the driver, I was in the 90 - 95 mph range.  That is why I paired my Toura CB heads with Recoil 95 graphite shafts in regular flex.  

[ctg44]

Well, 1:30 - 2:00 PM can't come soon enough so I can bail from the office and head home to grab my son and head to the course for the first of at least 2 rounds this weekend...plus I have Golf Galaxy's free "Pinehurst US Open" Trackman experience booked for Sunday at 3:00 PM, and will probably head right from there to play however many holes I can get in before dark Sunday evening.  Needless to say, I am planning to take FULL advantage of the fact that this is supposed to be the first weekend in 2024 (literally...not even joking I don't think) where D/FW has a 0% predicted chance of rain.  I don't even care if it hits 105°, because at least it's not raining and I can get out on the course without having to worry about sliding into a mud pit every time I swing.

Edited June 7 by ctg44

[Nick_D]

On 5/20/2024 at 4:01 PM, azstu324 said:

Finally catching up on this thread and I have to say these turned out absolutely 

[GolfSpy_APH]

We have had some pretty special review threads and this is most definitely one of them. So thankful to @Toura Golf for providing this opportunity and seeing some fantastic builds and results. 

[azstu324]

53 minutes ago, Nick_D said:

Finally catching up on this thread and I have to say these turned out absolutely 

Thanks man, really appreciate the compliment! As @GolfSpy_APHjust stated, this has been a collaborative work that is quite special and unique when compared to anything in the past. Everybody here has absolutely crushed their individual builds! @Toura Golf has been a tremendous support and really fantastic company to work with. Not to mention their clubs are absolutely top shelf! 

Edited June 7 by azstu324

[LeftyMatt89]

What an awesome thread with club building how to’s and gorgeous irons! Well done testers!

[ctg44]

Well, 1:30 - 2:00 PM can't come soon enough so I can bail from the office and head home to grab my son and head to the course for the first of at least 2 rounds this weekend...plus I have Golf Galaxy's free "Pinehurst US Open" Trackman experience booked for Sunday at 3:00 PM, and will probably head right from there to play however many holes I can get in before dark Sunday evening.  Needless to say, I am planning to take FULL advantage of the fact that this is supposed to be the first weekend in 2024 (literally...not even joking I don't think) where D/FW has a 0% predicted chance of rain.  I don't even care if it hits 105°, because at least it's not raining and I can get out on the course without having to worry about sliding into a mud pit every time I swing.

So, I got in 18 holes today with my son. The weather was supposed to be cooler than yesterday, but it's Dallas /Fort Worth, so of course, it was almost 100° by the time we teed off at 3:22 PM CDT and only got hotter. It was a humid beast too, because the course is still soaked from weeks of pouring rain.

All that said, I didn't play terribly. I shot an 85, which adjusted for handicap from the tips is a 79. I had 3 double bogeys on par 4s, but also had some of the best iron shots I've hit all year with the Toura CB irons. On the #1 handicap hole on the front 9, I hit an 8 iron from 162 yards into the wind to the back left pin placement on a multi-tier green. Keeping the ball under the pin, while getting the ball to that back tier and not running it over the green is REALLY hard. The Toura irons are great for the high ball flight and spin to give you the confidence to attack pins.

The first attachment below has a blue circle where my ball (Maxfli Tour X) landed, and you can see the rollout...which isn't much.

I also parred both par 3s on the back 9:

- #13: 204 into the wind with a 4 iron to 16'. The putt lipped out for a stress-free par, which is pretty rare on that beast of a par 3 which has a long, skinny, 2-tiered green wedged between 2 bunkers that both leave you guaranteed to be short-sided with a downhill approach to the pin, unless it's all the way up on the back tier, and then good luck getting the ball to stay on the green if you manage to get it near the pin out of the bunker.

- #16: 185 yard hole that has a tree "tunnel" that makes hitting a cut very hard, but also has a second set of trees up by the green that knocks a lot of balls down into the rough short and left. If you go long and left, you are in a penalty area and will 99% of the time lose your ball, and short left or wide right gets you buried in a bunker. I hit a 6 iron to leave my ball pin high and about 11' away above the hole and ran the birdie putt by 4' down the hill. I did make the par putt back up the hill though...

I also parred 18, but that was after I 3-putted from 90' after a great drive (actually beat the kid and got one out over 300 yards...with the wind) and another really nice iron shot, this time a 5 iron from 195 out with a heavy crosswind to the VERY front edge of the VERY skinny and long green.

Overall, other than a couple of bad 4 iron shots that I thinned, the Toura CB irons did their jobs today. Now to see if I keep it up tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, it's actually already here (so I guess that's today now), and I need to go since we have a tee time st 07:54 AM CDT...

[Rob Person]

8 hours ago, ctg44 said:

So, I got in 18 holes today with my son. The weather was supposed to be cooler than yesterday, but it's Dallas /Fort Worth, so of course, it was almost 100° by the time we teed off at 3:22 PM CDT and only got hotter. It was a humid beast too, because the course is still soaked from weeks of pouring rain.

All that said, I didn't play terribly. I shot an 85, which adjusted for handicap from the tips is a 79. I had 3 double bogeys on par 4s, but also had some of the best iron shots I've hit all year with the Toura CB irons. On the #1 handicap hole on the front 9, I hit an 8 iron from 162 yards into the wind to the back left pin placement on a multi-tier green. Keeping the ball under the pin, while getting the ball to that back tier and not running it over the green is REALLY hard. The Toura irons are great for the high ball flight and spin to give you the confidence to attack pins.

The first attachment below has a blue circle where my ball (Maxfli Tour X) landed, and you can see the rollout...which isn't much.

I also parred both par 3s on the back 9:

- #13: 204 into the wind with a 4 iron to 16'. The putt lipped out for a stress-free par, which is pretty rare on that beast of a par 3 which has a long, skinny, 2-tiered green wedged between 2 bunkers that both leave you guaranteed to be short-sided with a downhill approach to the pin, unless it's all the way up on the back tier, and then good luck getting the ball to stay on the green if you manage to get it near the pin out of the bunker.

- #16: 185 yard hole that has a tree "tunnel" that makes hitting a cut very hard, but also has a second set of trees up by the green that knocks a lot of balls down into the rough short and left. If you go long and left, you are in a penalty area and will 99% of the time lose your ball, and short left or wide right gets you buried in a bunker. I hit a 6 iron to leave my ball pin high and about 11' away above the hole and ran the birdie putt by 4' down the hill. I did make the par putt back up the hill though...

I also parred 18, but that was after I 3-putted from 90' after a great drive (actually beat the kid and got one out over 300 yards...with the wind) and another really nice iron shot, this time a 5 iron from 195 out with a heavy crosswind to the VERY front edge of the VERY skinny and long green.

Overall, other than a couple of bad 4 iron shots that I thinned, the Toura CB irons did their jobs today. Now to see if I keep it up tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, it's actually already here (so I guess that's today now), and I need to go since we have a tee time st 07:54 AM CDT...

Fantastic!!!

[ctg44]

I played again Saturday morning on our 2nd course, the Walnut Creek Oak Course, and shot an 83.  Somehow, when someone rated these courses for the USGA, they said the Oak Course was harder than the Pecan course, but that person must have been a VERY straight driver who didn't hit the ball very far.  Oak is a little longer and does have a couple of tougher forced carries, but if you have any distance ability at all, it's definitely NOT harder than Pecan.  At any rate, while my Friday round rate as a "79" for handicap purposes, this round supposedly rated as a "75."  Yeah, ummm...not so sure about that....

 

All that said, my main deficiency, as usual, was a lack of control with the driver.  Unfortunately, while my approach and short game were better during this round, my normally stellar putting wasn't working at all.  The 2 courses use different strains of Bermuda grass, and Pecan's greens are much faster and smoother on average than Oak's.  I hit several great shots with the @Toura Golf irons, but I am still having a couple of turf interaction issues per round where I get a "fat" shot or 2 that, in turn, leads me to be a little skittish about staying down into the ball and leads to a thinner shot.  To be fair, the Touras handle thin shots better than most irons I've ever used, imparting an impressive amount of spin and reducing the "oh #$@% I just bladed that" feeling to a, "Wow, that actually staying a reasonable spot" feeling."

 

On Sunday, I did the Golf Galaxy Major Series Pinehurst Challenge, where they let you play the back 9 of Pinehurst #2.  I was unfortunately only able to play it from the "Tufts" tees, which are about 1,200 yards (over the 18-hole course) shorter than the US Open tees, so my +2 scores on each of the 3 trips I made around the back 9 aren't very representative of how I'd really score on the full US Open level course.  However, when I got in "scoring club" range, I was able to get enough height and spin on the Toura CB irons to get the ball to land on the famous Donald Ross Turtleback greens and have enough stay there within the 8' "gimme" range they had set up multiple times.  

 

After getting in a good warmup at Golf Galaxy, I headed over to the club and jumped on a cart for a late afternoon tee time I'd booked since my wife had to go back out of town for work after returning to town earlier that morning.  I played the front 9 in a horrible 47, mostly due to having to wait on every shot while watching miserable middle school-aged golfers try to play from the tips while their parents watched them be entitled, whiny brats, and throw tantrums after every bad shot...which was, of course, every shot.  After the 9th hole, I skipped the back 9 and returned to the front 9 because it was completely open.  It took almost 2 hours to play the front 9 the 1st time and 49 minutes to play it the 2nd time, where I shot a 37. My driver decided to return to form a bit on the 2nd 9, which was nice, as it had been on fire at Golf Galaxy with several drives over 315 that stayed in the tiny and hard fairways of Pinehurst #2...the wind settings were at about 10 mph out of the east I believe from what the GG employee told me, so keeping the ball in the fairway is always harder when the wind is up for me.  My angle of attack is always positive (even w/ irons), sometimes far too positive.  My driver is an 8.5° Callaway Epic Flash Tour Certified model turned down to 7.5°, and I still hit the ball too high.  I probably need to find a "strong cog" for it and try setting to 6.5° and see if that helps.

I went Par (#6), Birdie (#7), Par (#8), and Birdie (#9) to finish the round.  Unfortunately, the Toura CBs didn't play a role in any of those, as I went 3W / 52° w/ 2 putts on #6, driver / 52° w/ 1 putt (downhill breaking right to left from 11') on #7, 2 iron w/ 2 putts on #8, and driver / 52° w/ 1 putt (from 2 1/2 feet) on #9.

 

If you need a comparison of how hard the WCCC - Pecan course really is, I shot a 35 (3 times in a row) on the back 9 of Pinehurst #2 from 3,143 yards, and then on the same day, I shot 47 and 37 from 3,132 yards on the WCCC - Pecan Course in better conditions (almost no wind and as soft of greens as we'll ever get after all of the rain we've had).

[David Leighton Reid]

Update June 10, 2024

We had lots of rain over the weekend, so yesterday I asked a friend if I could hit in his garage using his launch monitor.  Comparing the Toura CB irons to my gamer PXG Gen 3 0311XP irons, I felt like the Toura's were a little shorter...not much, just a little.  It is not really comparing apples to apples with the heads, but I do have the loft and lie set identical on both sets of irons.  However, the Toura heads are considerable heavier with Toura CB 7 iron at D3.5 and my PXG 7 iron at C8.  For comparisons on the launch monitor I hit the 7, 8, and 9 iron from both sets a total of 10 times.  

Toura CB irons

Spin rate was +250 rpm higher on average.

Ball speed was approximately 2 mph less.

Launch angles were within 1 degree.

Carry distances were approximately 3 yards shorter.

As you can see, there isn't a great deal of difference, but it is nice to know the numbers when planning a shot.  

 

Edited June 10 by David Leighton Reid

[ctg44]

3 hours ago, David Leighton Reid said:

Update June 10, 2024

We had lots of rain over the weekend, so yesterday I asked a friend if I could hit in his garage using his launch monitor.  Comparing the Toura CB irons to my gamer PXG Gen 3 0311XP irons, I felt like the Toura's were a little shorter...not much, just a little.  It is not really comparing apples to apples with the heads, but I do have the loft and lie set identical on both sets of irons.  However, the Toura heads are considerable heavier with Toura CB 7 iron at D3.5 and my PXG 7 iron at C8.  For comparisons on the launch monitor I hit the 7, 8, and 9 iron from both sets a total of 10 times.  

Toura CB irons

Spin rate was +250 rpm higher on average.

Ball speed was approximately 2 mph less.

Launch angles were within 1 degree.

Carry distances were approximately 3 yards shorter.

As you can see, there isn't a great deal of difference, but it is nice to know the numbers when planning a shot.  

 

I resisted the urge to put the P7MCs back in the bag yesterday for a quick late afternoon round.  I'll probably game them at least once this weekend, just to remind myself how they play and decide if I want to keep them around or if the Toura CBs are for sure going to keep them on the shelf long-term.  If that's the case...the P7MCs might get traded into Callaway during their double trade-in bonus period for a shiny new driver....an AiSmoke TD 8° would do wonders for bringing down my ridiculous launch and spin rate #s...

[JRDuck40]

Will have the Touras in the bag for league night tonight. They will get the full ringer as quite a few holes will require two iron shots as my Driver has recently been added to Missing Persons registry. I love how this stuff always happens when the club manufacture launches a new line. Damn you Titleist and the new GT!  

Initial thoughts so far, the clubs are playing well. My biggest highlight is the long irons 4 thru 6. I have been finding them very easy to launch, hold on the wanted flight path and stick yardages / greens. One particular shot comes to mind. Blackstone Creek testing, on the first par 5 on the front 9, I had around 190 to center and needed to hit a low cut. Ended up choosing my 4 iron, previously I'd hit a stinger hybrid. I was able to pull the shot off with the 4 iron, keeping it in the middle / back of my stance and was able to keep the flight low / under trees. Was able to make the green and sneak away with par. Like I mentioned, previously I'd have to use my hybrid for this particular lie / shot. Being able to use the 4i really makes this particular shot much easier to pull off. 

Aiming to have quite a bit of content added in the coming days. Also have an 18 planned for Saturday am. Hope to have this round locked in, but of course, Wisconsin has been temporarily deemed a Monsoon climate. Fingers crossed for dry conditions.

Stay tuned spies! 

[ctg44]

@JRDuck40 - So your weather is the colder version of what D/FW has had since December?  Rain about every other day or 2?  Great for the grass, but terrible for my golf game and mental health!

[JRDuck40]

Q2 weather has been the wettest on record for SE Wisconsin in over 50 years. My lawn looks great... My game? Not so much. We've had 3 rain outs for league night and quite a few rounds I've tried to sneak in early on the weekends were a no go because of storms. I'm ok playing in the rain. I have gear for that. Lightening / Wind / Hail is another story. Hopefully things will calm down a bit in the coming weeks. Have a scramble event at Blackwolf Run on the 22nd. Fingers VERY much crossed for good weather that day. We are playing the Meadow Valley course. BWR hosted a few LPGA events and is such a fun layout. https://www.destinationkohler.com/golf/blackwolf-run

Cannot wait to get the @Toura Golf on that track!