Toura Golf Irons Build Test: 2024 Forum Review

[ctg44]

The whole point of the official MGS forum reviews is asking ALL the questions, isn't it?!?! I know I don't mind and I bet the other 3 guys don't either.

[azstu324]

1 hour ago, ctg44 said:

These are lmost undoubtedly too heavy for Swingweight, which means I might need to investigate ways to feel those effects so much...

I haven't had time to take the P7MCs out of the Toura box in the garage and weigh them yet to get a comparison. I will also guarantee that anyone who ever tries to tell me that there's no point paying the premium for Tour Issue DG X100 shafts over the regular DG X100 shafts will get shouted down into a puddle of tears.

There is zero doubt in my mind that AT LEAST the 5 iron shaft is very much not right compared to the Tour Issue shaft in the P7MC 5 iron I have. For sure, if these are to remain in my bag long-term, I will need to pull these all back apart back down to raw metal, resize everything, and rebuild the heads on Tour Issue X100 shafts.

I haven't made a decision on that yet and really won't until I have played with them for another month at least. Playing only 5-6 rounds outdoors, none of which had completely decent conditions, are not enough for the subjective feel part of iron ownership...

The Toura CB irons undoubtedly look beautiful, feel amazing, and generally perform well, but in the end do they perform better than my P7MC irons and help me shoot lower, more consistent scores?

That my friends is still VERY much to be determined...

I know that at +1/2" over "standard" and with the DG X100 shafts, I had to knock as much as 3 SW points off from the butt end from some of the clubs. That's nearly 12 or so grams added to the grip section. I ended up lining the inside of the shafts with high density lead tape. After I did though, the clubs seem to be weighted perfectly through the set and don't feel like I'm swinging a sledgehammer on a toothpick. I've never had to counter weight that much before so I just hope the lead tape stays in place. 

Definitely worth a shot to add the weight to see if it makes any difference. 

 

Edited May 25 by azstu324

[ctg44]

I know that at +1/2" over "standard" and with the DG X100 shafts, I had to knock as much as 3 SW points off from the butt end from some of the clubs. That's nearly 12 or so grams added to the grip section. I ended up lining the inside of the shafts with high density lead tape. After I did though, the clubs seem to be weighted perfectly through the set and don't feel like I'm swinging a sledgehammer on a toothpick. I've never had to counter weight that much before so I just hope the lead tape stays in place. 
Definitely worth a shot to add the weight to see if it makes any difference. 
 

I have some tungsten tape that I will slide under the bottom of the grip and see if that helps. Thanks for the tip Stu!

[JRDuck40]

UPDATE!!!! 
 

I will have a massive drop this weekend. Finally have shafts finished. Found our culprit for flaking / bubbling issues. It was not humidity. It was the clear coat I was using. With that cleared up, I was able to do this…. 
was able to take the CBs to the range. Will have my full initial review up asap. 
 

fyi Toura did an AMAZING job. I can honestly say, when you flush it, it doesn’t even feel like you hit a ball. They are sooooo incredibly smooth. It is truly a hot knife thru butter. Smoke show! 
www.touragolf.com 

 

Onward  

[Rob Person]

55 minutes ago, JRDuck40 said:

UPDATE!!!! 
 

I will have a massive drop this weekend. Finally have shafts finished. Found our culprit for flaking / bubbling issues. It was not humidity. It was the clear coat I was using. With that cleared up, I was able to do this…. 
was able to take the CBs to the range. Will have my full initial review up asap. 
 

fyi Toura did an AMAZING job. I can honestly say, when you flush it, it doesn’t even feel like you hit a ball. They are sooooo incredibly smooth. It is truly a hot knife thru butter. Smoke show! 
www.touragolf.com 

 

Onward  

Those look fantastic! Absolutely digging the color flow on these top to bottom 

[ctg44]

Good morning everyone.  We had some rain here again last night, so no range time this morning.  We're doing a combo celebration of 2 anniversaries (our son and daughter in law from May 13 and our bonus daughter and son in law from May 15) and our younger son's 19th birthday from a week ago around lunchtime, so maybe if the afternoon stays clear, I'll get out this afternoon for a quick 9 holes.  For sure, we're playing around 10:30 tomorrow morning, so if I can't get out today, I'll take the grips off a few of the Toura irons and play with some tungsten tape and see if that helps with the balance and feel tomorrow.

 

At any rate, I reviewed the post from @azstu324 last night and checked the swingweights on my P7MC irons and did an update to my main post comparing the 2:  

 

[azstu324]

1 hour ago, ctg44 said:

Good morning everyone.  We had some rain here again last night, so no range time this morning.  We're doing a combo celebration of 2 anniversaries (our son and daughter in law from May 13 and our bonus daughter and son in law from May 15) and our younger son's 19th birthday from a week ago around lunchtime, so maybe if the afternoon stays clear, I'll get out this afternoon for a quick 9 holes.  For sure, we're playing around 10:30 tomorrow morning, so if I can't get out today, I'll take the grips off a few of the Toura irons and play with some tungsten tape and see if that helps with the balance and feel tomorrow.

 

At any rate, I reviewed the post from @azstu324 last night and checked the swingweights on my P7MC irons and did an update to my main post comparing the 2:  

 

Man even the P7MC's seem a little on the hefty side.. at least in the longer irons. You ever dabble with any progressive SW's? Moving from heaver to lighter starting with the wedges being heavier and ending with the 4i around D2 or 3? Some like to batch irons together to match for example , Gap/PW maybe @ D6, 9/8 @ D5, 7/6 @ D4, 5/4 @ D3.. or GW/PW, 9/8/7, 6/5/4.. or there's my preferred OCD approach of 1/2 SW point per club which starts the PW at D5 and ends at the 4i at D2. IMO it makes the longer irons more manageable as they're definitely always the harder to hit. If it's what you like though then don't mess with it. 

 

[JRDuck40]

UPDATE ----

Was able to take the www.touragolf.com CBs to the range for an initial test. Here's what we got.... 

 

[Shrek74]

UPDATE ----
Was able to take the www.touragolf.com CBs to the range for an initial test. Here's what we got.... 
 

So how forgiving would you say they are on various places across the face? Sounds like they're more PD/GI from your perspective, but I'm curious how forgiving they'd be for a mid-high handicap making good progress on their swing.

Sent from my SM-N986U1 using Tapatalk

[Rob Person]

2 hours ago, JRDuck40 said:

UPDATE ----

Was able to take the www.touragolf.com CBs to the range for an initial test. Here's what we got.... 

 

How did the shaft paint hold up to all the flexing?

[JRDuck40]

4 hours ago, Shrek74 said:

So how forgiving would you say they are on various places across the face? Sounds like they're more PD/GI from your perspective, but I'm curious how forgiving they'd be for a mid-high handicap making good progress on their swing.

Sent from my SM-N986U1 using Tapatalk
 

I’ll have more on course testing tomorrow and try and post right away / Tuesday if possible. The heads are MASSIVE. For context, I’d say closer to the size of a GI iron… think stealth, Mavrik, ping 520, etc. But, almost zero offset. Which I love. Also the leading edge is super sharp. Can’t wait to get them dirty!

2 hours ago, Rob Person said:

How did the shaft paint hold up to all the flexing?

zero issues with any paint coming off. My biggest concern is being pulled / input back into the bag. They held up very, very well so far. 
believe me, I am prepared for any touch ups. Haha. 

[buckpillar]

Nice Build @JRDuck40 do you get a different reaction when hitting off natural grass, is the interaction with the tuff just as good?

Edited May 27 by buckpillar

[JRDuck40]

16 minutes ago, buckpillar said:

Nice Build @JRDuck40 do you get a different reaction when hitting off natural grass, is the interaction with the tuff just as good?

The range I was at only had their mats available as we’ve had a deluge of rain over the past week around MKE. Hitting the course tomorrow. Will have a full review up Monday late / Tuesday. 

[ctg44]

16 hours ago, Shrek74 said:

So how forgiving would you say they are on various places across the face? Sounds like they're more PD/GI from your perspective, but I'm curious how forgiving they'd be for a mid-high handicap making good progress on their swing.

Sent from my SM-N986U1 using Tapatalk
 

They are heavy, but not large in size volume-wise.  They are definitely player's irons in the mold of a muscle cavity like my P7MCs, with maybe a little more mass concentrated down low and in the toe that helps launch.  They are, however, nowhere near as "technical" or PD-oriented as say even the Mizuno Pro 223 irons I had for 2 years.  Further, while the heads probably weigh more, they definitely aren't larger in volume than the MP223s...give me a bit and I'll go get a club or 2 out of the car and compare them to the P7MCs head to head.

[ctg44]

On 5/27/2024 at 6:42 AM, ctg44 said:

They are heavy, but not large in size volume-wise.  They are definitely player's irons in the mold of a muscle cavity like my P7MCs, with maybe a little more mass concentrated down low and in the toe that helps launch.  They are, however, nowhere near as "technical" or PD-oriented as say even the Mizuno Pro 223 irons I had for 2 years.  Further, while the heads probably weigh more, they definitely aren't larger in volume than the MP223s...give me a bit and I'll go get a club or 2 out of the car and compare them to the P7MCs head to head.

I remembered I wanted to redo the swingweighting on the Toura CBs with the ZGRIP Plus2s on them anyway, so I walked out to the truck and got all of the clubs.  Here are the head sizes (length from heel to toe parallel to the cavity line / height / width of sole).  I took the height of the head and width of the sole at the club # to keep it standard, and then did the same for my P7MC irons.  All measurements were taken with a Husky digital caliper, which is VERY sensitive, so small deviations are to be expected since I didn't lock the clubs into a vice and take multiple measurements, etc... (i.e., not done via scientific method folks...more of the SWAG method if that's possible using digital calipers!):

Toura CB:

4 iron:  3.6835" x 2.0215" x 0.6425"

5 iron:  3.6455" x 1.9965" x 0.6640"

6 iron:  3.6420" x 2.0250" x 0.6620"

7 iron:  3.5580" x 2.0390" x 0.6580"

8 iron:  3.5460" x 2.1120" x 0.6700"

9 iron:  3.6150" x 2.1250" x 0.6525"

PW:  3.6370" x 2.1660" x 0.6445"

Updated Toura CB Swingweights (with original SW with Toura grips installed):

4 iron:  D9 (was D9)

5 iron:  D8 (was D8.5)

6 iron:  D7.25 (was D7.25)

7 iron:  D7.125 (was D7.5)

8 iron:  D7.125 (was D6.25)

9 iron:  D7.75 (was D9)

PW:  D7 (was D8)

TaylorMade P7MC (2020):

4 iron:  3.5645" x 2.0240" x 0.6490"

5 iron:  3.6120" x 2.0670" x 0.6420"

6 iron:  3.6425" x 2.1065" x 0.6525"

7 iron:  3.6095" x 2.1285" x 0.6490"

8 iron:  3.4990" x 2.1925" x 0.6765"

9 iron:  3.5340" x 2.2120" x 0.6790"

PW:  3.5640" x 2.2285" x 0.6580"

@azstu324 - Regarding the progressive swingweights, no I've not thought about those.  These P7MC irons were something cheap I got off FB marketplace because I had grown exceedingly disgusted with the constant hard left pulls I could not get right of with the Mizuno Pro 223 irons I had previously after hitting a set of the P7MCs off the used rack at Golf Galaxy.  They'd been great the month or so I'd used them before starting this test, and my approach game had started to return to some semblance of decency rather than a constant state of me wanting to toss my irons in a pond.

 

@Shrek74 - See the attached pictures.  These are DEFINITELY not game-improvement irons or even really anything approaching a player's distance iron.  The Toura irons have a little more mass in the soles, and probably weigh more head for head than the P7MCs do, but overall aren't bigger to any statistically significant (or even normally noticeable) amount.  In fact, I would say the P7MC is a more forgiving iron throughout the set than the Toura is out of the box.  That said, part of that is the Touras were built with standard DG X100 shafts and not Tour Issue shafts, and the random weight differences in the standard shafts are very apparent because the swingweight gaps in clubs built with the exact same components and the exact same amounts of epoxy (because it was measure w/ a 1:1 dispensing gun and I kept all of the disposable cups until curing was over so I could see how much epoxy I'd used).  Yes, I know that there could also be subtle differences in the heads, grips, and even the ferrules, along with minute differences in the amount of the epoxy used.  However, given that I could pick up any of the P7MCs during testing and place most of the balls on the target green that I'd been trying to hit with the same club from the Toura CB set, I'd still say that even though my P7MCs are from 2020 and several generations older than the current P7MCs, they're a more forgiving iron than the Toura.  

 

All that said, I do love the feel and how well I hit the Toura irons when I'm making clean contact.  I need to figure out the swingweighting, but I am pretty confident that once I get that part narrowed down, I'll have them where I want them.

Edited June 6 by ctg44

[azstu324]

1st round with the Toura MB's..

(Apologies for the blasphemy) but.. Sweet Jesus these things are SO NICE!  I've always known not to judge a club's feel and actual performance off of how they play on the mats. Typically performance drops off some due to mats being overly forgiving, but feel is enhanced on the grass with pure shots and good turf interaction. 

One thing I'm noticing in my short time and limited field experience thus far is that finding the middle of the face is not nearly as difficult as I expected it to be. In fact it just seemed downright easy to flush shot after shot. I'm not sure if it's the stiffer and heavier shafts, heavier heads, or combination of both that just really allowed me to sync up well and keep a nice, repeatable path.

I've had a few sessions in my home setup. The Garmin R10 has a "distance" function where you hit 10 shots and it gives you an average distance and disbursement variance for those shots. I did 4 rounds with 3 sets of clubs and was pretty much dumbfounded that the Toura kept a tighter disbursement than the 2 sets of Maltbys. Also, distance variations were tighter with the Touras. How could this be? Maltby is a pioneer in making players style clubs with uncharacteristic levels of forgiveness designed in. Well of course I held back a bit of skepticism knowing that once I got out on the course things could really easily change from what I saw at home. Well my time today with these clubs confirms that what I saw at home definitely was the real deal.

Today I shot 80 on a par 72 from the Gold which plays around 6500 yds. Not that long but definitely not short. My best score on this course is a 72 from the silver which is the next tee market forward, and 76 from the Gold so I'm not angry at 80 at all. I'm happily saying that the 80 that I shot had 0% to do with the new irons and 100% to do with poor putting (which is very uncharacteristic of my game). Every iron shot seemed absolutely flushed and completely on the mark for distance. The ONLY greens that I didn't hit the entire round were on a par 3 where I actually used my 50° from my TS4 set that was short, and on a long par 4 with a 205 yd approach that I just pushed to the right of the green but was pin high. 

Shot of the day was on a 210 yd par 3 where I absolutely blistered this tiny 4 iron pin high and within 10 yds. Trust me when I say.. this thing is slim! 

Overall I'd say today was a fantastic first round with the Touras! It's one of those rounds that has me replaying all of the great shots I my head and thinking about how excited I am to get them back out. 

FYI, here's what happens to nice clubs in the desert..

It wasn't even any gravel and was just off the dirt. I ended up on the green though.. but at a price

 

Here's some more profile pics of the 7 irons from Toura, Maltby TS4, and Maltby TS3 

 

Edited May 28 by azstu324

[Josh Parker]

34 minutes ago, azstu324 said:

1st round with the Toura MB's..

(Apologies for the blasphemy) but.. Sweet Jesus these things are SO NICE!  I've always known not to judge a club's feel and actual performance off of how they play on the mats. Typically performance drops off some due to mats being overly forgiving, but feel is enhanced on the grass with pure shots and good turf interaction. 

One thing I'm noticing in my short time and limited field experience thus far is that finding the middle of the face is not nearly as difficult as I expected it to be. In fact it just seemed downright easy to flush shot after shot. I'm not sure if it's the stiffer and heavier shafts, heavier heads, or combination of both that just really allowed me to sync up well and keep a nice, repeatable path.

I've had a few sessions in my home setup. The Garmin R10 has a "distance" function where you hit 10 shots and it gives you an average distance and disbursement variance for those shots. I did 4 rounds with 3 sets of clubs and was pretty much dumbfounded that the Toura kept a tighter disbursement than the 2 sets of Maltbys. Also, distance variations were tighter with the Touras. How could this be? Maltby is a pioneer in making players style clubs with uncharacteristic levels of forgiveness designed in. Well of course I held back a bit of skepticism knowing that once I got out on the course things could really easily change from what I saw at home. When my time today with these clubs confirms that what I saw at home definitely was the real deal.

Today I shot 80 on a par 72 from the Gold which plays around 6500 yds. Not that long but definitely not short. My best score on this course is a 72 from the silver which is the next tee market forward, and 76 from the Gold so I'm not angry at 80 at all. I'm happily saying that the 80 that I shot had 0% to do with the new irons and 100% to do with poor putting (which is very uncharacteristic of my game). Every iron shot seemed absolutely flushed and completely on the mark for distance. The ONLY greens that I didn't hit the entire round were on a par 3 where I actually used my 50° from my TS4 set that was short, and on a long par 4 with a 205 yd approach that I just pushed to the right of the green but was pin high. 

Shot of the day was on a 210 yd par 3 where I absolutely blistered this tiny 4 iron pin high and within 10 yds. Trust me when I say.. this thing is slim! 

Overall I'd say today was a fantastic first round with the Touras! It's one of those rounds that has me replaying all of the great shots I my head and thinking about how excited I am to get them back out. 

FYI, here's what happens to nice clubs in the desert..

It wasn't even any gravel and was just off the dirt. I ended up on the green though.. but at a price

 

Here's some more profile pics of the 7 irons from Toura, Maltby TS4, and Maltby TS3 

 

Awesome recap and they still look good scuffed up. 

[azstu324]

44 minutes ago, Josh Parker said:

Awesome recap and they still look good scuffed up. 

I'm hop that as they begin to scuff, the patina/rust will help fill in those spots. 

[Josh Parker]

5 minutes ago, azstu324 said:

I'm hop that as they begin to scuff, the patina/rust will help fill in those spots. 

Yeah it will be interesting to see how they continue to change over time and use. 

[JRDuck40]

On 5/26/2024 at 8:33 PM, buckpillar said:

Nice Build @JRDuck40 do you get a different reaction when hitting off natural grass, is the interaction with the tuff just as good?

SOOOOOOOOO. Was able to take the sticks out on actual grass this am... It was as close to a true Scottish golf experience we could have asked for. Lower 50s, mist, ton of wind, straight up miserable. But did give the clubs the full go around. I do have to say, they did perform admirably. I will have my full write up posted on the main and another individual thread. Quick hint, they rip through wet / rough like a hot knife! Wow! 

Onward. 

[JRDuck40]

*****UPDATE*****

 

Was able to take the www.touragolf.com CB blanks out for a full test drive today. I will have to say, they did perform and clean up very, very well. Par 3s, ended up 3/4 GIR. The first few holes were a little touch and go, tee'd off at 6:30 a and it was all of 50 with a solid 15-20 mph wind and mist. Truly Wisconsin like weather. 

Hole 1 410yd 

Driver to the FW bunker. Hit 5i out, topped and left myself with around 90 yd left. Pin high right with 20ft left. 2 putt - Bogey

Hole 2 340yd

5 wood to 145. Again, ton of wind so 7 iron, caught thin and short. Chipped to back right with a terrible attempt for U/D and ended with another BOGEY. 

Hole 3 140 yd

140 into the wind. Stupidly thought the 8 would make it. It was a VERY much solid 1-2 club wind. Ended up short in the aqua. Hit the 8 again, because I'm a stubborn idiot, but was able to land just short. Chip and putt = 5. 

Hole 4 410yd

Driver - 7 iron, again thin. Ended up short in bunker. Up and lip out for a Bogey. Onward.  

Hole 5 365 yd
Funky dogleg right. Hit hybrid to 155 /160. Went after the 7i hard and ended up short. This was 100% on my set up and thought process. Pin was in the back and hole was very much nearer 165 / 170. Needed to club up and then re-access the shot. Ended up with a double. 

Hole 6 415 yd
Horrid tee shot, needed to punch and did so with the 7i. As it was raining, was not able to take a decent photo, but the lie was horrid and needed to punch around 75 to 90 yards to a clean lie into the fairway. THIS is there I fell in love. The Toura CBs cut through the rough like a hot knife through butter. It wasn't even an issue. I was able to get the 7i under the ball, pop it out and get it to the spot where i needed it to be. Mind you, then shot after that was trash and ended up with yet another DBL.  FML.... 

Hole 7 515 yd

Tee shot on left of FW. This gave me an opp for a HIGH PW over a massive Oak. Perfectly placed for a low cut 4 iron into the green from 195 out. Ended up around 35-40 feet away and made par. (this is where the rain FINALLY stopped). 

Hole 8 150 yd 

155 - water short right / bunker short left / high grass long (IE - don't hit this green = FML)

Hit the 8i, flush. 2 bounces and it nutted up... 18 feet to the cup. Of course, lipped out. 

Hole 9 495 yd. 

Par 5 with a tight initial shot. Ended up just left of FW around 250 out. Hit a punch 5w to 20 short with a flop 60 to get U/D for bird.

Onward

Hole 10 400 yd

Dogleg right with a huge sloping green back to front. Driver  / Hybrid as the wind VERY much picked up. Ended up with par. 

Hole 11 390 yd. 

Another dogleg right, but this time with water. My playing partners all went into the aqua. Thankfully i was dry-ish. Rain starting up yet again. Driver - 6i. Slightly 'rough' lie. The leading edge cut through this wet / thick lie with ZERO issue. And I mean ZERO. The CBs are not your true GI / CB iron. They can CUT. Shot landed around 15 ft. Ended up with par. Onward. 

Hole 12 315yd . 
Another dogleg R... And a hybrid off the box. After a horrid bounce, needed to punch out of the thickest lie i have had in the past 3 years, again sorry no photos per the rain, ended up around 60 / 70 yd in. Could not get U/D and ended up with DBL...

Hole 13 130yd 

Par 3. Easy 8i - 130 (into the wind) 

Ended up around 20 ft. Yet another lipper out... but good par. 

Hole 14. 370 yd

Par 4 STRAIGHT as an arrow. Of course, i decided to make a detour. My typical drive is a cut.... Aimed for that. Hit it straight and with the wind... ended up with the thick / rough on the left. Drop, hit an 8i to around 10/15 ft. Missed the U/D and bogey. 

Hole 15.

Par 5 500. I megaloathe my driver at this time... More range sessions coming at this point. Hit tree = 275 out on a 500 yd par 5. 5w to just short of the green. Ended up hitting the chip a little short and caught some wet rough with no release. bogey. 

Hole 16. 

Par 4 - 350. At this point, I was like (*&&%^%&$^&^$) with my Driver (Titleist TSR2).. So why the heck not unleash the anger. Which = Middle of the FW, 102 yd out. I will have to say, the PW was a razor blade compared to my Takomo 101T. The turf interaction was again, hot knife through butter. The CBs are NOT GI irons. At this point, I wanted to give one of our foursomes input. 

"I cannot believe how THIN the heel of the club / top line are. How do they weight this much They look like they should be less than my Pings and they're not."
Again, the turf interaction with the Toura was amazing. I am typically a light to medium divot taker with any iron shot. For a 8 to wedge, it's typically a little heavier. Withe the 8 thru 9, they cut. Oh my do they every cut through the turf with ease. My Takomo's, I definitely feel these shots. 

Hole 17. Par 3 - 180

Ended up hitting a 'soft 5' and should have given it the full. Short right, but on. 3 putt = bogey. Onward. 

AND OF COURSE AT THIS POINT - SUNSHINE with a 10 degree increase. Why the heck not!

Hybrid to around 165 / 170 with a massive headwind in. Hit 5 iron (yet again into the wind) to around 15 feet. The baby cut is working. Loving this initial round with the CBs. 

Not my best showing at Blackstone in the past few rounds. Prior were 77, 76, 80 and then today, 84. 
I will be taking much more video / photos tomorrow... Hopefully. yet more rain in the forecast for MKE. 

Onward. 

[ctg44]

12 hours ago, azstu324 said:

I'm hop that as they begin to scuff, the patina/rust will help fill in those spots. 

Mine are definitely looking nice and rusty these days.  Helps when playing in bright Texas sun to have the dull patina instead of a blinding orb of pain down by your golf ball.  I'll have a tough time going back to the P7MCs for that reason alone...might have to find some of those the raw version if I end up going back...LOL...more clubs...won't THAT make my wife happy?!?!

[ctg44]

I played the front 9 of our club's Pecan course twice yesterday, once in the morning walking with my wife and once in the afternoon on a cart with my son.  Here's the scorecard from BlueGolf:

https://course.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/course/course/walnutcreekcc/

The Pecan course is well-known in our area for kids working hard on it being able to go on to success at the State level.  Mansfield HS has sent at least 1 varsity team to the Texas state tournament every year for many years...and sometimes 2 boys' teams get through both districts and regionals to make state from Mansfield after growing up playing on this course.  It's tight, requires strategy, and has some distance to it when you take into account that holes 3-14 play into a prevailing south wind that's normally strong enough to be noticeable.  Oh, and with all the rain and high temps this spring, the Bermuda is growing like it's an East German weightlifter on steroids

At any rate, in the morning, we teed off at 10:42 AM CDT.  It was about 87° with a heat index over 105° by the tee time.  We of course chose to walk yesterday, because we haven't been walking much this spring (largely because we haven't been able to play much at all due to the crappy weather) and my wife and I both prefer walking when the course is packed because at least that keeps us from feeling like we're constantly in a waiting mode.  I also feel a lot more connected to my shots when I walk up behind them and have that time to plan ball flight / routing / etc., especially when I've put myself in a trouble spot (which is frequently the case off the tee).  I hit several really good iron shots in the morning round, including a high cut 6 iron from 185 into the wind to the 3rd green after dumping my ball in the pond off the tee, a flighted 9 iron to the 4th green to the pin placement just over the left edge of the bunker, and a 6 iron from the right rough (buried 3+") to 11ish feet on 5 from about 180 yards.  I hit a punched / flighted 5 iron from 195 on 9 to pin high after what was a good tee shot w/ my 3 wood (the driver had been banished for excessive spin violations at this point) got an unlucky break and hit the one soft patch of grass in the fairway.  A few feet left or right and I probably get 35 more yards of rollout on my tee shot for a 275 yard 3W (yes, the AiSmoke Triple Diamond is a monster when you get it clean...and even then, it almost always goes straight...I just sometimes send that straight left into the driving range, OB, etc.)., leaving me with a 9 iron instead of the 5 iron, but I still got up and down for par to end the round with a 40.

In the afternoon, it was hotter, but the morning humidity had dried up somewhat.  The heat index was still over 105°, but there was just enough breeze to make it feel better out surprisingly.  Further, the ground was drier, so the greens were now running around 11-12' instead of the 8-9' they'd been running in the morning when they still had some moisture from the overnight rain and all of the humidity.  I ended up shooting a 43 in this round, mainly because I not only couldn't hit the driver, I also couldn't hit the 3W or the driving iron because I was flat out beat down tired.  I did hit a nice 7 iron to pin-high on 5 from deep rough again and a few other decent iron shots, but not enough.

 

One thing about the Toura CBs.  My wife is an absolute expert chipper with her 9 iron, and is trying to teach me her technique.  The Toura 9 iron is so soft that it feels great and might just get to be a go-to club around the greens if I keep hitting it pin-high with the irons and then to a foot w/ the 9 iron.  Par saves are very nice on a course as tough as WCCC-Pecan...

All that said, I really need to clean up my tee shots, so the start of pre-orders of the Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond MAX Driver this morning at $509 w/ military discount is making me want to sign up for a few more hockey games to get that thing en route on release day (06-07-2024)...How to avoid getting beaten with the old one when it arrives though is the question?  

[JRDuck40]

Neglected to mention last night. The irons cleaned up so easy. Toura did a phenomenal job grooving these heads. They're deep and very crips. Just a small bit of soap / water and they were cleaned up very, very quickly. Also the paint fill held up very well. Each club had some sort of turf interaction yesterday and held up great. 

My largest concern was with the paint on the shafts and the fact it was mist / rain for the majority of the round. It held up great as well. Will 'hopefully' get out for league night tonight... but mother nature may have something to say about that.

Onward. 

[David Leighton Reid]

On 5/27/2024 at 4:14 PM, azstu324 said:

1st round with the Toura MB's..

(Apologies for the blasphemy) but.. Sweet Jesus these things are SO NICE!  I've always known not to judge a club's feel and actual performance off of how they play on the mats. Typically performance drops off some due to mats being overly forgiving, but feel is enhanced on the grass with pure shots and good turf interaction. 

One thing I'm noticing in my short time and limited field experience thus far is that finding the middle of the face is not nearly as difficult as I expected it to be. In fact it just seemed downright easy to flush shot after shot. I'm not sure if it's the stiffer and heavier shafts, heavier heads, or combination of both that just really allowed me to sync up well and keep a nice, repeatable path.

I've had a few sessions in my home setup. The Garmin R10 has a "distance" function where you hit 10 shots and it gives you an average distance and disbursement variance for those shots. I did 4 rounds with 3 sets of clubs and was pretty much dumbfounded that the Toura kept a tighter disbursement than the 2 sets of Maltbys. Also, distance variations were tighter with the Touras. How could this be? Maltby is a pioneer in making players style clubs with uncharacteristic levels of forgiveness designed in. Well of course I held back a bit of skepticism knowing that once I got out on the course things could really easily change from what I saw at home. Well my time today with these clubs confirms that what I saw at home definitely was the real deal.

Today I shot 80 on a par 72 from the Gold which plays around 6500 yds. Not that long but definitely not short. My best score on this course is a 72 from the silver which is the next tee market forward, and 76 from the Gold so I'm not angry at 80 at all. I'm happily saying that the 80 that I shot had 0% to do with the new irons and 100% to do with poor putting (which is very uncharacteristic of my game). Every iron shot seemed absolutely flushed and completely on the mark for distance. The ONLY greens that I didn't hit the entire round were on a par 3 where I actually used my 50° from my TS4 set that was short, and on a long par 4 with a 205 yd approach that I just pushed to the right of the green but was pin high. 

Shot of the day was on a 210 yd par 3 where I absolutely blistered this tiny 4 iron pin high and within 10 yds. Trust me when I say.. this thing is slim! 

Overall I'd say today was a fantastic first round with the Touras! It's one of those rounds that has me replaying all of the great shots I my head and thinking about how excited I am to get them back out. 

FYI, here's what happens to nice clubs in the desert..

It wasn't even any gravel and was just off the dirt. I ended up on the green though.. but at a price

 

Here's some more profile pics of the 7 irons from Toura, Maltby TS4, and Maltby TS3 

 

Fantastic work on the irons!

[David Leighton Reid]

9 hours ago, JRDuck40 said:

Neglected to mention last night. The irons cleaned up so easy. Toura did a phenomenal job grooving these heads. They're deep and very crips. Just a small bit of soap / water and they were cleaned up very, very quickly. Also the paint fill held up very well. Each club had some sort of turf interaction yesterday and held up great. 

My largest concern was with the paint on the shafts and the fact it was mist / rain for the majority of the round. It held up great as well. Will 'hopefully' get out for league night tonight... but mother nature may have something to say about that.

Onward. 

Great looking set of irons!

 

[David Leighton Reid]

Update May 28, 2024

I have played 2 more rounds with the Toura CB irons since my last update and continue to be impressed.  Even though the CB irons are not as forgiving as my PXG 0311XP irons, I do enjoy gaming them.  The smaller compact head and less offset seem to narrow my focus.  Though there isn't a great deal of difference side by side, when I look down at the CB irons, they just look significantly smaller.  Paired with the Recoil 95 graphite shafts, the CB irons continue to provide feedback on the quality of my strike.  The following pictures are the Toura CB 7 irons and my PXG 7 iron.  The painted shafts are holding up well and I have waxed them with car wax to add a protective coating.  

Edited May 28 by David Leighton Reid

[David Leighton Reid]

On 4/29/2024 at 11:41 PM, ctg44 said:

   https://photos.app.goo.gl/f2LnqsSqQd2hZABYA

Great looking irons, @ctg44!  Well done!

[ctg44]

Thank you sir. Your set is looking great too!

[JRDuck40]

*****UPDATE****

There is none. Thanks to the river system that is currently parked over the Midwest, we had to cancel our Tuesday night league. Thankfully I have 99, yes Ninety Nine holes booked for this weekend. I will be brining the Toura CBs along with my Takomo 101Ts for a full comparison test. I'm thinking I will be going with the CBs all day Friday. Takomo Saturday and then one 18 for each set on Sunday. They will be getting the FULL workout as well as we will be playing the courses of Lawsonia. https://www.lawsonia.com/

This is going to be legit amazing! Cannot wait for Friday! 

Onward.