TaylorMade Stealth Irons

[Never EZ]

So, you've spent the time scouring the net for the best golf clubs, hoping to finally catch that golden window of opportunity to use the hottest clubs of a couple years past. You've made it past that all-important first step, desperately using the "on-sale" sales pitch to your wife to explain why these irons are a steal. Cheers! Now you're probably in the final steps, adding the clubs to your cart, agonizing over the cost to benefit ratio, and hovering over the confirm purchase button for days on end. Or perhaps this is the final step; opening a second tab on your browser and looking for a form post to sway your decision.

Before I dive into the deep end, here's my one-line answer: "These Irons are Fantastic!"

I've recently begun my journey to rebuild my golf game from the ground up. All of the usual suspects are here as excuses: "Life Happened", "My Priorities Shifted", "My Budget Got Tight", etc. Long story short, I went over 5 years without swinging a golf club. Relegated to a corner in my garage, the grips on my old clubs slowly turned to ash (Or goo in the case of my putter) in the Arizona heat. I do mean this quite literally, as the grips disintegrated in my hands upon my first return trip to the driving range in Washington. After a quick discussion with the wife over the health benefits of golfing on a regular basis, I moved on to my new task, upgrading my 15-year-old kit.

When I made the Varsity Golf Team back in 2008, I upgraded to the TaylorMade RACs and fell in love. I was a 6'2"/230lbs lineman and fully adhered to the John Daly school of thought. Grip it and Rip it! "Game-Improvement" Irons offered my something that I desperately needed at the time, forgiveness. I began to understand a simple fact; 8 great hits are completely eclipsed by the shadow of 2 bad strikes. Simply put, if you are only 80% confident in your swing, then you are destined for a lifetime of "Game-Improvement" clubs. Player's Irons hold an undeniable beauty to them but are not meant for us mortals.

Design

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...right? A side-by-side comparison has me facing the harsh truth; My old RACs are downright ugly. As someone used to the older cavity-back design, I found the look and feel of the new cap-back clubs to be absolutely amazing. Like most people, I cannot deny the simple beauty of the blade-like aesthetic that forged irons hold. Cap-backed irons like the stealth have bridged the gap for me, and I now have a beautiful club with all the expected game-improvement properties of my old cavity-back clubs. The carbon fiber cap is simple, gorgeous, and a gets a 5/5 in my books.

Performance

I'm going to be perfectly frank with you. I was a double digit handicap before buying these clubs, and I am a double digit handicap after buying these clubs. Having said that, I consider the black marks on my game to be my mid-range putting and when (not if) I eventually slice a drive into the adjacent fairway or body of water. My iron play has always been my point of pride, and these irons delivered a truly enjoyable experience.

The "echo dampening" tech in these clubs makes a real difference on off-center hits. This is a bit of a double-edged sword because I would sometimes find that a hit flew better than it felt. Don't be mistaken, perfectly hit strikes will provide tactile feedback and a very satisfying crack. However, there is much less feedback if you rely on club-to-hand feeling to determine how well you struck the ball.

When hitting that sweet spot on the club, balls absolutely exploded off the club face. I'll admit to sending a few balls straight over the green as I figured out the distance on my new pitching wedge. That is another noteworthy area of these clubs. They did not care as much about my swing speed. I always relayed on my above average swing speed to generate distance. The Stealth irons seemed to do more of the work for me.

At first, I found the change in sound and feel to be so vastly different, that it was almost jarring. Not surprisingly, but 15 years of technological advancement resulted in a completely different user experience than I was used to. Over the course of 300-400 balls at the range, I started to really appreciate just how consistent and forgiving these clubs are.

Conclusion

My experience with the TaylorMade Stealth Irons was truly sensational. I know that I am not a typical case, as I was making the jump from such an older set of clubs. Even so, I know that I’m not the only one out there searching for that one golden deal on 1 or 2 year old club sets. If you are a TaylorMade devout, and you find the Qi irons to be just outside of your price range, then you really can’t go wrong with the TaylorMade Stealth set.

I found the clubs to be exceptionally consistent and forgiving, with excellent feel and sound. I saw undeniable gains in distance, ball speed, and accuracy. And on a personal note, I thought the design of the irons was simply drop-dead gorgeous.

Bottom-line, do yourself a favor and pick up a set of these clubs.

 

 

Edited August 19 by Never EZ
Adding Pictures