OFFICIAL MyGolfSpy Club Testing - TaylorMade RocketBladez

[Tony Covey MGS]

Official MyGolfSpy Forum Member Testing

 

Over the past year we've been contacted by several golf companies about having our forum members review their equipment. Up to this point we've always declined. Our concern is that forum members, given the opportunity for free gear to test, might find it difficult to be unbiased and impartial. Simply put, we've had concerns that these type of reviews might compromise what we're all about.

 

That said, within the last several months we've come to 3 important realizations:

 

1. While we've seen steady growth in the 2 years since we launched the forum, if growth is to continue, we need to offer you guys the same opportunities that other sites do. We know you guys love to play with new toys. If we can make that possible for some, all the better, right?
2. You guys can handle it. Several of you have already posted reviews of various bits of equipment in your bag. For the most part we've found these member reviews to be refreshingly honest. Positive when positivity is deserved, and less so when it's not.
3. The forum belongs to YOU. This is YOUR community. Yes, we built the foundation, but day to day, you guys are the ones who do the heavy lifting here. Our role should be to give you the best opportunity to keep doing what you do best...and give you more opportunities when we can.

So with all of that said, here's your first opportunity.

 

We have been contacted by a golf company (a name many of you will recognize), and asked to select 3 MyGolfSpy Forum Members to participate in a review of a set of new irons. The members who are chosen will be asked to do the following:

 

1. Post an "unboxing" complete with a 3 photos and your initial impressions.
2. Write a full review using our "official" review template. This will help ensure a consistency of layout for each of the 3 reviews (and any reviews that follow).
3. Post a follow-up to your initial review that provides specific information (answer specific questions we provide)
4. Participate in ongoing discussion and/or answer follow-up questions from the community about the product you reviewed.

Qualifications

• While we have not said a hard minimum on the # of posts you must have to qualify, you must be what the staff considers to be a contributing forum member
• Demonstrated ability to write a review following a specific template (including formatting)
• Demonstrated ability to take and post quality photos of golf equipment
• Must be a resident of the USA or Canada, 18 years or older
• Must have access to a golf course, driving range, and/or indoor golf course facility for the duration of the review period (if you can't play because of weather, please sit this one out)
• Access to a launch monitor is desirable, but is most definitely NOT required.
• Ability to calculate averages (basic math)

* Participating in further Forum Review opportunities will be determined by the quality and detail of your work. We want you to be 100% honest. The tone of the review (regardless of whether it be positive, negative, or somewhere in-between will not be a consideration).

 

How to Apply

 

To Enter provide the following information (in this thread):

The current model and flex of your irons:

Your Handicap:

Your Age:

Are you Left or Right Handed:

Do you know your iron specs:

 

AND Do the Following:

 

1. Tell us which 2 companies make the best irons in golf
2. Tell us which 2 companies make the worst irons in golf
3. Upload an original photograph of a piece of golf equipment in your bag right now
4. Using one of our ULTIMATE Reviews as a template, write 1-3 paragraphs describing ONE of the following aspects (your choice) of the club that appears in your photo:

• LOOKS
• SOUND AND FEEL
• PERFORMANCE

We will choose our first class of official forum reviewers as soon as the OEM we're working with on this project is ready to move forward. Don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions.

[GolfSpy WD]

I'm very interested, but what timeline are we talking here? There's probably a good month left of golfing in Boston, though I do have access to an aboutGolf monitor for rental which I'd be happy to use to post data.

[RoverRick]

How to Apply

 

To Enter provide the following information:

The current model and flex of your irons:

Your Handicap:

Your Age:

Are you Left or Right Handed:

Do you know your iron specs:

 

AND Do the Following:

 

1. Tell us which 2 companies make the best irons in golf
2. Tell us which 2 companies make the worst irons in golf
3. Upload an original photograph of a piece of golf equipment in your bag right now
4. Using one of our ULTIMATE Reviews as a template, write 1-3 paragraphs describing ONE of the following aspects (your choice) of the club that appears in your photo:

• LOOKS
• SOUND AND FEEL
• PERFORMANCE

We will choose our first class of official forum reviewers as soon as the OEM we're working with on this project is ready to move forward. Don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions.

 

To enter how? Post a review thread? Under reviews or contest forum?

 

I have a 3 wood I got on Saturday and have not even hit it yet so this will be perfect. On my way to the course in a few minutes.

[Tony Covey MGS]

To enter how? Post a review thread? Under reviews or contest forum?

 

Reply right here in this thread.

[Tony Covey MGS]

I'm very interested, but what timeline are we talking here? There's probably a good month left of golfing in Boston, though I do have access to an aboutGolf monitor for rental which I'd be happy to use to post data.

 

Clubs will likely be in hand near the end of the month. If you need to go indoor, that's fine.

[Ice]

I'll have to go to work on the entry process tonight. Looking forward to this one!

[Kanoito]

[*]Must be a resident of the USA or Canada, 18 years or older

 

Oh yeah? Well, at least we got the Ryder Cup!

J/K!

 

Great opportunity for MGS readers. Keep it up!

[brpinstripes]

Sooooooooooo, another popularity contest. Hmmmm something sounds vaguely familiar here.

[RookieBlue7]

I'd love to participate. Since I have already posted reviews here do I need to do that as well in this thread? I'd be glad to do that if need be. Also, I play year round here in Georgia.

 

As for my favorites among iron brands (as I won't say any are better per se' assuming properly fitted brand a vs brand x. (Was gonna say b but when I put the parenthesis around it it was an emoticon). I currently have an affinity for Adams irons and Scratch irons(forgings that is). My two least favorite at the moment would likely be Ping and Wilson (though admittedly I haven't his Ping's Anser irons nor any of Wilson's offerings in the last 2 years). I loved Wilson blades in the past but the more current stuff I've hit I wasn't a huge fan of.

 

Current Irons: Adams A4 Tour Black w/ Dynamic Gold S400 hardstepped once. Based off a 38.5" 5 iron with standard 1/2" deviations, bent 2 up and Lamkin Performance Plus 3gen Midsize black with 2 wraps under right hand.

 

Handicap: 7.3 (need to update profile)

Right handed

Age: 29

 

 

As opposed to writing a new review (I'm compiling one at the moment, but it's not complete)

 

A few review samples (as I've evolved and streamlined my processes for writing):

EDIT TO ADD MY NEWEST REVIEW: http://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/6971-uspgs-new-white-shaft/page__gopid__73614#entry73614

 

http://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/7059-review-grafalloy-bimatrix-tour-prototype/

http://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/4175-talamonti-shafts/

http://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/6352-review-project-x-black-shaft/

 

Earlier samples:

http://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/2591-master-grip-tour-c4-urethane/

http://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/5126-pure-grips-review/

http://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/4729-superstroke-belly-grips/

http://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/3542-master-grip-dynagrip-elite-glove/

[GolfSpy_X]

Well we were actually the first golf site to not require any post requirement (popularity contest) in our initial "MyGolfSpy Lottery" club testing a couple years ago. And I wish we would have been able to keep it that way, unfortunately many of those testers got equipment and kept it without ever doing a review of the product. So we lived and learned and I don't think there is much value for the equipment manufacturers if we send out equipment and they simply keep it without posting their opinion.

 

And we do not have a post requirement now either but we did put a couple things in place so this will not happen again. And trust me you don't have to be well liked by our staff, that is not what we are or will ever be about. I think it is pretty well known by now that we allow everyone on our site the opportunity to give their opinions no matter how we feel about them on a personal level.

 

Sooooooooooo, another popularity contest. Hmmmm something sounds vaguely familiar here.

[Ice]

Sooooooooooo, another popularity contest. Hmmmm something sounds vaguely familiar here.

 

This was uncalled for... as a member with six posts do you feel you're an active participant who deserves opportunities like this? It's not really about giving everyone a fair chance in this case. The chance has to be earned.

 

I don't at all see how it's a popularity contest. Everyone who will be considered for this has a) proven to be an active and contributing forum member, B ) shown that they are capable of writing an unbiased and thorough review of a golf club, and c) is able to follow the format, post pictures, and meet the requirements laid out in the first post. That's a popularity contest? I think a comment like the one you just made made you unpopular.

[BK in TEXAS]

Wow!....

 

[hckymeyer]

What a great opportunity and I can't wait to hopefully participate in the future.

 

However due to the uncertainty of MN fall weather and having just gotten my irons back from a fitting I'm going to use what golf time I have left this year to play as much as I can with them.

 

Good luck to everyone who throws their hat in the ring and while I love reading reviews from the Spies, I'm looking forward to seeing the reviews from forum members!

[4luvofthegame]

This was uncalled for... as a member with six posts do you feel you're an active participant who deserves opportunities like this? It's not really about giving everyone a fair chance in this case. The chance has to be earned.

 

I don't at all see how it's a popularity contest. Everyone who will be considered for this has a) proven to be an active and contributing forum member, B ) shown that they are capable of writing an unbiased and thorough review of a golf club, and c) is able to follow the format, post pictures, and meet the requirements laid out in the first post. That's a popularity contest? I think a comment like the one you just made made you unpopular.

 

I disagree that the post was uncalled for. The edge it had to it was uncalled for. I agree with the poster in the regard that not all of us have the time to devote untold hours to posting to qualify..........if in fact that is what it takes to have an opportunity to participate in this event. Who determines what an "active and contributing forum member" is? 10 posts per month, 50, 100? I know many who appreciate this forum for what it is.....a superb forum that I visit regurlarly. Many have an incredible ability to review and write such reviews. In a negative sort of way the original poster was probably expressing a frustration with the huge contest that included having the largest number of facebook posts in order to qualify.

 

Again, some of us just don't have that kind of time or desire to have to be "facebook popular". Again, I do not agree with the tone but I see the point...could have been expressed differently.

 

To end on a positive note........MGS is the very best golf site out here bar none IMHO. They have the best reviews, best relevance all around best golf site going.

 

PERIOD

[RookieBlue7]

Well we were actually the first golf site to not require any post requirement (popularity contest) in our initial "MyGolfSpy Lottery" club testing a couple years ago. And I wish we would have been able to keep it that way, unfortunately many of those testers got equipment and kept it without ever doing a review of the product. So we lived and learned and I don't think there is much value for the equipment manufacturers if we send out equipment and they simply keep it without posting their opinion.

 

And we do not have a post requirement now either but we did put a couple things in place so this will not happen again. And trust me you don't have to be well liked by our staff, that is not what we are or will ever be about. I think it is pretty well known by now that we allow everyone on our site the opportunity to give their opinions no matter how we feel about them on a personal level.

 

 

As someone that's been around here since the launch of the forums, I can say the above is very very true. The original launch of the forums and the equipment that was sent out was a grab for items (several of which were supposed to go to multiple persons instead of one only) and no one, hardly, posted their opine of the items. The thread was still here as of a few days ago to see. And MGS has allowed me to post my opinion, whether in agreement or in contrast to lots of topics as long as it was done respectfully with zero issues. I understand why it's for persons they feel like are an active part of the community, as they feel they'd write a review and give their feelings/dialogue on the items being sent out.

 

Think about it like this, you need reviewers that you can trust to write a review. Would you want to send the item to someone that's written a review and been an active member of the community or someone you don't know? Who would you trust to compile the review, someone who's been posting and contributing and is at least a name one recognizes or someone who rarely posts and you don't know anything about? Remember, the purpose is to get the review written and information out, not to send someone free gear. This is also the first time this is being offered and other manufacturers want to see how this plays out before committing product for the community to review. You want to make sure someone that's going to take the time and eloquently do what needs to be done in the manner in which it needs to be done to comply with the guidelines. It's all about trust. They didn't put numbers to anything, they said active members, which IMO, means they recognize the forum name and they trust that person to participate in the review as they need to happen.

[BK in TEXAS]

The post requirement question was answered a few posts above. I'll copy it here since some folks seem to still be missing the reason (emphasis mine).....

 

Well we were actually the first golf site to not require any post requirement (popularity contest) in our initial "MyGolfSpy Lottery" club testing a couple years ago. And I wish we would have been able to keep it that way, unfortunately many of those testers got equipment and kept it without ever doing a review of the product. So we lived and learned and I don't think there is much value for the equipment manufacturers if we send out equipment and they simply keep it without posting their opinion.

 

And we do not have a post requirement now either but we did put a couple things in place so this will not happen again. And trust me you don't have to be well liked by our staff, that is not what we are or will ever be about. I think it is pretty well known by now that we allow everyone on our site the opportunity to give their opinions no matter how we feel about them on a personal level.

[MattF]

How active and contributing a member? Even though I've been a member since last year, I've only just started posting in the forum and have 23 posts under my belt.

[Tony Covey MGS]

How active and contributing a member? Even though I've been a member since last year, I've only just started posting in the forum and have 23 posts under my belt.

 

We don't have any hard number. We kicked around some ideas for a minimum restriction, but we've got so many relatively new members that have been extremely active since they joined. We didn't want to be any more exclusionary than is necessary.

[SeeRed]

"I agree with the poster in the regard that not all of us have the time to devote untold hours to posting to qualify..."

 

I think this comment may speak to who would or would not be chosen to review equipment. Would the poster then also not have the time to thoroughly review and write about the equipment sent to him or her? I suppose posting a sample review ought to help those who do not post much otherwise. I'm not sure I will be able to devote the time and energy to the equipment review that I feel this privilege deserves, so will not muddy the process for the MGS staff by sending a sample review. And the popularity contest comment? Whatever. Am I correct in assuming that if someone with only a (relatively) few posts came back with a great review that meets the stated requirements, he or she would be passed over for a 1,000+ poster with a mediocre sample review? I doubt it.

[The Dansome]

Man I'd love to do this, but I fear that Vancouver's weather could be pretty ugly by mid November....

 

Thanks for the opportunity MSG, class act joint around here.

 

I'll still toss my hat in the ring anyways, could use the writing practice.

[MattF]

We don't have any hard number. We kicked around some ideas for a minimum restriction, but we've got so many relatively new members that have been extremely active since they joined. We didn't want to be any more exclusionary than is necessary.

 

My ? was probably more in regards to contributing rather than post count...but thank you for the reply. I'll get about throwing my hat into the ring as well, seeing as I was one of the one's saying you need more 41yo, fat, useless, high handicap golfers for reviews.

[JBones]

I have the perfect photo to use for a mock review. It's a new pic, but I've already done a review on here about the product, is that acceptable?

[Dmattucci]

The current model and flex of your irons: Taylorade TP CB - Stiff Flex TT DG S300 XP

Your Handicap: 15.6

Your Age: 34

Are you Left or Right Handed: Righty

Do you know your iron specs: Standard Length and Loft, Lie 2* Up

 

 

Which 2 companies make the best irons in golf: Tough call, but Mizuno in my view

Which 2 companies make the worst irons in golf: Hmm, not a fan Wilsons or Clevelands, but that has more to do with brand image than products I'd say.

 

In my bag right now: RBZ Tour TP 10.5 Driver

 

LOOKS:

The club is handsome from every angle, most importantly at address, where the Tour version of the RBZ takes on a less hefty look. At address, it appears smaller than 460 cc and inspires confidence. Taylormade continues to do an excellent job in finishing their products, and this driver is no exception. The graphics, colors, fonts, and overall design are clearly well thought-out and as silly as that sounds, to a product junkie like myself, that matters. The upgraded TP shaft is also treated with the RBZ graphic and color application and while some prefer the "real deal" look of non-stock drivers, I can appreciate what Taylormade have done, which is to make their clubs as recognizable as possible. Overall its a very nice progression from where I was with the previous R11.

 

SOUND AND FEEL:

The RBZ is a bit loud. That's not to say bad, just loud. When the ball is cut solidly, you'll know it and when tattooed it can be ear ringing, but overall I don't find a tremendous amount of fault with that. Its certainly not the traditional thwack you would get with a Titleist, but by the same token, its also not the softball bat screech you would get from a Nike SQ bread loaf driver either! Feel is exactly what I want from Taylormade. Like the RBZ fairways, the ball feels like its jumping off of the face hot and just going. Even with the stock Matrix shaft, I could feel the head working nicely with the shaft to deliver good contact. With the slightly heavier TP shaft, I found the feel to be a bit softer and just a touch more muted, not dead, just a bit softer. Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised and as I said, it was a nice move from the R11 I played previously.

 

PERFORMANCE:

I thought for sure I would be buying an R11s. At my local demo, however, I found the RBZ to be everything I wanted. Light, powerful, responsive and forgiving enough for a guy of my skill level. Once tuned with the stiff TP shaft, and a loft of 12* playing 2* closed, I was carrying the ball longer than my previous R11. With an average swing speed of around 104, I was consistently rolling out to around 280-290, where I had been 7-10 yards shorter than that previously. Overall I didn't expect to love this club as much as I did, and, as I said, was convinced it would be as simple as dialing in an R11s, but everything about RBZ Tour worked well for me.

 

Thanks for the shot at test MGS!

[Ruckus10]

Good luck guys. I would love to do a review on the irons but the Chicago golfing season is sadly coming to an end. I hope the irons aren't tmag, callaways, nikes, pings or mizunos. Although they make some great clubs, especially mizunos, I'd rather read about other brands instead of the irons that everyone reviews.

[Aotearoa_Brad]

I have a US residency visa application in at the moment, but I'll have to sit this one out. Great sample, by the way, Dmattucci!

[revkev]

I came to this thread to view the instructions on how to apply for the job. I can tell you that were I the one in charge of hiring reviewers there would already be two - "thank you we'll get back to you's" - and I do hire and fire people despite the Rev tag. I recently had someone who applied for a job and then harrassed our administrative assistant for four days when they were told we hadn't made a decision yet. Do you think that person got the job? Only if I wanted to tick my administrative assistant off and that ain't happening. She's too good.

 

What are you guys thinking?

 

Here's an opportunity - do what MGS is asking and apply and see what happens - They have the relationship with the OEM, they get the say so on who will do the reviews. Perhaps they are looking for people whose name starts with the letter C and the first three people whose name starts with a C get the gig. More than likely they're looking for people who will do what they're ask and be competent at it. Just a hunch but I'm guessing that will be the case. It's like a music audition - send a tape, see how they like you.

 

I got lucky on the other contest - I didn't know before hand that they were going to choose facebook as a platform for votes - I was every bit as fortunate as if they had drawn my name out of a hat. Are you really upset with me and the other winners for our good fortune. Really? That's sad IMO.

 

Good luck here - it sounds to me like this is the start of putting together a nice force of testers. Exactly what many of us have been hoping for. Thanks T. I'll try my hand at this tomorrow.

[Aotearoa_Brad]

You got my +1 Rev, great post - and congratulations again. You've got to be in to win, right?

[Tony Covey MGS]

I came to this thread to view the instructions on how to apply for the job. I can tell you that were I the one in charge of hiring reviewers there would already be two - "thank you we'll get back to you's" - and I do hire and fire people despite the Rev tag. I recently had someone who applied for a job and then harrassed our administrative assistant for four days when they were told we hadn't made a decision yet. Do you think that person got the job? Only if I wanted to tick my administrative assistant off and that ain't happening. She's too good.

 

What are you guys thinking?

 

Here's an opportunity - do what MGS is asking and apply and see what happens - They have the relationship with the OEM, they get the say so on who will do the reviews. Perhaps they are looking for people whose name starts with the letter C and the first three people whose name starts with a C get the gig. More than likely they're looking for people who will do what they're ask and be competent at it. Just a hunch but I'm guessing that will be the case. It's like a music audition - send a tape, see how they like you.

 

I got lucky on the other contest - I didn't know before hand that they were going to choose facebook as a platform for votes - I was every bit as fortunate as if they had drawn my name out of a hat. Are you really upset with me and the other winners for our good fortune. Really? That's sad IMO.

 

Good luck here - it sounds to me like this is the start of putting together a nice force of testers. Exactly what many of us have been hoping for. Thanks T. I'll try my hand at this tomorrow.

 

Kev ...it's like anything else. There's always going to be one guy.

 

The one thing that bothers me is that this somehow got characterized as a contest. It's not. We're looking for people who will do a good job review products in accordance with the terms we set forth. Basically, you need to prove to us you can take good pics, and string some sentences together in a coherent, and hopefully entertaining fashion.

 

The *contributing member* thing is there to avoid the issues we had when we tried this the first time (thanks for the gear...Ima gonna keep and not write a word review wise). We can't have that happen again.

 

For those of you worried about post counts...yeah...we're probably not going to let a complete stranger have at it out of the gate, but take a guy like Dmattucci, for example. He's got less than a handful of posts, but he regularly comments on the blog...especially on the bigger articles, and he took part in the Tour Staff contest (if memory serves he was among those suggesting we give the website a facelift). He's most definitely not excluded from the running.

[GolfSpy WD]

T, how long are you going to hold this open? I've been wanting to write a review of my Dynacrafts irons/wedges and this seems like a perfect example, I just need to make it to the range, which I should be able to do by Thursday and write everything up this weekend.

[Super Tuna]

Very neat T.

 

Entry:

 

Information

Model and flex: Mizuno JPX 825 Pro, Stiff flex

Handicap: 13.2

Age: 28

Handed: Right

Iron Specs: Yup, all required specs are known to me

 

Questions

1: Best Irons

A: Mizuno

B: Nike

 

2: Worst Irons

A: Taylormade

B: Wilson

 

3: Picture

 

4: Mini Review – Looks

 

When discussing looks, usually it's pretty straight forward for Mizuno irons. They look like a shiny, chrome blade and that's either your thing (most golfers) or not (you're probably from Mars) and thus does the story end. The JPX 800 and 825's are a bit of a recent departure in that they've also added Blue to the badge to catch your eye on the rack. Thus the JPX 825 Pro's are an interesting blend. They're still fairly colourless but instead of the bright poppy chrome, you get a fairly muted metal colour, at least for the head and then black polymer to further enhance the darkened look. Staring back at you from the cavity is the shiny chrome you would expect proudly announcing the model name. Sort of like a knight in shining armour striding out of the darkened forest. Though I'm sure Mizuno would probably prefer some sort of Samurai or the like in that imagery. Here's where you'll also notice that the cut out slot in the cavity differs in size per iron between the 4-7 and disappears in the scoring irons entirely.

 

Flipping the JPX 825 Pro over to take a look at the sole, you'll immediately notice that Mizuno has gone back to the triple cut sole cavity that's been a fixture in their irons before. The angles seem somewhat different, but anyone who's familiar with the MX200 or MX300's will recognize it immediately. We'll touch on this more later when we talk about the performance of the club and the technology behind it but just in terms of looks, I really like it. For lack of a better phrase, it's very “Mizunoey”. By that I mean it's clean, it's understated but it also shows that there's a lot of technology built into Mizuno clubs and it's there if you want to look. It just won't jump out of a darkened alley and beat you over the head with a neon green glow stick that proclaims how awesome it is with all its alien space ship infused goodness.

 

Finally and most importantly, we flip that club over at address and take a look. As I gander down upon it from my lofty height of not very tall at all, a number of things show up immediately. First, the darkened chrome look transfers across to address. For me, it doesn't do much but for those in say Florida with the sun beaming down all the time it'll be nice not to have the glare in your eye all the time. The second is that the top line has been bevelled to appear smaller then it is. By no means is it large, but with the beveling it looks more like a blade that had a few to many muffins while on holiday. Who are we to begrudge someone extra muffins eh? Suffice to say it looks great.

 

As for offset, you'll see an expected amount for a players club. It's not a lot but it's certainly there. It won't fix your release nor kick the ball way up in the air but it will help out with small timing or compression miscues, exactly what a players iron should do really.

 

All in all, I think this is an interesting package in looks for Mizuno. It's different from what they usually offer but not in a neon light saber flailing way.