TAYLORMADE
Taylormade’s most comprehensive iron line-up ever? We’d say so, and you can mix and match
TAYLORMADE P7MB
Category Muscleback blade
Forgiveness rating 1
Handicap range Four and below Construction Forged from a single piece of 1025 carbon steel
Very much for the best ball strikers in the world, as players like Dustin Johnson and Rory Mcilroy had input into them. The constant blade (the pitching wedge is the same size as a 4-iron) was a direct request from DJ himself. The P7MB was the most talked about blade of 2020 so if you find yourself thinking about a set of blades in 2021, you have to factor them in. It should come as no surprise the P7MB gave our consistent-striking test pro his biggest carry distance drop-off of any of the Taylormade P-series models.
TAYLORMADE P7MC
Category Players Forgiveness rating 2
Handicap range Four and below Construction Forged from a single piece of 1025 carbon steel
A tour-focused forged iron with the shallowest of cavity backs. Think of the MC as a blade for elite golfers who tend to hit lots of straighter shots, rather than working the ball around the course with a muscleback and you really won't go too far wrong. Our pro produced very similar 7-iron test data with the MC and P770, but where we've seen a big difference in previous test sessions was among the long irons. The hollow body P770 launches and flies higher and comes into land on a steeper angle, which makes stopping shots on long approaches a realistic goal. Something worth remembering if you find yourself attracted to the MC, as Taylormade offer the P-series on
a mix-and-match basis.
TAYLORMADE P770
Category Players distance
Forgiveness rating 2.5
Handicap range Eight and below Construction Hollow body with 8620 carbon steel body and 4140 forged face
When they launched last year, we had so many questions from club golfers asking if their game was going to be good enough to squeeze into a set of the beautiful P770s. While some Youtubers may have suggested mid-handicap golfers could use a set successfully, Taylormade insist the set are designed for low single-figure players. We'll admit we haven't seen such an aspirational iron for ages. Just remember the 7-iron loft is 2.5° weaker than the P790. And for our test pro, the extra loft and smaller head size gave up 15 yards of carry to the P790. For most club golfers that won't be justifiable for a 2mm smaller head. It does, though, show brilliantly what's on the line by choosing the P770 with your heart rather than the P790 with your head.
TAYLORMADE P790
Category Players distance
Forgiveness rating 3
Handicap range 12 and below Construction Hollow body with 8620 carbon steel body and 4140 forged face
The P790 now sits skilfully on the fence between the players distance and mid-handicap iron categories, which means it mops up a whole host of golfers who want a really good looking iron, but also want ball speed and distance built in, too. A perfect option for club golfers who put a premium on how their irons look and sound, but still need that bit of help on ball-striking off-days. While the P790's target golfer might need to keep an eye on distance, they aren't willing to go all out with the very strong lofts now found on most mid/high handicap irons. The P790 will be two years old in August, so it's possible there will be a new model in 2021.
TAYLORMADE SIM2 MAX
Category Mid-handicap
Forgiveness rating 3.5
Handicap range 10 and above Construction Cast with 450 stainless steel face
While sleek and sexy players irons might tug at our heart strings, in the real world most of us need all the help we can get. Enter SIM2. The big draw is how Taylormade have tuned the sound to be more like a forged iron. It means you give nothing up in terms of feedback, but get extra playability and (if you can muster as much speed as our test pro) up to 17 yards more carry than a P770. Incredibly, the Max (6.5° stronger 7-iron loft than the P7MB) flights shots higher and brings the ball down onto the green at the same type of angle as the muscleback, which demonstrates brilliantly how far modern weighting techniques have come to make strong-lofted irons so playable.
TAYLORMADE SIM2 MAX OS
Category High handicap
Forgiveness rating 4
Handicap range 28 and below Construction Cast with 450 stainless steel face
With a 7-iron loft of 26.5°, the Max OS is the second strongest iron on the market (Titleist T400 is 26°), and it's the longest model we've hit this year. Vastly different amounts of hosel offset compared to the SIM2 Max is how Taylormade make this iron playable, as extra offset pushes the centre of gravity further back to help with launch and forgiveness. Realistically, we reckon golfers will still need at least average levels of swing speed to get the OS to launch at optimal levels of spin, height and descent angle. But if speed isn't your demon, you won't find a longer iron in 2021, yet it still flighted shots higher and got the ball to land at a steeper angle (without being the lowest spinning) than any other in the current TM line-up.