TAYLORMADE RSi IRONS

November 05, 2014

By Scott Kramer

Renowned teaching pro Hank Haney is holding court at TaylorMade’s private driving range in Carlsbad, talking with a cluster of reporters about the company’s three new RSi irons. Sure, the company pays him to endorse the brand. But he clearly isn’t resting on those laurels. In fact on this November morning, he’s arrived a half-hour early just to pore over data and statistics with company officials, and relate his own experience thus far with the products.

TaylorMade folks claim that 76 percent of amateur iron shots miss the sweetspot. TOUR pros are better, but not as accurate as you might think. Solution: These new irons have filled-in vertical clubface slots to the right and left of the grooves that fortify ball speed across the face when you make impact toward the heel or toe, as most golfers do. The ball behaves more as if it were nutted on the sweetspot.

“You’re going to hit about 40 full iron shots during a round,” says Haney. “If you hit a half-inch toward the heel or toe, you’re going to lose about eight yards. If you’re hitting 40 shots and you mis-hit 76 percent of those, that means you missed 30 shots at eight yards apiece, or 240 yards per round. It’s really as simple as that. So you go to a course and look at the scorecard and see one set of tees playing 6,500 yards and another 6,250 yards -- which one do you think is going to be easier to play? And that’s the difference between playing these new irons and playing irons that don’t have this type of technology.”

The RSi iron family features three models. RSi 1 ($899/graphite shafts, $799/steel) incorporates the company’s thinnest face ever, a deep undercut and Inverted Cone Technology for more ball speed, stabilized clubhead structure and dampening for solid sound and feel. It's the most game-improvement iron of the bunch. RSi 2 ($1,199/graphite, $999/steel) features progressive multi-material construction. That is, the 3-5 irons are cast from stainless steel and have tungsten weighting for a low CG. The set's mid-irons are also cast, and its short irons are forged. For better players, RSi TP ($1,199) has a forged carbon steel hosel/face and a stainless steel back in the 3-7 irons -- yielding the precision and feel of a forged iron with the advanced geometry of cast irons. Its short irons are forged heads with a slight muscle cavity.



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dont3putt

Handicap Index: 4.4
Wednesday, November 05, 2014

These are really nice looking irons but lets face it. The Cost of Green fees and equipment is getting out of control. Have you ever thought of just going to the Driving/practice range on a daily bases with the equipment your using right now. The ball doesn’t know who or what is hitting it. practice more.  G.E.