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TaylorMade’s new M3 and M4 irons, with “RibCOR” technology

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With its new M3 and M4 irons, TaylorMade has introduced a “RibCOR” technology that’s designed to produce more speed on mishits. Before we get into what exactly that design is, let’s see why this concept is important.

COR, or coefficient of restitution, is the measure of energy transfer between two objects. For golf club manufacturers, especially when making game-improvement irons, the goal is to get COR as high as possible; this means ensuring as much energy gets transferred from the club face to the golf ball as possible during impact. Of course, the USGA sets a limit on COR of golf clubs so they can only go so far.

Many companies these days have figured out how to maximize COR on the center of the club face. Now, the game for engineers across the industry has become “how high can we make COR on shots hit off-center.” The goal obviously being to produce as much speed on off-center hits as possible, or, minimizing energy loss at impact.

TaylorMade, for its new M3 and M4 irons, has introduced RibCOR technology that uses two ribs, or beams, on the outer portions of the heel and toe as pictured below.

This provides internal support on the outer portions of the club so that the face can flex as much as possible at impact, thus retaining energy transfer from the club the golf ball. So while the center of the face may not produce more speed compared to its M1 and M2 predecessors, this design should impart more ball speed across the face. That means more forgiveness, or MOI (moment of inertia).

The RibCOR design couples with a number of familiar technologies from the company’s past including inverted cone technology, speed pockets and face slots. These are all designed for to produce higher ball speeds and more forgiveness, helping golfers who don’t hit the center of the face every time to launch the ball high and far.

As with the M1 and M2 irons they replace, the lower-numbered M3 iron has a more compact look and is designed for slightly better players, whereas the higher-numbered M4 iron is built for more distance and forgiveness, and has a larger head profile.

For more photos and discussion click here, or read below for more info on each of the offerings. Both the M3 and M4 irons will be available at retail on February 16.

Taylormade M4 irons

As the more forgiving of the two M-family offerings, TaylorMade’s M4 irons have fluted hosels, 1mm toplines, and what TaylorMade calls its “thinnest ever leading edge.” Also, along with the RibCOR technology that’s in both the M3 and M4 irons, additional mass has been placed on the toe and heel portions of the M4 irons to produce great forgiveness on off-center hits.

Overall, the M4 club heads have 24 percent higher MOI than the M2 2017 heads, according to TaylorMade, so golfers will find them to be more forgiving than their predecessors.

The M4 irons (4-LW) will come stock with either KBS Max 85 steel shafts (R and S flex), Fujikura Atmos shafts (5A, 6R, 7S), or additional custom shafts, with TM Dual Feel grips. Steel will sell for $899 per set, while graphite will sell for $999.

Taylormade M3 irons

The TaylorMade M3 irons, while housing some of the same technologies as the M4 irons, are made for those players who want a more compact shape and are looking for more trajectory control. To help achieve this look without sacrificing much by way of forgiveness, TaylorMade ha added a 15-gram tungsten weight to the soles of the M3 irons; this lowers CG in the head.

The irons have a 180-degree fluted hosel — that means it’s not as visible at address compared to the 360-degree fluted hosel in the M4 irons — to help move weight away from the heel. The irons have a thinner topline than the M1 irons they replace, according to TaylorMade, and have soles designed with more bounce for better turf interaction.

M3 sets (3-SW) come stock with either True Temper XP100 steel shafts (R300, S300), Mitsubishi’s Tensei graphite shafts (70R or 80S), or additional custom shafts, and with Lamkin UTx NC grips. M3 irons will sell for $999 with steel shafts or $1199 with graphite.

Click here for more photos and discussion on the M3 and M4 irons

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He played on the Hawaii Pacific University Men's Golf team and earned a Masters degree in Communications. He also played college golf at Rutgers University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

5 Comments

5 Comments

  1. S

    Jan 9, 2018 at 12:26 pm

    I can see why pros are leaving TM…

    • ran

      Jan 30, 2018 at 10:11 am

      Wonder if the M3 and M4 have the same face caving issue that the M1/M2 irons have…..many people reporting face cave on irons….TM just replaces them with same iroins that eventually cave again.

  2. Tom Newsted

    Jan 3, 2018 at 10:52 am

    RIBCORE they stole that from their time with Addidas. That has been on a hockey stick for years. its a gimmick.

  3. mel

    Jan 2, 2018 at 8:32 pm

    TM M3 and M4 state-of-the-art iron designs look like winners to me, and leaving behind all those offering gel-filled hollow irons …. opps that means the P790 are obsolete now …lol … that was fast … lolol

  4. George

    Jan 2, 2018 at 12:33 pm

    i need me some ribcor

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Whats in the Bag

Russell Henley WITB 2024 (March)

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  • Russell Henley WITB accurate as of the Cognizant Classic.

Driver: Titleist TSi3 (10 degrees, B1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 70 6.5 TX

3-wood: Titleist TS3 (16.5 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 80 TX

Hybrid: Titleist TSi2 (21 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi MMT Hybrid 100 TX

Irons: Titleist T100 (4-9)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold AMT (4-6), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (7-9)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 50-08F @51, 54-10S, @55, 60-04T)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putter: Scotty Cameron T5 Prototype

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

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Vince Carter WITB 2024 (March)

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  • The NBA legend was teeing it up in the Arnold Palmer Invitational Pro-Am.

Driver: Ping G430 Max 10K (9 degrees)

3-wood: Ping G430 Max (15 degrees)

7-wood: Ping G430 Max (21 degrees)

Irons: Ping i230 (4-PW)

Wedges: Ping Glide 4.0 (50, 54, 58)

Putter: Ping

Ball: Renegade Mbu

Check out more photos of Vince Carter’s WITB here.

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From the Forums: I need more forgiveness in my irons – Looking for recommendations

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In our forums, our members have been discussing the most forgiving irons currently on the market. WRXer ‘TheShark1’ is on the hunt for a new set of irons, saying:

“Currently gaming the Mizuno Pro 225’s but think I need more forgiveness in my irons. My well struck shots are real nice, but my mishits are not performing as good as I had hoped anymore. I really like hollow body irons so if I could find something more forgiving in a hollow body iron that would be great.

Open to any and all recommendations other than Ping. Can’t hit Ping irons at all.”

And our members have been sharing their best suggestions in our forum.

Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

  • AvidSwampThing66: “Another vote for the super forgiving and fast Paradym irons.   They look really good for being a GI iron.”
  • bobfoster: “I just went from MP20 MMCs to the new 245s in my scoring irons (just played my first round with them today). If you have a chance to try them, you might find them worth a serious look.”
  • vman: “Shoot me down, but spend the money on lessons.”
  • J_Tizzle: “i525s are great off the heel in my opinion.”

Entire Thread: “From the Forums: I need more forgiveness in my irons – Looking for recommendations”

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