Equipment
Photos of TaylorMade irons from the last 35 years
TaylorMade has been making irons for more than 35 years, and depending on how long you’ve been playing golf, there’s a decent chance you’ve used one or more of the iron sets below.
Our slideshows cover each decade of TaylorMade irons, and we’ve captioned certain photos to help put the company’s iron launches in historical context. For more on the past, present and future of the iron-design process, make sure to read our deep dive on the topic: How TaylorMade designs its next set of irons.
What’s your favorite set of TaylorMade irons from the ’80s, ’90s, ’00s and ’10s? What did you like about them? Which sets did you buy, and which ones would you still use today? Let us know in the comments section at the end of this article. And remember, you can click the photos to enlarge them and read the full captions.
1980-1989
1990-1999
2000-2009
2010-2016
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Whats in the Bag
Kevin Tway WITB 2024 (May)
- Kevin Tway what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 80 TX
5-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 90 TX
Irons: Wilson Staff Utility (2), Titleist T100 (4-9)
Shafts: Mitsubishi MMT 100 TX (2), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (4-9)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 52-12F @51, 56-14F), SM7 (60-10S)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (48-56), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (60)
Putter: Scotty Cameron T-5 Proto
Grip: Scotty Cameron Black Baby T
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Plus4
More photos of Kevin Tway’s WITB in the forums.
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Equipment
Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?
Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.
The timing of Lowry’s putter changeup was curious: Was he just using a Spider putter because he was paired with McIlroy, who’s been using a Spider Tour X head throughout 2024? Was Lowry just being festive because it’s the Zurich Classic, and he wanted to match his teammate? Did McIlroy let Lowry try his putter, and he liked it so much he actually switched into it?
Well, as it turns out, McIlroy’s only influence was inspiring Lowry to make more putts.
When asked if McIlroy had an influence on the putter switch, Lowry had this to say: “No, it’s actually a different putter than what he uses. Maybe there was more pressure there because I needed to hole some more putts if we wanted to win,” he said with a laugh.
To Lowry’s point, McIlroy plays the Tour X model, whereas Lowry switched into the Tour Z model, which has a sleeker shape in comparison, and the two sole weights of the club are more towards the face.
Lowry’s Spider Tour Z has a white True Path Alignment channel on the crown of his putter, which is reminiscent of Lowry’s former 2-ball designs, thus helping to provide a comfort factor despite the departure from his norm. Instead of a double-bend hosel, which Lowry used in his 2-ball putters, his new Spider Tour Z is designed with a short slant neck.
“I’ve been struggling on the greens, and I just needed something with a fresh look,” Lowry told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship. “It has a different neck on it, as well, so it moves a bit differently, but it’s similar. It has a white line on the back of it [like my 2-ball], and it’s a mallet style. So it’s not too drastic of a change.
“I just picked it up on the putting green and I liked the look of it, so I was like, ‘Let’s give it a go.’”
Read the rest of the piece over at PGATour.com.
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Equipment
Webb Simpson equipment Q&A: Titleist’s new 2-wood, 680 blade irons, and switching to a broomstick Jailbird
With seven career wins on the PGA Tour, including a U.S. Open victory, Webb Simpson is a certified veteran on the course. But he’s also a certified veteran in the equipment world, too. He’s a gearhead who truly knows his stuff, and he’s even worked closely with Titleist on making his own custom 682.WS irons.
On Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship, I caught up with Simpson to hear about his experience with Titleist’s new prototype 2-wood, how Titleist’s 680 Forged irons from 2003 ended up back in his bag, and why he’s switching into an Odyssey Ai-One Jailbird Cruiser broomstick putter this week for the first time.
Click here to read our full story about Simpson’s putter switch on PGATOUR.com’s Equipment Report, or continue reading below for my full Q&A with Simpson at Quail Hollow Club on Wednesday.
See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here
GolfWRX: It seems like you’ve been a little all over the place with your irons in the past six months or so, and now going back to the 680’s. Is that just a comfort thing? What’s been going on with the irons?
Webb Simpson: Titleist has been so great at working with me, and R&D, on trying to get an iron that kind of modernizes the 680. And so the 682.WS took the T100 grooves, but kinda took the look and the bulk and the build of the 680’s into one club. They’re beautiful, and awesome looking. I just never hit them that well for a consistent period of time. It was probably me, but then I went to T100’s and loved them. I loved the spin, the trajectory, the yardage, but again, I never went on good runs. Going through the ground, I couldn’t feel the club as well as with the blade. So last week, I’m like, ‘Alright. I’m gonna go back more for…comfort, and see if I can get on a nice little run of ball striking.’
So that’s why I went back.
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OK, that makes sense. I know you had done some 2-wood testing recently. Is that in the bag right now?
It’s like day-by-day. I used it at Hilton Head every day. Valero, I used it one round. And this week, me and my caddie will do the book every morning, and if it’s a day where we think we need it, we’ll just put it in and take the 3-wood out. I love it because it’s a super simple swap. Like, it doesn’t really change much.
Yeah, can you tell me about that club? I mean, we don’t really know anything about it yet. You know? I haven’t hit it or anything, obviously.
It has grooves like a 3-wood. Spin is perfect. And it’s honestly, like, everything is in the middle of a 3-wood and driver number. Trajectory, spin, carry, all of it. So, a Hilton Head golf course is almost too easy to talk about because, you know, there, so many holes are driver 3-wood.
Valero, our thinking was we had two par-5’s into the wind, and we knew that it would take two great shots to get there in two. So instead of hitting driver-driver, we just put it in. And I used it on those holes.
Hilton was a little easier because it was off-the-tee kind of questions. But Colonial will be a golf course where, you know, there’s a lot of driver or 3-woods. It’s kind of like a backup putter or driver for me now. I’ll bring it to every tournament.
So it’s, like, in your locker right now, probably?
Well, it would be. It’s in my house [because Webb lives near by Quail Hollow Club, and is a member at the course.] It’s in the garage.
Oh, yeah, that’s right. Do you know what holes you might use it out here if it goes in play?
Potentially 15, depending on the wind. Second shot on 10. Could be 14 off the tee. The chances here are pretty low (that he’ll use the 2-wood). But, like, Greensboro would be an awesome club all day. I’m trying to think of any other golf courses.
There’s plenty that it’ll be a nice weapon to have.
It’s interesting, the wave of 2-woods and mini drivers. Like, it’s just really taken off on Tour, and all the companies have seemed to embrace it.
Yeah. The thing I had to learn, it took me, like, at least a week to learn about it is you gotta tee it up lower than you think. I kept teeing it up too high. You need it low, like barely higher than a 3-wood. And that was where I got optimal spin and carry. If you tee it up too high, you just don’t get as much spin and lose distance, I don’t know if that’s just a mini driver thing.
And you obviously have a Jailbird putter this week. What spurred that on?
Inconsistent putting. I’m stubborn in a lot of ways when it comes to my equipment, but I have to be open minded – I just hadn’t putted consistently well in a while. And I’m like, ‘Man, I feel my ball-striking coming along. Like I feel better; for real, better.’
If I can just get something in my hands that I’m consistent with. Being on Tour, you see it every year, guys get on little runs. I can put together four to five tournaments where I’m all the sudden back in the majors, or in the FedExCup Playoffs. You can turn things around quick out here. I’m like, ‘Man, whatever’s going to get me there, great.’
My caddie, David Cook, caddied for Akshay at the Houston Open and he putted beautifully. Then, I watched Akshay on TV at Valero, and he putted beautifully. And, I’m like, ‘I’m just going to try it.’
I’ve never tried it for more than a putt or two, and I just ordered what Akshay uses. It was pretty awkward at first, but the more I used it, the more I’m like, ‘Man, it’s pretty easy.’ And a buddy of mine who’s a rep out here, John Tyler Griffin, he helped me with some setup stuff. And he said at Hilton Head, he wasn’t putting well, then tried it, and now he makes everything. He was very confident. So I’m like, ‘Alright, I’ll try it.’”
And you’re going with it this week?
Hundred percent.
Alright, I love it. Thank you, I always love talking gear with you. Play well this week.
Thanks, man.
See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here
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rex235
May 6, 2016 at 12:22 am
The 1987 TM TD Tour Preferred Iron was one of the best irons ever, and a LH model was available.
Some of these newer models like the TM TP Forged from 2005 were a nod to the MacGregor MT Wingbacks from 50 years earlier. Coin Forged? Smoke? RH only to be sure, and Miura made?
Taylor Made golf made a LH Forged 300 set for Mike Weir and he won the Masters, then promptly said they would NOT make this model available to other LH golfers. DID NOT CARE.
The current TM Tour Preferred blade iron is also RH only, and is a nod to the first Ben Hogan Precision model from 1954-55.
TM’s first Pittsburgh Persimmon Models were game changers, but for the most part their iron models remain Right Hand only.
RB
May 2, 2016 at 1:51 pm
Interesting – had kind of forgotten how popular TM irons were in the past decades, and how well regarded they used to be.
All those clubs listed, and it doesn’t include the only TM irons i ever played – Rocketbladez Tour. Completely different club than the std. Rocketbladez
Brando
Apr 30, 2016 at 3:59 am
I hit a friends 1993 or so Taylor Made original Burner Driver last week 10 degree. Hit it great on a tight hole 260 yards right down the middle or so at 43.5 inches long. My sldr I probably hit 280-288 yards avg. The old Taylor hit it nice and low very boring flight. I am about a 7 handicap and had it to two under yesterday after 14 holes great for me. The home stretch the holes were all dead into a 20mph wind and I fell apart sprayed a few drives and finished 3 over par. I think if I had that original burner driver on those last few holes things may have been different. When hit on the screws the clubs from the 1990’s still preform very well. I hit a original burner 5 wood 1993 model all through high school golf and I really don’t find that club much different than today’s hybrid clubs in head shape trajectory or ease of hitting the sweet spot. Sure on down wind drives the new stuff will really crush the small headed drivers but I am thinking to pick up one of those original Taylor Made Burners for tight tracks and windy days is good to have.
Ballz
May 1, 2016 at 1:56 am
It’s the ball. Pick the right ball, the one that has lower trajectory. So much technology is in the balls now.
Adam Scott
Apr 29, 2016 at 10:00 pm
Too many products!
gdb99
Apr 29, 2016 at 9:59 pm
What happened to the ferrules?
emb
Apr 30, 2016 at 12:44 pm
these are just heads, no shaft. A loose shaft was just put in so show the address position better, hence no ferrule
Chuck D
Apr 29, 2016 at 6:59 pm
@ The Man! Fantastic list!! The ICW 11’s!! Oh, those bring back memories. I did some serious damage to courses with those sticks!
Nath
Apr 29, 2016 at 4:48 pm
Its great that GOLFWRX has put up these photos of TAYLORMADE irons over the last 35 years.
What is not so good is that taylormade removed the whole history of their irons from their website some 3-4 years ago, completely removed it! Dumb move taylormade.
skip
May 6, 2016 at 5:07 pm
Can’t agree more.
jrp
Apr 29, 2016 at 4:40 pm
They didn’t show the X-300 FCI limited edition forged in Japan by Miura for the Us market. Those were soft & sweet!
Mark
Apr 30, 2016 at 10:36 am
Oh yeah. Those had a good design. Figures… Miura.
Regis
Apr 29, 2016 at 4:31 pm
I played Mizuno then Miura forged but as my swing speed and ball striking declined with age, I started looking for a GI alternative with graphite shafts. The RACs were good, as were the R7 CGB Max irons ( I turned a friend on to them and he’s an avid golfer and he has no interest in upgrading) but my favorites are the SLDR irons which I re-shafted with Matrix Kujoh shafts. For me they’re the best heads ever made by TMAG
golfbum
Apr 29, 2016 at 3:52 pm
TPF irons are probably the finest iron design ever. In fact still made today by a number of japan forging houses: vega irons Kyoei. The funny story here is that LOU ORTIZ of Orlimar designed them; chose to go in on the tooling with Taylormade. Have the whole story from Jesse Ortiz. Fine iron design and still playable today. LOVE looking at quality clubs of yesteryear!
Mark
Apr 29, 2016 at 3:37 pm
No ICW5s? They were gorgeous. I understand the tour heads were cast softer to improve feel.
The man
Apr 29, 2016 at 3:07 pm
According the the PGA below (not in release order) is the full list of every TM iron set.
200 Steel
300
320
360
360 XD
Aeroburner
Burner 1.0
Burner 2.0
Burner 2009
Burner HT
Burner LCG
Burner Midsize
Burner Oversize
Burner Plus
Burner SuperFast 3.0
Burner Superlaunch
Burner Superlaunch Rescue
Burner Tour
Burner XD
EL-1
F81
Firesole
Firesole Tour
ICW 11
ICW 5
Iron Cleek
Kalea
KVD
LCG
M2
M2 Tour
Miscela
Miscela 2006
PR 1
PSi
PSi Tour
R11
r5 XL
r7
r7 cgb MAX
r7 cgb MAX 2008
r7 Draw
r7 Draw Rescue Hybrid
r7 TP
r7 XD
R9
R9 TP
RAC CGB
RAC Forged CB TP
RAC HT
RAC LT
RAC LT 2005
RAC MB
RAC MB TP
RAC MB TP Smoke
RAC OS
RAC OS 2005
RAC TP 2005
RAC TP Combo
RBZ Pro
RBZ Pro Combo
RocketBallz
RocketBallz HP
RocketBallz Max
RocketBladez
RocketBladez HL
RocketBladez HP
RocketBladez Max
RocketBladez Tour
RSi 1
RSi 2
RSi TP
SLDR
Speedblade
Speedblade HL
SuperSteel
Titanium Bubble 2
Tour Burner
Tour Preferred
Tour Preferred 2009
Tour Preferred CB
Tour Preferred CB 2014
Tour Preferred MB
Tour Preferred MB 2014
Tour Preferred MC
Tour Preferred MC 2014
X-300 FCI
Nath
Apr 30, 2016 at 9:44 pm
Now why cant we get this info from TM site?
Dan
Apr 29, 2016 at 3:01 pm
What about the Tour Prefered MCs? Great sticks.
http://www.fairwaygolfusa.com/taylormade-tour-preferred-mc-irons-p-67936.html?language=en&gclid=Cj0KEQjwjIy5BRClh8m_9Zu64d8BEiQAtZsQf8vGnM6TRxqtYdDqaZxtCNrT7evbnBn2zRDnqissV60aAvW48P8HAQ
Hawk
Apr 29, 2016 at 2:51 pm
I’m sure it’s not just me, but following the time line it appears that TM’s production line used to be 2-3 years until 2007 where it went to a year, and now it is like 6 months….WTF Taylormade…
Al Cleaver
Apr 29, 2016 at 2:37 pm
Blindfold me, take off the logos, let me hit 10 different brands of similar irons and I still end up with Taylormade.
Owned Firesole Titanium Tungsten, RAC LT, now Rocket Bladz. All have been satisfying to play with. Each suited my skills at the time.
B Clizzle
Apr 29, 2016 at 5:55 pm
You must like that plastic feel at impact
Steve C
Apr 29, 2016 at 2:32 pm
Of course we all have our personal favorites on the trip down memory lane. For me, the tour preferred TDs of 1987 were my club of choice. I played them for years eventually finding the two iron 2 iron to add to add to the set. Those long irons were soooo easy to hit. (Of course I never broke a 4 hdcp., so what do I know?)
simon Burrows
Apr 29, 2016 at 1:26 pm
The TM300s are still in the bag. Yet to find anything better.
B Clizzle
Apr 29, 2016 at 4:55 pm
Must not be looking since it’s like every iron ever
Dlygrisse
Apr 29, 2016 at 12:29 pm
I can sum up TM irons with one general statement over the years….meh….
MT
Apr 29, 2016 at 12:52 pm
http://taylormadegolf.jp/PreviousModel_Irons_2009.html
All the Forged version have been awesome in Japan.
Pandhandle Loki
Apr 29, 2016 at 12:25 pm
Wonder who will comment 50 million times on this article
adan
Apr 29, 2016 at 12:04 pm
My first set in golf was the TM RAC OS. I only care about their drivers anymore.
B Clizzle
Apr 29, 2016 at 4:56 pm
What irons are you playing now?
Miquel Angel
Apr 29, 2016 at 11:52 am
Thanks for the sentimental journey. I shot in the 70’s for the first time usign the icw5 – and those RAC MP TP Smokes…wowza…
CCTxGolf
Apr 29, 2016 at 11:41 am
This was cool. It would be interesting to see for all of the top brands.
Hawk
Apr 29, 2016 at 2:57 pm
I heard they thought about it, but the other brands didn’t have half the total number of irons during the same time period so they thought it would be less interesting….
B Clizzle
Apr 29, 2016 at 4:58 pm
Still for the club ho….
We’d like to see it but want someone else to do the work for us
Matty
Apr 29, 2016 at 11:41 am
To be honest, does anyone think that the look of the M2 and M2 Tour irons would be better if they took out those 2 bars at the back of the iron?
MT
Apr 29, 2016 at 12:46 pm
No.
lol
Poi
Apr 29, 2016 at 11:34 am
Awesome stuff.
cody
Apr 29, 2016 at 11:08 am
missed a few sets but pretty cool to see.
Matt
Apr 29, 2016 at 10:18 am
The 300 Forged irons were some of the best irons ever made. Could easily still be gamed today.
dapadre
Apr 29, 2016 at 11:18 am
You beat me to it…….yes indeed the 300s were simple but efficient.
Johnny
Apr 29, 2016 at 11:34 am
Indeed, the 300 forged was the best they have made. Still see them in bags at the club sometimes.
cgasucks
Apr 29, 2016 at 2:57 pm
My heart still flutters every time I see those irons…they as beautiful as they perform…