Equipment

What Adam Scott said about his new 681.AS irons

Published

2 years ago

Oct 15, 2021

Ben Alberstadt

Editor’s note: We originally filed this piece for the Equipment Report on PGATOUR.com.

Adam Scott has used the same irons — Titleist Forged 680 — for the better part of 10 years.

“When you’re old and stubborn, you like what you like,” the 41-year-old told PGATOUR.COM.

Indeed, as he has transitioned into Titleist’s latest woods and wedges, the 14-time PGA TOUR winner has remained steadfast in playing his 2003 680 irons with KBS Tour 130 X shafts.

It was interesting, then, to see Scott with a different — but very similar — set of irons in the bag ahead of THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT.

Adam Scott’s trust Titleist 680 8-iron

Scott’s new 681.AS Forged 8-iron

At a glance, the visually stunning irons look identically shaped to the 680s we’re used to seeing in Scott’s bag — similar large muscle pad on the rear of the club, similar hosel transition, similar generous amount of offset, similar topline. However, the irons looked substantially less worn and were stamped with 681.AS on the hosel.

What’s going on here?

Titleist declined to comment, but PGATOUR.COM caught up with Scott, who shared some details. As it turns out the new irons are the same…sort of.

Before digging into the 681.AS, we asked Scott why he doesn’t simply continue playing 680 irons, and when a set wears out, replace them with another. The answer, he said, was simple. Titleist “just ran out of original sets,” which the company stopped producing in 2005.

What to do? Scour eBay and used club stores? Frequent garage sales?

Scott indicated Titleist engineers took a different tack: They made CAD (computer-aided design) copies of his beloved 680s and CNC-machined what he called, “basically the same clubs.”

“Thanks to technology,” he said, “they’re as exact a replica as you can get, but with the way they’ve been made, I could argue it’s a more solid head with a more solid strike.

“I’ve been stuck on the 680s for a long time now,” he added. “…We’ve tried some stuff here and there. We tried bending the 620 MBs earlier this year, which I actually used at the Masters. I’ve been looking for 12 months for that new fresh set with good feel in the hands and good vibes, and we just couldn’t get there, so they took this project on.”

He continued: “It’s very nice for me that Titleist was able to do that. I know what I know. I’ve played it so long, I’m at a point where I think it’s detrimental to go searching and trying to change. I know how I play, and I know what I need to play well.”

Read the full piece here.

Check out Adam Scott’s full WITB here.

Update: Titleist offered this statement, “This week at the PGA TOUR’s CJ CUP, Titleist Brand Ambassadors Justin Thomas and Adam Scott are each putting new sets of prototype Titleist muscle back irons in play. Feedback from the best players in the world is a cornerstone of the Titleist R&D process, and these prototype irons (621.JT and 681.AS) have been developed in collaboration with each player to better understand some key design variables such as shaping, sole design and CG placement – that ultimately may find their way into future Titleist iron development. We look forward to sharing additional updates on these prototypes as we gain feedback and learn more from each player’s experience.”

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Equipment

Rory McIlroy spotted testing a new TaylorMade “PROTO” 4-iron at the 2024 Valero Texas Open

Published

12 hours ago

Apr 3, 2024

Andrew Tursky

Update, 5:30 p.m.: Regarding his prototype iron, McIlroy offered this in his pre-tournament press conference:

“Yeah, I went out, spent a couple of days with the TaylorMade guys at the Kingdom. Yeah, they just produced these couple of proto, I guess like are they the MC replacements maybe…

“They performed really well. It’s just as fast as the 760 that I was using. Launch is a little higher actually, which was surprising, and it’s just sometimes I felt like when I hit my 5-iron in the blade and then the 4-iron in the 760 it was such a different feel. To go from a 5-iron now to that 4-iron, it feels a little closer to what I feel in the 5-iron. So just a little bit more responsive, but didn’t lose any performance from it, which is great. Yeah, it will be in the bag this week.”
————————————————————————-
Now just what do we have here?

On Wednesday at the 2024 Valero Texas Open, GolfWRX.com spotted Rory McIlroy testing a new, mysterious TaylorMade “PROTO” 4-iron.

Clearly, the 4-iron is a prototype, but since it doesn’t say “Rors Proto” or “RM” on it, then maybe it’s a prototype for an upcoming iron release from TaylorMade. Or, maybe it’s an upgrade for a previous or existing iron model from the company.

For reference, the photo below shows what McIlroy’s previous P760 4-iron looks like…

If the new prototype was an upgrade on the former P760 design, that would certainly be a large design departure, aesthetically speaking. It’s not impossible, but the new proto definitely looks significantly different.

McIlroy’s new proto – aesthetically, at least – looks more similar to TaylorMade’s P7MC irons, a model that Collin Morikawa uses for his 5 and 6-irons, as pictured below.

The new proto is also reminiscent of TaylorMade’s old P750 and P770 irons:

So what could McIlroy’s new TaylorMade “Proto” be? Is it a one-off prototype for McIlroy? Is it a re-design of an older model? Is it a harbinger of a bigger release in the future?

What is it?!

Unfortunately, TaylorMade hasn’t yet commented publicly on the prototype iron, so for now, we wait. And enjoy the photos of McIlroy testing it on Wednesday in San Antonio.

Here’s what it looks like from address…

And here’s what McIlroy’s numbers looked like while testing it on the range…

Uhh, yeah. Those are pretty good 4-iron numbers.

Will McIlroy make the switch into the new prototype 4-iron this week? That remains to be seen, but it should be noted that it was the only 4-iron in his bag on Wednesday.

*We’ll update this post as further information becomes available

See what GolfWRX members are saying about the TaylorMade “Proto” 4-iron here, plus more photos!

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