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Players distance iron shootout! TaylorMade vs. PXG vs. Takomo

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When I head to the range, I usually pack a golf bag to the brim with different clubs and driver shafts to ensure that I can hit a plethora of options. This week, I loaded up my bag and grabbed the Full Swing KIT launch monitor and a few of the players distance irons that I have been using this season. Out on the course the PXG 0311T Gen5, TaylorMade P770, and Takomo 101T have been really solid, and I have enjoyed my rounds with them. I never really do launch monitor comparisons, but I figured it would be fun to see what the differences in numbers showed me. Take a listen to the Club Junkie podcast for the full discussion on my time with these irons on the range!

The driving range I go to is close to my house but nothing you would consider the “ultimate golf club testing facility.” I was hitting off a mat and using two-piece range balls that surprisingly were in very good shape for this time in the season. Typically, most range balls have seen better days at the end of the summer and are struggling to hold on to the few dimples they have left. Most of the balls in my basket looked very new or like they had never been hit, so I was a little more confident in what I was seeing from the launch monitor. I hit six very good shots with each iron and did dump a couple of outliers that either went way left or that I might have caught a bit of mat first before contact with the ball. 

Carry Distance: I knew this metric was going to be close because I had played quite a few rounds with each of these sets, but I didn’t know it was going to be this close. Between the three sets of irons, there was a total of two yards difference between them all. For my swing, the PXG 0311T Gen5 was the longest of the group at 162 yards, followed up by the TaylorMade P770 at 161 yards, and finally the Takomo Iron 101T at 160 yards. So that means that out on the course they all play the same for me! At my skill level (9.7 handicap as of this writing) a mere two yards isn’t something that I can notice — especially when you throw in course conditions like wind, green undulation, and temperature. 

Spin: This was the metric I thought I would see some variation but my pre-shot rankings of what irons would spin the most and the least was 100 percent wrong! The highest spinning iron for me was the TaylorMade P770 at 6,531 rpm. Before hitting them on the launch monitor, I thought the P770 might be the lowest spinning iron of the three, but I was way off on that. The Takomo Iron 101T came in with an average of 6,374 rpm, and the PXG 0311T Gen5 was the lowest at 6,118 rpm. Now, remember that these are low-spin range balls, but a 400 rpm difference between the three is so close it isn’t very noticeable. None of the shots had any sort of ballooning shape to them and all hit their apex on a fairly steep trajectory. There is also a chance that a higher quality ball could even tighten that spin number up a bit as well.

Ball Speed and Smash Factor: In this category of “players distance” irons ball speed has become a bigger factor and most companies have been trying to help increase that number for golfers. The ball speed numbers on all three irons seem high and these for sure have more speed to them than the one-piece forged CB’s that I used to love to play. The Takomo Iron 101T took the top spot here at 117.8 mph and 1.40 on average with the PXG just being edged out at 117.3 mph and 1.37. The TaylorMade P770 came in a very close 3rd at 116.8 mph and 1.35. Again all very close and I love the fact that irons like these keep that ball speed number close even when you don’t find the center of the face. 

Launch and Apex: This one is usually pretty important to me as I don’t hit a typically high ball with any of my clubs. Added launch is my friend and allows me to have better distance control and get the ball to stop on the green without worrying about calculating the amount of release on the ball. For me the TaylorMade P770 launched the highest, by a few degrees, at 20 degrees and hit an Apex of 81 feet. The PXG 0311T Gen5 was the next highest at 16. degrees and hit an Apex of 75.5 feet. The Takomo Iron 101T was the lowest launching and flattest flying at 16.1 degrees and rising up to 73.5 feet at its apex. This was very noticeable on the range as the TaylorMade could easily be spotted as the highest launching. I also think that added launch is what gave the P770 the added distance even though its ball speed was a little lower.

Overall, it shows me how good this players distance category is and how many players probably fit very well into it. I like all three iron sets and will continue to rotate them through my rounds.

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I have been an employee at GolfWRX since 2016. In that time I have been helping create content on GolfWRX Radio, GolfWRX YouTube, as well as writing for the front page. Self-proclaimed gear junkie who loves all sorts of golf equipment as well as building golf clubs!

9 Comments

9 Comments

  1. Delbert

    Sep 27, 2022 at 12:24 pm

    I tried distance irons that look like blades. No consistency. Put those irons up and went back to my old Mizuno blade. Went out and broke par for the first time in a year.

  2. Mike Hunt

    Sep 27, 2022 at 10:55 am

    How can you write an article about 3 different clubs and and NEVER mention what specific club.number your are referencing ?

    Do better. Or get a better editor.

  3. Tommy Gibbs

    Sep 26, 2022 at 11:43 am

    PXG most xtreme iron out there bro. I know this becuase of the guy yelling in the commerical

  4. Joejoe

    Sep 26, 2022 at 6:22 am

    Looks like Tacoma wins overall because they cost half of pxg and TaylorMade.

  5. Mnw

    Sep 26, 2022 at 2:35 am

    You didn’t state the club number you were hitting nor the most important fact: loft of each club and offset.

  6. Karsten Solheim

    Sep 25, 2022 at 2:42 pm

    And in a late addition to the field, the winner, Ping Eye 2

    • Brian

      Sep 25, 2022 at 5:37 pm

      Winner for ugliest iron ever made, perhaps.

    • Brian

      Sep 25, 2022 at 7:07 pm

      Winner for ugliest ironever, maybe.

    • Brian Posted twice lmao

      Sep 26, 2022 at 6:55 pm

      Winner of the “get some of these and never spend money on Chinese junk again” award.

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Whats in the Bag

Kevin Tway WITB 2024 (May)

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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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Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?

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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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Webb Simpson equipment Q&A: Titleist’s new 2-wood, 680 blade irons, and switching to a broomstick Jailbird

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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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