Well it is now March and though the weather is not good today, it has been good enough lately to get in a couple of early practice rounds with the new clubs.
The new TaylorMade Burner 1.0 irons have turned out to be an awesome addition and a darn fine upgrade from my Adams A2OS irons from '06. They have performed as advertised, long and straight and very consistent from club to club. The one thing that did surprise me was that they were not dramatically longer, you know like 2 clubs as a lot of folks boast, which says a lot for the Adams irons. Where this set shines is in the consistent setup and look from club to club. That means that there is not much difference in how you strike a 5 iron and an 8 iron, where in the Adams set they were two different types of clubs. They really deliver on the distance promise in the 4 and 5 irons, both are long and have a penetrating mid-high fight. Off the tee I am hitting the 4 iron 200+ yards, fun!
A couple of additions to the bag include a new Calaway Diablo Edge 4 wood and a TayorMade R9 460. There were some monster discounts out there in the post-Christmas season. I really like both of these new clubs, the Calaway is forgiving and very long. While the TaylorMade feels like a refined version of my old favorite R7 460.
I bought the Calaway because I felt like I needed a 5 wood more than a 3 wood with my new set. I bought a 4 to get the best of both worlds but was I pleasantly surprised by this new club. While I feel that it is definitely easier to hit from more situations than my old TaylorMade V-Steel, I didn't give up distance and I think I have gained distance!
The TaylorMade R9 460 is a fantastic club, with a traditional setup and head shape. It has the TM Flight Control technology with a screw on head allowing 30-40 yards of side to side and one degree of loft change. This club is long and straight with excellent feedback, center hits are like butter and off center hits give nice feedback without being harsh. I got the stiff shaft and it has a nice responsive flex without being too stiff, the end has some additional controlled flex that gives the ball an explosive kick at impact. I can't wait until summer when everything wants to fly further!
More in a bit…
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