TaylorMade RSi2 Irons – 10 Handicapper Review

I recently purchased a new set of the TaylorMade RSi² irons, and I wanted to start with some first impressions reviews. I have had the irons about a week, and I have managed to hit two 50 ball buckets, and one round of golf. I am probably a lot like most of you, I have a full-time job so getting out more than once a week is a goal, not a reality. I play mostly on the weekends, and get a chance to hit about one or maybe two buckets of balls a week after work. I am about a 10 handicap, up or down a few shots depending on how often I get to practice.

My previous set of irons were the TaylorMade Burner 1.0, 4-AW, with stiff steel shafts.  I picket up the RSi² irons with much the same setup, 4-AW, stiff steel shafts. These are the new irons from TaylorMade with slot technology in the sole, and this year, in the face of the club. TaylorMade came out with 3 RSi sets this year, the TP, for the tour level player, the RSi2 for the lower handicap player, and the RSi1 irons for the higher handicap/game improvement iron.

As my handicap has come down, I have been intrigued with the better player category of irons, and I really like what folks are saying about the RSi technology.

So I started out looking at the RSi¹ and RSi² irons at my local retailer, and after hitting just a few shots with each (6 iron off a mat) I decided that the RSi² had the better feel and setup for me. The set has a really nice mix of help in the clubs, I want some help in, 4-7 iron, and progressively more pro features in the 8-AW irons. The 8-AW lose the sole velocity slot, and while the 8 iron retains the face slots, the 9-AW do not. The 9 and PW have a forged face, and feel much like a forged iron, but much hotter and thinner than a true forged club. The A wedge is a true forged iron, and it indeed looks and behaves as such.

4-7 irons:
The 4-7 irons, have the dual face slots along with the sole slot to provide maximum forgiveness across a much wider area of the face of these irons, so that off-center strikes still fly nearly as long as on center strikes. TaylorMade is really on to something here. While the RSi²‘s are definitely 1 to 1.5 clubs longer than my old Burners, they provide a good amount of feedback within the forgiveness. I really like this, because most of the time forgiveness equals mushy, or no feel. For instance, last year I picked up a TaylorMade SpeedBlade 6 iron, in one of those $20 overstock buckets at Golfsmith. And while I love that club, and it was actually the spark that got me looking into new irons, it has very little feel by comparison to the RSi2’s.

What I liked in my first round was how I can effectively use the 4 iron in the set as a driving iron. Since I had a new set of irons, I teed off with the 4 iron on two of the par 4s I had. I found that I could consistently hit it about 210-220, and very controllable with a slight draw. (my preference ball flight) The other mid irons are really nice and very consistent. Though I am still getting used to my distances, it was an easy transition in my first round from my Burners to the RSI²‘s.

Short irons/Wedges:
TaylorMade takes the idea of custom clubs within a matched set to a new level with the 8-AW in the RSi². While  The 8 thru PW have forged faces and have a much softer feel for a performance iron. The 8 iron has the velocity face slots in a forged face, but it has no sole slot and therefore feels more like a solid 8 iron with a substantial sole. It makes chipping with the 8 and PW much more like chipping with my other wedges, just with a little hotter face.

After a couple days, my early favorite in the set is the AW wedge. 50 degree forged wedge, that is just butter off the face. Full shots are so soft and nice, that I already look forward to pulling the club from the bag. In my Burner set, the AW wedge was my favorite club from 100 yards. The new wedge gave me instant confidence transfer, and yet the new wedge is about 5-7 yards longer than my old game improvement wedge.

I will continue to write more as I go this year, but my early satisfaction with the RSi² irons from TaylorMade tells me that I will grow to love these new irons.