Gear: TaylorMade P-7MB irons
Price: $1,399 (3-PW) with KBS Tour steel shafts and Golf Pride Z-Grip grips
Specs: Forged 1025 carbon steel with machined face
Available: Sept. 4
For nearly three years, Dustin Johnson has used a prototype version of TaylorMade’s P-730 irons. The clubs are labeled “DJ Proto.” Like the standard P-730, they have a thin topline, virtually no offset and a narrow sole. Johnson, a former world No. 1 and the winner of the 2016 U.S. Open, is an elite ballstriker who wants to shape shots left, right, up and down at will, so that’s precisely what he wants in an iron.
Using those clubs as inspiration, TaylorMade has a new muscleback blade designed for pros, collegiate golfers and elite amateurs: the P-7MB.
While the clubs are forged from 1020 carbon steel, a material that has been used before, TaylorMade is forging the P-7MB in a new way. The process is referred to as Compact Grain Forging, and it involves five steps and a 2,000-ton press. TaylorMade said the resulting grain structure in the steel is tighter, which enhances feel.
The P-7MB has a clean look from behind and a classic look at address. The blade length is 1.4 millimeters longer than the P-730, which the P-7MB replaces, but the P-7MB still has the shortest blade length of any TaylorMade iron in the current lineup.
While the extra mass in the lower portion of the head helps to slightly drop the center of gravity and the face of each club has been machined to be perfectly flat, nothing was added to this club to increase forgiveness or provide golfers with added distance. When it comes to the P-7MB, it’s all about feel and control for golfers who have a very repeatable swing.