The Stealth HD irons are designed to get the ball up quickly for slow-swinging players.
Gear: TaylorMade Stealth HD irons Price: $999 with KBS Max 85 steel shafts and Lamkin Crossline Black grips. $1,099 with Fujikura NX Red graphite shafts Specs: Cast stainless steel with polymer insert Available: Feb. 17
Who It’s For: New and high-handicap golfers who need to maximize height, distance and forgiveness.
The Skinny: The Stealth HD irons were designed to get the ball up quickly for slow-swinging players who want a club that has an inspiring shape.
The Deep Dive: When TaylorMade wants to create a new, better-player’s club, it talks with staff players such as Collin Morikawa, Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler. They discover what elite golfers prefer and look for, then create something that provides those attributes.
TaylorMade does not, however, have a staff of golfers who shoot in the 90s and 100s, so to make a new max-game-improvement club, the company did extensive testing with new and slower-swinging players. After hitting shots, reps asked if the player liked that shot, then asked why. TaylorMade learned that players who struggle with the game love seeing the ball go high into the air, prefer to see shots that fly to the left or go straight and want to see a club that inspires confidence.
Keeping the game-improvement Stealth irons in the stable, the brand now offers the Stealth HD, a max-game-improvement iron.
The 2023 P•770 irons have tipped more toward the better-player category, but still deliver more distance and soft feel.
Gear: TaylorMade P•770 irons (2023) Price:$1,299 with KBS Tour steel shafts and Golf Pride Z-Grip 360 grips Specs: Forged 4140 stainless steel face with a forged, hollow-bodied 8620 carbon steel body, internal tungsten weight and foam Available: January 20, 2023
Who It’s For: Accomplished golfers who want a compact club that delivers extra distance and a soft feel.
The Skinny: The 2023 version of the P•770 irons have tipped more toward the better-player category, but they still deliver more distance than you might expect from a club of this size, along with a soft feel.
The Deep Dive: Last season, Tiger Woods and Collin Morikawa blended in a TaylorMade P•770 long iron, or two, with their other irons because the clubs delivered more ball speed and a higher launch angle. However, TaylorMade encouraged recreational and club players to think of the P•770 as a slightly smaller version of the P•790, one of the most popular irons the company has ever produced. If you liked what the P•790 could do but wanted a shorter blade length, then the P•770 was for you.
Golfers who have a repeatable swing and who like to shape shots around the course but want more distance made it clear to TaylorMade that they liked the P•770. So with the 2023 upgrade of the P•770, TaylorMade has opted not to overhaul the club drastically, but instead, the company refined it.
TaylorMade’s new muscleback blade and cavity-back irons have been updated with feedback from Tour players.
Gear: TaylorMade P•7MC, P•7MB irons Price:$1,299 with KBS Tour steel shafts and Golf Pride Z-Grip 360 grips Specs: Forged 8620 carbon steel Available: January 20, 2023
Who It’s For: Elite ballstrikers who want to maximize feel and control.
The Skinny: TaylorMade’s tour-inspired muscleback blade and cavity-back irons have been updated using a new forging process and feedback from golfers like Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa.
The Deep Dive: Like most golf equipment makers, TaylorMade’s game-improvement irons, like the Stealth, and better-distance irons, like the P•790, are its biggest sellers, but the irons that golfers seem to covet the most are muscleback blades and cavity-back designs made for tour pros like McIlroy and Morikawa. No brand sells many clubs like those, but they are high-profile creations and demonstrate what designers can do for the most discerning golfers, so they are essential.
For 2023 TaylorMade has updated its flagship irons for accomplished golfers, the P•7MB and the P•7MC. They have been subtly refined because the feedback from elite players who use them has been positive for two years, but thanks to a new forging process, TaylorMade claims they will provide a better feel.
Iron out the kinks in your game and save some money while you do it.
This month, Golfweek is helping you find the most affordable equipment on the market.
Whether you’re young and new to the game, seasoned and looking for an upgrade or just want some new equipment without breaking the bank, we have you covered.
We’ve already found some of the most affordable drivers on the market right now. Look out for affordable wedges, putters and other equipment coming out later this month.
Today, it’s all about the irons!
To classify as affordable, each iron set we selected had to come in under $1,000 for a set or under $150 per iron for a seven club average. Without cutting quality, we’ve done the digging to find the best deals out there at the moment. Many of the items below are currently on sale, so act fast!
Starting in early December, there were whisperings on social media that TaylorMade was going to release something very different in 2022. There were blurry photos here and there, but then the company submitted the Stealth driver to the USGA and R&A, who tested them and added them to the Conforming Driver lists, making the Stealth drivers legal for play in official competitions.
Shortly after that, Tiger Woods used a Stealth driver and 3-wood at the PNC Championship, and equipment junkies took notice. The face of the driver was red and the sole plate on the 3-wood looked different.
On Monday, TaylorMade released three Stealth drivers, two Stealth fairway woods, two Stealth Rescue clubs and the Stealth irons.
TaylorMade’s Stealth irons create more ball speed thanks to a hollow-body design, and they feature improved sound and feel.
Gear: TaylorMade Stealth irons Price: $999 with KBS Max MT steel shafts and Lamkin Crossline 360 grips. $1,099 with Fujikura Ventus Red or Aldila Ascent Ultralight graphite shafts Specs: 450 stainless steel face with hollow-body design and polymer vibration-dampening peice. Available: April 4
TaylorMade has a full selection of irons for accomplished golfers who have repeatable swings in its P Series, including the P•7MB (from $1,399 at PGA Superstore). P•7MC (from $1,224.99 at PGA Superstore), P•770 (from $1,244.99 at PGA Superstore) and the P•7790. For golfers such as Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa and Dustin Johnson, they are designed to deliver feel, precision and workability.
For mid- and higher-handicap players, TaylorMade has game-improvement clubs such as last season’s SIM2 Max (from $799.99 at PGA Superstore), which feature wider soles, distance-enhancing construction and feel-improving technologies. While better-player irons often see performance enhancements made slowly, club players tend to be more open to trying new things if they can deliver improved performance, distance and consistency.
With the release of the new Stealth irons, TaylorMade believes it has a game-improvement club that can do all that, even while wrapped in a cleaner, more-sophisticated package.
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Four years ago TaylorMade released the first version of the P790, a better-player’s distance iron designed to also appeal to mid-handicap golfers who want a compact shape and more ball speed. It became one of the most popular irons in TaylorMade’s history and was updated in 2019. Now TaylorMade is releasing the third iteration of the P790, and the company said the use of new materials and enhancements in the P790’s design should make it even more popular.
TaylorMade’s SIM2 Max and SIM2 Max OS irons feature a new Back Cap design to enhance sound and feel along with a distance-enhancing face.
Gear: TaylorMade SIM2 Max, SIM2 Max OS irons Price: $799 (4-PW) with KBS Max MT shafts and Lamkin Crossline 360 grips; $899 with Fujikura Ventus Blue graphite shafts Specs: Hollow-bodied design with 450 stainless steel face and polymer back piece Available: Feb. 19
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For golfers who struggle to get the ball high in the air and who want more distance with their irons, TaylorMade designed the M5 and M6 irons two years ago with a bar in the back of the head called a Speed Bridge. By connecting the topline to the back of the club behind a massive undercut cavity, designers made the head stiffer while also letting the face flex more for increased ball speed.
Last season’s SIM Max and SIM Max OS irons advanced the technologies for mid- and higher-handicap golfers, and now TaylorMade is releasing the SIM2 Max and SIM2 OS to deliver even better sound and feel without sacrificing ball speed.
Every SIM2 Max iron has a 450 stainless steel face that is thin and flexible and also has a unique inverted cone design. It has a slightly thicker area in the center and gets progressively thinner toward the outside. A slot cut into the sole, which TaylorMade refers to as a Speed Pocket, allows the lower portion of the face to flex more efficiently, especially on low-struck shots.
The Back Cap design stiffens the topline and saves weight. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Instead of merely having a Speed Bridge on the back of the head to support the topline, the new SIM2 Max irons have a Cap Back design. It’s a multi-material piece that stretches from the heel to the toe, made by layering lightweight polymer over an adhesive layer. It supports the entire topline, unlike the Speed Bridge, which supported it in the center, and helps absorb excessive vibrations to improve sound and feel.
TaylorMade said the critical advantage of its Cap Back design is that unlike vibration-dampening badges that are bonded to the back of the face, where they can reduce face flex, it fits on the seam created by the back cavity and topline. The face is freer to flex in a hollow chamber inside the head.
The SIM2 Max irons have a moderately-thick topline and offset. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
An additional benefit of the Cap Back piece is the polymer used to make it is seven times lighter than steel, which made it easier for designers to keep the center of gravity down for players who want a higher ball flight.
One technology that carries over from last year’s SIM Max irons is the Echo Dampening system. It is an extremely soft polymer that stretches from the heel to the toe inside the head, touching the lower portion of the face inside the head to enhance sound and feel.
Looking down at the SIM2 Max irons, golfers will see a reassuringly thick topline and plenty of offset to help players square the face more easily through impact.
The TaylorMade SIM2 Max OS irons. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
For golfers who want even more forgiveness, TaylorMade is offering the SIM2 Max OS. It has been made using the same technologies, including the progressive Inverted Cone face, Cap Back and Echo Dampening systems and Speed Pocket, but the SIM2 Max OS is larger.
