“Metal Meets Mettle”
Recently, TaylorMade Golf (TaylorMade Canada) announced through a press release that the latest iteration of their hollow-bodied P790 irons were being released. Fortunately, I was invited to attend a golf media day presented by TaylorMade Golf Canada that was held at Copper Creek Golf Club just north of Toronto in Kleinburg, Ontario.
Attending this media event was the perfect opportunity to take in-hand pictures and make a few swings with the new products from TaylorMade Golf. Many thanks go to Marketing Manager Nick Obritsch for including me in this event.
The Set-Up
TaylorMade Golf first launched the P790 irons franchise in 2018. The P790 would prove to be an iron that went a long way in creating a new genre of iron sets. Essentially, the “Player’s Distance” iron category was born.
When looking at the P790 irons back then, they were game-changing. Everything about them, was new. A new face, new multi-material construction, and new materials (SpeedFoam) were all incorporated to bring more speed to player’s irons. An upgraded version came to market in 2019 where the face was designed to be thinner (7%) which increased the COR (Coefficient Of Restitution), and 15% more Tungsten was added to create a deeper center of gravity (CG). Also, a new Progressive Inverted Cone Technology (PICT) was introduced to help eliminate a fade-bias in the long irons of the original P790 designs. The long irons had progressively less offset, and the short irons had a more compact look due to its shaved-down lines.
Moving forward to 2021 more evolution took place in the creation of the all-new P790 irons. While still retaining their blend of performance and forgiveness, TaylorMade Golf R&D sought out to create even higher ball speeds and with it more distance. Some of the technology used to achieve this was the development of “SpeedFoam Air”. This ultra-light foam inside of the forged hollow body is 69% less dense than the prior generation. The weight savings were approximately 3.5 grams per respective iron. Weight savings here allowed the development team to utilize the weight elsewhere. Redistributed mass lower in the cavity allows for better launch conditions.
The re-engineered forged hollow body construction paired with a responsive 1.5mm forged 4140 steel L-Face to promote supreme trampoline effect with faster ball speeds and more distance whilst maintaining a premium forged feel.
Further bolstering the forgiveness attributes of the P790 irons is the use of heavy tungsten weighting. In fact, 31-grams of tungsten is used depending on the iron in question. All of this added tungsten weight means that the P790 irons feature even more stability and forgiveness at impact. Note, the previous statement about high C.O.R or resistance to twisting at impact.
The patented “Thru-Slot Speed Pocket™” continues to provide increased face flexibility while preserving ball speed and distance on low face strikes. Stay tuned for more on this topic below in the “Performance” breakdown.
All of these features quickly add up to giving golfers… More. More distance and more forgiveness.
Stock shaft offerings include the True Temper Dynamic Gold VSS 105 (Steel) or the Mitsubishi MMT (Graphite). The stock grips are the Golf Pride Z Grip 360.
MSRP – $1699.99 CAD (4-PW)
The Transition
Upon arriving at Copper Creek Golf Club (which is worth its own review) I made my way from the parking lot to the driving range. It was a beautiful day just north of Toronto in Kleinburg, Ontario. Sunny skies gave way to clouds later on in the day but the conditions on the range were near perfect. There was a slight quartering hurting wind.
I made my way to where the event was set up and had my first looks at the P790 irons. Here are my “First Impressions”.
Aesthetics – There’s a lot to like about the new P790 irons. Where the previous generation had a little bit more of a “in your face” look to them the 2021 version of the P790 irons are clean and aren’t gaudy or overbearing in any way. They are quite simple and dare I say it there’s almost an elegance to them. Especially, for a hollow-bodied iron. Discerning golfers will like their “rack appeal”. The logo “T” is small and neatly in place out on the toe.
In the address position the topline is one that you can look at very easily. You don’t look down at the topline and mutter to yourself “Gee, there’s a lot of meat there”. If anything, the looks in the address position are somewhere in between thin and moderate. Like I said, golfers will like the overall aesthetics of the P790 irons.
Feel – 8620 Carbon Steel is new to the P790 irons in 2021. In saying this, the end result is a thinner face in certain areas by up to 37.5%. The 1.5mm forged 4140 steel face means that the entire head is forged unlike other “Player’s Distance” irons on the market. The feel is crisp, light, and responsive.
While on the range I made swings with the 4i, 7i, 8i, and PW so I feel that I can say that I have a pretty good idea of what the irons feel like throughout the set. The feel was consistent and hot throughout the set. Admittedly, I was swinging fairly well on the range prior to our round out on the course. The golf balls (which were TaylorMade Golf) always seemed to jump off of the face with a feeling that I can only describe as assertive.
Forgiveness – TaylorMade Golf spent a lot of time in bolstering the forgiveness of the latest installment of the P790 iron franchise, and it shows. These are easy swinging irons and they provide plenty of help for golfers that need the help or reward better players with a swing that is less than – shall we say – optimal.
Foreshadowing what would later happen on the golf course, I got a little “flippy” on the range and still the golf ball got up. While I was penalized with a loss of distance, I was not punished from a direction point of view. Golf is a game that’s more about what you do with your bad shots and less so about your good ones. Golf is a game of misses and my misses with the P790 irons were what I would describe as a good miss. Straight and still in play. Misses that you can work with and save strokes during a round of golf.
Performance – The all-new P790 (2021) irons perform!
On the range earlier, I noticed that no matter the club the result was the same. A straight shot to a slight draw. It almost seemed boring as I was placing golf ball after golf ball on top of each other with my shots. As a matter of fact, I stated to a TaylorMade Golf representative that I would take the bag of P790s right to the first tee and play them right then and there. Of course, I didn’t and I proceeded to go on my way to hit my clubs to warm-up prior to the round at the other end of the range.
Starting out with their trajectory. The golf ball is easy to elevate thanks to all of the redistributed mass placed lower in the head. The golf ball gets up fast and as the golf ball travels downrange, I observed that the trajectory penetrated. This was very noticeable on one hole where a “Closest to the Pin” was set up on the Par 3 11th Hole at Copper Creek Golf Club.
The hole played 187 yards (190 yards with slope) and plays over a ravine, so I decided to go with a 5-iron. There was a slight hurting wind and I struck my golf ball. The golf ball got up, flattened out, and settled down onto the green just short of pin-high. The TP5x (Yellow) that I was using sat about 5 feet in front of my ball mark. Judging by this one on-course swing, the P790 also yields enough spin to stop a golf ball on firm greens. For the record, the greens were quite firm under foot.
Like I said, these irons perform.
The Finish
Summing up my “First Impressions” of the P790 irons is pretty easy. These are irons that have been upgraded over the previous generations. New materials, new Centre of Gravity, new looks… I mean, they’re clean, Distance with forgiveness to burn ,but, not too much where your swing can get complacent and/or lazy. On poor swings, you will still receive feedback that the strike wasn’t flush.
TaylorMade Golf spent a vast amount of time, energy, and research testing the P790 irons. TaylorMade Golf was determined to deliver results when you need them the most. Whether it’s with your Sunday group taking your friends money or when you’re playing in your Club Championships The new P790 is in fact a golf club where TaylorMade Golf “metal meets your mettle”.
Until The Next Tee!!
#fightandgrind #seeuonthenexttee
The Next Tee (TNT) 