We sampled an 18.5 Rescue that had a very long, boring flight. The sole has a slot and a very thin wall that allows the engineers to move the center of gravity low and forward for increased ball speed. It has a good sound and is just super long.

The Tour Driver series has a slightly heavier/stiffer shaft and smaller head said to promote faster speeds for faster swingers. They have the now well-known white crown and black face.

We can’t wait until these clubs are generally available to try the whole series. Here is a preview of the lineup. Golfsmith is our proline supplier for TaylorMade products

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Here’s the skinny. I hit the CG16 7 iron consistently 6 yards longer than with my S56. The ball flight is predicable. I can work a fade or draw. The shaft is 1/2 inch longer resulting in some of the distance gain, but the oversize club head seems to offset any deviation for off-center hits. The distance gain is a bit more on longer irons and a bit less on the scoring clubs. The CG 16 is solid with predictably a bit less feedback on off-center hits.

I really recommend the CG 16 for low to mid handicappers that want some distance with their irons. It is forgiving, but not visually cumbersome. The only negative is directed toward tournament players with a plus handicap. In really nasty, windy, wet conditions when tournament players have to go out, The little 3/4 punch shot becomes preeminent. The CG 16 requires some work and focus to keep the trajectory low on those awful days when competitive golfers just have to play.

After hitting them on the range, our senior pro commented that the trajectory and distance was predictable and the feel was awesome. Expect a slightly lower trajectory than an oversized game improvement design with no loss of distance. The grooves bite and the look is the best we’ve seen from Ping. This is a winner if you can stand the suggested price of over $1,300.

The large K15 irons have a light weight titanium face and a stainless steel body that optimizes forgiveness and launch angle. The multi-metal, maximum forgiveness technology provides design features to help lower your scores. Factors such as forgiveness, feel, control, head size and appearance are important considerations when choosing the iron that best fits your game. We highly recommend a personal fitting to optimize your K15 set to your swing and capability.

We think that the Ping engineers have pushed the edge of the envelop in developing the K15 for those of us who can’t practice or play every day and really the game improvement features to better enjoy our weekend golf outings.

Mizuno has been known for its great forged irons, but not forgiveness. Our staff loves the traditional look and workability of forged Mizuno blades, but they have been known to have a sweet spot about the size of a dime. The new Mizuno-300 irons really are forgiving and still are great looking!

With a traditional appearance and minimal progressive offset, they have modest sole width. They look good at set up.  Instead of punishing your mis-hits, the MX-300’s really are forgiving. With an aggressive player profile, Mizuno claims they have a Y-Tune Pro technology to enhance feel and ball flight control. This technology is engineered into a specially configured cavity back design to concentrate mass behind an enlarged sweet spot.
The MX-300s feature a milled pocket cavity in the 3-7 irons, allowing for redistribution of 17 grams of discretionary weight low and deep; this provides a high penetrating launch. The scoring irons (8-GW) have a power bar design for a solid feel and pin-attacking precision.

“We realize that many players are looking for added forgiveness, but prefer a more traditional head shape and profile in the playing position,” says Dick Lyons of Mizuno. “The MX-300s are the perfect irons for those players.”

Despite a hokey looking back, these really are game improvement irons that perform. Callaway calls the notched back, precision notched weighting that precisely positions more weight to the perimeter of the iron to create a higher moment of inertia (MOI) for greater forgiveness and stability while maintaining the center of gravity position that produces ideal trajectories and feel.

It is a very solid club with enough sole weighting to get the ball airborne from just about any lie.

The X-22 sets up well and has a slightly thinner top line than its predecessors. Our guys say that it is forgiving with a large sweet spot that boosts confidence. The engineers say that the X-22 has advanced version of the original Tru-Bore design, the polycarbonate tip plug at the end of the shaft dampens vibration for enhanced feel and performance. The design maximizes ball speed and perimeter weighting for more distance and forgiveness. They claim that removing weight from the hosel and repositioning it in the perimeter of the clubhead maximizes ball speed and perimeter weighting for forgiveness. The 360-Degree Undercut Channel maximizes perimeter weighting by moving the center of gravity lower and farther back in the club head, enlarging the hitting area and stabilizing the club head.

Our pros and low handicap golfers found the irons very solid, but everything felt pretty much the same. Not enough feedback on off-center hits. Our mid-range handicapper loved it. He hit everything high and relatively straight.

The standard set 3-PW comes with relatively strong lofts. For example, the PW has only 45 degrees of loft with a 7 degree bounce angle. The wedges do have a lot of bounce which can be beneficial for week end golfers, but also can be a detriment for lower handicappers.

Our recommendation is that for a mid to high handicapper, these irons will prove long and forgiving.