Global Golf Post - May 16, 2011

TaylorMade forged irons come in three varities: (top to bottom) cavityback, BY JOHN STEINBREDER

The words “forged iron” resonate as magically in the ears of most serious golfers as the sound those clubs produce when it makes perfect contact with a golf ball. They evoke styling and feel as well as the possibility of great performance. Which is why people tend to perk up when they hear about offerings like TaylorMade brought out late last year.

That’s when the California
equipment maker introduced a
trio of forged iron models. One
is the TaylorMade TPMB (Tour
Preferred Muscleback), and it
is a sleek puppy with a compact
player’s shape, a straight leading
edge, minimal offset and a tapered
hosel. These irons are made in a
six-step forging process designed
to create a more precisely shaped
and finished head.

“Forged irons are typically de-
void of performance technologies,”
says Bret Wahl, senior director
of iron, wedge and putter devel-
opment for TaylorMade. “Their
compact and solid construction
forces very specific type of impact
parameters to hit a good shot with
virtually no margin for error. The
reward for that is unparalleled feel
and workability.”
“We took a long, close look at
the make-up of forged irons to
determine if we could advance the
performance with the use of tech-
nology,” he adds. “And we found
we could.”
Sounds good. l

The TaylorMade TPMC (Tour Preferred Muscle Cavity) are made with the same forging process but also feature a shallow cavity to combine feel and workability with added stability and forgiveness. The clubhead has that classic player’s look. But the sole is less cambered, to prevent deep digging. TaylorMade uses the precision-weighting port in these irons as well, and they also feature the advance groove design.

Then, there is the TPCB (Tour Preferred Cavityback). These have a two-piece head that melds a forged face with a cast body. They also incorporate an undercut cavity to deliver the feel of a forged iron and the forgiveness of a cavityback. Not surprisingly, the TPCB boasts the highest MOI (Moment of Inertia) of this new line and is the only one to utilize TaylorMade’s Inverted Cone Technology, features that combine to promote faster ball speed on distance-robbing, off-center hits. Different as the TPCB may be from the others, it does have the same advanced groove design as well as the precision weighting ports.