The golf equipment business is constantly remaking itself, creating new sub-categories of golfers that seek specific performance benefits from their clubs. One of those newer niches in our sport is the better player who seeks a player's iron but also wants maximum benefit from modern technology, materials and design in a package that has a classic look.
TaylorMade is jumping into this category with its new P790 irons, one of now four offerings in this series, including the P750 and P770 irons announced in late 2016 and the newly announced P730 blades that are on the opposite end of the P790s in terms of looks and technology.
The company calls the P790 irons a "forged distance" iron, and it's all made possible with a hollow body construction. You'd typically expect that in a game-improvement iron with a ton of offset and a thick topline and sole that would repulse a better player. Not so with P790. The topline and sole are, yes, thicker than a blade, but that bigger package contains more technology.
The 8620 carbon steel body meets with a 4140 forged carbon steel face insert that actually begins at the topline of the iron, down past the leading edge and connects on the sole. In the 3-7 irons, that connection actually leaves a hole filled by a Speed Pocket, often found in fairway woods and which has become a more common staple in TaylorMade irons. While the slot helps the face flex and offer more ball speed and forgiveness, there are two other major features that really make these irons. First, the insert itself reaches a thinness of 1.75 mm, which is a huge improvement from the 2.2 mm or so in the PSi irons. That thinness works as a tighter trampoline for huge distance.
The thin face needs some support, and that's where the other major design feature works. Whereas PXG uses thermoplastic elastomer (
The TaylorMade golf P790 irons will be available Sept. 15 in 3-PW, AW with True Temper’s Dynamic Gold 105 steel shafts for $1,300 or UST Mamiya’s Recoil 760/780 ES SmacWrap graphite shafts for $1,500.
