TaylorMade Golf's P-790 iron have been selling like hot cakes for two years now. The player's distance iron in the P-700 series of irons has won over golfers all along the talent spectrum because they offer a mix of distance and forgiveness with as much control as many players can exert on their ball.
Two years on, TaylorMade is now ready to offer what they believe is an even better version of the top-selling irons in company history.
The 2019 TaylorMade P-790 irons are fundamentally the same: an iron featured a hollow-body construction, a forged face, SpeedFoam behind the face for feel and added ball speed, as well a Thru-Slot Speed Pocket for optimal face flexing at impact. Those things are still part of the package in the new P-790 irons.
However, there are clear refinements.
The face is 7 percent thinner in the new P-790, increasing coefficient of restitution (COR) for improved ball speeds. The new P-790 irons feature Progressive Inverted Cone Technology (PICT) which modifies face thickness to improve accuracy through the set, including the tendency to flare out long irons.
There's more tungsten in these P-790s -- 15 percent more, in fact -- to further deeper the center of gravity. Mass was removed from the high toe area of the iron's body and moving it lower with the more concentrated tungsten. The end result is more protection against the going right and a higher launch angle.
The sole radius has been changed for better turf interaction and less digging.
The shaping of the irons has been changed as well. The 3-iron through 6-iron have a shorter blade length and progressively less offset compared to their prior generation, and the blade length was shortened in the 7-iron through pitching wedge. The topline was changed by increasing the face height in the toe, somewhat replacing the lost mass replaced by the tungsten weighting.
The TaylorMade 2019 P-790 irons are available Sept. 3 in 3-PW and AW for $1,400 with True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 steel shafts and $1,600 with UST Mamiya Recoil 760/780 ES SmacWrap graphite shafts.
But the P-790 line doesn't stop there.
In equipment circles, TaylorMade had been rumored to be getting into the ultra-premium, high-end iron space. With peers seeing success with prices most golfers can only dream of paying, TaylorMade was missing out on the niche high-roller market.
Their foray into this space is a new iron, the P-790 Ti. Think of it as the P-790 on steroids.
The P-790 Ti irons are shaped in the spirit of the P-790 irons, mixing game-improvement technologies with the shape a discerning player would like. The biggest difference, as the name implies, is the body is made of 9-1-1 titanium. It's lighter and stronger than steel, which allowed engineers to put 119 grams of tungsten (approximately half of the iron-head mass) into the sole for a remarkably low center of gravity.
The face is lighter, too, to keep with the titanium body, and the Thru-Slot Speed Pocket is there to add ball speed through face flexing. The Progressive ICT design carries through as well.
The P-790 Ti blade is 2mm longer than the original P-790, and it's taller by 2mm as well. There's 0.5mm more offset, too. The sole is wider with more bounce.
The TaylorMade P-790 Ti irons are available Nov. 8 in 4-PW and AW for $2,800 in Nippon 950GH NEO steel shafts and for $3,000 in Mitsubishi MMT graphite shafts in 75g (S), 65g (R) and 55g (A) flexes.
