Taylormade is one of the leaders in the golf industry and many of their golf clubs are played on the PGA tour and many other tours as well. TaylorMade seems to have made it its mission in recent years to reinvent what the phrase “classic golf club” means. For example, they have taken the pear-shaped driver and morphed it into a geometrical tinker toy that looks both modern and classic at the same time. Now, their researchers and designers have turned their attention to creating a classic/modern iron.
Given the success of the r7 line, the expectations for the TaylorMade R9 line could not be much higher. Is it possible for a club to gain 10% of distance over the already long r7? Can the R9 improve its forgiveness while incorporating several characteristics of a classic golf club? Can a game-improvement club have a soft feel?
The Taylormade R9 Irons are made to be more forgiving, create a better feel, allows the golfer to work the ball better, and add distance.Let us look at these characters below carefully.
Design and Technology
Like the r7, the clubface of the R9 uses the inverted cone technology on the inner side of the clubface for consistent ball speed on off-center hits. Using that as their foundation, the new R9 irons long and mid irons were designed separately from the short irons to optimize performance in each club.
The long- and mid-irons are meant to provide distance and forgiveness, the short irons are designed to increase feel and accuracy. The short irons feature a deep undercut cavity and a broad, low-CG sole which are meant to facilitate solid, spin-inducing contact. The teardrop shape and clearly delineated leading edge is meant to aid alignment. The R9 short irons also incorporate a vibration-dampening layer sandwiched between the backside of the clubface and the thin, protected black badge in the cavity as well as a visco-elastic adhesive made by 3M that is meant to further dampen vibration.
Looks
The TaylorMade r7 irons were a “supersized” iron that featured a thick topline, a wide sole, and some funky looking weighting in the cavity. While the look was unconventional, it was meant to provide the mid- to high-handicap golfer with maximum distance and forgiveness. Thankfully, virtually nothing of the esthetics of the r7 remains in the R9.Other than the shear size of the clubface, the R9’s simple teardrop shape was quite pleasing at address. The nickel chrome-plated stainless steel and pearl finish gives the club a softer look than its predecessor. In addition, R9 has a clearly delineated leading edge and beveled sole which should inspire confidence in many of the mid handicap golfers that do not like the super wide soles of many of the game improvement clubs on the market.
Lastly,what levels are this excellent set suitable for?Taylormade R9 Irons are designed with the mid handicap golfer between about a 10 and 18 in mind.They are not going to be a good choice for a beginner or a high handicap golfer because they are not the most forgiving and easiest to hit iron on the market.They are also not all that great for the single digit handicap player that likes to work the ball both ways. These are perfect for the middle of the road handicap player that wants a little more distance without sacrificing control.
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