How does TaylorMade’s brand new super game improvement iron perform? Find out in our TaylorMade Stealth HD iron review.
- RELATED: TaylorMade Stealth 2 HD Driver review
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Taylormade Stealth HD Iron review: NCG Summary
NCG SUMMARY
This is a super easy to hit golf club that will suit loads of high handicap golfers and beginners.
It is exceptionally easy to launch, but still has a great level of control.
This comes in a draw bias package to stop people losing too many shots to the right.
PROS
- Super forgiving on off centre strikes
- Very hard to hit heavy
- Improve consistency
- Draw Bias
CONS
- Big looking club head
First Impressions
These look as much like a hybrid as an iron, but I think that oversized design is really comforting and confidence-inspiring for a higher handicap golfer. I really like the design continuity from the original Stealth irons to these.
NCG Review
It is no denying these have a pretty oversized shape over the golf ball. The thicker top line is very comforting for players who would use this club as you feel like you have more club to help you out with launch, distance and consistency.
My only slight qualm over the golf ball is the fact you can see the back of the club head behind the topline in the longer irons.
Straight away, once I started hitting these, it was easy to see how effortless it was to get high-launching shots across the set. They also felt a lot better than I expected. Yet off-centre strikes feel slightly harsh but the tech in the head to dampen vibrations certainly made those centre strikes feel nice and soft.
With the weaker lofts, I was interested to see what the carry distances would be like. Interestingly, a 5-iron averaged 174.6 yards, which is very similar to what I would expect with my current players’ distance irons. To say distance isn’t the most essential part of this club, it still performed really well in this category.
My longest shot carried up at 184.7 yards which is pretty impressive for me with a 5-iron. I think the longer you used these and the more you got used to the size and shot shape the more distance you would get out of these.
You can see there is some variation in the dispersion. I think some of this came down to the fact that I dislike seeing the ball go left, so I was holding the club off a little bit unintentionally.
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I usually don’t like clubs with thicker soles, but I really like the way this has two levels and felt it actually pretty versatile in terms of turf interaction.
The whole point of this club is to have something easy to launch and just really easy to hit, this was clear throughout the range. These have to be some of the easiest-to-hit products on the market.
All the irons launched high and had a lovely draw shape to them which helped balance out the face my spin numbers were fairly low.
The gapping throughout the bag was good too. The 7-iron carry distance average was 154.6 yards, and with the 9-iron it was 135.3 yards. So I had pretty much 20 yard gaps between two clubs which should work out at 10 yards per club in the full set.
I was particularly surprised by how consistent the shots were and how small the dispersion was in the shorter irons.
The 9-iron felt really controlled which wasn’t something I was expecting for such a large forgiving iron.
Overall this club isn’t designed for me but I think it will be a huge hit in the market. There are so many golfers that would benefit from the launch and ease of use of these, and I think it is great TaylorMade has added an iron model for slower-swinging players.
Taylormade Stealth HD Iron Review: The Details
Available: Now
RRP: £129 per iron
Stock shafts: KBS Max 85 MT (steel) & Fujikura NX Red/Silver (graphite
Grip: Lamkin Crossline 360 Black/Red 47g 0.600 Ribbed
More information: Taylormade Website
Testing Protocol
To test this product we travelled to West Cliffs a leading European golf course just North of Lisbon. The idea was to get some warmer weather and escape our frozen British courses. It of course rained, a lot, was very windy. Each of our test team were allocated a category of golf clubs, fairways, or a specific type of driver or iron.
We gathered data on a Trackman 4 or FlightScope. We used Titleist Pro V1 for all tests. The samples we have are either fully fitted for our testers or ordered in our assumed specs. We are then able to optimise performance by swapping shafts and playing with the adjustability. As well as that dry testing all of the product was tested on course in a comparative environment with other product from the same category. We recognise that no testing process is perfect and just aim to be fair in our treatment, transparent in our process and candid in our feedback.
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