TaylorMade P790 irons vs. Callaway Epic irons

James Savage

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We put two of the most premium irons on the market head to head…

Our TaylorMade P790 irons vs. Callaway Epic irons test took place at the Golf Shack at Moor Allerton in Leeds.

We have already reviewed each model individually but wanted to put them head to head as they are both at a premium price point.

For our TaylorMade P790 irons vs. Callaway Epic irons test we used premium balls and monitored the data using a Foresight GC Quad.

TaylorMade P790 irons vs. Callaway Epic irons – The methodology

As previously stated these irons are both very premium coming in at over £1,000 for a set.

But which will make golfers feel like they are getting the most value?

We hit a number of shots with each iron and paid attention to ball speed, carry distance and dispersion.

But also looks, sound and feel as they are crucial when buying premium golf clubs.

TaylorMade P790 irons vs. Callaway Epic irons – The technology

The Callaway Epic irons involved a ‘no expense spared’ approach. Their head of R&D Alan Hocknell wanted to create a set of irons where cost was no object.

TaylorMade P790 irons vs. Callaway Epic irons

The heads feature a high-grade, lightweight and strong cast-steel construction that stiffens the body, particularly in the top line and sole, allowing the face to take on more impact load.

TaylorMade P790 irons vs. Callaway Epic irons

The TaylorMade P790 – which lead to legal action from PXG owner Bob Parsons who claimed they infringed on their patents – sit right in the middle of the brand’s ‘players’ and ‘game-improvement’ irons.

TaylorMade P790 irons vs. Callaway Epic irons

There’s a hollow, forged construction with a bit of tungsten for added stability and come cool new material inside the head.

Something called Speedfoam is injected into the head which improves the sound and feel but without reducing ball speed off the face.

TaylorMade P790 irons vs. Callaway Epic irons

TaylorMade P790 irons vs. Callaway Epic irons – The results

The P790 are sleeker and more compact than the regular Epic irons but are fairly similar to the Epic Pro irons which we have also tested.

There’s nothing to spilt them from a sound and feel point of view. Both almost have a forged feel.

They don’t have that horrible hollow feel which you can sometimes get from ‘distance’ irons.

In terms of the numbers, there was a little bit of extra ball speed with the P790.

TaylorMade P790 irons vs. Callaway Epic irons

I was able to find the middle of the club more regularly with them for some reason and generally just felt a bit more comfortable with them.

TaylorMade P790 irons vs. Callaway Epic irons

We didn’t have the exact same shaft as the Epic’s had the Project X 6.0 and the P790 had the True Temper Dynamic Gold 105.

I have been fitted into bot of these shafts previously – they are both pretty good shafts for me.

There was very little to split them but I did prefer the lower ball flight with the P790.

TaylorMade P790 irons vs. Callaway Epic irons – NCG verdict

As with all golf equipment it is very much down to personal preference and it’s very hard to make a case for one iron or wood model being better than the other.

For me personally, I just got on better with the TaylorMade P790. They have been one of my favourite irons of the past 12 months.

The looks are great, they don’t intimidate a mid-handicapper like me and I feel they would continue to work really well for me if I managed to significantly improve.

The Epic irons are great but I feel they are definitely aimed at high handicappers who struggle to get the ball in the air with ease.

I have no trouble launching the ball so sometimes a chunky iron with low CG can launch the ball a bit to high for me.

That’s why it really would have been a better test for us to directly compare the Epic Pro irons with the P790. But you can see out numbers from that particular test below too so we have got it all pretty much covered.

TaylorMade P790 irons vs. Callaway Epic irons