The introduction of TaylorMade’s RSi irons brought with it the slogan that ‘nobody’s perfect’.
Staffers such as Justin Rose, Jason Day and Sergio Garcia had helped the brand illustrate that mis-hits happen – even for the top players in the world.
Apparently 76 per cent of golfers don’t hit the ball out of the middle of the club face so we all need some forgiveness.
The new technology in the RSi range are face-slots towards the heel and toe of the club to make our bad shots not too bad.
To test out this new technology we invited three lucky readers to the TaylorMade Performance Centre at True Fit Golf in Warrington, Cheshire to see if the RSi irons could improve their mis-hits.
Each reader had a fitting session with Dave Fernley, fitting specialist and general manager at True Fit with assistance from TaylorMade’s fitting centre manager Liam McDougall to find the best RSi irons for their game.
Here’s how they got on.
Reader 1: Danny Sullivan
Handicap: 10
Club: Bramhall Park, Stockport
What the tester said:
I’ve been playing with the TaylorMade Speedblade irons for about a year now and my bad shot is the one off the heel which can become a bit of a pull and misses to the left. It can often end up in the bunker or well-short of the green.
After testing and getting fitted into the new RSi irons the distance was further when not out of the middle than with my hold clubs when I hit out of the middle. The ball speed was higher so the distance was a result of that. My shots were also much straighter and I wasn’t missing it left anymore.
The dispersion was really good, everything was within four feet of each other and the flight was more penetrating.
My shots were definitely going straighter as well. The mis-hits were certainly going straighter" What the fitter said:
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Danny was a great tester as he had been using the Speedblade irons for the past 12 months which already has the speed pocket technology. He had been custom fit for these and felt confident with them so it was a good challenge for us to improve his shots with the new RSi irons which take that technology even further.
We saw the face-slot in the heel really help Danny with his most common mis-hit and we were able to eradicate his pulled shot to the left. His ball speed and consistency had really improved so the more he plays with the new clubs the more confidence he will gain.
We fitted Danny into RSi 1 starting with the 5-iron then down to a sand wedge with an added lob wedge and approach wedge. Standard lie but slightly shorter in the shaft which was a Steel React 90, regular flex.
Reader 2: John Prescott
Handicap: 16
Club: Market Drayton, Shropshire
What the tester said:
My standard length for a 7-iron is about 140-145 yards but after being fitted into the RSi 1 I was hitting it about 10 yards further. My shots were definitely going straighter as well. The mis-hits were certainly going straighter. I also saw huge benefits from the shorter shaft length.
I’m only 5ft 7in but I had been using clubs that someone who’s 6ft 2in would use. I didn’t seem to be getting any slice on the ball with the RSi irons, if it did go left it was more of a push than a slice but it was still getting good distance.
What the fitter said:
John’s miss it to the right with a little bit of a cut on it which is common for most golfers at this level. With that in mind we went into RSi 1 as we wanted to give him something that was going to help him get the most out of his shots.
We used a shaft which was half an inch shorter than the one he had been using and also looked at a flatter lie angle. We immediately saw a massive improvement on shot dispersion and distance. This clubs should go a long way to make him a more consistent golfer.
Reader 3: Jack Prescott
Handicap: 24
Club: Market Drayton, Shropshire
What the tester said:
I struggle a bit with a slice and have a bit too much left-to-right movement in my shots. From the start I could see from the numbers that the off-centre hits were going further and straighter with the RSi irons.
Usually when my shots start to go right they keep going right but with the new clubs the ball even started to straighten up or come back around and finishing up where I wanted them to be.
What the fitter said:
Jack had been playing with the TaylorMade Burner OS irons and is off 24 so we we obviously looking to improve his off-centre hits as much as possible and get some consistency.
We used some face tape and could see some off Jack’s shots were coming off the toe so we changed the lie angle for him. We also worked a little bit on swing path and a slight technique change which helped.
With the RSi irons we saw the face slots coming into play with the shots which came off the toe which still had good speed and distance without as much side spin.
We went straight into RSi 1 which is what we’d immediately look at for higher handicap players. We saw some improvements straight away with a good strong ball flight and much tighter shot dispersion.
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