Finally! We can talk about the new Titleist irons! They’ve already had a winner on the European Tour in the bag of Scottish Open champion Bernd Wiesberger, so I went down to the Titleist National Fitting Centre at St Ives to see what all the fuss is about with their latest utility clubs.
You can see how I got on in my latest review video…
If you’d prefer to read the review, you can do so on the next page…
New Titleist irons: U500 and U510 first impressions
I’ve never really been a long iron player as I have always favoured putting hybrids in the bag as I have been under the impression they are easier to hit.
So when my fitter gave me a 1-iron to test, although it looked great, I really wasn’t expecting much.
But when I put the club behind the ball it was actually very confidence inspiring. Titleist have done a great job of making such little loft look forgiving and easy to hit when you set up to the ball.
New Titleist irons: U500 and U510 technology
There are two models in the new Titleist U-Series – the U500 and U510. They are both designed to produce more distance than a standard iron while creating less spin than a hybrid.
The U500 is a players iron designed for superior shot making while the U510 provides hybrid like performance in a forgiving muscular iron.
So what’s the difference?
Titleist say the U500 is designed with a compact shape to inspire confidence at address for precision and versatility. The irons feature strategic high density tungsten weighting. This produces a low centre of gravity allowing increased launch without loss of trajectory control. It also provides high MOI for balance and stability throughout the shot. It contains the thinnest, forged face insert for maximum ball speed and distance.
The U510, meanwhile, is a utility iron designed to provide hybrid performance. It is wide-soled and muscular with a longer blade size and larger sole than the U510. It aims to provide forgiveness and promote easy launch from the tee or turf. Again the irons feature strategic high density tungsten weighting for high launch and stopping control with high MOI for maximum forgiveness.
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New Titleist irons: U500 and U510 results
The most impressive thing about these irons is the height and land angle they manage to achieve. The U510 1-iron was reaching an average height of just under 90 feet, almost identical height as I see with my 2-hybrid. It also achieved a land angle of 40°, only 2° lower than my regular 4-iron.
They key difference I noticed between the two models was the workability. I had much more consistent dispersion and shot-shaping ability with the U500.
However it didn’t travel quite as far as the U510. I always thought I would lose distance using an iron rather than a hybrid but in testing the 2-iron was travelling the same distance as the 2-hybrid I currently have in my bag.
New Titleist irons: U500 and U510 verdict
I couldn’t believe how easy to hit these irons are. They have so little loft on the face but the high flight I managed to achieve, even with the one iron, was incredible.
A key thing about these irons is that even though they have so little loft, the height and at the land angle, means you can hold them on a green when needed. They are not just to be used off the tee for low bullets which is what many people imagine a long iron is for.
New Titleist irons: The details
Available: August 30, 2019
SRP: £245
More Information: Titleist website
Will you be putting a 1-iron in your bag? Let us know in the comments below, or join the conversation on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
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