WRX Forum Buzzz
TaylorMade holds Speed Pocket World Challenge from 4 cities
Times Square being converted to a TaylorMade driving range at 11pm the night before
To help kick off golf season, TaylorMade is turning Times Square into a driving range by hosting the TaylorMade Speed Pocket World Challenge. That’s right. On Tuesday March 11 from 11am to 2pm, consumers will be able to compare traditional irons to TaylorMade Speed Blade irons and track their distance gains.
FlightScope will track all results on a Global Leaderboard, allowing participants to compete against others in London, Toronto and San Francisco. Aside from local winners, one person will be crowned “Speed Pocket World Champion.” Participation is free and open to everyone.
Famed instructor Hank Haney and Golf Channel’s Charlie Rymer will also be on-hand for the NYC festivities. GolfWRX will be providing some live updates on the site and social media for you, so stay tuned.
GolfWRX will be covering San Francisco and New York events. With temperatures expected to climb north of 55 degrees on Tuesday, timing couldn’t be better.
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Equipment
I’m a 31 year-old male and I turned my apartment living room into a driving range stall – GolfWRXers react
In our forums, our members have been reacting to a post from ‘GolferTodd’ who has turned their apartment living room into a driving range stall. ‘GolferTodd’ produced the following photo in our forums with the caption:
“To the exclusion of furniture. Bachelor life.”
And our members have been reacting to the post in our forums.
Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- MtlJeff: “This is amazing……When i was 28 i lived in an apartment that had my winter tires in the kitchen, i only had one plate and 1 set of knives and forks, and i cooked pasta in a witches cauldron from 1835. And i still convinced a woman to marry me. So i am all for this. In fact this is way better than what i had to offer.”
- TiScape: “Love it Todd. Go Dodgers!!”
- imkirby34: “Based on the view out the window, it looks like you’re on the first floor, which is probably a good thing because I’d hate to live below you, even if you have an extremely shallow AoA. Haha.”
In our forums, our members have been discussing classic irons. WRXer ‘DonaldDunes’ has caught the vintage club bug, and wants to know other members’ favorite iron models that “have stood the test of time or were the top performers for their day.”
Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- Maine Golfer: “I love a lot of clubs but ’69 Wilson Staff’s are an all time favorite. Easy to hit in relative terms and they look amazing.”
- Wilsonian: “No surprise from me, but the Wilson K-28 irons, specifically blades with the glide thru sole. I grew up playing Ram clubs, but got away from them as I got older. My return to vintage was with the Wilsons, and my first set of hickories were the Wilson Plus Success irons. You’ll try a lot of sets, but I think it’s a matter of what feels best in your hands, specifically your 7 iron which is the best indicator imo.”
- Hawkeye777: “Hogan Redlines. Macgregor Nicklaus Muirfield 20th. Wilson Staff Tour Blade. Those are mine, don’t play any of them these days (no real reason to) and didn’t really “collect” them. The Wilsons I played with for years.”
In our forums, our members have been discussing how much wear is too much wear when purchasing used irons. WRXer ‘con_mon2’ is interested in a used set of iron and kicks off the thread, asking:
“Would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on this! How much wear are you comfortable with?
I found a set of irons on eBay that I am very interested in buying, but they have a bit more wear than I’m comfortable with. I have attached a few pictures showing especially the wear on the sweet spot on the PW and 9 iron. Maybe you can convince me that I’m being too picky and I should just buy them? Or maybe I should be concerned about the wear? I’m not really sure. They are Ping i230s which came out in 2022 so they aren’t that old. And the seller had this to say about the condition: ‘Good: Normal wear for their age. Excellent playing condition but they have cosmetic wear on faces and soles. Sweetspot wear is visible.’
Beyond the cosmetic, I’d really like to know this: At what point do you start to worry about the grooves being so worn that they have a substantial effect on the shots you’re hitting?”
And our members have been sharing their thoughts in response.
Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- rsballer10: “The term you are looking for is “browning” and these irons have some of that going on. They are completely playable, but I’d say they’ve reached their half-life.”
- Nessism: “Those heads are stainless steel. The “browning” that some people reference, is really the yellow shade of the nickel layer under the chrome. When forged carbon steel heads wear through the chrome, the “brown” is RUST. These heads will never rust. People applaud the old Ping irons as being “indestructible”. Those heads had no chrome. These heads, even if the chrome is beginning to wear through, on one head, are miles more durable than the older unplated “indestructible” Ping’s. And even further ahead of any forged club.”
- phizzy30: “Hard pass for me. I would rather get a new set of DTC irons and would be glad to spend the extra couple to few hundred.”
Entire Thread: “When buying used irons: How much wear is too much? – GolfWRXers discuss”
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Gary Jones
Mar 11, 2014 at 11:14 pm
I went today in San Francisco. Took about 15 seconds to stretch and hit 2 balls. Then hit 3 with the R11 6 iron which has 28 degrees of loft and then hit 3 balls with the Speedblade 6 iron which has 26.5 degrees of loft. I gained 12 yards. I think if I would of hit the R11 again I would have got the 12 yards back just because I was getting loose by each swing. So I don’t really thing that was a valid test, but it was a beautiful day in SF and it was fun to get out of the office.
Gary Jones
Mar 11, 2014 at 11:18 pm
Oh – I got a free T-shirt and koozie too!
DJ
Mar 13, 2014 at 1:56 am
I was in SF too. Was really thrown off by the length of this iron. The R11 I hit was about 201(long) and the Speedblade was 228(long). At this point that is equal to my 3 iron… on a really good day. I know I nutted those shots, but do you think the flightscopes were off? How were your distances compared to your normal?
Gary Jones
Mar 13, 2014 at 4:28 pm
Wow- you must loosen up quick. 🙂 I hit mine quite a bit shorter. Only like 136 with the R11 and 148 with the Speedblade.
DJ
Mar 13, 2014 at 7:02 pm
Walked from Civic Center so I was pretty loose by the time I got there. I emailed TM to get flightscope numbers but nobody’s answered me. I know loft is a lot stronger, just sounds waaaay off and wanted to see if you had overly-inflated numbers. Or… they’re just crazy long!
Steve
Mar 11, 2014 at 7:25 pm
Yeah do a loft for loft challenge! Then you can prove to everyone complaining that you NEED to lower the loft unless they want to hit skyrockets with every fricken club.
Kevin
Mar 12, 2014 at 6:42 pm
these are the comments that show the low IQ of some golfers.
wouldn’t it make sense that lowering the loft would lower the launch angle. go get on a flight monitor, hit a speedblade and compare to whatever club you want at the same loft.
i could care less what people think of speedblades. but thinking that they gain distance only because of loft is downright ignorant.
speedblades deliver distance, but they also deliver improved launch. they are taking a TM 6iron, getting 5 iron distances, but getting 6 or even 7 iron launch angles. go hit a Speedblade 6iron against your own clubs comparable iron in loft, or most likely 5 iron. I’m willing to bet the TM 6 iron goes as far or farther, yet you’ll launch much higher. that is where the technology and improvements are being made.
Stop with the nonsense about jacked lofts. it only shows how little you understand. todays clubs, in many brands, are going higher with better spin numbers. the only way to prevent crazy high launch angles is to lower loft.
Justin
Mar 12, 2014 at 11:49 pm
Finally someone who understands. Even blades of today have “jacked up lofts” as compared to irons from, say, the 80s
jack
Mar 14, 2014 at 1:38 am
If you would read his comment you would understand that he was saying exactly what you said in a drawn out explanation. Possibly your the ignorant one?
Francis Linnane
Mar 11, 2014 at 6:11 pm
I just try it out today in Time Square ,it up my game.Thank you TaylorMade
Bryan
Mar 11, 2014 at 5:20 pm
Will i be able to use my 4 iron against there 6 since the lofts are nearly the same. Lol.
Kevin
Mar 12, 2014 at 6:51 pm
these are the comments that show the low IQ of some golfers.
wouldn’t it make sense that lowering the loft would lower the launch angle. go get on a flight monitor, hit a speedblade and compare to whatever club you want at the same loft.
i could care less what people think of speedblades. but thinking that they gain distance only because of loft is downright silly.
speedblades deliver distance, but they also deliver improved launch. they are taking a TM 6iron, getting 5 iron distances, but getting 6 or even 7 iron launch angles. go hit a Speedblade 6iron against your own clubs comparable iron in loft, or most likely 5 iron. I’m willing to bet the TM 6 iron goes as far or farther, yet you’ll launch much higher. that is where the technology and improvements are being made.
Stop with the nonsense about jacked lofts. it only shows how little you understand. todays clubs, in many brands, are going higher with better spin numbers. the only way to prevent crazy high launch angles is to lower loft.
Gus
Mar 12, 2014 at 8:42 pm
Did you actually go do the test?
I did – Taylormade started me on the R11 6-iron (28*) for 3 shots then another 3 shots on the Speedblade (26.5*). My carry with the R11 were 170, 177,179, and Speedblade was 172, 178, 187. Based on this TM claimed that I gained 17 yards – basically taking my worst R11 shot and my best Speedblade shot!
In fact, there were loads of people testing this club who don’t even golf, and one lady ahead of me only managed to hit one good shot with the Speedblade while shanking all the ones with R11, contributing to a whopping 91yards gained. I think they eventually removed result, but still loads do people in the 60+ yards gained…
I took home the free 6-iron and went to range to compare it with my Miura Tournement blade 6-iron. Speedblade was a club longer, but only a yard or two longer than my 5-iron if I did the comparison based on loft.
Loft is loft, TM can call it whatever club they want but it doesn’t change the fact that people are given the specs from a longer club with labeling of a shorter club.
While everyone should have their loft and lie adjusted to achieve ideal launch conditions and proper yardage gaps, TM advertising distance gains is misleading.
Justin
Mar 13, 2014 at 9:23 am
You might have done the test, but it doesn’t matter. If they made the speedblades 28 degrees everyone would be crying they hit the ball too high.
LorenRobertsFan
Mar 11, 2014 at 2:19 pm
Sorry TM, but if rather have a 7 iron that goes 145-150 rather than a 7 iron that goes 150-165
LorenRobertsFan
Mar 11, 2014 at 2:19 pm
*i’d
Kevin
Mar 12, 2014 at 6:54 pm
haha seriously? why? don’t kid yourself. first, even at 165yds that is a short 7iron on tour.
what we want is the correct spin numbers for a 7 iron at the proper launch angles, and most importantly consistency. no hot spots.
speedblades are MUCH more consistent than previous burners.
what i don’t like, lightweight shaft and longer lengths.
but stop acting like you wouldn’t want an extra ten yards per iron and the proper launch or trajectory.
Lazza
Mar 11, 2014 at 12:12 pm
Should make sure that loft for loft (° for °) is used as a comparison. No good comparing “4i” with 20° loft with 21° 3i blade! All other specs to be identical too (shaft, length, swing weight, flex, etc) and then we see veracity of distance claims.
Kevin
Mar 12, 2014 at 6:56 pm
i bet that TM 20* club goes farther and even with lower loft goes higher. explain that genious. lower lofts on TM speedlines, yet higher launch angles than other clubs at similar launch angles.
Reggie Ramos
Mar 11, 2014 at 1:51 am
I wish i could try it. I like taylormade golf clubs. My golf set are taylormade burner. I like it.
Johnny
Mar 11, 2014 at 1:09 am
I live in Indiana sure would be nice to be able to get into that contest, I just recently purchased an r1 driver,have been using Callaway the last 2 years I am loving the r1 I’m heading Mizuno irons but would like to try the MC TaylorMade