Taylormade R9 Irons Review
TaylorMade seems to have made it its mission in the last few years to reinvent what the phrase “classic golf club” means. For example, they have taken the pear-shaped driver and morphed it into a geometrical tinker toy that looks both modern and classic at the same time. Now, their researchers and designers have turned their attention to creating a classic/modern iron.
Like the r7, the clubface of the R9 Iron uses the inverted cone technology on the inner side of the clubface for consistent ball speed on off-center hits. Using that as their foundation, the new R9 irons long and mid irons were designed separately from the short irons to optimize performance in each club.
The 3- through 6-irons house a fully enclosed, foam-filled compartment located directly behind the clubface and beneath the cavity badge. TaylorMade refers to this chamber as the “Velocity Control Chamber” because it is meant to create a higher launch angle, more power, and great feel. Moreover, the weightless soft feel foam allows the engineers to have an ultrathin (2.0 mm) face that wraps around the topline and leading edge. When the face flexes at impact, it is meant to act like a thin-faced driver and result in a higher CoR, faster ball speed, and added distance.
The virtually weightless foam originates as a powder that is sealed in this chamber, and then transforms into a foam substance after the clubhead is heated during production.
While the long- and mid-irons are meant to provide distance and forgiveness, the short irons are designed to increase feel and improve accuracy. The short irons feature a deep undercut cavity and a broad, low-CG sole which are meant to facilitate solid, spin-inducing impact. The teardrop shape and clearly delineated leading edge is meant to aid alignment. The R9 short irons also incorporate a vibration-dampening layer sandwiched between the backside of the clubface and the thin, protected black badge in the cavity as well as a visco-elastic adhesive made by 3M that is meant to further dampen vibration.
Last, the Taylormad R9 Irons come standard with the KBS 90 steel shaft with wall thickness that increases proportionately as shaft diameter decreases to increase club stability.
The performance of the R9s defied logic. They are oversized, game-improvement irons. They are meant to hit the ball long which usually means that you sacrifice feel and workability.
My first shot with the R9s came on course from about 195 yards out to an elevated green. Normally, I would pull out a 5-iron and take a nice, easy swing expecting the ball to fade just a touch and land on the green dead. I took out an R9 5-iron, took a nice, easy swing, and watched the ball land about five yards over the green. This trend would continue for the rest of my day; any time I hit a 3-, 4-, or 5-iron I found that the ball was traveling much farther than expected despite a very similar trajectory. The 6-, 7-, and 8-irons all seemed to travel slightly farther than normal but at least the ball was landing on the back side of the green. Needless to say, this was not my best round but it certainly demonstrated the length of the R9s.
The R9s performed above or beyond all my expectations. They are an oversized iron that has feel. The long irons absolutely murder the golf ball and despite the slight drop in forgiveness over the r7 irons that came before, they are still quite forgiving. Moreover, the irons actually look good. If you are a mid- to high-handicap player, this is a set of irons I would highly recommend.