Taylor Made 2006 TP MBs

I've had a set of these for some time now and other than looks haven't been that impressed with the overall feel. Basic performance was about normal for a standard lofted forged set. But they felt very hard at impact for a modified forged muscle back. Today my dealer got several sets in that were presold except for one. Just on a whim I took the 7, 5, 3 iron out with tape on them. I had my "old" set with me so I could do an instant comparison. First I thought it was the tape that was artificially making the newer set feel much softer than my earlier set. I then took the tape off and sure enough they still felt much softer than my earlier set. My salesman thought I was "nuts" so we divised a test. We took irons that hadn't been hit from my first set (they didn't get any use in some irons since I was unimpressed with the feel). He marked the sole numbers of the new set with a white liquid paper dot. I wasn't allowed to look at the soles of any of the irons. I did a comparison of the P, 6, 4 iron in each set with no tape on any of them. 100% I picked the new set for softness. Even constant cleaning of the faces and switching the irons back and forth didn't result in one wrong pick. I did hit a few off center which was a little harder to tell but when caught on the sweet spot what a difference. I convinced the salesman as we did this using a couple of buckets of balls (off grass). Same shafts and same grips so I am mystifyed as to why one would be so totally different. I've experienced some sets not feeling as good as other companies sets but never within the same companies sets. I wouldn't hazard a guess as to why---the reasons could be numerous but needless to say they have a harsh feeling used set on their racks. YIKES.

Is it likely shaft alignment could be the culprit?

Possibly for a few clubs but not an entire set. I suppose it could be heads from a different facility. But then there might be sets that had some from each location. Mine are about a month apart so I seriously doubt that is the case.

Are you playing the same shaft? The earlier sets were made with Dynamic Golds.

He says the same shaft & grips so that seems to be a very fair test. Everything constant really, only explanation is a difference forging. (Assuming they are the same specs length/loft/lie & SW)

 

Really strange. Maybe Champx2 can help, or other experts on the board. I am really at a loss, its one thing to hit say a RAC CB and say its 7/10 feel and then hit a RAC Miura CB and say tis 8/10 feel. You are not going to contradict the 1000s of posts saying Miura is the $hit. But a blind test on supposedly identical sets, woah.

Possibly for a few clubs but not an entire set. I suppose it could be heads from a different facility. But then there might be sets that had some from each location. Mine are about a month apart so I seriously doubt that is the case.

"Yikes!" is right if Taylor Made has that kind of QC issues. :golfer:

The store has a little yoda guy in the back that sends out the jedi/taylormade mind trick to convince you the newer irons feel better...

Same shafts---all TFR 6.0 rifles which are a little soft but at least kept it consisten.