Tommy Armour Silver Scot Tour Blade Review

[SirShanksAlot]

Ok… knock on wood but it looks like the site is back and running normally again. We got an email this morning from our hosting company saying that they had fixed our problem and it’s been so far so good! Thanks for all of your support during our problems! Our ads are still a bit messed up… sure they keep the site alive but they’re really ugly now. We might have to look for some sponsors with cool and colorful banners! Let us know if you have any ideas. Our server problems have really slowed down our reviews so I thought I’d post one tonight. Let’s talk about the Tommy Armour Silver Scot Tour Blades!

We here at SirShanksAlot.com have followed Tommy Armour pretty closely for the past few years. We’ve watched them make a slow turn in the right direction after years of financial hardship. The company’s money problems became a real burden on their products and we sometimes wondered if Tommy Armour would live to see the next year but they just kept hanging in there. The 2006 iron line has people talking and it’s fun to see golfers getting excited over Tommy Armour. The Silver Scot Tour Blades are a big part of the new line and provide golfers with a quality blade at a great price.

Let’s first get some things out of the way… these irons aren’t going to go and compete with a Mizuno or Miura forging. They’re not going to convert TaylorMade RAC TP users to switch brands and they’re probably not going to pull people away from their Callaway X-Tours. Does this mean that they aren’t any good? No… it means that Tommy Armour didn’t intend for the Tour Blade to go out and compete with the best players irons in the world. The company stayed on course and brought out these irons to fit into the “be a player on a smaller budget” market… they made these for the guy that still has some game from his earlier years but doesn’t have the budget to drop the big cash on an expensive forging or the guy that wants a set of blades as a second set for when he feels his game is “on”. That’s who they’re designed for and that’s who buys them.

Tommy Armour bills these as a blade that offers some forgiveness… a blade that an average golfer actually has a chance in hitting. Don’t kid yourself… they’re still blades… but Armour has worked on optimizing the center of gravity on each iron to make it easier to get the ball in the air. The irons come equipped with Flighted Rife shafts. These help keep the longer irons high and the shorter irons low. A nice touch as the stock shaft option! The overall look here is about as traditional as you're going to find... a thin top line, thin sole, reduced offset, minimal graphics and a very clean look. The Silver Scot Tour Blades carry a very reasonable price and they are a very affordable option for the better player.

My customers are really warming up to these irons. The overall consensus is the same... what these irons lack in feel, they make up in value. Both readers and customers agree that these aren't the softest irons around but they are a solid iron for the price. That seems to be the biggest knock on the Silver Scots. Some dislike the stock shafts and the ball flight they provide... some complain that the longer irons balloon a bit. Others don't like the lack of custom options available. Not major problems but there are still some areas for improvement. You may also want to consider combining these with the Silver Scot cavity irons to create your own combo set. Looking for a blade without breaking the bank? Want to add a second set? The Tommy Armour Tour Blades might be the ticket!

SirShanksAlot Rating Out of Ten: 7

Target Handicap - 12 and below

Ball Flight - Flighted depending on iron

Offset - Minimal

Stock Shafts - Flighted Rifle

www.sirshanksalot.com

[giogolf]

Why do these irons not compare to Mizuno, TM, Titleist, Ping, Callaway, Nike, etc...?

 

They are an iron correct? What an iron cost or the amount of engineering should not determine the skill level designation of the player. Any golfer can hit any iron; Top Flite Tour Cavity Cast irons do not cost as much as the other OEMS, but they are played on tour. Tommy Armours past forged offering the 845M and C's were much cheaper than other OEMS, and the Walrus has won plenty with them.

 

The review was good, but I did not like the disclaimer in the beginning that these irons are not equal to or will replace other more popular OEMS. Its never the arrow, its always the Indian, unless the arrow is broken.

[sergizmo]

I too am a little confused about the opening disclaimer. It seems as if there was a pre-conceived notion that as the Armour's are less expensive than other offerrings, they must therefor be less refined and lack "feel".

 

They are forged muscleback blades. There is not some magic formula that Mizuno, Callaway or Taylormade has that makes their forgings superior. With very few exceptions all forgings are done in China, Thailand, Taiwan, etc... This is obviously done to save money and nothing else.

 

The size and placement of mass/muscle will determine trajectory (along with shaft). The sole design will determine how the club interacts with the turf. Outside of that there is not much variance in quality muscleback clubheads. There are no recent "breakthroughs" in muscleback blades.

 

The Armour's come standard with Flighted Rifles, which run $17 per. Most players clubs come with DG, which run $9.50 per (prices from Golfworks). So you get more shaft technology as standard. As to reviewers saying they "ballooned" the stock shafts, give me a break. The Flighted's go up to 6.5, which is mega stiff. Unless they have Sergio or Tiger testing the irons, the testers are fibbing or they tried the weaker flexes.

 

The review didn't really go into things like trajectory throughout the set (except for repeating the TA blurb), accuracy, distance, performance as compared to other blades, etc... It just said these don't "feel" as soft as other sets but are a good value.

 

No, I don't work for Armour and am in no way affiliated with them (look at my sig). I just don't think these clubs got a fair review. Just a statement of preconceptions.

 

Come on guys, you can do better.