If there’s one thing amateur golfers can learn from Tour players, it’s that you shouldn’t be afraid to go with a little bit more help and forgiveness in your irons, especially the long irons.
This past season, Rory McIlroy, a noted blade player throughout his career, was one of the early adopters of the prototype that became the TaylorMade P7CB iron, adding a 4-iron to his bag at the Valero Texas Open. Collin Morikawa also added the proto version of the forged cavity-back iron at the RBC Heritage.
On this week’s episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped, co-host Kris McCormack explained how he loved testing the P7CB irons on a recent trip to TaylorMade’s Kingdom headquarters in Carlsbad, California, but they might not be perfect for him for the entire set.
“I’m a low-launch, low-spin player, left miss, and so CB really suits my eye,” McCormack said. “But I’ve always been a little hesitant to put something like that in the bag just because of the forgiveness factor. I’m not the most solid ball striker in the world, but in testing these out at the Kingdom, I was like, ‘You know? I could play these.’
“I had an opportunity to hit them from the wedge all the way up to the 4-iron. And while I’m probably still more of a 770 guy in that 4- or 5-iron, 6-iron was surprisingly easy to hit. The 4-iron was OK for me, I’m just not a good enough player to maybe build that full set all the way through.”
That’s when co-host Wadeh Maroun, explained that if McCormack doesn’t feel comfortable enough with the 4- or 5-iron in the P7CB set, he can seamlessly blend in the 4- or 5-iron from the more forgiving P770.
TaylorMade P7CB Custom Irons
$185.71
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“They’ve been made to blend with each other perfectly,” Maroun said. “The same lot, the same lie, everything exactly the same, right? If you do want to do a blended set, you can go to whatever you want and get it done.”
Maroun himself has a full set of the P770s because, while he prefers the look of a blade iron, closer to the P7CB, he wants something with a little more forgiveness.
TaylorMade P770 Custom Irons
$175
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“I’m nearly 42 years old,” he added. “You know, what’s going to give me a little bit of love because my swing speed might be slowing down because I’ve got a nine-year-old and a seven-year-old I chase them around.
“So my back gets sore, my knees get sore, my elbows are screwed from being a junior tennis player growing up and so I need something that’s going to help me out a little bit.”
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Jack Hirsh
Golf.com Editor
Jack Hirsh is the Associate Equipment Editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, earning degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his high school golf team and recently returned to the program to serve as head coach. Jack also still *tries* to remain competitive in local amateurs. Before joining GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but also producing, anchoring and even presenting the weather. He can be reached at jack.hirsh@golf.com.