After the loud and extensive marketing I was eager to see how many yards that intriguing speed pocket would add to my 6-iron. The answer was about 10. The TaylorMade RocketBladez irons have a large cavity behind their stainless steel faces that lowers the centre of gravity and pulls it further away from the face, which is said to make them more forgiving and higher-flying.
That’s helped by a 2mm slot in the sole of the 3-7 irons - a Speed Pocket (far right) - which lets the 1.6mm thick flex more easily at impact, especially on shots hit low down in the face. TaylorMade says that these irons have COR numbers similar to a driver’s. The slot is covered with polyurethane to keep debris out, and TaylorMade says the polyurethane also helps quieten down vibrations without significantly hampering the flexing.
But while this was impressive in itself, the best thing was the consistency I found after exhaustive testing at the range, and then on the course. Obviously distance was down out of the cabbage, but from everywhere else I seemed to be hitting it about the same - this was terrific, as it removes the element of doubt about catching a flyer out of the semi-short stuff.
In the hand it feels very light and those that like a lighter shaft and the increased head speed that comes with it will benefit from the lighter, almost graphite feeling head/shaft weight ratios. Clearly if you like a heavier shaft you can custom fit. I just kept saying to myself that it felt like cheating. Feel off the face was good with a very satisfying soft clip but clearly not forged soft, but what is these days except blades. I'm using taylormade rocketbladez irons [http://www.ausgolfprice.com/TaylorMade-RocketBladez-Irons-australia-1283.html] at the moment and the RBZ's were only a little more cast feeling than the 712's.
Even slightly thinned shots flew straight and long with unerring accuracy and I would say that it was roughly 1 club stronger the 2 other (forged) irons I tried that night. Finally a quick word about consistency. I really felt that I was in control of distances which not something that has been labelled at previous TM distance irons. So yes I need to try the long irons to see if they are just as easy to hit. I also need to test the scoring irons for feel on shots around the greens.
You’d expect a club with this RocketBladez much forgiveness to be chunkier, but it just isn’t. You have to adjust to flying the ball all the way to the target - a steep angle of descent means little run - but once you’ve nailed this, you’re away.
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