There is a lot of cool gear in the golf equipment world that doesn’t always fit neatly into Most Wanted Tests or Buyer’s Guides. You still want to know how it performs. In our We Tried It series, we put gear to the test and let you know if it works as advertised. 

What We Tried:

The TaylorMade P790 Irons. I’ve been playing some game-improvement irons (they rhyme with “Nixon”) and figured it was time to try something different. Is my wife happy about it? Nope. Am I sleeping on the couch with my new Vintage Copper P790s? You know it.

Who Tried It:

Connor. Managing editor and resident sneakerhead. The self-proclaimed worst golfer at MyGolfSpy who’s been steadily (but slowly) improving.

Why P790?

To be frank, I was just really excited that the new Vintage Copper series P790 irons were offered in left-handed. On a more serious note, I’ve been steadily getting better and wanted to try an iron that’s not labeled as “game improvement.”

It’s worth noting that my copper P790s will perform the same as the standard finish. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about my experience with the TaylorMade P790 irons.

First Impressions

Aren’t they pretty? The copper finish is nice, sure, but the overall shaping and size of the TaylorMade P790 irons are leagues ahead of my current set. I’m not one of those guys who “has to have” something with a thin top line (I ain’t shallow, I like them thick or thin) but the P790s do objectively look very good from all angles.

One of the first things I noticed was the lack of offset when compared to my game-improvement set. This was a welcome sight, considering that my miss has been over-drawing the ball. I’m not good at golf but I am good at hitting a draw. I don’t need the extra help of a pre-closed face.

Enough gawking over looks. You want to hear about performance, don’t you?

The Data

While we don’t have definitive results until the Most Wanted Player’s Distance Iron test, I did collect some initial data on the P790 irons and compared it to my current game-improvement set.

For the purposes of my collection, I hit only a 7-iron and pitching wedge. (I don’t game a 5-iron.)

If these results tell me anything, it’s that:

I’m not getting anything out of the P790 that I’m not already seeing with my current set. If I can get game-improvement level performance with a player’s distance iron, that’s a big win in my book.

As one would expect with a game-improvement iron, I’m getting a bit more distance and a little more ball speed but nothing substantial enough to stop me from switching, in my opinion.

Of course, this is only one man’s experience. Once the P790s are put through their paces in our Most Wanted testing, we’ll know more about how they perform when compared to other irons in the Player’s Distance category.

Sound and Feel

Now that we’ve got the objective stuff out of the way, let’s talk about the subjective stuff: Sound and feel.

I’m of the opinion that metal doesn’t feel soft (stop saying your blades feel like butter). So, despite what you want me to say, I won’t say that the P790s feel soft. They do, however, feel solid. Really solid. Especially the long irons which, because of the new progressive design, are slightly different than the short irons.

A well-struck 7-iron feels every bit as good as any iron I’ve hit.

Let’s talk about sound (which influences feel). The TaylorMade P790 irons sound, well … powerful. That’s the best word I can use to describe the sound. When you actually hit the sweet spot (I don’t that often), the sound elicits feelings of “Holy bleep, that was launched!”

A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing

If there was one compliment I could pay the TaylorMade P790s, it would be this: They perform like game-improvement irons without the game-improvement aesthetic (or lack thereof). In short, they’re like a sheep in wolf’s clothing. On the inside, they perform just as well as my game-improvement set. But on the outside, they’re just flat-out badass.

I’ll say it again. If I can get game-improvement performance from an iron that looks this good, why wouldn’t I play it?

You can pick up the TaylorMade P790 irons now at TaylorMade.

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