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Titleist T-Series Irons and U505 Utility Iron
Can a new set of Titleist T-Series irons turn you into Hank Lebioda? I know what you’re thinking …
Who the hell is Hank Lebioda?
Fair question.
Lebioda made the jump to the PGA TOUR in 2020 but apart from a few of top-20s, he hadn’t made much noise. Before today, you might not have heard his name which means you probably didn’t know that he was one of the early adopters of the T100.
Here’s the thing. Since dropping T100 in the bag, Lebioda has rattled off three straight top-10 finishes, including two top-5s.
The recent run accounts for the bulk of his career earnings and has made Lebioda the unintentional poster child of the new Titleist iron lineup. Sure, Jordan Spieth finished solo second at The Open (I suppose that’s something) with the new irons but Lebioda is on an absolute heater since putting T100 in play.
Of course, Titleist understands that not everyone is Hank Lebioda so there’s plenty more to the new iron lineup than just T100 but given the early success of the new irons on the PGA TOUR, it sure feels like it would be a disservice to Hank (and Jordan) to start anywhere else.
Titleist T100 Irons
Born of the AP2, the current iteration of the Titleist T100 is the most-played iron on the PGA TOUR and, for that matter, across all global tours. Given its popularity among the world’s best, any iteration of Titleist’s signature iron must bear the burden of a single prevailing mandate:
Don’t screw it up.
And so, while the new T100 iron has evolved, it’s by no sensible measure radically different than what came before it.
While you won’t mistake the T100 for an MB or even an ultra-compact CB, Titleist describes the iron as blade-like. The topline is thin, there’s a bit, but far from a lot, of offset. There’s some forgiveness packed into the long and middle irons but we’re still talking about an iron designed for Tour pros.
Sure, a set of Titleist T100 irons might improve your game a bit—just don’t expect it to turn you into Jordan Spieth … or even Hank Lebioda.
T100 Irons – Updated Construction
I suppose the most significant departure from the previous model can be found in the construction. With the new T100 iron, Titleist is leveraging what it calls “continuous face construction.” Effectively, it amounts to changing the way the pieces of the T100 iron come together. The face and hosel are forged from a single piece of SUP-10 steel that wraps around to the back of the club, moving the welds away from the face.
Enhanced forgiveness comes by way of the tungsten weighting in the 3-7 irons. Titleist uses an average of 90 grams per head and, while I’d be shocked if you find that detail (or any other tungsten-related detail) particularly compelling, it’s worth noting that it’s more than you’ll find in competitive offerings.
All that tungsten helps increase launch and boosts the MOI of what is a legitimately compact Tour offering.
The tungsten is brazed, not welded, into the head and while that’s likely an even less exciting detail than the tungsten, it’s a small change that leads to more precise center of gravity placement and a bit tighter manufacturing consistency.
For the metallurgically curious among you, both the face and body parts of the T100 3-7 irons are forged from SUP-10. The 8-W are forged from 1025 carbon steel. The thicker mass bar on the backside of the club eliminated the need for any sort of insert which, in my opinion, makes for an exceptionally clean-looking iron.
Performance Differences
In terms of quantifiable performance differences, the new model should spin a little bit more than the previous generation. We’re really talking about the ultimate in Tour-level tuning here. While Titleist emphasizes that numbers vary based on the player, the objective was to put somewhere between 100 and 150 more rpm worth of spin into the new model and that’s what it did.
The T100 also features a new variable bounce sole. While it’s a bit harder to quantify, Titleist’s iron team leaned on the knowledge of the Vokey wedge team. After testing several iterations of sole designs, Titleist found one it felt moved through the turf a bit better than the others and so that’s the one that made it into the production model.
T100 Irons – Lofts and Lie Angles
Titleist describes its T100 irons lofts as traditional, though the 46-degree PW is only traditional by the modern standard. Using today’s vernacular, the simple description is that the T100 hasn’t been loft-jacked.
Notable in the spec sheet is that long-iron lie angles are more upright than past models. That may sound like a random change but Titleist noticed that a healthy percentage of its Tour staff were bending their long irons upright so it made sense to match stock specs with how the irons were being configured by the world’s best. Not many of us need to hit long irons further right.
Titleist T100 Irons – Featured Shafts
As far as stock … excuse me … FEATURED shafts are concerned, Titleist is sticking with the True Temper AMT White as its steel option. The Mitsubishi Tensei White AM2 (also ascending mass) is the graphite option.
Both shafts are described as low launch and low spin.
The stock grip is a Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 with white paint fill.
Retail price for the Titleist T100 iron is $186 per club.
Titleist T100S
With the details of the T100 covered, the story of the T100S is an easy one to tell.
The Titleist T100s is like the T100 in nearly every meaningful way. The size and shape of the heads are identical. The only appreciable difference is that T100S features a small muscle channel in the back cavity. Oh … and The T100S is also unapologetically loft-jacked.
The simple explanation for the existence of the T100S iron is that Titleist remains committed to putting the “player” back in the “player’s distance” story. The more nuanced reality is that some golfers want more distance while others will actually produce optimal—or at least closer to optimal—trajectories with the stronger lofts.
How much stronger are we talking? The T100S is two degrees stronger throughout the set.
Please take a moment to vent, express your range, do whatever it is you need to do so we can get back to our story.
Titleist T100S Irons – Design Enhancements
Look, guys, the T100S is designed to go far and strengthening lofts is a really simple (and effective) way to create distance. And, yeah, as we’ve learned from testing some super-jacked game improvement irons over the years, distance without stopping power isn’t particularly helpful. So, to maintain the kind of playable descent angles that allow you to actually hold greens, the T100S features a muscle channel in the mid and long irons. The channel allows additional mass to be pushed lower in the head and creates a little bit of additional face flexure (more speed).
Toss in more tungsten (90 grams, on average) and you’ll find that many golfers are able to generate enough launch to make the stronger lofts viable.
For the “I just want to hit it far” crowd, in Titleist’s testing, the T100S produced about 150 rpm less spin and seven yards of additional carry over the standard T100. I also want to hammer home the point that, for some of us, the lower dynamic loft produced by the jacked lofts actually helps create better launch conditions.
One Spec Isn’t Right For Everyone
Here’s the thing: Drivers come in different lofts for a reason and, while it may be lost on some, what’s true for the driver is true for the rest of the bag. While you may see loft-jacking as something between a personal affront to Ben Hogan and a total abomination, regardless of the type of club we’re talking about, there isn’t a single loft spec that’s right for everyone.
It’s true. The first iteration of T100S wasn’t a huge needle-mover for Titleist but the feeling inside the company was that T100S was a victim of circumstance. The company believes there’s a market for the iron but between the weird timing of the launch (it was released with T400, several months after the other T-series irons) and COVID, it sort of got lost in the chaos.
By launching T100S alongside T100, the hope is that golfers won’t see T100S as an afterthought and will take advantage of the opportunity to compare side by side before ultimately gravitating to the one that produces the best results.
Titleist T100S Irons – Featured Shafts
The “featured” steel shaft for the Titleist T100S iron is the Project X LZ. Your graphite option is, again, the Mitsubishi Tensei White AM2.
The stock grip is a Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 with white paint fill.
The retail price for the Titleist T100S is $186 per iron.
Titleist T200 Iron
While I’ll stop short of describing the evolution from the original T200 as a massive overhaul, it inarguably represents the most significant departure from the previous generation among the new offerings.
Your big picture explanation for the change is that the T200 has been tweaked to expand its appeal with better golfers.
Titleist T200 – Refined Design
Compared to Titleist’s original T200 iron, the blade length is shorter. There’s less offset (T200 now matches T100), the topline and sole have both been thinned. The signature Max Impact Technology of the original still exists but it’s been safely stowed away under the hood. Titleist believes that while better players will appreciate the benefits of Max Impact, they’re not nearly as interested in seeing the technology as game-improvement players tend to be.
I’d wager that Titleist is correct.
The Titleist T200 fits the definition of a hollow-body iron and some of you will, no doubt, get a whiff of some T-MB DNA along with some trickle-down from the CNCPT series in the updated T200 design.
T200 – Titleist’s Most Advanced Iron (EVER)
The T200 chassis is the epitome of multi-material construction. The body is comprised of a 17-4 steel frame. The back piece—what Titleist calls a Muscle Plate—is made of polymer and features rib structures for improved sound and feel. The face is forged from high COR SUP10. There’s no mystery foam, goo or anything of that nature. Titleist believes that air remains the best filler material for an iron. It’s an opinion currently shared by both PING and Mizuno.
Of course, by the time Titleist is done adding tungsten (100 grams, on average) and a redesigned Max Impact core, there’s not much space left inside the iron to speak of anyway.
Titleist calls T200 “Our Most Advanced Iron EVER” and, while that’s the kind of boilerplate boasting you’d expect from nearly any new club release, the meaningful bit for golfers is that the T200 iron should prove to be the longest and most forgiving of Titleist’s better player irons, though T200’s appeal will likely transcend the player’s iron category.
Weaker Lofts … Kinda
The Titleist T200 iron lofts have been weakened a bit in the long irons but the set remains sufficiently jacked at the long end of the bag. The PW is 43 degrees which is why the 48-degree gap wedge is also an option. There is a bit of a double-edged sword here. Like the T100S, there are some golfers who will legitimately benefit from the design (jacked lofts and all) but the stronger lofts will almost invariably create some gapping challenges at both ends of the bag.
Titleist T200 Iron … or Utility
An intriguing ripple to the T200 iron story is that the long irons have been dual-engineered to serve as either set-matched irons or standalone utility irons. The 2-, 3- and 4-irons are available in mid-weight .355 taper tip and heavier .370 hosel to accommodate graphite hybrid shafts. Lightweight heads are also available for longer builds.
It’s perhaps a little complex but the idea here is to create enough versatility to make the T200 a viable option for those looking for an alternative to the Titleist U505 utility iron.
T200 Featured Shafts
Featured shafts for the T200 are the True Temper AMT Black (steel) and the MCA Tensei Blue (graphite)
The stock hybrid shaft is the HZRDUX Smoke Black RDX. Graphite Design’s AD-DI (85g) and AD-IZ (95g) are the Premium featured options and carry a $120 upcharge.
The Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 (white paint fill) is the stock grip.
Titleist T300 Iron
It seems almost insane that for Titleist, a company that has focused (sometimes to its detriment) on better players, the T300 is the top seller of the original T-series line. I’d wager most of us would have guessed T100. You can chalk that up to an iron design that was finally able to fight the notion that Titleist irons were exclusively for better players.
I’d argue that T300 was really the first time Titleist really tried.
It should go without saying that what better players want and what average golfers need seldom align. So, while it’s technically true that AP1 was often billed as a game-improvement offering, even at its most forgiving, it always felt like the answer to the question, “What would a better player want in a game-improvement iron?”
Titleist T300 – “The Ultimate Game Improvement Iron”
Now two generations removed from AP1, Titleist is calling the T300 the ultimate game improvement iron. Again, that’s boilerplate boasting but from a performance perspective, it speaks to an iron that flies high and far and offers plenty of forgiveness.
I should probably mention that those first two are predicated on the assumption that a given golfer can generate enough speed to make the iron work as intended. If that’s not you, at a minimum, you’ll want to think about hybrids at the long end of the set.
By Titleist standards, the T300 qualifies as a mid-sized iron, though that’s largely because the T100 and T200 are relatively compact and the T400, which isn’t being replaced as part of this release, borders on massive. T300 occupies the happy space between compact and massive.
Design Tweaks
Unlike T200, with the T300 design, Titleist has elected to keep a bit of the Max Impact Core technology on display. As you’d expect, there are some subtle enhancements made in pursuit of improved performance, but functionally the story is still one of higher and more consistent ball speeds.
Building on the Max Impact core, Titleist has implemented a variable-thickness face. The relevant detail is that the Titleist design tapers to a thinner heel. As always, the idea is to create faster and more consistent speeds across all of the face.
You see a pattern yet?
Speaking of patterns …
As with other Titleist T-series iron designs, the T300 leverages high-density tungsten to promote higher launch and increase MOI. Because of the larger head, however, not nearly as much is required. So, while the T300 includes 40 percent more tungsten than the original, at 70 grams per head on average, it’s a bit less than you’ll find in other T-series irons, though it’s also considerably more than you’ll find in most any other game-improvement offering.
While boosting forgiveness by way of increased MOI is part of every company’s playbook, Titleist also talks about forgiveness of launch. The idea is that T300 is easier to get in the air even when you miss it.
You Get What You Pay For
At $143 per iron, the Titleist T300 falls on the expensive end of the game-improvement category. That may place it outside the budget of some prospective game-improvement buyers but it’s worth noting that, like Mizuno, Titleist chrome-plates its game-improvement offerings. It’s a step a good bit of the industry skips in the interest of cutting costs and with it, the finish quality of their products.
Titleist T300 Featured Shafts
The featured shafts for the Titleist T300 iron are the True Temper AMT Red (steel) and the Mitsubishi Tensei Red AM2 (graphite). Both options are described as high launch and high spin.
The Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 (white paint fill) is the stock grip.
Titleist U505 Utility
Rounding out the new Titleist lineup is the U505 utility. Last time around, Titleist gave us the U500 and the U510. The U505 splits the middle and gives you, according to Titleist, the best of both worlds.
For the sake of comparison, it’s shorter heel to toe than the U510 but has a wider sole.
The construction is similar to the T200. To that end, you’re getting hollow-body construction, a Max Impact core, a massive amount of tungsten, a high COR SUP-10 L-Face and a muscle plate to hide the tech and keep everything looking clean.
The Same … But Different
The construction is nearly identical because the intent is identical. Both the T200 (as a utility iron) and the U505 are meant to be easy to launch while giving you more flexibility to flight the ball down than you’d get from a hybrid.
The difference is that, configured as a utility, the T200 still has to conform to the basic design of the T200 set. It’s supposed to match the rest of the irons.
As a dedicated utility, the U505 offers designers a bit more freedom of shape so, by comparison, it’s not quite as tall and has a wider sole. The sole design pushes the center of gravity lower and deeper which suggests the U505 will be the higher launching of Titleist’s two new utility options.
Titleist U505 Specs
It’s also worth pointing out that while T200 options begin with a 2-iron, the U505 is available in a 16-degree 1-iron (good luck with that).
Like the T200, Titleist has a variety of U505 heads to allow for either graphite or steel shafts or longer build lengths.
The Titleist U505 is available in #1 (16°), #2, #3, and #4 lofts. The featured shaft is the HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX (80 and 90 grams). Premium featured shafts ($120 upcharge) are the Graphite Design TOUR AD-DI (85 gram) and AD-IZ (95 gram).
The Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 (white paint fill) is the stock grip.
The retail price is $249.
T-Series and U505 Fitting and Availability
Fitting for the new T-Series irons and U505 Utility begins July 27. Full retail availability begins Aug. 26.
For more information, visit Titleist.com.
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