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TaylorMade RSi 2 irons

ualtim

Carrollton, TX
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They have arrived. There was a box waiting on the door step when I returned home today and I could not wait to open it. Considering all the irons I have played in my golfing life, this was only the fourth set I have purchased new since 1980. (There have a been a boatload of component irons and used irons along the way). The first set was a Wilson Sam Snead starter set with persimmon woods and blade irons bought at a big box sporting goods store called Hermans. For the second set, I went to a Golf USA and got fitted into a set of Acer MXD's as I did not have the extra coin for Titleist DCI's or Tommy Armor 845's at the time. The third set was a full Ping fitting at the Edwin Watts flagship store in Orlando for a set of i10's. These are the latest and greatest.

Much like when I first saw the Ping i10's and knew that I must someday have them, the TaylorMade RSi2's grabbed my attention almost immediately. I held off for a while waiting to see what the next generation of Ping I-series was going to be like, but was underwhelmed with Ping's latest offering. Throw in a 20% discount on TM through work, and it was time to order up some RSi2's.

In many ways, the RSi 2's remind me a lot of my Ping i10's. A forgiving iron built into a smaller package with less offset that at address appears to be a better players iron. As displayed in the pictures below, the RSi2 long irons have a tungsten weight port in the toe on the long irons down through the 5 iron. The long irons down through the 7 iron have the sole slot and face slots for the added forgiveness as you can see on the 5 and 7 iron photos. At the 8 iron, the set transitions into forged face irons and the sole slot goes away. The 9 iron and PW lose the face slots for a more traditional look and feel.

The pictures online and in this post can not do them justice, they are absolutely beautiful when you hold them in your hands. The set I had made up for me includes 5-PW, bent 1 deg upright, +1/4 inch in length to match my i10's specs. I chose to put in the Nippon Pro 950 GH shafts in stiff flex to get a slightly lighter/smoother steel shaft compared to the ZZ65's and DG S400's I played in my last few sets. Thought about going with the Project X shafts, but I think those days are behind me as I increase in age. I had them topped off with some Lamkin Crosslines which I prefer over the GP Tour Velvets and Decade style grips, plus, they will match my wedges which I also had gripped in Crosslines from Hopkins.

I can not wait to get them out there for a hit. :)
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Fairwaysplitter3320

Recovering Equipment Ho...off the wagon again.
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They have arrived. There was a box waiting on the door step when I returned home today and I could not wait to open it. Considering all the irons I have played in my golfing life, this was only the fourth set I have purchased new since 1980. (There have a been a boatload of component irons and used irons along the way). The first set was a Wilson Sam Snead starter set with persimmon woods and blade irons bought at a big box sporting goods store called Hermans. For the second set, I went to a Golf USA and got fitted into a set of Acer MXD's as I did not have the extra coin for Titleist DCI's or Tommy Armor 845's at the time. The third set was a full Ping fitting at the Edwin Watts flagship store in Orlando for a set of i10's. These are the latest and greatest.

Much like when I first saw the Ping i10's and knew that I must someday have them, the TaylorMade RSi2's grabbed my attention almost immediately. I held off for a while waiting to see what the next generation of Ping I-series was going to be like, but was underwhelmed with Ping's latest offering. Throw in a 20% discount on TM through work, and it was time to order up some RSi2's.

In many ways, the RSi 2's remind me a lot of my Ping i10's. A forgiving iron built into a smaller package with less offset that at address appears to be a better players iron. As displayed in the pictures below, the RSi2 long irons have a tungsten weight port in the toe on the long irons down through the 5 iron. The long irons down through the 7 iron have the sole slot and face slots for the added forgiveness as you can see on the 5 and 7 iron photos. At the 8 iron, the set transitions into forged face irons and the sole slot goes away. The 9 iron and PW lose the face slots for a more traditional look and feel.

The pictures online and in this post can not do them justice, they are absolutely beautiful when you hold them in your hands. The set I had made up for me includes 5-PW, bent 1 deg upright, +1/4 inch in length to match my i10's specs. I chose to put in the Nippon Pro 950 GH shafts in stiff flex to get a slightly lighter/smoother steel shaft compared to the ZZ65's and DG S400's I played in my last few sets. Thought about going with the Project X shafts, but I think those days are behind me as I increase in age. I had them topped off with some Lamkin Crosslines which I prefer over the GP Tour Velvets and Decade style grips, plus, they will match my wedges which I also had gripped in Crosslines from Hopkins.

I can not wait to get them out there for a hit. :)
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Nice looking sticks, full range report to follow?
 

MCDavis

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Dude, your irons are defective. There's a giant slot where there's supposed to be metal. :D


Prettiest thing on those irons is the word "Forged". Nice looking set, Tim!
 
OP
ualtim

ualtim

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Dude, your irons are defective. There's a giant slot where there's supposed to be metal. :D


Prettiest thing on those irons is the word "Forged". Nice looking set, Tim!
Forged faces 8-PW. Still a cast body.
 
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ualtim

ualtim

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Hmm...didn't know that.

Like others, I wanna hear what you think. Forged faces with a slotted body should feel different than usual.
No sole slots 8-PW, just face slots on the 8, the 9 and PW have no slots.
 

MattyB

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Looking good man. How much should we offer when you want something else?
 
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ualtim

ualtim

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Looking good man. How much should we offer when you want something else?
It's been 9 years in the bag for the i10's. You may be waiting a while.
 
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ualtim

ualtim

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I've always liked the looks of most taylormade stuff....it's always the price that throws me off with them.
I acquired them for less per club than my Ping's 9 years ago.
 
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ualtim

ualtim

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First hit with the new irons out at Top Golf today, things went well.

Even though it's been a few weeks since my last Top Golf session, I was able to transition into the RSi 2's with no issues. I was hitting the ball well from the first ball out of the chute. I warmed up with the PW and then the 8 iron to get the body warmed up to hit golf balls. The PW has a forged face with no slots. It feels softer than the i10's, as expected, and not quite as soft as the CJ1 wedges, again, as expected. It was accurate from the first hit, and being 1 deg stronger, I was getting a couple of yards more than the i10 PW. The ball flight was was similar in height as my i10's, but the trajectory was more penetrating/flatter. The ball was reaching its peak trajectory further down range and I was not getting the occasional balloon flight that I could get with the i10's. The 9 iron, which is the same contraction as PW, showed similar results. Nice feel, better ball flight, some increased distance.

The 8-iron was the first club I hit with face slots. It, too, has the forged face but with face slots. The feel is a little different than the the 9 and PW, but still softer than the i10's. I did notice a bit better distance control than I was getting with my i10's and after examining the face, I was definitely not hitting the center of the club on every shot. On slightly off center hits, it still feels like a well struck shot. The only time I received nasty feedback is when I struck one way out on the toe. When you hit it outside the slot, no club is going to save you. While purists will see it as a negative that you do not know exactly where you missed the perfect center point via feedback, I could get used to that better feel on well struck balls even they are not millimeter perfect. Ball flight is very consistent across a larger area of the face that the traditional irons I have used. The face slots appear to be working.

The 5,6, and 7 irons add the sole slot as well as a harder steel in the face. They still feel softer than the i10's, but not quite a soft as the 8-PW with the forged faces. I am not quite sure if it's the slots giving the softer feel or not, but they are definitely softer feeling than any cast iron I have used. Just like the 8 iron, distance control was definitely better as long as I kept the ball between the face slots. Extreme toe shots and shanks still feel just as bad as clubs without slots. Thankfully, only one shank all day and it did feel just as bad as any other club I have hit in the past. While I did not thin too many balls, I did hit a few low on the face and while they did not have the same trajectory as a well struck shot, they did fly higher and more consistent distance wise that I was getting with my i10's. Best of all, that high but penetrating trajectory that I was getting with the PW continued through out the set. The RSi2's are a bit longer that the i10's, but the lofts are also a bit stronger as you go through the set.

The first day out with the RSi2's was quite fun. I was able to transition from the i10's to the RSi2's without requiring any significant adjustment. I really enjoyed the feel of the Nippon Pro 950 shafts. Maybe it's the club heads, but the Nippons just felt a lot smoother as less harsh than the ZZ65's. For my second game at Top Golf, I exclusively used my RSi2's at various targets and shot the top score of the day. The score was later bested by someone hitting the big dog to the back of the range, but it was the best score I have shot at Top Golf exclusively hitting irons since I returned to golf this year. They are staying in the bag.

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Rockford35

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I played Monday with a guy with these in his bag and he absolutely smashed them.

R35
 

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