RocketBladez Tour Review: Are These Irons Still Worth It?

Unbiased TaylorMade RocketBladez Tour irons review. Compare specs, performance, and value against the standard RocketBladez. Read our verdict now!

Back with the reviews.  Today we’re sharing with you a follow-up to our post a couple days ago on the review of the Taylormade RocketBladez Irons, with a new review on the tour version of these irons.  Our independent review was able to compare the two models on the range a few weeks backwe’re jealous, but Spring is right around the corner!).  Enjoy the review below!

Look

The TaylorMade RocketBladez Tour iron offers a slightly different appearance than the RocketBladez iron.  The glaring difference is located in the top line and sole in the Tour version.  In fact, the top line appears to be approximately 50% thinner and the sole looks 25% smaller.  Low handicap players might prefer the smaller, more compact club head design.  The RocketBladez Tour iron still utilizes the same technology, including the inverted cone shape and speed pocket present in the 3 through 7 iron.  The cavity of the iron is nearly the same design as the regular RocketBladez.  The Tour version gives an appearance of offering the ability to work the ball and control ball flight.  In my opinion, the smaller top line and sole make the club appear more desirable, and look slightly better than the regular RocketBladez iron.

Performance

taylormade-rocketbladez-tour-irons I tested the TaylorMade RocketBladez Tour iron with the stock KBS Tour shaft.  The stiff flex offers 1.3 degrees of torque, 120-130 gram shaft and designed to promote a mid trajectory ball flight.  The Tour iron resulted in longer than average length and very straight, high ball flight.  With that said, I still found that the non-tour version of this iron hits the ball higher and slightly farther.

One added benefit however is the ability to work the ball and control ball flight with these irons. With the ability to work the ball, the Tour is slightly less accurate than the RocketBladez iron.  Ball flight is generally higher than average.  Low handicap players might enjoy the Tour iron more than the regular RocketBladez, however, you really don’t sacrifice much accuracy and forgiveness.  Off center hits on the toe still go high, far and straight.  It should be an interesting decision for anyone between the RocketBladez and RocketBladez Tour iron as they do perform similarly.

Feel

RocketBladez Tour irons have an enhanced feel at impact.  The large sweet spot makes the Tour iron very forgiving.  They offer slightly more feedback and surprisingly soft and consistent feel across the entire club face.  The irons feel nice with the heavier KBS Tour shaft and D2 swing weight.  The look, performance and solid feel should make the RocketBladez Tour one of the top player irons available.  Overally, I preferred the feel of the Tour models over the regular Rocketbladez.

Value

The TaylorMade RocketBladez Tour retail irons retail at $899.99 for a set of 8 irons.  Although they are more expensive than the RocketBladez iron, they are priced accordingly to compete with irons such as the Ping s56.  Overall, they are a fantastic set that provides the opportunity to control the distance, direction and trajectory of the golf ball.  The Tour iron will surely be found in the hands of many low handicap and professional players, yet still playable for higher handicap players.  Projected to be one of the top irons available this year. My own drawback here is the the extra $100 for an iron that performs very similarly to it’s non-Tour model. You’ll have to test them both out to see if the added workability and look are worth the extra dough.

6 thoughts on “RocketBladez Tour Review: Are These Irons Still Worth It?”

  1. I just got a set of the tour version and so far they feel fantastic. Really high ball flight and very forgiving on off center hits. I will be taking them to the course next weekend for a good test run before my first tourney of the year.

    Reply
  2. I just got a set of the tour version and so far they feel fantastic. Really high ball flight and very forgiving on off center hits. I will be taking them to the course next weekend for a good test run before my first tourney of the year.

    Reply
  3. I was debating between the JPX-825 Pro and the Rocketbladez. Ultimately came down to the PGA Superstore having a promo on TM and chipping in $100 gift card this week. Hit apples to apples with .5″ long 1 Flat DG S300’s head to head and performance was comparable between the two. Love both irons and was actually leaning toward the feel of the 825 pro’s until the special came out.

    Reply
  4. I was debating between the JPX-825 Pro and the Rocketbladez. Ultimately came down to the PGA Superstore having a promo on TM and chipping in $100 gift card this week. Hit apples to apples with .5″ long 1 Flat DG S300’s head to head and performance was comparable between the two. Love both irons and was actually leaning toward the feel of the 825 pro’s until the special came out.

    Reply
  5. About my game: I’m not a great golfer, partially due to the fact that historically, I’ve only played about 6 times a year. I’ve been playing Callaway Big Bertha 2006 irons since ’06, and like those as much as any other club I’ve tried – they seem to be perfect for those in the 14+ handicap golfers like myself (I strike the ball pretty well, but give up a lot of strokes in the short game). In the last couple of years, I’ve played more & improved significantly, but had no intention of switching clubs. A local store was going out of business, and offered an incredible deal on these. I was kind of afraid of getting a “tour” model, since I’m not a low handicapper, but figured if I couldn’t get used to them, I could still make a few bucks on them.

    After a trip to the range with these and my 06’s, I can tell you a few things that make these clubs VERY different from a typical game improvement club.
    1. They’re not as long as some would have you believe. On average, I got about 3-5 more yards with these clubs.
    2. The loft isn’t dramatically different, but –
    3. The angle of decent is nothing short of AMAZING – they seem to bore past where my old irons would begin to arc downward, continue to rise, then seem to drop almost straight down on the green. Even on thinner or fatter hits, the trajectory was a huge improvement. It’ll be much easier to avoid rolling off a firm green on a well hit shot with these.
    4. I’m not an expert on working the ball, but can work a fade when required, and hit knock downs when I need to in windy conditions. No huge improvement on knock downs with the tours. But, I can tell you these clubs are extremely workable. In fact, I had a difficult time adjusting – using the open stance & clubface I’d normally use on a 8 iron to get a 20 foot fade resulted in 40’+, or even a slice. It’ll take some work to get used to the sensitivity.
    5. Other than the angle of decent, the most striking thing about these clubs is consistency in distance. They provide a LOT more feedback on off center hits than my Callaways, but don’t knock you off target as far. And the distance between a well-struck shot and a toe-shot was usually only about 5 yards. In fact, while warming up, I hit one off the toe so far that the center of the ball left a mark that was “outside the lines,” but the ball rolled directly at the pin, and stopped a few yards short. When I looked at that mark after watching where the shot went, I think that’s when I’d already decided they were keepers.
    6. Overall accuracy: Even warming up, before I got a good rhythm in my swing, mishits stayed close to target. Since Callaways are legendarily forgiving, I was really surprised by this. In fact, I’d say the Tours more forgiving than game improvement clubs – since what you want out of forgiveness is to end up near your target on mishits.
    7. Sweet spot: Yes, there is a sweet spot on these clubs, and when you hit it you get a little more distance. But the delta between well-struck and off-center isn’t anywhere near typical game improvement clubs. I couldn’t count the times in my life when I chose a club for average distance, then “pured” it, flying over the green, or into a bunker or water on a layup. That won’t happen with these clubs.

    Overall, I’d highly recommend these clubs to anyone, high or low handicapper – just based on consistency and trajectory alone. (Note that although they do look nice, I didn’t really discuss that for a couple of reasons: looks are subjective, and not really important to me – I’d hit clubs that looked like a chunk of 2×4 if it’d improve my game).

    Reply
  6. About my game: I’m not a great golfer, partially due to the fact that historically, I’ve only played about 6 times a year. I’ve been playing Callaway Big Bertha 2006 irons since ’06, and like those as much as any other club I’ve tried – they seem to be perfect for those in the 14+ handicap golfers like myself (I strike the ball pretty well, but give up a lot of strokes in the short game). In the last couple of years, I’ve played more & improved significantly, but had no intention of switching clubs. A local store was going out of business, and offered an incredible deal on these. I was kind of afraid of getting a “tour” model, since I’m not a low handicapper, but figured if I couldn’t get used to them, I could still make a few bucks on them.

    After a trip to the range with these and my 06’s, I can tell you a few things that make these clubs VERY different from a typical game improvement club.
    1. They’re not as long as some would have you believe. On average, I got about 3-5 more yards with these clubs.
    2. The loft isn’t dramatically different, but –
    3. The angle of decent is nothing short of AMAZING – they seem to bore past where my old irons would begin to arc downward, continue to rise, then seem to drop almost straight down on the green. Even on thinner or fatter hits, the trajectory was a huge improvement. It’ll be much easier to avoid rolling off a firm green on a well hit shot with these.
    4. I’m not an expert on working the ball, but can work a fade when required, and hit knock downs when I need to in windy conditions. No huge improvement on knock downs with the tours. But, I can tell you these clubs are extremely workable. In fact, I had a difficult time adjusting – using the open stance & clubface I’d normally use on a 8 iron to get a 20 foot fade resulted in 40’+, or even a slice. It’ll take some work to get used to the sensitivity.
    5. Other than the angle of decent, the most striking thing about these clubs is consistency in distance. They provide a LOT more feedback on off center hits than my Callaways, but don’t knock you off target as far. And the distance between a well-struck shot and a toe-shot was usually only about 5 yards. In fact, while warming up, I hit one off the toe so far that the center of the ball left a mark that was “outside the lines,” but the ball rolled directly at the pin, and stopped a few yards short. When I looked at that mark after watching where the shot went, I think that’s when I’d already decided they were keepers.
    6. Overall accuracy: Even warming up, before I got a good rhythm in my swing, mishits stayed close to target. Since Callaways are legendarily forgiving, I was really surprised by this. In fact, I’d say the Tours more forgiving than game improvement clubs – since what you want out of forgiveness is to end up near your target on mishits.
    7. Sweet spot: Yes, there is a sweet spot on these clubs, and when you hit it you get a little more distance. But the delta between well-struck and off-center isn’t anywhere near typical game improvement clubs. I couldn’t count the times in my life when I chose a club for average distance, then “pured” it, flying over the green, or into a bunker or water on a layup. That won’t happen with these clubs.

    Overall, I’d highly recommend these clubs to anyone, high or low handicapper – just based on consistency and trajectory alone. (Note that although they do look nice, I didn’t really discuss that for a couple of reasons: looks are subjective, and not really important to me – I’d hit clubs that looked like a chunk of 2×4 if it’d improve my game).

    Reply

Leave a Comment