berniez40's Full Review: Taylormade R7 Cgb Max Iron Set
I dissed the original version of this club when it came out (The R7 Cgb), because I felt it to be a poor substitute for the R7 XD's of which I am a proud and happy owner. Somewhere along the way TaylorMade has vastly improved this club. It still sports the same tungsten weights, and it still uses the same inverted cone technology that started with the original R7 irons, but the face seems hotter, and the balance much better. Could it be that somewhere along the way,the steel face was made even thinner, and the shaft fitted just a tad better. Hard to say, but here's a few reasons why this club has gone from an also ran to a must see.
BALANCE--5 Stars
Not that the balance was really off on the original R7 Cgb Irons, but the Balance on these R7 Cgb Max irons is , in a word, excellent. Keep in mind that they're still clunky old Super Game Improvement Irons, but I am talking about balance realtive to other clubs in this category. This is a nice set that almost gives the Mizunos a run for their money in this department. That's not a phrase I use lightly either, as I find this year's Zuno's to be the best ever. Still, relative to Callaway, and other high end makers--these are really nice.
DISTANCE--5 STARS
WOW!!!--Now I admit that I was hitting the 55 Gram Graphite Shafted Model--but again--WOW!--The distance was the equal of my R7 Xd's. That's pretty impressive, since I have actually re-shafted my XD's with Fuji Blue Thunder Shafts. Still--this is about 3 club generations later, so one would certainly hope that at these prices, they could be category leaders in this department.--They are!
FEEL and FORGIVENESS --4 1/2 Stars
Feel is good. 4 stars worth anyways. In fact the polymer insert on the back really smooths things out at impact. Every shot feels great. Thanks to the tungsten weights in the back--every shot flies high w/a lower center of gravity, and stays on course since the weights are strategically placed via heel and toe positioning of these weights. They help point the forgiveness factor up towards 5 stars.They definitely don't have a buttery feel like a forged club, but the urethane insert does give a feeling of a softer impact. The forgiveness is top notch on these, and miss hits are not only forgiven, but thanks to the largest face in the entire TaylorMade Line of Irons, miss hits are actually pretty hard to come by if you have a semi-repeatable swing.
TECHS and SPECS--5 Stars
The lofts on these are pretty darned strong, but again, they are not as strong as some of the other clubs currently hitting the market. The 55 Gram Reax shaft is light enough to really help you gain some club head speed. The 90 gram black steel shaft is also plenty light--especially when compared to other steel shafts. The black colour is anice touch, and helps add to confidence at address.
With the price beginning to drop on these, I feel comfortable giving them a 5 star rating. Please note--if you are silly enough to pay full MSRP--then you will agree with me that at those prices, the slight lack of feel and workbaility would drop these to a 4 Star Club. They are workable, and they do feel good, but at the original MSRP they should feel even better and be just a shade easier to steer. I'm not usually a TaylorMade fan in the iron department, even though I own a set, because most of them do strike me as very good--yet very over-priced clubs. These, at a properly discounted level, remind me a great deal of the R7 XD's which were some of the only other TM Irons I have ever rated as truly worth the dough.
The r7 CGB MAX boasts the largest clubface area of any TaylorMade iron. The extremely large clubhead employs tungsten weights to increase MOI for grea...More at Golfio.com
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