RocketBladez irons

Aesthetics:

1) Address view: similar in appearance to a host of midsize game-improvement irons currently on the market. There's

plenty of face visible, without the heads looking too chunky.

2) Shelf appeal: the new technology (explained below) is clear to see in the sole of the club, while the rest of the head features modern styling and a technical overall look.

Components:

3) Stock shafts: the RocketBladez come with new RocketFuel 85 steel shafts as standard. It's hard to judge the effect they had, due to the fact that the heads are so different. However, there's no denying the high ball flight and consistency on offer.

4) Adjustability: an external notch on the outer, rear side of the hosel, plus an internal notch, make it easy to bend the head to change the lie angle. This is something that was previously difficult to do.

Technology:

5) Construction The biggest change is the new Speed Pocket in the 5-7 irons, which is designed to produce added distance, particularly low on the face - a common area of mishits. The pocket - first found in the RBZ fairway woods - is cut from the sole of the club and is filled with polyurethane to keep out dirt and reduce vibrations.

6) Face design: the face is the thinnest of any TaylorMade iron ever produced. This increases the size of the sweet spot and influences how the face flexes at impact, controlling the angle at which the ball

leaves the face for improved accuracy.

Performance:

7) Feel: although feel isn't the key focus here, the set is solid and similar to previous TaylorMade midsize irons. There wasn't a noticeable difference between the feel of the irons with and without the pocket.

8) Flight: the flight is incredibly high, particularly considering that the lofts are very strong and the distance each club travels. As a result, the ball comes down steeply with every iron and stops quickly.

9) Distance control: through the set, the RocketBladez are over a club longer than those with traditional lofts. In fact, they're also longer than those with strong lofts. We were concerned that there would be an abnormal gap between the 7- and 8-iron because of the lack of Speed Pocket in the shorter clubs, but that wasn't the case.

10 Forgiveness: this was arguably more impressive and important than the distance on offer. The difference between shots from the middle of each iron and off-centre strikes was very small. As a result, dispersion was impressive.