2009 TaylorMade BURNER Irons Mini-Review - WHOAAAAA !!!

[falken19150]

Can't go wrong with the Burner 09 Irons. They are a lot of fun to play.

[buster]

 

love 'em

 

Are those special headcovers on the driver and (presumably) 3 wood?

 

What version TM standbag is that, and does it work well? Looking for plenty of pockets and ease of getting clubs in and out of the bag.

 

Thanks for any info.

 

Steve

 

they are commemorative headcovers..Taylor issues them for the majors...just like staff bags... the bag is the r9 bag.. superlightweight and for me the size is great but if you like to pack...not the roomiest..I'd say... have some other pics up...

[DFinch]

Money-I'm with you! Easier is my goal! I decided to bag the 4 iron because the loft is 21 which is lower than my Burner 4 Hybrid 24.

 

21* is only 2* weaker than my 2 iron.

[GoCards]

Mine were cut down to a standard length with the standard Stiff steel shaft, .5 inch increments. I had them put weights down the shaft to keep them at a consistent D2 swing weight. I did not lose any distance by having them cut down. If anything I probably gained just a little because I was hitting them fat at the longer lengths.

[scottland]

Ya, the lofts on these irons is insane. 21* 4iron?!?

 

My 3iron is 22*, and the length is the same as my 3iron. These clubs are longer for everyone because they took the typical 4iron, and etched a '3' on the bottom.

 

These irons probably aren't any longer than the standard R7 irons, or the R7 XD. Both of those had jacked up lofts and longer shafts, and i'm sure they are just as long as these burners. It's not magic people, lower lofted, longer shafted clubs go farther, for the same reason your 5iron goes farther than your 6iron.

[yoonie]

I already said this once, but do you guys understand that you can't just strengthen lofts to make things go further? No one would be talking about the burners if they only went further b/c they're delofted, because then their ballflight would be stupid low. There's a lot of shifting COGs and stuff that ALLOWS these clubs to play strong lofts.

 

If you guys really think strong lofts are all there is to it, just strengthen your own lofts on your clubs. There's no reason NOT to hit a club further if that's the only difference, right?

[DFinch]

I already said this once, but do you guys understand that you can't just strengthen lofts to make things go further? No one would be talking about the burners if they only went further b/c they're delofted, because then their ballflight would be stupid low. There's a lot of shifting COGs and stuff that ALLOWS these clubs to play strong lofts.

 

If you guys really think strong lofts are all there is to it, just strengthen your own lofts on your clubs. There's no reason NOT to hit a club further if that's the only difference, right?

 

Changing the loft and length of a 7 iron so that it matches a traditional 6 iron does not result in "stupid low" trajectory...it results in the flight and distance of a 6 iron. What you say is exactly true when you get into the long irons, which is why the current trend in SGI sets is to stop at 5 iron and then go to hybrids...it's because a 4 iron in that set (as someone pointed out earlier with the Burner 4 iron) is actually a 2.5 iron that has a "stupid low" trajectory compared to a "true" 4 iron.

 

Lower COG's does help recover some of the trajectory and make the club easier to hit higher, but there is still nothing magical about jacking up lofts and lengths by over a full club and then marketing the distance increase.

 

I laughed during the video when Faldo said something like "it's like a low bullet going out there". That's because he was hitting the equivalent of 1-1.5 clubs stronger loft and length but was looking for the trajectory of the number on the sole (he was hitting either a 5 iron or a 4 iron). A 4 iron at 2.5 iron loft and length but with a lower COG would indeed be a "low bullet" (compared to a "normal" club in that number) that would go out there over 200 yards.

 

As far as a "hot" face goes...is COR the future of iron technology? I don't know. I'm not sure a "springy" face is going to produce the distance control that we require for accurate iron shots. It makes sense in the driver because we just want to hit it as far as possible. If you needed to hit your driver exactly 280 yards every time I'm not sure a high COR would be the way to go. Time will tell how that effects iron performance. The old "hot spot" Ping problems come to mind.

[SkiHound]

There's no question the lofts in the long irons are very strong in comparison to the lofts found in typical iron sets. There's also no question that they are intended to be played at longer lengths that one would find in typical irons. But, IMO, there's also no question that the long irons launch the ball pretty high. My driver sswing speed is about 100, but I haven't carried a conventional 3I for several years. I just wasn't noticing much separation between a conventional 3I or 4I with respect to distance. The yardage progression with the Burners works. There is a nice yardage gap between the 4I and 5I. I had previously been playing a Cobra DWS 4H (23 degrees I believe) and had a nice yardage gap between it and my conventional 5I. Heck, I hit a Cobra DWS 26 degree club longer than my conventional 5I. If you think of the Burner long irons in the same way that other companies have mixed sets with hybrids transitioning to irons, it's really not different. To me, the Burner 4I and 5I play very much like 4H and 5H hybrids. They launch the ball. I find them easier to hit and more precise than any hybrid I've tried, but that's just my take. I do think it's sort of a marketing gimmick to say that the Burner 4I is 15 yards longer than a conventional 4I -- it is, but you're really comparing apples to oranges. I'm not sure what the 4I should be called but overall I think the design goal works quite well. Distance differences between the Burners and conventional sets get progressively smaller as you move toward the gap wedge. The AW is 50 degrees and I hit it very close to the same distance I was hitting my i5 gap wedge (also 50 degrees).

[scottland]

No one would be talking about the burners if they only went further b/c they're delofted, because then their ballflight would be stupid low.

 

They are simply one club longer, and therefore the ball flight is one club lower.

 

If I hit two middle irons without telling you the numbers on the sole, I highly doubt you could identify them based on the ball flight alone.

 

Compare your old 5 iron to your new 6 iron and tell me if the new burner irons are that much farther. Because your new 6 iron has the identical loft and length of your old 5 iron.

[yoonie]

Everyone I know who plays or has hit the burners reported a pretty high ball flight.

[DFinch]

Everyone I know who plays or has hit the burners reported a pretty high ball flight.

 

"High", of course, is relative.

 

A low COG 5-iron and a low COG 6-iron will both have high ball flights, and one will fly farther. When manufacturer "X" takes the specs from the low COG 5-iron and stamps a "6" on it, they've instantly created a club that flies farther than the previous low COG 6-iron.

[phanker]

My burners set is shafted with KBS tour in standard length shorten 1/4" further.

I hit my 4i pretty high and long. I actually get 10 yds gapping from 4i-PW. They still go further than other irons I've compared with with similar trajectory as far as I can tell.

 

Because they go longer, I can almost go one iron shorter than I normally would for many shots. Last I check, I always hit a 5i better than a 4i, a 6i better than a 5i due to the shorter shaft length. That makes a difference in accuracy and confidence for me.

 

I don't really care what lofts they are really as the lower COG must be compensating for it. Only potential difference might be that less back spin is being generated. I'm a newbie so I'm not quite sure how this can affect me yet.

[hort22]

anyone know where the kickpoint is on the stock steel shaft...

[buster]

I already said this once, but do you guys understand that you can't just strengthen lofts to make things go further? No one would be talking about the burners if they only went further b/c they're delofted, because then their ballflight would be stupid low. There's a lot of shifting COGs and stuff that ALLOWS these clubs to play strong lofts.

 

If you guys really think strong lofts are all there is to it, just strengthen your own lofts on your clubs. There's no reason NOT to hit a club further if that's the only difference, right?

 

Changing the loft and length of a 7 iron so that it matches a traditional 6 iron does not result in "stupid low" trajectory...it results in the flight and distance of a 6 iron. What you say is exactly true when you get into the long irons, which is why the current trend in SGI sets is to stop at 5 iron and then go to hybrids...it's because a 4 iron in that set (as someone pointed out earlier with the Burner 4 iron) is actually a 2.5 iron that has a "stupid low" trajectory compared to a "true" 4 iron.

 

Lower COG's does help recover some of the trajectory and make the club easier to hit higher, but there is still nothing magical about jacking up lofts and lengths by over a full club and then marketing the distance increase.

 

I laughed during the video when Faldo said something like "it's like a low bullet going out there". That's because he was hitting the equivalent of 1-1.5 clubs stronger loft and length but was looking for the trajectory of the number on the sole (he was hitting either a 5 iron or a 4 iron). A 4 iron at 2.5 iron loft and length but with a lower COG would indeed be a "low bullet" (compared to a "normal" club in that number) that would go out there over 200 yards.

 

As far as a "hot" face goes...is COR the future of iron technology? I don't know. I'm not sure a "springy" face is going to produce the distance control that we require for accurate iron shots. It makes sense in the driver because we just want to hit it as far as possible. If you needed to hit your driver exactly 280 yards every time I'm not sure a high COR would be the way to go. Time will tell how that effects iron performance. The old "hot spot" Ping problems come to mind.

 

Soo.. I'm a big fan of these irons and know some about the technology and so forth... some of what I considered conventional wisdom has been thrown under the bus because of other design characteristics so it's not just jacked lofts and longer shafts as I figured a year ago. Your point something to consider and is a very good one IMO.. When I was dialing mine in (and it was a process- I'm using 2 7i shafts cut to fit my 6 and 7i for reasons I don't fully understand/know ...) I was complaining about the original shafts. I was told some things about the irons that have turned out to be true and some that I still question ... but this is my point... Who cares? Well we do care a bit..and I too am always amazed at the one of the first questions some guys ask is: are they longer..my irons? who cares.. hit a 5 to a 185 yard par 3 or a 7?...what matters is how you control your irons... period... dependable distances and predictable feel... I played perimeter weighted forged cavs for years...and years ...and this has been the biggest challenge for me with these irons... it is only recently that I have come to appreciate the hot face and my ability to control trajectory (to some extent) and distance with these heads.. they are by their nature (a thin unsupported face with cor of 815) very sensitive.. which means you can jack them and get 10 yards (not science..a hunch..maybe 12)... is that good?... individually we answer that one... it may be... for some it will be a disaster... like hookin' Clapton's strat up to a wall of Marshalls and just moving your fingers lightly around the frets... in that regard they are less GI than some might think...it's not a hot spot problem...and I think older callys had the same problem.. right now having played these 3-5 times a week for 6 months I am shooting lower scores... I have never been bothered by the looks.. love the feel and dispersion seems to be just fine.. put a decent swing on them.. miss a little and get a good result.. that's what I need with my irons and the Burners have delivered... but cor in irons?.. not so sure that's what we are after... but there is rocket science being practiced at TaylorMade and I think we are going to see some revolutionary iron designs out of these guys... these 09 Burners are the beginning of something... I think...Is that good? we'll see.. the scores will tell us.

[golfnike]

I have been reading this thread for a while now, and like everyone else, i am interested in a set. i will probably buy next spring, but I have a few questions about the set while people are still talking about them

 

1. I play ping ISI-S irons, 4-pw with JZ lite stiff shafts. I was wondering what the differences are between the 09 burners and the ping ISI-S, in terms of forgiveness, playability, feel, and how hot the faces are?

 

2. I played a few rounds with a set of Burner XD's, and did not feel a huge difference in forgiveness between my ISI-S, and I liked the feel. Will it be the same reaction with the 09 Burners? What are the differences between the 09 Burner and the Burne XD?

 

3. I will have to change the lie angles on these irons. if I have a wing change in the future, will I be able to rebend the irons and change the lie angle again?

 

4. I ws think of delfoting each club by 2 degrees to fill distance gaps. From readng this thread, I feel this is not a good idea. Am I correct?

 

5. If I buy the 50 degree AW from the Burner set, will there be a big enough distance gap between it and my 52 degree Z-TP wedge due to the hotter face of the 09 Burner AW?

 

and lastly

 

6. For people who have bought these irons and had the length shortened an inch or two, ho has it worked out?

 

Any help is appreciated. Sorry for all the questions, I just want to be 100% informed when I make my purchase.

[DrSchteeve]

I have been reading this thread for a while now, and like everyone else, i am interested in a set. i will probably buy next spring, but I have a few questions about the set while people are still talking about them

 

1. I play ping ISI-S irons, 4-pw with JZ lite stiff shafts. I was wondering what the differences are between the 09 burners and the ping ISI-S, in terms of forgiveness, playability, feel, and how hot the faces are?

 

If you match loft to loft (e.g., 40 degree club to 40 degree club), I think the Burner's will have a bit more distance from a hotter clubface. Forgiveness, playability, feel probably similar between the two.

 

2. I played a few rounds with a set of Burner XD's, and did not feel a huge difference in forgiveness between my ISI-S, and I liked the feel. Will it be the same reaction with the 09 Burners? What are the differences between the 09 Burner and the Burne XD?

 

Burner's and Burner XD's similar - the XD's are probably closer to your ISI-S in head size and offset. The XD's are more of a traditional SGI set, the Burner's more of a combo SGI (longer irons) and GI (shorter irons).

 

3. I will have to change the lie angles on these irons. if I have a wing change in the future, will I be able to rebend the irons and change the lie angle again?

 

I believe the bending is 2 degrees either way.

 

4. I ws think of delfoting each club by 2 degrees to fill distance gaps. From readng this thread, I feel this is not a good idea. Am I correct?

 

Not sure what you gain by delofting each club - you will still have the same gaps. The Burner's don't have a lot of bounce, and if you deloft you will lose more bounce and that might make them a bit diggy.

 

5. If I buy the 50 degree AW from the Burner set, will there be a big enough distance gap between it and my 52 degree Z-TP wedge due to the hotter face of the 09 Burner AW?

 

I doubt there will be enough distance gap - the face isn't that hot. You will probably do better with at least a 54 degree.

and lastly

 

6. For people who have bought these irons and had the length shortened an inch or two, ho has it worked out?

 

I didn't shorten that much, but I did simply shorten each iron so that the length was the same as standard irons. I have had no problems, am hitting less fat shots than before these clubs, and still get some distance gain despite the shorter lengths.

 

Hope that helps.

[overby01]

to comment on some of the replies here. My friend owns a golf shop and was very suspicoius of the numbers that were flying around about the distance on the burner irons. He took a six iron that was a demo of the burner 09s and a demo of the r7 tp and set them up identical to each other in length, lie. and degree. he had to cut the burner shaft length a little and bend his r7 tp strong a degree or 2 so that they were identical. he is a scratch golfer. he hit 10 balls with each club using 20 taylormade red balls and the avg distance was 9.29 yards longer with the burner over the taylormade r7 tp he avg about 4.87 yard longer with the 9 iron with both being identical setups. concluding the face has to be a bit hotter than the other clubs on the market with every thing else being identical in setup.

[Cwing]

I hope to have a set in play by Friday. Nippon 950 Pro shafts which I know nothing about. My Nike Slingshots have taken on and beaten numerious challangers. We will see if they can hold up to these.

[puresurfr]

I bought a set from sakman a couple days ago and these irons are pretty amazing.....I own about 50 sets of irons so im not singing the praises of taylormade just cause i own them......My favorite irons of all time is my macgregor custom grinds from don white and that would be followed by the tourstage mr23 and taylormade 300 box toes and Epon Technity Type J. Anyways these clubs are as advertised super fogiving and the sole plays nicely from the rough as well as fairway but a bit tricky from rock hard fairways.......thin hits are amazing as well as toe and heel misses but the high miss is pretty penalizing !!!!! These clubs are about 1 - 1.5 clubs longer than my longest set (Epon Technity Type S ). I thought this was due to jacked lofts but my set had non-traditional lofts. They were strong but the spacing was unique......The 3 iron was 20 degrees and the PW 46.5 degrees......This sounds pretty normal for a game improvement set but they are much stronger !!!!

PW 46.5 135yds
9- 42 147yds
8- 36 160yds
7- 32 173yds
6- 28 188yds
5- 24 200yds
4- 22 212yds
3- 20 225yds
* As a reference, my swing speed tops out at 112 with an average closer to 108, my 6 iron ss is approx 92 mph

The shafts were KBS tour in stiff flex and they felt quite sturdy, I suspect they may have been hardstepped once and the clubs had some heft to them, they did not feel like ultralight hollow clubs but more of a sledgehammer type feel. Feel on these clubs is a mixed bag, the sweet spot does not feel that special but misses certainly feel ok.....Forgiveness and length is the strong point of these clubs and that certainly leads to confidence. I normally play 2 degrees upright and half inch over, these irons are 1 degree upright and standard length, since I love to tinker, the PW is getting a extra half inch and the 9 iron is getting a quarter inch extension. If that works out well, I may have to give them all a quarter inch ! These irons are my gamers but I have gamed over 15 different sets this season alone and thought each one was going to be my last !!!!

[dannybsj]

Well to all the naysayers out there claiming these are just stamped a club shorter they most certainly are as easy or easier to hit as other clubs with the "real" numbers on them and are very playable. In fact i hit the 4 iron which is really a 3 supposedly much better than i hit the 5 iron in my "players" irons and can move them around just as well so these may just be perfect for me but i say if i can do it anyone else can to so in reality if the 7 iron is just as easy or even easier to hit as anyone elses 7 iron and it its 10 yards longer and its the same height relative to other 7 irons then whose to say its just a 6 with a 7 on it.

To the guy talkin about the "low bullets" had you seen the whole commercial on youtube faldo was actually hitting one intentionally off of the toe which we all know is usually a terrible feeling low shot but he actually got a decent result out of that. His flight when hitting the club in the center of the face was normal not a "low rocket"

[Airmick]

[quote name='buztech' timestamp='1236596445' post='1541036']
[quote name='sharkhark' post='1540873' date='Mar 8 2009, 11:55 PM']Its not hostility. Its frustration. My guess, and i think i am probably right, you read one or two of my last posts. I say that because if you had read every one of them, from the beginning of this thread til now, it was with frustration from the start of original poster announcing how astonishingly long and hot these irons are.
They are not. So i took issue with that. I am not angry, i think that TM overall makes good product but they have started a dangerous trend in last few years.[/quote]

So you took offense on my posting? Wow... what a jerk. Let me say that I am not a techie guy. YES, to me, I feel that these irons are astonishingly LONG and HOT. So what? Why do you care... You sounded like someone who is frustrated with TM and tried to defend other manufacturers.

Shark, you sound like a mad angry poster from your initial posting - grow up! Some of the people here who read could not care less about 0.25 inch longer shaft and 1 degree stronger loft. But they do need longer irons. You can read other postings if you will. You made your point, and I have said yes you are correct about the shaft length and loft. Shut up now and stop being a pissy cranky little man!
[/quote] Ditto for me. If you love your Mizunos, and don't want to feel like you paid too much because you really can't hit players irons, let other buy whatever the hades they want. I love my 09s, and for me, that's good enough. Boom!~

[KaBoom21]

5 years!

[rwl]

Why is this thread coming back around on 5 yr. old irons?
Sorry, don't get it.

[TMBob]

Maybe there as good as any GI Irons currently out there? I think my Burner 2.0 are when outfitted with a nice shaft.

[Foxx]

Still the best gi irons ever made.