The TaylorMade RocketBladez iron has been launched with much fanfare, but that is OK when there is a significant technical improvement. In this case it is the speed pocket on the sole of the club which allows the face to flex more to generate more ball speed and hence distance

It is the same principle that you know and love from the RocketBallz fairway wood, but this is the first time it has been put into an iron. TaylorMade want to be the number one distance iron and this is right in that category as it is all about ball speed. The technologies for increase speed that started in drivers are now coming to irons and the manufacturing processes improve to allow them to increase the spring like effect of the faces of irons.

The other main benefit is more forgiveness and TaylorMade say that in comparison to previous distance irons, there are less hot spots where the ball goes further off one part of the face than another. Certainly when we tried them the iron was very forgiving right across the face and the feel was excellent. You hardly ever got the feeling that you had mis-hit the TaylorMade RocketBladez iron as it always felt good and even strikes that were near thins, felt and flew much like a normal shot.

The other big difference for us was the design of the RocketBladez iron. You might expect it to be chunky with lots of offset, but you would be wrong. They are not blades (despite the name) and the mid-sized heads had a generous but not too thick top line and the offset was no more than you would expect on an average iron. We feel that the RocketBladez, especially the long irons, will be in the bags of a wide range of players.

The speed pocket only features in the 3-7 irons and then they go to more traditional cavity backs. Normally this is where we get worried as the short irons in a cast distance set are well it all falls down. However, we have to say the RocketBladez wedges are really lovely to hit,complement the rest of the set very well and are one of the best wedges we have tried in this category.

Finally we have reached stage in club design where the lofts are basically 1 club up from where there used to be. The 4-iron behaves like a 4-iron with the distance and 20 degree loft of a strong 3-iron and that is where iron sets have been heading over the years. The lofts are much stronger than in the past and you will need the A-wedge at 50 degrees to take you into your wedges. However this makes this set fit easily into the gaps at the top end of the bag created by the bionic RocketBallz woods.

There is also a notch on the hosel now to allow it to be bent for custom fitting and this is a great development and it adds to the style of the club, which apart from the graphics is very good.

There is a choice of Rocketfuel shafts which are a little lighter than normal to aid more speed and could be why we felt the heads seemed a little heavier than normal when you swing them..

Overall TaylorMade have managed to blend distance with looks and playability and this could turn out to be one of the defining irons in golf club development so we would definitely recommend it.