Martin Hopley
By Martin Hopley

As announced on the Team Titleist site earlier in the year, Titleist have begun the tour seeding and performance validation process for the new prototype Titleist 714 Series of MB, CB, AP2 and AP1 irons.

Titleist 714 Prototype Irons Box

All Titleist golf products go through a tour seeding and validation process as part of their development before being released to the market in November.

Titleist have included Golfalot in this process so I can bring you the most in-depth review of the prototype 714 Series irons as soon as they are officially launched.

The process of seeding prototypes gives you a great insight into what is coming to market, as you may have seen with my Titleist Prototype Ball test as part of the 2013 Titleist Pro V1 golf ball tour validation process.

So far a lot of information is being provided on an 'eyes only' basis until the official launch. I could tell you, but then Titleist would have to kill me. Probably a sharp blow in a quiet, deep bunker with one of the wide sole Vokey TVD-K wedges and I wouldn't want you to have that on your conscience.

However what I can say is that, like a Tour player, I have been sent a set of irons adjusted to my current specifications. I have gone for half an inch longer True Temper Dynamic Gold S300 SL shafts with the lie 2 degrees up and 2 layers of tape under the grips.

Like the Tour players I then played and practiced with them before heading off to put them into action in a special Titleist Championship.

On The Range With Titleist 714 Prototype Irons

Prior to the event, I had my iron set up reviewed by the Titleist Tour Fitting Technicians on the Titleist Tour Support Vehicle. Using trackman and a lie skid board we were able to see that the set up of my set was pretty accurate.

Titleist Tour Van

The Titliest fitter noticed irons were fliying a little higher than that they should do and using the skid board and some tape on the bottom of the club we could see that they were 1 degree too upright. Apparently Titleist irons come more upright than other makes on the market, so my 2 degrees up should have been just the 1.

It was a simple process to adjust the irons. Just put them in a vice and bend them up as my friend in the Tour Support Vehicle quickly and easily did. The whole process took about 20 minutes so you can see how easily it is for Titleist tour players to change equipment and fine tune it before events, particulary as Titleist know their specifications from their current set.

Titleist Tour Fitter

Titleist tour professional Paul Waring joined us on the range and said he had already put his new irons into play . Paul was already noticing the benefits of the new design and because the process was so quick he could trust his equipment and put it into play right away instead of play-testing for several weeks. Just see the success of this process with the Titleist 714 prototype irons that Jason Dufner used to win USPGA.

Then my irons were put to the test in the heat of competition in the 'Titleist Championship', as playing with clubs on the course usually reveals more than just hitting a few balls on a range. Like Paul they slotted into my bag very easily and did not feel unusual in terms of playability. The feel and a little extra distance will take a few more rounds to adjust to, but it was all positive and runner-up place in the 'Titleist Championship' showed that they performed well.

Now I am taking the clubs on Tour with me. Well, my own little Tour of some of the UK's great championship links and parkland courses, so I can provide you all with one of the most in-depth playing reviews Golfalot has ever done for an iron prior to launch.

Watch this space or why not subscribe to one of our social networks to keep up to date with the latest on the 714 series irons as it happens.

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