This year's new 2023 TaylorMade P790 irons may not look all that different on the surface, bet there are plenty of changes under the hood. Can TaylorMade improve on what many people describe as the best performing iron in golf? Time to find out.
The Tech
Let's go through some of these refinements that the TaylorMade boffins have been tinkering away at in attempt to give you further improved playability with P790.
FLTD CG, which means 'flighted centre of gravity', allows the centre of gravity position to vary, sitting lowest in the longer irons and shifting higher further down the set. This is a trend that we've seen various manufacturers adopt in recent years looking to almost customise each iron head to its usage. It looks to bring in more control and spin across the shorter irons while enhancing launch and forgiveness throughout the longer clubs.
The new P790 has also seen TaylorMade design the internal structure of each iron using individualised AI-driven mass optimisation. The idea here is to ensure that every gram of weight is placed strategically throughout the clubhead to give the best result regardless of where the club sits in the set, again very much a trend we've seen from other manufacturers, most notably Callaway.
Another difference comes with the addition of a sound stabilisation bar, sitting above the tungsten weight framework in irons 3-7. As with the internal design, every bar is uniquely shaped and positioned for each iron to create a premium forged feel with minimal unwanted vibrations at impact.
Finally, we see a larger sweet spot in the 2023 P790 irons to improve accuracy and ball speed consistency on a wider area of the face.
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TaylorMade P790 23 Irons Review
Looks
The new P790 irons retain their classic easily identifiable appearance from the previous models, as most of the updates to this iron are to the interior.
I think TaylorMade have done a fantastic job at making these clubs look clean and sleek - exactly the way a P790 iron should look. The only slight discontinuity across the set is that we now see ‘Tungsten’ printed across irons 3-7, but not on the shorter clubs as the internal technology changes slightly here.
The TaylorMade and P790 logos are very subtle across the back of the club which I really like too. Also personally, I really liked the way these irons look at address at the longer end of the set, so much so, I think this is probably the best looking P790 iron ever.
Feel
In terms of feel, the ball comes off these irons incredibly hot as we've come to expect. I felt like I could get a lot of speed and power behind the ball using the P790 irons, which is exactly the characteristics you're looking for when looking at investing in some players distance irons.
The added width and larger sweetspot allows for extra forgiveness when you hit the ball with a slightly off-centre strike, while not looking overly bulky.
I put the P790s head-to-head against the Callaway Apex Pro irons, and I just felt as though on the longer irons the top line width for the P790s was just right to give you a bit extra confidence over the ball. With that said, I did prefer the looks of Apex Pro shorter irons, as they gave more of a precision feel with a slightly thinner top line and overall size.
I also noticed that the sound from the P790s was louder than the Apex, which feature new technology to allow for a more muted impact sound. These two irons I'm sure will be going up against each other in plenty of iron fittings, so we did the hard work for you...
The Data
Comparing the P790s to the Callaway Apex Pro irons, I saw an increase in ball speed with the P790’s, hitting a 7-iron an average carry distance of 148 yards and 105 mph ball speed. This was 8 yards further on average than the Apex Pro irons and 4 mph quicker. The P790 irons came out on top for distance and speed, especially in the longer irons where we see the Tungsten framework and lower CG placements - could this be what's making the difference?
I would caveat this also by mentioning that the P790 is stronger lofted than the Apex Pro, at 30.5 degrees compared to 33 degrees in the Callaway, which may account for a bit of difference.
We also saw that the P790s had the better distance dispersion of the two, however only very just... The only slight downside to the P790 irons is that in comparison they were less controlled in terms of left-to-right dispersion than the Callaway Apex Pro irons, which came out on top for accuracy from our indoor testing.
On-Course Performance
Initially, I wasn’t feeling fully sold on the P790 irons from testing indoors, in fact I was leaning towards the Callaway Apex Pro irons as my favourite of the two after our testing session at HUKD in Bury. But as we all know, the most important thing with golf clubs is how they perform outdoors on the course, and despite thinking the P790 irons were slightly behind (but by no means lacking) in forgiveness from the Apex Pro irons, I ended up being really impressed with these clubs out on the course.
The forgiveness was so evident with almost every P790 shot hitting the green even without a perfect strike. As expected, I did notice a difference in the distances, with the P790 irons always coming out on top here, because of this I really enjoyed using the longer irons out on the course. The added size gave me extra confidence standing over the ball, and with such high ball speeds available it was fun to get the longer irons going both from the tee and on approaches to the green.
I didn’t notice a particular shot shape with the P790s, which meant that I was still leaning towards the Apex irons being a little more accurate as I felt like I new what I was going to get more, but the P790s still had the most forgiveness.
TaylorMade 2023 P790 Irons Verdict
The P790 irons have always been front runner in the category of players distance irons. The newest iteration of these didn’t fall short of expectations, being a forgiving, premium feeling iron set that allowed me to push for some impressive ball speeds and distances.
Coming in at an RRP of £1,204 for a 7-iron set, they’re considerably lower than their competitor the Callaway Apex Pro irons, with only a few variations seen which some may argue keep the P790 irons on top.
Who Are They Aimed At?
Not only are these irons great for distance, but they could fit a wide range of abilities inspiring confidence in their looks, distance control and feel through the ball. P790s are still extremely hard to categorise in terms of player, which is only a good thing proving their success.
Would I Use Them?
I really enjoyed testing these irons on the course, if I wanted to chase distance throughout my irons, there are very few negative points to make about the P790’s. Although they came second to the Apex Pro irons in dispersion, I was still impressed with their outdoor performance and the number of greens hit with them in hand.
TaylorMade 2023 P790 Irons Pros & Cons
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