Switched!!!!! Mizuno JPX-800 to Burner 2.0

I tell you what. I have never made such a drastic decision, but when I hit the 2.0's at the range the other day, I had to make the switch. I love everything about this club, and I cannot believe I didn't give them a try before I picked the Mizuno's. Straighter, consistent with every swing, and I wasn't being nearly as consistent with the JPX-800's. I actually think I was fitted to the wrong shaft, which was causing a ton of mishits with the Mizunos. I can't say enough about the 2.0's, the hype is true, and I'm glad I made the switch. Thankfully, since I got the clubs customized at GolfSmith, they gave me 100% of the money back since I was within the 30 days, and I didn't have to pay a single dime for the switch, which made it even sweeter. Played at Van Cortland Park in NY (if you don't know it's the first public golf course in the US) and shot in the low 80's (estimated since I didn't finish the whole course).

Anyways, just had to sing the praises, and will be changing my signature right after this.

And you have a 9 degree gap between your PW and SW?

I'm sure the burners are great clubs, but I'd never game something with such strong lofts.

Cool, I'm looking forward to swinging the 6i they sent me.

Also, the lofts between the burners are only lofted 1 degree stronger in the long irons and the same when you get to the 9i compared to the JPX-800's.  This whole stronger loft thing isn't a big deal if you know going in that the 7i is really closer to a 6i

I am aware of the small difference in loft between the two sets but it'd still shy away from such strong lofts.

I have very accurate gapping with my irons, so gaming 3-PW (actually 2-9) would mean I'd need to replace a number of clubs in my bag.

I'm happy the OP has found a set of irons he's happy with, and wish him the best of luck with that.

I do believe the clubs are actually a bit longer too. They are some nice sticks, but as it was said, I would never put into play clubs that are so much stronger. I have always felt that TM does this to improve sales by giving false information to people because they will hit them farther. As long as you are aware and dont have a problem hitting a club stronger each time and putting more distance change from a PW to a GW or whatever your first wedge is, then go for it. Hope you like them! They are a nice set for sure!

I would prefer that irons were labeled in the same way as wedges and some hybrids are (as well as drivers and fairways). They could put whatever number or letters they want, but just make sure it's got the degree loft on there somewhere, too.

My hybrid says 3H/20. What's important isn't the 3H, but the 20. Similarly, a "sand wedge" could be any one of several lofts; I use a 56 degree, and I don't care that it doesn't have SW stamped on it. But it's important for me to know that my "GW" is 49 degrees, and my "PW" is 44 degrees.

Those of us who care, I suppose, know what our lofts are. But it would sure be easier if the labelling were more obvious.

Is it just tradition? Or more marketing techniques?

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To my knowledge, it's something very few brands have done over time. I know that Ryan Moore used to have lofts on his irons when he was with Scratch and he's an old-style player (at least from his look). Maybe it is something that they used to do.

However, I think that it is a marketing technique as it allows many brands to market the distance of their irons. If you put in the loft, then the change in distance will probably be no more than 5/10 yards, and although that is significant, it's not too much. I just find it annoying when brands like TaylorMade target the Burner (1st version) iron to be like 12 yards longer than the Titleist AP2s when they're effectively comparing a 5 iron to a 6 iron. Not too many golfers, my self included a few years ago, know much about equipment.

I remember hitting the Burner 4-iron once and telling the TM rep that it went just as far as my Ping 3 iron, now I'm not surprised about that knowing that I was indeed hitting a 3-iron stamped with 4.

That's all I have to say, but I know that many are willing to play those irons and as long as it helps their game, that's great.

Glad you like the Burners.  I tried them out at a golf show recently and didnt much care for them.  To me, the just felt dead.  No feel, no feedback, it was like trying to hit with the iron cover still on the club.

To each their own though, Im glad you like your Burners.

I agree with the others about the move to stronger lofts.  IMO, it is a marketing ploy because it makes people think that they hit the ball farther with new irons.  BTW, TM isnt the only one who does this.  Pretty much everyone has gone to stronger lofts in at least some of their sets.

I guess Im a traditionalist in that if they are going to call a club a PW, it should be 47*, not 45*.

Aren't tour pros playing strong lofts too ?

I tried the burner2.0, bone stock with regular graphite shaft.  Did not feel dead at all !  Nice powerfull feeling and explosion off the face !  You really could tell the difference between sweetspot and misshit !  Only thing I didn't like is the offset, especially in the longer irons, and the black finish that won't stay nice for long.

I've played the 09 burners for a couple of years and played my best golf ever last year. I just picked up a set of used i5 PING that I'm considering changing to. I wanted to try a narrower sole in hopes in might be a little easier to shape shots. My burners are 2deg upright and I got white dot on the i5 which feels even more comfortable at set up (3deg upright). The loft difference is worrying me a bit as to cover the same distances I did last year playing the TM 5-PW...I'll need to add the PING 4i to the bag...now I'm looking at having to remove a fairway wood or a wedge...Either way...if the i5's don't work out...I'll still have the 09 Burners and I know my game on those clubs very well. Golf in Fort Wayne in a week or so.

Go try a set of forged Japanese blades and then come talk to me about feel.

I play forged 1025E Mizuno's.  So what.  Every club - be it cast or forged, hard or soft steel - has "feel".  You just have to recalibrate your own senses to it !  Maybe you like one type of feel better than the other, that's fine, that's personal taste.

I think they play strong lofts in their long clubs then have wider gaps down to short irons that have more loft than we play (the collective we - my PW is always 48-51 degrees).