Assessment on TM Burner XD

[DefLord]

Can anyone give me a brief assessment on the Burner XD? Is this particular iron for mid-high handicap folks? Is it too forgiving where you won't really pick up on the game? I am currently hitting Ping i10's but I got at a set of Burner XD from my wife for Xmas. Two years ago I played maybe 50 rounds, last year I only played about 5. But this year I see myself back to about 50 rounds again - kind of though about playing with the Burner XD til I get my game back and then go back to my Ping i10. Or am I just being too irrational? I was shootin in the low 90's 2 years ago - the past few months I have been shooting over 100's. :( So just trying to get my game back down to the low 90's and high 80's and work it back down lower. Or just hang on to both - and use both - but if I do would this affect my game play? (Since the TM looks about 1/2" longer than the Ping)

Thank you!

[FHopper]

When I bought my '09 Burners I looked at the recent TM offerings. It looked to me like the XDs were very similar to the Burner clubs introduced since, with the deep cavity but more equal weighting across the back. (The Pings appear to have a toe weight.) I would think that would make the XDs more workable than the I10s.
I had not ever shopped for clubs before and everything in the specs was a new consideration for me. The most significant spec to identify an "improvement", "super improvement" or "players" club seemed to be the offset. I think you should study up on the offset of your Pings and compare that to the offset of the Burners. I would think you would want to play with similar offsets so you don't have to change your address or swing between the two sets of clubs. If the offsets are similar then it would seem a trip to the range would let you find out which is easier to hit while you are getting back into the game. If the offsets are too different then I think you need to pick and stick.

The Burner specs are in mm
http://www.taylormadegolf.com/mainle...hop.html#503S1

The Pings are in inches
http://www.ping.com/clubs/ironsdetail.aspx?id=110

[DefLord]

Well I went out today and hit both the Pings and the Burner XD today - it is definitely different. XD is more forgiving and as well has a higher trajectory. I do like the feel of th XD so it isn't really that bad. Granted the XD is not as pretty as the Pings at set up - but heck it is the score I am after not necessarily on how pretty it is. But I do find the XD easier to hit at this time. Thanks for your input though!

[cfmgolf]

I have had the XD's for a full season now, and will try to give my objective opinion. I think that most of these thoughts are accurate. Taylormade came out with the XD's (extra distance) and made them for one basic reason - high, straight, and long ball flights. The use a titanium face insert, which allows even greater perimeter weighting making them a very good game improvement club. This titanium is also a very hot clubface, which has a tendency to launch the ball higher than steel. TM then used very strong lofts on each of the irons. You can see this by comparing the lofts of each irons to other manufacturers. The 7 iron is much closer to a 6 iron in loft - this gives the golfer the thought that they are hitting their irons 1 club longer than they used to.

I think that they only made these for 1 season - a titanium face insert is a very expensive component, and when the economy tanked, i think that TM moved to a steel face to try and lower the retail. Full retail on the graphite shafts in the XD's was around $1200, and for 2009 the burner retial was on the $800 range.

It did take quite a while to get used to the stronger lofts, but now that i have gotten used to them, I am very happy with them. A few years ago I was playing a set of Mizuno M60's, which were great when i was swinging well, but now that i have changed to a true game improvement I have gotten quite a bit more consistent.

I would recommend these clubs for most players - good luck and let me know if you have any other questions on them.