Help me: Game Improvement Irons 2016

[Kyle007]

So I've picked up golf again and been playing for about a year now and have been having lots of fun with it, however, i'm still swinging my father's old taylormade r7 xds, which are regular flex and have no other adjustments to them. Seeing as I come from baseball, despite working on it my swing isn't exactly light and after buying a stiff flex driver I've determined i most definitely need stiff irons as well.
So here we go, on the path to finding the ones right for me. I spent practically all day today a golfsmith and basically swung every single game improvement iron to date. My price range is that sweet spot around the 800$ area, since im scared of spending too little and later regretting not buying better ones. Now for the actual clubs I'm considering....
Seeing as I actually really enjoy the r7 xds my father once played, I will admit that even after trying all the irons today I still have a soft spot forTaylormade and specifically the RSI1s and the m2s felt really nice and had the best "feel" of any club I tried today to me. My handicap is right around 20 (lol still getting better) and both these clubs seem to suit that fairly well. Therefore, with the m2s being newer, I am inclined to lean towards those. however, I have heard the lofts are really flukey and I'm worried they simply aren't very good clubs because of this, especially for someone like me who let's be honest doesn't feel 100% confident hitting a 6 iron. Not to mention with a golf swing being adapted from a baseball one, distance might be the one thing i do right, which makes me feel like the big distance boost of the clubs isn't my biggest concern.
Any kind of advice at all would be appreciated. I do like Taylormade however if you have any suggestions from other brands that you feel fit my situation perfectly I'm very open to trying new things. Thank You

[No Mulligans]

Did you get your swing speed measured at GolfSmith?  If not, you should do that to know if you are in the ballpark for stiff shafts.  Another thing to get determined is your lie angle, GolfSmith can help you with that too.

[Kyle007]

2 minutes ago, No Mulligans said:

Did you get your swing speed measured at GolfSmith?  If not, you should do that to know if you are in the ballpark for stiff shafts.  Another thing to get determined is your lie angle, GolfSmith can help you with that too.

Yeah I took a few swings and they immediately wrote down that kind of stuff on a card for me of which included stiff shafts. 

[70sSanO]

The M2's are fine.  The do have pretty jacked up lofts, but that may be moot.  The 5i is 23*, the 6i is 26* and the SW is 55*.  What this means is that you end up with about 1 club less than some other club sets.  For example a number of manufacturers have a 22* 4i.  With a 23* 5i you probably won't have a problem.  I'm sure others can chime in on that.  With one less club the gaps are a little bit wider 7i to 8i is 4.5* and 8i to 9i is 5*.  But I don't see that as that much of an issue if the actual distance gaps are decent.  And having one less club is cheaper.

I would think you would want to get fit and try a few different shafts.  Taylormade, like everyone else, offers custom shafts and it would be worth your while to see which one fits best for you.  When I recently bought clubs, they were not Taylormade, I went back to Golfsmith a number of times, and at least at the one close to me, I hit more than just a 7i.  You really want to make sure you like the longer irons and that you are over the love fest before you lay your money down.

John

[WUTiger]

One thing to consider: what is the lowest # iron of the M2 and RSi1 irons that you can hit well?

I have not yet hit the M2, but I got a rough fitting for the RSi1 model in spring 2015. The RSi1 flew well, but did not really perform any better than my back-up iron set, the TM SLDRs.

If you can find an RSi1 set with shafts and length which fit you, this could be a good deal. The RSi1 came and went fairly quickly, so price should be lower. 

[Joe92385]

Funny, I just upgraded from R7s to RSI 1s. Playing my first round with them tomorrow, will report back. I didn't feel the need to upgrade, but was browsing and found a set for $430ish new (used in good condition were only slightly cheaper).