Golf Today Equipment Special - Spring 2000

Taylor Made Firesole Tour Irons

While golfers await the natural successor to titanium,  the various mutli-material offerings continue to impress. After the success of Orlimar's fairway wood, Taylor Made's debut Firesole range represented arguably the technological high-point of last year. Well, for 2000, the range has been upgraded and re-launched as a Tour version - indeed the only serious 'bi-metal' set on the market geared towards the better player. The new forged version comes with a different design ingredient between the long and short irons reflecting what Taylor Made feel are different performance requirements.

In the 3-to-5 irons, tungsten weight plugs in the heel and toe combine with a forged soft nickel steel head to provide better stability, more forgiveness and a lower centre of gravity for a higher launch at impact.

The shorter irons (6-to-Pitching Wedge) are made only from the same soft nickel steel as, here, feel and playability is paramount. Debate will linger over whether the different materials necessarily imply a different feel as between, say, the 5 and the 6-iron; and certainly these two clubs should be compared side-by-side when testing (though we suggest that most golfers will find them indistinguishable).

Fans of the company's Burner Tour irons should however notice a higher launch angle courtesy of the 'power bar' cavity weighting which the company claim's provides for a 44% lower weight distribution.

But as much as the marketing men focus on the head, arguably the main selling point of the new clubs is the True Temper shaft that now features the Sensicore dampening system that has proved popular its reduction in potentially damaging frequencies at impact. The Sensicore Gold is second-generation technology that eliminates up to 70% of the unwanted vibration in the shaft. A full-cord grip rounds off the most intricate set of clubs of the year.

Price:  £549  for set of 8

Contact 01256 479797