The TaylorMade r7 CGB Max is probably the best looking of the Super Game Improvement Irons on Golf Digest’s 2006 Hot List. I spent a long time at the local pro shop the other day, standing over the various irons and quietly swinging them. The CGB Max looked the least like a game improvement iron.  I guess I really just don’t buy into the standard golf manufacturer’s line that a thick topline “promotes confidence.”

Personal preferenes aside, the TaylorMade CGB Max has a lot of high tech features to help you improve your game. At the heart of it all is TaylorMade’s pull face construction, in which a thin 455 stainless steel face is welded to a hollow topline frame. The large, thin, unsupported face produces an extremely high Coefficient of Restitution for an iron, resulting in more distance.

Pull face technology also allows TaylorMade to use the same ‘inverted core technology” that has made their drivers and fairway woods so easy to play. TaylorMade says that they spent three years trying to find a way to incorporate the inverted core technology into irons.

With the largest steel clubface TaylorMade has ever made, the CGB Max also has the largest moment of inertia, making it very stable on off-center hits. Tungsten weights and a hollow topline allowed TaylorMade to shift even more weight to optimize launch conditions.

TAYLORMADE r7 CGB Max Irons 3-PW w/Steel Shaft

TaylorMade has a little online flash toy called the Weight Configurator (is that a word?) to help you figure out where to put the weights on your new R7 425 for maximum effect. I’m setting mine up for maximum Fade. That means putting the 12 gram weights toward the toe and the 2 gram ones closer to the inside.

What I wonder, and what the site doesn’t seem to tell me is whether it would help to install a couple of 14 gram weights in place of the 12 gram ones. Presumably, this would make the fade even more pronounced. Or maybe it would just mess up their finely tuned club. I’m deliberating over whether to get a couple.

The TaylorMade Rescue Dual was the Editor’s Choice among hybrid clubs on the 2006 Golf Digest Hot List.

The club features two of TaylorMade’s famous TLC (TaylorMade Launch Control) weight ports that allow users to change the club’s weighting for a draw or neutral bias. The ports in this model are more widely spaced, creating a higher moment of intertia (resistance to twisting). The hybrid also has a new v shaped sole design for better aiming and less drag at impact.

If you aren’t already using a hybrid club in place of your long irons, you should be. I have one of these in my bag, and will surely add another this spring.

TaylorMade Rescue Dual - Graphite Shaft

TaylorMade is adding to its amazingly successful line of adjustable weight woods with the R7 Steel and R7 Ti fairway woods.

The R7 steel is a more compact, traditionally shaped fairway wood. Adjusting the weights allow the user to develop either a neutral shot, or a draw. TaylorMade says that shifting the weights can create a movement of up to 15 yards.

The R7 Ti offers a larger, more forgiving clubhead. As with the R7 Steel, players can shift the weights to create either a neutral, or right to left ball flight. 

The r7 Steel is available in Tour Strong 3-wood (13°), 3-wood (15°), 4-wood (16.5°), 5-wood (18°) and 7-wood (21°) at a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $300 per club with graphite shaft, $270 per club with steel shaft. The r7 Ti is available in 3-wood (15°), 5-wood (18°) and 7-wood (21°). for $400. Both will go on sale in April 2006.

TaylorMade now says that it has something for everyone in its moveable weight technology line:

“The r7 TP is engineered with a smaller head and a higher CG, features that are typically favored by skilled players like tour pros,” said Todd Beach, TaylorMade’s director of metal wood development. “We wanted to make Movable Weight Technology available in fairway woods that are easier to hit, which is why we created the r7 Steel and r7 Ti. The r7 Steel is similar in size to the r7 TP but features a precision-positioned CG and shallower clubface that combine to make it easier to launch on a high, long-carrying ball flight. Likewise the r7 Ti also features a low and deep CG that makes it easy to launch high and long, plus its larger size adds forgiveness, making it even easier to hit than the r7 Ti. Now there’s a model of r7 fairway wood for every type of player that wants to take advantage of the distance and accuracy made possible by TaylorMade’s Movable Weight Technology.”

I had a terrific opportunity to play with the R7 TP fairway wood this last summer and will attest to the ease of play and sitance offered by that club. I can only imagine that the new clubs—especially the Ti, with its larger head—offer even more forgiveness.

At 425cc’s, TaylorMade’s new R7 425 is the largest in its line of R7 drivers. Like previous models, it has four weight ports, and four removable cartridges. The larger size, however, expands on the already incredibly forgiving R7 design. The larger head offers an even bigger sweet spot than before, resulting in longer, straighter shots on off-center hits.

The clubface is slightly closed, offering additional accuracy to the average golfer.

The club also has an upgraded shaft: the Fujikura RE*AX. The design of the shaft prevents ovaling, thus promoting stability.

TAYLOR MADE r7 Quad 425cc Driver w/Graphite Shaft

Keep your head warm on those winter golfing excursions with this TaylorMade Sport Beanie Cap. It’s made of acrylic wool with a fleece headband.

I just got an email from TaylorMade announcing the new TaylorMade r7 XD Irons.

For once, I was ahead of the curve, having noticed them at Golfsmith a couple of days ago. I thought that it was funny that I couldn’t find anything on the TaylorMade site on them. But the site now has been updated.

There are apparently two models, the R7 XD, and the R7 CGB Max.  Both are game improvement irons. Of the two, the CGB Max is likely to be the easier to play, and is described as “super sized”, with tungsten heel and toe cartridges, high launch and a wide sole. The R7 XD apparently has a more narrow sole, is smaller and has a mid to high launch.

Still no press releases, though. The PR department must be lagging behind the product delivery department.