When Titleist does a product launch, it tends to hold nothing back. It’s a tactic that gets consumers buzzing, and I’ll admit, myself as well. So here we sit in August with an entirely new lineup of T-Series irons ready to go from the equipment giant and I’m licking my chops as are the countless Titleist supporters out there.
The T-Series made its debut in the Titleist lineup back in 2019 as it took the place of the immensely popular AP series which had carried the Titleist iron sector for many years. The “re-brand” of sorts was perhaps a bit risky by the OEM, but once tour pros and consumers got their hands on the T-Series it was clear that Titlelist had something special.
With four new offerings, the T-Series improves on its predecessors in three critical areas of iron play: distance control, dispersion, and descent angle.
“New T-Series irons raise the bar in terms of total performance. Players are always looking for iron performance to be more consistent,” said Marni Ines, Director, Titleist Irons Development, Golf Club R&D. “We want players to hit their distance as often as possible, we want players to hit their preferred flight as often as possible, and we want as tight a dispersion pattern as possible.”
The T-Series made its professional debut after being spotted at this year’s Memorial Tournament. It’s being reported by Titleist that around 80% of its tour staff is playing a blended set. Let’s take a look at what we know about the new T100, T150 T200, and T350 ahead of their global availability on August 25th.
Titleist T100
First glance: I don’t know if “tour sleek” is a category, but if so, this is it.
Price: $200 per club
Titleist labels the T100 as its “Modern Tour Iron,” and from what I see, very appropriate. You can tell that the Titleist staffers had a hand in the development of this model which makes sense as it's the most played T-Series in bags this season. Jordan Spieth, Cameron Smith, Justin Thomas, Max Homa, Will Zalatoris, Sungjae Im, and Tom Kim have all been seen playing the T100.
A dual cavity and precision CNC milled face are supposed to improve the feel of the T100 over the previous generation. An improved tungsten process removals welding points which allows for a more precise CG placement. For turf interaction improvement, Titleist didn’t have to look far for help. They enlisted a mixture of tour players as well as the R&D team that designs the grind options for its Vokey wedges.
“We worked hard to enhance feel and performance in T100,” said Ines. “We're still starting with forging, we're still starting with dual cavity construction. However, this has been completely re-engineered.”
Titleist T150
First glance: The more forgiving sibling of the T100. Shared looks but a friendlier body.
Price: $200 per club
I can certainly admire the T100, but the T150 looks much more approachable for someone of my handicap level. It’s designed to have the precision of the T100, but have the added forgiveness and launch of an iron for the player that falls between precision and forgiveness. The lofts are around 2 degrees stronger, but the Project X LX shaft should balance them out perfectly.
Feel at impact is also not lost on the T150 as a redesigned Muscle Channel sits closer to the face making it a buttery smooth feel. It can’t be understated, however, that this is still a blade and isn’t for mid-handicap players. When I have a chance to demo them, I’ll likely find consistency not being in my favor with the T150 and will need to bump up to a model I’ll mention here soon. For better players that can combo a set of T100/T150, you’re golden.
“The main difference in T150’s construction versus T100 is the Muscle Channel through the back bar, which has been re-engineered,” said Ines. “The Muscle Channel has been shifted forward towards the face, and our CG placement with D18 tungsten has allowed us, again, to create tighter distance control for this iron.”
Titleist T200
First glance: Among consumers, this might be the most popular.
Price: $200 per club
The Player’s Distance category has some serious competition with the T200. Admittedly, this was my favorite model from the last go around of Titleist irons and they look amazing yet again. The details tell us it has a more stable chassis and refined Max Impact Technology to this forged face model.
The shape is very clean and inspires confidence if you’re the type who has embraced the PD category, as I have. The offset and blade lengths are an exact spec match to the T100 and T150, but in a design that’s easy to please.
“When we set out to improve T200, feel was the top priority for the project,” said Ines. “Listening to our players’ feedback, we didn't change T200’s shaping. On the inside, everything changed. We re-engineered the chassis and moved the core support bar closer to the center of the face. We also re-designed the flange to which the polymer muscle is attached and altered the thickness of the polymer core. All that went into these changes stemmed from the goal of making T200 feel as good as it looks.”
Titleist T350
First glance: This is as “game improvement” as Titleist gets.
Price: $200 per club
Over the years, Titleist hasn’t portrayed itself to be a company that makes clubs for “the masses.” However, if you’re a mid to high handicap and you’ve tried Titleist models in recent years you would know that they have been significantly improving on game improvement. The new T350 is the perfect blend of a beautifully designed Titleist club and the forgiveness that the average player needs.
There are some clear inspiration notes from the T200, mainly the chassis design. It is also a hollow-body construction so you can expect a consistent feel should you choose to blend a set with the T200.
“T350 is the best Game Improvement iron we’ve ever made,” said Josh Talge, VP, Titleist Golf Club Marketing. “The performance – high, far, forgiving – speaks for itself, and when you add the feel and looks, it really sits in a class on its own,” Talge said. “To see our most forgiving iron model be put in play on tour really proves the versatility of this entire line and shows that the performance benefits from an iron like this are not limited to just one kind of player.”
Final Thought
Among all of the major golf club manufacturers, Titleist tends to keep its products on shelves longer than any of the rest. This means two things: 1. The product that you’re buying isn’t going to be replaced by a predetermined lifecycle. 2. Titleist doesn’t drop new models until its team is confident that what they’re putting in the market is a homerun. From what I see, this new T-Series lineup is everything, and more, that golf consumers have been waiting for.