Titleist T100S irons bring distance to players iron category

By Drew Mahowald -- 2nd Swing Staff Writer

Titleist has been an industry leader in the development of irons for decades, and that has progressed in recent years to cover every demographic of golfer possible.

The new T-Series irons now offer five different models so that every golfer can play a set of Titleist irons that is fit for their swing. New to the T-Series are the T100S irons, which join the T100 irons in the players iron category.

According to Josh Talge, Vice President of Marketing for Titleist, the goal for Titleist with the T100S irons was to create a forged iron that performs like an iron that would fall into the players-distance category.

The T100S irons look almost identical to the T100 irons, featuring a forged, shallow-cavity players design that allows more consistent ball-strikers to control their ball flight with a blend of forgiveness on mis-hits.

The difference is that the T100S irons are engineered to generate a little more distance thanks to stronger lofts and shaping adjustments without the end result being a bulky clubhead.

“We decided ‘let’s not actually make the club look different, but perform different,’” Talge said. “So we engineered T100S two degrees stronger.”

And no, Titleist didn’t just bend the T100 irons two degrees stronger in loft. That would impact the lie angle, offset and bounce, and create problems with turf interaction.

Instead, the T100S has been engineered as if it is a completely different iron to preserve the clean turf interaction and appearance at address. The key difference is that each T100S iron will play about five yards (or slightly more) longer than the T100.

The T100S irons are also built progressively so that the blade lengths, sole widths, and hosel lengths increase in the longer irons to deliver more forgiveness on longer approach shots. Meanwhile, co-forged dual-density tungsten weight has been added to the heel and toe of the long and mid irons to further enhance performance and forgiveness.

“While we’ve engineered T100S for distance, this is still a precision product,” said Marni Ines, Director of Titleist Iron Development and Golf Club Research & Development. “To be a great iron player you need to be in control of your distances and have the ability to work the ball when the shot calls for it. The design of T100S simply allows players to hit their number from farther away -- with the tight dispersion and proper trajectory they need to hit it close.”

In terms of fitting, Talge says the T100S irons will appeal to an even wider range of players than the T100 irons, as the added distance will cater to more golfers.

“I would say anyone who is a low double-digit handicap and certainly anyone in the single digits is going to absolutely love these golf clubs,” Talge said. “They’re incredibly forgiving for what they are. We’re still talking about a very small package.”

But the T100S irons aren’t just for amateurs. T100 quickly became the most popular iron on professional tours, and T100S may follow suit in short order.

Talge says the T100S irons have been quickly adopted by several players on the PGA Tour. Additionally, he noted that Titleist was surprised by how many younger professionals grew up playing stronger-lofted irons and have been asking for stronger-lofted irons and pitching wedges.

“We’re going to see some adoption of T100S immediately on the PGA Tour, but you’re going to see a lot more of it on the Korn Ferry Tour and you’re going to see a ton more on what we call our Next Gen Tours,” Talge said.

The Titleist T100S irons are available for pre-order now. You can get fit for your set by speaking to an online certified fitter through 2nd Swing’s Fitting and Support team at (612) 216-4152.