As is its custom, this week at the Memorial, Titleist has provided a fully authorized preview of its upcoming T-Series iron family. The new T-Series marks the third generation of post-AP offerings from the company.
Officially, in what Titleist calls the Tour Seeding and Validation Process, the next generation of Titleist T-Series will launch with four models.
What’s perhaps interesting is that two of the Titleist T-Series iron models will retain the names of their predecessors while the other two get an incremental boost of sorts.
Titleist T100 Irons
In many respects, the T100 is Titleist’s flagship player’s cavity-back so it’s no surprise that the naming remains consistent with the previous generations. Cosmetic refinements are a given but I wouldn’t expect anything significant beyond that.
Other than the golf ball, the T100 is arguably the most “don’t screw it up” product in the Titleist lineup.
Titleist T150 Irons
The new Titleist T150 iron appears to be a direct replacement for the T100S. The name change is presumably about creating more separation between the stock T100 and what was the stronger-lofted T100s. It’s also entirely possible that there are some design differences from the previous generation.
Titleist T200 Irons
The Titleist T200 iron has traditionally (insomuch as two generations create a tradition) been Titleist’s player’s distance offering.
It’s just one guy’s opinion but I think Titleist has struggled to hit the mark with the T200.
The first generation, with its distinctive Max Impact weight, was technologically sound but perhaps not what golfers expected (or wanted) from a Titleist player’s offering.
While the current generation is cleaner, it has always felt bigger than it needed to be. With the longer blade length, thicker topline and wider sole, it made for an awkward blend for anyone looking to pair it with T100 or T100s.
With that, I think T200 represents Titleist’s greatest opportunity to do something different (better) within the new T-Series lineup. As evidenced by P790 and others, there’s a tremendously broad market opportunity within the player’s distance category. With a little refinement to the T200, Titleist could be better poised to take advantage.
Titleist T350 Irons
The T350 is the logical replacement for the T300. While it’s hard to tell too much from the photos, it does appear that Titleist has slimmed things down a bit.
This is purely speculative but it’s possible Titleist is taking an approach similar to what TaylorMade has done in recent years with its player’s distance offerings. Between P770 and P790, TaylorMade has effectively covered both ends of the player’s distance spectrum with plenty of overlap in the middle.
Might Titleist do the same with the new T-Series iron lineup?
A slimmed-down T200 could play to the golfer who wants a bit more “player’s” in his player’s distance iron while the T350 could serve the golfer looking for a distance-charged iron that still offers something resembling a player’s profile.
I’d love to see it and, frankly, I’ll be a bit disappointed if I don’t.
What About …?
Missing from Titleist’s official Tour Seeding (and Validation!) process are new cavity-back (CB) and muscle-back (MB) irons as well as a T400 replacement.
Typically, the MB and CB follow the same cycle as Titleist T-Series irons so I would expect subtly refined versions of Titleist’s most player-centric designs to launch at the same time.
FYI: Our expectation is that the T-Series will be a mid-summer (early July, perhaps) release. That’s a bit earlier than years past, though I think Titleist would prefer to launch product a bit earlier than it historically has.
As for a T400 replacement … Recent history suggests there will be a new T400 (or perhaps a T450) but it won’t launch with the rest of the Titleist lineup. If the pattern holds, you shouldn’t expect to see a new Titleist T400 iron until early next year.
Titleist T-Series Irons – More To Come
The MyGolfSpy staff expects to get some hands-on time with the new Titleist T-Series lineup in the coming weeks. We’ll share more details as soon as we’re able.
Stay tuned.
