Taylormade M4 Irons – An Overview of Potential Problems
The Taylormade M4 are great game improvement irons; but are they too problematic to be practical? Let’s take a look.
Face Caving
Some players have complained that the Taylormade M4’s faces cave in or dent due to the aggressive face slotting.
Obviously this is a serious issue as any caving or dent in the face will result in extreme inconsistency and may even make the iron unplayable.
But a deeper dive showed that most caving issues were attributed to the M1 and M2 irons.
Strong Lofts
Taylormade M4’s are pretty strong-lofted for game improvement cavity backs.
The 9-iron is 38° and there is a 5° difference between it and the 8-iron. This has caused some players to have difficulty with gapping and stopping power.
Deep Cavity
Lastly, some golfers have voiced concern that the M4’s cavities are too deep and that the overall profile leans too heavily into the game improvement profile.
The concern is that they will outgrow the irons very quickly.
And while the deep cavity design does limit considerable workability, it’s important to keep in mind that extreme forgiveness is exactly what the Taylormade M4’s were designed for.
“Overall it seems like there is little merit to most of the M4 complaints. They are made for beginners and for distance so they accomplish their purpose. And the face-caving seems to have been an issue for very few players – perhaps ones that bought poorly cared-for used M4’s.”
Taylormade M4 Irons
Category: Game Improvement Irons
Taylormade M4 Irons First Impressions
The Taylormade M4 irons have a clean, cavity back design with an extended sole in the rear which looks very comforting for beginners.
This feature also made them play very well in the rough. It is very easy to launch the ball high (and far) even from the rough. We were very pleased with the feel when we struck the ball right in the sweet spot.
However, the feel gets a little thin and the sound gets a little hollow unless you are dead-center on the sweet spot.
Taylormade M4 Selling Points
- Ribcor design
- Speed Pocket
- Thick sole
- Plenty of offset
- Premium shaft options
- Strong loft
Who are the Taylormade M4 Irons for?
There’s no question that the Taylormade M4 irons would be great for anything struggling with distance on the fairway.
At the end of the day though, these irons do much more for beginners than play long. Beginners, who will often find themselves in the rough, will benefit from the beefy sole and strong lofts of these irons.
Even intermediate players who don’t quite have their swing speeds where they would like it to be would benefit from these irons. Even if you are mixing and matching and only using the longer Taylormade M4 irons, they could be great assets as purely distance irons.
The Taylormade M Family of Irons
The Taylormade M family of irons also includes the M2 irons. The first thing we noticed about the M2 irons compared to the Taylormade M4’s is that the M2’s don’t do as good a job at dampening harsh impact vibrations.
On full swings, the M2’s feedback gets muddied by unwanted vibration. The M2’s do have the same lofts as the M4 irons though so the flight trajectory is very similar with these two iron sets.
It should also be noted that the M2 irons don’t feature the same Ribcor design as the Taylormade M4 irons. The main difference this makes is lesser distance – or at least, harder distance.
In other words, you will have to have good accuracy and a fast swing speed to get the same kind of distance with the M2’s as you would with the Taylormade M4 irons. As such, the M2 irons are better in the bags of low handicappers.
Distance: 95/100
Accuracy: 91/100
Forgiveness: 94/100
Feel & Control: 92/100
Overall Score: 93/100
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