Titleist MB 712 Comments

As you read this, several dozens of long, cardboard boxes, imprinted with the Titleist Script, sit in the back of a delivery truck en route to Arnonimink Golf Club just outside Philadelphia, host of next week's AT&T National PGA Tour event. They were all shipped from the same place, the Titleist Tour Deparment in Carlsbad, Calif.

On Monday morning, our Titleist Tour Reps at Aronimink will begin opening those boxes, each one marked with the name of a player in this week's AT&T field.

Inside the boxes: Prototype Titleist AP1, AP2, CB and MB irons (712 Series), which are being introduced on the PGA Tour this week for testing and seeding as part of our performance validation process.

(Please note: "712" is the series designation. Titleist has long used 700 numbers for irons, just as we just 900 numbers for metals. Accordingly, the "7" stands for irons, while the "12" stands for the new model year, 2012.)

Over the last few weeks, the Titleist Tour Department has been focused on building these iron sets to the custom specifications of our Titleist Brand Ambassadors.

This week at AT&T, members of the Titleist Leadership and R&D teams will begin working with our players to show, explain, fit and test the new irons, a process that will continue over the coming weeks across the worldwide professional tours. The feedback we receive during this validation process influences the design and specifications of the Titleist products available in golf shops around the world. 

We will continue to provide behind-the-scenes information and product details here on the Team Titleist blog throughout the seeding and performance validation process. 

Click the photo below to view images of the first builds and shipment of 712 prototype irons from the Titleist Tour Department and some recent testing out at the Oceanside Test Center.

Titleist MB VS CB

Titleist con­tin­ues to design some of the more con­sis­tent and suc­cess­ful irons for seri­ous golfers on the mar­ket. The lat­est exam­ple is the new MB and CB forged irons (712 Series) that the com­pany says fea­tures improved looks, feel and per­for­mance.  Each model build upon the clas­sic designs of the Titleist 710 irons. The Titleist MB, in fact, has been the most-played iron model on the PGA Tour for the past cou­ple of sea­sons. Each model car­ries a sug­gested retail price of $140 per club (steel) and $165 per club (graphite).

“When we started for­mu­lat­ing plans for the new MB and CB designs, we knew that the project would be a rein­ter­pre­ta­tion, not a com­plete rein­ven­tion,” said Steve Pelisek, Gen­eral Man­ager, Titleist Golf Clubs.  “The orig­i­nal MB and CB mod­els were so well received on Tour, as well as in the mar­ket­place, that we knew we had suc­ceeded in deliv­er­ing the core design fun­da­men­tals that res­onate with the tra­di­tional blade player.  We did iden­tify through our work with the world’s best play­ers, how­ever, some areas where we could make improve­ments, which we incor­po­rated in the new mod­els.  The new MB and CB still embody those key design ele­ments that made the first gen­er­a­tion so well accepted.”

The new MB is a clas­sic mus­cle back forged iron, while the new CB, also forged, fea­tures a shal­low cavity-back design.  Pelisek said the new MB and CB each fea­ture a redesigned back that fea­tures a faceted sur­face across the back known as the “dog bone.”  This sur­face, accord­ing to Pelisek,  is larger in the heel and toe while nar­row­ing behind the impact area.  Basi­cally it locates more mass behind the impact area for the tra­di­tional solid feel expected from blade irons.

Based on player feed­back, Pelisek said the sole of the new MB has been improved, with trail­ing edge and heel relief for reduced resis­tance through the turf.  The new MB sole is great for play­ers with a shal­low angle of attack who tend to pick the ball off the turf, while the slightly wider sole CB helps play­ers that are more aggres­sive through the turf.

Titleist 712 MB Irons Review

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. - You'll have to wait about four months to try Titleist's new 712 Series irons, but pros at the AT&T National are getting their first chance to hit the new AP1, AP2, CB and MB irons this week.

While the heads of the new AP1 irons are the same size as their predecessors, their most significant new feature is a progressive blade length.

"The long irons are about the same size," said Chris McGinley, Titleist's vice president of golf club marketing. "But as you go through the set, we brought the blade size down. That lets us make the long irons more forgiving and the short irons more traditional."

When it comes to the AP2 irons, which are designed for low handicappers, McGinley says Titleist has significantly increased the club's moment of inertia (MOI) by re-positioning tungsten weight within the heads.

"The overall goal was to better apply the different materials we use in the design," McGinley said. "To make both [the AP1 and AP2], in essence, more forgiving. But when you are talking about the AP2 player, he's not really looking for forgiveness. For him, iron play is all about distance control. When we can make an iron more forgiving, we're really giving the AP2 player more consistent ball speed over a larger area of the face."

Titleist 712 MB irons

McGinley said that a player who owns 710 CB or MB irons won't feel much difference if he tries the new 712 CB or MBs, and that's by design. The pros who use the clubs—like Rory McIlroy, Geoff Ogilvy and Rickie Fowler—give the company lots of good feedback on them, so Titleist doesn't want to tweak these classic forged blades too much, McGinley said.

"We've updated the cosmetics with a new satin chrome finish," McGinley said. "We've also updated the sole design of the MB, taking a little bit off the trailing edge because the guy playing that club—a small blade, pure muscleback—is looking for crisp turf contact."

Titleist decided not to release a combo set, blending CB long irons with MB short irons.

"If you do that, you're assuming what the player needs, and we don't want to do that," he said. "The fact that we can make those custom means that we don't have to make a pre-packaged set. Everyday golfers can go get fit for Titleist irons and order a mixed set if they want."

Golf.com will give you more information on Titleist's new 712 iron series in the weeks to come, including the exact date when the clubs will be available and prices.You can look for more Golf Clubs For Sale at usmadegolf.com.