Are the Taylormade RSi 1 Irons Still Good? Are They Forgiving For High Handicappers?

Are the Taylormade RSi 1 Irons Still Good? Are They Forgiving For High Handicappers?

 “The Taylormade RSi 1 irons are loaded to the gills with game improvement technology.

But do they really bring any value to today’s high handicappers?”

Taylormade has always been good about generating hype around new golf clubs. And they’ve also been good about producing solid game improvement clubs.

The Taylormade RSi 1 irons are heavy on tech but how would they hold up during testing?

Are the Taylormade RSi 1 irons all hype and no substance? I tested them to find out.

Are Taylormade RSi 1 Irons Still Good?

“The Taylormade RSi 1 irons feature face slots in irons 3-8.”

For those who are familiar with the fabled Speed Pocket, the face slots work the same way: they increase face flexion.

But instead of increasing flexion low on the face, the face slots allow the face to flex more near the heel and toe.

They are essential channels that have been bored on the lateral perimeters of the face to cover a player’s side-to-side mis-hits.

When I tested the Taylormade RSi 1 irons, I did see from the launch monitor that my ball speeds were more or less uniform regardless of where I made contact on the face. So the technology works.

My off-center strikes were generating almost identical ball speeds as my face-center strikes. And that’s a good thing no matter what your handicap is.

And there is plenty of offset in these irons. The 9-iron, for example, has 3mm of offset. The Taylormade RSi 1 irons also have a very game improvement look at address.

The top lines are thick, the offset in the long irons is glaring and you can actually see the face slots framing the ball at address.

Interestingly enough though, the Taylormade RSi 1 irons have strong lofts. They are cavity back irons with low CG so maybe Taylormade thought they would temper the natural launch with strong loft.

In any case, they launch surprisingly low and don’t spin very much.

It’s really hard to argue with irons that produce uniform ball speed across the face. And that ball speed actually does translate to distance because the spin rates are kept low.

With the 7-iron in this set, I was able to average 158.4 yards of carry. Even though I didn’t really like the look or feel of these irons, I’m still inclined to say that these are good irons because of the easy distance.

Are the Taylormade RSi 1 Irons Forgiving for High Handicappers?

“The Taylormade RSi 1 irons look beefy behind the ball.”

At address, you can see that there is a lot of real estate to work with. The face slots are visible at address thanks to the copious offset and they serve a second purpose: they frame the ball pretty well.

If the Taylormade RSi 1 irons weren’t good for high handicappers, I’m not sure who they would be good for.

They look very forgiving behind the ball, they allow ample time to square the face at address and they produce good ball speed all over the face.

The feedback is lacking which isn’t a good thing for high handicappers. But in every other sense, they are solid game improvement irons.

They even have the ThruSlot which increases face flexion up and down the face.

That last part is even more confusing in light of the spin rate numbers I was getting.

I don’t really understand how the Taylormade RSi 1 irons produce such low spin when the face is essentially unsupported in every sector.

But I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth. I don’t know how Taylormade did it, but they actually made a fast face that doesn’t produce unplayable spin.

So the Taylormade RSi 1 will increase your distance without sending your ball spinning off target – a great combination for high handicappers…or any other kind of golfer for that matter.

Taylormade RSi 1 Vs Taylormade SLDR Irons

“The Taylormade SLDR irons also have the ThruSlot.”

But they look much cleaner behind the ball than the Taylormade RSi 1 irons. The SLDR irons have a more compact shape, less offset and thinner top lines. The SLDR irons actually felt lighter too.

So if you are a mid handicapper looking to increase your swing speed, I would go with the Taylormade SLDr irons. But if you are in need of more forgiveness, the Taylormade RSi 1 irons would be better.