Titleist 704 CB Irons Review 2023 – Are They Good for Beginners And Forgiving?

Titleist 704 CB Irons Review 2023 – Are They Good for Beginners And Forgiving?

“The Titleist 704 CB irons seek to bring forged construction and exceptional touch-shot feel to higher handicap players.”

But should you be gaming them in 2023?

Titleist 704 CB Irons Overview

“When the Titleist 704 CB irons came out, they were marketed toward both low and high handicap players.”

Which is understandable. If you’re a golf club company, why wouldn’t you want your clubs to appeal to as wide a market as possible. The problem is that clubs intended for “all types” of players rarely live up to their promises.

But Titleist was off to a good start with the 704 CB irons. These are forged irons with a moderate profile. In fact, almost everything about these irons is moderate: the blade length, the head size, the top line, the soles and even the offset can accurately be described as moderate.

So Titleist went middle of the road on the shaping of these irons which again, is a good start if you’re trying to appeal to as many golfers as possible. And while the forging feels nice in general, the Titleist 704 CB’s are forged from stainless steel which isn’t as soft or luxuriant as carbon steel.

As you may have guessed, CB stands for cavity back. The cavity is pretty shallow though; but it does its job. It pushes mass to the perimeter of the head.

I liked the performance of the short irons more than the long irons. There just isn’t a whole lot of sweet spot to work with in the long irons. But the scoring irons feel super-responsive and are excellent on short chips and bump and runs.

I felt like I had complete control over these kinds of shots. The Titleist 704 CB irons are pretty weak-lofted which further irked me in the long irons. I had some trouble keeping my ball out of the wind with the long irons.

Are the Titleist 704 CB Irons Forgiving?

“Probably the best thing about the Titleist 704 CB irons in terms of forgiveness is the offset.”

Again, the offset is moderate but every little bit helps. Even with the moderate offset, Ifound it easy to turn the club over and achieve straight flight. But if you miss face-center, expect to lose a lot of ball speed.

My carry distance with the 7-iron on perfect strikes was 154.6 yards. My carry distance with the same club on slightly off-center strikes dwindled to 148.3 yards on average. The Titleist 704 CB irons do a pretty good job on keeping such mis-hits on the fairway though.

Even on mis-hits, you shouldn’t have any problem sending your ball into the rough with the Titleist 704 CB irons.

Are the Titleist 704 CB Irons Good for Beginners And High Handicappers?

“High handicappers could certainly hone their short game with these irons.”

But I don’t see the Titleist 704 CB’s having a lot of value to pure beginners. There are just so many really good game improvement irons to learn the game – you don’t need to struggle with these.

But if you are in the 18-22 handicap range, I can see the Titleist 704 CB irons helping you take a drastic leap in your short game. The short game feel of these irons is acute. You have control over spin, launch and the lofts will help you land the fastest greens you play with greater ease.

Should You Buy the Titleist 704 CB or the Titleist 716 CB Irons?

“The 716 CB irons have the added benefit of dual tungsten perimeter weighting.”

If you are willing to sacrifice a bit of shot-making for extra forgiveness, I would recommend the 716 CB irons. They were just a little more stable on mis-hits. I wasn’t losing so much ball speed and distance with the 716 CB irons when I mis-hit.

The Titleist 716 CB irons have a similar profile to the Titleist 704 CB’s. Pretty much everything about them is moderate to make sure they, as game improvement irons, still look pleasing to the eye.

At address, the 716 CB irons look really clean; but the blade length is relatively short. So you still have to be pretty accurate with your swing to get optimal distance with the 716’s. But the tungsten weighting really does make a significant difference. So much so that I would say the Titleist 716 CB irons are better for high handicappers than the Titleist 704 CB irons are.