TaylorMade SIM2 Irons Review
Joel Tadman tests the SIM2 Max and SIM2 Max OS irons to see how the performance has improved over SIM
If you’ve got one of the two SIM iron sets, there doesn’t appear to be much of a need to change into SIM2. But if your irons are a few years old and you’re looking for something new that combines distance and forgiveness, and that feel good too, the SIM2 irons are certainly worth considering.
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Fast and forgiving from a wide area
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Lively, explosive feel
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Two of the longest irons within its competitive set
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Minimal gains over SIM
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Not much difference in performance between the two models
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TaylorMade SIM2 Irons Review
Take a look at the video review below...
We saw a fairly big design shift in the TaylorMade SIM2 drivers and this is also the case with the two SIM2 Max irons.
The Speed Bridge on the SIM irons has been replaced by a polymer cap that supports the entire topline, which TaylorMade says allows it to be faster and more stable on a wider area. The diagonal bar that the Speed Bridge created remains to a degree, but only cosmetically forming part of the cap’s shape. From the back, both irons look like a hollow cavity back from the future, with subtle details like carbon fibre panels poking through.
At address, little has changed versus what we saw in SIM. The SIM2 Max is the smaller of the two models but still has generous sole width, offset and a thick topline that ensure it looks easy to hit while the SIM2 Max OS appears larger and has noticeably more offset to create more slice correction.
The SIM2 Max has the same 7-iron loft at the outgoing SIM Max at 28.5° while the SIM2 Max OS has got half a degree stronger, now 26.5° in the 7-iron. Our testing on the Foresight Sports GCQuad launch monitor suggested that along with the looks, the performance hasn’t changed a great deal either.
The SIM2 Max was admittedly just under 2mph quicker in ball speed than SIM Max with a slightly lower launch and similar spin at just over 5100 mark. This resulted in carries that were two yards longer on average. We found the SIM2 Max OS to be around 400 rpm lower spinning than SIM Max OS with all the other key parameters basically exactly the same. The 0.5 deg stronger loft resulted in one extra yard of carry on average.
The feel has definitely improved a touch too. The SIM irons felt great, but SIM2 arguably has a more powerful sensation at impact married with a slightly more low-pitched sound.
Direction also seemed easy to control with both the SIM2 irons but especially the SIM2 Max OS. The large hitting area really boosts confidence and stability on offer is noticeable - when you strike the heel or toe the face holds firm and the ball holds its line through the air. Only the poorest of strikes will result in a missed green. In truth, however, these irons feel like a small evolution of SIM and much like with the drivers, SIM set a very high bar that was always going to be difficult to beat.
If you want more iron advice, be sure to check out our guides on the best distance irons, best game improvement irons, and most forgiving irons.
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