Gear: Titleist T200 irons
Price: $200 per club with True Temper AMT Black shafts and Titleist Universal 360 grips; $216 with Mitsubishi Tensei Blue AM2 graphite shafts
Specs: Forged, L-shaped stainless steel face and forged body with internal tungsten weights.
Available: August 28
Who They’re For: Golfers who need game-improvement clubs that deliver more distance and stability, but who also want softer feel.
The Skinny: Titleist adjusted the internal Max Impact system and the polymer back plate to enhance the sound and feel of the T200, while maintaining ball speed and forgiveness.
The Deep Dive: While the Titleist T100 and T150 are aimed at accomplished golfers looking for control and consistency, the T200 is a true game-improvement club made for golfers who want more distance, forgiveness and stability. With the release of the 2023 version, Titleist tasked its designers to make the clubs sound and feel better at impact, without losing ball speed. While the T200 looks a little different on the outside, to achieve that goal, engineers made bigger changes on the inside.
The T200 has a forged, SUP-10 stainless steel body and face, with the face plate being shaped like an L. The hitting area wraps under the leading edge, which allows the lower portion to flex more easily on thin shots. Titleist also designed the entire hitting area to gradually become thinner toward the perimeter to broaden the sweet spot and protect ball speed more effectively on mis-hits.
The first Titleist T200 irons debuted a distance-enhancing system called the Max Impact Generator on the back. In the 2021 version, it returned but was hidden inside the heads. The Max Impact system is back in the 2023 T200 irons and continues to be a polymer piece designed into a metal bar that connects the topline and sole. When a ball is hit, the face flexes and presses into the polymer, which helps the hitting area snap back faster, increasing ball speed and distance.
In the updated T200 irons, the Max Impact polymer piece is thinner, and the support bar has been shifted more toward the heel, so it is now near the center of the face. Titleist also made the shelf that the back plate rests upon much wider in the toe area. The polymer plate that covers the back of the club and encases the hollow chamber has also been given a series of ribs and panels. All these things work together to stiffen the T200 at impact and change the harmonics, so it sounds better and feels better without a loss of speed or distance.
To help the T200 resist twisting on off-center hits, Titleist added tungsten to the heel and toe areas. The precise amount of tungsten varies by club but averages about 80 grams, and it helps increase the moment of inertia.
Finally, Titleist gave the T200 the same sole design as the T100 and T150 (although it’s wider). The trailing edge has extra upward curvature, which should help the club work through the turf more effectively, especially on fat shots or for players who have an especially steep angle of attack.
Below are several close-up images of the 2023 Titleist T200 irons.