TaylorMade RAC CGB irons

Price £999 (steel shaft) £1199 (graphite)

When TaylorMade introduced me to this CGB (Centre Gravity Back) club in March, I hit a handful of balls with a 5-iron on the Collingtree Park range and wanted to take it home with me!

Never had I struck a ball so sweetly and more accurately. All within seconds of getting my hands on it - and with a high flight pattern that spun the ball with the bite of a vampire.

Unfortunately the local TM representative only had limited stock and I had to wait patiently for more test samples.

Even despite the recommended price of only a quid below £1,200 for a set of eight graphite-shafted irons, I was disappointed not to receive more than a pitching wedge, 8-iron and 5-iron to carry out a more extensive review.

But beggars must not be choosers and I can report back that the club has lost none of its lustre or its performance. So much so that the three clubs are like diamonds in a handful of paste jewellery - compared to the trusty clubs I’m currently carrying.

TaylorMade says five key elements contribute to the CGB's high level of performance – a thinner but stronger construction, hollow top-line (to produce a lower centre of gravity), tungsten rods (to promote power behind the clubhead), RAC technology (for better feel) and more responsive steel and graphite shafts.

On the face of it, the head is chunky but more rounded than the thick, square tops of some premium priced clubs. This encourages the head to sit neatly behind the ball, screaming for a solid strike.

And I have not been disappointed. The feel of a well-struck shot with either the 5- or 8-iron is sublime - indeed there's hardly any feel at all, just the mental experience of having 'creamed' it.

In fact, I'm so keen to play these clubs rather than those either side of them in my bag, that I tend to de-loft or add loft rather than choose an alternative iron of another make.

As for the wedge, it soars high and plummets to almost a dead stop from around 90-110 yards out. And I can control the ball as if on puppet strings from the fringes.

If the 'powers that be' decided tomorrow that we could only use three irons, a putter and a driver I’d accept it in a trice!