TaylorMade P790 Irons Review: The Famous Players-Distance Iron Still Deserves the Hype

The TaylorMade P790 is the iron set golfers buy when they want to look like they got better before they fully got better.

That sounds like a joke.

It is also part of the appeal.

This is a research-based review built from Birdie Report’s current iron cluster, prevailing 2026 pricing lanes, fitter-feedback patterns, and buyer sentiment around the players-distance category. No fake “I striped twenty sacred 7-irons at dawn and achieved cavity-back enlightenment” garbage.

If you want the fuller cluster first, start with Best Irons 2026, Best Irons for Mid Handicappers 2026, the cleaner value fork in TaylorMade P790 vs Srixon ZXi5 irons, the prestige-versus-practicality decision in TaylorMade P790 vs Titleist T200 irons, and the broader premium-versus-easier-help fork in TaylorMade P790 vs Callaway Elyte irons.

Image: Birdie Report

Quick Verdict

The P790 is still one of the safest premium-iron recommendations in golf.

Not because it is perfect.

Because it does nearly everything well enough that a huge slice of the market can talk itself into it and, annoyingly, often be right.

Buy it if you want:

• premium compact looks
• real ball-speed help
• enough forgiveness to survive normal-human contact
• an iron set that can stay in the bag as your game improves

Skip the hype if you care more about:

• pure feel than broad usefulness
• best value per dollar
• maximum forgiveness
• not spending TaylorMade money just because TaylorMade knows you will

The Important Specs

Spec	TaylorMade P790
Current price lane	about $1,400-$1,500 for 7 clubs
Category	players-distance irons
Main pitch	compact premium shape with modern speed and forgiveness
Best fit	roughly 8-15 handicaps
Birdie Report score	9.2/10

The biggest thing to understand is that the P790 is not trying to be a specialist iron.

It is trying to be the broad premium answer.

That is why it keeps winning.

Why the P790 Keeps Showing Up Everywhere

This set already sits at the center of Birdie Report’s iron cluster for a reason.

It leads the shortlist in Best Irons for Mid Handicappers 2026 because the category still wants one obvious answer that blends looks, launch help, and enough forgiveness for golfers who are improving but not exactly flushing it every swing.

It keeps surfacing in the high-intent matchups against Titleist T200, Srixon ZXi5, Callaway Elyte, and Mizuno JPX925 Forged.

That is the P790 case in one sentence:

• premium enough to feel aspirational
• forgiving enough to be usable
• fast enough to make golfers think they bought something special

Distance: This Is Still the Main Draw

The P790 is popular because it gives golfers the modern players-distance story they actually want.

It looks compact, but it does not ask you to strike it like a tour player.

That matters.

A lot of golfers shopping this lane want a club that:

• looks sharp at address
• launches easily in the long irons
• produces enough speed that the premium price feels justified

The P790 still checks those boxes better than most. That is why golfers who are moving up from chunkier game-improvement irons keep landing here instead of jumping straight to something more demanding.

If your buying brain keeps drifting toward “I want the iron that feels the most electric,” that is usually the P790 talking.

Forgiveness: More Helpful Than the Shape Suggests

This is where the set earns its broad appeal.

The P790 gives golfers enough help that it works for a much wider handicap band than the shape implies. Toe and heel misses are still misses, but they are not immediate punishment the way they can be with sharper players irons.

That is the entire trick here.

The club gives you:

• more confidence than a true players iron
• less visual bulk than a classic GI set
• enough retained speed that ordinary misses do not feel catastrophic

If you need even more protection than that, the smarter next read is Ping G440 irons review or Callaway Elyte irons review.

If you want a premium set that stays closer to the P790 but makes a stronger value case, go directly to TaylorMade P790 vs Srixon ZXi5 irons.

Feel: Good Enough to Keep the Pitch Credible

The P790 feels good.

That sentence is doing a lot of work.

It does not feel as rich and detailed as the best feel-first sets in this category. If that is your whole reason for shopping premium irons, the Mizuno JPX925 Forged review makes the more romantic case and the Titleist T200 review makes the more precise one.

But the P790 does not need to win the pure-feel contest.

It just needs to feel premium enough that golfers do not think they sacrificed too much to gain the speed and forgiveness.

It clears that bar.

Looks and Set Personality

This part matters more than golfers admit.

The P790 keeps winning on vibe.

It looks like an iron for a better player, but it does not punish you like one. That visual trick is a huge reason people still want this set first. TaylorMade knows exactly what the P790 is supposed to make you feel when you set it down, and they are very good at delivering that feeling.

The downside is predictable:

• some golfers buy it for the image first
• then realize they needed more help or more value

That does not mean the iron is overrated. It means the fit still matters.

Who Should Buy the P790

Buy the P790 if:

• you are roughly an 8-15 handicap and still getting better
• you want the cleanest all-around blend of looks, speed, and forgiveness
• you like premium gear and are willing to pay for the broader-use answer
• you want an iron set you are less likely to outgrow quickly

Skip it if:

• you want the most value for the money
• your main priority is buttery feel
• you need maximum forgiveness more than compact looks
• you already know you prefer a more precise Titleist-style fit

Closest Alternatives

Iron	Best reason to buy it instead
Srixon ZXi5	You want the smarter value play and the more balanced all-around recommendation
Titleist T200	You want a cleaner precision-and-feel case with less distance-first personality
Mizuno JPX925 Forged	You want the stronger premium-feel splurge case
Ping G440	You need more forgiveness than your ego wants to admit

Those first two are the real forks.

If you want the smarter-money alternative, read TaylorMade P790 vs Srixon ZXi5 irons next.

If you want the more traditional premium-prestige decision, read TaylorMade P790 vs Titleist T200 irons next.

Final Verdict

The TaylorMade P790 is famous for a reason.

It is not the cheapest.

It is not the purest.

It is not the most forgiving.

It is the premium players-distance iron that makes sense for the widest group of improving golfers, and that is a real skill.

If you want my actual recommendation, I would still tell most mid handicappers to compare it directly with Srixon ZXi5 before paying the TaylorMade tax. But if the choice is simply whether the P790 still deserves its place near the top of this category, the answer is yes.

It still absolutely does.