Tanso Golf 349-CB Irons Review

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50 Words or Less

The Tanso Golf 349-CB irons are traditional forged players cavity back irons with excellent feel and understated looks.  A nice balance of shot control and forgiveness for the skilled player.

Tanso Golf 349-CB Irons Review review

Introduction

Tanso Golf’s founder, Eric Burch, is not new to the golf industry.  He’s founded multiple golf companies and worked with many more.  If you’ve been following golf equipment for more than a couple years, you’ve no doubt seen or played some of his designs.

His latest venture, Tanso Golf, is built on the seemingly simple idea that every golfer deserves high quality, well-fit equipment, at a price they can afford.  That sounds pretty good to me, so I was excited to test each of the irons from the introductory line.  This first review will focus on the Tanso Golf 349-CB irons, a forged cavity back designed to offer forgiveness in an elegant package.

Tanso Golf 349-CB Irons Review review

Looks

In the bag, the Tanso Golf 349-CB irons have the timeless look that most better players want from their forged cavity back.  There’s moderate branding – a “TG” logo in the toe and “349-CB” in the heel.  The color scheme is simple and classic – a brushed finish with black paintfill.  The shaping features a cavity in the upper two-thirds with a centered, triangular weight pad and a thin ribbon full of milled lined.  This cavity design gives the club a little visual interest without getting gimmicky.

Tanso Golf 349-CB Irons Review review

At address, the Tanso Golf 349-CB irons have the players look that matches their in bag appearance.  The top lines are thin, and there’s only modest offset.  There’s some progression to the shape of the face and toe throughout the set.  The long irons are more square, the pitching wedge and scoring irons more round.

Tanso Golf 349-CB Irons Review review

Above, you can see all three iron models in the Tanso Golf family: the 249-MB, 349-CB, and 449-CB.  The first two are almost identical at address, sharing the same offset specs and blade length.  This sets them up well to be paired in a combo set.  The 449-CB is thicker in the topline, the blade is longer, and there’s more offset. [See Price / Buy]

Tanso Golf 349-CB Irons Review review

Sound & Feel

Reading “3X forged and CNC milled from 1020 carbon steel” makes my expectations for sound and feel go through the roof.  It didn’t take much testing to know that the Tanso Golf 349-CB irons met those high expectations.

The primary thing that stuck out is the soft feel in the hands.  Particularly with a softer tour ball, the 349-CB irons feel gentle on centered contact.  What was unexpected is that the soft feeling extends beyond the sweet spot.  With a traditional iron, I expect some harsh feelings on mishits, but I never got that from the 349-CB.  The feedback was precise and clear, but the mishits never stung my hands.

This soft feel of the Tanso Golf 349-CB irons is complemented by a dull, gentle sound.  If you play a firmer ball, you can find a little bit of “click,” but a softer ball will create a pure “thud.”  The sound adds to the excellent feedback, getting a bit louder as you move farther from the center of the face.

Tanso Golf 349-CB Irons Review review

Performance

Control and consistency were the two words that kept coming to the fore during my testing of the Tanso Golf 349-CB irons.  Starting on the launch monitor, I saw the exact same number pop up every time I hit a good shot.  It wasn’t a case of “Good swings go from 135-140;” every good swing carried exactly 137.  Premium shots also kept the launch and spin in very tight windows.  There were a couple swings where I was certain I was 10 yards past my normal number, but that never happened.

Tanso Golf 349-CB Irons Review review

Anyone who has played a game improvement or players distance iron in the last ten years know that this is not something to be taken for granted.  It’s not uncommon for a 10/10 strike to fly 12 yards past your normal, full number – the hated “jumper” or “hot spot.”  With the Tanso Golf 349-CB irons, I didn’t have to worry about being a swing being “too good.”

Tanso Golf 349-CB Irons Review review

The other thing that makes these irons fun to play is the shot control.  It doesn’t take much effort to flight them higher or lower or to bend the ball right or left.  While hitting shots in every window isn’t the best way to score well, it is a large part of why I play the game.  Going to the course or range, imagining a shot, then making it happen is, for me, the joy of golf, and the 349-CB irons allow me to take full advantage of my abilities.

Tanso Golf 349-CB Irons Review review

I’ll take a quick detour here to note that if you want to go even farther down the road of shot control, Tanso Golf makes combo sets easy.  The 349-CB irons have the exact same specs as the 249-MB irons, their blades [full review coming soon].  No matter where you want to cross over from muscle back to cavity back, you can do so without tweaking lofts or lie angles.

Tanso Golf 349-CB Irons Review review

Speaking of abilities, kudos to Tanso Golf for making the realistic recommendation that the 349-CB irons are built for 0-10 handicaps.  These irons are not hard to play – they’re comparable to their peers in terms of forgiveness – but they’re nowhere near irons like the PING G440 [review HERE] or the PXG 0311 P GEN8 [review HERE].  You don’t need an A+ strike to hit the green, but you will see ball speed and distance decline as your strike moves away from the center of the face.

Tanso Golf 349-CB Irons Review review

Finally, in keeping with the theme of these being players irons, the 349-CB produces a controlled launch and above average spin.  For the skilled ball striker, this combination means that the ball will be strong in the wind with enough stopping power to stay on the green.

Tanso Golf 349-CB Irons Review review

It is worth pointing out that the lower launch will make the 4 iron a poor fit for some golfers (again, kudos to Tanso Golf for making 5-PW the stock option).  I have above average swing speed, but, because I tend to launch the ball fairly low, I was not seeing a meaningful gap between the 4I and 5I unless I worked to launch the 4I higher.  That’s not a knock on the Tanso Golf 349-CB irons, but it is a warning to be realistic about your abilities when configuring your set. [See Price / Buy]

Tanso Golf 349-CB Irons Review review

Conclusion

The Tanso Golf 349-CB irons check every box when it comes to a forged players iron.  They have the looks, the sound, the feel, and the performance.  And the cherry on top is that they’re priced meaningfully lower than their big name competitors.

You won’t find the Tanso Golf 349-CB irons at your local big box, but the company does offer a 30-day satisfaction guarantee (if you order them in stock specs) and a “demo” program where you can order a custom 7I at half price before buying the rest of the set. [See Price / Buy]

349-CB Forged Cavity Back Irons | Tanso Golf

Meet the 349-CB — a forged players cavity built for golfers who want a clean topline at address with just enough forgiveness on off-center strikes. Matched perfectly to the 249-MB in loft, lie, bounce, and offset for a seamless combo set. 3X forged and CNC milled from 1020 carbon steel.

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Tanso Golf 349-CB Irons Price & Specs

Tanso Golf 349-CB Irons Review review

Matt Saternus
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