Dear Jack,
I'm glad that Lee is back into golf and thinks that hitting his new M2 9 iron 160 yards is great.
I'm a lot older than you and Lee.
I didn't start playing golf until I moved to Maui in 1988, and started building and repairing clubs in 1992.
I hit my 8 iron 150 yards.
The loft on my 8 iron is 40 degrees (as checked on my calibrated Steel Club Loft and Lie machine), the loft on Lee's M2 9 iron is 38 degrees (see the link below*).
The loft on Lee's 5 iron is 21.5, my 5 iron is 28 degrees.
The shaft length on M2 irons is .5" to .75" longer then the older standards.
I remember back in the early 90's when the King Cobra irons came out and my golfing buddies would say I hit my PW so much further, well that's because the KC PW was 44 degrees, while older PWs were 48 degrees.
Guess what, now they had this big spread/gap between their 44 degree PW and their 56 degree SW, so KC's next big thing was the 50 degree Gap wedge. TaylorMade now calls it an AW.
So yes, the TM M2s are longer, but it's not magic.
*
http://taylormadegolf.com/M2-Irons/DW-WZ682.html