TaylorMade Kingdom Experience Diary

It's a good one. It had me loving it more than my KiaMa for Pete's sake! I was blown away by it.

Good to hear, its the one ive been wanting them to make in a ghost finish since i first saw the corza ghost. You guys did a great job with this thread
 
The Kingdom Day 2

Day 2 of the Taylormade Kingdom Experience was out of this world.
It started off with a short tour of the inside of the facility.
Then it was out to the beautiful range where we met most of the fitters, equipment reps and the rest

of the crew. Everyone there was so friendly and down to earth. There was not a single primadonna in

the place.

My club fitting started with a warm-up with on the range with my own clubs. Following that, I started

trying the various TM irons, hybrids and fairway woods. I was really impressed with the Burner 2.0

irons. I am going to seriously consider replacing my current 4 year old irons with these.

The hybrids are just a delight to hit. The white heads really frame the ball and aid in alignment.

When I struck the first ball with the 3 hybrid, it felt like butter. One ball right after another,

the hybrid sent the balls sailing up high and landing so softly, I couldn't ask for any more from

these.

I then turned my attention to the fairway woods. I only hit the 3 wood in a couple of different

lofts, but I loved the 14* head the most. At first, I was a bit concerned that the loft might be a

little strong. To my surprise, the ball screamed off the clubface and penetrated the slight breeze

into us like no other 3 wood I have ever hit. Again, the white head with the black face really frames

the ball well and helps with alignment.

After hitting about 200 balls with the irons, hybrids and fairway woods, it was my turn to hit the

R11 and get fitted. Allen was the fitter that worked with me. He watched my hit 8 or 9 balls with my

10.5* Super-Tri, he had a suggestion...tee the ball just a little higher.
I did that and immediately I gained 4 to 5 yards with every shot.
He then looked over my driver and decided to try me out with the R-11 in a 9 degree loft with the

Blur stiff shaft. I hit it for the first time and it felt great. I hit it a few times and with each

shot, I hit it better and better. Alan was not happy with the ball flight though so he made a change

to the face angle and set-up. The next couple of shots were even better, after his change, but...Alan

still wasn't happy! So, back to the rack he goes and brings another shaft. I didn't ask what it was

because I didn't want to skew my opinion. I hit 5 shots with it and in my mind, I thought I had the

perfect driver for me. But, no....Alan still wasn't happy, so back to the rack he goes and gets yet

another shaft. After installing that shaft I hit another 6 or 7 shots and Alan immediately said,

"Stop...that shaft is still not right for you." So...back to the rack he goes and grabs another

shaft. I hit 5 balls with this shaft and hit them well, but Alan wanted to make another change to the

head set-up. After a quick adjustment to the lie and loft, I hit a low, right bullet, but Alan

reminded me about teeing the ball a bit higher. I teed the next ball up a little higher than I

normally do and he had me move it higher yet. At this point I'm thinking that I am going to hit the

ball so high on the clubface, that a dummy skymark may be the result. But, he's the expert that has

fit many, many tour players along with a bunch of dignitaries and celebrities so I trusted him. I

tried to put a good swing on the ball and it literally exploded off the clubface. I hit a towering

shot that started at the right pole of the 20 yard wide fairway marker and drew in to the center like

a seasoned tour veterans shot. It was right then and there that my love affair with the R-11 began.
Alan watched me hit ball after ball to the middle of that fairway and at a distance to which I am not

accustomed. Don't get me wrong, I've always been pretty long off the tee, but this R-11 is STUPID

LONG!! After hitting about 20 balls, I turned to Alan and said "this is the one...isn't it?" He just

grinned and said, "yea, I think we've got you dialed in, but let's wait for your turn on the launch

monitor." I got my turn on the monitor with my new weapon and the numbers confirmed that Alan had

done his job to perfection. I was getting the magic 12 and 22 numbers that all the fitters were

talking about trying to achieve. Alan gave me that SoCal grin again and said, "I think we have a

winner, don't you?" and I couldn't have agreed more. He then sent my head and shaft configuration,

along with my request for an inch and a half of extra length to the builder. I ended up with the 9

degree R-11 with the Speeder stiff shaft and that 1 1/2 extra inches in length and the white and

black Golf Pride grip. They brought out the built driver to me about an hour later for me to try.
The beautiful red shaft and white graphics, married to the white R-11 head was incredible to me.
I hit bomb after bomb after bomb with it on the range. Alan, Taylormade and the builder have created

the perfect driver for me and I cannot begin to thank them enough. When I get home, I will take some

good photos of it to share with everyone.

I have to sign off for now since it's time for me to head for the airport and go home.
There is so much more I have to share with everyone and will do so over the next couple of days.

It may be getting a little repetitive, but I have to continually thank THP, JB, GG and Taylormade for

this once in a lifetime experience.
 
Awesome job guys. Loving the pics/videos! Sounds like an amazing experience. Makes me proud to have a bag full of TM's...I'm jeally!
 
Great Job Drumdog, i can honestly say im SOOO JEALOUS lol.
 
Great stuff drumdog aka Bill, love all these updates.
 
Awesome job guys. Loving the pics/videos! Sounds like an amazing experience. Makes me proud to have a bag full of TM's...I'm jeally!

I would be proud too! I don't think there is a finer golf company in the world! These guys are so focused in putting out the best product in the world, but they do it in the right way. We are not exaggerating when we say how awesome the TM guys are. I got to play with Dave Cordero, who was the guy in charge of this whole experience, and it was a blast! This is a guy who I would love to play golf with any day of the week. Just a totally cool guy who is as passionate about the game of golf as we all are and again he has to be one the nicest guys in the world! I talked to all of the TM guys about what got them in to the business and they are all aware that they are living the dream. They all love working for TM and each one talked about what a special company TMaG is, and how happy they were to be working there. They even all had totally glowing reviews about their CEO. How many times have you heard employees speak with loving and kind words about a CEO? They are definitely doing a ton of things right at TMaG and it shows.
 
I'm glad you guys had a great time! Thanks for sharing your experience with us...you guys did an awesome job covering your amazing trip to the kingdom.
 
Man, really jealous that I didn't get to go out because the experience you guys filled us in on was just awesome!

Really does say a lot when you can see all the employees being genuine about how happy they are working for TaylorMade.
 
The pics and the vids look phenomenal! Safe trip back home boys!
 
What an awesome experience! I have really enjoyed reading all the posts and it sounds like you guys have had the time of your life!

Saying im Jealous would be an understatement. Thank you for all the updates!!!
 
DrumDog brought up really interesting point about the fitting. During the Tuning in process on our drivers there was about 3-4 settings where I thought, wow this is good for me. But they just weren't completely satisfied and so they would switch out a shaft and make another adjustment. I post this to emphasize bow important the numbers are to properly fitting a driver. If itnwas me in the store i know that I would have left before getting everything tuned in like it is now, even with the help of the sales person. This doesn't mean that we are all doomed to play illfitted drivers. No! What it means is we as the consumer have to be educated when making a purchase. Use the 12 & 22 rule. I am sure that somebody would argue with this rule, but all I have to say is these are the experts and unless you can find me someone who is more expert than Jim Flick, Pete Sanchez, Perry, Stoney, Gary and the other experts (not going to happen btw) than I am sticking with this rule.

Also I urge anyone who is thinking about getting a driver this year to seriously consider the R11. It is so legit!!! And when you go hit it try a bunch of shafts and you MUST change the settings. If you don't dial in the settings it is like having a Ferrari and leaving it in neutral!

You saw from mine and DD posts that our settings are very opposite, yet on one hole we both BOMBED our drives with similar ball flights and ended up 5feet from each other in the middle of the fairway. If any of you have questions on what changing certain settings do please feel free to ask me. I am in no way an expert, but I spent a lot of time asking the experts question so I could better understand the technology behind this club. I will make you guys a promise, but let me preface my promise by saying that you getting any type of club does me no good. In fact it may hurt me because when someday we play together it gives you a better chance of beating me. I am making a promise because seeing how this club transformed my game has made me very passionate about this driver. So here is my promise. If you put a shaft in the R11 that fits you and get the settings tuned into what you are trying to do with your particular ball flight. You do these two things and I promise that 99.9% of you will hit the R11 farther than your current driver! And the 0.1% who don't see an improvement, never change that driver you have, because if the R11 can't beat it than NOTHING will!
 
I think it goes to show Doc just how important a proper fitting can be.
 
I think it goes to show Doc just how important a proper fitting can be.

Absolutely! To give another example. After they got all my settings down they went and made the club right there on the spot. 20 minutes later they come out with this gorgeous driver with my name on a tag. I set up and hit my first ball with my new driver, and HUGE hook. What? Okay I must have put a bad swing on it which I am known to do (thus Jim Flick telling to stop throwing hips at the ball like a stripper). Hit the next ball, huge hook. Next ball huge hook. Each one of these balls landed within 10 feet of each other. I though "man I should just give up this game, cause if these guys can't make me a club that helps me hit it straighter, then I must be really bad!" Stoney, the one who fit me grabs the club and inspects it a bit. Then says "well no $#!+" and switched the two weights. Turns out that they put the 10 gram weight in the heel instead of the toe. He makes that change and next shot 285 right down the middle of the freaking fairway! 10 freaking grams and it was night and day! Now again to reiterate how different all of our swings are and why it doesn't make sense to just grab any old club of the rack and expect to hit it well, DD (who was just crushing the ball) has his driver set with the weight in the heel. The exact setting that would have sent me OB on every hole. Just another enlightening moment from this weekend.
 
Amazing stuff guys, Im glad it was everything you hoped it would be.
 
Well guys, I'm in California and I don't have to meet my driver for another 2.5 hours, I'm catching the shuttle to the driving range! I've got an R11 to hit! See you all when I get back home, I'll get batteries in that FLIP ASAP and get those videos posted.
 
I love reading this thread.

I have one question for you three: after being through this wonderful experience, would you now consider yourself brand loyal to Taylormade?
 
You guy's are flat out bringing some great reviews. I'm loving all the reading here, well done!
 
Fantastic write-up and pics and information. This truely sounds like it was an amazing time and I am glad you all got to enjoy it. Keep posting more pics and videos if you have them and allow the rest of us a small peek into what the weekend was for all of you.
 
I love reading this thread.

I have one question for you three: after being through this wonderful experience, would you now consider yourself brand loyal to Taylormade?

TC I definitely would, which I think is crazy because I never would have thought that I would ever become a loyalist. But have seen and hit all of there products, and having the opportunity to talk with these guys and hear about all of the efforts they put into fine tuning each and every product they have. I now would say that going forward I am pretty much a Taylormade guy. If someone can prove to me that they make a superior product, I may be able to be swayed, but that being said I think it would be very difficult to do.
 
TC I definitely would, which I think is crazy because I never would have thought that I would ever become a loyalist. But have seen and hit all of there products, and having the opportunity to talk with these guys and hear about all of the efforts they put into fine tuning each and every product they have. I now would say that going forward I am pretty much a Taylormade guy. If someone can prove to me that they make a superior product, I may be able to be swayed, but that being said I think it would be very difficult to do.

Love the honesty Doc! I would agree with you though. THe one constant in all of y'alls posts is the fact that everyone who works there is passionate about what they do. That kind of passion is infectious when you experience it.
 
Love the honesty Doc! I would agree with you though. THe one constant in all of y'alls posts is the fact that everyone who works there is passionate about what they do. They kind of passion is infectious when you experience it.

I have to say, that was a great question TC, especially with the timing. I don't think I could go through what they did and not be a bit biased moving forward.
 
I have to say, that was a great question TC, especially with the timing. I don't think I could go through what they did and not be a bit biased moving forward.

I know duey, it would be hard to experience those past couple of days and not become loyal.

You guys really did a great job keeping us informed. Thanks so much for the effort.
 
I know duey, it would be hard to experience those past couple of days and not become loyal.

You guys really did a great job keeping us informed. Thanks so much for the effort.

I agree, they have all done a great job!
 
Wowzers. This thread is just crazy. I can't believe some of the things that you guys got to do. The fitting stories that you guys shared were awesome.
 
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