TaylorMade Rescue 11 Hybrid Review Thread

Had some range time last night. It was just a beautiful evening and I had to go and hit some balls. Things started out pretty good. My pull returned, but it sure beats my slice. Started with my small clubs and worked my way up. Took a few shots with my MachSpeed as a baseline and the first one I just creamed. Such a good ball. Hit a couple more which were good too then everything started going downhill. All of a sudden I couldn't put a good swing on the MachSpeed. Move to the Rescue to see if I could get anything going with it. The short answer is no. I'm not sure what it is, but I can't really hit it well anymore. Maybe I'm hitting too late in my time there as I had already hit 30 or so balls, but it's really bothering me. I don't think I hit a ball more than 150 with it. That sucks seeing as I put a couple over 190 with the MachSpeed. The ball launches much higher with the Rescue than the MS (which is good), but I can't get any distance out of it. Perhaps I'm hitting the ball a bit fat. The sole of the Rescue is caked with that green stuff from the mats. I'm not too sure what's going on, but I'm starting to think this club is maybe just above my skill level. I don't know. I managed to kind of put my swing back together a bit to finish the bucket. Hit some really nice 4 irons and the new Cleveland fairway is just so awesome, but I couldn't get anything going with the Rescue. Next time, I'll start with the Rescue to see if that makes a difference at all, but I'm starting to have doubts. I know that's not a good thing. I guess the honeymoon's over.....

Sorry to hear that 9I. Were you teeing these balls up?
 
What settings do you have it at? I had the same one as you and had it set at just below standard and squeezed an automatic 185 with it. Also, where are you settign up the ball at address? I had it set slightly ahead of center and used a sweeping swing more so than hitting down on it which eliminated baloon shots.

Set on Neutral with the ball place about 0.5-1 ball forward of center in my stance. Typically my swing is a sweep.
 
try dialing it down to the first setting below standard for giggles....keep your swing and ball position the same and see what happens
Set on Neutral with the ball place about 0.5-1 ball forward of center in my stance. Typically my swing is a sweep.
 
Final Review

Final Review

I wanted to provide a nice lengthy review on the Rescue 11 5 hybird. I have been testing it for 3 months and I wanted to share my thoughts.

Appearance:
The white crown is the most distinctive part of the club. It stands out. However, it is not a distraction. I didn't give the white crown a second thought, since the first day I had the club. The white crown is suprisingly durable. I have a few dimple marks at the line where the crown meets the face, but nothing on the top of the club. The white does show a lot of dirt and grass stains. It cleans off easily and does not seem to be an issue. There has been some attention paid to the placement of the alignment aide on the club head. The alignment aide seems to be closer to the hosel than it should. I do not believe this is a mistake or accident. I wish I had a contact at Taylormade I could ask about the aide's placement, so I could pick their brain about the placement. But I don't, so I move on. The white head does make the club look bigger at address than it really is. The head size added confidence to me, it looks like I can't miss (I can). The white is not shinny so it doesn't glare. In fact, it is easier to look at than a black club head. It turns out that there may actually be function behind the white club head. If anybody disregards this club because of the white crown, their missing out.

Performance:
I found this club to be fantastic. I gained 10 yards over my 5-iron with the Rescue 11. I really liked having that extra yardage. I now use the 5-hybrid for 185 yard shots. I found the ball flight to be very high, but I like it. I get a lot of carry out of the club. I have been able to attack more long par 3s because of the added distance. I did find the club to be a hook machine at first. The club head is very heavy and easy to turn over. Once I made the conscience decision not to release the club as much, the hooks went away. My initial reaction was that the club was not forgiving. If a golfer already has problems missing the sweet spot on the club, this hybrid may cause big problems. There is a definate sweet spot, and it should not be missed. However, I have changed my tune a little bit on how unforgiving the club really is. Anything hit on the middle of the club face, either center, left, or right turns out ok. I lose maybe a few yards with toe or heel shots. I do lose the accuracy with the toe and heels shots, but that is to be expected. Anything hit on the top or bottom of the face tend to be hazardous. I lost 20 yards or more with thinned or fatted shots. I also felt some sting with those mishits. Given the clubs weight, I had to fight the urge to really swing hard with it. If I took a smooth swing, the contact was solid and the club did the work of sending the ball toward the target. I really like how this club performs out of the rough. The weight makes it easy to hit from long grass. It also does not get caught by the long grass as much as an iron would, because of the weight. Off of the tee, it is as close to a point and shoot club as I have found. The try not to work the ball left or right because my own skill isn't there, but I know that the club can do it. I have hit fades and draws at the range. There have been concerns voiced with the turf interaction with this club. I did not find any issues with that. I tend to have more of a sweeping swing with hybrids.

Sound/feel:
Amazing. Solid shots are rewarded with a very pleasing note. The sound attracks a lot of attention, because it's so nice. First day at the range with it I was getting compliments. The tactile feel is amazing. I know exactly where I missed, if I miss, on the club face. The audible and tactile feedback are fantastic. It was really easy for me to get used to this club because I knew when I made mistakes.

Shaft:
Adila RIP. Fantastic. It was stiff and sturdy which fit the weight of the club head perfectly. It seems to be a higher launching shaft, which is just fine for me, a mid-handicaper. The graphics are muted and not distracting. I have not yet felt any vibration from mis hit shots. I like the ball flight. To me, the shaft feels like a perfect match for the club. I can tell that Taylormade put thought into what shaft should be the standard.

Nitpicking:
The sole of the club collects a lot of dirty. Anytime I hit out off of a soft fairway or rough, I would get a clump of mud on the sole. That mud would collect in the weight port. Also, the club head could be a little better. I would like to see a sleeve typle extension to the bottom of the cover, just to protect more of the shaft. I figured that with the hybrids being close to the irons in a golf bag, that having that longer bit of protection would be a no brainer.

Final Thoughts:
This club is not for every golfer. Anybody struggling with their swing may have problems making good contact. This club is also more for a sweeping swing. However, with the right swing and right contact, I found this hybrid to be a monster. I like the ball flight. It seems to carry forever and then drop straight out of the sky. In windier enviornments, it may be a problem. But I love the ball flght as it has given me a ton of confidence. Please don't let my owning of a 3h & 4h fool fool anybody. This is not the club for everybody. If the club fits a golfers swing, I cannot imagine a better option out there.
 
Good stuff guys, hopefully you can get the Rescue11 working again for ya 9-iron man
 
Hey everybody i had a great day with the rescue11 today, i used it more than usuall since im working on my driver YIPS and only taking half and 3/4 swings with the driver so i need this more at the moment. I used it about 6 times today and 5 out of 6 were very good shots. The one shot i hit bad was out of the rough and i just got way underneath it.

Shot1- I had around 190 left to the green and a very strong wind in my face, it was blowing about 15-20+ out there today, i took out the Rescue11 and just hit a nice tight draw that seemed liked it stayed in the air forever, that wind just held it up, this shot landed on the front left fringe and just rolled on. Good contact with a nice smooth swing is all i was worried about today and the Rescue11 seemed to reward me for that.

Shot2- Basically the same as the first, right around 195-200 left to the green but this time i had to either go over the trees or draw it around the dogleg, i chose to go for my normal draw since that is a natural shot for me, again a nice smooth swing and made great contact again, this was more of a mid ball flight on this one with a nice draw to it that got around the dogleg, i lost it after it got around the trees so i wasnt sure where it ended up, got to the green and i was actually off the back side, my ball mark was dead center green though, if i would of got it up a little more to my normal trajectory that i usually have with the rescue11 it would of held the green im sure.

Shot3 and 4 were punch outs that did exactly what i wanted, stayed very low and got under the tree's and ran out, couldnt have planned it any better lol.

Shot5- This was a par5 and i was sitting in the fairway with about 225 left and the wind was coming from left to right so if you sliced it you were in deep crap, again just another smooth swing and this one got up pretty high with a nice little draw on it again, if the wind wasnt helping me on this one i think it would of over cooked and ended up on the left side of the green but the wind coming from left to right my draw was going straight into it and it held its line nicely, ended up just short of the green and had a little 40 foot chip.

Shot6- this was my bad one from the rough that i got underneath.

Overall another good day with the rescue and i couldnt be happier with this club.
 
I had a great day with the Rescue the other day. Saved my bacon from in a bunker about 215 to the green. I still came away about 10 yards short. The accuracy and the sound of hitting out of that bunker sure made me happy. Nice divot patch. I have come to that point where I feel I have stated that I really like this club for all the reasons in this forum. I really would not look at another hybrid at this point.
 
Just typing up my final thoughts now. I have to go to a dinner here shortly and then I'll give it one last edit and post it tonight.
 
I'll have to break my final thoughts into two posts it seems. If mods can put them together as one that would be great. If not, here are my final thoughts broken up into two posts. Obviously I will stay active answering any questions in this thread I can and following the other testers continued thoughts.
 
It has now be three months since THP and Taylormade gave me the incredible opportunity to review a Taylormade Rescue 11 18* TP club with an 85 gram Aldila RIP shaft. I feel I am now ready to share my final thoughts on this club.

Looks- This club looks amazing. The white club head is complimented perfectly by the black Aldila RIP shaft and black clubface. I had no problems with the grooves being white, but the contrast may be unsettling to some. I originally thought the white club head would be distracting or gimmicky and have no real added benefit. I was, however, pleasantly surprised. By no means is it distracting. After a few shots you don’t even notice it anymore, which may seem odd to hear. It also has an odd calming effect while you look down at it, which is very hard to explain and may be attributed to some sort of uncontrollable subconscious reason. The bottom of the club is equally as appealing. It has a touch of yellowish gold paint filling in the outer circle of the weight-port and the letters of the word Rescue. Visually this is a stunning club and is right there at the top of the list for best looking hybrid on the market.

Adjustability (FCT)- The FCT (Flight Control Technology) allows you to “Be Like Paddy” and tinker away. You have the ability to adjust the face angle by four degrees (plus or minus two degrees left and right), the lie by two degrees (plus or minus one degree more upright or flat), the loft by two degrees (plus or minus one degree higher or lower), and the spin rate by one thousand RPM (plus or minus five hundred RPM higher or lower spin rate). I tinkered around with this and found it to be a very valuable asset. I know many say “adjustable clubs only help hide your flaws blah, blah, blah”, but I find that talk to be erroneous. As popular as custom-fitting has become and the proven results that have come along with it, why not have a club that allows you numerous fitting options? In my book the FCT was very useful and nice addition to the club.

Shaft- The shaft is an Aldila 85 gram RIP. I loved the performance and weighting of this shaft. I felt like I always knew exactly where the shaft was in regards to my swing-plane throughout the entire swing. I also felt the shaft loaded and unloaded extremely well in subtle way. Performance wise this shaft seems to be a perfect match for this club. The only thing I could get nit-picky about are the grayish graphics they added to the RIP towards the tips of the shaft. Even though I’m nit-picking about it I’m still not sure whether or not it would look better without them, simply because it already looks superb.

Durability of Club Head- I honestly thought that the white paint would chip up and become blemished, which in turn would be exacerbated by the contrast of the black shaft and clubface. Boy, was I wrong about that. There are barely any chips where the white paint meets the clubface and the white paint is still a bright vivid white color, compared to how some white objects begin pure white and then slowly transform into a dull eggshell white. Obviously, with the bottom of the club and the face being black these parts of the club are going to show signs of wear, but in no way have they worn faster than expected or began to detract from the great looks of this club. Durability wise this club has far exceeded my expectations.

Forgiveness- The actual forgiveness of this club is below average in my opinion, but I was testing the TP version. If I missed towards the toe, I usually ended up left but still in play. If I missed towards the heel, I was looking at a low rocket to the right, which usually ended up in bad spots. I’m not referring to a shank either, I’m just referring to hitting more towards the heel than the center of the clubface. I did find that you could get away with hitting it a little thin, unless of course you have a forced carry. The main reason I say this club is below average in this category is due to the fact that when struck well, the ball absolutely takes off and gets great distance, and if you’re playing a shot with a three hybrid you usually can not afford to come up forty yards short because there’s usually water or some sort of hazard (at least on the courses I play here in FL) I’d personally prefer to lose yardage on my perfect shots, but gain yards on my mis-hits. I hope that makes sense. For example, with the Rescue 11 if I hit it well, let’s say it goes two-hundred forty yards, but if it is slightly mis-hit, it only goes two hundred yards. I would prefer a club that, when hit well, goes two-hundred and twenty-five yards and, when mis-hit, goes two-hundred ten yards. I find that situation much more playable for us average golfers than the other. Forgiveness wise I would say there are much more forgiving options currently available.

Feel/Sound- I understand the fact that feel is mostly derived from what we hear when hitting the ball, but I’m going to describe both for better understanding across the board. The feel on a purely struck shot is so nice it’s an instant confidence booster. It feels as if the ball has just been rocketed off of a trampoline. The feel is very muted in the sense you feel no reverberation or vibrations whatsoever, but you do feel as if you just Sadlowskied (referring to Jamie Sadlowski http://jamiesadlowski.net/aboutjamie.php) a ball down the fairway. The sound from a purely struck shot is also very stimulating to the ears. It’s not a muted, near absence of sound as some clubs have, but it’s also not an annoying overly metallic ping either. It produces a nicely muted, metallic, very solid ping (hopefully, that makes sense). On mis-hit shots you will definitely feel feedback instantly, but the sound is not greatly affected by a mis-hit. Feel and sound wise, when struck well, I would put this club near the top of the list in the hybrid category.

Ball Flight- The ball flight produced by this club with a well struck shot starts out very penetrating, slowly begins to ascend, and then seems to descend very softly from the apex. It seems to be the perfect ball flight. I did, however, find that when playing into a stiff wind it is very deceiving and can cause problems until you get familiar with it. By this, I mean that because you see it come off the face and bore through the air, like Earl Campbell through defenders, you forget that it does get up in the air, like Spud Webb over Manute Bol, at its apex, which makes it very susceptible to ballooning, like Marlon Brando. Also, with such a penetrating flight, I found it difficult to get the ball up very quickly if you had an obstruction close down your target line, but the loft of this club being eighteen degrees, and me not being Phil or Tiger, I wouldn’t expect to pull these types of shots off. With a well struck shot, this club produces a very playable penetrating ball flight which also manages to descend softly.

Controlling Trajectory- I found it to be somewhat easy to control trajectory with this club. The biggest factor leading me to this conclusion is the club’s natural trajectory already being extremely playable. I did find that when teed up, it was easy to get the ball a little higher, not Tommy Chong high, but higher than usual. When I tried messing around to flight the ball lower, I found the only way I could manage to pull this off without losing it left was to hit a stinger fade. I’m not on the level where a stinger fade is a shot that’s in my on-course arsenal, but on the range it worked well. If you’re a player that likes to change trajectory from shot-to-shot, I believe this club is very capable of meeting your demands.

Workability- When it comes to workability I tend to let the conditions determine how the ball is going to be “worked”. What I mean by this is that I first figure out how my lie is going to effect my shot (above my feet it will want to go left to right and below my feet it will want to go left to right) and then determine what the wind is going to do to that flight. From there I proceed to trust my natural swing and let the wind and lie do what they will, as I pray I judged them correctly. Off the tee I will try to play small fades or small draws though at times. I found it very easy to take an exaggerated outside takeaway and play a nice little fade that contained very little risk of slicing off to the right when struck properly with this club. Playing a draw, on the other hand, seemed to come with a very high likelihood of hooking left. Also, sometimes I’ll use my hybrids to try to hit a big slice to get out of trouble and be a hero, but I could not once pull that off with this club. That’s certainly not a negative, but just thought I’d add it in here. If you are someone who is a worker of the ball, I do not foresee this club giving you any problems continuing to work the ball.

Turf Interaction- The turf interaction I experienced with this club is not what I want out of my three hybrid at all. By this, I mean that with hybrids I like to hit down on the ball with a similar angle to my irons. With this club, I found you really need to do the opposite and hit it more like a fairway wood, and, yes, I do understand that even with a three wood you are still hitting down on the ball, but it’s with a much shallower angle of attack. If this club were a five wood I would not really have as big a problem with the turf interaction to be honest; but this club is a three hybrid. I found that when taking my normal three hybrid swing with this club, it was “cutting” through the turf instead of “gliding”. The “cutting” turf interaction led to some fat shots, inconsistent feel, but, worst of all, it seemed to hinder a proper release and follow-through. Considering the vast selection of high quality hybrids on the market, I would have to say that there are many out there that provide better turf interaction for me than the Rescue 11.

Off the Tee- Off of the tee this club is an absolute behemoth. If you carry a five wood I would strongly recommend looking at this club as a replacement. The Rescue 11 is extremely long off the tee. There is one caveat to this though, and that is the fact that if you get quick and try to really step on it, your ball could end up further left than Ed Begley Jr.. Other than the tendency to get lost to the left at times, this club performs masterfully off the tee.

Off the Fairway- Due to the turf interaction I experienced with this club I really did not find it to perform well from the fairway. I became so worried about having to attack the ball with a shallower swing in order to avoid the turf interaction that I found myself catching most balls thin. In this area I would have to say I was very disappointed and that this is the main reason the Rescue 11 won’t be staying in my bag. With the amount of options out there for three hybrids I cannot justify taking up one of the fourteen slots in my bag with one that performs this poorly for me from the fairway.

Out of Fairway Bunkers- Personally, I don’t find myself hitting a three hybrid out of fairway bunkers as a matter of course because I’m usually trying to minimize my mistakes. I did, however, hit quite a few balls out of them with the Rescue 11 for testing purposes. I found myself really struggling to get the ball up quickly enough if the bunker had a lip, but that is to be expected with an eighteen degree club. Out of the bunker I found nothing negative and actually think the extra weight would help most keep the swing smooth while in the sand.

Out of the Rough- When using this club out of the rough it has equally positive and negative attributes. The great weighting of this club can really get the club head through all types of gnarly rough situations. The downside, which I personally think outweighs the positive in this case, is I found you really have to make a concentrated and almost over-exaggerated attempt to keep the clubface open or the rough will close it down like a Blockbuster, which we know is going to produce some bad results. Out of the rough this club can perform well with some swing adjustments, but there are definitely other hybrids on the market that far exceed the Rescue 11 in this category.

Around the Green- This club met and exceeded every expectation I had about using hybrids around the greens. Prior to using this club, I would do it sparingly, but the Rescue 11 has shown me the light. I now use hybrids around the green regularly. The funny thing about it is that as soon as I received this club I went and bumped a few shots in the backyard and thought to myself “this thing is way to hot or trampoline like to control roll out around the green”. I was as wrong as Harold Camping (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Camping) on that aspect. The club does extraordinary skidding the ball over the fringe and then, as soon as it gets on the green. it rolls out like a putt from Crenshaw. It will take about thirty minutes or so to get familiar with controlling your distance off the face, but once you do it will become one of your favorite shots. When it comes to bumping the ball around the green, this club is at the top of the list in the hybrid category.
 
Overall- While this club is not for me, I certainly believe that anyone in the market for a new hybrid should give the Rescue 11 a shot alongside the others that are out there and see if it works for you. In my opinion, this club was a five wood much more than it was a three hybrid. The Rescue 11 performed very well off the tee, around the green, distance wise, and is visually stunning. On the other hand, I found the club performed poorly in regards to turf interaction, forgiveness, and from the fairway. While this club did perform exceedingly well off the tee and around the greens, when you consider the plethora of options in the hybrid category available to the consumer these days, I do not feel it is prudent to carry a club just because it shines in one or two categories. After all another word for a hybrid club is utility club. In summation, for my swing there are much better hybrids currently on the market.


Thanks- I would like to give a huge thanks to THP and Taylormade for giving me this opportunity. I hope my review process has met the high standards set by all the other THPer’s great reviews all over the site. I tried to be as honest as possible and totally enjoyed the review process.
 
Good Write Up F2G
 
Overall- While this club is not for me, I certainly believe that anyone in the market for a new hybrid should give the Rescue 11 a shot alongside the others that are out there and see if it works for you. In my opinion, this club was a five wood much more than it was a three hybrid. The Rescue 11 performed very well off the tee, around the green, distance wise, and is visually stunning. On the other hand, I found the club performed poorly in regards to turf interaction, forgiveness, and from the fairway. While this club did perform exceedingly well off the tee and around the greens, when you consider the plethora of options in the hybrid category available to the consumer these days, I do not feel it is prudent to carry a club just because it shines in one or two categories. After all another word for a hybrid club is utility club. In summation, for my swing there are much better hybrids currently on the market.


Thanks- I would like to give a huge thanks to THP and Taylormade for giving me this opportunity. I hope my review process has met the high standards set by all the other THPer’s great reviews all over the site. I tried to be as honest as possible and totally enjoyed the review process.

So to play the role of Captain Obvious, you'll be staying with the M2?
 
I actually just got the M2 last week.

Got ya. How would you say the 2 hybrids compare? The M2 is the only non TM club I play with besides an occasional round with a scotty cameron putter.
 
Got ya. How would you say the 2 hybrids compare? The M2 is the only non TM club I play with besides an occasional round with a scotty cameron putter.

Personally, I prefer the M2 over the Rescue 11 for my swing/game, but everyone is different.
 
Yesterday, I had a 185-190ish shot from the rough. I was hitting all my clubs well all day. So I decided to club down and hit my Rescue 11 5h. I carried the middle of the green. But I rolled just off the back onto the fringe. It was a good day to have the Rescue 11 5h.
 
this was the sweet spot for me with the 4h when I was testing it....automatic

I really miss it around the greens for the bump and run shots.. the Mashie just isn't the same
Yesterday, I had a 185-190ish shot from the rough. I was hitting all my clubs well all day. So I decided to club down and hit my Rescue 11 5h. I carried the middle of the green. But I rolled just off the back onto the fringe. It was a good day to have the Rescue 11 5h.
 
this was the sweet spot for me with the 4h when I was testing it....automatic

Anything over 185 is usually my 4h. But something was clicking yesterday. It was fantastic. I still have yet to have a good spot to hit that bump and run with the Rescue 11. I will have to get my mind open for when the time comes.
 
this was the sweet spot for me with the 4h when I was testing it....automatic

I really miss it around the greens for the bump and run shots.. the Mashie just isn't the same

The Rescue 11 is amazing in this category, no doubt about it.
 
Just wanted to give a little update that happened with my bag, i have kept the 5 iron in the bag because there are shots that i just felt a little more comfy using it over the Rescue11 but after much thinking and going back over the results i have had with the Rescue11 the 5 iron is officially out of the bag, now bagging 6-PW in irons, one of the shots that i wasnt quite comfortable with until recently was the choked down 190-200 yarder with the rescue11 and mostly used the 5 iron for this shot but recently the rescue11 proved it could handle it so i pulled the 5 iron out of the bag! Never thought there would be a day where my highest iron was a 6 iron but that day has come and i couldnt be more happy about it to be honest. Just thought i would share this little bit of worthless news lol
 
Just wanted to give a little update that happened with my bag, i have kept the 5 iron in the bag because there are shots that i just felt a little more comfy using it over the Rescue11 but after much thinking and going back over the results i have had with the Rescue11 the 5 iron is officially out of the bag, now bagging 6-PW in irons, one of the shots that i wasnt quite comfortable with until recently was the choked down 190-200 yarder with the rescue11 and mostly used the 5 iron for this shot but recently the rescue11 proved it could handle it so i pulled the 5 iron out of the bag! Never thought there would be a day where my highest iron was a 6 iron but that day has come and i couldnt be more happy about it to be honest. Just thought i would share this little bit of worthless news lol

I wonder why I ever used a 5i. I almost now feel like I have to have a 5-hybrid.

If YE Yang starts his irons with a 6. So can I.
 
I wonder why I ever used a 5i. I almost now feel like I have to have a 5-hybrid.

If YE Yang starts his irons with a 6. So can I.

lol my thought exactly, after my struggles with my driver i really thought about how to make the game easier and this was a no brainer
 
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