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TaylorMade Releases RocketBallz RBZ Rescue & Fairway Wood

SuperStroke
Gahhhh! Why am I in this thread?!
 
I pulled the trigger on the RBZ 9.5 degree driver and 3wood 15 degree after great testing results. I was suprised how good the clubs were performing for me especially since the shaft is not meant to be ideal for my game (need low launch and spin). I havent managed to get out for a game as yet but after 3 range sessions it keeps getting better and better. I must have hit 30 or 40 in a row last night with the 3wood off the mat with average carry of 230 yeards and gun barrel straight - great feeling. I have a Aldila RIP alpha shaft (donation from a friend) being fitted with an RBZ sleeve as we speak so will be interesting to see how it goes in the driver.

Im really keen to bag a RBZ 3 or 4 hybrid now but it will all depend on how it fits into my iron set. I'm building a set from scratch and havent managed to settle on irons as yet (have RBZ driver and 3wood and awaiting arrival of Scor wedges 45, 50, 55 and 60 degrees). So looking at 3 or 4 hybrid and 4-9 iron to complete my set.
 
The rocketballz hybrid is sick. I went to Golfsmith yesterday to kill some time. I am looking for a 5 wood/3 hybrid right now and maybe a new driver if I can see a difference. I hit a couple of hybrids and none were great, then I hit the RBZ, amazing. I went to the sim and took 5 swings. Number were all between 210 and 228. Just a frame of reference I average 230 off the tee with my driver. So I think the sim is jacked so I hit the RBZ driver, average 231 (Note: hit the G20 average 260, including my first SS over 100 mph, love that club). I hit for over an hour every random club in the place and NOTHING was even close to the RBZ hybrid. Oh yea, one small detail I forgot to mention, my furthest ball off the center line was 7 yards and that was the draw that went 228. Three of my shots were within 2 yards of centerline. Heck I can not get that close with my 8 iron. I just have a hard time forking over 180 bucks for a hybrid, (120 is the sweet spot for a hybrid I believe) so I walked out the door, the first time this thing goes on sale I am getting it, 3 iron stiff shaft please.
 
brian575 said:
The rocketballz hybrid is sick. I went to Golfsmith yesterday to kill some time. I am looking for a 5 wood/3 hybrid right now and maybe a new driver if I can see a difference. I hit a couple of hybrids and none were great, then I hit the RBZ, amazing. I went to the sim and took 5 swings. Number were all between 210 and 228. Just a frame of reference I average 230 off the tee with my driver. So I think the sim is jacked so I hit the RBZ driver, average 231 (Note: hit the G20 average 260, including my first SS over 100 mph, love that club). I hit for over an hour every random club in the place and NOTHING was even close to the RBZ hybrid. Oh yea, one small detail I forgot to mention, my furthest ball off the center line was 7 yards and that was the draw that went 228. Three of my shots were within 2 yards of centerline. Heck I can not get that close with my 8 iron. I just have a hard time forking over 180 bucks for a hybrid, (120 is the sweet spot for a hybrid I believe) so I walked out the door, the first time this thing goes on sale I am getting it, 3 iron stiff shaft please.
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I did the same thing, went in Golfsmith twice and walked out without the RBZ 3H. Finally, after hitting it on the sim a 3rd time, I couldnt hold off any longer. $179 is up there for a hybrid, but IMO, it was worth it.
 
I don't know if I am going to be able to hold out til May (when all the demo days begin in the area) to pull the trigger on the RBZ Hybrid.

After reading all the reviews and hitting it a couple times into a net, I want it in my bag.
 
I'm pondering a 4H shootout. RBZ is on the list
 
brian575 said:
The rocketballz hybrid is sick. I went to Golfsmith yesterday to kill some time. I am looking for a 5 wood/3 hybrid right now and maybe a new driver if I can see a difference. I hit a couple of hybrids and none were great, then I hit the RBZ, amazing. I went to the sim and took 5 swings. Number were all between 210 and 228. Just a frame of reference I average 230 off the tee with my driver. So I think the sim is jacked so I hit the RBZ driver, average 231 (Note: hit the G20 average 260, including my first SS over 100 mph, love that club). I hit for over an hour every random club in the place and NOTHING was even close to the RBZ hybrid. Oh yea, one small detail I forgot to mention, my furthest ball off the center line was 7 yards and that was the draw that went 228. Three of my shots were within 2 yards of centerline. Heck I can not get that close with my 8 iron. I just have a hard time forking over 180 bucks for a hybrid, (120 is the sweet spot for a hybrid I believe) so I walked out the door, the first time this thing goes on sale I am getting it, 3 iron stiff shaft please.
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I agree its a bit steep but can you argue with the results. OEM that hybrid and then go back for the G20.
 
agreed on the hybrid. i hit one when i went to get fit for my RBZ Tour driver...i hit one with a 3h that went 245. da*n near shat myself. averaged 235 or so. i think it's going to be gamed shortly. stupid long. that whole lineup is going to be in my bag sometime this spring. call it SuperBallZ for all i care.
 
I played 9 holes with this today. My Gosh! I can't get enough of it! The only reason I didn't use it all 27 is because I wanted to try other 3-woods. I had a really pretty fade that I was figuring out how to control towards the end of the 9. I drove two short par 4s with it (missed both eagle putts ):). The thing feels so darn solid when you connect it's like you're one with the club. I think it;s definitely turning out to be 17 yards longer for me. I am probably going to trade in the Method putter I won and get one.
 
Kmac said:
I agree its a bit steep but can you argue with the results. OEM that hybrid and then go back for the G20.
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KMac you using the stock shaft on the hybrid?
 
After playing today and using the 3 hybrid a bunch I had to come comment. This is the easiest to hit hybrid I have every played. It's hard not to make solid contact and the results are amazing. I used this out of the fairway, rough, and sand today. I could not be happier with this club. Definitely one of my best purchases. I really like the fairway wood as well. I find it pretty forgiving and nice to hit, but the hybrid is magical.
 
Kmac said:
Yes sir. I dont mind them to be honest. So far at least.
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Ladies flex or did you man up to the senior firm?
 
FrankA said:
After playing today and using the 3 hybrid a bunch I had to come comment. This is the easiest to hit hybrid I have every played. It's hard not to make solid contact and the results are amazing. I used this out of the fairway, rough, and sand today. I could not be happier with this club. Definitely one of my best purchases. I really like the fairway wood as well. I find it pretty forgiving and nice to hit, but the hybrid is magical.
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Dang you Frank! My wallet did not need to hear this. What kind of carry distance do you get from your 5-iron and how much from the 3-Hybrid? (so I can refrence against my own distances)
 
went to gg as my neighboris looking for a new 3w he hit new nike 3w and rocketballz....wasnt even close, on launch monitor nike was 271 yards distance, rbz was 292 avg....so now hes a believer especislly since we were hitting from the mats. i hit a few in 270 range and a few in 240 range lol
 
Wasn't a big fan of the 3 wood when I hit it but today went and was hitting the 5 wood 19* off the mat at my local shop. HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!! 260 yards from a 5 wood off the deck. 140mph ball speed average and just little baby fades. I couldn't believe it now on my official ponder list.
 
So I went to the local store to pick up the hybrid as promised. I brought in my old hybrid as well to compare the results. The old hybrid is a callaway heavenwood lofted at 20* from memory and I ended up with the taylormade RBZ.
Here are my initial thoughts with it.

At address the club is noticeably longer in the shaft than the callaway which took more than a few swings to get used to. There is much less offset on the RBZ than the callaway which I like. I'm by no means a great player but offset puts me off for some reason and stops me from hitting straight.

I warmed up with the callaway with the launch monitor going. Now I don't know what they had it set to but these monitors are normally pretty generous but I was able to compare directly to my current hybrid which I know on course I'm able to hit around 200-210 metres (sorry all the 'yardages' are in metres over here so thats how I know how I hit it). I like hitting the callaway hybrid but get a lot of fade with it and have found I can almost hit my 4 iron as far but dead straight. I hit about 10 balls on the monitor and they mostly went about 220 metres with one that came off sweet going about 235 metres. Then I picked up the 3 hybrid to compare and the first one was a dirty slice that went 200 metres. Next couple were slight mishits toward the heel that went 225 metres with a slight fade. The next 3 were all hit cleanly and went between 240-245 metres. The ball really does rocket off the face. It is an incredible feeling.

I was pretty pumped with these numbers and then the guy said to me have a look at this. He showed me my swing speeds. With the Callaway which I was used to I was swinging at about 90mph which is fairly slow for me (working on a swing change and having to think about what I'm doing slows anyone down) and then I looked at the RBZ swing speed and it was only 85mph. He said looking at my swing it was obvious I was slowing down adjusting to the new club or whatever (pretty sure the change in length threw me off) and he told me to really try to launch a couple. I put it addressed the ball and had in my head just hit the thing hard. Took 3 swings 2 of which I topped and the third I hit very very cleanly. SS was at 98mph and the ball went 275 metres.

I can't wait to get this out on the course and get some 'real' data from it but I can tell that it is going to be a huge difference. My only fear is that it is going to make me rework my bag a little. Hope it isn't too close to my 3wood and that I can control the gap to my 4iron otherwise I may end up getting 4 hybrid aswell. Long story short I am in love with this club after being one of 'those guys' who made fun of the name when taylormade initially announced it I can now see why they were confident enough to name it ROCKETBALLZ. I'll post some updates when I get it out on the course which will hopefully be tomorrow. It was far to hot to get out there today. Was pushing 40* C (104*f) and had a massive wind up so it wasn't very pleasant outside, decided to give comp a miss today.

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Anyone have any idea how these compare to the Cobra Bafflers? My 3 hybrid is my go to club for tight fairways, and I hit it about 210. But oen to a change if I can get better distance and/or dispersion.
 
I buckled and bought the RBZ 3W, i'm not a great fan of 3 woods but i needed something to bridge the gap in my bag. I was hitting it inside and i done not bad, few slices but i feel when i get out on the course and get some practice in with it i'll get on really well with it.
 
Ok so I took the new RBZ hybrid out on the course today so I'd like to share with you all a blow by blow of how it went. Initially I couldn't hit it well at all and thoughts of 'oh my god why did you buy this' crept into my head but once I adjusted to the length of the shaft I am left with one clear thought about this club... 'Wow'.
I've tried to convert everything to yards here for you guys but I may be slightly off, using google calculator.

Hole 1
This is a longish par 5 playing to about 550 yards. I teed off with the driver and left myself with 300 yards to the pin. I decided to test out the new hybrid right there even though I knew I couldn't make that kind of distance. I took a nice controlled swing and topped the ball. Went about 20 yards. Took another nice controlled swing at it and topped it again, 20 more yards. Got very frustrated and took one almighty swing at it and caught the heel. It travelled about 180 yards off the heel with a bit of a powerfade in it.

Hole 2
This is a nice straight 310 yard par 4. I normally tee off with the 3wood here as there is a bottleneck with trees about 50 yards from the tee. I decided to use the RBZ hybrid off the tee. First try I hooked it straight into a dam beside me that I have never hit anything into. At this point I was starting to think getting the hybrid was not a great thing to do. I tee up another ball and take a swing and I can tell straight away it came off very cleanly. The sound it made was amazing. The ball literally jumped off the face of the club and went high without ballooning. Was a very gentle fade but only deviated a few metres and to my surprise it landed around the same area I normally hit my 3 wood to. I got up to the ball and checked the gps and yep total distance was 245yards from the tee.

Hole 3
Hole three is a 451 yard par 4 that sweeps gently to the right. There is no trouble anywhere so I normally smack the driver hard and live with the fade that I get. Decided to tee off with the hybrid. I hit it cleanly once again this time with a nice smooth swing. I teed up another ball and decided to try to smoke it. Got onto that one nicely as well and I know I was swinging harder. I got up to the balls. The first shot had gone just over 240yards again and the one that I had taken a big swing with had gone only about 5 yards further on. I realised that I don't have to swing too hard to get the limits out of this club. I hit the hybrid again and didn't get hold of it, hit it high on the face. Went 170 yards but dead straight.

Hole 4
This is a 220 yard par 3. This is one of the main holes I wanted to change my hybrid for. My 4 iron carries to the front of the green and my 3 wood flys the green. There is a big embankment behind the green though so you can go quite aggressively at it. I tentatively decided to use the RBZ on this hole. Hit it cleanly and dead straight but I flew the green, hit the embankment and it rolled back down onto the back of the green. I may have to use a 3/4 swing on this hole with the hybrid in future.

Hole 6
Hole 6 is a 366 yard par 4 that is dead straight but has a massive tree about 120 yards out from the hole right in the middle of the fairway that has branches extending out to each edge of the fairway. Basically to go well here you need to end up right or left of the tree and almost directly underneath it.
I teed off with the hybrid again and was able to land it almost exactly where I was aiming but a bit further behind the tree than I would have liked. Total distance was 220 yards.

Hole 8
Another long par 5 playing just under 550 yards. Teed off with the driver and ended up on the left hand side just off the fairway with 270 yards still to the pin. Had a pretty good lie in the first cut. It was a pretty difficult shot. If I hit a fade I was going to end up in the rough on the other side of the fairway. Ideally I needed to hit a draw to give myself a good shot at the pin from the next shot. I set up to hit a draw and hit the ball very cleanly. It certainly was not a draw but it went dead straight 215 yards landing just short of ending up in the righthand rough.


I only played 9 holes this afternoon. After my initial disappointment I found the sweet spot in swinging this club and it went mostly great from there. In terms of distance and forgiveness the RBZ hybrid is absolutely amazing. Better than any hybrid I have ever hit ever and I like to hit whatever I can. I feel that once I have this club for a little bit longer and I get used to it I'll be able to work the ball a little easier. I was able to hit controlled fades but not a draw. I'll get it out on a range to try to hit some draws at some point. The sound of this thing is amazing when you hit it sweet. It is a little high pitched thwack. I'll get some video at some point to show you the sound.

Things I don't like: The pocket underneath fills with dirt easily and if you take a fair divot you'll be needing to get a tee in there to clean it all out and the weight port gets dirt in there easily. I would have been happy to have that weight port covered so I don't have to clean it so throughly after each shot.
Other thing I don't like is the headcover although this is a gripe of mine over a lot of hybrids. Why can't they make a headcover that will protect the shaft as well? I had to move my 4 iron to another pocket as I am afraid I'll get some chatter on the shaft from my irons when I'm pushing my cart around.

So those are my initial thoughts after one round. It's already got me thinking about reworking my bag. Maybe putting in a 4 hybrid and changing the superfast 2.0 3 wood to a RBZ 3 wood. Taylormade have done something very clever here in my opinion. They have developed a line of clubs that will entice you to rework your bag with the distance changes which will in turn get you spending more money on their products. If this is their aim it is working with me.
 
I don't seem to have the same grips as everyone else on this forum with my rbz driver and 3 wood. Will have to post a pic but they are "taylormade FCT" written on end with the slime green ring at top and bottom. No slime green lines running down the grip though - how weird. I purchased them for authorized seller.
 
OOVE said:
I don't seem to have the same grips as everyone else on this forum with my rbz driver and 3 wood. Will have to post a pic but they are "taylormade FCT" written on end with the slime green ring at top and bottom. No slime green lines running down the grip though - how weird. I purchased them for authorized seller.
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i have the same grip on my 3 wood, the grips with the lines down them are for the hybrids and irons only
 
chas said:
i have the same grip on my 3 wood, the grips with the lines down them are for the hybrids and irons only
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Same here. The 3W is like a Tour Velvet and the hybrid has the green lines in it.
 
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