TaylorMade Review - THP Demo Day - Full Line

[JB]

While at the 2012 THP Golf Outing & Demo Day, equipment was available from almost every club manufacturer around. A big part of the Ultimate Weekend of Golf is to be able to try things out both at the demo day as well as take them to the course for the weekend and see how they work for you.

TaylorMade Golf was kind enough to send over their full line of equipment for people to test out. Here are the products that were on the range as part of the THP Demo Day.

R11S Driver
RBZ Driver
RBZ Tour Driver
RBZ FW Woods
R11S FW Woods
RBZ Hybrids
Rescue 11 Hybrids
RBZ Irons
RBZ Max Irons
R11 Irons
ATV Wedges
TaylorMade Putters

Looking forward to all the great feedback from everybody that got a chance to test these out.

 

[GrantD]

R11S Driver
- I thought this was a very solid driver. I really like it better than the previous R11 version. I think it is mostly due to the larger head. I hit it once with a Matrix Radix shaft in it. I grabbed it from the shaft testing area. I really liked that combo a lot. I have the Radix in my current driver and thought it paired with the R11s was great. I have thought about adding a R11s to the bag in the future.

RBZ Driver
- Wow this driver is great. The ball seems to just Rocket off of the face. I seem to struggle controlling it compared to the R11s. I don't know if it is due to the length of shaft or what.

RBZ FW Woods
- This is a very solid FW wood off the tee for me. I think I would bag it tomorrow, if I could hit it off the deck consistently.

R11 Irons
- I currently have these irons and love them. One thing I want out of an iron that the R11 is missing is workability. Yes you can work the ball, but you really have to wrench it to do so. I think this is mostly due to the forgiveness that they offer. I personally think they are a great iron and I really love playing them. One thing you can do with the ball is adjusting the flight. You can hit hit, mid and low shots with ease.

ATV Wedges
-I wasn't impressed with these wedges. I thought they were going to be awesome, but they failed in my mind. I just felt like they didn't have a great turf interaction. Not really that they got stuck in the turf or ground, but almost that they cut through to easy. I felt like I kept sliding under the ball rather than hitting the ball. This was out of the fairway at the par 3 practice hole too.

 

[War Eagle]

Will get my thoughts up on the TM equipment from Demo Day here in a bit...

One quick thought though;

I was highly impressed with the ATV wedges. I didnt think I would like them at all, but I came away pretty excited about them. I think for those that struggle with wedges and digging, these could be a perfect match. Only problem I had with them were the sand shots. Will post up my full review in a bit.

 

[JB]

I swear some people were at demo day. :act-up:

 

[War Eagle]

I swear some people were at demo day. :act-up:

I thought I saw a few people there as well.

 

[Griff]

I swear some people were at demo day. :act-up:

I wasn't there, but I did enjoy hitting the ATV wedges when I had the chance. Didn't get a chance to use them around the green. On full and half shots with the worst lies I could manufacture on the range I had no issue getting the ball up and out there. Feel was pretty good as I recall. Would be something I'd consider if wedges were on the want list.

 

[#Cookie]

RBZ driver - 10.5* with regular flex shaft

I have never owned a white driver so from a looks perspective it was pleasant to look down at. Upon impact I was given a nice solid sounding thwack. Looks & sound - it passed my initial test.

Results: unfortunately, this driver was just too high lofted for me and the shaft a bit weak - I am a regular/stiff tweener depending on the maker of the shaft. I consistently saw a higher ball flight than I prefer but was able to get 2 good drives in that I kept the ball flight down some and it moved it out there. I think a 8.5*/9* stiff combo could be the ticket for me with this driver. Definitely worth checking out as there is something there with this one if properly fit into it.

 

[ddxu]

R11 irons:
These were my favorite irons of demo day. They beat out the Adams CB Black in my final 2 shootout. I love the feel of the KBS shafts (over the Project Xs I have in my Burner 2s) and love the trajectory they flew. The reduced offset is also beneficial to me, because I hook my Burner 2s sometimes and was seeing less hooking with the R11s. I was really surprised with how forgiving they were, especially on toe misses. I am not a golfer that intentionally tries to work the ball, so the forgiveness is appreciated. Distance was a bit shorter than the distance I normally see with my Burner 2s, but I did not see the 'jumpers' I occasionally see with the Burners. I am currently in the market for a set of R11 irons, and will be adding them soon.


RBZ irons:
I tested the 8 iron (like I did with all other irons on Demo Day) and was not that impressed. Obviously, I was still lusting over the R11s, but hit 3/6 first shots fat with the RBZs. I currently game the Burner 2s, and was not impressed with them and didnt see much of an improvement.

RBZ FW:
I hit the 3W and man that thing was long off the tee. They would fly high and long on wells truck shots. I did not see the forgiveness I thought I would on off center shots, and those shots seemed to die pretty early comparatively speaking. The RBZ 3W was pretty tough for me to hit high off the turf. It went plenty high on the tee, but I just hit a bunch of low liners from the turf. I also didnt really like the sound, definitely didnt sound as nice and solid as the Ping 20 lines. I still prefer the black clubheads too, not a fan of the white.

R11S Driver:
I only tested the R11s during a shaft fitting so I cant give it a full review (as I was just concerned with shaft numbers). I will say that I dont care for the sound at all. Sounds too high pitched for my tastes. Nor do I like the white head color. I still game some older R9 equipment, and much prefer the black with the small ™ logo over the sweetspot.

I didnt hit the RBZ hybrid, but Yoccos was stripping his Rbz hybrid Sunday morning, so much to the point where Kmac started hitting it too. Kmac may have hit a few hybrids off the tee farther than he was hitting his driver that day.

 

[One-T]

I think the RBZ driver was the biggest disappointment for me at demo day. I went in wanting ot like it and just didnt. I didnt like the feel at impact. AT ALL

That being said, one of my favorite drivers was the R11S. I was hitting the 9.5 stiff. and I was hitting some bombers. I would love to have had time to play with the settings to get that perfect ball flight. I also saw some guys gaming the R11S that weekend and it made me want one that much more.

I do have to give credit to the RBZ fwy wood. I had hear nothing but good things about them so I had to give them a try. Yeah, its felt GREAT and I was hitting some good balls with it. This is wierd to me because they felt nothing like the RBZ driver (to me)

the ATV wedges, i really like the concept. you dont have to worry about specific bounce when ordering them. I think most wedges should have this feature as amateurs have NO clue what to look for. I liked the weighting a lot...If I was in the market for wedges these would be high on my list.

RBZ irons, one thing I liked about these is that they felt effortless, almost as if you just have to make contact for good ball flights. I am not a huge fan of them looking hybrid-ish as you get in the longer irons. I just want a golf club to look like a golf club

 

[JB]

I spent some time with the ATV wedges and came away impressed. I am in the minority that I dont hate the looks of them and found that if someone struggles with getting a little steep, or struggles with the "fats", these work as advertised. Ample spin, good trajectory and overall performance was better than I originally thought they were.

 

[One-T]

I spent some time with the ATV wedges and came away impressed. I am in the minority that I dont hate the looks of them and found that if someone struggles with getting a little steep, or struggles with the "fats", these work as advertised. Ample spin, good trajectory and overall performance was better than I originally thought they were.

I agree, I dont really understand why people dont like the looks. Its very simple.

 

[Hanks]

RBZ FW Woods- I didn't really care for this offering. I didn't find it easy to hit off the deck but off the tee it was ok. A little more forgiving than the R11 is but I thought it still requires a better swing to get the most out of it.

RBZ Hybrids- I was surprised by this hybrid (4h) and I actually liked it more than I thought I would. It was easy to hit off the tee or off the deck, it was plenty long, and really more forgiving than I thought it'd be considering how unforgiving the R11 was/is. It's got a nice 'tingy crack' sound to it when you flush it and I didn't notice much distance loss on mishits. I really liked how this performed if you caught it low on the club face compared to other hybrids. You still feel like you're getting something out of it and the ball still gets up in the air nicely.


RBZ Irons- these irons are silly long and reminded me quite a bit of the 2.0's. The ball jumps off the face and the ball gets up in the air really really fast. No ballooning ball flight at all either. Toe misses still get out there but you do know that you've missed the shot. Thinned shots are still hot although they don't get up in the air as well. Turf interaction isn't too bad considering the size of the sole on these.

ATV Wedges- These were some of my favorite clubs of the Outing and were really surprising. I was intrigued by the 'no specific bounce' feature of these and found them exteremely easy to hit. Especially the 60* wedge I was dropping chips and pitches to within 3-6' from the hole from various lies every time I aimed at the flag. I struggle out of the sand at times and I found the 60* wedge the easiest wedge to hit out of the sand that I've ever hit. I'm actually considering putting one in the bag just for this reason alone as I got out of the sand with 1 shot every time which is a rarity for me.

 

[Doug the lefty]

I spent some time with the ATV wedges and came away impressed. I am in the minority that I dont hate the looks of them and found that if someone struggles with getting a little steep, or struggles with the "fats", these work as advertised. Ample spin, good trajectory and overall performance was better than I originally thought they were.

This is good to hear. I come in pretty steep with wedges and have been wanting to hit the ATV's. How do these do out of the sand, JB?

 

[coolbreeze]

I wasn't at the demo day, but yesterday I got to play around with the ATV wedges and I have to say I came away very impressed. Unlike most I think they are actually pretty good looking, and I could hit any shot in the book with those wedges from almost any lie.

If I wasn't a big fan of my current wedges I think I would have a 50*, 54* and 58* atv wedges in the bag already.

 

[blugold]

Were TP Shafts available for the RBZ or the R11S Driver? I am not a fan of the stock shaft, but was curious if there were other opinions.

 

[Hanks]

I think I'd be in the same boat as you man....

I wasn't at the demo day, but yesterday I got to play around with the ATV wedges and I have to say I came away very impressed. Unlike most I think they are actually pretty good looking, and I could hit any shot in the book with those wedges from almost any lie.

If I wasn't a big fan of my current wedges I think I would have a 50*, 54* and 58* atv wedges in the bag already.

 

[ddxu]

Were TP Shafts available for the RBZ or the R11S Driver? I am not a fan of the stock shaft, but was curious if there were other opinions.

Not sure which shafts came 'stock' in the demo clubs, but we had dozens of aftermarket & exotic shafts all tipped with the R11 adapters. It was awesome.

 

[Doug the lefty]

I wasn't at the demo day, but yesterday I got to play around with the ATV wedges and I have to say I came away very impressed. Unlike most I think they are actually pretty good looking, and I could hit any shot in the book with those wedges from almost any lie.

If I wasn't a big fan of my current wedges I think I would have a 50*, 54* and 58* atv wedges in the bag already.

CB, did you hit them in these lofts? According to the website, us 'minority' golfers get 52/56/60. Would love the setup you mentioned.

 

[One-T]

This is good to hear. I come in pretty steep with wedges and have been wanting to hit the ATV's. How do these do out of the sand, JB?

I am not JB but I will answer. They are excellent ou tof the sand. If you need a softer landing shot, just grab the higher loft and swing away. When you need a good roll out, you can take the lower loft, swing easy. You will like them

 

[coolbreeze]

CB, did you hit them in these lofts? According to the website, us 'minority' golfers get 52/56/60. Would love the setup you mentioned.

Nope, I hit them in 56* and 60* because like you say they don't make them in those lofts for lefties, but like my current wedges I would have them bent to the lofts that I like.

 

[Doug the lefty]

I am not JB but I will answer. They are excellent ou tof the sand. If you need a softer landing shot, just grab the higher loft and swing away. When you need a good roll out, you can take the lower loft, swing easy. You will like them

Thanks, One-T. I'm officially in ponder mode.

Nope, I hit them in 56* and 60* because like you say they don't make them in those lofts for lefties, but like my current wedges I would have them bent to the lofts that I like.

Gotcha.

 

[JB]

This is good to hear. I come in pretty steep with wedges and have been wanting to hit the ATV's. How do these do out of the sand, JB?

They seem fine Doug. I have never struggled with most wedges out of the sand, so I might not be the best to answer that question though. The sole seems to work as advertised if that helps. I dont find it as easy to use on the tight lies as say the SCOR wedge, but its not necessarily a negative thing, just a preference I believe.

 

[Buckjob]

My big two favorites from Taylormade from Demo day was the R11s driver and the ATV wedges. I was really impressed with the R11s it was a solid driver I really thought it was forgiving and was giving me decent distance. The ATV wedge was also a big surprise for me I wasn't sure how I'd like it and they felt good from a bunch of different lies and distances. The soles really seemed to be working like they advertise. I didn't hit any other taylormade irons but I already own the R11s and they are still the best iron set I have ever played.

 

[Doug the lefty]

They seem fine Doug. I have never struggled with most wedges out of the sand, so I might not be the best to answer that question though. The sole seems to work as advertised if that helps. I dont find it as easy to use on the tight lies as say the SCOR wedge, but its not necessarily a negative thing, just a preference I believe.

Yep, that helps. Seems like the ATV's were pretty popular...

 

[DawgDaddy]

I hit the RBZ 3 wood. 15.5* regular flex I believe and I somehow forgot to note the shaft, but I assume it was stock. I hit several balls off of a tee and found it to be easy to hit and to be long and straight, it certainly piqued my interest although I have no idea if it was indeed 17 yards longer but it did not appear to be appreciably longer than several of the 3 woods I tested. Then I tried it off of the deck and had some difficulity, more than I would like to encounter on the course. I wish I could hit it on a monitor compared to my present 3W and then on the course comparing the two. It possibly could be the one with a different shaft.

I do like the way it looks and think TM did an excellent job with this 3W.