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TaylorMade R1 Driver Review - Forum Testing Thread

SuperStroke
Mr. Satchmo said:
Question, how similar in performance is this driver to the r11? I had a fitting done for the R1 but just was wondering if it was worth the upgrade


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Imo, it is completely different. A hit more spin in the head, and just much improved over previous versions
 
War Eagle said:
Imo, it is completely different. A hit more spin in the head, and just much improved over previous versions
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Awesome. Thanks. I will save up for it!


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Mr. Satchmo said:
Question, how similar in performance is this driver to the r11? I had a fitting done for the R1 but just was wondering if it was worth the upgrade


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Click to expand...

Much more forgiving
 
I hit the R1, the Covert Performance, and the Stage2 today. R1 was clearly the winner, could dial it in with adjustments to suit my swing, such that I saw an extra 25+ yards on my better swings. I'm not a long hitter, so that's a significant difference.

Also, loved the shorter shaft. I understand completely why it is often said that less skilled amateurs will struggle with longer shafts - I am that person.
 
Thanks TaylorMade and THP for the amazing opportunity. Thanks to the other testers for showing indirectly showing me the ropes. To echo some of the other testers. Testing is only a success if the entire forum checks out the thread and gets involved. As a new tester I have a complete appreciation for how difficult it can be, but rewarding at the same time. There were times during my testing that I just felt lost, but with the support of the guys who do these I was easily brought back on course.

As for the R1 itself. It's not a driver that I would of given a second look at based on the graphics and I've never had success with any TaylorMade drivers in the past. Once I was able to get it dialed in and feel comfortable with what dynamic changes effected what it's ended up be a real pleasure to have in the bag. The consistency, forgiveness, and length has really proven to be winner. The 128 different settings is really nice when I'm playing in different conditions, wind, and wetter conditions I find myself changing lofts to help keep the ball in play.

I find myself pulling driver far more than I have ever, with excellent results, I'd say that I'm hitting 3 more fairways per round then before. The distance matches and exceeds what I was seeing with the Cleveland Classic with the Kusala 61s shaft. I'm playing a course this coming weekend, and the people I'm playing with like to play the Tips, which is right around 7100 yards, so it will get battle tested for sure my next time out.
 
T2GRN18 said:
To echo some of the other testers. Testing is only a success if the entire forum checks out the thread and gets involved. As a new tester I have a complete appreciation for how difficult it can be, but rewarding at the same time.
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This is a great observation. I think you have to do testing once (as I recently did) to understand that it is a healthy amount of work and way more than just landing some free gear. Again to the testers, job well done!
 
There's a pretty cool video on the masters site right now. Just go to Live and it's showing range coverage. I can't confirm or deny if it's an R1, but it looks like Padraig Harrington was working with his caddie to tinker with the settings.
 
Thanks to THP and Taylormade for the opportunity to test the R1. It's been a blessing.

I played in a scramble Monday and the R1 was great. At this point in the game and as much as I have grown to like the R1, I couldn't see myself going back to the R11s as I think my perspective on the comparison would be this: Simply put, my driving has improved since testing the R1. Whether that's the technology, the confidence it has given me, or a combination of both (which is probably the case), I cannot say for sure. But the R1 isn't going anywhere. Furthermore, when I let others hit it on the course, they seem to get good results as well.

Thanks again the testing opportunity and nice work Taylormade!
 
This was a great thread and helped a lot in my decision to go with the R1. A couple months with it and I'm still as happy as ever with it. The honeymoon period is over and there have been times when I was mis hitting it, but that's my swing, not the driver. It is definitely the best driver I've gamed and because of it and my sort of new 3w, tee shots have turned into strengths.

One thing I will say is that I'm annoyed at how easy the club face scratches. I first noticed after hitting range balls that the center of the face was scratched, then it has a few others, I guess from simply making contact with balls that have scuff marks. This is minor and doesn't affect performance, but just wished the face looked like it did when I bought it.


Taps away
 
this driver is very amazing....love it.....

been changing my R1 loft setting from original 10* to 10.5* into 11.25* and trying 10U* as well (sole plate i 1 Closed and weight is Neutral Bias)...... and settle to 11.25* for now....the ball flights are nicer is the reason.... loving this.....but the distance only improving a little from my previous drver...... need more setting change to make the best out of it especially on the distance side.......any suggestion guys ?
 
Is anyone else finding this thing amazing off the toe?
 
That is pretty awesome I'm just not sold on the graphics at all.
 
My R1 came today so after the kid's little league practice I ran off to get some range time in.

First things first - my driver swing needs work and the Indian issues clearly affected my experience tonight.

I tried multiple combinations of settings. The weights were set to promote draw bias and I don't see myself changing that. From there I tried 11.25, 12, 10.5 and 10.5U with 1* closed, 2* closed and nuetral. I tended to have the best results with 10.5U and 1* closed.

At that last setting I had regular drives at about 250 and pretty solid dispersion. That's 20 yards longer than my better 3 woods, which is pretty good but maybe not great??? I had a couple in the 270 range...don't know what I did differently to get those results. Normal misses were in the 235 range...6% reduction on off center hits is great. By most objective standards those are really positive results. But somehow the results didn't feel special...no ah hah love affair moment...weird. Maybe it was the the shaft, which kind of felt stiff to me. Not sure.

All in all an interesting first date, but more time together is clearly needed.
 
kobejames21 said:
this driver is very amazing....love it.....

been changing my R1 loft setting from original 10* to 10.5* into 11.25* and trying 10U* as well (sole plate i 1 Closed and weight is Neutral Bias)...... and settle to 11.25* for now....the ball flights are nicer is the reason.... loving this.....but the distance only improving a little from my previous drver...... need more setting change to make the best out of it especially on the distance side.......any suggestion guys ?
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Any chance your club has a monitor you can hit thru, and get some spin/launch numbers? Depends on course conditions too, ie, soggy or dry n hard.
 
keto said:
Any chance your club has a monitor you can hit thru, and get some spin/launch numbers? Depends on course conditions too, ie, soggy or dry n hard.
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too bad i don't have any kind of that monitor here in my city......course condtion is a bit soggy...:bashful:
 
tequila4kapp said:
My R1 came today so after the kid's little league practice I ran off to get some range time in.

First things first - my driver swing needs work and the Indian issues clearly affected my experience tonight.

I tried multiple combinations of settings. The weights were set to promote draw bias and I don't see myself changing that. From there I tried 11.25, 12, 10.5 and 10.5U with 1* closed, 2* closed and nuetral. I tended to have the best results with 10.5U and 1* closed.

At that last setting I had regular drives at about 250 and pretty solid dispersion. That's 20 yards longer than my better 3 woods, which is pretty good but maybe not great??? I had a couple in the 270 range...don't know what I did differently to get those results. Normal misses were in the 235 range...6% reduction on off center hits is great. By most objective standards those are really positive results. But somehow the results didn't feel special...no ah hah love affair moment...weird. Maybe it was the the shaft, which kind of felt stiff to me. Not sure.

All in all an interesting first date, but more time together is clearly needed.
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hahhahaa.....almost just like my story.... i do feel what you're feeling mate.... you both will get along through the second, third and next dates.....
 
fupresti said:
Is anyone else finding this thing amazing off the toe?
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Yep, that was the best thing for me while doing the review of this driver. I missed on the toe a ton and loved the results I was seeing off of a miss.
 
People, take the time to get this club fitted to you. You won't regret it. One of the best drivers I've ever hit. I now see what you're talking about Cookie and War.
 
Thanks

Thanks

Mr. Satchmo said:
So this last weekend I got fit for an R1. I started with the stock R1, 10.5*, stiff RIP Phenom 55g. The first thing I noticed was that I hit my ball really high. I lost quite a bit of distance from this. The next thing the fitter did was lower the loft to 9.5* and the ball flight started to lower. The next thing that the fitter did was change the shaft to the 65g RIP phenom TP shaft, and immediately I saw a ball flight that started off nicely and flattened out a bit earlier. The one thing I did notice was that I was losing my ball to the right a bit due to mistiming, so the fitter set the shaft in the upright lie position to help me square the face easily, and I immediately was hitting better shots. The last thing he noticed was that I was hitting the ball too close to the heel, he determined this was a shaft length issue, and recommended a 44 inch shaft instead of the 45.5 inch. When I gripped down to that length, I noticed that my ball was on the sweet spot most of the time, and I was hitting much more consistent. Unfortunately, the Taylormade rep didn't have his launch monitor because they only have one for the region so he had to guesstimate spin rates etc, but he did recommend me to go see the GolfTEC pro up north where he lives, the GolfTEC pro is a Taylormade staffer that is so good, the corporate Taylormade guys will call him when they have technical questions.

Anyways, I had a great experience with this driver, and the performance was pretty similar to my R11. I didn't really like the sound of the driver, it sounded too tinny and it annoyed me.
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Thanks for posting the details of your fitting process. It was very interesting and helpful. Thanks again!
 
JT723 said:
People, take the time to get this club fitted to you. You won't regret it. One of the best drivers I've ever hit. I now see what you're talking about Cookie and War.
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It really is a solid performer. With a few adjustments from the stock setting it can work really well for a lot of people.
 
tequila4kapp said:
My R1 came today so after the kid's little league practice I ran off to get some range time in.

First things first - my driver swing needs work and the Indian issues clearly affected my experience tonight.

I tried multiple combinations of settings. The weights were set to promote draw bias and I don't see myself changing that. From there I tried 11.25, 12, 10.5 and 10.5U with 1* closed, 2* closed and nuetral. I tended to have the best results with 10.5U and 1* closed.

At that last setting I had regular drives at about 250 and pretty solid dispersion. That's 20 yards longer than my better 3 woods, which is pretty good but maybe not great??? I had a couple in the 270 range...don't know what I did differently to get those results. Normal misses were in the 235 range...6% reduction on off center hits is great. By most objective standards those are really positive results. But somehow the results didn't feel special...no ah hah love affair moment...weird. Maybe it was the the shaft, which kind of felt stiff to me. Not sure.

All in all an interesting first date, but more time together is clearly needed.
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The shaft's a little on the boardy side to me, but like you, I'm coming from some pretty tip-soft offerings. Definitely doesn't have the smoothness of a B Asha or Kuro Kage to me.

My advice is get dialed in and give it a little time. If I took my first session with this and wrote a review I don't think I'd have found as many good things to say as I did after a month.

This one has never been the driver that appealed to all my sensory needs as much as it appealed to my ability to get a good output.
 
Hawk said:
The shaft's a little on the boardy side to me, but like you, I'm coming from some pretty tip-soft offerings. Definitely doesn't have the smoothness of a B Asha or Kuro Kage to me.

My advice is get dialed in and give it a little time. If I took my first session with this and wrote a review I don't think I'd have found as many good things to say as I did after a month.

This one has never been the driver that appealed to all my sensory needs as much as it appealed to my ability to get a good output.
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That's a good way of describing the R1. I still don't like the sound - there are times on the range when my ears will ring after several shots. But, I can put up with it for excellent accuracy and very good distance.
 
It's defintely no Classic XL in looks or sound haha.
 
ATLGolfer said:
That's a good way of describing the R1. I still don't like the sound - there are times on the range when my ears will ring after several shots. But, I can put up with it for excellent accuracy and very good distance.
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You know, it's kinda funny because I never complained about the sound. Until.......I hit it side by side next to the Classic XL. Now I see what others are saying about just how loud the TM offerings are.

Didn't bother me when playing a round but did tend to get kinda annoying when hitting 15-20 balls at the range in 8-10 minutes.
 
ATLGolfer said:
That's a good way of describing the R1. I still don't like the sound - there are times on the range when my ears will ring after several shots. But, I can put up with it for excellent accuracy and very good distance.
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My experience with the sound was much better last night. I actually started seeing many corollaries to the RocketBladez irons. On well struck balls sound was okay, just a little different than I'm used to. On off center hits it was less pleasing but I think that's okay because it is feedback. We may not like that sound but there's an easy solution - use that big ol' face properly and find the sweet spot :)
 
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