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TaylorMade R1 Driver Review - Forum Testing Thread

SuperStroke
With the end-of-season steals available on this and so many other 2013 drivers, I picked up two of them. One for me and one for my father. It's an early xmas present... whatever it takes to get him out on the course :)

I wonder if anyone has experimented with heavier toe/heel weights in this driver. One of the things I've always struggled with on "better" drivers is the lighter head weight. I'm much more consistent with something that is more like a pendulum. I've ordered some heavier weights to try but I'd love to hear from some people who have already done this with their R1
 
I've only hit the R1 on simulators... how pronounced, in your guys' opinion, is the ball flight and distance difference between this and the SLDR?
 
So I played on sunday, hit my longest drive I've ever been able to measure-336 yards. Absolutely pounded it and the flight was just amazing. I don't see this driver going anywhere anytime soon.
 
Thechosen1 said:
So I played on sunday, hit my longest drive I've ever been able to measure-336 yards. Absolutely pounded it and the flight was just amazing. I don't see this driver going anywhere anytime soon.
Click to expand...

Very nice!

I've still yet to find another driver that works better for my swing. IMO, it offers a perfect mix of distance and forgiveness. Yet to play a driver that handles my toe miss better than this one.

And this is all with the stock shaft also.
 
What setting do you all use, im a 10 degree, I degree closed stock weight position kinda guy..
 
I'm either at 10 or 10.5* neutral, can't recall off hand.
 
10.5 neutral, which is actually 1.5 degrees closed. I'm considering going higher and opening so the face is truly neutral though.


Taps away
 
I hit some of my best drives ever with this driver. When I compared to the SLDR the spin numbers were lower for me. I found this to be more giving with my swing. Fantastic driver and with all the sales a great priced driver.
 
tmtitleist411 said:
I've only hit the R1 on simulators... how pronounced, in your guys' opinion, is the ball flight and distance difference between this and the SLDR?
Click to expand...

The SLDR was just alittle longer for me but the big one was it was straighter. Of course it may be different for you. Right now I am still playing the R1 and it's just fine.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
tmtitleist411 said:
I've only hit the R1 on simulators... how pronounced, in your guys' opinion, is the ball flight and distance difference between this and the SLDR?
Click to expand...

The SLDR takes low spin to the next level. IMO, I liked the sound and feel of the SLDR better and the lower spin would work better for me, but the forgiveness wasn't there. The R1 has it beat on off-center, especially high or toe misses. These are my two most common so I stayed with the R1.
 
Golferbest said:
What setting do you all use, im a 10 degree, I degree closed stock weight position kinda guy..
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11.25˚ dial at 1 open. Weights in the draw configuration.
 
#Cookie said:
Very nice!

I've still yet to find another driver that works better for my swing. IMO, it offers a perfect mix of distance and forgiveness. Yet to play a driver that handles my toe miss better than this one.

And this is all with the stock shaft also.
Click to expand...

Totally agree with the toe miss. Way better than what I saw from the XH. So glad I made the switch.
 
After hitting the SLDR, R-1, and SLDR on a grass range I realized that the R-1 is the right fit for my swing. I can control ball flight in every direction whether it be a draw or a fade low baller or off the deck. I can manage that with the SLDR slightly but get better distance with the R-1. The R-11S is more of a bomber for me than a controllable ball flight club. I hit it straight and very long. Hope to get to try some other brands out eventually as well. For those of you in the Los Angeles area, Plaza Golf in Torrance will let you take any club in their demo bin for three days @ no charge. Pretty awesome staff there too.
 
#Cookie said:
Very nice!

I've still yet to find another driver that works better for my swing. IMO, it offers a perfect mix of distance and forgiveness. Yet to play a driver that handles my toe miss better than this one.

And this is all with the stock shaft also.
Click to expand...

It's amazing cookie, I wasn't expecting good things out of the stock shaft as all my other drivers haven't had good results but this one blew me away.
 
Alert: Complete Hack becomes Scratch Golfer overnight thanks to the R1!!

Ok, maybe not that drastic... but I do love my new R1. I got it cheap thanks to the end of season deals. I'm not a good enough golfer to be able to pick up any driver out there and hit it well. In fact, I've gone through a couple of trials with "upgraded" drivers that I just couldn't hit better than my old steel-headed starter set Tight Lies driver. By all accounts that thing should not hit all that great but I'm consistent with it. The swing weight and feel of it is what I'm used to, and while I can't pipe a 300yrd shot down the fairway every time, I do hit a decent number of fairways. When trying to find something higher quality, I picked up an Adams Super S. I never could hit it well. I'm sure it's a fantastic driver that people better than me could generate some real swing speed with, but the head is so light I could never swing it well. I hit many other drivers, trying to find one in my price range that would feel as good as my crappy old one... and never did. Then, when I found a new R1 online from a reputable seller for $150 shipped... I jumped on it. I know the swing weight is a D4, which is more in line with what I'm used to. I've hit a demo club a few times but never with the longer shaft and oversized grip I need. I rolled the dice with this one and wow... I'm glad I did. It came in yesterday via UPS and I took it straight to get regripped and lengthened 1/2". Today I picked it up and took it to the range.

I warmed up with a 9i like I usually do, then a few with my old Tight Lies 10.5" steel driver. It was feeling good and the point of this trip was to figure out the R1, so after 15-20 balls I unwrapped the new toy. My very first shot I hit well and accidentally muttered "holy s..." out loud. It was longer than my old driver and the *feel* was fantastic. After a few more balls I could tell a lot more about where I was hitting on the face than I could with the TL. I noted that my normal push/fade was present with this driver, perhaps a bit more than what I'm used to. and even at 10.5 I was hitting most balls a little lower than normal. So, I went to my handy R1 app to tune the thing. I swapped the weights for a draw bias, upped the loft to 12 and set the compass to 1 closed. Hit about 3 dozen more balls and man... those adjustments really did work. I think 12 put it a bit too high so tomorrow I'm going to play with the 11 and 11.5 settings, maybe even try 10.5 again. What I can say though, is that for the first time, a "high end" driver feels *right* in my hands. I can tell right away if I hit the sweet spot. The sound is nowhere near as obnoxious as a few others I've tried, and the swing weight is keeping me in my comfort zone.

I'm not able to give spin numbers, impressive yardages, and all the great info that many reviewers here on this forum can... but I can tell you that as a high handicapper who wants to improve his game this driver is worth looking at. Right now confidence is probably the most important thing for my game, and the R1 makes me even more confident than my old trusty steel driver. I know that if I step up and hit a good ball, it's going where I want. and it's going far. I'm totally sold on this thing :)
 
I "upgraded" to an SLDR, and after 17 balls went right back to my R1 v2. Granted, I am not the best golfer in the world, but I have never swung a club that has allowed me to shape a shot (or at least trust my aim) better than my R1.

It's not leaving my bag any time soon.
 
baldguy said:
Alert: Complete Hack becomes Scratch Golfer overnight thanks to the R1!!

Ok, maybe not that drastic... but I do love my new R1. I got it cheap thanks to the end of season deals. I'm not a good enough golfer to be able to pick up any driver out there and hit it well. In fact, I've gone through a couple of trials with "upgraded" drivers that I just couldn't hit better than my old steel-headed starter set Tight Lies driver. By all accounts that thing should not hit all that great but I'm consistent with it. The swing weight and feel of it is what I'm used to, and while I can't pipe a 300yrd shot down the fairway every time, I do hit a decent number of fairways. When trying to find something higher quality, I picked up an Adams Super S. I never could hit it well. I'm sure it's a fantastic driver that people better than me could generate some real swing speed with, but the head is so light I could never swing it well. I hit many other drivers, trying to find one in my price range that would feel as good as my crappy old one... and never did. Then, when I found a new R1 online from a reputable seller for $150 shipped... I jumped on it. I know the swing weight is a D4, which is more in line with what I'm used to. I've hit a demo club a few times but never with the longer shaft and oversized grip I need. I rolled the dice with this one and wow... I'm glad I did. It came in yesterday via UPS and I took it straight to get regripped and lengthened 1/2". Today I picked it up and took it to the range.

I warmed up with a 9i like I usually do, then a few with my old Tight Lies 10.5" steel driver. It was feeling good and the point of this trip was to figure out the R1, so after 15-20 balls I unwrapped the new toy. My very first shot I hit well and accidentally muttered "holy s..." out loud. It was longer than my old driver and the *feel* was fantastic. After a few more balls I could tell a lot more about where I was hitting on the face than I could with the TL. I noted that my normal push/fade was present with this driver, perhaps a bit more than what I'm used to. and even at 10.5 I was hitting most balls a little lower than normal. So, I went to my handy R1 app to tune the thing. I swapped the weights for a draw bias, upped the loft to 12 and set the compass to 1 closed. Hit about 3 dozen more balls and man... those adjustments really did work. I think 12 put it a bit too high so tomorrow I'm going to play with the 11 and 11.5 settings, maybe even try 10.5 again. What I can say though, is that for the first time, a "high end" driver feels *right* in my hands. I can tell right away if I hit the sweet spot. The sound is nowhere near as obnoxious as a few others I've tried, and the swing weight is keeping me in my comfort zone.

I'm not able to give spin numbers, impressive yardages, and all the great info that many reviewers here on this forum can... but I can tell you that as a high handicapper who wants to improve his game this driver is worth looking at. Right now confidence is probably the most important thing for my game, and the R1 makes me even more confident than my old trusty steel driver. I know that if I step up and hit a good ball, it's going where I want. and it's going far. I'm totally sold on this thing :)
Click to expand...

Glad to see you've started the journey with your R1 started on a positive note. The spin numbers and launch angles are good to get a gauge of where your at. But, they are not the end all be all. The bottom line is if your hitting it well and finding fairways it's a good place to be. You may find you want to tinker with the loft a little to optimize the carry that best suits your game and the course you play at. But this club will be a confidence booster for sure. Good luck
 
Picked one up today. I took it to the range near EW and hit 60-70 balls, ended up with it in 11.25, draw weight configuration, and 1* closed. I seem to have to get really handsy to keep the ball straight with this driver but I also seem to be able to slow my tempo way down thanks to getting so handsy and it goes highhhhhh and pretty straight, it will ease off line left or right a bit but not major. This range is a DUMP but it was really close so it's where I tried it out. The back fence is 220 and the balls are slick from use and I was consistantly hitting the fence with it so I'd guess good balls I should be able to see 240-250 with it. Seems really easy to find the center of the face on it even though I had to tee the ball much higher and further up in my stance than I'm used to.

This year I've played the RFX with a Black Tie, Xhot with a Fubuki Alpha shaft, Covert with KK silver, RBZ S2 with a Red Tie, and now this one.

The Xhot was my favorite for a good while but I went through a slump and lost confidence in it so I went to the RBZ. Hit that very well but my high toe miss was punishing so after reading this thread I figured I'd give the R1 a swing. The sweet spot works well but the high miss towards the toe which is my #1 screw up with a driver still gets the ball out there a long way and relatively straight. I believe this one will be a keeper at least for 6 months lol. I wanted to try the SLDR but after reading reviews of how punishing it is on mishits that's just not the driver for my skill level.
 
slodsm said:
Picked one up today. I took it to the range near EW and hit 60-70 balls, ended up with it in 11.25, draw weight configuration, and 1* closed. I seem to have to get really handsy to keep the ball straight with this driver but I also seem to be able to slow my tempo way down thanks to getting so handsy and it goes highhhhhh and pretty straight, it will ease off line left or right a bit but not major. This range is a DUMP but it was really close so it's where I tried it out. The back fence is 220 and the balls are slick from use and I was consistantly hitting the fence with it so I'd guess good balls I should be able to see 240-250 with it. Seems really easy to find the center of the face on it even though I had to tee the ball much higher and further up in my stance than I'm used to.

This year I've played the RFX with a Black Tie, Xhot with a Fubuki Alpha shaft, Covert with KK silver, RBZ S2 with a Red Tie, and now this one.

The Xhot was my favorite for a good while but I went through a slump and lost confidence in it so I went to the RBZ. Hit that very well but my high toe miss was punishing so after reading this thread I figured I'd give the R1 a swing. The sweet spot works well but the high miss towards the toe which is my #1 screw up with a driver still gets the ball out there a long way and relatively straight. I believe this one will be a keeper at least for 6 months lol. I wanted to try the SLDR but after reading reviews of how punishing it is on mishits that's just not the driver for my skill level.
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Glad you're seeing similar results with your toe miss. I think a few of us can't speak well enough to some of the great "misses" we've been seeing on the toe.
 
If you want to hit some terrible shots, get that SLDR. Otherwise, be happy you found a driver that works well with your miss. Glad it worked out.
 
strangely enough I set my R1 to 9.5 loft, 1 closed, and the heavy weight in the heel... and hit it better than the other lofts I tried. At least at the range :). I was having slice problems today on the course but that was my fault, not the club's. I did hit a few nice shots with one carrying about 260, rolling out to about 280 (that's just about as far as I can hit it)... and it was *into* the wind. I was pretty shocked. I'll be keeping this driver in my bag and fiddling with it a bit more to get it dialed in. It just feels so good when you hit it well.
 
I tried just about all of the loft settings and settled on 11.25 because although I don't think it gave me the absolute most distance, it gave me the most air time. There are several holes on one of the courses I play a lot that need 225 carry off the tee of you're in the drink. The layup to be safe leaves you 190 to the green and that's a 10% shot for me at best. 11.25 saw me carrying to the back fence with junk balls at that range I went to so that gives me confidence that with my good balls I can carry it with an easy controlled swing that always come out straight or slightly left of target line. When I step on it is when it gets away from me to the right and although I can carry it with ease then, I never know if it's going to be a power fade or a full blown slice because I just can't get my timing down everytime on a hard swing.

That said, 225 carry will make my day all day every day on a swing that barely feels like it is going to go past the ladies tees.
 
hey if I could carry 225 in the middle of the fairway every time I'd be thrilled. The way I swing my driver, I either go really long and straight or I go pretty far right. It's not always all slice either, I find that I just swing that direction when I really try to kill it. I know I can keep it in the middle more often if I lay off of it, but it takes away so much distance that it's just hard to do sometimes. I'll get there. It'll be with my R1, too :D

Today I think I hit all of 4 fairways. I usually hit 6-8. It would be easy to blame the driver, but I know better. I was trying to go long too often... but that course is wide open and there isn't much punishment for being off the fairway, so I just let er rip on nearly every hole. Anyway that has little to do with the performance of the R1. Back on topic - I picked up some extra weights to play with. I got one each of the 10, 12, 14, and 16 gram weights from Taylormade (via Golfsmith). I don't think I need more swing weight but I do wonder how much I can really take out of that slice with a heavier weight in the heel. We'll see soon.
 
baldguy said:
I do wonder how much I can really take out of that slice with a heavier weight in the heel. We'll see soon.
Click to expand...

I found, after switching the weights around that the heavier heel weight was causing me to swing more outside in, which resulted in some pretty bad side spin/slice shots. I'd be curious to know what you find with your variations.
 
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