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TaylorMade R1 Driver Review - Forum Testing Thread

SuperStroke
meh_ said:
First post after eons of lurking

I just got to hit my new R1 (bought from callaway preowned for $140!) at the range last night and wow am I excited.

This thing is a rocket. I was nervous after hearing about the issues some people had with the feel/noise, but I'm loving it so far.

I have been hitting my old driver (10 degree callaway FTiz) with a draw that borders on a hook for a while so I assumed I would end up tuning the RI to some variation of open. I ended up using the R1 app and after lots of tinkering ended up hitting 9.5 - 1 degree closed - with a draw bias.

I doesn't make sense to me, but the more I play the more I realize my intuition is completely off and golf is backwards :)

Headed to Hilton Head this weekend for 5 rounds - cant wait!
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If you ever find the setting that works, stick with it! This is an awesome club when you get it dialed in. Welcome to THP and have fun at HHI!
 
Found seven fairways yesterday with my first time out with the R1. That's huge for me. Started losing shots to the right when I thought I could get after it more with my hieghtened confidence after the early holes. Slowed it back down and found the middle again. To the folks who have played with me before and know my tee shot, get this: loft is set at 12°, the face is 3° open and the weights are set in the draw bias. There's actually air under the ball after I hit it now.
 
I picked one of these up on ebay last night. I've never had an adjustable driver before, I can't wait to start tinkering with it!
 
I also just picked up an R1 last week from the Marketplace here on THP. Got a new grip put on it over the weekend and hope to make it to the range soon. My old driver was a Titleist 975J 9.0 loft driver that I always hit very low. I would occasionally hit it over 250, but it was very rare. I'm hoping the larger head, 460cc vs 312cc, and adjustability will help me get more loft, distance, and forgiveness. Is that too much to ask?
 
Parshooter36 said:
I picked one of these up on ebay last night. I've never had an adjustable driver before, I can't wait to start tinkering with it!
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I had a blast messing with it and surprisingly, the iphone app is actually helpful - give it a try as you are tinkering. I helped me since a few changes weren't as obvious to me as I would have anticipated.
 
meh_ said:
I had a blast messing with it and surprisingly, the iphone app is actually helpful - give it a try as you are tinkering. I helped me since a few changes weren't as obvious to me as I would have anticipated.
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I downloaded the Android app yesterday, I'm glad to hear it is useful.
 
After playing around with the app, I adjusted mine down to 10.5, 1 closed and moved the weight to set up for a draw. Saw more distance and a much straighter ball flight. My miss had been a tee ball that would leak to the right, but now I'm smoking it down the middle. Love this driver.
 
coers said:
What this Driver has it's own App to help you set it up???
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Yep, it's actually pretty helpful. It gives you a few options, so you can either tell it the type of shot you want and work from there, or tell it how you are hitting the club now as opposed to how you'd like your ball flight to be. In both scenarios it will suggest changes and then have you hit a few balls and update how the ball is flying and keep suggesting changes until you are comfortable or it runs out of options for you. Don't treat it like gospel but it is helpful for understanding the interactions between say lowering the loft and closing the face. It's called R1 Tuning.
 
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meh_ said:
Yep, it's actually pretty helpful. It gives you a few options, so you can either tell it the type of shot you want and work from there, or tell it how you are hitting the club now as opposed to how you'd like your ball flight to be. In both scenarios it will suggest changes and then have you hit a view balls and update how the ball is flying and keep suggesting changes until you are comfortable or it runs out of options for you. Don't treat it like gospel but it is helpful for understanding the interactions between say lowering the loft and closing the face. It's called R1 Tuning.
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That's pretty cool they did that. Hey golfers need all the help t they can get.
 
Gohead214 said:
Stuffed mine with cotton through the weight holes with a paperclip. Sound is amazing when hit square and no loss in distance or performance for me.


Tapping Away
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wouldn't mind doing this is it easy to do and is there any negatives in doing it cheers
 
Today I actually had to adjust my r1 to neutral. As im getting my swing grooved properly I was drawing the ball. I am not one to draw bbt he ball at all. It was very to fathom setting up and warching the ball move from left to right. After the neutral change ball went pretty straight with maybe a two yard left to right
 
This is the first I've heard of the app. I'm going to have to take this out to the range this week. Just waiting for a dry day...
 
homesy68 said:
wouldn't mind doing this is it easy to do and is there any negatives in doing it cheers
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My wife used a bobby pin and just kept going until it was nearly packed. I don't notice a change in weight, but it sounds good.


Tapping Away
 
I had my 1st round with the R1 today, I've got it set at 12° and on 1 on the closed setting. I played in cold, windy, wet conditions, and could not be more impressed with my 1st day out.

I hit 9/14 fairways, with only 1 ball all day that didn't go straight. Distance-wise it was hard to tell, between the weather conditions and the saturated fairways everything was playing shorter than normal.

The one thing that really stuck out to me is I have read a LOT of comments on how loud this driver is. I didn't think it was loud at all, just I nice solid thwack when I hit the ball. My buddy plays a Cleveland Hibore Monster, now that thing is loud.
 
I just picked one of these up in a trade and put it into play today, holy cow I was surprised, I saw great distance and amazing control, once I put a regular grip on it I have a feeling I'm going to be deadly with this thing!
 
IceyShanks said:
I just picked one of these up in a trade and put it into play today, holy cow I was surprised, I saw great distance and amazing control, once I put a regular grip on it I have a feeling I'm going to be deadly with this thing!
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Nice man. I love my R1 it has been such a great club for me. Can't wait to hear more
 
Welcome to the R1 club guys.
 
TaylorMade R1 Driver Review - Forum Testing Thread

Drivers been a struggle for me lately but looking forward to seeing what 1.5" off butt end will do for me.
 
#Cookie said:
Drivers been a struggle for me lately but looking forward to seeing what 1.5" off butt end will do for me.
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Did you cut your normal gamer shaft Cookie or did you put an adapter on something you can experiment with?

I'm going to pick up a shaft that I can cut down too. I love this driver but I'm thinking I could use even a little more accuracy. I have been thinking that a cut down lower launching shaft paired with a 12* setting could be the way to go.
 
tequila4kapp said:
Did you cut your normal gamer shaft Cookie or did you put an adapter on something you can experiment with?

I'm going to pick up a shaft that I can cut down too. I love this driver but I'm thinking I could use even a little more accuracy. I have been thinking that a cut down lower launching shaft paired with a 12* setting could be the way to go.
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I cut down the gamer (stock RIP phenom).
 
Had a lesson this week addressing my driver and today was finally able to take the R1 with me new shaft outside. Was really impressed, as it seemed like my ball speed was definitely faster.

Then I decided to ramp the loft up to 12 and whoa, made a world of difference. I was fitted into the shaft, which I get low spin with, so ball definitely got higher yet with as much penetration as I see with my standard mid flight. It will be left at that setting until further notice.

Bottom line is the R1 keeps finding ways to impress the heck out of me. In all honesty, I just got a SLDR head because that's what I was fit into, so it will be interesting to compare the two. Really though, I may stick with this set up for a while unless the SLDR really amazes me.


Taps away
 
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