TaylorMade M1 Driver Review Thread

[jlukes]

I'll definitely snap some pics

 

[Martsy]

Really don't dislike any OEMs, but definitely haven't been this excited about a TM product since the Speedblades. I have a feeling this is going to knock the G30 off the pedestal as top driver of the year.

 

[NoLine]

I'm on a flight to San Diego and the club let me take one of the demo's with me. Will give it some whacks over the next few days. I'm still loving the G30, the GBB didn't work for me in many different configurations, it was not for lack of trying as I truly love the look of the club.

 

[jlukes]

Before I get into specifics, let me get this out of the way: This is easily the best driver TaylorMade has produced in years.

Got to demo it today with withe the Fuji Pro 60 shaft (stiff). 460 head, set the weight back and the other weight to neutral - and lofted to 10.5 degrees.

Definitely a smooth swinging club. Nice light feel to it, but definitely don't lose the head any any point during the swing. The stock head/shaft pairing is a really good combo that is going to fit a lot of people.

Ball flight was exactly what I expected: high and penetrating. Saw distances that I would expect to see on well struck shots - carrying to the base of the hill at my local range with limited flight range balls - similar to the distance I see with my gamer. Where the M1 stood out from past TaylorMade releases was forgiveness. I was hitting the ball solid today, but on the few that I missed off-center, the ball still felt great and shot off the face and carried a good ways out (again, similar to my gamer driver). Unfortunately I wasn't given the adjustment tool when I went to the range, so I could not experiment with moving the weights around on the head.

Sound was very unique. Not high pitched, not mushy, not dead, not unpleasant. Just unique. Can't really remember a driver that compares to the sound of the M1.

I was excited to hit this driver today, and it did not let me down. Did it make me instantly want to put it in the bag in replace my gamer? Not quite - but I hit my gamer so good that it would take a bit more time for me to consider replacing it. If anyone has any specific questions, feel free to ask.

Now for some pics!

 

[Brianbigoats]

Looks great can't wait to get my hands on one

 

[#Cookie]

Good thoughts Joe, hearing the forgiveneness there is a great thing.

I absolutely love the look at address and the shape of the line on the head which frames the ball so well.

 

[jlukes]

Also of note is the white on the crown is glossy - not a matte white like TM has used on previous releases. I did not have any issues with glare while at the range this morning, but the sun wasn't in a position where it would have reflected into my eyes. The crown is definitely shiny, so I can see it being an issue for some.

 

[jlukes]

Good thoughts Joe, hearing the forgiveneness there is a great thing.

I absolutely love the look at address and the shape of the line on the head which frames the ball so well.

Agreed on the look at address. I am a huge fan of face/crown contrast on drivers, and the black face with the white crown is perfect.

 

[#Cookie]

Agreed on the look at address. I am a huge fan of face/crown contrast on drivers, and the black face with the white crown is perfect.

You were hitting the 460 version, correct?

 

[jlukes]

You were hitting the 460 version, correct?

Yes, 460 version. I will update my initial post.

 

[JRod]

TaylorMade M1 Driver Preview

TaylorMade M1 Driver Preview

I think I need one of these .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sparksjr]

thanks for the info Joe. the added forgiveness is definitely exciting to hear.

 

[Germerican]

If anyone has hit this and the new Great Big Bertha, how would you compare the two? I am in the market this off season and so far I am set on the GBB. I have yet to try the M1, but will be able to in the coming weeks.

 

[Erky]

If anyone has hit this and the new Great Big Bertha, how would you compare the two? I am in the market this off season and so far I am set on the GBB. I have yet to try the M1, but will be able to in the coming weeks.

Hard for me to say. I hit about 8 balls indoors with GBB and about 20 outside with the M1. I can't really compare them, but I can tell you the M1 was very, very good.

 

[emart2173]

Hit 5 balls with this while at the range. Had limited time and was working on swing tempo so didn't have time to hit more shots.

It had the rouge silver 70 stiff set at 10.5 weights were set in the middle. I had no expectations going in and never hit r15 or Aeroburner, but with the first swing I was impressed with this driver. The ball really jumped off the face and had a high launch and ball flight (no numbers only sc100). The combo felt stable, not heavy and could feel the clubhead all the way through the swing.

i had one **** high on the toe and it appeared spin went up a little bit and the ball had a few yards draw to it with a distance loss of about 6 yds. The rest of the shots were just above center and closer middle of club face. On those shots the distance was 252 on avg.

I would like to mess with the weight to see what happens when changing to to front and see it's affects on the ball flight. Hopefully I can get back and get on the gc2 to see some numbers.

compared to my GBB which is set at 10 they seemed to have similar launch and ball flight. The toe miss seems to be less spinny on the GBB compared to m1.

not having liked a TM driver in awhile I was impressed with this one.

 

[GolfFest]

So far I have only read good things about this driver. This is bad for my wallet.

 

[golf4life]

Not gonna lie. I want to try this driver. I'm loving the bstone 815 but this thing looks ridiculously good to me and the reports in this thread are intriguing to say the least.

 

[LDUBFIREGOLFER]

Has anyone here who has hit the M1 also hit at anytime the R1? Killin right now my R1/KK silver tini 60 now...

 

[StanTheCaddy]

Great write-up Orange Hog! While the weight set to "Low" is clearly the way to go for you, did you notice any difference in forgiveness by sliding the weight between "High" and "Low"?

 

[LDUBFIREGOLFER]

Yes. I used to game the R1. Wasn't a fan. The M1 is a HUGE leap forward.

My R1 is a tour issued TD5XXXX shallow. .....TP tipped (2* open @ std loft) wonder if this makes a difference compared to standard R1? Can you expound at all on your thoughts?

 

[StanTheCaddy]

I expected to see forgiveness drop, as that's generally what I've seen in my J715 when I move the heavier weight closer to the face. Definitely wasn't the case for me in the M1, though.

That's impressive. I can't wait to hit this driver! I've always liked TM, especially their drivers up until recently. Hope this club is a sign they're on the way back up.

 

[Jman]

I expected to see forgiveness drop, as that's generally what I've seen in my J715 when I move the heavier weight closer to the face. Definitely wasn't the case for me in the M1, though.

Did you get the time to see how it reacted to misses with the weight forward as opposed to back in terms of performance in a significant sample size or just based on what you saw during time on the course?

 

[Jman]

On each hole I used my first tee shot as my "in play" ball for the scorecard then tee'd up 2 or 3 other balls since the course wasn't real busy. So, overall, I'd say I hit around 25 tee shots in the High setting and another 25 in the Low setting. Not sure if you'd call that significant, per se.

Also, I didn't have face tape on the driver so I had to eyeball a tee mark and/or ball mark on the face after each shot. That said, most were pretty consistent in the center of the face. I had a couple that were center but higher on the face and also had a couple on the heel and on the toe.

Purely based on visual observation alone (since I wasn't on a launch monitor) mis-hits on the heel/toe side seemed to spin up or generate more gear effect when I had it set to the High setting. Certainly not what I'd call a brutal slice/hook necessarily but definitely seemed to have more side spin relative to when I moved the weight forward. On the back nine (when I moved the weight to the Low setting) the mis-hits that I had definitely seemed to stay much closer to the target line than with the weight back in the High setting.

Gotcha. Love me some open time on a wide open course, always a good time!

Sounds like you were pretty "on" today, explains the thoughts on the weight forward more than likely, though the spin axis tilt with the weight back is no doubt a bit surprising given what shifting the weight back there should do for the stability of the design in terms of gear effect. Will be interesting to see the reactions laterally and vertically tracked over time, that's where the big story is here IMO as we know with the SLDR and R15 strikes in the middle of the face were rockets, its the ball speed retention off of center that I'm hoping we see improvement more than anything.

 

[LDUBFIREGOLFER]

Hog......sorry to be a pain.....but any thoughts?

 

[wubears71]

So close to pre-ordering. I just can't do $499 sight unseen.