TaylorMade R11 Driver & Fairway Wood Review Thread

[Tmex]

G4L that is awesome my friend! Swear its like the sea is parting for this club.

Oregon... Lol, I know what you're sayin!

 

[Bomb_n_Gouge]

So I think the R11 Driver and 3 Wood would help my game the most, For those that have moved to them, I have a very inconsistent swing, and think the adjustability will help me dial in the club to fit my swing, have you found that to be true or is just a gimmik?

I think the adjustability wouldn't hurt, but you may want to check out one of the 460cc heads for extra forgiveness, R9Supertri or the R9460. Goodluck!

 

[IceyShanks]

I think the adjustability wouldn't hurt, but you may want to check out one of the 460cc heads for extra forgiveness, R9Supertri or the R9460. Goodluck!

That's the one thing that kept hanging me up, thanks for the input.

 

[sox1212]

Thanks sox1212! Great information! Well, just got back and they did not change anything shaft wise. I was launching the ball consistently 305-310 total with a carry of about 270-280. He said the spin factor was good but my launch angle was around 10-11 degrees which he wanted higher to around 13 or 14. Crazy thing about it is I use a 10.5 dergee with an open ASP! Ha! I've always had a lower launch angle as I tend to hit my woods like my irons, with a decending or even blow instead of swinging up on the ball. We tried a couple of different things (moving the ball back a bit in the stance and getting my right shoulder lower) which helped the launch a bit. Something to work on. Anyways, said the stock shaft was fine and didn't recommend changing it. Heading back next week to test out the TM forged irons that hit golfsmith on the 25th.

I dream of those numbers. I have the same problem. My fitter showed me a graph where instead of swinging up on contact I was swininging down so my line was staright into the ground. When I made some adjustments I swung the ball further with less backspin. Of course when I wen to the range the following week I didn't even think of this and forgot to work on it. It didn't re-enter my mind until my wound was over on Sunday. Habits are tough to break.

 

[Ole Gray]

Dang, I didn't jump on this thread intially because I couldn't afford a new FW and I know I need one and didn't want to be tempted into putting one on a credit card. Now that I'm in the market for one I decided to take a look and it's up to 2421 replies. Holy schnikes! I'm going in, if I'm not back in 4 hours send a search party....

Oregon -- I have no doubt you will be happy with your purchase! I have the R11 7 - Wood in my bag and that little dude is a CANNON!

 

[JRamz]

Thanks sox1212! Great information! Well, just got back and they did not change anything shaft wise. I was launching the ball consistently 305-310 total with a carry of about 270-280. He said the spin factor was good but my launch angle was around 10-11 degrees which he wanted higher to around 13 or 14. Crazy thing about it is I use a 10.5 dergee with an open ASP! Ha! I've always had a lower launch angle as I tend to hit my woods like my irons, with a decending or even blow instead of swinging up on the ball. We tried a couple of different things (moving the ball back a bit in the stance and getting my right shoulder lower) which helped the launch a bit. Something to work on. Anyways, said the stock shaft was fine and didn't recommend changing it. Heading back next week to test out the TM forged irons that hit golfsmith on the 25th.

Great numbers Nate! If you were wanting to increase your launch angle wouldn't you play the ball further up in your stance instead of back?

 

[JRamz]

Well look what just arrived ....

R11 TP with the diamana ahina 60 X.

What a beautiful stick this is. Also can tell just by waggling it that its substantially stiffer than the motore x in my R9. Can't wait to unleash the beast!

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

SEXY! The ahina has the mid-high kick point right?

 

[Nate]

Great numbers Nate! If you were wanting to increase your launch angle wouldn't you play the ball further up in your stance instead of back?

Yea, right!? He was showing me videos of PGA pros and how the ball position was more towards inside left knee and not really where I was playing it which as off left foot. What it was doing was causing me to set up and lean more on my left side instead of having a lot of my weight on my right side. I understood what he was doing but it did feel strange. I will probably tinker with it a bit and see what comes.

 

[10YardDraw]

Yea, right!? He was showing me videos of PGA pros and how the ball position was more towards inside left knee and not really where I was playing it which as off left foot. What it was doing was causing me to set up and lean more on my left side instead of having a lot of my weight on my right side. I understood what he was doing but it did feel strange. I will probably tinker with it a bit and see what comes.

It feels really strange for me to play the ball forward toward my left foot so im just the opposite of you, i like to play just slightly forward of center.

 

[golf4life]

SEXY! The ahina has the mid-high kick point right?

Yes, producing the low launch, low spin ball flight (or so I hope).

 

[Hole~Out~1983]

R11 17* 4W Testing Rnd 2

I was fortunate enough to ge in another 9 holes with the R11 4W this morning. It was a fairly nice day in the low 40's with very little wind. My main goals for today were to test this clubs performance off of the tee and to find out how easy/difficult it would be to work a fade or a draw with this FW. I have the FCT (Flight Control Technology) set on neutral which leaves the loft at 17* and I have the ASP (Adjustable Sole Plate) in the open position which gives me a slightly open club face at address.

My first shot of the day with the R11 4W was from the tee on a short par 4 that plays about 350 yds. The tajectory Im seeing from this club with its current settings is mid/low peircing ball flight. I set up on the right side of the tee box in order to play down the left side of the fairway and test my ability to play a fade back into the middle of the fairway. I hit a solid shot that started up the lefthand side and faded nicely about 10 yds back to the left center of the fairway and came down very soft with little roll out that left me approximatley 110-115 yds out. So needless to say with the current settings I found this club pleasantly simple to work from left to right.

My next shot from the tee came on another short par 4 that doglegs to the left. The corner of the dogleg is approximatley 200 yds or so off of the tee and I figured now would be the perfect oppurtunity to test my ability to hit a draw with this club on its current setting's. I had the ball tee'd up maybe half of an inch took a nice smooth backswing and then took a rip at it. This ball went about 100 yds straight up and about a 100 yds out. It was at this time that I realized that with what I consider to be a rather shallow face, for this club to perform well off of the tee I need to have it tee'd as close to the ground as I do playing my irons off the tee. The fact that this club has a rather shallow face leaves very little room for error to miss shots high on the clubface. Now for testing purpose's I told my playing partner's that I was going to have to hit one more. This time I made sure the ball was tee'd just above the tips of the grass and set up for my attempted draw around the dogleg. This time I struck the ball very solid slightly on the heel side of the center of the clubface but alas no draw. My attempts to draw this 4W on these setting's was resulting in more of a straight pull. I can usually make myself draw the ball pretty easily but it seems with the ASP set to open it was doing a fairly good job of preventing me from doing so. This give's me the impression that if you having problems over cooking your draws the ASP in the open position may be a very good option for you with this club.

My final couple of thoughts that I would like to point out with this club are sound and the feel of mis-hits. For instance with my previous Cobra FW's shots anywhere other than the center of the clubface produced a noticably different sound. What I have noticed with the R11 4W is that it seems to have a very muted sound all across the clubface which Im not quite sure is a good or bad thing just yet. As for the feel of mis-hits, I tend to consider myself to be a feel player so when Im not hitting the center of the clubface I can usually feel it pretty easily which can be harsh at times. What I have noticed in my time with this club is that mis-hits don't feel all that bad. Now don't get me wrong you can still tell that you are not hitting the center of the clubface but as I said the sound/feel of it seems far less punishing to me, but that is where it ends. I say this because this club is far from the most forgiving FW out there and coupled with its shallow face I would predict it could cause minor difficulty's for newer players but I am not trying to categorize anybody or their games so please remember that this is strictly just my opinion. Thanks for listening and if you have any question's or suggestion's please feel free to make them heard.

 

[TC]

There sure is a lot of good information being shared in this thread. One thing seems to be consistent across all the tester's and that's that the new stuff from TM is working great for a ton of different folks.

Well done guys!

tapatalk: even available for lefties!

 

[Staples]

Nice write up Hole Out! I am having some trouble drawing my T3 as well.

 

[Hanks]

Awesome G4L...can't wait to take a few swings with that stick! Looking forward to your thoughts on this considering how well you hit the R9

Well look what just arrived ....

R11 TP with the diamana ahina 60 X.

What a beautiful stick this is. Also can tell just by waggling it that its substantially stiffer than the motore x in my R9. Can't wait to unleash the beast!

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

 

[blugold]

Can't wait to unleash the beast!

Whenever I have that same thought the first swing always results in a topped ball that goes 90 feet.

 

[royalwulff]

Good post hole out! Like you I have found this club to be real forgiving.

 

[golf4life]

Whenever I have that same thought the first swing always results in a topped ball that goes 90 feet.

Mine usually ends up in the woods to the right.

 

[blugold]

Mine usually ends up in the woods to the right.

Yup, sounds about right.

 

[Adam0304]

There sure is a lot of good information being shared in this thread. One thing seems to be consistent across all the tester's and that's that the new stuff from TM is working great for a ton of different folks.

Well done guys!

tapatalk: even available for lefties!

Most definitely. The r11 is the only club I haven't pull-hooked yet (knock on wood). The weighting is perfect and the face is hot. Can't wait to hit it this Friday or Saturday.


Tap before talk.

 

[Hawk]

Great write up! So, it sounds like you are seeing less forgiveness from the R11 compared to other fwy's that you've played? What sort of distance losses are you seeing with shots that aren't hit in the middle of the face?

R11 17* 4W Testing Rnd 2

I was fortunate enough to ge in another 9 holes with the R11 4W this morning. It was a fairly nice day in the low 40's with very little wind. My main goals for today were to test this clubs performance off of the tee and to find out how easy/difficult it would be to work a fade or a draw with this FW. I have the FCT (Flight Control Technology) set on neutral which leaves the loft at 17* and I have the ASP (Adjustable Sole Plate) in the open position which gives me a slightly open club face at address.

My first shot of the day with the R11 4W was from the tee on a short par 4 that plays about 350 yds. The tajectory Im seeing from this club with its current settings is mid/low peircing ball flight. I set up on the right side of the tee box in order to play down the left side of the fairway and test my ability to play a fade back into the middle of the fairway. I hit a solid shot that started up the lefthand side and faded nicely about 10 yds back to the left center of the fairway and came down very soft with little roll out that left me approximatley 110-115 yds out. So needless to say with the current settings I found this club pleasantly simple to work from left to right.

My next shot from the tee came on another short par 4 that doglegs to the left. The corner of the dogleg is approximatley 200 yds or so off of the tee and I figured now would be the perfect oppurtunity to test my ability to hit a draw with this club on its current setting's. I had the ball tee'd up maybe half of an inch took a nice smooth backswing and then took a rip at it. This ball went about 100 yds straight up and about a 100 yds out. It was at this time that I realized that with what I consider to be a rather shallow face, for this club to perform well off of the tee I need to have it tee'd as close to the ground as I do playing my irons off the tee. The fact that this club has a rather shallow face leaves very little room for error to miss shots high on the clubface. Now for testing purpose's I told my playing partner's that I was going to have to hit one more. This time I made sure the ball was tee'd just above the tips of the grass and set up for my attempted draw around the dogleg. This time I struck the ball very solid slightly on the heel side of the center of the clubface but alas no draw. My attempts to draw this 4W on these setting's was resulting in more of a straight pull. I can usually make myself draw the ball pretty easily but it seems with the ASP set to open it was doing a fairly good job of preventing me from doing so. This give's me the impression that if you having problems over cooking your draws the ASP in the open position may be a very good option for you with this club.

My final couple of thoughts that I would like to point out with this club are sound and the feel of mis-hits. For instance with my previous Cobra FW's shots anywhere other than the center of the clubface produced a noticably different sound. What I have noticed with the R11 4W is that it seems to have a very muted sound all across the clubface which Im not quite sure is a good or bad thing just yet. As for the feel of mis-hits, I tend to consider myself to be a feel player so when Im not hitting the center of the clubface I can usually feel it pretty easily which can be harsh at times. What I have noticed in my time with this club is that mis-hits don't feel all that bad. Now don't get me wrong you can still tell that you are not hitting the center of the clubface but as I said the sound/feel of it seems far less punishing to me, but that is where it ends. I say this because this club is far from the most forgiving FW out there and coupled with its shallow face I would predict it could cause minor difficulty's for newer players but I am not trying to categorize anybody or their games so please remember that this is strictly just my opinion. Thanks for listening and if you have any question's or suggestion's please feel free to make them heard.

 

[Hole~Out~1983]

Great write up! So, it sounds like you are seeing less forgiveness from the R11 compared to other fwy's that you've played? What sort of distance losses are you seeing with shots that aren't hit in the middle of the face?

From my experience so far misses on the heel of the club seem to be the most punishing with close to 25 yds or so of distance loss. On the other hand it seems misses out towards the toe although they still get punished seem to feel far more solid and Im probably only losing 10-15 yds on those shots which for the most part is due to the balls trajectory being slightly more of a ballooning fade for me.

 

[Hawk]

Thanks for the quick response. I tend to miss out on the toe more than the heel, so that might not be so bad for me. Keep up the good work

From my experience so far misses on the heel of the club seem to be the most punishing with close to 25 yds or so of distance loss. On the other hand it seems misses out towards the toe although they still get punished seem to feel far more solid and Im probably only losing 10-15 yds on those shots which for the most part is due to the balls trajectory being slightly more of a ballooning fade for me.

 

[Hole~Out~1983]

Thanks for the quick response. I tend to miss out on the toe more than the heel, so that might not be so bad for me. Keep up the good work

No problem man. My next round out Im going to bring the ASP back to the nuetral position and see if that improves the ballooning fade Im seeing on those toe misses.

 

[10YardDraw]

nice job HO1983, im not seeing that much of a distance loss on heel and toe hits

 

[Hole~Out~1983]

nice job HO1983, im not seeing that much of a distance loss on heel and toe hits

What are you seeing with it? Cause my heel shots have not been very forgiving. The sound and feel off of the heel is alot better than the actuall performance of the shot. And like I said the 10 or so yards Im seeing off of the toe is coming from a ball that balloons on me a little with that fade.