Nate, Cookie had me swing the R1 on 16 Sunday, and I will tell you that I didn't notice the graphics at all. I didn't 't even remember there were graphics on it until I read your post.
TaylorMade R1 Driver Review - Forum Testing Thread
Nate, Cookie had me swing the R1 on 16 Sunday, and I will tell you that I didn't notice the graphics at all. I didn't 't even remember there were graphics on it until I read your post.
Nice thoughts from several testers last night!
- Love hear everyone talk about the forgiveness as I am SOLD on it. The R1 is just a fairway finder if you hit it squarely basically anywhere on the face
- Sounds like several guys are seeing higher ball flights than I when using the 10 or 10.5 setting. Mine is still a mid line drive that I think provides the ideal amount of carry/rollout in basically all conditions
- If I was not already finding the FW at 10*, I would definitely be spending more time with the 12* setting. MSB256 - as I understand it, the more loft you play, the less side spin you will see. While an exaggeration for an example, I think how easy it is to move have a 6i move left/right yet you rarely see that with a PW. Poor example perhaps given the vast loft differences, but how I think about it in the big picture.
- Love hear everyone talk about the forgiveness as I am SOLD on it. The R1 is just a fairway finder if you hit it squarely basically anywhere on the face
- Sounds like several guys are seeing higher ball flights than I when using the 10 or 10.5 setting. Mine is still a mid line drive that I think provides the ideal amount of carry/rollout in basically all conditions
- If I was not already finding the FW at 10*, I would definitely be spending more time with the 12* setting. MSB256 - as I understand it, the more loft you play, the less side spin you will see. While an exaggeration for an example, I think how easy it is to move have a 6i move left/right yet you rarely see that with a PW. Poor example perhaps given the vast loft differences, but how I think about it in the big picture.
You aren't touching me! Sorry. Like the separate setting comments. I watched an old man lace this on the monitor at GG while I was there. I didn't have time to touch it because of time and the Amps.
rb81
New member
I know you want to do a full evaluation against the r11s... but do you have an initial reaction of how the two compare.
.
T2GRN18
Active member
Cookie for me I think the added loft is a two edge sword. Increased loft is giving me straighter ball flight and more control but I'm losing yardage. I'm going to lower from 10 to see where it shakes out to a happy medium.
Makes complete sense. On dry ground, I was losing upwards of 30-35 yards when pushing the loft to 12*. I seemed to have found that happy medium for my "real world" conditions. I am just so dang happy that even at 10*, I am not seeing much (if any) sidespin so I don't yet have that need/desire to up the loft to find more fairways.
This goes back to what we talked about in the very beginning, the club is so versatile via the adjustability that it really seems that each of us finding our own setting is not a matter of if, but when.
T2GRN18
Active member
It may be a stretch but, if anyone starts with the right shaft, they can dial it in to their liking. 168 different possibilities there has to be at least one he will get them where they want to be
MSB256
Well-known member
When I hit my R11s well, I like the results. And I hit a couple notable drives with it last year. However, I think the adjustability offered by the R1 is a big improvement. If I'm not mistaken, the R11s has three settings - lower, standard, and higher. Each setting is 1.5* different. If that's the case the highest I can loft my 9* R11s is 10.5*. Which may or may not be good for my swing.
From simply a performance perspective I can't say that the R1 is miles ahead of the R11s.
They are both in my truck and I'll try to get done comparisons today at different lofts and from a general performance perspective.
I just wanted to say thanks to all the testers for the amazing information, I was certainly confused by the adjustments at the beginning and probably still would be if I had the R1 in front of me to adjust, but I love all the in depth information and detail!
arydolphin
GTHC!
I realize this is the testing thread, but thought I'd post it up in here. This week is the "official" launch of TM's marketing for the R1 driver in the US, and all of their tour guys have special R1 staff bags. They are also posting their setups on the bag, like this:
Franklin51
On the Verge
Hit the R1 a little last night. I have put it back to the stock setting and plan on playing that setup this weekend. I still think the flight is way too high but after talking with Brannon at TM he said I would be carrying it farther than my R11. Plan is weekend after next to go up to the TM lab to get on the monitor there. Will post when I get back. Had planned all of this earlier then the old truck died and I had to take care of that.
It's awesome they're putting the settings on their bags!!!I realize this is the testing thread, but thought I'd post it up in here. This week is the "official" launch of TM's marketing for the R1 driver in the US, and all of their tour guys have special R1 staff bags. They are also posting their setups on the bag, like this:
Prelude to Range Day #3 Report:
I’m going to write some thoughts from my most recent session with the R1 driver, but before I do, I want to say a couple things so that I can provide perspective to my thinking.
I have a history with TaylorMade white drivers. I played most of the 2011 season with the original R11, and really didn’t like the performance at all. I found the distance pretty mediocre, I found the forgiveness atrocious, and as a color scheme traditionalist, I found the white paint job unnecessarily flashy.
Jumping forward a season, I didn’t spend much time at all with the R11s or the RBZ. I hit both of them at demo days, but I really didn’t find anything magical about either club. Oh yeah, I still thought of the white paint job as nothing more than a free billboard for TaylorMade that could be seen from 100 yards away.
With that history, my first reaction when I saw the R1 pictures was “I hope those are fakes because they’ve taken something ugly and made it worse.” The only redeeming quality I saw at first glance was the fact that you could change the loft clearly to so many settings.
With those preconceived notions in place, I was apprehensive about testing the R1 when I was chosen. I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to look past the package to fairly consider the performance. Even getting the club in hand, I really didn’t see a scenario where I would put this white, war-painted driver in play beyond the testing period.
I say all of that to preface the following statement:
I, adwillingham, have been proven drastically wrong, and the R1 has earned a place in my golf bag.
Range Day #3 Report:
With some new swing thoughts I picked up by watching Peter Kostis dissect all those CEO/Celebrity swings at Pebble Beach this weekend, I set out to the range with the R1 settings of 10.5 Upright, Draw Bias, and a Closed 1 Soleplate. Those were the settings I was finding some success with last week.
Working on a different transition trigger (trying to promote lower body starting the downswing instead of the shoulders…thanks Peter), the first couple balls I hit today only went about 50 yards left of where I was aiming. Seeing a weird pattern there, I thought to myself, “Self, you have a driver with 168 possible settings.” At this point I set everything back to the stock settings, 10 deg, N bias, N soleplate.
As I proceeded to hit the remaining range balls, I found myself looking forward to teeing up the next ball time after time. Now, I can’t say that I suddenly started blasting worn out range balls out the back of the range with a baby draw (compared to my normal 210 carry with a fade), but when I didn’t revert back to a pull hook, I saw some exciting results.
Results:
With the caveat that the swing doesn’t assist much in creating repeatable contact and ball flight, on decent swings, I saw some drives land where my best drives with previous drivers have – in the summer, when the golf muscles remember what they are supposed to be doing. To have a ball land out there right now, in 45-50 deg temps when I’m on my third bucket of the year, is something I really didn’t expect to see. In that sense, I am probably seeing a 10 yard increase or so compared to my Razr Fit (which in turn was longer than other drivers I have hit).
The R1 seems to have the lateral forgiveness that I longed for in the R11. Even as I was hitting balls across most of the club face, the end result would have stayed in play. When hit within sight of the sweet spot, there was probably a 10-15 yard left to right range in dispersion. Sure, I lost some distance when the ball was high on the toe or toward the heel, but it was still in play.
One of the things I will be really interested in seeing as the weather warms up and I can get to the course is what the results look like with real golf balls (not range rocks). With this being a low spin driver, I really think I will see some more distance with a ball that spins a bit more. There were some shots today where I made good contact, and the launch looked good, but that thing just fell out of the sky. I am going to attribute that to the worn-out, inconsistent range balls. I think with the extra spin that a B330-RX would normally give me that the ball would just have that extra hang time to get out there even a bit further.
Toward the end of the session, I started playing some games to see if I could get the ball to move in the direction that I wanted to, and I could hit both a fade and a draw with some success (there is nothing prettier than a baby draw for this fade swinger…particularly when it is intentional).
With those thoughts and results in mind, I have decided that I have seen enough promise to at least start the season with the R1 as I really don’t see an area where it falls below the Razr Fit for me.
Anyway, as I wrap these random thoughts up for today, I really think TaylorMade has created a driver in the R1 that a whole lot of people of various skill sets can find a way to love. With all the various settings (the loft and the weights make drastic changes to the ball flights, sole plate makes visual changes), you are not doing this club justice if you hit it with one setting and call it quits because you don’t see the results you are looking for.
I still don’t love the paint job, but I think I can appreciate the fact that the head is not as starkly white as it was in prior models, and the war paint does frame the ball a bit at address. Put the club down at address and hit a few balls, and the abnormality does fade enough for even this traditionalist.
I’m going to write some thoughts from my most recent session with the R1 driver, but before I do, I want to say a couple things so that I can provide perspective to my thinking.
I have a history with TaylorMade white drivers. I played most of the 2011 season with the original R11, and really didn’t like the performance at all. I found the distance pretty mediocre, I found the forgiveness atrocious, and as a color scheme traditionalist, I found the white paint job unnecessarily flashy.
Jumping forward a season, I didn’t spend much time at all with the R11s or the RBZ. I hit both of them at demo days, but I really didn’t find anything magical about either club. Oh yeah, I still thought of the white paint job as nothing more than a free billboard for TaylorMade that could be seen from 100 yards away.
With that history, my first reaction when I saw the R1 pictures was “I hope those are fakes because they’ve taken something ugly and made it worse.” The only redeeming quality I saw at first glance was the fact that you could change the loft clearly to so many settings.
With those preconceived notions in place, I was apprehensive about testing the R1 when I was chosen. I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to look past the package to fairly consider the performance. Even getting the club in hand, I really didn’t see a scenario where I would put this white, war-painted driver in play beyond the testing period.
I say all of that to preface the following statement:
I, adwillingham, have been proven drastically wrong, and the R1 has earned a place in my golf bag.
Range Day #3 Report:
With some new swing thoughts I picked up by watching Peter Kostis dissect all those CEO/Celebrity swings at Pebble Beach this weekend, I set out to the range with the R1 settings of 10.5 Upright, Draw Bias, and a Closed 1 Soleplate. Those were the settings I was finding some success with last week.
Working on a different transition trigger (trying to promote lower body starting the downswing instead of the shoulders…thanks Peter), the first couple balls I hit today only went about 50 yards left of where I was aiming. Seeing a weird pattern there, I thought to myself, “Self, you have a driver with 168 possible settings.” At this point I set everything back to the stock settings, 10 deg, N bias, N soleplate.
As I proceeded to hit the remaining range balls, I found myself looking forward to teeing up the next ball time after time. Now, I can’t say that I suddenly started blasting worn out range balls out the back of the range with a baby draw (compared to my normal 210 carry with a fade), but when I didn’t revert back to a pull hook, I saw some exciting results.
Results:
With the caveat that the swing doesn’t assist much in creating repeatable contact and ball flight, on decent swings, I saw some drives land where my best drives with previous drivers have – in the summer, when the golf muscles remember what they are supposed to be doing. To have a ball land out there right now, in 45-50 deg temps when I’m on my third bucket of the year, is something I really didn’t expect to see. In that sense, I am probably seeing a 10 yard increase or so compared to my Razr Fit (which in turn was longer than other drivers I have hit).
The R1 seems to have the lateral forgiveness that I longed for in the R11. Even as I was hitting balls across most of the club face, the end result would have stayed in play. When hit within sight of the sweet spot, there was probably a 10-15 yard left to right range in dispersion. Sure, I lost some distance when the ball was high on the toe or toward the heel, but it was still in play.
One of the things I will be really interested in seeing as the weather warms up and I can get to the course is what the results look like with real golf balls (not range rocks). With this being a low spin driver, I really think I will see some more distance with a ball that spins a bit more. There were some shots today where I made good contact, and the launch looked good, but that thing just fell out of the sky. I am going to attribute that to the worn-out, inconsistent range balls. I think with the extra spin that a B330-RX would normally give me that the ball would just have that extra hang time to get out there even a bit further.
Toward the end of the session, I started playing some games to see if I could get the ball to move in the direction that I wanted to, and I could hit both a fade and a draw with some success (there is nothing prettier than a baby draw for this fade swinger…particularly when it is intentional).
With those thoughts and results in mind, I have decided that I have seen enough promise to at least start the season with the R1 as I really don’t see an area where it falls below the Razr Fit for me.
Anyway, as I wrap these random thoughts up for today, I really think TaylorMade has created a driver in the R1 that a whole lot of people of various skill sets can find a way to love. With all the various settings (the loft and the weights make drastic changes to the ball flights, sole plate makes visual changes), you are not doing this club justice if you hit it with one setting and call it quits because you don’t see the results you are looking for.
I still don’t love the paint job, but I think I can appreciate the fact that the head is not as starkly white as it was in prior models, and the war paint does frame the ball a bit at address. Put the club down at address and hit a few balls, and the abnormality does fade enough for even this traditionalist.
- Thread starter
- #739
I realize this is the testing thread, but thought I'd post it up in here. This week is the "official" launch of TM's marketing for the R1 driver in the US, and all of their tour guys have special R1 staff bags. They are also posting their setups on the bag, like this:
That's pretty awesome, right there! Thanks for sharing, Ary.
rb81
New member
You are correct, there are less loft options (5 in increments of .75* + upright and neutral setting for 3 of the lofts). But I am interested in pure performance....... I have hit the R1 and wouldn't really think of replacing my R11s up to this point. I really want to hit it on the course, while launch monitors are important I really like to see the flight. Additionally I would like to hit the TP version of this club so it could be apples to apples. Look forward to more reviews and observations, keep up the good work.
- Thread starter
- #741
Ad, another solid writeup, buddy. I knew you really liked your Razr Fit, and saw some solid success with it. I think it is quite telling that you are comfortable enough with the R1 already to put it in play for the start of your season.
dhill
New member
That's awesome AD. I know we talked about it would be a real test to have you like this driver.
Awesome that its working.
Awesome that its working.
StanTheCaddy
Who wants 2 have some fun
Caught up on the thread and thought it needed a bump. Got to keep this thread up near the top, so much good info 
.
MSB- Thanks for thinking about the R1 vs. R11S, really appreciate it. Looking forward to your thoughts once you get some better weather and the swing is dialed in.
AD- Great write-up man. Your honesty about your feelings coming into this testing and the results you've seen has been great to read. Says a lot about how well the R1 has performed.
Keep up the great work testers. I'm really in full ponder R1 ponder mode.
.MSB- Thanks for thinking about the R1 vs. R11S, really appreciate it. Looking forward to your thoughts once you get some better weather and the swing is dialed in.
AD- Great write-up man. Your honesty about your feelings coming into this testing and the results you've seen has been great to read. Says a lot about how well the R1 has performed.
Keep up the great work testers. I'm really in full ponder R1 ponder mode.
I can probably grab a few early tomorrow morning for you.
trae*
no post ***** aka"active"
thanks man
Just stumbled on to this forum while looking for information on the new R1. What a GREAT source of information!!!! Thanks to everyone for their input. Based on everything I'm hearing, I'm seriously considering purchasing the R1. However, there is one thing I'm not hearing much about, and that is the shaft. Somewhere, I read that the shaft is a little on the soft side. What have you guys discovered. My swing speed averages around 98mph and I'm wondering if the regular shaft my be a little too soft. Has anyone tested both the regular and stiff shaft? Thanks for all the great info!!!
T2GRN18
Active member
Welcome to the forum. I have not noticed it to be soft, We all have the RIP Phenom, I believe most of us are using the stiff shaft. All of our swing speeds are similar to what yours is.
My SS is just a touch below yours and I think the stiff shaft fits me pretty decently. It is not a particularly firm stiff, so I would question whether the regular flex may be too soft, but I don't think any of us have tried both flexes.