TaylorMade R11 Driver & Fairway Wood Review Thread

[GrantD]

I have been struggling with my R11 lately. I hit a good one every other drive. I then hit it off the toe or get a bad hook out of it. I thought it was more forgiving that it has been lately. I have my free golf lesson with golf tec tomorrow. Hopefully we can get it worked out.

 

[Canadan]

How did you like this club off the tee compared to your titleist. I've been interesting in a few fairways, the R11, Titleist 910FD, and Ping K15

I thought it was fantastic. I have always found that the 906f2 is great when purely struck, but the misses can be really bad. In this case, the only time I didn't hit this dead straight, it was a slight draw that only strayed about 10 yards off my original line. Couple that with the fact that I can take this to either 14.5 or 16.5 depending on the course I am playing, as well as being able to modify the face angle, and I really don't see the likelihood of there being a better option out there.

Also, the ball flight on this is beauty off the tee. Gets up in a real hurry and then just hangs.

 

[Canadan]

Gotta give these another shoutout after today.. 5 shots on the course with this thing, and only one mis-hit on account of hitting it way out on the toe.. The other four were beauties..

I am so glad I bought this club. Great on setup, nice smooth swing weight, and LONG!

 

[MikeF]

Only hit 1 driver in today's round and it was a nice one. A little fade into the middle of the fairway left me with a 5i into a Par 5. I am finding I am getting a nice medium height with it set to 10*. I can honestly say I have never felt as confident with a driver as I do my R11

 

[TC]

I'm going to take some pictures of the sole of my R11. I've had it for the bulk of this golf season and it's really starting to show some wear. The ASP plate looks rough. Anyone else noticing this?

 

[MikeF]

Mine isn't yet but it is very early days.

Is it the colour coming off the ASP plate as I have seen plenty of pics of that before?


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- Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk because I am away from my Mac

 

[TC]

Mine isn't yet but it is very early days.

Is it the colour coming off the ASP plate as I have seen plenty of pics of that before?


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- Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk because I am away from my Mac

Yeah, big time. Plus there's some white paint coming off on that sharp edge that surrounds the ASP. I'll snap some pics later and post them.

 

[Kujan]

I dig the look of this driver. Still priced at $399. Any word on when TaylorMade is going to drop the price?

 

[#Cookie]

I dig the look of this driver. Still priced at $399. Any word on when TaylorMade is going to drop the price?

No idea but PM or call Patty with Blind9 golf and she can probably make you a deal.


Tappin' from my iPad!

 

[Mardin]

I thought it was fantastic. I have always found that the 906f2 is great when purely struck, but the misses can be really bad. In this case, the only time I didn't hit this dead straight, it was a slight draw that only strayed about 10 yards off my original line. Couple that with the fact that I can take this to either 14.5 or 16.5 depending on the course I am playing, as well as being able to modify the face angle, and I really don't see the likelihood of there being a better option out there.

Also, the ball flight on this is beauty off the tee. Gets up in a real hurry and then just hangs.

Thanks for the feedback I was really concerned about the ballflight off the tee. I like to use my 5W and in the past my 3W off the tee for tight fairways and shorter par 4's.

 

[versus1ss]

236 Pages i did take the same approach as reading a book, first 5 and last 5 and see where it gets me, lol. So i think i know how i want the Driver when i buy it, 10.5, 14g on the heel and will play with the adjustments. I will get it and the rest of my clubs fitted when i get home but do not have the range time to know if i want or need a different shaft. Now all i have to do is wait to see if the 460cc version comes out before i go home for R&R in Feb.

 

[TC]

236 Pages i did take the same approach as reading a book, first 5 and last 5 and see where it gets me, lol. So i think i know how i want the Driver when i buy it, 10.5, 14g on the heel and will play with the adjustments. I will get it and the rest of my clubs fitted when i get home but do not have the range time to know if i want or need a different shaft. Now all i have to do is wait to see if the 460cc version comes out before i go home for R&R in Feb.

Just so you know, this could be the most unforgiving driver of 2011.

tapatalk: even available for lefties!

 

[Kujan]

Hey TC. Is it less forgiving because it has a 440cc head volume and as a result a smaller sweet spot?

 

[TC]

Hey TC. Is it less forgiving because it has a 440cc head volume and as a result a smaller sweet spot?

Possibly. It's just that if you miss anywhere outside the sweet spot, massive distance loss.

tapatalk: even available for lefties!

 

[10YardDraw]

Possibly. It's just that if you miss anywhere outside the sweet spot, massive distance loss.

tapatalk: even available for lefties!

very massive lol, I loved everything else about the R11 except how unforgiving it was.

 

[Mark]

very massive lol, I loved everything else about the R11 except how unforgiving it was.

I agree with the unforgiving with regards to the driver, a 460 and I am sold faster then something...

The fairway is another beast though and when my driver days present, this thing is trusty. At some points I question why I even have a driver till I notice another 20-30 yards. I really think the R11 FW is solid, solid, solid. I have pondered the ti version for some added forgiveness, but it may be money I can spend on a membership.

 

[SW]

I'm going to take some pictures of the sole of my R11. I've had it for the bulk of this golf season and it's really starting to show some wear. The ASP plate looks rough. Anyone else noticing this?

No. I payed closer attention last night when I was washing my clubs and I can't say it looks worse for wear. The only where I'm noticing from the R11 line is along the face and crown line on my 4 wood, but i think that is coming from hitting it from the rough and catching the ball a little high on the face. I'll post some pics of mine later today.


On another note, I'm still loving the driver. Yes it's unforgving, but I'm starting to see better results on off center hits. One big frustration from my round yesterday though, when tee'd a little lower to hit a low drive in an attempt to get some more run due to wet fairways I really struggled. Like 210 yds struggled, shorter than my 4 wood.

With some swing changes I've been working on I'm debating changing the weights from 11 and 1 to 9 and 2. Picked up a weight kit from a member here so I'll follow with that later, if I can find a 9g weight. Still have the occasional high fade, maybe one a round, but my miss has slowly became a strong draw that certainly borders hooking.

 

[golfinFF]

I bought a 5wd a little while back and truly enjoy hitting this club whether of the deck or off a tee. My typical shot with my driver is a fade or slice, but the R11 5wd give me a nice draw most of the time. I did finally manage to slice it today and it was absolutely terrible slice. This club gets up in the air nicely for me with a great trajectory.

My setup with this club is neutral with a regular flex shaft as I got a higher ball flight and less roll than with a stiff flex.

 

[adwillingham]

I'm going to take some pictures of the sole of my R11. I've had it for the bulk of this golf season and it's really starting to show some wear. The ASP plate looks rough. Anyone else noticing this?

TC - I've noticed the same thing. The paint has worn off the ASP plate.

I agree with the unforgiving with regards to the driver, a 460 and I am sold faster then something...

The fairway is another beast though and when my driver days present, this thing is trusty. At some points I question why I even have a driver till I notice another 20-30 yards. I really think the R11 FW is solid, solid, solid. I have pondered the ti version for some added forgiveness, but it may be money I can spend on a membership.

Mark - I agree with you almost categorically with these statements. I love the technologies in the R11 driver. I love the white paint scheme. I love all the different options that TaylorMade offers shaft-wise. I dislike strongly the lack of directional forgiveness of this driver. I can't wait to see what TaylorMade releases driverwise in the next 6-9 months, and I will consider it strongly if the forgiveness is improved.

Similarly, while the driver does not work well for me, the fairway woods and hybrids do work well for my game.

 

[10YardDraw]

you can pick up a new ASP plate on the bay for like 20-30 bucks, easy fix IMO, Im also very excited to see what taylormade has in store for us over the next year

 

[MikeF]

I'm actually finding my driver to be getting more forgiving for me now I have made a setup adjustment. I actually prefer the smaller head size than the 460cc that my previous driver was

 

[hartattack52]

I have been loving both my 3 and 5 woods. They are so easy to hit. They are the longest fairway woods I have ever hit too. I really hope a 460 driver comes out soon.

 

[arydolphin]

I'm actually finding my driver to be getting more forgiving for me now I have made a setup adjustment. I actually prefer the smaller head size than the 460cc that my previous driver was

I'm feeling the same way right now. My setup change has been in my stance, not setup with the club itself. However, I've basically eliminated the pull hooks that I was struggling with earlier this year. I think that those shots had more to do with my swing than the club itself. I have also found that I can tee the ball a little lower with the club and still get good height on my tee shots.

I do not think that the driver is tremendously unforgiving. I came from a Supertri, and I think that this driver is a better fit for me because it took the spin down a little bit compared to the Supertri, hitting it off-center with the Supertri brought too much sidespin into the equation. I have found with the R11 driver that if you miss the center, it's better to miss on the toe side as opposed to the heel side.

I'm not as fond of the R11 3-wood as I am with the driver. I still don't hit it as well off the deck as I would like, so I'm going to put some more practice into that in the future. I've been hitting the driver well enough that I actually feel more confident with it off of the tee than the 3-wood, so my 3-wood hasn't been used as much as I envisioned. The fairway wood slot in my bag is something that I've always struggled with, so take the criticism of the 3-wood from me with a grain of salt. I do like that I've been able to add a degree of loft on the club through a simple change on the club, then set the ASP to open so the club doesn't look very closed at setup.

 

[MikeF]

I have changed how I position the ball in my stance and where the clubhead sits at address. So far it is has worked wonders on the range and the few times that I have hit driver on the course

 

[Staples]

I'm going to take some pictures of the sole of my R11. I've had it for the bulk of this golf season and it's really starting to show some wear. The ASP plate looks rough. Anyone else noticing this?

My ASP plate on the older R11 is showing some wear and heavy scratches. I have gamed this from the release until the week prior to TMC. There are some other minor scratches on the bottom, but overall it has held up quite well. My old Adams was extremely worn on the bottom.

R11 10.5:
I had been gaming the RIP Beta60 in this head for TMC. I was fit into this back in June and had some success. I managed to keep most of my drives in play in FL and a fair amount in the short grass. I liked the feel of the RIP, but could tell from where tee shots were ending up on my home course that I was not hitting this combo quite as far as I used to. I switched back to my Miyazaki this weekend just for fun to see what happened. Wow, I hit some great drives this weekend! I only hit 2 balls way right this weekend, but they still were playable. Most drives were in the general vicinity of where I aimed and most shots were a nice mid-high trajectory. I did pull a few which is a miss I can live with. It's those high slices that irk me. I would say it was a very successful weekend with the R11 and that it earned a spot in the bag for another week. Maybe the driver got wind that a Razr Hawk may be in order and it started to act right. Hopefully I can get some range time in later in the week, since they are calling for rain for the next few days. I'm looking forward to testing the R11 with the Nunchuck vs the Miyazaki vs the RIP.