We've launched the new forums! Read more here

TaylorMade SLDR Driver - Review Thread

SuperStroke
Paladin said:
I didn't specify what shaft I wanted in this club. All things being equal, I'm new to the world of club customization at that level, so I'm interested in trying out a wide range of shaft options. That being said, it is interesting that I've now got two heads both rocking the same shaft, so it's interesting to me that they feel pretty different in the hand and to swing.

Like I said earlier, I don't want this to be a "SLDR vs. Amp Cell" review, but maybe TaylorMade has forced my hand!

9ikg.jpg
Click to expand...

It's gonna be hard to not make this a SLDR v "x" driver. But I'm with you on that
 
ATLGolfer said:
Excellent start, Paladin. Keep up the good work.


I'm interested to see how you like the 12* loft. I understand that the SLDR is a intended to be a high launch, low spin driver. Did you choose the 12* loft! or was it assigned to you?
Click to expand...

arydolphin said:
Did the testers also submit what shaft they wanted to play in this club or did TM pick the shaft for them? I'm just wondering about the Fuel shaft because the Fujikura Speeder shafts are the stock shafts for the standard and TP model of this club, but the Fuel is a custom shaft upgrade.
Click to expand...

JB covered both of these questions. But thought I would follow up as well. TaylorMade asked each of us a few questions about our current setup, including current driver, loft, shaft and shaft flex. They took that information and paired us with a SLDR setup that would be ideal for our game.

With the low spin of the head of the SLDR, and seeing what the Tour guys are doing, I completely understand why they would have gone up a bit in loft for us...and I am excited about it.
 
I like that TM upped the loft for the testers. I think it will make things interesting
 
ddec said:
I like that TM upped the loft for the testers. I think it will make things interesting
Click to expand...

After hitting the 10.5 head, I can absolutely see the benefit of upping the loft in this one. Similar to what I have seen in other low spin heads, going up in loft is a no brainer
 
War Eagle said:
After hitting the 10.5 head, I can absolutely see the benefit of upping the loft in this one. Similar to what I have seen in other low spin heads, going up in loft is a no brainer
Click to expand...

I'm glad TM made that decision for us. I would have picked the same loft I currently play, 10.5*, it it could have been the completely wrong decision.
 
JB said:
TaylorMade Golf has been working on fitting with this head with their tour pros. More than 65% of their tour pros are fit for higher loft than they previously played, so TaylorMade decided to go 1 up on the loft for each tester.
Click to expand...

Wow, this is going to be interesting to see what reactions will be to this. Very interesting.
 
War Eagle said:
After hitting the 10.5 head, I can absolutely see the benefit of upping the loft in this one. Similar to what I have seen in other low spin heads, going up in loft is a no brainer
Click to expand...

Knowing your game, I would tend to agree with you on that. Going to be interesting to follow
 
Well, there's a pretty box sitting in my living room. Pictures and initial thoughts coming shortly
 
PhillyV said:
Well, there's a pretty box sitting in my living room. Pictures and initial thoughts coming shortly
Click to expand...
Looking forward to it, Philly.
 
Well, first off I want to take this opportunity to thank THP and TaylorMade for the chance to be a part of this testing! Many of us here at THP are very intrigued by this driver because of the great info already released and I will do my best to add my input. But first, a little bit about me and my game.

My name is Phil and I'm 26. I work at a steel mill in Cleveland. In my spare time, it's either spent with my 3 year old son and my wife of almost 4 years or it's on the golf course. I played football all through grade school, middle school and high school. I really didn't start to pick up the game until I was about 15 or so. I've always been able to hit the ball a long way, but rarely with control. Recently, I've made some fixes to my swing and right now, the tee box is where I'm most confident. My swing speed is around 110mph and my current driver is the R11s stiff flex stock rip phenom shaft set to 9*. But enough about me, let's get to this beauty of a driver.

I totally fell in love with the white drivers. And it was never something that took any adjustment for me. I was always comfortable with the white. But the second I held this and looked down at the top of this driver, I felt like I was at home ready to eat my moms best home cooked meal.
4y8egaga.jpg


a8ajapep.jpg

There are a couple things that instantly stand out to me. One is the bottom of the head. To me, the R1 just has a lot going on and kind of takes away from the simplicity of it. With the sliding weight, it's as easy as it gets and the blue and silver look great together.
yvupe2e9.jpg

The weight slides easier than expected. Very smooth slide yes doesn't drift away from the spot you want when tightening the screw.

The graphics on the top of the crown are simple yet perfect. After looking at the SLDR then looking down at the R11s, you start to look at things other than how the ball is set up to the club
6e6yqura.jpg
egu2uje8.jpg


The shaft in my SLDR is the TP Fujikura Motore Speeder. It's Stiff 67grams Tour Spec 6.3. This will be my first TP driver so I'm interested in that aspect of the testing as well
rymadetu.jpg
a4aje7yj.jpg

Now this club is noticeably lighter than my R11s but yet I feel like I have a lot more control of this club and I know where it is in my swing at all times.

Maybe it's the black face on the R11s, but the SLDR face seems to be a little bit bigger and I'm completely fine by that.
manedeqe.jpg
jygysasu.jpg


I am gonna try my absolute hardest to get to a range today. If I don't get there today, I will tomorrow morning. I plan on putting this driver through a complete test so if you guys have any questions at all, please feel free to ask. Thanks again THP and TaylorMade!!
 
Nice to see a mix of shafts being sent out to the testers. Looking forward to more reviews for this one!
 
I thought this was cute as well. Turned my head for one second and my son decided he wanted to take a picture of his putter with a ball too
y9emy2et.jpg
 
Great writeup, Philly!
 
Nice pictures and writeup Philly!
 
Great starting write ups PhillyV and Paladin! Looking forward to some more once you get a chance to hit it and work with the adjustability.
 
This headcover is another improvement. No breaking in needed for this to go on easy and come off easy.
uvyjybas.jpg

Where my thumb is is the handle for easy removal
 
Well I won't be getting to the range tonight. But tomorrow morning TyJohnston and I will be on the range around 9:30 and hopefully we will get a round in after. I'm looking forward to putting in some solid work with this driver tomorrow
 
Snuck out to the range this afternoon after attending boards all day. Took about 50 or 60 cuts with the SLDR while bouncing around with other clubs. I freely admit my swing in general is a work in progress, and one of my biggest headaches is addressing the ball too close, crowding it out and making an inside-out swing path really difficult, resulting in a slice and hitting the club on the heel. It took a good while to overcome this bad habit with the SLDR, so the heel is peppered with impacts and I fought a slice. Once I was able to get a better address position without reaching for the ball, I did a little bit of tinkering to try and make for a more consistent and slightly lower ball flight. I lowered the loft a little bit, and slid the weight one tick mark toward the "draw" side. While I wouldn't say it's dialed in, I think it's getting there. Hopefully I can get nicely tuned in on Saturday and have some good yardage numbers, but I'd say square shots on the screws are comparable to similar shots with my current gamer, just a little harder to come by. Maybe it's the slightly lighter weight, or firmer-feeling shaft, but it took awhile to get over wanting to cast the club. Probably mostly just me, but I was able to pull my gamer out and hit draws easily. Some of that probably has to do with comfort level with the club.

I am going to say I like the sound of this club. Certainly a bit loud, but far more muted than most modern drivers. Impacts on or near the center of the face mix in a pleasing crump sound as well as the metallic ping, while off-center hits sound very metallic. Feedback is similarly good, with off-center hits feeling suitably unpleasant through the shaft and into the hands.

Lastly, my complaints about the stock grip continue. Not only is it too hard, and not tacky at all, but it left a black chalky residue on my right hand. I usually practice with no glove, but had zero confidence I would be able to keep good grip pressure without the glove. Planning to swap it out with either a Golf Pride Niion or Tour Velvet this weekend.

Anyhow, pictures of my consistent heel-side impact, and the settings I've got the club set to currently. Glad I got all this out of my system so I'm hopefully not wasting launch monitor time this weekend.
04yy.jpg
z83v.jpg
 
Glad you got out to hit it today. And thanks for the input. What degree loft are you at now? 11.5?
 
Great reviews gentleman. Definitely intrested in how these work for your driving game.



I'm Just Tap Tap Tapping...
 
PhillyV said:
Glad you got out to hit it today. And thanks for the input. What degree loft are you at now? 11.5?
Click to expand...
11 flat. I'll reset it back to neutral settings when I go get on the LM Saturday, but I wanted to get an idea of the weight movement influencing the shot shape as well as the loft/face angle changing.

It's worth noting that, for me, setting the slide weight at the edge of the draw setting had the opposite effect. It was nearly impossible to avoid casting the club and avoid an outside-in arc, resulting in a slice. And when I did succeed it getting a proper movement through the ball, the face closed so quickly I generated a pull-hook. So a two-way miss of the worst kind was found. I'm not sure if there are similar effects if the weight is at the outer edge of the fade setting. Didn't try it.
 
Canadan said:
Hey Paladin, are the lengths of your two drivers different?
Click to expand...

By a quarter inch. The Amp Cell is 45.75" and the SLDR is 45.5". I choke up about an inch on both. Force of habit after years of being short.
 
Hey Paladin, what kind of trajectory were you seeing? I found it to be much lower than my Stage 2 or Cell, possibly due to low spin. Going up to 13* did not seem to help with that. Great for hard fairways where you can get some roll time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top