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TaylorMade SLDR Driver - Review Thread

SuperStroke
TaylorMade SLDR Driver - Review Thread

Think of the CG location. Forward. Like a blade iron. The forward CG will create the side to side spin.

I'm guessing.
 
I'm not sure I buy that a low spin driver reducing side spin. If anything, I would think that the increased loft could be a reason that some are seeing less action (draw or fade) on the ball. Speaking from my personal experience, I am see a lot straighter ball flight, but I attribute that to make a huge jump up (2*) in loft.
 
blugold said:
Think of the CG location. Forward. Like a blade iron. The forward CG will create the side to side spin.

I'm guessing.
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If only it were a forged driver head.
 
blugold said:
Think of the CG location. Forward. Like a blade iron. The forward CG will create the side to side spin.

I'm guessing.
Click to expand...

Something to consider. Maybe I am asking the wrong questions as well. It could be true that less spin means less side to side movement, but a club like the SLDR will simply put more spin on a shot like a slice due to the CG.
 
GolfFest said:
Something to consider. Maybe I am asking the wrong questions as well. It could be true that less spin means less side to side movement, but a club like the SLDR will simply put more spin on a shot like a slice due to the CG.
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Which I agree with. But I haven't seen crazy slices or crazy side spins that are unexpected.
 
blugold said:
Which I agree with. But I haven't seen crazy slices or crazy side spins that are unexpected.
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I can still play a cut that I want with this one. Side spin is induced by technique, regardless of what the driver head is.
 
War Eagle said:
I can still play a cut that I want with this one. Side spin is induced by technique, regardless of what the driver head is.
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I'm calling it "technique" from now on. Hehe. I seem to have duck hook technique down pat
 
blugold said:
I'm calling it "technique" from now on. Hehe. I seem to have duck hook technique down pat
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Maybe technique is the wrong word, but you know what I am saying.
 
War Eagle said:
Maybe technique is the wrong word, but you know what I am saying.
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I know exactly what you mean

I'm still calling my duck hook technique. It will make me feel better about it.
 
I'm certainly aware that technique is what causes a slice or hook. I'm just having a hard time seeing how a low spin head will create more spin.

If you hit the center of the face but the club face is 3° open the path you will get some left to right movement regardless of club, but why wouldn't it be less with the SLDR?
 
GolfFest said:
I'm certainly aware that technique is what causes a slice or hook. I'm just having a hard time seeing how a low spin head will create more spin.

If you hit the center of the face but the club face is 3° open the path you will get some left to right movement regardless of club, but why wouldn't it be less with the SLDR?
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Some say there's no such thing as side spin, that the ball has backspin but it is on a different axis (seriously). In that scenario, you are right that a low spin driver would produce less side spin, too.
 
tequila4kapp said:
Some say there's no such thing as side spin, that the ball has backspin but it is on a different axis (seriously). In that scenario, you are right that a low spin driver would produce less side spin, too.
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That's not an idea, it's science. The ball only spins one way - backward. But that backward spin can be on a tilted axis.

ETA: What I can't find further information on though, is whether backspin can resist a tilt of the axis imparted by an outside force. Maybe I should stop looking for the information as it pertains to golf and look at something more general for the answer.
 
I hit a pro's SLDR 430 with a Gold Oban stiff shaft in it today... I took five cuts with it. Glad I did. I just saved myself some cash and ended that ponder. The feel was a lot harder than my Alpha and I didn't gain a thread of distance.
 
Pkielwa said:
I hit a pro's SLDR 430 with a Gold Oban stiff shaft in it today... I took five cuts with it. Glad I did. I just saved myself some cash and ended that ponder. The feel was a lot harder than my Alpha and I didn't gain a thread of distance.
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The feel is why i like it over the Alpha i prefer a firmer feel off the face
 
JB said:
That is pretty shocking an interesting statement.
Especially considering the R11 head was quite low spin (some saw lower spin than the SuperDeep) (me included).
It goes against quite a bit of what I have learned in regards to club design. While the ball spins on only one axis, side spin and back spin are quite different in terms of cause.

Glad its working for you.
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I saw the same thing with my R11. That was a really good driver, BTW.

As for the SLDR, a friend of mine picked up the white version a month ago and I played with him on Saturday for this first time since he got it. The first 4 holes he was complaining about how the ball barely got into the air. I asked him what loft he set the driver to and he said it was on the default 10.5 that he bought it as. I told him to try lofting it up as high as he could and trying it. He made the change and the ball was soaring into the air and he was 25 yards farther than before.
 
Revisited the SLDR today, something I thought I would never do, but a buddy wanted to unload his 12 degree 460 for $200. I can sell it on Ebay for more than that, so I bought it.

Backstory: I bought a 9.5 degree 460 back in August of last year and hated it. I couldn't get it off the deck even when I dialed up to eleven. I didn't find the face very forgiving and many shots just came off feeling dead. But this was before the whole "Loft up" campaign, which got me thinking that maybe I was playing the wrong loft.

Cut to today. Still have a SLDR version of my Opti's shaft, so that factor is the same. Took it to the range for a big bucket side by side with my Opti, set it to 12 and slight draw. It was just fine. Ball flight looked normal, forgiveness felt normal. It didn't look particularly long, so I took it out to the course for a quick 9, hitting two balls on each hole. Hit 5 of 6 fairways, 2 drives measured 295 to 300, and it tied the Opti winning 3 drives each. 2 other SLDR drives were hit badly, I thought, but they skidded out with that low spin to 250 to 270. It sounded a little tinny and you can really feel the mishits, but I felt pretty confident with it.

I'm not ready to dump the Opti, but I can't really complain about the SLDR anymore.
 
mark blanchard said:
Revisited the SLDR today, something I thought I would never do, but a buddy wanted to unload his 12 degree 460 for $200. I can sell it on Ebay for more than that, so I bought it.

Backstory: I bought a 9.5 degree 460 back in August of last year and hated it. I couldn't get it off the deck even when I dialed up to eleven. I didn't find the face very forgiving and many shots just came off feeling dead. But this was before the whole "Loft up" campaign, which got me thinking that maybe I was playing the wrong loft.

Cut to today. Still have a SLDR version of my Opti's shaft, so that factor is the same. Took it to the range for a big bucket side by side with my Opti, set it to 12 and slight draw. It was just fine. Ball flight looked normal, forgiveness felt normal. It didn't look particularly long, so I took it out to the course for a quick 9, hitting two balls on each hole. Hit 5 of 6 fairways, 2 drives measured 295 to 300, and it tied the Opti winning 3 drives each. 2 other SLDR drives were hit badly, I thought, but they skidded out with that low spin to 250 to 270. It sounded a little tinny and you can really feel the mishits, but I felt pretty confident with it.

I'm not ready to dump the Opti, but I can't really complain about the SLDR anymore.
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Lofting up seems to have worked for you
 
Hit absolute bombs with the driver today. Really feels comfortable at 12*. Had 9i and SW into just about every par 4. Too bad I didn't make any puts outside of 10 feet all day! Seems like when one part of the game clicks then another goes south.
 
ehamady.6 said:
Hit absolute bombs with the driver today. Really feels comfortable at 12*. Had 9i and SW into just about every par 4. Too bad I didn't make any puts outside of 10 feet all day! Seems like when one part of the game clicks then another goes south.
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Same thing always seems to happen to me
 
Have the driver bug. I need to sell my Seemore z2c tour limited and get a driver. Just spent about 2 hrs at golfsmith. The club fitter noticed me opening my left shoulder forcing me to swing across my body and I went from 235 yard averages to hitting draws (and a few hooks) to an average of 280. Mind you, it's a big spread because I was hitting power fades and slices killing my distances. The SLDR 430 was the longest club I hit. I loved the look of the silver S model. The 460 SLDR TP was short for me. Must be too heavy a shaft for me. The i25 and bio cell (my 2 favs coming in, without hitting them) were ok but not as consistent even though I hit a few 290 with the i25. My dispersion was all over. Hit the most hooks with it too. The covert and covert tour didn't do much for me even though I love the look in hand. Now I want to go to the range and master this draw.
 
Taylormade's custom order process is down for a few weeks and I had an iron fitting at the Taylormade Performance Lab near me that was enough to convince me to go back this week or next for the rest of the bag.

The fitting confirmed that I need to be in heavy x-flex shafts and also that I need to be in something shorter than stock length in irons so I'm sure I'd benefit from the same in my woods. Especially since I've been playing heavy, low launch, low spin, X flex shafts in my woods.

I posted comments on the iron fitting in the SLDR Iron thread:

http://www.thehackersparadise.com/forum/showthread.php?57981-TaylorMade-SLDR-Irons-Preview/page34
 
I saw Girardcorp hit my SLDR today. He put a beautiful baby draw on a ball that ended out about 285. He immediately tried to buy it off of me.
 
TaylorMade SLDR Driver - Review Thread

blugold said:
I saw Girardcorp hit my SLDR today. He put a beautiful baby draw on a ball that ended out about 285. He immediately tried to buy it off of me.
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Best drive of the day and naturally it's not my club....


Tappin from the iPhone
 
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