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Adams XTD Driver Review

SuperStroke
JB said:
Someone said the exact same thing to me yesterday, but changed the word murdered to neutered.
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I like that version a lot better.
 
It was recently posted "the world is loosing a great brand". Did I MISS the news? Is the ADAMS line now being terminated by TM ?
Their irons for me were just okay but never peaked my interest, but their drivers and hybrids/ fairways were always viable options on my radar. If this is the path TM IS GOING it would be a stupid decision.
 
Adams has been closed and moved into the TaylorMade offices.
Adams is now being transitioned to a "different type of player".
 
So I KNEW THEIR separate office was closed a while back, but the "marketing to a different player" path sounds confusing to me. What an odd way to market a brand. I have been chasing that golf ball for a long time , really at a loss for words to try to understand what this means.
 
some of my favorites are from Adams

Irons - CB3s great set for a wide range of players
Hybrid - We all know the success there, although i don;t care for hybrids in general there's came the closest to staying in the bag.
Driver - 9015D still have it, just not as forgiving as i need right now, XTD finding some good thing with that.
 
Hawk said:
Still gaming it. Just ran out of things to say.

Main feeling right now is that it's very nice and all performance metrics are very good, but still doesn't have that it factor that makes me want to commit. I can't figure out what it is.



They are being internally murdered by their parent brand.
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Cool. Did you ever get any final #s vs the XHot? When the weather warms up, I will do the same and would think it'd be interesting to compare notes.

I personally like the looks of this one. Adams in general though doesn't generate needle moving buzz in most segments outside of hybrids (at least for me).
 
I never did rye. I just sort of settled into this one and forgot.
 
JB said:
An event like #THPLegacy or #TheGrandaddy might be a bit difficult for you then. :D
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Haha not really. I probably exaggerate a bit with the last coment, but I really liked their entire lineup the last year that they were a full service company. Just makes me sad what has happened.

And to be fair, Callaway, Bridgestone, and Wilson Staff are definitely companies I could game full bags of! Especially now that Bridgestone makes putters and true GI irons.
 
So what TM driver shafts fit on to this head?
 
Wednesday the temp got up to 43 or so, sunny, not much wind - since I had not hit my XTD in awhile took it to the range. I have hit it enough now to very safely say that this driver is a real sleeper with good technology. I have found the cup face to be very hot and the flat black head is a real looker. The red tie shaft at 65 grams is a little heavier than what I have in my other drivers but the shaft feels and performs great. The shaft is said to be the real deal red tie, they are premium high end shafts and for me since the red tie is stock in the XTD this is a huge value bonus. I don't really notice the slot area in the crown, don't exactly know why that is the case since it is right there and easily in plain sight. From what I have read this driver is quite forgiving on mishits both laterally and low on the face still keeping good ball speeds and quite acceptable mishit distance. I have not tried to create drastic mishit impacts but I feel the XTD has an impressive amount of forgiveness.

I would not classify this one as a high launcher, it is mid to mid high on the launch with very good penetration. There are quite a few drivers where I need the 9 degree head, this is not one of those, the 10.5 is ideal for me. Distance is very adequate, quite close to my other drivers or the same. In my view when evaluating distance you must consider that the spec length for the XTD is only 45 inches, since my other drivers are 45.5 inch to 45.75 inch, they may on average carry about 5 to 7 yards farther. Having said that, the XTD at 45 inches with the red tie delivers big time in the accuracy department and the head is low enough on spin to provide a very nice amount of roll.
It is also worth noting that the stock iomic grip ( name could be spelled wrong) looks and feels great and the head cover has an expensive look to it.
 
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I just picked up a mint 9* with Real Diamana D+ 62 xstiff for $99! I can't wait to get this to the range and see how it goes. I have 2 SLDR shafts I can try with too, a Blacktie 7m3 X and a Attas Element 70RK X. I really like the look of the head, I Just need mother nature to cooperate!!!!!
 
joekelli said:
I just picked up a mint 9* with Real Diamana D+ 62 xstiff for $99! I can't wait to get this to the range and see how it goes. I have 2 SLDR shafts I can try with too, a Blacktie 7m3 X and a Attas Element 70RK X. I really like the look of the head, I Just need mother nature to cooperate!!!!!
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I am guessing that the trajectory will generally be lower than your SLDR 12. I have an XTD 10.5 AND GO BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN THE STANDARD 10.5 SETTING and setting it up to 11. I have a SLDR 12 SET ON STANDARD and it typically goes QUITE A BIT higher than my XTD. If I TAKE THE XTD up from 10.5 t0 11.5 it gives me moon balls that are way to high and loose roll . Look forward to reading your findings with the XTD.
 
joekelli said:
I just picked up a mint 9* with Real Diamana D+ 62 xstiff for $99! I can't wait to get this to the range and see how it goes. I have 2 SLDR shafts I can try with too, a Blacktie 7m3 X and a Attas Element 70RK X. I really like the look of the head, I Just need mother nature to cooperate!!!!!
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That sounds like a fantastic combo. Have fun man.
 
uman said:
I am guessing that the trajectory will generally be lower than your SLDR 12. I have an XTD 10.5 AND GO BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN THE STANDARD 10.5 SETTING and setting it up to 11. I have a SLDR 12 SET ON STANDARD and it typically goes QUITE A BIT higher than my XTD. If I TAKE THE XTD up from 10.5 t0 11.5 it gives me moon balls that are way to high and loose roll . Look forward to reading your findings with the XTD.
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My SLDR launches too high anyway. I need to trade the 12* for a 10.5. Any other driver I would play at 7* to 8* so the XTD will get turned down to 7.5 to start with and I will go from there. My blacktie shaft has the 2* adapter in it so i can go lower if need be. The Attas shaft is a mid launch if I need it to launch higher. So I think I got it all covered? This should be fun!
 
joekelli said:
My SLDR launches too high anyway. I need to trade the 12* for a 10.5. Any other driver I would play at 7* to 8* so the XTD will get turned down to 7.5 to start with and I will go from there. My blacktie shaft has the 2* adapter in it so i can go lower if need be. The Attas shaft is a mid launch if I need it to launch higher. So I think I got it all covered? This should be fun!
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I really like my SLDR but did not need to loft all the way up to the 12 degree head. Also like you I mostly have gamed drivers at 8.5, 9, or 9.5 lofts. The 10.5 in my XTD does not flight to high and seems ideal for me. Maybe it is the red tie shaft doing some of that, maybe it is a lower spin head than I thought, or maybe the actual loft on mine is a little lower than 10.5. Share your thoughts and settings after you get time to hit the xtd.
 
uman said:
I really like my SLDR but did not need to loft all the way up to the 12 degree head. Also like you I mostly have gamed drivers at 8.5, 9, or 9.5 lofts. The 10.5 in my XTD does not flight to high and seems ideal for me. Maybe it is the red tie shaft doing some of that, maybe it is a lower spin head than I thought, or maybe the actual loft on mine is a little lower than 10.5. Share your thoughts and settings after you get time to hit the XTD. I am in no way thinking the 9 head will not work very well for you, just interested in your follow up review.
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I just picked up a 12* for my dad to try out. He hits everything super low so we are trying a high loft head with low spin shaft to see if he can finally hit driver. The old man is still has a high swing speed, but hits down on everything. Makes him very difficult to fit for any woods.
 
Today I put my stock shaft from my gamer SLDR in my XTD. At the same time put the Red Tie shaft from the XTD in my SLDR. It was my belief that the switch would lower the trajectory some with my Sldr and raise the trajectory some with my XTD. At the range this proved to be exactly what happened. Before I was playing my 10.5 XTD mostly at 11 with some standard 10.5, now I can go down to 10 or maybe 9.5 on the XTD or possibly keep it at standard 10.5, no more increasing loft setting with the XTD.

With my SLDR 12 set at standard the red tie lowered the trajectory enough to make me feel I can keep it at standard rather than set down to a lower loft, or worst case go down to 11.5. From what I was seeing I actually increased distance with my XTD. The SLDR carry is pretty much the same (even though the stock red tie shaft from the XTD IS 1/2 INCH shorter and plays at only 45 inches). The Sldr rolls a little more than before the switch.

This switch is worth keeping in effect. Before the Sldr was longer , now it is almost to close to call. The only other confusion is my R11s goes as for as any of my drivers, good problem to have. Still very positive on the XTD.
 
I took my xtd 9* and sldr 10.5 to the range the other day. I felt like the Sldr just felt better with either shaft. After I got them home I checked the swing weight and the xtd was at c8 and the Sldr was almost d3. I used a TaylorMade weight to replace the xtd weight and got it up to d3.

Last night I went to the range and the xtd was amazing! The swingweight made a huge difference for me.
 
joekelli said:
I took my xtd 9* and sldr 10.5 to the range the other day. I felt like the Sldr just felt better with either shaft. After I got them home I checked the swing weight and the xtd was at c8 and the Sldr was almost d3. I used a TaylorMade weight to replace the xtd weight and got it up to d3.

Last night I went to the range and the xtd was amazing! The swingweight made a huge difference for me.
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Played Saturday and put the XTD in play. I think it is staying in the bag for a while! I couldn't ask for a better ball flight and it cut through the windy conditions beautifully. It did not balloon at all into the wind and side wind really didn't affect it much. Even my miss hits went straight with plenty of distance. I need to go out with the XTD and my SLDR to compare the two now that I have the 10.5 sldr head. I just don't see the sldr beating the XTD as far as forgiveness goes.
 
I am not that much of a club ho. Really I am not... I am very fond of my current driver (not so much the 3 wood; that is the club I need to look for a replacement on). For some reason (currently blaming this thread) I had an impulse buy of a 9 degree head today on ebay. It will probably take me a while to get the shaft I want in but am anxious to see if the added tech provides a discernible upgrade to the 910d2.

Now to have a hiding spot ready for when it arrives.
 
joekelli said:
I took my xtd 9* and sldr 10.5 to the range the other day. I felt like the Sldr just felt better with either shaft. After I got them home I checked the swing weight and the xtd was at c8 and the Sldr was almost d3. I used a TaylorMade weight to replace the xtd weight and got it up to d3.

Last night I went to the range and the xtd was amazing! The swingweight made a huge difference for me.
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Just checked mine
sldr with stock red tie from xtd = 44.85" playing length, D5.5 swing weight
9 degree XTD with st0ck sldr shaft = 45.25" playing length, C-9 swing weight

THE SLDR head weighs more than the XTD - DON'T have a scale to verify gram weight of each.
 
So I got my first official league round in last night with the XTD. I could not have swung the club any worse, I did not hit one shot on the sweetspot!! I was still out driving everyone in my 4some most of the time and hit 4 out of 6 fairways and missed the other 2 by just a couple of feet. The forgiveness of the XTD is amazing!
 
joekelli said:
So I got my first official league round in last night with the XTD. I could not have swung the club any worse, I did not hit one shot on the sweetspot!! I was still out driving everyone in my 4some most of the time and hit 4 out of 6 fairways and missed the other 2 by just a couple of feet. The forgiveness of the XTD is amazing!
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The forgiveness is amazing, i was testing it out end of last year, and had one drive i almost missed the ball, literally caught it on the upper toe. Started right, drew left, 245 middle of the fairway. I wish i would have taken a pic of the face, you could see about 60% of the ball imprint on the upper corner.
 
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