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TaylorMade R15 TP Driver - THP Review

SuperStroke
I bought one yesterday and absolutely love it, I agree about the distance being comparable to the SLDR but I think one is a little more consistent. I love the launch
 
I'd like to hit the non-TP. Need to find a place/way to.
 
Jman said:
I'd like to hit the non-TP. Need to find a place/way to.
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I believe I have both here. Next time I see you at a THP Event, you can play it.
 
JB said:
I believe I have both here. Next time I see you at a THP Event, you can play it.
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Nice, thank you! Let's face it, we both know it's not a driver that's for me, but I do like to hit everything still for a baseline.
 
Had another range session with this after work.

On misses on the face on the heel side of center the SLDR felt a little dead to me. My feel right now is the R15 is a huge improvement on that miss.
 
Had my first "real" range session today. Prior to this, I was buying crap balls and shooting them in my field. So range is open!!! Haha

i must say....the 430 with adilia 110 rogue is pure awesome!!!!
ok first off, there was a strong wind 30-50 km straight in the face. Cold too.
The R15 430 ate up he wind no problem!!! I was hitting the back of the netting....250 yrds +.....in the wind!!!
oh my god this club is the real deal. The sound off it is a real high ting too.
As for the dispersion....the shots were tight.....and dead straight....no slice...which is my thing.
To be honest my.fordt 5 swings were worm burners. I took a rest and thought about t*t and remembered a "trick" to driving. Hahahah long story. After that though....kapow!!!! All back of the range netting. Some guys beside me were curious about the r15. I let hem hit a few.

Also, if you are wondering about the r15 3 and 5 woods...they are even more easier to hit.

The 3 wood was going far as the driver!!

just for kicks I had a tour green stuff driver I had just bought driver length. I slapped it on the 3 wood. And OMG I dontnknownif its he shaft...or shaft length or combo of both but man the 3 wood is PURE GRAVY!!

On on a side note; I bought RSi1 3 and 4 irons....which are same degrees and 3 and 5 woods. And those to irons are dead straight and juicy straight too. I am in a tough situation here.



Thank you Taylormade!!!!

ps: I am so happy I upgraded from

r1/sldr
r11 4 wood
r11 irons

I for one can see the difference in the technology...like night and day.
 
The 3 and 4 irons are the same lofts as your 3 and 5 wood? Something must be wrong here.
 
I had an extended range session today. I put the black tie in to try and get a better comparison as that is what I played in my SLDR. No numbers, but I definitely think the R15 launches higher that the SLDR. I even put the loft down to 7.5º and was still having no problem getting the ball up in the air with a moderately high flight.

I am still having a little trouble hitting a right to left shot with this. I have to close off my stance a little more and really try where the sldr everything was right to left. The R15 wants to go straight or fade slightly, and there is nothing wrong with that. If it is consistent I can plan for that. I pulled out my 3 wood and had no trouble turning it over. On holes where I need that kind of flight I will have to play 3 wood. The big plus to this tradeoff is the snap hook I had with the SLDR appears to be gone.

So far just range sessions, hoping to see what happens when I get it out on the course.
 
JB said:
The 3 and 4 irons are the same lofts as your 3 and 5 wood? Something must be wrong here.
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Oops....they were -1 degree each from the 3 and 5 woods. :D
 
I've had about 5-6 range sessions with this now and am really starting to feel dialed in. I made some slight swing adjustment and am having an easier time hitting a draw with this, but it mostly just wants to go straight. Not seeing a whole lot of movement either way and that is just fine.

I feel like this is everything I was looking for with the SLDR. My big miss, the low spinning hook is gone with the R15.
 
TaylorMade R15 TP Driver - THP Review

A bit lengthy, sorry. But my first real life experience with this club.

Well I had my first outdoor range session of the year and it was to try the R15 TP that came in this week.

I went through a normal range warm up meaning about 20 gap wedge shots, then 10 each with the 9,7,5 and then 10 drives with my current Optiforce just to get a feel how I was hitting it.

I had the driver set at 10.5 and neutral.

It was a cool 48 degrees out and a little breeze so not optimal conditions. The first couple Optiforce drives were low and off the heel and had predictable poor results then I found a little groove and hit four or five nice fades maybe 210 or so. Tough to get an exact idea of where they landed. Then trying to really reach back for a little extra I sliced the last two badly.

On to the R15. I kept it at the factory settings to begin with. Standard loft 10.5 and both weights in the center.

The first couple were low right squirrelly ones off the heel again. I was probably a bit amped up. So I slowed down and made sure to go through my normal preshot routine of stepping back visualizing the line and then getting ready to hit. Just one swing thought make a full turn.

I hit a few pretty nice medium height fades that may have been about the same distance as the Optiforce. Those were ok , but I felt I could do better.

So I adjusted the loft up to 12.0 and moved the weights halfway over to the heel not quote the max draw but almost there.

Paydirt!! The ball went higher much more like the height I used to see a couple years ago. And the ball went steaight as an arrow and I'm guessing here but carried about 10 to 15 yards farther then the Optforce. It easily carried the 200 yard sign where the Optiforce barely cleared it by maybe 10 yards.

I really liked that ball flight. I wanted to try the configuration of max forgiveness which according to TM is one weight in the max draw setting and one in the max fade setting. But I was getting short on time.

As for the look of the driver I think it's stunning. Just about as classic looking as you can get at address. Love black face and head.

The sound was a great change from the Optiforce. A nice sounding twack.

The upgraded speeder evolution shaft felt very smooth and I felt I was able transfer energy into the ball pretty well.

I'm looking forward to getting it on the course and maybe getting some LM numbers with it when I get a chance.
 
I've been hitting this a lot, I have some more opinions on it.

Compared to the SLDR regarding misses on the face, I feel that a shot missed towards the heel side of center is significantly more forgiving distance wise. Shots missed toward the toe side are slightly more forgiving distance wise.

I also feel like the weights actually work, and are not just a gimmick. I have played around with them, testing them at both the draw and the fade setting and I feel like I get more of the shape it is set to. This could completely be a placebo or mental, expecting setting up that I am going to hit a certain shape and then subconsciously swinging for that type of flight. I don't think it would change a big miss into the opposite, just help a little. However I really like what I am seeing from both weights in the center. I'm finding the center of the club pretty consistently and when I do this thing just goes.
 
GolfFest,
I may be incorrect here, but you mentioned not struggling with the forgiveness of the SLDR either correct? I may be mistaken but I know some in there said they saw no difference in any drivers, etc.
 
JB said:
GolfFest,
I may be incorrect here, but you mentioned not struggling with the forgiveness of the SLDR either correct? I may be mistaken but I know some in there said they saw no difference in any drivers, etc.
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I'll try to clarify. I've talked about it a lot, I'll have to dig up the old posts. My miss with the sldr was sort of a low spinning hook, it would start out right and start to hook pretty hard and I guess kind of take a dive. It was pretty penal distance wise, but the way it died I would almost always end up in play. So it still worked for me though. When I demoed the Alpha 815 it hit a couple of hook shots that were way left, and way out of bounds. Less loss of ball speed so more forgiveness by the traditional definition, but out of play. So the less forgiving club was more forgiving to my scorecard.

From October:

GolfFest said:
There is definitely some distance loss on this club but I am ok with it. Sometimes it means hitting an approach with a hybrid instead of short irons and that isn't ideal, but I have taken so few penalties with this club. Bad shots always seem to end up in play. Good shots leave me with a couple of clubs less than my last driver.

Purely anecdotal I know but the club has been working for me.
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A few more months with this in the bag. I have mixed thoughts on it. I definitely like it more than the SLDR as I don't fight the snap hook with it, but that could be completely my current swing. Some days I hit it really well, and others just ok.

With the distances I am hitting every other club in the bag right now I feel like I should be getting a little more out of the R15 than I am on a regular basis. I got on a launch monitor today and hit it against the aeroburner, XR, d2 and d3 to see if any of those were a better fit but the R15 was the clear winner for me out of the group so it is staying in the bag.

I like it, not love it, but out of the 5-6 times I have put it head to head against other clubs the R15 has always come out the winner no matter if I am swinging well or poorly.
 
I hit this driver again today. Long and straight with maybe a tail of a draw.

I maintain my opinion from earlier in the year. For someone not pursuing added spin who can hit center face, it's top tier.
 
It was a little windy today, I decided to put the black tie back in, loft it up a degree and move the weights out to each side. Loved the flight, high and piercing with very little side to side movement. I think give keep it like that for a little while.
 
I have one of these on the way for my ten year anniversary gift at my job. I'm kind of geeked up to get it and get it fit to me. I haven't had a new driver, ever. I'm still playing my Adams 9015D from what seems like 112 years ago, that I bought used. I like my old driver, and get great results with it. It's still as long as, or longer than anything anyone I play with brings to the table, but I've been looking at it for so long that I'm ready for a change. I made a few swings with my course pro's SLDR with AD Di6 last year, and really thought that shaft felt great, so I may try to source one for the R15 when it gets here.

So anyway, thanks for the insight from all those here that have reported back on their experiences with this driver. I'm quite looking forward to getting this in the bag and seeing if all the new tech makes a difference for me.
 
I have the 430 version in my bag now and love it!!! Coming from an R9 super deep, the full size head was just too big to look at for me. I am just as long, if not longer, and a lot more consistent now that I made the switch.


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TaylorMade R15 TP Driver - THP Review

The R15 and I had a perma break up this weekend. Going back full time to my R1. I just can't take the closed look at address. I think if I could get a tour issue head I'd be back on the bandwagon but I just hit my R1 more consistent than the R15. I even put the head on eBay last night so I'm not tempted.


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I went to the GS store today to hit the R15 offerings ahead of ordering my free one from my work anniversary. The store didn't have a lot of different shafts, but they had all lofts in both sizes. The 430 flat out blows the 460 away for me. Lower spin, better launch, misses were not punished any more than with the 460 size, and the 430 looks more like a golf club than the 460 does. It's got a deeper face than the 460, which looks like a flying saucer to me. Low, flat, wide and round. I didn't mess around with adjustability. The 9.5 degree 430 I hit with the stock speeder 57 and the weights both at "neutral" was awfully good. Averages were 106 club speed, 158 ball speed, 13 degree launch, and 2400 back spin. I think I can get the spin down by turning the loft down a notch, but the total distance really doesn't say I need to. I still want to play around with some different shafts when I get it. The local TM course guy has a pile of shafts to try, so I'll be paying him a visit when I get my club.
 
I've had mixed reviews with the few swings I've had with my R15. Note I haven't messed with the weights to date. Initial impressions...long, impartial to the sound, and wicked slice.

What have you guys found to work with the weights?


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Good TM R15 Driver Adjustment Article

Good TM R15 Driver Adjustment Article

Thought some other people would benefit from this article I found online. It goes into great detail about all the adjustments you can make with the TM R15 driver.

http://www.foregolf.ie/blog/2015/03/how-to-adjust-the-taylormade-r15-driver

My biggest thing I got from it was how the weights don't necessarily help as much with draw/fade bias, but ball speed/stability. Played yesterday with my new settings (after reading the article) and was driving the ball a lot better.
 
Just wanted to throw an update out there on my new settings on my R15 460.
I have one weight out towards the toe so that the letters "F" and "E" only show, then have the other weight near the Neutral setting so that the right edge is just before the letter "N".
The club feels so much more stable and my ball flight is exactly where I want it, dead straight or a slight fade. So happy I figured things out!
 
Just bought the R15 black head, Speedster 57 gram regular shaft, 9.5 deg head. Will be playing tomorrow, unless it rains which is predicted, and will post back results from the first round with it. Currently hitting a Titleist 913 D2, Bassara 50 gram shaft, 9.5 deg. Hit a demo R15 at Golf Galaxy and really liked everything about it. Set the sliders away from each other for larger sweet spot. Felt real good, but we'll see tomorrow. :golf:

Update for Monday Oct 5th. Raining today. We sure need the rain too. Will play Thursday and let you know how it went with the R15 and the 2nd round with the new Ping G-Max irons.

Played today, 8 Oct, and Wow, just WOW. First couple hits were too high on the face, teed up too high. Lowered the ball and just hammered it. One drive went 239 and was hit centered on the clubface, low launch angle and nice roll out. Love it. I did cut 1/2" off the shaft length, now it's 45" long and installed a Golf Pride Tour Velvet Super Tack Midsize grip before todays round. I have the sliders as far apart as possible and really works well for my swing. Couldn't be happier with the new driver. :banana: :clapp: :drinks: :joy:

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