Do The Taylormade R11 Driver's Many Adjustments Make It A Better Club?
For me, the jury is still out on whether or not adjustable drivers are really worthwhile. However, lots of better golfers than me swear by them. Two independent reviewers give their opinions on TaylorMade's latest adjustable driver - the R11.
Online, March 17, 2011 (Newswire.com) - The Taylormade R11 Driver is the latest in a long line of adjustable drivers.
It allows you to adjust the loft of the club to increase or lower the launch trajectory of your drives.
An adjustable sole plate allows you to change the angle of the club face at address to counteract hooks or slices.
You can play around with the club's centre of gravity by placing weights in the heel and toe of the club head.
This all sounds a bit too complicated for a simple weekend golfer like me, but the R11 has had some favourable reviews by people who are a lot more knowledgeable than me. Read what Ryan Ballengee from Pro Golf Talk, and Dave 'The Orlando Golf Blogger' have to say about this club in their reviews below.
A handful of rounds with the TaylorMade R11 (Ryan):
TaylorMade enjoys quite a subtle marketing advantage over its competition in every PGA Tour telecast in 2011. Each time a player takes the headcover off of their driver or fairway woods, and they're painted white, the millions watching at home has a good chance of knowing that said player is hitting a TaylorMade club. It could be a Burner, but is likely an R11.
And that's just the reaction I got when I first took the headcover off of the R11 that TaylorMade sent me early in the year. With snow as white as the clubhead on the ground for a few months, it wasn't until February that I could finally unleash the R11 on the range, then the course.
Instantly, the early birds who hit the range early in the mid-Atlantic flocked to the club.
"Oh, that's that white driver, huh?"
"How do you like that new white driver?" (Quite a bit, thank you. Want to take a poke with it?)
While I was beating the R11 on the range like I did the R9 460 before that (though I kept the Nike VR driver in my bag for 2010), it wasn't until I got onto the course that I could truly experience it.
From a sheer aesthetic perspective, the R11 driver is not distracting. The flat paint that ghosts the driver is quite soothing actually. The black face of the club also blends well with the crown of the head, which is what we stare at before the moment of truth. It may be a fashion statement more than anything - or an easy marketing statement for TaylorMade - but the white crown creates a slightly different firing of the neurons in my head.
The thing I notice more about the R11 than its color is its weight. It's light. Noticeably lighter than other drivers I have played, and that's carrying a stiff flex. Usually, adjustable drivers feel like they carry a little extra weight because, to be able to change things like lie, loft and face angle, there has to be a functional weight move. Not so with the R11.
To be perfectly honest, I've never been one to mess with the adjustability of clubs. The concept is fascinating, but my game is predicated on hitting the ball straight with a slight draw or fade. I'm the anti-Bubba Watson. Working the ball is a pipe dream for me. But the R11 still caters to me.
Visit the link below to read Ryan's full review:
http://electricgolftrolleysonline.co.uk/blog/golf-equipment/taylormade-r11-driver-review
TaylorMade R11 Driver Review (Dave):
A couple months back I visited the Grand Cypress TaylorMade Performance Lab for a custom driver fitting. It was an awesome experience and if you ever get the opportunity, I highly recommend checking it out. It was determined that the driver I had been hitting, the Cleveland DST Launcher was completely wrong for me. It was too light and too "whippy." Which, I suppose I knew..
Isn't it crazy how every time you try a new club, it always starts out AWESOME and then after a while (typically when the return policy expires) your drives devolve to where they were before you picked up the new club? I eventually got this driver back on track with a different shaft.. but I digress.
From the fitting, I was originally going to be reviewing a R9 SuperTri with a stiff flex Aldila Rip Beta 70 shaft, but much to my pleasure, we switched it up for the nine degree TaylorMade R11 with both the stock Fujikura shaft and the Aldila Beta.
Visit the link below to read Dave's full review:
http://electricgolftrolleysonline.co.uk/blog/golf-equipment/taylormade-r11-driver-review