by Shawn Zawodni , Miles of Golf Membership Fitter
It’s white! Really all the line of TaylorMade steel woods for 2011 are white. The explanation for the white head, in line with TaylorMade, is that it makes the pinnacle look bigger and evokes confidence at deal with. It additionally has a matte end that’s designed to remove glare from the crown, it doesn’t matter what angle the solar is at. The face, in addition to a few of the sole, is black making a heavy distinction with the white crown. TaylorMade says that their tour gamers actually just like the distinction of the white crown with the black face, and that it makes it simpler to align the face with the goal.
The massive information concerning the TaylorMade R11 driver is the quantity of adjustability that’s constructed into the membership. The adjustable hosel is identical adjustable hosel because the R9 driver, nonetheless the labeling has modified. As an alternative of Left and Proper on the hosel indicating a closed or open face, the hosel says Larger and Decrease referring to the ball flight. For each diploma the face is closed, it raises the efficient loft of the driving force, and conversely for opening the face. The R11 driver might be adjusted as much as 1 full diploma from its commonplace loft by adjusting the shaft. The brand new floor breaking adjustment that’s an business first is the adjustable sole plate that truly modified how the driving force sits on the bottom at deal with. The only real might be adjusted to take a seat closed 2*, open 2*, or impartial relying on desire or desired shot form. If you’re a participant who hovers the membership above the ball then the only plate won’t have any impact on the shot.
Tech Specs
The TaylorMade R11 driver is available in two completely different configurations like all TaylorMade drivers, a normal model and a Tour Most popular (TP) mannequin. There isn’t any distinction between the heads, nonetheless the TP driver has a premium shaft. The TP shaft listing is intensive and affords all varieties of shafts with completely different weights, torques, flexes, and bend profiles to customized match all several types of golfers.
The inventory shaft is a proprietary Fujikura Blur shaft weighing in at 60 grams. The shaft has a medium-low torque of three.5 levels and creates a mid to mid-high launch. That is the shaft that was used for my testing. The accessible lofts are 8*, 9*, 10.5*, and 12*. As famous above, the loft might be adjusted as a lot as one diploma in both route to lift or decrease ball flight and alter spin as much as 1000 rpm’s. I personally noticed a 500 rpm distinction in testing. The size of the driving force is 45¾” for the inventory driver and 45” for the TP.
Efficiency
The driving force I examined within the Miles of Golf Cluboratory was the 9 diploma R11 with the inventory 60 gram X flex Fujikura Blur shaft. After adjusting to the completely different look of the membership, the driving force felt very comfy in my arms. The Blur shaft feels steady all through the swing and thru impression. I first examined the driving force with a impartial setup. The only real plate was set to impartial, the hosel was set to impartial, and the load was within the heel, which is the way it comes off of the shelf. The second setting I examined the driving force in was all left. The hosel was set within the Larger place or closed, the only plate was set to closed and the heavy weight was within the heel. The third take a look at was with the driving force within the all proper place, the hosel was within the decrease place or open, the only plate was set to open, and the heavy weight is within the toe.
The efficiency information from a TrackMan launch monitor within the Miles of Golf Cluboratory
was as follows:
Ball Pace | Launch Angle | Spin Charge | Distance | Aspect Dispersion | |
Impartial | 166.7 (mph) | 10.6 (deg) | 3175 (rpm) | 293.6 (yds) | 6.3 yds left |
Closed (excessive) | 166.7 | 9.3 | 3121 | 291.4 | 33.5 yds left |
Open (low) | 169.2 | 10.0 | 2990 | 301.6 | 1.2 yds left |
Customized Match | 170.9 | 8.5 | 2690 | 307.4 | 6.1 yds proper |
The launch angle modified 2 deg. for me between the impartial setting that launched the best and the customized match driver that launched the bottom. The route additionally modified considerably between the completely different settings. With the driving force within the full closed place, I averaged 33 yards left of the centerline. My pure shot with a driver is a draw to start with and this simply exaggerated it. There isn’t a lot distinction between the Impartial and the Open positions for me when it comes to route, they’re inside 6 yards of one another, nonetheless there’s a distinction in velocity and spin. The Open (low) place did launch 2.5mph sooner than the impartial setting due to effectivity. Since my tendency is to close the face down, an open face with the heavy weight out on the toe really helped me maintain the face sq. to my path making a extra strong shot and extra ball velocity. The explanation the open setting spun 200 rpm’s decrease than the impartial setting is due to the decrease efficient loft on the open driver. Because the clubface is opened, the efficient loft is lowered if the clubface is delivered again to sq.. The Closed (excessive) setting simply went left for me. I feel this setting shall be nice for individuals who have points with a fade, or dare I say a slice. The ultimate set-up was customized match for me. I changed the inventory X flex shaft with a Mitsubishi Diamana Kaili 80 X. The shaft weighs 81 grams and has a really low 2.8 deg. of torque. The heavier, stiffer shaft helped decrease my spin fee right down to 2690rpms and straightened out the ball flight, making a extra penetrating flight that elevated my complete distance.
As you possibly can see, there may be loads of flexibility within the setup of the TaylorMade R11 driver. It’s crucial that this be right for the driving force to carry out properly for a participant. Customized becoming the R11 driver to my swing helped dramatically. Having a membership match within the Miles of Golf Cluboratory is at all times a good suggestion, however with this membership and all of its variables it’s essential.
Abstract
The R11 driver has been certainly one of our most profitable drivers in 2011 and we’re anticipating gross sales to proceed based mostly on look, adjustability, and efficiency. The 100 yards of claimed adjustability will permit us to utterly customise the driving force for people of all swing varieties. I personally skilled about 40 yards of left to proper motion and the changes actually do make a distinction in altering ball flight. In the event you’re a golfer who needs the final word in adjustability and ball flight optimization, then this driver needs to be excessive in your purchasing listing.
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