TaylorMade R11 Driver & Fairway Wood Review Thread

[adwillingham]

Today was my first range session with a brand new toy...a R11 9 degree with a Diamana Kai'li R flex shaft. I'm working on some swing issues and my driver accuracy is horrendous right now, so there are going to be subsequent trips before the R11 is commented on from a left to right perspective.

Initial thoughts
1) I love the sound that this driver makes. It is a very solid sound, and very different than my R9, it is just awesome. There is also an audible difference on well hit versus mis-hit shots. I was practicing with a co-worker, and he could audibly tell if it was a good swing or not.
2) Prior to today, I was not sure about the white paint job. After five swings, I forgot it was there...not distracting at all, and it does frame the ball nicely.
3) On the couple of balls that I hit well, I was probably getting about a 10-15 yard distance increase including roll-out compared to what I have been seeing on well hit balls with the R9 460(9 deg, standard settings).
4) I moved the loft down to 8 deg and up to 10 deg, and I could see a visual difference in shot height. 9 deg seems to be the sweet spot for me, but I'll keep playing around with it in future visits.
5) The Kai'li is probably the best feeling reg flex shaft I've hit in a while. I've got a Fubuki and my Miyazaki with R9 tips that I'm going to play around with as well, but the Kai'li felt like it loaded pretty well with my swing and tempo today.
6) I love the black face and that you can see where the ball struck. Great instant feedback.

 

[Tmex]

Great stuff Ad. The instant feedback is pretty cool imo. Sounds like you're gonna have some fun in regards to tinkering my friend!

 

[One-T]

Ok guys don't tell JB lol. But an R11 happens to be sitting in my bag. I think the cure for the blues is a golf purchase right?

Anyway, the shaft paired with this beast is the Blur TP 65. When I originally hit the R11 I wasn't a fan of the stock blur. But as I hit it more I started to adjust and really started to like the pairing. The weight of the club just felt different than what I was used to and I think that threw me off. The Blur did launch high and had too much spin for me. The TP was my next target. The TP Blur brought the spin and launch numbers down but really had a good feel. I need more time with it though. I hit it outside and just loved seeing the ballflight. It had a nice rise to it and just seemed to go. Really want to see more concrete numbers though.

Initial impressions.... Don't hit it low on the face. One T was dead on about this. Which I did for the first 10 balls or so. Great thing about the black face is you can see where it's been hit. I had a couple pulls but the shaft handled it much better than my other driver set up. I noticed a couple slices but far less than my current set up lol. I only had one real bad one though and that was low off the face. After some adjustments I really started cranking these out.

The face seemed pretty hot. The sound/feel was a nice crack to it. I don't know, it was pretty addicting to be honest. We had some pretty heavy wind and the ball seemed to only hang on the higher shots. Range balls though, you never can quite tell.

My next step is to get more time to develop a real consistant swing. I was having major issues the last two range sessions and honestly once I got this swing in I faired much better on all my clubs. While the forgiveness is there, it kinda isnt. I figure after another range session or two I can go get this one dailed in with the settings. I did tinker with the ASP and it did make a difference. I'm gonna stick with the neutral for now but its funny how much the ASP helped me with my setup.

We got rained out and some other things prevented me from my normal routine but I plan on just taking this out to the course today or tomorrow. It definitely stayed on a better line than my Dymo and was much easier to feel through the swing. Hoping that equates to more fairways.... More to come.

Sweeeet Buddy! I am stoked you got you one!!!

 

[Ole Gray]

Interesting thoughts Donnie and looking forward to your post honeymoon thoughts. My R11 7 - wood will get a good test Wednesday with SW Fla coming to town. He will have to take a few whacks with it to give me his thoughts. As of now I am happy to be a 7 - wood owner and to have one that you can modify to your liking is the ticket. I have found that I go back and forth but it looks like my favorite setting is with the ASP on open and the FCT on high. It just works better when you are born with a right to left shot pattern. I still have some work to do with this club on the down hill and side hill lies. I may have to depend on one of my hybrids for those type situations.

 

[ddec]

Ok guys don't tell JB lol. But an R11 happens to be sitting in my bag. I think the cure for the blues is a golf purchase right?

Anyway, the shaft paired with this beast is the Blur TP 65. When I originally hit the R11 I wasn't a fan of the stock blur. But as I hit it more I started to adjust and really started to like the pairing. The weight of the club just felt different than what I was used to and I think that threw me off. The Blur did launch high and had too much spin for me. The TP was my next target. The TP Blur brought the spin and launch numbers down but really had a good feel. I need more time with it though. I hit it outside and just loved seeing the ballflight. It had a nice rise to it and just seemed to go. Really want to see more concrete numbers though.

Initial impressions.... Don't hit it low on the face. One T was dead on about this. Which I did for the first 10 balls or so. Great thing about the black face is you can see where it's been hit. I had a couple pulls but the shaft handled it much better than my other driver set up. I noticed a couple slices but far less than my current set up lol. I only had one real bad one though and that was low off the face. After some adjustments I really started cranking these out.

The face seemed pretty hot. The sound/feel was a nice crack to it. I don't know, it was pretty addicting to be honest. We had some pretty heavy wind and the ball seemed to only hang on the higher shots. Range balls though, you never can quite tell.

My next step is to get more time to develop a real consistant swing. I was having major issues the last two range sessions and honestly once I got this swing in I faired much better on all my clubs. While the forgiveness is there, it kinda isnt. I figure after another range session or two I can go get this one dailed in with the settings. I did tinker with the ASP and it did make a difference. I'm gonna stick with the neutral for now but its funny how much the ASP helped me with my setup.

We got rained out and some other things prevented me from my normal routine but I plan on just taking this out to the course today or tomorrow. It definitely stayed on a better line than my Dymo and was much easier to feel through the swing. Hoping that equates to more fairways.... More to come.

Nice purchase guy! I can't believe you made it to within 40 days of the outing and then caved. I'll make sure to hold JB back from giving you a beating down at the outing. I know you can hit the ball off the tee, I've seen it in person. I'm sure you'll see some success with it once you get it dialed in.

 

[Tmex]

Thanks man. I've been kinda wavering because I was supposed to get myself a driver after the last outing lol. Then the ZStar etc... lol. The Dymo finally gets to rest.

Sweeeet Buddy! I am stoked you got you one!!!

HAHAHAHA. Man, I know. I'm pretty excited to get this one fit and by that I mean, settings. I was looking at all the possibilities and it looks cool man. Kinda nice to have one driver, a great shaft and just be able to dailed it in. My course looks to be Taylormade ish so I'm hoping they help me out.

Nice purchase guy! I can't believe you made it to within 40 days of the outing and then caved. I'll make sure to hold JB back from giving you a beating down at the outing. I know you can hit the ball off the tee, I've seen it in person. I'm sure you'll see some success with it once you get it dialed in.

 

[Ole Gray]

Good deal Yoccos! Now you got some time to get that puppy dialed in.

 

[ddec]

Today was my first range session with a brand new toy...a R11 9 degree with a Diamana Kai'li R flex shaft. I'm working on some swing issues and my driver accuracy is horrendous right now, so there are going to be subsequent trips before the R11 is commented on from a left to right perspective.

Initial thoughts
1) I love the sound that this driver makes. It is a very solid sound, and very different than my R9, it is just awesome. There is also an audible difference on well hit versus mis-hit shots. I was practicing with a co-worker, and he could audibly tell if it was a good swing or not.
2) Prior to today, I was not sure about the white paint job. After five swings, I forgot it was there...not distracting at all, and it does frame the ball nicely.
3) On the couple of balls that I hit well, I was probably getting about a 10-15 yard distance increase including roll-out compared to what I have been seeing on well hit balls with the R9 460(9 deg, standard settings).
4) I moved the loft down to 8 deg and up to 10 deg, and I could see a visual difference in shot height. 9 deg seems to be the sweet spot for me, but I'll keep playing around with it in future visits.
5) The Kai'li is probably the best feeling reg flex shaft I've hit in a while. I've got a Fubuki and my Miyazaki with R9 tips that I'm going to play around with as well, but the Kai'li felt like it loaded pretty well with my swing and tempo today.
6) I love the black face and that you can see where the ball struck. Great instant feedback.

when did you pick that up?! Oh boy, now you are going to have this all summer and then possibly for the Morgan Cup too. I'm going to have to step my game up because by then you will be dialed in.

 

[10YardDraw]

Congrats guys, its a great driver, i was hitting mine the best i have all year on sunday, just some bombs for me

 

[Mark]

Congrats guys, its a great driver, i was hitting mine the best i have all year on sunday, just some bombs for me

I love mine, now that I got it dialed in. It was windy on the range today and I was sending right down my target line. I was impressed! You do have to get this bad boy set up right though, once you do, you may really like it.

FW- I just like this club more and more. So accurate!
I am really excited about getting these on the course.

 

[10YardDraw]

I was really surprised that i hit it so well with the slightly shut face, had the ASP on neutral and FCT on +.5 loft and 1* upright, i have always played a slightly open face driver but was just hitting it so straight with that setup i dont want to change it lol.

 

[Dent]

Well guys I went for another range session and it seemed like the only thing I could hit (but just barely) was the R11 4 wood. I did a little bit of tuning today and here are my observations.

N STD Loft: I hit the ball fairly straight with a little cut which is actually really awesome as I usually play a draw. The ball flight varied and it was mostly my swing that was causing this, but half of the time I would get a low piercing flight while others would be a standard nice high trajectory.

C STD Loft: ASP does affect ball flight and it's weird to see how some disagree. When I hit the ball properly I would hit a nice high draw. I didn't hit any low balls with this one though.

O STD Loft: This one was very similar to N STD I hit the same type of cut shot and the traj. varied.

I then tried all of these settings on the LOWER setting and one thing I was slightly confused about is that my ball flight was even higher. I hit constant high straight balls with the lower setting on and the trajectory was much high than the STD setting.

The one thing I love about this club is you just can easily tell when you crush it. When struck solidly on the centre of the face you get a nice hollow feeling and it just feels great. I'm not sure about distances because the range is big and my eyesight is bad but I could see them landing over the 200 sign so that is a good sign to start. I will give results when I get on an LM in the next few weeks.

It's not much but here is a video on the sound of the wood. Although it is partly indoors it almost gives the exact sound when you hit it nicely.

[youtube]9sKpu9IGtnI[/youtube]

 

[Ole Gray]

Nice whack Dent! The whack sounds like a track when hit solid. That is odd about the lower setting = higher ball flight. Maybe thinking it's set on low makes you hit down on it more producing a nice high ball flight. I will have to check it with my 7 - wood to see if I notice this ball flight.

edit: Nice swing man!

 

[Dent]

Nice whack Dent! The whack sounds like a track when hit solid. That is odd about the lower setting = higher ball flight. Maybe thinking it's set on low makes you hit down on it more producing a nice high ball flight. I will have to check it with my 7 - wood to see if I notice this ball flight.

edit: Nice swing man!

Thanks gray! I'll have to do some more testing because I am still not sure which setting I like the best. ASP is really working for me and each setting produces different flight but as of now the FCT is not mattering to me that much.

 

[Tmex]

I'm going to have to mess around with settings Dent. But I think I'm gonna take it to a fitter so I dont screw it up lol. Great write up man!

Distance was good with this one. Up from what my Dymo was by a good amount. Off hand I think my drives were 251, 281, 246, 234 (into the wind), 256. I hit 3/5 fairways I used this driver on and only had one bad driving hole (got too aggressive). Other factors such as wind and hills hurt my drives but I really liked how easy it was to swing. I need to get on a monitor and have the settings adjusted.

Need to really focus on tempo with this club but it has a great sound/feel to it when you hit it. I usually hit around the center of the face (lol) and it's hard to tell how much I lose if its not dead on the sweetspot. I don't workable all the time so I can't really speak to that part.

 

[ddec]

I'm going to have to mess around with settings Dent. But I think I'm gonna take it to a fitter so I dont screw it up lol. Great write up man!

Distance was good with this one. Up from what my Dymo was by a good amount. Off hand I think my drives were 251, 281, 246, 234 (into the wind), 256. I hit 3/5 fairways I used this driver on and only had one bad driving hole (got too aggressive). Other factors such as wind and hills hurt my drives but I really liked how easy it was to swing. I need to get on a monitor and have the settings adjusted.

Need to really focus on tempo with this club but it has a great sound/feel to it when you hit it. I usually hit around the center of the face (lol) and it's hard to tell how much I lose if its not dead on the sweetspot. I don't workable all the time so I can't really speak to that part.

sounds like a pretty good driving day to me. Glad you found something that gives you some confidence off the tee. I need to do the same.

 

[Tmex]

Definitely was man. The fairways I missed werent by much either

sounds like a pretty good driving day to me. Glad you found something that gives you some confidence off the tee. I need to do the same.

 

[Mardin]

I'm going to have to mess around with settings Dent. But I think I'm gonna take it to a fitter so I dont screw it up lol. Great write up man!

Distance was good with this one. Up from what my Dymo was by a good amount. Off hand I think my drives were 251, 281, 246, 234 (into the wind), 256. I hit 3/5 fairways I used this driver on and only had one bad driving hole (got too aggressive). Other factors such as wind and hills hurt my drives but I really liked how easy it was to swing. I need to get on a monitor and have the settings adjusted.

Need to really focus on tempo with this club but it has a great sound/feel to it when you hit it. I usually hit around the center of the face (lol) and it's hard to tell how much I lose if its not dead on the sweetspot. I don't workable all the time so I can't really speak to that part.

Great drives so far. I think jumping on a track man outside the only way to really dial in this club. You get to see ball flight and trajectory much more. Once dialed in this club will provide great dividends.

 

[Tmex]

Definitely gonna try on that asap! I know you've seen first hand

Great drives so far. I think jumping on a track man outside the only way to really dial in this club. You get to see ball flight and trajectory much more. Once dialed in this club will provide great dividends.

 

[10YardDraw]

Well i got out for a quick 9 after work and today was not a good day at all, i only hit 2 fairways today. My nasty hook showed its face full force. Geting back out there tomorrow afternoon so hopefully it will be better

 

[Nate]

Played last Friday and had a great round all in all and an average day with the R11. We played a Fred Couples design course in Dallas from the tips (7,600 yards) and with a wind of about 25-30mph. I started off -3 after 6 holes and started to freak out a little bit. I play with the R11 10.5 with an open ASP and recently lowered the STD one position. The weights are set at 10g heel/1g toe. I was playing with a higher STD position of two positions but it's just getting the ball up way too high. I'm pretty accurate but in the wind it just balloons up too much. So I took the new settings to the range yesterday and was very happy with the new results. We shall see come this weekend.

Good to see others having nice results with the driver still! One question: Does TM sell a slightly lighter weight than the 10g....8g? I love the settings and it has all but eliminated any slice/cut I use to have BUT my misses do seem to happen when I get a bit quick and pull the ball slightly (not a hook, just a slight miss left). Would a lighter weight in the heel help that out?

 

[10YardDraw]

Played last Friday and had a great round all in all and an average day with the R11. We played a Fred Couples design course in Dallas from the tips (7,600 yards) and with a wind of about 25-30mph. I started off -3 after 6 holes and started to freak out a little bit. I play with the R11 10.5 with an open ASP and recently lowered the STD one position. The weights are set at 10g heel/1g toe. I was playing with a higher STD position of two positions but it's just getting the ball up way too high. I'm pretty accurate but in the wind it just balloons up too much. So I took the new settings to the range yesterday and was very happy with the new results. We shall see come this weekend.

Good to see others having nice results with the driver still! One question: Does TM sell a slightly lighter weight than the 10g....8g? I love the settings and it has all but eliminated any slice/cut I use to have BUT my misses do seem to happen when I get a bit quick and pull the ball slightly (not a hook, just a slight miss left). Would a lighter weight in the heel help that out?

im confused with the wording you used lol, i get the ASP but the adjustable hosel is called FCT, not sure what your talking about when you say you lowered the STD and play with a higher STD position of two positions. Yes you can get lighter weights, they come in 1,2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16. Also i dont think a lighter weight will help with a pull, it will make a draw/hook less severe but not fix a pull.

 

[Mercer85]

trying to decide whether or not i want a 3 wood or 4 wood.... I like both this and the SF but the SFs shaft is a little light. I want a 4 wood and a 2 hybrid but think the gaps won't be that different.

 

[Nate]

im confused with the wording you used lol, i get the ASP but the adjustable hosel is called FCT, not sure what your talking about when you say you lowered the STD and play with a higher STD position of two positions. Yes you can get lighter weights, they come in 1,2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16. Also i dont think a lighter weight will help with a pull, it will make a draw/hook less severe but not fix a pull.

Miss typed....thanks, ment FCT. Good to know about the weights.

 

[10YardDraw]

Miss typed....thanks, ment FCT. Good to know about the weights.

gotcha, i was like huh, what is STD lol You should be able to order the weights from golfsmith, ebay, TGW.com ect..