Taylor Made R9 460

After a bit of a wait I finally got to try out my new TM R9. What a disappointment. I've tried everything I can think of to get a bit of distance out of it. Swinging quick/slow. Moving the ball position, plane of swing. Whatever I try to do I'm only averaging 200yds with it. It's coming off the club face OK, some partners have commented, "you got hold of that one" only to find I'm 30-40 yards behind everyone else. For a 9.5 degree loft it does hit the ball high. I was regularly averaging around the 240yard mark with my old Cleveland driver.
Anyone have any suggestions?
It can't be me, perhaps I should change the grip.

Paint it white 4 putt. You're guaranteed to get another 40 yards out of it. Straighter too.

Are you sure you have got a genuine one and not a fake?
There are quite a few sites on the web that show differences e.g. http://www.golfbidder.co.uk/golf-advice/220/avoiding-counterfeit-golf-clubs.html

Which shaft have you got in yours? The standard Motore shaft is absolute pants, I upgraded mine to the Fubuki shaft and it is much better.

Considering the price TM charge for products the stock shaft in every driver they make is crap. I would definately check out if the club is the real deal

I bought the club from http://www.golfonline.co.uk/ I'd be surprised if they were selling non original clubs. The shaft is the Aldila Reax 60 Regular.
The frustrating bit is I hit my old 5 wood with a regular shaft about 190.

In that case 4putt first thing I'd do is go to a clubfitter or direct to manufacturiers fitting centre and get them to test the frequency of the shaft and see if its a true reg shaft and is what its supposed to be

Thanks Maverick. Good advice but easier said than done over here. Think I'll have to do an internet search to find a local dealer. Probably have to send it to Bangkok.

If you have the correct flex to suit your swing, different shafts will have very little effect on the distance you hit it.

There's a guy doing research for a degree paper at the moment that reckons the difference is just a few feet.

Of course pros and shaft makers won't admit this, but it seems it's the case.

I have to say that my experience bears this out. In August I hit 5 balls with each of 20 different stiff shafts with the same R9 head on the end. There was no discernible difference to the distance with any of the shafts.

It's not what people want to hear, but if you want to get better, then just practice.

Before people leap on my case, I'm not saying that customisation is a waste of money. It's important to get the right flex, and kick point, and loft and lie in your clubs. Once you have that, changing shafts isn't a panacea to hit it much further. You can spend a lot of money to increase your drive by 3 yards.

I have always thought that some of the hype about golf is just another way to get golfers to part with hard earned cash.

George,
You may well be right about the difference in distance gained by shafts of the same flex being almost insignificant, however the one big advantage to be gained from being custom fit with a shaft which suits your swing best is not distance the advantages to be gained from hitting balls in a tighter grouping, consistent shape and flight or in other words being more accurate. I tested at least a dozen shafts in my last fitting, all of a stiff rating but with massive differences in accuracy and consistency, although distance was broadly similar.

I think most sensible golfers would sacrifice a bit of distance to gain an increase in accuracy and consistency, there will however remain a lot of stupid people who believe that golf is ONLY about distance and who always reach for the driver despite it being the hardest club to hit straight, which is exactly the reason why the likes of Taylor Made bring out their Emporers New Clothes Drivers on such a regular basis because they know that fools and their money are easily parted.

Going to custom fit, simply to gain distance is not really the right reason to go. A good club fitter before doing anything else will discuss your game and ask what you hope to achieve with the fitting.

Do these clubs not come with awrench to change loft etc?

I borrowed one this year in my search for a new driver, found I did hit it higher, but I was able to adjust it with the wrench???

i have an r9 supertri, motore stiff shaft. I tried a few different set up tweaks with it. Nothing wrong with it per se but i never liked the sound it makes and felt it got too much spin however i set it up. Tried a ping i15, with an axiv core. On average I'm probably 30 yards longer with it... and i'd say most of it is roll.

Different heads pbviously, but i put it down to the shaft. Interesting to see george's point, as these are the same flex... allowing for different manufacturer's perspectives, but do have a different kick point, which i believe is what is effecting the spin.

I'm in the school that thinks the heads matter little if you middle it, and that it's all in the shaft, but suspect george is right in that as long as you have the right flex/kick, the differences between manufacturers are probably minimal.

As for the hype re golf equipment, it's no different to any other aspect of life... on the whole there have been dramatic improvements over the years to make the game easier for us, but differences between manufacturers are mininmal and claims that every new driver is 'x metres' longer than its predecessor are clearly bunk.

The shaft is almost everything, if you middle it - I started a search for a new driver this season, but have ended up back with my old and trusted Taylor 510 tp - top quality in every way

super - lest i sound like a distance monkey - give me accuracy over distance any day... but both is a bonus and my course is long with wide fairways!

I agree Milky, but if you go to get custom fit simply to gain distance you are probably going to be disappointed as that is not what it is intended to do.

There is no such thing within the rules as a driver which results in any one club being significantly longer than any other.
There is one consistency in club fitting and that is the skills/swing speed of the player. If a club results in greater distance/accuracy etc, it's not the club that is a magic bullet, but that the shaft, loft, lie, spin rate etc more closely fit the attributes of the players swing.

super - lest i sound like a distance monkey - give me accuracy over distance any day... but both is a bonus and my course is long with wide fairways!

how bizzarre... i'm typing away a new post, my pc hangs and when it reappears its reposted my old post. spooky.

anyway agree with the above super... only thing i'd add is that with golfers its often not about the club its about what they believe the club will do...chances are, if they genuinely believe that they are hitting a bigger/better/faster/more forgiving club, they probably will. Comfort is everything, its why people go back to old clubs, putters from 30 years ago when they used to be able to putt. What goes on between the ears is more important than what is held in the hand, and manufacturers are pretty good at playing on it.

That is precisely the issue though Milky.
Manufacturer propaganda will always claim that a club goes farther/straighter and is more forgiving than the last model, what they don't tell you is that that is subject to robotic testing where conditions are optimised.

In the hands of your average club player with their own swing characteristics, it might not perform anything like those claims, hence the benefit of club fitting.

SR - One for you may find interesting, played with my old Man yesterday, he was Using an R9 up until last year, after having to return the first one he bought as the shaft they sent even though it was supposed to be a R flex he couldn't hit for toffee got it frequency matched and turned out ot be X Stiff... He had it replaced but never felt confident with it due to the intial man sausage up..

He then went with an MD Superstrong which he hit the ball well with, but he is a constant tinkerer. Recently went for a fitting with local pro and got Measured up for one of the new Yonex E-Zone drivers, paid extra for the better shaft despite being told by said pro may help gain few more yards. Long shot is when we played yesterday he had lost about 5yards compared to the suprestong driver so nothing major but the shaft fitting was superb because it has tightened up his shot dispertion dramatically to the point you know it will be in a nice tight circle if he hit 10 in a row and has improved his accuracy no end, and he didn't have to take out the required bank loan to purchase a TM overhyped bunch of fluff

That's exactly the point of a club fitter Mav, isn't it?

If people want to gain distance the only way is to increase clubhead speed.

super_realist wrote:That's exactly the point of a club fitter Mav, isn't it?

If people want to gain distance the only way is to increase clubhead speed.

Agreed SR in my mind and that of my old man it is, what I forgot to say was one of the guys we played with could only focus on the fact my old man was now 5 yards behind him off the tee instead of being up with him or ahead of him as he usually is. Difference was though, OldMan Mav was 5 yards behind him in the fairway instead of being up with him in the right hand crap.

Only ways to increase clubhead speed, swing faster, get a lighter club if need be or work out!

I bought the r9 driver (not the 460) and have had almost the exact opposite experience to the OP.

It is 10.5 degrees with the standard stiff shaft. I seem to produce a low, ugly ball flight, but my drives on average are longer than with my old cobra.

It seems to get better the harder I swing (which is generally not a good swing thought for me!).

I am not 100% sold on it, but it is funny we have had such contrasting experiences.

George1507 wrote:If you have the correct flex to suit your swing, different shafts will have very little effect on the distance you hit it.

There's a guy doing research for a degree paper at the moment that reckons the difference is just a few feet.

Not strictly true, there can be significant differences in distance between shafts depending on an individual's swing characteristics. It's not just about flex, you also have to factor in other things like shaft loading, kickpoint, launch angle and perhaps most importantly, spin rates. If you get any of these wrong, the results will be very noticeable.

Well, as I said, I hit a lot of shots with different shafts and didn't see any discernible pattern emerge.

The shafts were all rated 'stiff' - or whatever the manufacturer called stiff.

There is a significant difference in feel, but for me it doesn't translate into anything material in terms of either distance or accuracy.

The longest hit was no more than 3 yards further than 5 others. There were differences in the height some shafts hit it, but that didn't translate into extra length. The landing area was fairly soft, so there wasn't much roll. I guess some of the lower shots could have run a bit further on a hard fairway.

All in all though, it was very revealing.

I'm 6' 1", and I hit it fairly consistently about 260 yards carry and roll.

4putt wrote:I bought the club from http://www.golfonline.co.uk/ I'd be surprised if they were selling non original clubs. The shaft is the Aldila Reax 60 Regular.
The frustrating bit is I hit my old 5 wood with a regular shaft about 190.

Do you still hit the 5 wood about 190? do you still have the cleveland driver than went 240? Are you dropping any distance with any other clubs?

Lairdy wrote:

4putt wrote:I bought the club from http://www.golfonline.co.uk/ I'd be surprised if they were selling non original clubs. The shaft is the Aldila Reax 60 Regular.
The frustrating bit is I hit my old 5 wood with a regular shaft about 190.

Do you still hit the 5 wood about 190? do you still have the cleveland driver than went 240? Are you dropping any distance with any other clubs?

Yes. Yes. No.

super_realist wrote:Paint it white 4 putt. You're guaranteed to get another 40 yards out of it. Straighter too.

Made my day that one has.

4putt

What is the trajectory profile like? You say it goes high but does it launch high and flatten out or does it launch low/mid and then climb? If it's the latter, you're likely getting a lot of (too much) backspin on the ball and losing distance. What's the roll out like on landing when the fairways are not rock hard? As has been said (and I'd agree based on my experience) TM stock shafts are pretty pants in a lot of cases so I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's down to the shaft.

navyblueshorts wrote:4putt

What is the trajectory profile like? You say it goes high but does it launch high and flatten out or does it launch low/mid and then climb? If it's the latter, you're likely getting a lot of (too much) backspin on the ball and losing distance. What's the roll out like on landing when the fairways are not rock hard? As has been said (and I'd agree based on my experience) TM stock shafts are pretty pants in a lot of cases so I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's down to the shaft.

Too much backspin is pretty much the same conclusion I have come to. Getting run on the fairway that made me laugh. Have you seen the news over here. Water everywhere. 200 yards is on the fly. Make that 199 after back spin.
Yes, I had also read that their stock shafts are pants, so guess I'm just another one who has been suckered in by their sales hype.
Been in touch with TM. As I suspected their main agent is in Bangkok. There is a very good pro about 150 kms away in Khon Kaen who has all the gear to test shafts etc. I'm going to make an appointment to see him next week. Probably have a lesson and get new and old driver tweaked.

Thought I'd bore you with an update on my R9.
I've taken out the Aldila Reax 60 Regular shaft and replaced it with a stiff Fujikura shaft that I had spare. Very happy. Hitting it solid with much better results.
What does perplex me a bit though is, why does this shaft suit my swing in the R9 and not the Cleveland Hire Bore XLS that it came with?