New TaylorMade R9 driver

Cernunnos

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I'd like to see Lewis Hamilton & all the 2008 season re-do the season using 1960's F1 cars like BRM's & Coopers. Now that would be exciting. (sorry for the off topic deviation)

It would do many players some good to take a step back, though many would be up in arms, as we all love gadgets & novel new solutions.No-one likes to take a step back, but just like with motor racing in golf skill will show through no matter what the technology, but skill will certainly show through better where things are brought back to basics.

Getting back to the adjustments possible on the new R9 I do think it could be receipe for disaster, especially where face adjustment is concerned, where the club is brought under great stresses in impact.

Love the idea looks great but as far as advancements in adjustment possibilities, maybe enough is enough. To the degree after a few more years even many players may have a knee jerk reaction could occur where we all want to go back to basics as far as equipment is concerned.
 

RGuk

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Sorry, but I'm out.

£349.....could buy 20 half hour lessons over 6 months.....

I wonder which expenditure would see my h'cap come down??

It is, of course, a rhetorical question.

Anyone who plays off more than about 10 should be ashamed of themselves for even considering such a purchase.

The R5 dual ti (£79) is the best 3 wood I've ever owned. Other than that I wouldn't consider buying anything by TM at full price. In the same way I wouldn't buy a General Motors car.....why pay full price for a product when 50% of the cost is to cover the advertising budget. If it wasn't for Vauxhall being a sort-of British company and the employment, I'd say these companies are better off going to the wall.

Then again, I'm a miserable git :cool:
 

vig

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Sorry, but I'm out.

£349.....could buy 20 half hour lessons over 6 months.....

I wonder which expenditure would see my h'cap come down??

Or an hour with Mark Roe for a short game clinic :eek:

Either way i'm also certain that either option would reduce your handicap more.
 

Cernunnos

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Sorry, but I'm out.

£349.....could buy 20 half hour lessons over 6 months.....

I wonder which expenditure would see my h'cap come down??

Or an hour with Mark Roe for a short game clinic :eek:

Either way i'm also certain that either option would reduce your handicap more.

An Hours teaching with Mark Roe... Now there's something most people wouldn't get offered every day... I'd go for that.
 

HTL

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Anyone can get a session with Mark Roe, go on his website and you van see his prices, he does a load of coaching at the pachesham in Leatherhead. When I use to play there I use to see a load of rich kids / decent players having lessons of him.

Never sow the difference between the drills he was giving his pupils to what I got for £44 an hour with my pro.
 

RGuk

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Never saw the difference between the drills he was giving his pupils to what I got for £44 an hour with my pro.

I'm sure Mr Roe is worth every penny for a tour pro.
Knowing the way these things work though, you could probably get 3-4 hours with a top 25 coach anyway.

I'd go for a 1/2 day with Paul Foston for £200.

In my field of expertise, the difference between £60 p/h and £160 p/h is £100!!! That's it....
 

Imurg

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It seems the cost of drivers is on the rise again after a spell of dropping to more respectable/affordable levels. I've got a feeling that prices went as high as £400 for some models before they started dropping to about £200 or less recently. Now it seems £300 is becoming about average.

I remember when the Great Big Bertha came out - one of the first titanium drivers. I think I paid £280 for mine. That was in '97. So that was a lot of cash.

To be honest £200 is a lot to pay for one club, £350 downright obscene, especially as you can get 9 quality irons for £400.
 

HomerJSimpson

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I think economic forces will soon dictate the ceiling for drivers. I can see how an all singing model like the R9 can cost that much but I can't see them shifting the numbers in the same way as the 08 and the 09 Burners. I think TM (and Cally who brought out the hyper X not long after the launch of their previous model) will pay the price for flooding the market.

I think golfers are going to look a lot more at their short game which can be improved for moderately little outlay (TM Spider putter £100, some odyssey as low as £70) in terms of wedges and short game lessons. In fact it makes more sense to pay Mark Roe £300 for a short game lesson which you will use 70% of the way round as opposed to a new driver which you might hit 12 times maximum.
 

RGuk

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I think economic forces will soon dictate the ceiling for drivers.

You'd think so.

I can't quite fathom the prices out. "Big-ticket" Drivers tend to sit around £200 for a simple Ti model and £300+ for gimmick ones. If I played off a low h'cap and was 99% consistent I might consider a gimmicky one. I have no doubt that a tour player with the tour bus and tour shafts and tour fitters could do very well with these types.

If I was the marketing guy for Ping or Callaway, I'd be tempted to see if you can't blow the competition out the water and double the sales volume by making the latest regular driver £169 e199 $250 or something. Then again, golfers are an odd lot.....value for money seems irrelevant.....
 

Herbie

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I agree with that realgolferuk, I am sometimes amazed at what people are willing to spend on stuff that only serves to improve street cred in many cases. Im not against anyone spending what they have honestly earned on whatever they want, but that is one of the reasons golf has become a pretty expensive pastime in some respects. Its not really a case of supply and demand, its more a case of produce and it will be bought. :D
 

Imurg

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The thing is that the new one will have a claim that it will increase your distance by a few yards and people will be pulled in by it.

Before long we'll have a driver on the market that guarantees 300 yard drives with a dispersion of 5 yards at a cost of £1000. Some moron will buy it and spend weeks knocking it 200 and slicing it badly.

These claims are made because a robot can produce these figures. Give the club to a mere mortal and it won't be significantly different to what they've already got.
 
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