Taylormade R9 Driver

[Handicap28]

Hi,

Have recently been in the market for a new driver and ended up going for one of these and thought I would let everybody know how much I like it.

Owned a Callaway Hyper X driver which I had never really got to grips with. No matter what I did, I always hit a horrible slice. Went down to the driving range a couple of weeks ago and tried out the Taylormade R9 and Burner, Ping G10 and Rapture 2, Callaway Diablo and FT9, Nike Dymo and Cobra LV5. The Burner and FT9 were rejected as I couldn't keep these any where near straight and the Nike and Cobra were dismissed due to the horrible noise they made.

In the end the R9 won due to the adjustibility of the club. The neutral setting provided a slight fade for me and the neutral upright is now driving the ball straight as an arrow. Distance wise I found it to be as good as anything else I tried. On the course I have managed to hit a couple over 300 yards and my average drive now is between 250 and 260.

In short - give it a go and I'm sure you'll love it as much as I do already.

 

[bobmac]

Can you adjust your irons to hit them straight too?

 

[Cernunnos]

Rofl.. I thought that was what club fitting was for.

 

[007chappie]

Tried it out myself last week. To be quite honest, it didn't seem to go any further than my 9.5* TM Burner TP, the only difference was that the pro set it up with a slightly closed face, which gave me a slight draw, as opposed to my fade that I have now.
In short, a good club, but not sure if it is worth another 300 brick......

 

[mono217]

There good but not worth there price tag if you hit it the same distance as your own driver but just with a different flight if they go the same distance ?

 

[big_russ]

There good but not worth there price tag if you hit it the same distance as your own driver but just with a different flight if they go the same distance ?

Eh?

 

[Imurg]

Problem is there'll be a new TM driver out in 3 months time claiming to beat the R9 into 3rd place!

Give it 6-9 months and these will be down to £199 or so making them worth the money. Until then - forget it.

 

[stevek1969]

Just had one out this afternoon was set at Neutral, lost about 10 - 15 yards over my Tour burner which i'm struggling with at the moment wont be going in my bag anytime soon not at £319 am going to try the Titliest 909 our pro has a vector launch monitor so will see the difference

 

[RGDave]

Great news!

I'd be up for one, but I bet it's a 47" beast......

I'm not a big TM fan, but I have to say my old 3 wood is staggeringly good, with a Fujikura shaft.....

 

[juanw]

Not bad news .I saw many golfers hit this R9 driver.Hope you get what you love .

 

[Parmo]

Can you adjust your irons to hit them straight too?

coffee.over.keyboard. lol

£300+ just isnt worth a driver that you know will drop in price soon as TM have the reputation now of being money grabbers of the highest order. I do though like the theory of a smaller club head, but atm the price is just not realistic in this current climate, pass me the Cobra S9-1 anyday of the week, infact I cant wait to try the Pro version and see if I can use it.

 

[medwayjon]

Far too gimmicky for me. Have hit 30 or so shots with it and even correctly set up, it isnt as powerful as my D1.

I think this is just an exploitation exercise of those who belive that £300 will buy them a better game of golf.....but then we are talking about TM.

 

[TonyN]

Wow average drive of between 250-260. You should get your self a sky caddy, has a great 'mark ball' feature to show you exactly what you hit.

 

[Parmo]

I agree with Jon, no doubt for some users it will be great in the right hands but for a lot more its the new club confidence attitude, great for a few weeks/months then back to the orginal faults but hundreds down the pan and end up on Golfbidder.

 

[stevek1969]

A change of tune here had one out today in our wednesday sweep 36pts with 2 blobs had it set for slight draw ,wow wow wow it was awesome its was really windy at my place today even intop the wind its good it drilled right through it where as some clubs just ballon , missed 2 fairways all day and that was the first 2 that i blobbed on ,hitting it to the gorse and loseing them ,then i got the feel for it, seriosly considering it now , against a previous post were i didnt like it .

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I have to say that in my opinion apart from the option to change the set up, the R7 Limited will give you a similar ball flight and performance at a cheaper price.

 

[M1tch]

its not that good anyways

 

[Handycap]

A year ago I decided that having used the same clubs for the last 16 years, I'd buy into new technology and treat myself to a modern driver. Until then I had resisted the urge to spend money on new equipment as I considered the hype associated with the marketing of the "latest technology" to be little more than an ad man's gimmick.

I bought the first release of the Nike sumo2 square headed clubs. It was an ex demo and came with a 10.5 head, married to a diamana stiff shaft from American Golf. This was a revelation; the consistency this club offered was a surprise, as was the noise it made! I was really impressed with the club despite it's quirky looks and "hollow" tin sound. However, I soon discovered that it was about to be deemed an illegal club as it didn't conform to the R & A rules. Rather than take it back to A G, Nike offered a brand new replacement conforming club, so I ended up with a new Sumo for the price of a second hand one. Now this doesn't happen to me very often and I wanted to like this club.

I didn't have to worry: this club was longer on average than my previous driver. I say on average as the original Big Bertha I had was quite capable of squirting my golf ball left or right for no apparent reason (apart from the fool holding the pointy end of it) but if struck correctly was still capable of out driving the Nike. With my new perfect ball striking ability, I decided I'd make up for the last 16 years and buy another driver as I was obviously a far better golfer now, and my new ability would allow me to use more of a "players" club.

I fancied a more conventional looking driver but still with the maximum 460cc head size and all the latest technology that the modern golf driver is made up from. This resulted in the purchase of a Titleist 907 D2 with a stiff proto shaft. This driver is a thing of beauty, and if struck well will give a penetrating long carry. But the problem is it needs to be struck well to give such rewards, if it's anything but a perfect strike the penalties when compared to the Sumo2 were excessive side spin and dramatic loss of distance. I must stress, this is not the club's fault The fact is the club is designed for a better more consistent player than I am.

So I have been using the Sumo2 more often than the Titleist, and have continued to enjoy a relatively long (230/240 yds) club with great accuracy, or should I say in built forgiveness.

But for ME, the Nike is having to be retired. It's too damn loud and I believe it's starting to damage my hearing. What ? I hear you say (not immediately of course, but after the second or third time of asking). Having read articles about said damage from the medical profession about loud modern thin faced drivers (ping G10 is the worst aparrantly) I am convinced my hearing sensitivity in my right ear is suffering due to the Nike club.

So this meant I needed to find a new club that has the forgiveness of the Nike Sumo2, combined with the length, looks and sound of the Titleist 907 D2, but it didn't have to be a full 460cc head, so long as it looked and "felt" right. I also want to have some lessons specifically with the driver, I'm happy enough with my iron play, so I needed something that once fitted for me as I am now, won't be made redundant after my local pro has changed my driving technique. I hope I'm not boring you and if you're still with me I promise I'll get to the point shortly!

Looking at the latest technology, I went for a fitting at Mizuno and liked the Mizuno MP 600. It ticked most of the boxes; it's a classic looking head, has adjustable weights in the back to compensate for hook or fade, and had better sound than the Nike, but not as nice as the Titleist. It's a great club but not as forgiving as the Nike and I was worried it may be too good a club for me. Winter was fast approaching and my immediacy for yet another new club was diminishing, so I left it for a while and carried on with what I had. However, the nike was becoming a problem and the Titleist is still too good for me.
Two weeks ago I researched the net for the latest offerings and came across the two most currently talked about drivers: the Nike Dymo Str8 fit Round, and the Taylor Made R9.

My local club were hosting a Nike day, and I really liked the look of the Str8 fit round head Nike and it's associated technology, and of course trusted the original Sumo squared for it's forgiveness. Apart from seeing how well I could hit the Str8 fit, I needed to know what it sounded like, and whilst it is still quite noisy, it's not as bad as the Sumo2. Strangely enough, the square version was less noisy than the round version. I really loved the club and it went really well for me, also the adjustments are not just a gimmick. They really work and will suit me if I end up changing my driving swing plane. My fitting favoured a stiff 65g shaft, with a 9.5 head. My swing speed is between 90 to 95mph with a ball speed of 130mph. Not super fast but still suited to the stiff shaft rather than the regular. I would have paid for a club there and then, but my pro didn't have the 9.5 head in stock.

A few days later and I decided to have another look at the club over bank holiday weekend. To cut a long story only slightly shorter, I was distracted by a Taylor Made r9. I didn't want to like this club as I've not owned a Taylor Made club for many years, and was still madly in love with the Nike Str8 fit round.
I demo'd the R9 and was completely blown away. For me, it was slightly more forgiving than the Str8 fit Nike, was as pleasing on the ear as the Titleist 907 which is a huge issue to me, and is also a lovely looking club from the top. It has a slightly smaller head size than the norm at approx 420cc for the 9.5 lofted head, which although not instantly obvious, has a slight tear drop shape rather than a classic round shape, but nothing like the droopy shape of the Titleist D1 (not the D2). Again for me it was as long as the Nike Str8 fit and has all the head loft, lie and face angle adjustments as the Nike Str8 fit, but has the added bonus of moveable weights for even more control.

Having all this adjustment in a golf club could be deemed completely over the top and just an unnecessary gimmick, and I'm surprised to hear myself say this, but I genuinely believe that this club will suit a lot of club golfers. I now own one and can't wait for the summer proper, to let me test this club out to it's full potential.

 

[stevek1969]

Saw on yesterday for £249 it was second hand ,it looked brand new, the price has started to drop already, think i'll wait a while