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Golf Equipment Chronicles 2005 (Part 1)

Copyright 2005 by Leith Anderson
All rights reserved
Originally appeared in January 2005 issue of Golf Today

Golf Equipment Chronicles Driver Frenzy:
Is the TaylorMade R 7 Worth the Money?

I had a few adventures this month, but mostly it was breaking rocks in the hot sun. Now I’m getting eager to jump into the 2005 New Equipment Story with both feet. There’s nothing like the New Year to get you going. But the new product “buzz” hasn’t quite hit the streets so I thought I’d tie up a few loose ends from 2004. Such as whether the all-time driver mega hit, the Taylor Made R 7 is worth the money.

But first, a little digression . . .

If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, the competition between Stanford and Cal is legendary. The sports climax each year is the Big Game in football. This year, Stanford did its best to provide a stepping stone for Cal on the way to the Rose Bowl -- and that didn’t quite work out. But there’s another athletic event that precedes the Big Game. It’s the Big Game Cup, an inter-University tournament played for the last several years at Stanford.

The Big Game Cup isn’t what you’d call a really big deal. It’s mainly an excuse for former players, alumni and friends to get together and chip in a few bucks to support the golf teams. The support has been put to good use at Cal. They won the NCAA Championship in 2004. Meantime, Stanford brought in a new tour-proven coach -- Conrad Ray -- with ambition to knock off its Berkeley rival and make an impact on the National scene.

The Big Game Cup format is four ball. I got lucky and drew Eric Jones for a partner. When you’re paired up with one of the top Long Drivers in the world, there is an intimidation factor. It took a few holes for Eric to get warmed up, but once he did, our opponents melted. If you’ve played Stanford, think about driver, eight iron to Stanford’s par 5 first hole. How about a drive on number 11 that landed 30 feet from the pin, 330 yards into the wind? Eric made four birdies and would have done better if he practiced his sand wedge a little more. I contributed on a couple of holes. My new Taylor Made R 7 didn’t help much. But as you will find out later, that was mostly my fault.

The main thing I think about when I watch Eric is that technique is paramount. Eric is not a really big guy by Long Drive standards. But he is strong and has a great swing. He understands power. Keep your eye peeled for the announcement of the First Annual Golf Lab “Unlimited Scramble” Tournament. You will have a chance to play a couple of holes with Eric on your team and compete for some great prizes (including cash) with no sissy rules about balancing the team. Find the best partners you can and show up for the “Shootout at Paly.” OK, for Golf Lab customers, we’ll have a Senior Division too.

We spend a lot of time working with players and their equipment. It is a mistake to believe that all of a golfer’s problems can be solved with a new set of clubs. If you want to get better, you have to see yourself on video and find a coach who will take an interest in your game. Eric coaches at the Golf Lab on Thursdays. If you want to add a few yards to your drive and treat yourself to a great experience working with a World Champion, call the Golf Lab and set up a time with Eric.

December Driver Orgy

Last month I promised to do a full review of the Taylor Made R 7 TP. The R 7 is a mysterious club -- after working with it for a couple of weeks, I still don’t know what the long term verdict will be. Will the R 7 become a “classic” or just another forgotten gimmick? There’s a possibility it might be a little too small. I came to that conclusion after building and testing over a dozen drivers this month and talking to some key industry analysts. There is a clear trend in the driver world that “bigger is better.” I doubt you’ll see a new driver this year that’s not at least 440 cc.

Or, it might be that the R 7 simply requires too much skill for the average amateur with its complicated adjustments. That’s been the comment from some mini Tour players who have bought into the R 7 mystique. It takes a good swing to take advantage of the technology so if you have a hard time with the driver, save your money. But overall, I’m much more positive about the R 7 than I thought I’d be before I started the project.

The big winner in drivers in 2004 was TaylorMade. Despite their success, Taylor Made is clogging up eBay with their last three or four generations of drivers, some of which are worth paying attention to. I went crazy on eBay. Most golfers buy one or two drivers, but I bought 10. I just couldn’t stop; they looked so cheap and so interesting. (I should know better, next month they will be even cheaper -- that’s the TaylorMade business model.)

I bought a couple of R 7 TP’s. The first was an ego-driven 9.5¡ with the TM Fujikura Speeder 757 in stiff flex (263 CPM, 45”, 5” clamp, grip off). Then, I saw a story about Vijay Singh using a 10.5¡ so I bought one of those just in case. The 10.5¡ came with an “R” flex shaft -- the same flex I played in my Titleist 975 LFE for almost two years. The first one with the weight kit cost a little under $500. That’s the going price for R 7 TP’s on eBay at the moment, down form $800 a few months ago.

Then I got interested in the Taylor Made “tour issue” heads -- these presumably came from the TM Tour Van. I bought a 510 TP tour issue in 9.5¡ loft. Then, I bought another 510 TP that was not “tour issue” because it looked cheap and I wanted to hedge my bet with a 10.5¡ loft. Then a 580 “tour issue” head came up for a couple of hundred bucks. I couldn’t resist. Unfortunately, that was before I was “educated” about the difference between the 580 and the 580 XD. (The XD has a stylish smooth crown.) So I forgot, temporarily that I liked the TP versions in all Taylor Made drivers and bought six more 580 XD’s because they seemed so cheap with their Mitsubishi Rayon shafts. Once again, I fell prey to the ego-driven problem of wanting the shaft Vijay Singh plays -- since our games are so similar. How many is that? I lost count.

Difference between “Consumer,” “Tour Proven” and “Tour Issue”

TaylorMade has a complicated marketing program. It’s not always in the best interests of their customers, but if you know how it works, you can defend yourself.

TaylorMade originated the concept of releasing two models in a single year. Prior to TM, it was common for a manufacturer to try to let a model run for a couple of years. Titleist is a good example of a company that eschews changing models too quickly. Their drivers usually stay current for a couple of years. You can imagine how that relieves product development expenses. It also keeps surplus product from flooding eBay as the company flushes obsolete products.

When Taylor Made releases a new product, it comes out in a “consumer” version. That means that it has a .350 hosel bore to accept a proprietary TM shaft with a .350 tip instead of the much more common .335 tip. Most clubmakers believe that .350 hosels are made for “hacks” to reduce the percentage of clubs that are returned for broken shafts. In our experience, the lighter the shaft and the softer the tip, the more likely the shaft is to break. Good players tend to disregard TM “consumer” grade products. Taylor Made consumer products cycle quickly and do not hold their value well. For example, you can buy new or near-new Taylor Made 540 and 580 XD clubs on eBay for under $100. By the way, that’s a fabulous value.

After the consumer version hits the streets, Taylor Made releases a “TP” or “Tour Proven” model. There are two differences. First, the head is built to accept a .335 tip shaft. That’s the most common shaft on the PGA Tour and offers the best selection in models and flexes. Tour Pros think they like the feel of the .335 tip better. Second, the shaft is usually a premium shaft, like a Speeder 757. The TP model can be distinguished from the consumer models by the “racing flags” logo on the toe of the club. TP models hold their value much better than consumer versions.

Finally, there’s the Taylor Made “tour issue” head. This is a model that was presumably given to a Tour Pro from the Taylor Made Tour Van (and later cashed in by his caddy). It will have a special serial number, usually with a “T” starting out the number, or no serial number at all. These are the heads that hold their value the best. It’s not uncommon to see them sell for several hundred dollars on eBay. If you are looking for the right club for a golf snob, it is definitely the TM “tour issue” head. Keep in mind, however, that any actual connection with the tour van or a tour pro can be quite distant.

The real difference between consumer, tour proven and tour issue might not be all that great and you just might find you like the consumer version better.

The R 7 at the Big Game Cup and Followup

I took my new Taylor Made R 7 out of the box, checked out the shaft on our Digiflex frequency meter (263 CPM, 5” clamp, grip on) and that made me worry, thinking that if the TM Speeder is actually the same Fujikura 757, this would be a short honeymoon. I didn’t bother to look at the location of the weights. I took it straight to the course for the Big Game Cup.

That was a mistake. Eric hit his normal towering drives; mine went low left. If you were standing on the 18th green, you could have bought a very cheap R 7 TP.

But like many golfers who pay too much for a club that doesn’t work, I decided to give it another chance. This time I let Fuji Bob have a look at it and adjust the weights. I wanted it to go higher. I don’t know what he did, but when I took it out to Paly in a practice round with Bob, Chuckie and Heather, it moved up from “liquidation” to “bargain bin.” Then, I asked Fuji Bob to make one more change. I wanted the trajectory as high as it would go with a slight fade. Voila!! High with a slight fade. That might have been luck, but it happened. There was one detail that Bob didn’t tell me about. He also increased the total weight to deliver a D-6 swingweight. I hit the driver great most of the way around the course with a couple of “lefts” that I blamed on trying to muscle the Speeder shaft. Can you change the ball flight by moving the weights in an R 7? Absolutely. BTW: that conclusion is contrary to some “experts” who publish their opinions on the Internet.

So here’s where I stand with the R 7 TP after a couple of rounds and a couple of range sessions. It’s not in the bag (yet). I think that the stock Speeder is still a little too stiff and I’m a reluctant to swap shafts just now. On the other hand, the driver that’s in the bag is the R 7’s slightly cheaper cousin, the 510 TP “tour issue” with a Fujikura Pros3 shaft in S flex. That was another project that just came out a little better. The main difference is in the shafts. The Pros3 is a little higher torque and we’ve come to believe that “torque is your friend” despite the conventional wisdom in favor of high bend point, low torque shafts.

If you’re a “golf geek” and want to do a lot of testing to figure out exactly the combination works for you, you really can’t beat the R 7. In addition to changing the trajectory and shape of your shots, you can also make huge changes to the headweight. There is no more convenient to change headweight except for layers of lead tape which turns out to be unsightly. Of course, that’s assuming you don’t mind paying $500 for a cool driver head to play with.

Remember this. Even for the very best players who come into the Golf Lab, the best performing shafts over the last several months have been the light weight, relatively high torque shafts such as the Fujikura SIX, the Fukikura Pros3 and the ACCRA T-50. These are counter-intuitive findings that go against what most clubfitters recommend. If you’re having trouble off the tee, think about trying a shaft that’s different than what you’ve been using. That’s the only way to find out if another idea will work for you.

460 cc. heads

I want to follow up on another prediction. In 2005 most of your friends who buy new drivers will be playing the maximum USGA-Legal size, 460 cc. If you’re a golf snob like me, you can’t stand the way the big heads look. They make you think you’re in a clown show instead of on the golf course. There’s just one problem: they perform. I don’t think you’ll see a new driver head from any manufacturer that’s not at least 430 cc and most will be bumping up against the maximum size.

Think about this: there’s probably no bigger golf snob on the face of the earth than Tiger. Until a little over a year ago, he was still using a Titleist “D” head -- at 240 cc. Today, he’s using the biggest head Nike makes, the 460 cc Ignite paired up with a shaft that will stay an official secret until the time they pay Tiger for an endorsement. By the way, it’s not the Graffaloy Blue that’s been reported on many online forums. Blue paint is cheap. It’s a Mitsubishi shaft that you’ve never heard of.

One of the hot heads for 2005 is going to be the Ping G2. It’s a 460. Nike’s Ignite driver with its innovative NexTi face metal, is starting to sell. KZG brought out a 460 cc Gemini. Nakashima is releasing a new head, it’s a 450. Mark my words, bigger is better.

If you’re a golf snob, at least for drivers, get over it.

Head Weights and Balance

From time to time, Fuji Bob and I get a little time in a tour van. The last time it happened was at the AT&T a couple of years ago. We were surprised when the Pros came in with their “favorite” heads. They were all very heavy by commercial standards, usually between 205 and 209 grams.

One of our pet peeves is how little choice golfers actually have if they limit themselves to “off the shelf” products. Take drivers: practically all drivers are built almost identically. They will have a 200 gram head mounted on a 65 gram shaft at 45”. It doesn’t matter if you’re 5’4” or 6’5”, strong or weak, the manufacturers want you to think that “one size fits all.”

When we find a Magic Driver that delivers measurably better performance, it’s usually different in the way it’s balanced. Over the last few months, we focused on super light weight shafts. Lately, we’ve been working with radically heavier head weights with very good results. I have two examples:

In my R 7 experiments, I didn’t begin to see results until Bob changed the head weight a lot, resulting in a D-6 swingweight. That’s a head that is 12 grams heavier than the “stock configuration.” At 209 grams, I found myself feeling the shaft of the club release which let me maintain my tempo and balance. I finished up with a good driving day.

On the 18th hole of our “friendly” round, Heather was getting a little jealous and wanted to try the R 7. She drilled one way longer than normal. Heather has an 85 MPH swing speed. She was hitting my driver: Speeder 757, stiff flex and a 209 gram head delivering an overall D-6 swingweight. That’s not a good fit on paper.

To test the results, we went back to the Golf Lab and built out a test driver with an SMT Spectrum head and an identical Fujikura Speeder shaft that we pulled from an orphan 510 TP. We pulled out the hosel plug and used our Mitchell hot melt system to inject almost ten grams of extra weight into the head. The new club was identical to the R 7 with the slight difference in placement of weight. Heather took that driver to Poppy Hills and had her best driving day of the year. Once again, the result is against the conventional wisdom and totally counter-intuitive. There is no way that Heather should have done well with a driver that had the following specs: D-6 swingweight, 208 gram head, Fujikura Speeder 757 in S flex at 45”. It shouldn’t have happened. But it did.

This fix also pertains to fairway woods. Most amateurs play “stock” length 3 woods at 43”. Most Tour Pros play their 3 woods at a shorter length, commonly 42.5”. If you cut down your stock 3 wood, the head will be too light, balance will be thrown off and the club won’t perform. If you want to play a shorter length 3 wood, for consistency, you’re going to have to add 6 to eight grams of weight to the head. The same goes for the rest of your fairways. If you’re having consistency problems, cut down the length and increase the head weight.

December Driver Orgy

There have been so many new shafts coming out, together with all of the Taylor Made heads and some of my “old favorites” that I thought I ought to try building out as many new drivers as I could this month. Rather than use the launch monitor to sort through performance statistics, I decided to take the clubs to the range and see how they did in “real life” before going back to the Golf Lab for fine tuning.

In some ways, this is reverting to the “old-fashioned” way of trying a certain combination, changing the loft, shaft flex, swing­weight or length until the driver performed. It’s a method that any player can try for himself. All you need is a selection of heads and shafts and the patience to swap them out and test them. I’ve found that the good drivers emerge after the third or fourth shaft change.

First Round of Testing

Maxter 440 10¡ Mitsubishi Rayon Hank Kuehne Shaft “X” flex at 44.5”. The Maxter line is very popular in Europe and trying to make a mark in America. The heads are very good quality, classic shapes and have a .350 hosel bore which makes them useful to recycle shafts that come out of Taylor Made and Nike heads. I wanted to test the 85 gram Kuehne shaft at a shorter length, thinking that the “heavy hammer” patterned after Tour clubs might be useful for me. Alas, Hank must really like that shaft. I couldn’t handle it, even at a shorter length. I couldn’t get rid of the fade. It was solid, but too stiff for my 110 MPH swing speed. Iron Byron will get one chance with it and then back to the parts bin.

Maxter 400 9¡ with Aero Tech 50 g. Powercoil. We’ve been surprised by the performance of super light shafts with relatively high torque. The Aerotech shaft is an economical alternative to the Speeders and ACCRAs. I paired it up with a Master head that we weighted up to 205 grams. That extra headweight offset the lightweight shaft and brought the club up to a D-3 swing weight, heavier than normal for such a light weight shaft. Alas, the shaft might have lacked a little backbone. The Aerotech folks have an “X” flex version of the 50 gram Powercoil on the drawing boards. I think that’s what it will take to make this combination perform. Back to the parts bin.

Alpha C-380/2 460 cc. with ACCRA T 50 X flex. This is the exact same combination as the driver that I wrote about last month that delivered my lifetime best driving day. Unfortunately, I gave that driver to a customer to test and he bought it. I thought it would be no problem to duplicate the club. The specifications were identical but on the course, this particular club was a dog. Once again, we proved what we say over and over: Even two supposedly identical clubs can play radically different. Identical shafts might have a slightly different flex profile. Heads might have weight distributed differently inside the head. Lofts and face angles can be fractions off. No two clubs are ever exactly the same. Back to the parts bin (but I’ll try to build those specifications again -- and buy back the other driver.)

Taylor Made R 7 TP 9.5¡ with Taylor Made Speeder 757. This is my “review” club. It gives a little “clanky” sound and that’s my only complaint -- it might just be the range balls. I think that the shaft is a little too stiff, causing me to try to muscle it a bit too much - leading to tugging an occasional shot left. Overall I like this club. I hate to change the original specifications but it will get a new shaft. If I were choosing today, it would be a Fujikura SIX or Pros3. It’s in the backup bag.

Taylor Made 510 TP 10.5¡ with Taylor Made Speeder 757. This was my insurance club just in case the 9.5¡ delivered a trajectory that was too low. For most players, it would be a much better choice to buy your Taylor Made TP with a Speeder “R” flex shaft. I will swap out the shaft in this club and see if I can get the ball up a little higher and turn it over a little easier. It’s on the shelf -- but available.

Maxter 440 9¡ with Aldila NV 65 S flex. I had an extra Aldila NV shaft that we salvaged from an earlier disaster. This was a pretty good combination but the trajectory was too low. First, I’ll swap out the head for a 10¡. Then, if I still can’t turn it over easily (a requirement for me) I’ll find another NV shaft in R flex. This turned out to be a promising combination, except for the head and the shaft.

Second Round of Testing

Maxter 440 10¡ Mitsubishi Rayon Tour S Shaft. Same head as round one, swapped out for the lighter weight Rayon shaft. Not quite soft enough. I’m not getting too far with my “heavy hammer” experiment.

Nakashima NP-1 420 with Graffaloy Pro Launch. The Nakashima heads have been among our favorites all year because they measure face angle and loft at the factory. All driver heads are different. Nakashima makes it easier for a player to know what he’s buying without spending hours staring at different heads. I didn’t care for the Pro Launch shaft. It did not seem responsive. Back to the parts bin.

Taylor Made 510 TP “tour issue” with Fujikura Pros3 S flex. This is a winning combination. Despite the fact that it was a “tour issue” head which should have been heavier, it came in at 200 grams. I added six grams inside the head. Paired up with the Pros3 it was a fabulous combination. The sound was the first thing I noticed. It was closer to the persimmon sound than any titanium head I’ve ever tested. Plus, it was hot, the ball got down range fast. The shaft felt soft even though it tested stiff. Once again the low weight (67 grams) and high torque (3.8¡) is a winner.

Taylor Made 580 XD 10.5¡ with a UST Harmon Tour Design S flex. This was the biggest surprise and almost the biggest winner. If it were just a little more expensive or a little more exotic, I’d like it better. I found it was easy to hit; I turned it over with ease. It went just a little too high for my taste, but out of the bunch of drivers, this one was the most fun to hit. I began to convince myself that the extra 60 cc difference between the 510 series and the 590 series was an important feature. If you go on eBay today, you can buy the 580 XD of your choice for around $100. Most of them are brand new or nearly new. If you get lucky and find one with a shaft you can hit,

The Winners

Taylor Made 510 TP “tour issue” with Fujikura Pros3 S flex. This is the driver that wins a vacation trip down to Scottsdale, AZ for a try out on the Hot Stix fitting system and then a vacation on the TPC.

Taylor Made R 7 TP 9.5¡ with Taylor Made Speeder 757 S flex. The R 7 project will definitely continue. I’m going to have to start changing out the shafts to see if I can get one that is a little friendlier. I think I’ll probably end up with a Fujikura Pros3 or SIX.

Taylor Made 580 XD with UST Harmon Tour Design S flex. The “el cheapo” is going to get me in trouble. I’ll inevitably buy a few more and try them with different shafts. It will be a good head to test out .350 tips. I’m still wondering if the PGA Tour preference for .335 tips is well founded.

Next Month in Golf Today

Next month I’ll have a PGA Show preview and a complete rundown on the best shafts coming out in 2005 with a focus on the new Mitsubishi Rayon line that has been available only on Tour and in a few OEM clubs up until now. You’ll want to know about the graphite shaft that Tiger won with in Japan.

Leith Anderson is a partner in the Golf Lab in Palo Alto. He will answer all questions related to clubmaking and clubfitting personally. Contact Leith Anderson by email: Leith@calgolftech.com. Cell phone 650-743-2816.