TaylorMade R11S Driver

If you watched the Northern Trust Open this past weekend, you could not have missed the TaylorMade tour staff sporting hats emblazoned with large hearts, signifying their love for the new TaylorMade R11 S driver. The company also bought up enormous amounts of television ad time promoting the big dog.

Kudos to the staff for sucking it up and donning the toppers.

All that aside, I think Taylormade has a right to be proud of all the technology its stuffed into the R11 S. Billing it as “the most adjustable driver in golf,” TaylorMade has devised means of allowing players to create 80! different lauch settings.

This adjustable thing has come a long way in a short time. I remember the excitement just a few years ago when a club allowed you to swap out a couple of weights to increase draw or face bias.

With this driver, a five way adjustable sole plate allows a face angle that’s independent of the loft sleeve setting. You can generate neutral, slightly open, open, slightly closed and closed. The Flight Control Technology allows players to adjust the loft up and down, with eight choices ranging from 3° of lie and 3° loft/6° face angle. This can create up to 60 yards of differing sideways movement, and up to 1500 rpm of launch condition change.

And finally, the movable weight technology is still around.

This may frankly be the last driver you ever need to buy. As your game changes, so too will this stick.

TaylorMade’s press release follows.

TaylorMade RocketBallz Driver

I’m not entirely sure about the name of this new TaylorMade line. RocketBallz to me sounds a bit like one of those Japanese television cartoons my boys watch. I have visions of characters with odd eyes, spiky technicolor hair and jumpsuits affecting bizarre poses and shouting things like: “Behold the Power of ... ROCKETBALLZ!”

Name aside, this driver has the usual TaylorMade cornucopia of technology. It’s got “Flight Control Technology,” which allows players to adjust the loft and face angle.  A lightweight shaft and grip promotes faster swing speed for more distance and the speed-enhancing head aerodynamics promotes faster head speed for more distance. And the venerable Inverted Cone Clubface Technology promotes more speed and distance on off-center hits. Visually, you’ve got the white crown and black face, which TaylorMade says makes alignment easy and eliminates glare on top.

I think they ought to do the driver in spiky flames of orange, yellow and blue.

“Behold the Power of ... ROCKETBALLZ!”

Cleveland Classic 290 Driver

Lots of drivers in recent years have claimed to have a “classic look,” but none have gone to the lengths of the Cleveland Classic Driver, which not only has the pear shape, but also molding and color to imitate a persimmon head.

Of course, it’s not a persimmon club, but a modern 460cc titanium beast, with all the weighting, coefficient of restitution and moment of inertia that modern engineering can provide.

I wonder about the target audience of these clubs, though. Persimmon heads have been out of style—if not out of production—for a couple of decades now. And many of those who do remember playing with wood don’t remember it terribly fondly. Compared to today’s metal monsters, they were hard to hit. I honestly haven’t met anyone who was nostalgic in a positive way about persimmon heads.

But then maybe its that I play with the wrong crowd.

Cobra Long Tom Driver

When most club manufacturers brag about length, they’re talking about the distance the ball flies. For Cobra golf, that boast goes in an entirely different direction: the Long Tom’s shaft is an heroic forty eight inches! A “normal” driver, such as the new TaylorMade RocketBallz, clocks in at 46.

The idea is that the extra length translates to extra clubhead speed, which in turns results in greater distance. The theoretical downside is that the club may be more difficult to control. I say theoretical, because I build an extra long club a few years ago, and I’m not convinced I was any more wild with that than the extra short shaft GolfWorks Hero driver I put together at about the same time. For me, the main problem with the extra long shaft was that I popped it up way too much. I think the longer shaft somehow made me come in too steeply.

Still, this might be worth a look if you’re looking for a few more yards.

With the R11 S driver, TaylorMade continues its drive toward the ultimate in club adaptability. Players can adjust the loft up or down as much as one and a half degrees with Flight Control Technology, the face to five different angles (plus or minus three degrees) with the Adjustable Sole Plate, and use movable weights to shift the center of gravity toward the heel or toe.

It’s also got some other non-movable features in the 460cc titanium head: Thick-Thin Crown design lowers that center of gravity and Inverted Cone Technology (ICT) to promote more ball speed on off-center hits.  The R11 driver also has the striking white crown and black face that TaylorMade says improves alignment and reduces glare.

Intriguing.

You can get it at Golfsmith Golf & Tennis—Best Selection. Best Brands. Best Prices. Guaranteed.

Cobra’s new AMP Driver is available for preorder at Golfsmith. Here’s the skinny:

Cleveland Men’s CG Black Driver

The new Cleveland CG Black Driver focuses on aerodynamics to increase swing speed and this increase distance. It’s got a teardrop profile that Cleveland says reduces drag at all angles of airflow during the swing for more club speed. The CG stands for Center of Gravity, which is positioned low and deep in the head for a higher launch angle. They’ve also installed lightweight premium Miyazaki shafts and lightweight grips.

I’ll be looking for a local demo day to give it a shot.