I hit six balls with each driver as a warm up but also to see if there were any noticeable differences between the three.
After all, drivers are about distance first and with accuracy a fairly distant second.įirst I went to a hole with no out of bounds, water, trees and fairway bunkers that I can usually carry. Besides, distance comparisons on the course are a lot easier than on the range. On the range conditions don’t vary–particularly the wind–and the landing zone is always flat which can give a false impression of both carry, distance and roll. My procedure for testing any new club, but particularly a new driver, is to take it to the course-not the range. In other words, a stock model one could expect to find in his local golf shop or big box sporting goods store.įor comparison, up until the SLDR arrived I had been using a RocketBallz Stage 2 (9.5 degree, Fuji Rocketfuel 50 shaft, D6), alternating with a Titleist 913 D3 model with a Aldila RIP 60 shaft, even though the clubhead of the 913 is somewhat smaller than the 460cc head on the RocketBallz. My test SLDR was 9.5 degree loft with a 58-gram Fujikura Speeder 57 stiff shaft and the stock TaylorMade grip.
On the tours several of the professionals who endorse TaylorMade like the driver and are using it consistently.
TaylorMade Golf’s new driver, the SLDR, has been in use on the PGA Tour and European Tour for over almost three months and in my hands for just over three weeks.