One of the most popular displays at Demo Day belongs to TaylorMade, and much of the buzz was generated by its newest club line, RocketBallz. It's fun to say, but how do they perform? Golf Magazine's Jessica Marksbury puts them to the test.
DRIVER: TaylorMade R11S (8°) with an Aldila RIP NV 65 shaft
FAIRWAY WOOD: TaylorMade Burner SuperFast 2.0 (13.5°) with an Aldila NV 75 shaft
HYBRID: Adams Idea Pro a12 Proto G (18°) with a Graphite Design Tour AD UT 85 shaft
IRONS: Titleist 712CB (3-9) with Nippon NS Pro shafts
WEDGES: Titleist Vokey Design Spin Milled (48°, 54°, 60°) with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue shafts
PUTTER: Scotty Cameron for Titleist Mid Slant prototype
BALL: Titleist Pro V1x
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(Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
Lots of companies make adjustable drivers, but no company has embraced adjustability more than TaylorMade.
Since the 2004 release of the r7, a black driver trimmed in yellow and red, the company's flagship driver has always been adjustable. For 2012, that trend continues with the release of the white-crowned R11S on Feb. 3.
The R11S is not radically different from last season's top-of-the-line TaylorMade model, the R11, but there are a few evolutionary differences.
Last season's R11 featured a 440-cc head, but the R11S hits the USGA's maximum legal size, 460cc. TaylorMade says the bigger head combined with better aerodynamics make the R11S a little longer than the R11, and it has a slightly-larger sweetspot. The club should also do a better job of helping golfers maintain ball speed on mishits.
While last season's R11 had a red adjustable plate on the sole that allowed golfers to choose from three face angles, the R11S has five settings: Neutral, Open, Closed, Slightly Open (Open+), and Slightly (Closed+).
The adjustable sleeve that connects the shaft to the head can be set in a Neutral, Higher or Lower setting. The Higher setting adds 1.5° of loft (transforming a 9° driver into a 10.5° driver) while the Lower setting decreases loft by 1.5°.
"In many cases a golfer may not be able to see that much of a difference with the smaller sleeve [used on the R11], but the larger sleeve is going to give them the ability to dial in that launch condition to be exact without changing the spin rate," says Tom Olsavsky, TaylorMade's senior director of product creation.
Click here to watch an exclusive video of Olsavsky talking about the R11S.
There are also two weight ports in the R11S—one in the heel and one in the toe—which can hold the one- and the 10-gram weights that come with the driver. Positioning the 10-gram weight in the heel encourages a draw while screwing it into the toe should help you hit a fade.
There are 80 different ways you can set up the R11S, and according to TaylorMade, the club offers 140 yards of left-and-right adjustability.
"All in all, the package is going to give the golfer a little higher launch and less spin than the original R11, which should translate to more distance," says Olsavsky.
The R11S will come standard with an Aldila RIP Phenom 60 shaft for $399. The R11S TP, which features the same head but one of 25 upgraded shaft options, will cost $499.
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Mike Ferris, TaylorMade's vice president of product marketing, was counting each stride as he marched across the front of the conference room. "Twelve, thirteen, fourteen," he said before touching the wall, turning around and pacing back again. "Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen."
P.T. Barnum would have loved the way Ferris had just shown how much longer TaylorMade claims the new RocketBallz 3-wood is than last season's Burner SuperFast 2.0.
This is the club that gave the RocketBallz family its name. According to TaylorMade, the engineers who developed the club—and a small number of Tour pros who were given a chance to hit the earliest prototypes—all said that the 3-wood "hit the ball like a rocket."
Having a little fun, the engineers etched "RocketBallz" into subsequent refinements of the prototype, more as a code name than anything else. They never expected the name to stick, but it did, although it was shortened to RBZ on the sole.
(Click here to see an exclusive video on the RocketBallz fairway woods.)
Once you get past the name, the first thing you'll notice about the RocketBallz fairway woods is a cavity carved in the sole. Positioned just behind the face, it is designed to increase the flexibility of both the face and the sole of the club to help increase ball speed.
Golfers will notice a weight plug positioned directly behind the cavity. In drivers, weights like this one are often positioned in the back to move the center of gravity lower and farther from the face to encourage a higher ball flight. In the RBZ fairways, TaylorMade has moved the center of gravity in these clubs forward.
"Historically, we've always said, let's move the center of gravity back to make the club easier to play" says Tom Olsavsky, TaylorMade's senior direct of product creation. However, Olsavsky notes, most golfers hit their fairway woods and hybrids high in the face. He says the physics that helps you hit longer shots with your 460-cc driver doesn't help you as much with fairway woods because they feature a smaller head and shallower face. In order to get a higher launch angle, more ball speed and more carry distance, TaylorMade says that it moved the center of gravity in to keep it more aligned with where golfers actually hit the ball.
Olsavsky says the combination of the cavity and the forward adjustment of the center of gravity increased the RocketBallz ball speed by 3-4 mph over the Burner SuperFast 2.0. He also notes that the same features make the RocketBallz Rescue clubs 15 yards longer than their Burner counterparts.
"We have never seen a fairway wood that has gone right up to the USGA speed limit," Olsavsky says. "We had some things made from titanium that got close, but no one wanted to pay for them, so we're excited to be able to produce a product in a steel construction that goes right up to the USGA limits for coefficient of restitution [COR] and CT [the face's trampoline effect]."
Like the rest of TaylorMade's 2012 wood and rescue offerings, the RocketBallz line features a white matte finish on the crown and a black face to aid in alignment. But unlike the R11 clubs, the RBZ models are not adjustable—TaylorMade hasn't been able to incorporate moveable weights into a head that features a channel on the sole. (At least not yet.)
The fairway woods will be available in both standard and Tour models. The Tour version has a slightly smaller head, a more open face angle and a fade bias. Similarly, TaylorMade will offer a standard RBZ Rescue club and a Tour Rescue.
When they arrive in pro shops on Feb. 3, the RocketBallz fairway woods will come standard with a Matrix Ozik XCon 5 50-gram shaft; the Tour version will come with a Matrix Ozik RUL 70 75-gram graphite shaft. Each will cost $229 and lofts will range from 13°-24°. RocketBallz TP fairway woods with upgraded shafts will cost $329.
Arriving in pro shops on the same day, the RocketBallz and RocketBallz Tour rescue clubs will each cost $179 and come with a proprietary TaylorMade graphite shaft. A RocketBallz Rescue TP with an upgraded shaft will be $229. Available lofts will range from 16.5°-27°.
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After walking through the glass doors of TayorMade's Carlsbad, Calif., headquarters, I was asked to sign a document forbidding me from writing about the stuff I was about to see. Forty-five minutes later, every eye in the second-floor conference room was focused on me. Sean Toulon, the company's executive vice president, asked, "So David, what do you think?"
I'd just been shown a new line of clubs that would be joining the R11 and Burner families.
For an internal sales meeting, Toulon had starred in a video with Nick Faldo that lampooned one of the company's TV ads, so I knew he'd go the distance to get a laugh. Part of me thought the name I'd just seen was a joke.
Glancing at my watch, I played it straight,. "Sean, I don't think I'll ever forget the time and place where I first heard about RocketBallz."
But RocketBallz is no joke, and clubs bearing RBZ on their sole will start arriving in pro shops near you in early February. (According to TaylorMade, the engineers who developed the line said the 3-wood "hit the ball like a rocket." Having a little fun, they etched "RocketBallz" into their prototypes, and the name stuck.)
TaylorMade's goal for the RocketBallz drivers—there are two, a Tour version and a Speed version—is to deliver some of the R11's adjustability at a lower price. Get ready to hear the catch phrase "Adjustability at $299" a lot.
(Click here to watch an exclusive video about the RocketBallz driver.)
Using an included torque wrench, golfers can remove the head of the RocketBallz driver and re-attach it in any one of eight settings to change the face angle and effective loft of the club.
The RocketBallz driver does not have moveable weights or an adjustable sole plate like the R11. However, it's light and designed to help golfers generate more clubhead speed.
Tom Olsavsky, TaylorMade's senior director of product creation, says, "The aerodynamics of a driver are critical because you are trying to develop the maximum amount of speed with the minimal amount of effort." According to Olsavsky, the RocketBallz head is 1-2 mph quicker through the air than the Burner SuperFast 2.0, and the club weighs less than 300 grams when fitted with it's stock shaft, a 50-gram Matrix OZIK XCon 5.
Like every wood and rescue club in TaylorMade's 2012 line, the crown of the RocketBallz driver is white. According to the company, the combination of a black face and matte-finished white crown makes it easier to align the club and square it to your target.
The screw in the back of the club is not adjustable. This weight cartridge is designed to lower the head's center of gravity and promote a higher ball flight with less spin.
The Tour version of the RocketBallz driver has a slightly smaller head than the Speed version, and it comes with neutral weight bias instead of the Speed version's draw bias. The Tour model also has a slightly deeper face and comes standard with a 60-gram Matrix OZIK XCon 6 shaft.
A room full of TaylorMade executives weren't looking at you the first time you heard about the RocketBallz driver, but I bet you'll remember the name too.
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"For me, it's all about feel. If I like it and it looks good and then when I hit it I feel I can control the ball and the flight, that's good enough for me." – Sergio Garcia
DRIVER: TaylorMade R11 (9°) with an Aldila RIP Beta 90 shaft
FAIRWAY WOODS: TaylorMade Burner SuperFast 2.0 (15°, 18°) with Aldila RIP Beta 90 shafts
IRONS: TaylorMade Tour Preferred MB (3-PW) with Project X 6.5 shafts
WEDGES: TaylorMade TP w/xFT (50°, 58°) with Project X 6.5 shafts
PUTTER: TaylorMade Corza Ghost
BALL: TaylorMade Penta TP
See-Try-Buy: Learn more about TaylorMade clubs, and schedule your fitting with GolfTEC or Golfsmith.
(Photo by Fred Vuich/SI)
DRIVER: Titleist 909D2 (8.5°) with a Mitsubishi Fubuki 73 shaft
FAIRWAY WOOD: Titleist 910Fd (13.5°) with a Mitsubishi Diamana Kai'li 80 shaft
HYBRID: Titleist 910H (17°) with a UST Mamiya Proforce V2 104 shaft
IRONS: Titleist CB (4); MB (5-PW) with Nippon NS Pro shafts
WEDGES: Titleist Vokey Design (51°, 55°, 60°) with Nippon NS Pro shafts
PUTTER: TaylorMade Rossa Corza Ghost
BALL: Titleist Pro V1
See-Try-Buy: Learn more about TaylorMade and Titleist clubs and schedule your fitting with GolfTEC or Golfsmith.
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(Photo by Lai Seng Sin/AP Photos)
DRIVER: TaylorMade R11 (9°) with a ACCRA XC65 shaft
FAIRWAY WOOD: TaylorMade R9 (13°) with an ACCRA XC75 shaft
HYBRID: Mizuno Hi Fli CLK (17°) with an Aldila NV Hybrid 85 X shaft
IRONS: Mizuno MP-62 (3-PW) with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S300 shafts
WEDGES: Mizuno MP T-11 (54°, 60°) with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S300 shafts
PUTTER: Odyssey White Hot XG #7
BALL: Titleist Pro V1x
See-Try-Buy: Learn more about Mizuno, Odyssey, TaylorMade and Titleist gear, and schedule your fitting with GolfTEC or Golfsmith.
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DRIVER: TaylorMade R11 (8°) with a Project X X7A3 shaft
FAIRWAY WOODS: TaylorMade R9 (13°) with a Project X X7A3 shaft; R11 (17°) with a Project X X8A2 shaft
IRONS: TaylorMade Tour Preferred MB (3-PW) with KBS Tour C-Taper shafts
WEDGES: TaylorMade TP w/xFT (54°); Titleist Vokey Design Spin Mill (60°) with KBS Tour C-Taper shafts
PUTTER: TaylorMade Corza Ghost
BALL: TaylorMade Penta TP
*The image above shows two 60° wedges because Rose was testing wedges with different bounce angles when it was taken.
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DRIVER: TaylorMade R11 (10.5°) with a Motore F1 2.0 shaft
FAIRWAY WOODS: TaylorMade R9 (15°, 19°) with an Aldila RIP 90X shaft
IRONS: TaylorMade Tour Preferred Forged MB (3-9) with True Temper Dynamic Gold shafts
WEDGES: TaylorMade TP w/xFT (48°, 54°, 60°) with True Temper Dynamic Gold shafts
PUTTER: Scotty Cameron Newport 2 prototype
BALL: TaylorMade Penta TP
See-Try-Buy: Learn more about TaylorMade clubs, and schedule your fitting with GolfTEC or Golfsmith.
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Here's Johnson, showing off his acting chops while donning a FedEx uniform, delivering a special gold-plated driver to an unsuspecting golfer.
DRIVER: Titleist 909D2 (9.5°) with an Oban Devotion 6 65 shaft
FAIRWAY WOOD: Titleist 909F3 (15°) with an Oban Devotion 8 85 shaft
HYBRID: Titleist 909H (21°) with an Oban Devotion 8 85 Hybrid shaft
IRONS: Callaway Tour Authentic X-Tour (3), Titleist 710 MB (5-PW) with True Temper Dynamic Gold shafts
WEDGES: Titleist Vokey Design (52°, 58°, 62°)* with True Temper Dynamic Gold shafts
PUTTER: TaylorMade Rossa Monza Corza (long)
BALL: Titleist Pro V1x
*The 60° wedge in the photo was bent to 62°.
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DRIVER: TaylorMade R11 (9.0°) with a UST Mamiya ATTAS S6 X shaft
FAIRWAY WOOD: TaylorMade 200 Tour (13°, 17°) with Aldila Tour Gold X shafts
IRONS: TaylorMade Tour Preferred MB (3-PW) with True Temper Dynamic Gold with Sensicore X-100 shafts
WEDGES: Titleist Vokey Design Spin Milled (56°, 60°) with True Temper Dynamic Gold with Sensicore X-100 shafts
PUTTER: Ping Anser
BALL: Titleist Pro V1
See-Try-Buy: Learn more about Ping, TaylorMade and Titleist gear and schedule your fitting with GolfTEC or Golfsmith.
(Photo by Darren Carroll/SI)
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — The folks at TaylorMade who construct the company's symbol-filled commemorative logos pulled out all the stops for the 2011 PGA Championship. Here is a cheat sheet to help you decipher it.
The curls and lines of the logo itself are meant to be in the Art Nouveau style that was popular when the Atlanta Athletic Club was founded in 1898.
The last major championship played here was the 2001 PGA Championship, won by David Toms. The "265" at the top of the logo represents his winning score.
In the center of the logo is a four-leaf clover with an "02" in the middle. This is a tribute to Bobby Jones, whose statue sits in front of the Atlanta Athletic Club's clubhouse. He was born in Atlanta on St. Patrick's Day in 1902.
During Jones's career, the U.S. Amateur and British Amateur championships were considered majors, along with the U.S. Open and British Open. He won 13 of those events, and if you look carefully you'll count 13 rays emanating from the four-leaf clover.
Jones retired from competitive golf in order to pursue a legal career at 28. Stamped onto TaylorMade staff bags is the image of a scale, which represents the Scales of Justice.
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By Rob Sauerhaft
Managing Editor (Equipment), Golf Magazine
TaylorMade's new R11 irons (available in September) are disciples of both the Burner 2.0 and Tour Preferred irons.
The one-piece stainless steel cast heads boast a thin, lightweight face design like the Burner 2.0. The weight removed from the clubface has been shifted low and back to create a higher launch angle, faster ball speed, increased distance and more forgiveness. The result is comparable launch, ball flight and length to the Burner 2.0, as well as 15-yard distance gaps between clubs. (Company testing with low handicappers indicates that the R11 and Burner 2.0 4-irons produce identical carry distance; the R11 6-iron is 1 yard shorter than Burner 2.0.)
The “Precision Weight Port” system (a plug similar to those found in Tour Preferred irons) is used in the R11 irons to dial in desired head weights and swing weights, and to ensure each club’s center of gravity is in line with the sweet spot. The fixed (red) plugs — 2.5 to 17 grams — are made of aluminum, steel or tungsten and can not be adjusted by consumers. In addition, a light and lively face combines with “inverted cone technology” to deliver more consistent ball speeds and forgiveness on mis-hits.
At impact, the R11 feels and sounds more muted (quieter) than the loud-ish Burner 2.0 because the R11's clubface is slightly thicker in the impact zone and where it connects to the sole.
Lastly, the R11’s short irons have a shallow undercut channel between the face and rear to control feel and CG location (you can see it easily in the photo of the 5-iron below), the mid-irons have a moderate undercut, and the long irons have a progressively larger undercut that pulls weight farther back from the face for added forgiveness.
The new R11 irons will cost $799 with steel shafts and $999 with graphite shafts. You can learn more about them at taylormadegolf.com and watch Mark King, TaylorMade's CEO, introduce them to TaylorMade employees in the video below.
See-Try-Buy: Learn more about TaylorMade clubs, and schedule your fitting with GolfTEC or Golfsmith.
