The TaylorMade R11 Driver is out in force on the PGA Tour as you can tell on TV. We have been fitting the R11 Driver at Totally Driven for the last month and it has been a hit with customers and is really a club-fitter’s dream. Beyond the white club-head (great marketing move by TaylorMade), the technology of this driver is second to none.
TaylorMade has a number of acronyms to describe the adjustments that can be made to this driver:
FCT = Flight Control Technology- This allows the driver to be set to fly higher or lower along with lie angle settings. In reality the club-face also opens or closes with this setting.
ASP = Adjustable Sole Plate- This allows independent face angle adjustment of the driver while having minimal impact to the shot. Where this comes into play is fine tuning to the player’s preferred look at address (open, closed or neutral). When partnered with FCT setting, now allows for a closed face setting to address ball flight needs countered by and open face setting (for example) if the player doesn’t want to look at a closed face angle at address.
MWT = Moveable Weight Technology- This has been part of TaylorMade drivers for a number of years and allows for weighting towards the toe to promote a fade or the heel to promote a draw.
R11 Adjustments
TaylorMade claims 100 yard side to side adjustment with this driver and 1000 RPM backspin adjustment. I don’t know about 100 yards of side to side adjustability (you can definitely create a considerable change), but the backspin can definitely be changed if you know how to adjust the driver.
TaylorMade has one shaft option for the base R11 which is the Fujikura Blur 60 in M/R/S/X flexes. While this shaft will work for some players it obviously won’t be the correct shaft for most players. There are also mulitiple shaft options in their TP versions which allow better fitting choices. Totally Driven also offers various aftermarket shafts from Accra, Oban and Miyazaki that we can fit for, that really explodes the amount of options for the R11. We have had great success fitting players for these aftermarket shafts to really dial in launch/spin and direction. We also are able to use more than the factory supplied weights in order to control side spin/launch and spin as well as swing-weight.
R11 with Oban Kiyoshi
There is a bit of an art to understanding how to use the mulitple settings to best benefit the player. While we don’t say we have all the answers we are getting pretty proficient at setting up the club to help the player hit it longer and straighter.
Many players will buy this driver off the rack with a stock shaft (that may or may not fit them properly), unfortunately the technology will not help most of these players. First of all they will not likely get the correct shaft, shaft flex, length, swing-weight or grip size needed. Most players never use the adjustments that come on these clubs either from laziness or not understanding the capabilities at their disposal. We see this everyday where a player comes in hitting a big slice and yet has never adjusted the driver to reduce this.
Really the best option is to get fit by a true professional club-fitter who understands the technology, has multiple shaft options available as well as the ability to adjust weighting, length and grip to get a really remarkable fitting.
Andy Thompson
Totally Driven
