TaylorMade Burner SuperFast TP Driver Review

Hey all, this is my first topic/post on this site, but I would just like to write a bit about what I believe to be one of the best drivers out there, the TaylorMade Burner SuperFast TP. Scroll down to "REVIEW" if you don't want to hear any background info.

I've gone through quite a few drivers through the years, and was almost strictly a Titleist driver until I switched to TaylorMade. My driver I had before this was the TaylorMade Tour Burner, which I loved, but I cracked the crown so had to get a replacement.

I was doing some research about the latest TaylorMade drivers, and I narrowed it down to the R9 SuperTri or the Burner SuperFast TP. I didn't like the look of the R9 460 and the Burner SuperFast (not TP model) definitely sets up closed, I demoed this club and it made me hit the hugest slinger draw ever. I ended up going with the Burner SuperFast TP instead of the SuperTri because it comes with a longer shaft (I'm 6'-1") and the SuperTri kind of makes this "wooshing" noise; I think it's from the "optimization cavities" on the sole of the club. Anyways, onto the review...

REVIEW:

Make: TaylorMade
Model: Burner SuperFast TP
Loft: 9.5^o
Shaft: Mitsubishi Rayon Fubuki 63g
Flex: X

Looks/Setup:

At a first glance, this thing looks sweet, black sole, black face, black dual crown with a "honeycomb" design. I really love how this club sets up as well, the non-TP version seemed to set up very closed, but the TP version just sits perfectly square and neutral.

Performance:

Distance: I can not say enough about how FAR this club hits the ball. I am a pretty good golfer myself (just under a 2 HCP), but I've never been really "deep" off the tee, even though I swing pretty fast (114-118mph w/ driver). I have a very, very good friend (D2 college player, +3 HCP) who used to be right around 15-20 yards deeper than me off the tee, and now it's a total role reversal. I am now a consistent 15-20 yards deeper than him (and he's pissed!). What's crazy is the added distance is ALL CARRY. I am from the Seattle area, and anyone that golfs here knows that the ball doesn't go anywhere...and what's even worse is you get no roll because the fairways are so soft (lots of "mudballs"). I can't wait to hit this thing somewhere when I can get some roll!

Accuracy/Forgiveness: I'll be honest, the face of this club isn't quite as big as I hoped a 460cc head to be, but it is still surprisingly forgiving. From the front face view of the club, you can visibly notice the dual crown extending past the end of the face, which I believe helps on toe mishits. With the Fubuki X-Stiff shaft, the clubhead stays very stable through the hitting zone, and helps to provide more consistent contact. The sweet spot on this club seems to start from the middle of the face and extend up and towards the toe. I've hit some bombs hitting the ball slightly high on the face and toey. I really like the workability of this club too, I can nuke draw it when I need to, and hit that high, soft cut as well. On the rare misses with this club, I will say my miss is definitely left (I'm right handed).

Launch: I would think a TP clubhead with an X-Stiff shaft would produce a low, boring ball flight, but it's surprisingly the opposite. My older drivers produced right around a mid launch, and I'm definitely hitting this club with a mid-high to high launch.

Sound: I have dabbled around with the Pro V1x, Nike One Tour D, and Penta TP with this club. Great, solid sound, a titch louder than a Titleist driver, but I love it. Not too loud, not too soft.

Feel: Very solid feel, and provides good feedback on mishits. You can feel where you mishit the ball quite easily. Through the hitting zone, you can feel the ball just rocket off the face.

Overall:

Amazing driver, easily the best driver I have ever played. Getting a custom shaft that's 46" and the first time using X-Stiff probably helped quite a bit, but this thing is just ridiculous. I've honestly added around 35-40 yards with this club (from averaging 250 to 285+). I'm actually questioning whether or not this thing is legal! Reaching 560 yard par 5s in 2 getting no roll in October in Seattle or flying the ball onto a 300 yard par 4 and have it roll to the back edge in the same conditions just isn't normal. I may have gotten an illegal model with a super thin face or something haha. This is the first driver I have had where my golf buddies will sometimes just say "OH MY" after I bomb one out there. Only drawback I can see is the face size itself is slightly smaller than some other 460cc heads out there, but I guess that's what you get for using the "TP" model :D

9.9/10

Thanks for the reply. I read all of the SuperFast threads I see, as this thing has really piqued my interest. I've been playing the '07 Burner TP for three years now, and I like it a lot, but I can't help but wonder if I might be able to improve upon it with the SuperFast...

Nice first post and thanks for the review. Like KMeloney said, all the SF TP reviews and seeing Tour pros, including non-TM staffers, picking it over the other alternatives has me interested too. I have an 8.5 head waiting for a shaft and I am really looking forward to trying it.

I have a pal who works for TMAG...apparently, virtually everyone that test their drivers ends up with ball speeds a few MPHs higher with the SF, even with equivalent length shafts. Helps explain why all their staffers game it, I guess....

[quote name='Puppetmaster' timestamp='1287062011' post='2742589']
Nice first post and thanks for the review. Like KMeloney said, all the SF TP reviews and seeing Tour pros, including non-TM staffers, picking it over the other alternatives has me interested too. I have an 8.5 head waiting for a shaft and I am really looking forward to trying it.
[/quote]

Which shaft are you getting? If I lived somewhere where I could actually get some roll, an 8.5[sup]o[/sup] head would have been perfect for me too.

Nice review! I appreciate you listed the different choice of drivers and how you came down to the SFTP.

That driver is pretty close to my setup - I have the SFTP with the Fubuki 63 stiff though but I had TM tip it 1/2" and maxed out to 46.5 in length.

Like you review, I concluded that It's STUPIDLY long.

The Fubuki, straight off, is just a great shaft and that has a great kick and very stable at impact and smoooooooth. SS for me is around 113. As yet, we do not have the rains here in LA so we still have lots of roll but I've GPS measure some of my longest drives off this combo including a 332 yards max, gotta love that! The only b*tch is that my SFTP head looks neutral or a tad closed. The SFTP kicked the G15 7.5* out of the bag, that's how good it is.

Today, I just picked up a Supertri TP 9.5 with a RIP 70 stiff and it's stock 45" in length. I could not tip the shaft as it's preowned. As a comparison and head to head on the range, the ST is shorter than the SFTP but what I do like about the ST is the ability to setup the driver when my driver swing is wayward, which is a nasty right-left draw that goes out 220+. I was messing with the ST and I set it to NR setting with the weight on the fade setting and it seemed to do the job, hitting nice cuts. I also love the ST for it's ability to change the shaft on the fly, thinking of putting up the Fubuki 63 stiff in the R9 TP tip though I might have to do this custom if am to get a 1/2" tipping at 46". I've also heard great results with the C Kua..so many choices. So many choices


I do agree the sounds of the ST and SFTP is naturally different. What surprised me is that even moving the 16g weight from back to toe changes the sound as well with the 16gm weight in the rear producing the loudest noise, that's just what I heard at the range today. The SFTP is the most muted compared to the ST though.


IMO, these 2 TM drivers are some of the best drivers ever produced using 2 different strategies. Not a TM fanboy here as the ST is the 3rd TM driver I've owned (R7 425, SFTP and now the ST) and I look forward to more head to head shootouts to see if the ST or SFTP will make the bag. 7 capper here.

Or until TM releases a super duper SFTP-ST hybrid. Alien Predator anyone?

Good to know the result... I'm thinking that would be my next try. I have heard so many good things with the SF or SF TP that this is my second try with the SF. I currently have a non-TP 9.5 head (I heard the non-TP heads are hotter), I put a PX 6.5 shaft in the head and it was a piece of crap. It launches so high that it kills distance. The PX 6.5 was such a low launch shaft in my VR Tour head that I thought it might lower the launch in the SF head... but I was completely wrong.

My next try is to pull the Fubuki 73 out of my VR head and put it in the SF to try... but the VR/Fubuki is so money, it might be hard to beat.

[quote name='Deuce Pot' timestamp='1287040789' post='2742434']
[/quote]

I have a 10.5 TP with stock R shaft. I love it. I, too, hit it very far with my 95 mph swing. Very solid.

[quote name='Deuce Pot' timestamp='1287121382' post='2744114']
[quote name='Puppetmaster' timestamp='1287062011' post='2742589']
Nice first post and thanks for the review. Like KMeloney said, all the SF TP reviews and seeing Tour pros, including non-TM staffers, picking it over the other alternatives has me interested too. I have an 8.5 head waiting for a shaft and I am really looking forward to trying it.
[/quote]

Which shaft are you getting? If I lived somewhere where I could actually get some roll, an 8.5[sup]o[/sup] head would have been perfect for me too.
[/quote]

The head is being sent out Monday for a Diamana Ahina. I can't wait.

Yeah, great driver for sure. I have a similar set-up...I've hit drives just as long with my previous two clubs (9015d/BB63 & HiBore XL) but the SF TP is noticably straighter, I'm hitting a ton more fairways this year and the look of the head has really grown on me.

Can anyone speak to how the stock Matrix shaft performs? I just picked one up with the stock shaft in an X-Flex. I'm kind of a shaft snob and normally stock offerings don't cut it. Just curious to know whether or not anyone has experience with it.

Thanks a lot.

I like it a lot actually. My XCon is great. High launch, low spin. Wonderfully forgiving shaft.

Aside from the white head of the superfast 2.0, is there enough of a performance improvement over the original superfast to justify spending $300 for the 2.0 vs the $150 that the original Superfast is selling for?

[quote name='fsutanker' timestamp='1306632729' post='3269789']
Aside from the white head of the superfast 2.0, is there enough of a performance improvement over the original superfast to justify spending $300 for the 2.0 vs the $150 that the original Superfast is selling for?
[/quote]

Some would argue that there isn't ANY improvement with the new offering. I couldn't put up good numbers with the 2.0, but did with the 1.0. So, I bought a 1.0.

I have or had both 1.0 TP and 2.0 TP, no comparison. The face on the 2.0 TP feels a little harder to me, but the performance is better. I always had a difficult time with the "double" crown design of the burner series since the 08' model. This is the best Burner driver since the 07'TP, no question.

--jason

Agree with the OP...the SFTP is the longest driver I have ever owned and hit. Mine has the Fubuki stuff tipped 1/2" but I think it could even go a full inch in tipping. For me the SFTP feels "soft", even when I nail it hard. The Fubukis has a nice kick to it. However with this shaft, it has to be a smooth crank it...but if I crank it hard, it's a major draw machine.

I have tried the 2.0 and I just don't get this replacement, it's loud and short, not a SFTP replacement that I was expecting. However, I have a Ahina R11 coming together and I can't wait to try to tune it, and let the battle begin....there can only be ONE!

Almost all of the taylormade drivers on tour are R11's, not superfasts!

I picked up a 1.0 and stuffed a Harrison Saga in there and it is the longest stick I have hit, and I generally dislike TM. Perfect trajectory and picked up about 8 mph in ball speed. Feels great too.

[quote name='KMeloney' timestamp='1306875516' post='3275615']
[quote name='fsutanker' timestamp='1306632729' post='3269789']
Aside from the white head of the superfast 2.0, is there enough of a performance improvement over the original superfast to justify spending $300 for the 2.0 vs the $150 that the original Superfast is selling for?
[/quote]

Some would argue that there isn't ANY improvement with the new offering. I couldn't put up good numbers with the 2.0, but did with the 1.0. So, I bought a 1.0.
[/quote]
I couldn't find any real reason to get the 2.0 I actually prefer the black look as opposed to the white,
and with an upgraded shaft it is worth it.

[quote name='Need4spd' timestamp='1306553993' post='3268326']
Can anyone speak to how the stock Matrix shaft performs? I just picked one up with the stock shaft in an X-Flex. I'm kind of a shaft snob and normally stock offerings don't cut it. Just curious to know whether or not anyone has experience with it.

Thanks a lot.
[/quote]



I use the stock matrix HD6 in stiff and it performs really well for me. Very long, great traj and super smooth to swing.

This thing is not as long as the RAZR Hawk (nothing on this planet is), but it's accurate accurate accurate. So easy to align, too. The black face is no BS. Additionally, the feel off the face is a nice powerful POP, and not too loud as some people claim. I used to play the Nike MachSpeed SQ and that thing produced a loud--I mean LOUD--ding, like an aluminum bat on a softball. The RAZR Hawk is more muted and muffled than the 2.0 SFTP, but still the 2.0 SFTP isn't by any means obnoxious. Nearly perfect feedback, frankly, and indeed a little bit soft so you can feel where you missed it (if you did). I thought I wasn't going to like the lighter head, so I avoided this driver for a long time; but my RAZR Hawk broke (face shattered; happened twice to my buddy!--great driver, but very cheaply made, crapola materials) and so I was able to get the 2.0 SFTP from a buddy for a good price. I have played with it for a couple weeks. What I have found is that even though the head is light, I am still able to keep my tempo, since the stock swingweight is D4. The best thing I like about it is that it legitimately keeps the left side out of play. My miss is usually a nasty, nasty snap hook, and now my miss is a high fade (this is because of both the toe weight as well as the 1* open face). I like the high fade because even though it is ugly and pathetic looking, I can still anticipate fixing this kind of miss mid-swing better and THROW my right hand over to correct it. Before I could not throw my hands and had to hold off or else *SNAP* and a nasty, nasty hook flew into the pine straw. If you have this miss, then the 2.0 SFTP is the right driver for you. Finally, the head-shape is just dandy to look down at. Makes much more "sense" than the R11, if that makes sense. Basically, it looks like it will go zoom super fast like and *swip*, as if it were an arrow directly at the target. Stock grip is basically a GP Tour Velvet; simple, straightforward, and comfy on the fingers. All in all, I couldn't be happier. I thought the RAZR Hawk was the best driver ever made, but it is only the LONGEST ever made; but if you want a complete driver, with feel, accuracy, and length, then the 2.0 SFTP is for you. The key to this driver is that it allows you to back off a little bit to worry about tempo and accuracy, and the superfast part will help it speed up with less effort, making it soar a long way, but a lot more on target. No question, other drivers are longer, but this one is the total package. Kudos to T-mags for producing this stick. I am really interested to see what is next in the Burner line. I really hope RBZ didn't "replace" Burner. I WANT TO SEE THE 3.0!

I believe this is one of the best drivers out there. I have mine with stock HD6 Matrix shaft and I have not found a driver to knock it out of the bag in 3 years. I have a SS of 98-102 on average and this thing just goes long and straight. I also feel the stock shaft perfoms well for my SS.

I have tried all the R9's, R11's and RBZ's and none can compare to the distance, accuracy, consistency and fee of the SFTP. I have also tried a few of the Nike offerings and Callaway RazrFit.

SFTP is a great driver and can be had for a great price now.

[quote name='x100' timestamp='1306906170' post='3276789']
Almost all of the taylormade drivers on tour are R11's, not superfasts!
[/quote]

say that to the 2012 Fed EX Champion and current 2013 leader.........