LIVE UPDATES: The $5000 TaylorMade SLDR Guarantee Event! Before/After Results Added!

[bubbagump]

One thing I was surprised by, was me fitting into a 430 instead of a 460 as well as not having the slider moved at all. Im not even sure I hit the 460 more than twice during the fit. Driver has always been my weakness and usually the thought was the more forgiveness the better for me, which is why I would assume the 460 on a draw setting would have been the better of the heads for me. If you are like me, or are worried about forgiveness dont be afraid of the 430, it helps knock down a bit more spin than the 460 which also helps you stay on the course. The 430 head itself is plenty forgiving enough as I would miss the ball a bit low and it still would stay straight and relatively minimal distance loss. It also really worked well with a pretty steep swing, which is more than I can say for a handful of drivers. Pair it with a slightly shorter shaft, and if youre a guy who usually has trouble keeping a driver in play consistently like I do, I was able to harness it in and keep it to the fairway and thereabouts more often than not.

Another thing I noticed was that I was getting more roll from the SLDR than I have ever gotten from a driver. Tinkering with it to bring down my abnormally high ball flight, really helped with the roll out as well. Now this is probably the case for a benefit more of being fit, but the head still really aided in the process. Its hot and will boost your carry, as well as giving you the benefit of at least about 10 yards of roll if not more. We got it to where I didnt go from moonballs to worm burners, but brought the flight down just enough to where it could still clear trees and get up there, but wouldnt balloon or get caught up in the wind.

Also keep in mind, totally on paper some of these numbers sound terribly out of the ordinary and unreal....but sitting and watching every single guy hit the SLDR against their own driver it couldnt have been more obvious the difference. We will be getting our numbers in the next few days I would imagine, and then we can post more detailed write ups...but just about in every single category guys were experiencing great gains or improvement.

[bubbagump]

Couple pics (more to come):


[attachment=2164557:IMAG0413.jpg]
Some goodie drawer!
[attachment=2164559:IMAG0414.jpg]
Jeff interviewing with Rob
[attachment=2164561:IMAG0412.jpg]
More goodies!
[attachment=2164563:IMAG0416.jpg]
Rob interviewing with Rob
[attachment=2164565:IMAG0432.jpg]
Phil building my driver!
[attachment=2164567:IMAG0449.jpg]
The start of a longggg epic Friday night lol. Appetizers before dinner!
[attachment=2164569:IMAG0443.jpg]
[attachment=2164573:IMAG0442.jpg]

[Hstead]

I hate all of you guys.

[geauxWRX]

I have a question - how much would it cost a person not on this trip to get fitted for a sldr that out preformed other drivers? So let's say it takes the avg guy $100 for a trackman session not at TM and the a $399 driver plus a $250 shaft upgrade? So it takes an estimated $750 to get a sldr that produces ideal numbers?

[Doc420]

[quote name='geauxWRX' timestamp='1396913394' post='9041741']
I have a question - how much would it cost a person not on this trip to get fitted for a sldr that out preformed other drivers? So let's say it takes the avg guy $100 for a trackman session not at TM and the a $399 driver plus a $250 shaft upgrade? So it takes an estimated $750 to get a sldr that produces ideal numbers?
[/quote]Most places I know will waive the trackman fitting if you order the driver from them. But for the record my driver would run right at 700, and my previous driver was close to 600

[Doc420]

If there are still people who don't believe what we are saying, maybe some of the guys from golfwrx that did the live updates for each site can chime in and tell what they saw with each player.

[geauxWRX]

[quote name='Doc420' timestamp='1396913584' post='9041767']
[quote name='geauxWRX' timestamp='1396913394' post='9041741']
I have a question - how much would it cost a person not on this trip to get fitted for a sldr that out preformed other drivers? So let's say it takes the avg guy $100 for a trackman session not at TM and the a $399 driver plus a $250 shaft upgrade? So it takes an estimated $750 to get a sldr that produces ideal numbers?
[/quote]Most places I know will waive the trackman fitting if you order the driver from them. But for the record my driver would run right at 700, and my previous driver was close to 600
[/quote]

So lets follow that up by saying how much better will other OEMs stock off the rack drivers out perform the stock off the rack sldr?
Also if given the budget of $700 how many other OEMs could build a driver that produced the same numbers?

[MtlJeff]

[quote name='Doc420' timestamp='1396913584' post='9041767']
[quote name='geauxWRX' timestamp='1396913394' post='9041741']
I have a question - how much would it cost a person not on this trip to get fitted for a sldr that out preformed other drivers? So let's say it takes the avg guy $100 for a trackman session not at TM and the a $399 driver plus a $250 shaft upgrade? So it takes an estimated $750 to get a sldr that produces ideal numbers?
[/quote]Most places I know will waive the trackman fitting if you order the driver from them. But for the record my driver would run right at 700, and my previous driver was close to 600
[/quote]

Where this visit/promo will be very interesting is with the guys who were fit recently for their previous driver. You'd expect someone to gain yards if they were using a stock driver. But if there's 7-8 guys who were fit recently by pros, and then still gained yards with the SLDR, that is impressive

[Doc420]

most of the guys showed up with drivers from other OEMs and most had aftermarket shafts in them that pushed the price to that range. The numbers are there. Go read the early pages.

You have to make up your own mind, and make club decisions for yourselves. This club has produced better numbers for me and will be in the bag as long as my miss with it doesn't get out of hand. If it does, then this club will be gone, its as simple as that.

[swizbeatz]

[quote name='geauxWRX' timestamp='1396913877' post='9041819']
[quote name='Doc420' timestamp='1396913584' post='9041767']
[quote name='geauxWRX' timestamp='1396913394' post='9041741']
I have a question - how much would it cost a person not on this trip to get fitted for a sldr that out preformed other drivers? So let's say it takes the avg guy $100 for a trackman session not at TM and the a $399 driver plus a $250 shaft upgrade? So it takes an estimated $750 to get a sldr that produces ideal numbers?
[/quote]Most places I know will waive the trackman fitting if you order the driver from them. But for the record my driver would run right at 700, and my previous driver was close to 600
[/quote]

So lets follow that up by saying how much better will other OEMs stock off the rack drivers out perform the stock off the rack sldr?
Also if given the budget of $700 how many other OEMs could build a driver that produced the same numbers?
[/quote]


Your not going to get an answer to the first question.

Everyone had aftermarket clubs, most fitted, this is really the most apples to apples you could get with a group IMO. The only thing more in depth would be something like Pure's trackman threads which aren't feasible for most people or if a big clubfitter put on an event like this without any manufacturer bias as to what people were fit into. I'm hitting the SLDR again on trackman in a couple days, I'll be sure to get a comparison of stock vs ideal fit setup if theres any difference.

[magdocjr]

[quote name='hankmoody' timestamp='1396892829' post='9039237']Great write ups guys! Very psyched for the distance gains, and the experience you had.

Curious, of the 20, was there a golfer with a lower swing speed (90-95) going in?[/quote]

Hank... I am that guy. Mid 90s club head speed. I picked up 24+ yds. 430 set at 9 degrees with tour green 73g aldila shaft. I played 36 Sunday after I got back home. Misses are much more manageable and left is out of the picture IF I keep myself from trying to kill the ball. The SLDR with this shaft dropped my spin from 4000 to 2200 rpm. Carry is more than my total with the ping i15 8* I took with me. I will say I picked up more yds than the track man showed after some rest and no camera in my face and was able to relax.

[geauxWRX]

It may be better but what I am trying to point out is that a person has to spend a ton of money to make it better. And off the rack vs off the rack I would bet the sldr would be worse than most.

[deck]

So what's with the videos cameras in some pictures? Haven't heard that part from anyone yet

[Ed Settle]

[quote name='bph7' timestamp='1396904556' post='9040725']
JonGalt, wow, just wow, what an awesome, in-depth write-up. Love all the pics too! Thanks for posting!
[/quote]

Very indepth, thorough review. TM sure knows how to roll out the red carpet. And it seems that no question is off limits....you just might get a "Ummm, that would be a really cool idea"! Thanks again.

[magdocjr]

[quote name='deck' timestamp='1396914670' post='9041929']So what's with the videos cameras in some pictures? Haven't heard that part from anyone yet[/quote]

TM pr and or their YouTube channel. We had to sign away our first born and the wives.

[bjackson]

[quote name='Doc420' timestamp='1396913713' post='9041797']
If there are still people who don't believe what we are saying, maybe some of the guys from golfwrx that did the live updates for each site can chime in and tell what they saw with each player.
[/quote]

What SLDR does best is the fact it has a low-forward CG. Drivers for the past 10 years or so have had low-back CG which helps with high launch low spin, but not as low spin as low-forward CG. This is why lofting up is important, because low-forward CG decreases launch angle by a little, but really kills spin. Lowering spin for almost all golfers will increase distance. It's simple physics. I saw that as a fact for all 5 guys in Dallas.

[deck]

[quote name='magdocjr' timestamp='1396915008' post='9041965'][quote name='deck' timestamp='1396914670' post='9041929']So what's with the videos cameras in some pictures? Haven't heard that part from anyone yet[/quote]

TM pr and or their YouTube channel. We had to sign away our first born and the wives.[/quote]

Very cool. Looking forward to your interviews or whatever they put up on youtube.


Sent from my iPhone using GolfWRX Mobile

[jll62]

[quote name='geauxWRX' timestamp='1396914655' post='9041925']
It may be better but what I am trying to point out is that a person has to spend a ton of money to make it better. And off the rack vs off the rack I would bet the sldr would be worse than most.
[/quote]

I think that the loft up campaign has been successful enough that the person buying an SLDR off the rack would have a very good chance of being better than most.

[bubbagump]

[quote name='deck' timestamp='1396915395' post='9042017']
[quote name='magdocjr' timestamp='1396915008' post='9041965'][quote name='deck' timestamp='1396914670' post='9041929']So what's with the videos cameras in some pictures? Haven't heard that part from anyone yet[/quote]

TM pr and or their YouTube channel. We had to sign away our first born and the wives.[/quote]

Very cool. Looking forward to your interviews or whatever they put up on youtube.


Sent from my iPhone using GolfWRX Mobile
[/quote]

Yeah, the cameras were pretty intimidating at first. But eventually you got used to them....for the most part lol.

[hankmoody]

[quote name='magdocjr' timestamp='1396914561' post='9041921']
[quote name='hankmoody' timestamp='1396892829' post='9039237']Great write ups guys! Very psyched for the distance gains, and the experience you had.

Curious, of the 20, was there a golfer with a lower swing speed (90-95) going in?[/quote]

Hank... I am that guy. Mid 90s club head speed. I picked up 24+ yds. 430 set at 9 degrees with tour green 73g aldila shaft. I played 36 Sunday after I got back home. Misses are much more manageable and left is out of the picture IF I keep myself from trying to kill the ball. The SLDR with this shaft dropped my spin from 4000 to 2200 rpm. Carry is more than my total with the ping i15 8* I took with me. I will say I picked up more yds than the track man showed after some rest and no camera in my face and was able to relax.
[/quote]

magdocjr--

first off, congratulations! those numbers are awesome. Even 15-20 yards reliably is a club or two (the difference for me between a hydrid/5i second and a 6/7/8) into the green and a much better chance at scoring. May I ask about your shaft choice? Was it similar to your gamer? If it was a PING, I think 73g is heavy? I play a stock R on my G25 which is 53g.

Glad to see TM picked golfers across the spectrum. Good job.

[QMany]

[quote name='geauxWRX' timestamp='1396914655' post='9041925']
And off the rack vs off the rack I would bet the sldr would be worse than most.
[/quote]
Any basis for this hypothesis?

[Carolina Golfer 2]

[quote name='bubbagump' timestamp='1396910491' post='9041451']
One thing I was surprised by, was me fitting into a 430 instead of a 460 as well as not having the slider moved at all. Im not even sure I hit the 460 more than twice during the fit. Driver has always been my weakness and usually the thought was the more forgiveness the better for me, which is why I would assume the 460 on a draw setting would have been the better of the heads for me. If you are like me, or are worried about forgiveness dont be afraid of the 430, it helps knock down a bit more spin than the 460 which also helps you stay on the course. The 430 head itself is plenty forgiving enough as I would miss the ball a bit low and it still would stay straight and relatively minimal distance loss. It also really worked well with a pretty steep swing, which is more than I can say for a handful of drivers. Pair it with a slightly shorter shaft, and if youre a guy who usually has trouble keeping a driver in play consistently like I do, I was able to harness it in and keep it to the fairway and thereabouts more often than not.

Another thing I noticed was that I was getting more roll from the SLDR than I have ever gotten from a driver. Tinkering with it to bring down my abnormally high ball flight, really helped with the roll out as well. Now this is probably the case for a benefit more of being fit, but the head still really aided in the process. Its hot and will boost your carry, as well as giving you the benefit of at least about 10 yards of roll if not more. We got it to where I didnt go from moonballs to worm burners, but brought the flight down just enough to where it could still clear trees and get up there, but wouldnt balloon or get caught up in the wind.

Also keep in mind, totally on paper some of these numbers sound terribly out of the ordinary and unreal....but sitting and watching every single guy hit the SLDR against their own driver it couldnt have been more obvious the difference. We will be getting our numbers in the next few days I would imagine, and then we can post more detailed write ups...but just about in every single category guys were experiencing great gains or improvement.
[/quote]
Bubba. Thanks for the info. I find that combo really interesting. It seems yo have not on some of my areas of struggle as well. Steep swing, inconsistent in keeping it in play. Before this testing I had pretty much made up my mind that I was going to order my next driver with a shaft not longer than 44.5 inches. Throwing in the part about the 430 reducing spin even more sounds interesting to me.

[geauxWRX]

[quote name='QMany' timestamp='1396916061' post='9042121'][quote name='geauxWRX' timestamp='1396914655' post='9041925']
And off the rack vs off the rack I would bet the sldr would be worse than most.
[/quote]
Any basis for this hypothesis?[/quote]

The massive amount of customization that the sldr takes to produce better numbers?

[bubbagump]

[quote name='Carolina Golfer 2' timestamp='1396916430' post='9042169']
[quote name='bubbagump' timestamp='1396910491' post='9041451']
One thing I was surprised by, was me fitting into a 430 instead of a 460 as well as not having the slider moved at all. Im not even sure I hit the 460 more than twice during the fit. Driver has always been my weakness and usually the thought was the more forgiveness the better for me, which is why I would assume the 460 on a draw setting would have been the better of the heads for me. If you are like me, or are worried about forgiveness dont be afraid of the 430, it helps knock down a bit more spin than the 460 which also helps you stay on the course. The 430 head itself is plenty forgiving enough as I would miss the ball a bit low and it still would stay straight and relatively minimal distance loss. It also really worked well with a pretty steep swing, which is more than I can say for a handful of drivers. Pair it with a slightly shorter shaft, and if youre a guy who usually has trouble keeping a driver in play consistently like I do, I was able to harness it in and keep it to the fairway and thereabouts more often than not.

Another thing I noticed was that I was getting more roll from the SLDR than I have ever gotten from a driver. Tinkering with it to bring down my abnormally high ball flight, really helped with the roll out as well. Now this is probably the case for a benefit more of being fit, but the head still really aided in the process. Its hot and will boost your carry, as well as giving you the benefit of at least about 10 yards of roll if not more. We got it to where I didnt go from moonballs to worm burners, but brought the flight down just enough to where it could still clear trees and get up there, but wouldnt balloon or get caught up in the wind.

Also keep in mind, totally on paper some of these numbers sound terribly out of the ordinary and unreal....but sitting and watching every single guy hit the SLDR against their own driver it couldnt have been more obvious the difference. We will be getting our numbers in the next few days I would imagine, and then we can post more detailed write ups...but just about in every single category guys were experiencing great gains or improvement.
[/quote]
Bubba. Thanks for the info. I find that combo really interesting. It seems yo have not on some of my areas of struggle as well. Steep swing, inconsistent in keeping it in play. Before this testing I had pretty much made up my mind that I was going to order my next driver with a shaft not longer than 44.5 inches. Throwing in the part about the 430 reducing spin even more sounds interesting to me.
[/quote]

Hey CG2, good to hear from you!

I had asked Aaron our fitter why the 430 because I figured it would be something like a less forgiving version of the 460 but that wasnt the case at all. I would for sure approve somebody that has issues like me looking hard at a 44.5 shaft max as well as the 430 head....its night and day how much better I can control it and keep it on the hole. Even some of my lazy swings on Saturday from being exhausted and sore from hitting tons of balls where I cut across the face or just flipped at it.....I only lost about 10-20 yards of distance....but I could still find it in the fairway or right off the fairway as opposed to a lost ball.

[bubbagump]

[quote name='geauxWRX' timestamp='1396916649' post='9042191']
[quote name='QMany' timestamp='1396916061' post='9042121'][quote name='geauxWRX' timestamp='1396914655' post='9041925']
And off the rack vs off the rack I would bet the sldr would be worse than most.
[/quote]
Any basis for this hypothesis?[/quote]

The massive amount of customization that the sldr takes to produce better numbers?
[/quote]

Thats not SLDR exclusive, its a pretty safe bet that even a well fit Hammer would produce better numbers than a stock off the rack one. Its simple logic that a club made entirely for you and your swing would probably perform better than one made for a general public.

[magdocjr]

[quote name='hankmoody' timestamp='1396915748' post='9042073'][quote name='magdocjr' timestamp='1396914561' post='9041921']
[quote name='hankmoody' timestamp='1396892829' post='9039237']Great write ups guys! Very psyched for the distance gains, and the experience you had.

Curious, of the 20, was there a golfer with a lower swing speed (90-95) going in?[/quote]

Hank... I am that guy. Mid 90s club head speed. I picked up 24+ yds. 430 set at 9 degrees with tour green 73g aldila shaft. I played 36 Sunday after I got back home. Misses are much more manageable and left is out of the picture IF I keep myself from trying to kill the ball. The SLDR with this shaft dropped my spin from 4000 to 2200 rpm. Carry is more than my total with the ping i15 8* I took with me. I will say I picked up more yds than the track man showed after some rest and no camera in my face and was able to relax.
[/quote]

magdocjr--

first off, congratulations! those numbers are awesome. Even 15-20 yards reliably is a club or two (the difference for me between a hydrid/5i second and a 6/7/8) into the green and a much better chance at scoring. May I ask about your shaft choice? Was it similar to your gamer? If it was a PING, I think 73g is heavy? I play a stock R on my G25 which is 53g.

Glad to see TM picked golfers across the spectrum. Good job.[/quote]

Hank

I had an off the rack i15 with a tour stiff ust proforce yellow. It is a heavier than the normal ping shaft. Heavy shaft makes me more consistent. Fish tried a few light shafts and I hit them left of left because I would get too quick. Heavy shaft slows me down. In the 3w I asked for the same shaft at 90ish grams and 100+ grams in the hybrid. Even with the heavier shaft I am 2 clicks to the fade bias with an open face. If I don't try to swing out of my shoes, I was hitting a high draw Sunday. Try to swing too hard, I will go left off the planet.

[QMany]

[quote name='geauxWRX' timestamp='1396916649' post='9042191']
[quote name='QMany' timestamp='1396916061' post='9042121'][quote name='geauxWRX' timestamp='1396914655' post='9041925']
And off the rack vs off the rack I would bet the sldr would be worse than most.
[/quote]
Any basis for this hypothesis?[/quote]
The massive amount of customization that the sldr takes to produce better numbers?
[/quote]
I don't think it takes any more customization than any other driver on the market. Different heads are going to perform better/worse with different shafts, and the SLDR is no different.

[Soma Stan]

jealous of all those that had the opportunity to get onto this trip. Would love a proper fitting session with someone that really understood all the dynamics involved. I bought a SLDR, paid for the upgraded shaft, love the driver but have to think I am leaving some yards on the table by not getting a proper fitting session. Ah well, fingers crossed for the next TM offering!

[bjackson]

I know TMBob is building a spreadsheet with everyone's numbers, but here are the before/after for the Dallas guys.

[attachment=2165293:Screen Shot 2014-04-08 at 1.21.39 AM.png]

[deck]

[quote name='bjackson' timestamp='1396917532' post='9042305']
I know TMBob is building a spreadsheet with everyone's numbers, but here are the before/after for the Dallas guys.

[attachment=2164727:Screen Shot 2014-04-07 at 5.16.32 PM.png]
[/quote]

Could you use your mod powers and throw all the information like that on first page? Please lol