#TaylorMadeTuesday at The Kingdom, Feb 26-28, 2017 (pics added pg1,16,19 & 20)

[BCULAW]

It is my biggest dream ever to end up at the kingdom one day

 

No doubt! I've been telling my wife the same thing for years. I got a big promotion at work about 6 years ago and was going to treat myself to a trip to Reynolds Plantation. Had a kid instead. Ha Ha!! The Kingdom was WAY high on the bucket list!

 

BTW - I am giddy waiting for the new sticks. Literally looking for boxes on the front porch every time I pull into the driveway.

 

What! You didn't get your goodies yet?

 

Don't tease! I'm so anxious to get the gear, man. Never been this pumped about a new bag in my life. I actually think this is the first time I've been fit through the bag. I literally think every club will be an improvement over my current and I was pretty excited about my current set up.

 

It is my biggest dream ever to end up at the kingdom one day

 

No doubt! I've been telling my wife the same thing for years. I got a big promotion at work about 6 years ago and was going to treat myself to a trip to Reynolds Plantation. Had a kid instead. Ha Ha!! The Kingdom was WAY high on the bucket list!

 

BTW - I am giddy waiting for the new sticks. Literally looking for boxes on the front porch every time I pull into the driveway.

 

What! You didn't get your goodies yet?

 

Don't tease! I'm so anxious to get the gear, man. Never been this pumped about a new bag in my life. I actually think this is the first time I've been fit through the bag. I literally think every club will be an improvement over my current and I was pretty excited about my current set up.

[DNice26]

 

ICT - inverted cone tech

MWT - movable weight tech

FCT - flight control tech

CGB - Center of Gravity Back

AGSI - anti skid groove system insert

XFT - exchangeable face tech

RAC - relative amplitude coefficient

ASP - adjustable sole plate

ATV - all terrain versatility

Bonus question (you don't need to get this one) - what does BBLB stand for? big but long ball

 

Just wanted to let you know that I shipped out your hat this past Saturday morning. Hopefully you will have it by the end of this week. Enjoy!

[Diazace]

ICT - inverted cone tech

MWT - movable weight tech

FCT - flight control tech

CGB - Center of Gravity Back

AGSI - anti skid groove system insert

XFT - exchangeable face tech

RAC - relative amplitude coefficient

ASP - adjustable sole plate

ATV - all terrain versatility

Bonus question (you don't need to get this one) - what does BBLB stand for? big but long ball

 

Just wanted to let you know that I shipped out your hat this past Saturday morning. Hopefully you will have it by the end of this week. Enjoy!

 

Will look for it in the mail this week. Thanks again for you and Taylormade's generosity. Much appreciated!

[BCULAW]

Not going to lie. I'm now looking for an excuse to pick one of these up . . .

 

 

[Schnee]

Not going to lie. I'm now looking for an excuse to pick one of these up . . .

 

 

 

It looks awesome, and it's almost the Masters. Boom. There's two excuses.

[Schnee]

Really thankful that Jason Werner put me in an M1 for the adjustability. It's crazy how spot-on his assessment of my swing and game was to put me in this combo. I brought my wrench with me when I practiced today and started experimenting with different settings. I cranked it back down to the standard position and was hitting it way better than I have cranked all the way up. I actually started launching it higher than when it was cranked up which was a pleasant surprise.

 

Talk about a low spin combo though! With the weight forward I was getting spin rates sub 2000, which is too low for playability IMO. I moved the weight further back and it really came alive.

 

Can't wait to get this thing out on my home course to see how she flies!

 

EDIT TO ADD:

 

I think what I like most about playing it in the standard setting is that the face is 2.7* open. Really gives me more peace of mind that I don't have to fear the left ball.

[BCULAW]

Andrew is officially on the clock. Further slow play will result in a one stroke penalty.

[robrey85]

Andrew is officially on the clock. Further slow play will result in a one stroke penalty.

 

I may or may not know why or why not he may or may not allegedly be taking so long. :cheesy:

[drewtaylor21]

Andrew is officially on the clock. Further slow play will result in a one stroke penalty.

 

I may or may not know why or why not he may or may not allegedly be taking so long. :cheesy:

 

Sorry all, I feel like a real a-wipe right now! Haha

 

Long story short, I'm the last guy to get in for a fitting to get my specs to TaylorMade to fill out the rest of our bags. We just found out today that they are waiting for all of us (me) to place our orders, then they'll get them all built and shipped out.

 

With that said, if the current weather holds, I'll be the only one who will be able to even use these clubs, since everyone else got snowed on, so if I get the first review out on the 770 irons, you'll all be thanking me :rofl:

 

Anyway, TaylorMade here in Vegas is getting wedges in this week they said, so I'm scheduled for a full bag fitting (minus driver/putter) on Sunday. I'll keep you guys posted once that is complete!

[BCULAW]

Andrew is officially on the clock. Further slow play will result in a one stroke penalty.

 

I may or may not know why or why not he may or may not allegedly be taking so long. :cheesy:

 

Sorry all, I feel like a real a-wipe right now! Haha

 

Long story short, I'm the last guy to get in for a fitting to get my specs to TaylorMade to fill out the rest of our bags. We just found out today that they are waiting for all of us (me) to place our orders, then they'll get them all built and shipped out.

 

With that said, if the current weather holds, I'll be the only one who will be able to even use these clubs, since everyone else got snowed on, so if I get the first review out on the 770 irons, you'll all be thanking me :rofl:

 

Anyway, TaylorMade here in Vegas is getting wedges in this week they said, so I'm scheduled for a full bag fitting (minus driver/putter) on Sunday. I'll keep you guys posted once that is complete!

 

It's all good, Andrew. We are all just anxious to get the new gear! It is 21* right now, and "feels like" 10* here in Virginia. No snow, though, and should have some golf weather later in the week. I'll just have to put the balls and driver through the paces. You know I have some interesting work to do to dial in the new driver specs!

[9ccat9]

Not going to lie. I'm now looking for an excuse to pick one of these up . . .

 

 

 

I have one on the way. Headcovers are pretty sweet also.

[drewtaylor21]

It's all good, Andrew. We are all just anxious to get the new gear! It is 21* right now, and "feels like" 10* here in Virginia. No snow, though, and should have some golf weather later in the week. I'll just have to put the balls and driver through the paces. You know I have some interesting work to do to dial in the new driver specs!

 

Oh I can't WAIT until those driver specs go public! :)

[Diazace]

ICT - inverted cone tech

MWT - movable weight tech

FCT - flight control tech

CGB - Center of Gravity Back

AGSI - anti skid groove system insert

XFT - exchangeable face tech

RAC - relative amplitude coefficient

ASP - adjustable sole plate

ATV - all terrain versatility

Bonus question (you don't need to get this one) - what does BBLB stand for? big but long ball

 

Ding Ding Ding! Good stuff! Please PM me your name and address and I'll get the hat shipped out to you ASAP. Cheers! D

 

Hat came in today. Thank you again! It fits great on this big head of mine haha!

[BCULAW]

It's all good, Andrew. We are all just anxious to get the new gear! It is 21* right now, and "feels like" 10* here in Virginia. No snow, though, and should have some golf weather later in the week. I'll just have to put the balls and driver through the paces. You know I have some interesting work to do to dial in the new driver specs!

 

Oh I can't WAIT until those driver specs go public! :)

 

:bb2:

[DNice26]

ICT - inverted cone tech

MWT - movable weight tech

FCT - flight control tech

CGB - Center of Gravity Back

AGSI - anti skid groove system insert

XFT - exchangeable face tech

RAC - relative amplitude coefficient

ASP - adjustable sole plate

ATV - all terrain versatility

Bonus question (you don't need to get this one) - what does BBLB stand for? big but long ball

 

Ding Ding Ding! Good stuff! Please PM me your name and address and I'll get the hat shipped out to you ASAP. Cheers! D

 

Hat came in today. Thank you again! It fits great on this big head of mine haha!

 

Great!!!!! Yeah....you need a healthy size cabesa for those puppies. Enjoy!!!!!

[2ball]

In-N-Out burger is so overrated!

 

I respectfully disagree!

 

 

I agree with 2ball! I can recall the past two times I've had legit fast food and both were from In-N-out in Vegas. Once in 2013 when I had no idea what animal style was and then again last year when I tried the infamous animal style. The first iteration wasn't too shabby, but the 2016 animal style was a complete deflate. Simply, your typical fast food burger with slop thrown on it.

 

* I get excited for chicken and broccoli, so I may not be your typical consumer for this respective market.

 

Habit is much better.

5 Guys falls apart and runs down your forearms.

[2ball]

With all due respect to the guys that went on this trip, I'm not sure what the purpose is of TaylorMade doing this. I tried to order a custom M1 driver today and TaylorMade said they would not do anything to adjust the swing weight if I ordered it shorter than standard length. Why have these guys go to so much trouble writing all of these great reviews of the trip, talking about their fitting sessions and the fabulous facilities if TaylorMade isn't even in the custom club business at retail? It says a lot of about the state of their company that I asked the same question of Titleist and they said yes we have heavier weights to place in the head, no problem. I guess it's better than what TaylorMade did with the RBZ Stage 2 Tour driver I ordered a few years ago. We called and asked if they would adjust the swing weight for a shorter club and they said absolutely! Then they shipped a driver at C5 swing weight. It felt like a whiffle ball bat. At least they didn't lie this time. I was part of the very first group who won a trip with TaylorMade back in 2011. We went to the PGA show. It was a fabulous trip too. But what's the point? Is TaylorMade a golf club company or a golf club marketing company?

Really? I'm sure that's what they told you, but I have a hard time believing that what the person said was correct. They don't have a variety of sliding weight options just for decorative value (which makes changing swing weight incredibly easy).

 

I would assume the person TM has taking the orders from their green grass retailers would know what they are talking about, but maybe that's part of their problem too... I totally agree, they have the other sized weights, why would they not make that tiny little effort to switch them out when someone doesn't want their stock length driver? That's my point, the guys on this trip are showing products and services that almost no one else can get, what is the point of that??? If you're going to go through the expense they did, why show all of this off if people who follow this thread want a custom club and they can't get it? It's nonsense. And yes as I say that I am still pulling Adidas jackets and clothing out of my closets that I forgot they gave me six years ago. But all of those clothes that I came home with could have been bought by buddies back home who might have seen them and liked them.

 

Yes, TaylorMade is a golf club company that is involved in marketing! So is Callaway, Titleist, Cobra, et al. If you made golf equipment, would you want radio silence about your product, or would you want thousands of people reading about them and discussing them? I'd guess the latter. That's the point of all this, and I'm sure you understand that, given that you said you went on one of these trips previously.

 

As for custom club building, that's a fair criticism, and I'm not entirely sure what the answer is on that one. Darrin needed his swingweight adjusted and the tour guys added quite a bit of hotmelt from what I heard. I know there are several ways you could add weight like that on your own or with a custom shop, but frankly I don't know if that is a service that is available for the general public at any of the OEMs. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong on that one.

 

It is marketing and exposure for the company. It is very targeted to their demographic. How many members are on Golfwrx? Anyone? 500k? That is a great audience of dedicated golfers and consumers.

[2ball]

So are you saying GolfWRX'ers are better players when they're hung over?????

 

Psssh. Real WRX'ers don't get hungover.

 

Well said Schnee! haha

 

Dave, truth be told, 20% of the crew went to bed early Monday night! Pair that with the fact that 80% of the crew came from cold climates, and 100% of the crew didn't do so well in front of cameras and you can probably see why Tuesday was a better day for most of us :rofl:

 

That's why they should have picked 1 or 2 guys from warm climates that are playing golf all year long - they would get more consistent numbers.

[remyauburn]

Can't wait to fOllow along!

[GC70]

In-N-Out burger is so overrated!

 

I respectfully disagree!

 

 

I agree with 2ball! I can recall the past two times I've had legit fast food and both were from In-N-out in Vegas. Once in 2013 when I had no idea what animal style was and then again last year when I tried the infamous animal style. The first iteration wasn't too shabby, but the 2016 animal style was a complete deflate. Simply, your typical fast food burger with slop thrown on it.

 

* I get excited for chicken and broccoli, so I may not be your typical consumer for this respective market.

 

Habit is much better.

5 Guys falls apart and runs down your forearms.

OMG! That looks soooo good! I haven't had a burger since Carlsbad! Lost 12 lbs, 7 more to get down to my fighting weight!

[robrey85]

In-N-Out burger is so overrated!

 

I respectfully disagree!

 

 

I agree with 2ball! I can recall the past two times I've had legit fast food and both were from In-N-out in Vegas. Once in 2013 when I had no idea what animal style was and then again last year when I tried the infamous animal style. The first iteration wasn't too shabby, but the 2016 animal style was a complete deflate. Simply, your typical fast food burger with slop thrown on it.

 

* I get excited for chicken and broccoli, so I may not be your typical consumer for this respective market.

 

Habit is much better.

5 Guys falls apart and runs down your forearms.

OMG! That looks soooo good! I haven't had a burger since Carlsbad! Lost 12 lbs, 7 more to get down to my fighting weight!

 

12 lbs already since coming back from the Kingdom? Holy beast Batman!

[GC70]

^ yes I was a beast! Thanks for noticing! They say a camera adds 5 lbs, so they must of had like 5 cameras on me. Deiting sucks!

 

I'm ready for some new sticks!

[Gamble Gamble]

Did any of you guys get to play with the M1 irons? I was 99.9% going to go with the Apex's or stick with my i20s in February but now with your info from the trip and my need to buy something being in HO-'verdrive I am really considering the M1 irons but there seems t be little to no buzz on these.

 

Does anyone know why there is so little on these irons?

[BCULAW]

Did any of you guys get to play with the M1 irons? I was 99.9% going to go with the Apex's or stick with my i20s in February but now with your info from the trip and my need to buy something being in HO-'verdrive I am really considering the M1 irons but there seems t be little to no buzz on these.

 

Does anyone know why there is so little on these irons?

 

I know the other guys spent more time with them than I did. I am pretty sure George ("GC70") spent a lot of time with them and will have a lot of positives to say about them once he sees your post. IMO, there is not a lot of buzz about them because all of us are so excited about the other models (P750/770). I hit the 750 almost exclusively during the trip and simply didn't feel a need to try anything else to any significant extent. I've since hit the 770 extensively (like them a lot) and the M1 for a bit during my subsequent fitting. Coming from blades (Mizuno MP4), the M1s are just too big of a departure for me to consider putting in the bag. That said, they reminded me a lot of the old Callaway "X- Pro" series irons. Specifically, I owned a set of X-14 Pro irons for quite a while a few years back, and my impression was that the M1s looked and played like I would expect an updated version of that iron to play - long, straight, and easy to hit in a medium size package with low to moderate offset.

 

Here's where I expect the other guys to chime in - during the Kingdom trip, Andrew, Chris, Zak, and Darrin (I believe) were all trying to see who could get the highest ball speed from a long iron. They all grabbed M1 demos for the contest, and the ball speeds were RIDICULOUS! I recall that Andrew was so impressed (after getting a 150+ ball speed from a 4 iron) that he asked if any of the tour players were using the M1 long irons in a blended set - it sounded like he may have considered the option. Our fitter said that the players loved the UDI's so much as long iron replacements that he had not seen any gravitate to the M1 or M2 models yet.

[GC70]

Did any of you guys get to play with the M1 irons? I was 99.9% going to go with the Apex's or stick with my i20s in February but now with your info from the trip and my need to buy something being in HO-'verdrive I am really considering the M1 irons but there seems t be little to no buzz on these.

 

Does anyone know why there is so little on these irons?

 

The M1's are very long, straight, and forgiving! With that said they are just way to chunky for me! I mentioned it a lot at the Kingdom to different TM employees that they need to make a (790) something in between the 770's and M1's! They all kind of gave me the same smile and said just wait!

 

So I'm thinking late this fall we'll see something!

[Gamble Gamble]

Did any of you guys get to play with the M1 irons? I was 99.9% going to go with the Apex's or stick with my i20s in February but now with your info from the trip and my need to buy something being in HO-'verdrive I am really considering the M1 irons but there seems t be little to no buzz on these.

 

Does anyone know why there is so little on these irons?

 

The M1's are very long, straight, and forgiving! With that said they are just way to chunky for me! I mentioned it a lot at the Kingdom to different TM employees that they need to make a (790) something in between the 770's and M1's! They all kind of gave me the same smile and said just wait!

 

So I'm thinking late this fall we'll see something!

 

Now i am really conflicted between waiting and just getting fit for either the M1s or Apexs

[drewtaylor21]

Did any of you guys get to play with the M1 irons? I was 99.9% going to go with the Apex's or stick with my i20s in February but now with your info from the trip and my need to buy something being in HO-'verdrive I am really considering the M1 irons but there seems t be little to no buzz on these.

 

Does anyone know why there is so little on these irons?

 

I know the other guys spent more time with them than I did. I am pretty sure George ("GC70") spent a lot of time with them and will have a lot of positives to say about them once he sees your post. IMO, there is not a lot of buzz about them because all of us are so excited about the other models (P750/770). I hit the 750 almost exclusively during the trip and simply didn't feel a need to try anything else to any significant extent. I've since hit the 770 extensively (like them a lot) and the M1 for a bit during my subsequent fitting. Coming from blades (Mizuno MP4), the M1s are just too big of a departure for me to consider putting in the bag. That said, they reminded me a lot of the old Callaway "X- Pro" series irons. Specifically, I owned a set of X-14 Pro irons for quite a while a few years back, and my impression was that the M1s looked and played like I would expect an updated version of that iron to play - long, straight, and easy to hit in a medium size package with low to moderate offset.

 

Here's where I expect the other guys to chime in - during the Kingdom trip, Andrew, Chris, Zak, and Darrin (I believe) were all trying to see who could get the highest ball speed from a long iron. They all grabbed M1 demos for the contest, and the ball speeds were RIDICULOUS! I recall that Andrew was so impressed (after getting a 150+ ball speed from a 4 iron) that he asked if any of the tour players were using the M1 long irons in a blended set - it sounded like he may have considered the option. Our fitter said that the players loved the UDI's so much as long iron replacements that he had not seen any gravitate to the M1 or M2 models yet.

 

I'm still considering an M1 4 iron as my 3 iron (jacked lofts, you know lol) and dropping the hybrid. I've got my fitting on Sunday, so if I get the chance to experiment I'll let you guys know. I prefer the idea of a forgiving long iron to that of a hybrid, but it will depend on what kind of ball flights and distance control I am getting with both options.

[GC70]

[BCULAW]

 

 

C'mon, Andrew!!!!! The rest of us got fitted days ago!!!

 

 

[BCULAW]

 

 

C'mon, Andrew!!!!! The rest of us got fitted days ago!!!

 

 

 

Andrew's response: