2020 TaylorMade SIM and SIM Max drivers (in hand photos, M5/M6 comparison pics)

[getitdaily]

Driver off the deck can be a weapon. Doesn't have to be on a par 5 2nd shot...there are some par 4s that it's perfect for.

[My2Dogs]

God I want to like the SIM Max but I just don’t get along with it. I have a Ventus Black 6X and I either have horrible hooks, push fades (which wouldn’t be bad if I knew it was consistent), slices (which I don’t do often anymore) and one out of 3 straight. When it’s straight is long and plenty of roll. Tried my Ventus Blue but same results. I can swap out the Black or Blue 6X’s into my Tour Issued M5 and no problems what so ever. Also just got a regular Mavrik and with a Black Ventus 6X it’s a beast. Put the GPS on my SkyCaddie and I got one 315 yesterday. A few 310 and I hit a tree limb at 270 carry on another.

maybe I need a regular SIM and not the Max? Anyone else not getting along with the Max? Also it seems heavy to me? Maybe I just have demons from the first couple of times On the range and not hitting well when my back was sore and now I have a complex about it. Have a 9* head and no problem with height just can’t seem to get a consistent shot pattern. No problem with any of my other drivers with the same shaft.

[KC4441]

The only thing about all of your write up that would be off to me is the fact you say it feels heavy to you. Every data point I have looked at as far as head weight from SIM to Max says the Max is a lighter head. I could be wrong, did you check the swing weight and head weight already? If it feels heavy, I know for me it would throw everything off and would lead to the inconsistencies you are describing.

[stoneydukes]

I had a similar experience demoing the SIM. First time I hit the SIM, I tried it with the stock Diamana and I got better dispersion, 6 yds more carry and 11-12 yds more total than my current M5. I hit both back to back same day. I have since gone back 5 times and tried the SIM and Max in my Tensei thinking it would be better and was getting terrible results. I have a Diamana on the way and will try that in my M5 to see if that shaft perhaps fits me better than the Tensei Pro White. I really want to have the SIM work as I like the look and sound better than the M but at the end of the day, it has to work better. I'll continue to chase the dragon I almost caught the first time I hit one. I also randomly hit the Mizuno ST190 the other day and had very similar results as my gamer but I like the looks of that head as much as the M5 if not a little better and I recognize they have significantly different styling. Lots of good stuff out there, haven't hit the Maverik but will add that to the list as well.

 

[My2Dogs]

I don’t have a scale. I’ve heard from a couple of people that they also had weird swing weights and sent them back into TM and they sent them back lighter weights. However TM isn’t selling them and I can’t find anywhere that sells them. The back weight on the MAX is 18g and the SIM is 12g.

[Therealpatgiles]

The best investment I think you can make is the economy swing weight scale from golfworks. 40 for the economy. 71 for the vline

[SC-TX 88]

Took my SIM out for the first time yesterday. First time touching a club/hitting a ball in 6 weeks so my swing was not in great shape. I will say though the SIM seemed less punishing on misses (which felt like every shot yesterday). I was hitting a lot of balls low off the face and it seemed like I lost a lot less in terms of distance than I did with my M5. If I was off with the M5 it wanted to hit huge high hooks, I was mainly hitting it straight or slightly turning it over with SIM. The SIM was just in totally stock settings that it arrived in (SIM has KK XD 70TX, M5 has the PW 70TX; both tipped 1 inch).

[jjmurry]

Switching from the ping g410 lst 8.5* in the ventus black 6x to the sim 8* in the motore x f1 after a very comprehensive fitting. I was sitting around 110 to 111 clubhead speed with the sim and motore compared to 107 to 108 with the ping and ventus. Tight draws the whole day with the occasional blocked shot. For those with the sim do you notice that strikes on the bottom of the face where you have a significantly upward AOA seem to not even get in the air due to it having so little spin?

[shmiddy]

How did you find the loading, also have a sim, sit at 114mph..did you go an s or x, 70 or 60.. love some more feedback as I was thinking ventus black or the f1.. did you try the f3

[Therealpatgiles]

At 114 you should be x. 60 or 70 is personal preference.

[My2Dogs]

Anyone have a SIM Max weight? Or know where to buy one? Looking for a lighter weight from the standard. Hoping that the power of WRX can find someplace or someone has one. One person on here did and I blew it by not purchasing. His head came in way to heavy and TM send him a 9g. I should have bought it when it was on the BST.

 

either that or anyone want to trade a regular SIM head for a 9* Max?

[My2Dogs]

[OspreyCI]

What the weight of your Sim Max? I have an 8 gram for trade.

[My2Dogs]

PM sent.

[IvanDrago]

Ic ant get SIM to beat my 16 M2.

 

Disappointed as i love th look, from address anyway. The bottom of the club is ugly.

 

Tried: Tensei Pro, Diamana S+, Oban White, Ventus Blue, Tour AD IZ and none of them beat M2 with the stock TM ventus 6s

[RodrigoNicely]

So how is everyone weighting their heads. I need to trim 3/4 inch of the stock shaft which is like 6 swing weights I believe. I don’t mind a light head but I feel this is gonna be almost unplayable

[herbert7890]

Another SIM update after more rounds: Yesterday I had probably one of my best driving days in a long time with the regular SIM and Hzrdus Smoke Black shaft (70g 6.0). 11/14 fairways (2 barely missed and one in a fairway bunker)and based on the golf cart gps system and the total yardage left into the second shot, around a 290 average drive. The most impressive thing about the regular SIM is 100% its ability to not overdraw, which is my nemesis. I can swing freely knowing I will not be hooking this, its almost a dead straight ball flight, maybe jut a small draw. This really increases my confidence, which translates into less tension and swinging faster with no fear.

My driving has been so dramatically good after switching to the SIM that now my partners are almost calling me a cheater for buying the "latest and greatest" but at the same time they are saying they will be going to Edwin Watts soon, to get fitted for it or a new driver.

In a word, this is a heavy-drawer's DREAM driver, no doubt about it. Can't describe the feeling of watching an almost 100% straight arrow of a drive, probably even beats the feeling of a flush 3 iron. Ball flight is high and straight with plenty of roll as well. i'm a TM Drive believer after this and kinda wish I had tried TM drives before (but im not sure if the previous ones are the same as the SIM as I never even tried them).

[jjmurry]

Good question. I went with 60X which is actually 69 grams so it's pretty close to a 70X. In relation to the ventus black, the ventus black was much more boardy feeling than the motore x f1. The handle in the F1 felt completely different, like as if you're going to lose control of the club at the top, but you don't. I didn't like the feel of the F1 for most of the fitting but once I saw ball speed and club head speed jump from 160 to 166 and 107 to 111 just by changing the shaft to the F1, I couldn't care less how it feels lol. Fujikura's claim that this shaft multiplies club head and ball speeds is no joke, and when paired with the SIM at 8* for me it became a low kunckle ball machine which is what I'm looking for.

Edit: no I didn't try the F3. I need less launch and the F3 wouldn't be what I'm looking for.

[ponce9]

Hows that shaft playing tipped 1.5"? I remember a fujikura rep came on her and recommended no more than .75" tipped so im just curious how you like it. I have a ventus black 7x velocore Untipped and its pretty stout already

[Kale_m]

I agree. Mine is 7x untipped and I swing it at 121 mph.

feels plenty stout to me

[Morry]

Congrats

question though - Why do you find this so anti-hook? sounds intriguing and desirable to me.....head, shaft, combo, your swing?

would love some insight

thanks

[Longballjock]

I find it has more feel than the ventus black 6x which I had tried I went with the 6s tipped to try and find the balance. I also tried the blue 6x but am getting better results with the 6s tipped. With my cobra f8 with elements chrome 5 F5 , i could get the ball shifting about 30 yards right to left , with this there is no way I'm losing it past 15 yards right to left , definitely a bit fade biased for me , which I like.

[ponce9]

Yupp same boat as you i get up to 120's most days and im just really curious why he tipped his so much.

[ponce9]

Gotcha thanks for the insight.. Any changes to the way that shaft counter balances with that much removed?

[herbert7890]

Being that i'm a hooker (not in that other sense), it must definitely be the head design of the regular SIM, which I love. I can also 100% take out the shaft variable, as this Hzrdus smoke black is the exact same shaft I had with the Epic FLash SUbzero and I was overdrawing that one a lot, vs the tiny draw in the SIM. Saying that, I would advice for anyone battling a fade/slice to do proper testing/fitting before buying the reg SIM as it could be a con for those cases, buts its definitely a pro for us "hookers"

[Longballjock]

The ventus blue isn't a counterbalance shaft , I will say it is like a rebar after playing a few rounds, I probably could have went with tipping just .5 but usually tip S flex shafts the 1.5, I'll continue to test and if the results change it will be onto another shaft experiment haha

[GooseHook]

I've also struggled with hooks and really, really am loving the SIM so far. I'm in standard loft with the sliding weight maybe two notches towards fade. The setup is very much straight/fade biased for my swing and my only left misses in 54-ish holes have been pulls.

[awtryau89]

FYI, looks like TM is going to take back over the #1 driver at retail this year. Was at PGA SS and my friend that works for them said they are outselling Callaway 10-1 easily in their store. Said this is the first time he remembers it being that lopsided for any manufacturer since the release of the white drivers by TM. I've moved on but TM really does have a winner this year.

[Nickthurgood]

What, if anything, did this do to spin? Thanks!

[SMUGamer]

You're not playing your SIM anymore? If so, what did you trade into and why?