GolfWRX TaylorMade SLDR Driver Fitting Sessions Review and Recaps

[Dave Feldman]

Zach let me give the SLDR a try today and was very impressed. Very soft feel but still very hot coming off the face. Initially it was set to slight draw and I was hitting hooks, then I moved the weight port forward to about 3 clicks from the top and I was amazed at how much difference it made. Nice high draws with the weight helping me keep the face from turning over too much. Nice job TMAG. I would say the only downside is they have given us too many great driver options this year! Hard to believe but true. Looks like I maybe having a record year with 3 new drivers in 2013. LOL.

The Hoarder!

[Hookasaurus Rex]

For those who have tested the stock "speeder 57" shaft, how does it hold up? Decent, or straight noodle like most made for deals. To me, it looks like you have to go TP to get a legit shaft. Soley my observation as of right now, but that is what it looks like on the surface...TIA.

[Zach Heusser]

[quote name='Dave Feldman' timestamp='1375325289' post='7580540']
Zach let me give the SLDR a try today and was very impressed. Very soft feel but still very hot coming off the face. Initially it was set to slight draw and I was hitting hooks, then I moved the weight port forward to about 3 clicks from the top and I was amazed at how much difference it made. Nice high draws with the weight helping me keep the face from turning over too much. Nice job TMAG. I would say the only downside is they have given us too many great driver options this year! Hard to believe but true. Looks like I maybe having a record year with 3 new drivers in 2013. LOL.

The Hoarder!
[/quote]
Doc I am glad to hear that you liked the SLDR. Sorry I was to busy to hang, but I must say you have had a big year expanding your hoard with 3 new TMAG drivers!!! Your WITB collection thread is looking Good.

[bama11]

Okay. So here's my complete biased review since I'm totally not a TMAG homer at all... Lol

 

I got the chance to demo this club on a LM a couple of days ago at The Golfmart here in South SF. It was the TP version with the Motore Speeder TS 6.3 stiff, 9.5* head set to lower.

 

Sound: excellent. They REALLY went back to their roots and hit a solid home run with the SLDR. Great sound. MUCH improved over that crappy TINK sound of the R1, R11, R11S. It's as close to the 510TP as they have some in my opinion.

 

Looks: Great looking clubbed. Really like how it sets up behind the ball. The glossy mettalic grey finish looks sweet, along with the bright silver sliver on the back. Really looks nice.

 

Performance: it's LOW spin. Think Superdeep with some forgiveness. Actually, that setup for me produced TOO low of spin. I'm talking less than 2000 rpm spin, which is not ideal for me. I was getting some solid ballspeed, approximately 160 or so, but my spin was too low, which is a rarity for TMAG drivers for me which are generally too HIGH spin for me.

 

I think people are gonna like this a lot. Quite a bit actually. It's not my cup of tea, although the feel was back to the classic TM and so are the looks too.

 

There... I gave TM a kudos. TheMoneyShot and CaesarPalache won't believe it when they read this.... But I did. LOL

 

:cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy:

[Rebel420]

[quote name='Hookasaurus Rex' timestamp='1375325711' post='7580604']
For those who have tested the stock "speeder 57" shaft, how does it hold up? Decent, or straight noodle like most made for deals. To me, it looks like you have to go TP to get a legit shaft. Soley my observation as of right now, but that is what it looks like on the surface...TIA.
[/quote]
Nothing wrong with this shaft at all. It obviously is a little softer than the TP model, but the S flex stock, retail felt a bit stiffer than the S flex retail Phenom in the R1 and R11s (more like the TP Phenom actually), so I would say it plays true to flex.

[lakay]

[quote name='Mustng5' timestamp='1374264935' post='7493722']
First of all I would like to thank Taylormade and GolfWRX, I had a great time and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I've never experienced anything like this and I'm happy that I had the privilege to take this off of my bucket list. A big thanks to Rob for keeping us informed on everything and the Taylormade staff at Gleneagles Country Club, which is an amazing place.

Where to begin.......how about the beginning....

I was an hour early along with JJ and we spent at least 30-40 minutes on the putting greens which were very quick. We then grabbed our bags and made our way back to the lab. The entire Taylormade staff was very welcoming and did everything first class. The lab is literally breathtaking. I wish I would've taken pics of the lab but I was in pure amazement with the entire facility my brain just didn't think about it.

After an introduction by Mr. Brian Bassel and a short introduction video, he began to tell us some stories of how he works with tour pros and some of their initial reactions, I won't use his exact words, but all the pros had "wow" moments, especially Pat Perez who was upset because the new driver was better than his gamer which he thought was seriously the one. Mr. Bassel is a cool guy answered any and all questions we had about anything related to Taylormade. After a few questions and cold ones, we ventured outside to the beautiful range at Gleneagles and preceded to warm up. This lab has state of the art everything but everyone wanted to hit outside so we could see our ball in flight. Taylormade moved everything outside food, drinks, shafts, I mean everything.

Ok enough of this lets get to the fitting, well one more thing, Ryan Sawyer at TM lab is a bomber! Ok now the fitting......

My current gamer is a Cleveland Classic 290 10.5 with Grafalloy ProLaunch Red X Flex tipped .5 an inch playing at 45.25", my SS is from 117-123 depending on how I'm swinging. I like to see a slight draw in my ball flight. The first SLDR head I tried was the 9.5 with UST VTS 7X silver, I hit some decent shots with it but I snapped a few and needless to say that was pretty much it for that shaft and head combination. Also the ball was coming out a little lower then I like to see so we went up to the 10.5 head with Diamana 7X good flight but spinning too much. Then.....the magic happened ladies and gentlemen, matched the 10.5 head with an R1 Matrix OZIK 7M3 73g X flex and I was hitting SLDR bombs! So I decided to test that against my gamer best carry on solid hit was 280ish ball speed was also not where it should be with my SS. Got on Flightscope with the SLDR and boom ball speed jumps up and carry is 290, my fitter then turned the R1 sleeve down to 9.5 and after a few good shots it happened, BOOM, 178 ball speed and 304 carry! I hit more after that with the same set up of course but that one swing validated all I needed. I remember watching a video where Justin Leonard said you don't have to swing a club a lot of times to know if its good, give it a few whacks and if you don't like it hand it back. After this and for the remainder of the time I walked around literally holding this club. Yes! That's exactly what I did. Don't judge me! Ryan Sawyer and I had a driving contest and yes I won by one yard, lol, but in all fairness he wasn't hitting a driver that was optimized for his swing. My fitting was short and sweet, only 3 shafts were needed. So final setup suggested was 10.5 SLDR head with Matrix OZIK 7M3 73g X flex shaft tipped 1", with an R1 tip set on 9.5. Yes I wanted it make sure I had the exact set up so I requested the R1 tip and they said no problem.

We eventually went back inside talked some more about things golf related; Ryan and I had another long drive contest using his gamer R1 with an Oban shaft and he beat me this time.....by 1 yard, crazy I know. We all had a great time, any questions just ask. I had a great time and I will never forget it.
[/quote]

[TMBob]

Looking for a PIC of the SLDR sleeve please.....thanks

Plus, has anyone able to remove the blue 20 gram weight? Or heard of any other gram weights?

[golfnut5438]

[quote name='TMBob' timestamp='1375400170' post='7586906']
Looking for a PIC of the SLDR sleeve please.....thanks

Plus, has anyone able to remove the blue 20 gram weight? Or heard of any other gram weights?
[/quote]

Sorry no pic, but the tip used on my SLDR that TM put together was the RBZ Stage 2 tip. Nothing new, or specific, for the SLDR. At least not yet.

Haven't tried removing the weight because it works for me. TM has not said whether or not other weights will be available any time soon. Didn't rule it out in the future though either.

[TMBob]

[quote name='golfnut5438' timestamp='1375401542' post='7587030']
[quote name='TMBob' timestamp='1375400170' post='7586906']
Looking for a PIC of the SLDR sleeve please.....thanks

Plus, has anyone able to remove the blue 20 gram weight? Or heard of any other gram weights?
[/quote]

Sorry no pic, but the tip used on my SLDR that TM put together was the RBZ Stage 2 tip. Nothing new, or specific, for the SLDR. At least not yet.

Haven't tried removing the weight because it works for me. TM has not said whether or not other weights will be available any time soon. Didn't rule it out in the future though either.
[/quote]

Thanks buddy....I knew that they fitted you all with a Stage 2 sleeve, but was checking if anyone got the retail shafts be it the 57 or TS 6.3 and what the actual stock sleeve looks like before I go and buy some Stage 2 sleeves or the Tour Version of the R1 sleeve

[golfnut5438]

[quote name='golfnut5438' timestamp='1375221030' post='7571400']
[size=4]It's time to finally report on my "real world" experiences with my new SLDR driver. To preface my thoughts, I have hit mostly TM exclusively since the R510TP driver, but also wait for about a year behind the roll outs to pick one up. I'm sure everyone understands why. That being said, I was probably within a few weeks of picking up an R1 to go along with my R11S gamer, and RBZ backup. Then this wonderful opportunity came, and SLDR is now my favorite non-voweled word.

I received my driver as others last Friday. I hit a few at the range Saturday and decided to jump into the deep end of the pool and play the SLDR in my fourth round of match play at my club the next day. Maybe not the smartest move, but hey, why not? Unfortunately I started off being a little reticent to hit out with the club, worrying about the results, but as the round progressed, my distances and accuracy reflected my increased time with the club. My opponent probably had more good things to say about the sound and flight of the ball than even I. And he's a Titleist guy right now. So after round one, nothing special to write home about. (I shot 81 and lost 2&1, ouch!)

Rounds two and three, yesterday and today, proved much different. Played a tournament yesterday at a course I've only broken 80 on once, never missed a fairway, and shot a 74 to take low net honors. Today in my regular skins game with friends, I missed only two fairways by a total of 5 yards at most, and shot my second lowest round of the year, a 73. My playing partners could not stop asking when they could demo this SLDR. I'm not going to say I out drove them all, but the accuracy was outstanding, and I gained about 15 yards in distance, on very wet fairways, because we play early, right after the sprinklers have done their job overnight. I expect to gain a few more when a normal roll out is added on.

I commented earlier in the thread that the D-7 swingweight the SLDR came with, was more than I was used to playing, around D-3 or D-4. I've played most of the first three rounds with a small amount of choking down on the driver to compensate. But I'm going to wait a little longer before deciding whether I can handle the SLDR full length, 45.25" at D-7, or will have the driver adjusted by TM back down to D-4. After the last two rounds, I'm not touchin' nuthin'!!

So whether it's the head, or the properly fit shaft (Speeder 6.2 TS), or a combination of both, to say I'm happy with my SLDR is an understatement. I would encourage those interested in a great sounding, even better feeling driver, give it a test drive and decide for yourself. Good luck to all in finding your favorite driver.[/size]
[/quote]

[size=4]Final SLDR update: Fourth round with it today. Shot lowest round ever, 70!! First time ever breaking par. OK, had a hole in one that helped too. I know the SLDR didn't make the hole in one, but I think it's having something to do with my low scores this past week. Very confident driving and hitting from the fairways almost all the time sure does help. Results may vary; use at your own risk. [/size]

[Zach Heusser]

Great Score golfnut! and congrats on the ace

[Scott@84]

[quote name='TMBob' timestamp='1375400170' post='7586906']
Looking for a PIC of the SLDR sleeve please.....thanks

Plus, has anyone able to remove the blue 20 gram weight? Or heard of any other gram weights?
[/quote]

I removed the weight, it would be easy to change to a heavier or lighter weight.

[drifter12]

congrats on the round.. and the ACE! it's too bad the ace wasn't with the SLDR, I read that and thought it would be


[quote name='golfnut5438' timestamp='1375402090' post='7587088']
[quote name='golfnut5438' timestamp='1375221030' post='7571400']
It's time to finally report on my "real world" experiences with my new SLDR driver. To preface my thoughts, I have hit mostly TM exclusively since the R510TP driver, but also wait for about a year behind the roll outs to pick one up. I'm sure everyone understands why. That being said, I was probably within a few weeks of picking up an R1 to go along with my R11S gamer, and RBZ backup. Then this wonderful opportunity came, and SLDR is now my favorite non-voweled word.

I received my driver as others last Friday. I hit a few at the range Saturday and decided to jump into the deep end of the pool and play the SLDR in my fourth round of match play at my club the next day. Maybe not the smartest move, but hey, why not? Unfortunately I started off being a little reticent to hit out with the club, worrying about the results, but as the round progressed, my distances and accuracy reflected my increased time with the club. My opponent probably had more good things to say about the sound and flight of the ball than even I. And he's a Titleist guy right now. So after round one, nothing special to write home about. (I shot 81 and lost 2&1, ouch!)

Rounds two and three, yesterday and today, proved much different. Played a tournament yesterday at a course I've only broken 80 on once, never missed a fairway, and shot a 74 to take low net honors. Today in my regular skins game with friends, I missed only two fairways by a total of 5 yards at most, and shot my second lowest round of the year, a 73. My playing partners could not stop asking when they could demo this SLDR. I'm not going to say I out drove them all, but the accuracy was outstanding, and I gained about 15 yards in distance, on very wet fairways, because we play early, right after the sprinklers have done their job overnight. I expect to gain a few more when a normal roll out is added on.

I commented earlier in the thread that the D-7 swingweight the SLDR came with, was more than I was used to playing, around D-3 or D-4. I've played most of the first three rounds with a small amount of choking down on the driver to compensate. But I'm going to wait a little longer before deciding whether I can handle the SLDR full length, 45.25" at D-7, or will have the driver adjusted by TM back down to D-4. After the last two rounds, I'm not touchin' nuthin'!!

So whether it's the head, or the properly fit shaft (Speeder 6.2 TS), or a combination of both, to say I'm happy with my SLDR is an understatement. I would encourage those interested in a great sounding, even better feeling driver, give it a test drive and decide for yourself. Good luck to all in finding your favorite driver.
[/quote]

Final SLDR update: Fourth round with it today. Shot lowest round ever, 70!! First time ever breaking par. OK, had a hole in one that helped too. I know the SLDR didn't make the hole in one, but I think it's having something to do with my low scores this past week. Very confident driving and hitting from the fairways almost all the time sure does help. Results may vary; use at your own risk.
[/quote]

[Golfrnut]

[quote name='Scott@84' timestamp='1375405278' post='7587400']
[quote name='TMBob' timestamp='1375400170' post='7586906']
Looking for a PIC of the SLDR sleeve please.....thanks

Plus, has anyone able to remove the blue 20 gram weight? Or heard of any other gram weights?
[/quote]

I removed the weight, it would be easy to change to a heavier or lighter weight.
[/quote]

Already figuring out how to make tweaks...I like it!

[TMBob]

[quote name='Scott@84' timestamp='1375405278' post='7587400']
[quote name='TMBob' timestamp='1375400170' post='7586906']
Looking for a PIC of the SLDR sleeve please.....thanks

Plus, has anyone able to remove the blue 20 gram weight? Or heard of any other gram weights?
[/quote]

I removed the weight, it would be easy to change to a heavier or lighter weight.
[/quote]

Care to share with us, how and where the different gram weight came from?

[littlechucky]

I've played TM drivers exclusively since I bought a 300 series (320 actually) back in 2001. Killed that thing. First new modern driver I owned.

Don't think I bought the "latest and greatest" since then (maybe a r510 TP).

I've kept one product cycle (6-12 months?) behind, usually buying the older tour heads off the Bay...great deals to be had...so usually ended up with 3 or 4 of each to fool around with...ridiculous...I know.

The SLDR intrigued me enough to cause me to pre order a 10.5 deg TP.

Now I've got a pile of shafts to switch over to R1 tips...my club maker wins...again.

Currently playing the v2 R11s 10.5 deg with a Fuji tour spec 6.3x or a Fubuki K.

Figured I'd go with the higher loft to be safe as I like to play them in the open setting.

Curious to see how it plays.

[Scott@84]

[quote name='TMBob' timestamp='1375414237' post='7588360']
[quote name='Scott@84' timestamp='1375405278' post='7587400']
[quote name='TMBob' timestamp='1375400170' post='7586906']
Looking for a PIC of the SLDR sleeve please.....thanks

Plus, has anyone able to remove the blue 20 gram weight? Or heard of any other gram weights?
[/quote]

I removed the weight, it would be easy to change to a heavier or lighter weight.
[/quote]

Care to share with us, how and where the different gram weight came from?
[/quote]

I should clarify. I removed the blue weight looking thing on the bottom of the club that moves the SLDR back and forth. I believe the actual "weight" is below the blue weight looking thing on the track. BUT I would imagine you could add weight very easily by getting a heavier blue weight slider. It was mentioned that perhaps a "TP" version would come with a weight kit that you could adjust to your liking. It's kind of hard to explain if you haven't seen one in person, or maybe it's not and I've had too many beers.

Sorry for the confusion.

[Hairpie]

[quote name='Scott@84' timestamp='1375405278' post='7587400']
[quote name='TMBob' timestamp='1375400170' post='7586906']
Looking for a PIC of the SLDR sleeve please.....thanks

Plus, has anyone able to remove the blue 20 gram weight? Or heard of any other gram weights?
[/quote]

I removed the weight, it would be easy to change to a heavier or lighter weight.
[/quote]

I've got a bit of a problem and wondering if anyone is experiencing anything similar...I've only made 2 adjustments to the SLDR weight and it seems like the screw is stripping....I can't tighten it until it clicks like I can with the shaft...It seems to be tight enough that it isn't moving but I'm worried that it some point it will become completely stripped and then I'll be SOL....Can I just get a new screw from TM and replace it?

[Scott@84]

[quote name='Hairpie' timestamp='1375416819' post='7588580']
[quote name='Scott@84' timestamp='1375405278' post='7587400']
[quote name='TMBob' timestamp='1375400170' post='7586906']
Looking for a PIC of the SLDR sleeve please.....thanks

Plus, has anyone able to remove the blue 20 gram weight? Or heard of any other gram weights?
[/quote]

I removed the weight, it would be easy to change to a heavier or lighter weight.
[/quote]

I've got a bit of a problem and wondering if anyone is experiencing anything similar...I've only made 2 adjustments to the SLDR weight and it seems like the screw is stripping....I can't tighten it until it clicks like I can with the shaft...It seems to be tight enough that it isn't moving but I'm worried that it some point it will become completely stripped and then I'll be SOL....Can I just get a new screw from TM and replace it?
[/quote]

You should be able to without a problem. Does the wrench still click when you tighten the shaft? I've had a few wrenches over the years that didn't click no matter how hard you tightened it.

[Hairpie]

[quote name='Scott@84' timestamp='1375416987' post='7588592']
[quote name='Hairpie' timestamp='1375416819' post='7588580']
[quote name='Scott@84' timestamp='1375405278' post='7587400']
[quote name='TMBob' timestamp='1375400170' post='7586906']
Looking for a PIC of the SLDR sleeve please.....thanks

Plus, has anyone able to remove the blue 20 gram weight? Or heard of any other gram weights?
[/quote]

I removed the weight, it would be easy to change to a heavier or lighter weight.
[/quote]

I've got a bit of a problem and wondering if anyone is experiencing anything similar...I've only made 2 adjustments to the SLDR weight and it seems like the screw is stripping....I can't tighten it until it clicks like I can with the shaft...It seems to be tight enough that it isn't moving but I'm worried that it some point it will become completely stripped and then I'll be SOL....Can I just get a new screw from TM and replace it?
[/quote]

You should be able to without a problem. Does the wrench still click when you tighten the shaft? I've had a few wrenches over the years that didn't click no matter how hard you tightened it.
[/quote]

Wrench still clicks when I tighten the shaft....But when I try to tighten the weight to the point of a "click" it starts to act like its going to strip the screw...I've just tightened it down using a lot of downward pressure so I don't wreck the screw anymore than it already seems to be.

[Will Par]

I haven't tried to change the slider weight on my SLDR driver, but if it wasn't locking in properly with the same click when tightening the shaft sleeve, I would be concerned too. I think a call to TM customer service would be in order.

[Rebel420]

[quote name='Will Par' timestamp='1375448740' post='7589870']
I haven't tried to change the slider weight on my SLDR driver, but if it wasn't locking in properly with the same click when tightening the shaft sleeve, I would be concerned too. I think a call to TM customer service would be in order.
[/quote]

Especially now with these being ready for release... If there is a quality issue with the screws (or the weight the screw is threading in to, I'm sure TM would want to know now before they had a bigger issue on their hands

[jj9000]

I'm thinking perhaps I sould have gone up in loft as well.

I'm in the 9.5* with Kiyoshi White and this sucker is almost too low spin!

It may just be the range balls, but, they are launching like a cannon and dropping out of the sky like a wounded duck.

I actually went to the PGA Superstore yesterday and took the SLDR to get additional launch/spin numbers.

I was messing around and trying to get the spin number over 3,000 just for gits and shiggles...no dice...2,900 was the highest I was able to muster on the 10.5* setting.

[the_saint_siwa]

[quote name='Hairpie' timestamp='1375418138' post='7588670']
Wrench still clicks when I tighten the shaft....But when I try to tighten the weight to the point of a "click" it starts to act like its going to strip the screw...I've just tightened it down using a lot of downward pressure so I don't wreck the screw anymore than it already seems to be.
[/quote]

@ Hairpie: My SLDR wrench clicked when I tighten the weight and shaft. I had to do it last week because the weight was loose on the 8th hole. Stupid question, Did you use the wrench that SLDR come with or "other" wrench? I compared the SLDR wrench to TM R11 wrench (the white one) and it might be just my eyes but the torx tip of R11 wrench seems to be slightly smaller?

[Hairpie]

[quote name='the_saint_siwa' timestamp='1375450152' post='7590014']
[quote name='Hairpie' timestamp='1375418138' post='7588670']
Wrench still clicks when I tighten the shaft....But when I try to tighten the weight to the point of a "click" it starts to act like its going to strip the screw...I've just tightened it down using a lot of downward pressure so I don't wreck the screw anymore than it already seems to be.
[/quote]

@ Hairpie: My SLDR wrench clicked when I tighten the weight and shaft. I had to do it last week because the weight was loose on the 8th hole. Stupid question, Did you use the wrench that SLDR come with or "other" wrench? I compared the SLDR wrench to TM R11 wrench (the white one) and it might be just my eyes but the torx tip of R11 wrench seems to be slightly smaller?
[/quote]

I've only used the wrench that came with the SLDR...it is white and is the only wrench I have....just got off the phone with TM and they are sending out a new one...customer service rep seemed to think it might be a little different than the shaft screw...I'll post an update when it arrives

[Nobody2]

OK, I was really hoping to win one of these, but it wasn't to be so I got fitted at the TMPL at Gleneagles in Dallas. Ryan was great to work with, is extremely knowledgeable and makes the fitting process a lot of fun. I have been playing a tour issued FT-5 10.5*, draw bias with a Graphite Design Quattrotech MD 6X tipped 1/2 inch for 4+ years, but started to toy around with new drivers over the last 3-4 months.
913 D2 was a candidate but numbers were identical to my gamer. Nike CT gave me higher ball speed but less control. Recently started to play around with the R1. I was getting really nice numbers and almost pulled the trigger until the SLDR came along.....

I am not high spin player, and tend to leave the club face open at impact but hit the ball pretty well. For reference my SS is 110 and play off a 0 and my goal was to find a combo that would be more consistent and reduce the dispersion on bad swings.

The shafts I tested:
MS 6.3 X. Although I have the 8.3 in my 3 wood this was the worst of all of the shafts for me. the ball came off like a bullet with no spin
AD DI 6x. Better but still low spin but the launch was better.
Oban White 65 X. Very nice combo. Ball speed was the best with this combo (picked up 5-6mph) but dispersion was OK.
Aldila RIP beta 60X. Oh my.... brought my launch up 2* to 11.7, lowered spin 600 rpm to 2300 and the dispersion was incredible. My bad miss right was reduced A LOT! If my bad miss now misses by 15 yards, this combo reduced it to a 5-7 yard miss. Absolutely incredible!

I think everyone has nailed the sound/feel of this driver. It sounds identical to my Ft-5, which is a muted sound. The size, shape and color (identical to 983K) is very appealing as well. I ended up with a 10.5* and when set to 10.5 it sits square and if I crank it down to 9.5* it still sits pretty close to square, but the flight comes down quite a bit. Honestly, the ball flight (side to side) between 10.5-9.5 was very consistent, but will give me great options for different trajectories in various playing conditions. This is something I have not found in any other adjustable driver and while I don;t think I will mess with the loft much, it is very nice to know I have options. 9.5 doesn't carry as far but will run, and at 10.5 I hit high low spin bombs. I was honestly blown away with the ball flight and I have been professionally fitted by some of the best in the industry.

Overall I am very happy with my first TM club in years and looking forward to getting it soon!

[Fish-N-Chips]

My Update!

Gotten a few rounds in with this puppy and it is just an unbelievable club. Whether that is because it is properly fit for me or because it is just a fabulous head is for y'all to debate about.

What I do know is that this club has almost completely eliminated my weak hooks I was hitting. Everything now is either down the pip, or a little cut that just goes ages.

Hit a cut down the right side of the fairway yesterday that rolled out to 338 (laser verified and that's probably with 50 yards of roll on stupid hard muni fairways). Also the forgiveness low on the face of this club blows my mind. Hit one yesterday low on the face, instantly got frustrated with myself because it just felt like a terrible, terrible shot. Found my ball right off the fairway about 260ish.

Just an amazing club and Taylormade has won over a long time TM hater.

[myspinonit]

[quote name='Will Par' timestamp='1375448740' post='7589870']
I haven't tried to change the slider weight on my SLDR driver, but if it wasn't locking in properly with the same click when tightening the shaft sleeve, I would be concerned too. I think a call to TM customer service would be in order.
[/quote]

I've long since stopped trying to tighten weights to the click point in my R11s for that reason when changing them and never had one get loose. I'm sure I've read suggestions not to tighten the weights to point of torque click.

[bvmagic]

I received my Motore speeder VC 6.2 earlier this week from Taylormade. Big thanks to them and Dave for responding to my situation so quickly to fix it. I hit with the speeder 6.2 tour spec I originally received for 2 rounds and a couple range sessions before the new shaft came in. Kept thinking that maybe I could live with the TS because I still produced some good shots with it.

Then today was my first range session with the VC 6.2 and first thing I wanted to do was a direct comparison on the two shafts. And there really isn't any comparison because the VC is so much smoother and connects with my swing perfectly. Occasionally I would connect with the TS the ball would look the same in the air, but the percentages of seeing that shot was lower for sure. The flight was higher and it just had that same familiar feel I've known long time. I had the VC 6.2 in my previous 2 drivers (superdeep and razr fit extreme). During the fitting I actually tried to find another shaft I would like to sort of "move on" but in the end the VC 6.2 just won me over again.

The main difference between the SLDR and my previous 2 drivers was just the forgiveness across the face. Obviously the superdeep and razr fit are not the most forgiving drivers out there, but this head has changed my outlook on what I will look for in future drivers. I'd like to put some impact tape on the face of the SLDR just so I can reference what a certain miss feels like. And I swear when I mishit this driver the ball doesn't curve as much as my Razr fit.

Will still do some more on course comparisons with the VC 6.2, tourspec, and my razr fit with the VC 6.2. I'll keep you all posted in this thread.

[G-Bone]

I hit the SLDR against my R1 V2 on Trackman today. I used the same shaft in both heads; GD Tour AD BB6. We spent some time tuning-in the SLDR 10.5 head to my swing, so comparing against my tuned R1 V2 should be apples to apples (R1 is played neutral, sole plate 1 closed, 8 grams in toe, 4 grams in heel).

Feel/Sound:
No contest, SLDR blows R1 V2 away. All those that said SLDR had a great feel and sound are 100% accurate.

Launch:
SLDR was 1 degree lower launch

Spin:
SLDR 100 rpm less

Ball speed:
Virtual Tie

Smash Factor:
Very similar, with slight edge going to R1 V2

Distance
SLDR averaged 1 more yard of carry, 2 more yards of roll, 3 more yards total.

Dispersion:
Here was the kiss of death - SLDR pattern was twice the size of R1 V2. I was considerably more accurate with R1 V2.

Conclusion:
SLDR is a great new addition to TMAG's arsenal, but for me, not good enough to knock out my current gamer out of play.