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Spotted: TaylorMade SLDR Fairway Wood

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Check out the photos of TaylorMade’s new SLDR fairway wood, which was being tested by Dustin Johnson at the Tour Championship.

The SLDR fairway wood does not have the sliding weight track that was featured on the company’s new SLDR driver. Instead, it has what appears to be a new version of TaylorMade’s Speed Pocket, which like the slot on the company’s new SpeedBlade iron has curved design that looks to cut all the way through the club’s sole. It also has an adjustable hosel that seems to have the same adjustability as the SLDR driver, 1.5 degrees up or down from the standard loft.

Johnson was the first player to test the club at East Lake, a 15.5-degree model, but according to TaylorMade tour reps it’s still up in the air if Johnson will put the club in play this week at East Lake.

Check out more photos of the club in the gallery below, and click here to see what GolfWRX Members are saying about the SLDR fairway wood in the forums.

Check out more photos of the club in the gallery below, and click here to see what GolfWRX Members are saying about the SLDR fairway wood in the forums.

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43 Comments

43 Comments

  1. P Healey

    Oct 1, 2013 at 1:28 pm

    I believe that the R9 was the last good driver from Taylormade. Everything with an “R” in front of it has been kind of a joke to be honest, and with the constant new releases it is tough for a purist to like Taylormade. But, the SLDR, unlike the R11s, R1, and the RBZs, has captured my attention. I like that there is actually some technology behind it, unlike recent Taylormade drivers which are just about “more adjustability!!!” I am definitely looking forward to trying the SLDR, mainly because of the notion that it is a very low spinning driver. Overall, I think that this is the first promising driver from Taylormade in a while and am excited to try it out soon. Hopefully Taylormade doesnt let me down although I am trying not to get my hopes up!

    • MB

      Nov 20, 2013 at 9:43 pm

      The SLDR once matched to the right shaft and the weighting placed by adjusting the sldr mechanism, I have improved my driving distance by 20 yds and am more accurate.

      I recently played in a tournament in Fl with 3 members of my home club. I have always been shortest off the tee, (one our pro, and other 2 2-3 hcps and very long) wirh my prior Nike and R 11 before that I was always 20 yds short. But, since my SLDR and Fujikura Fuel stiff shaft, and settings with a draw bia on weights, I crushed to be longer than all but my freaky long pal, Doug. More than that consitsent in center right of tight fairways. By end of trip all were serious about getting SLDR. It Rocks

  2. bl21

    Sep 20, 2013 at 4:24 pm

    Oh, sweet…. how soon until we can get one for half price?

  3. Tim

    Sep 19, 2013 at 10:57 am

    Well I certainly have to give them a round of applause. They keep pumping out product and consumers keep buying it. The sole looks quite a bit like the RBZ (slot is a bit different). I do like the change in the paint color. For now I think I will stick with my VSteels.

  4. Dave

    Sep 18, 2013 at 8:48 pm

    As mentioned, R11 and R11s didn’t have weights, the head isn’t big enough. Plus with the SLDR weight turf interaction would be even more of an issue than with the slot.
    TaylorMade gets the fact that the customer base is broken into segments, innovators & early adopter consumers will always buy new b/c it’s new. Early and late majority will buy some at full and at rebate/reduced pricing. The laggards will clean out what’s left at a nice discount. Decide where you fall on that curve and buy what you can afford. I don’t understand the haters, other than TM is clearly winning the club-selling fight… It’s actually BETTER for the consumer to have this accelerated product life cycle. More options, pricing reductions which offset depreciation, etc.

  5. Taylerhater

    Sep 18, 2013 at 8:36 pm

    The last good fairway taylormade had was the 07 burner TP. I played it for years until the 913FD took it out. The 913FD is a fairway finder beast!!

  6. Randy

    Sep 18, 2013 at 5:53 pm

    They have a small company named gigagolf that has been developing and put out a fairway that looks very similar to this earlier this year. It’s under their pursuit line, they also had a driver with that same slot that they put out 3-5 years ago I think. They even have similar weight cut outs.on the sole. Not a big TM fan, now they are starting to show that technology is not a priority. How do they not put a movable weight on a line that they market a SLDR sliding weight? Step backwards for TM.

  7. Wayne

    Sep 18, 2013 at 2:38 pm

    What a scam! I still play the 200 steel 3/5 woods reshafted with an Arthur Xcaliber T6.

  8. joro

    Sep 18, 2013 at 1:07 pm

    Face it, newer is not always better, but it does pull out the suckers that think they buying a game, or the egotists who have to have the newest. Wise people spend their money on a GOOD teacher.

  9. andy

    Sep 18, 2013 at 12:42 pm

    haha! how absurd.

  10. chris

    Sep 18, 2013 at 11:38 am

    Combination of the R9 and RBZ fairway woods

  11. Anthony

    Sep 18, 2013 at 10:38 am

    I’m not sure why more people aren’t happy about this. I think it would be difficult for TM fans who want to upgrade to the newest driver technology to play a gray driver with matte white fairway woods. i think it’s great to maintain a consistency of look throughout the set.

  12. MFB

    Sep 18, 2013 at 10:16 am

    Wait about 6 months and you can get it for half price when the new SLDR2 woods come out.

    • gary

      Sep 21, 2013 at 2:36 pm

      Lol too true.

      • paul

        Sep 21, 2013 at 4:48 pm

        Im hoping titleist comes out with a new driver so i can pick up a 913 d3 soon.

  13. OP

    Sep 18, 2013 at 9:23 am

    Its just looks like the R9 fairway with new graphics. Yawn!

  14. David Winchester

    Sep 18, 2013 at 5:57 am

    To my eyes the head looks like the old Titleist 906 range.

  15. Popo

    Sep 18, 2013 at 1:55 am

    TM should provide us with a “Slot-cleaning” stick

  16. JD

    Sep 17, 2013 at 11:34 pm

    This thing looks graat, SOOOOOO happy the white trend has come and gone, despite that last statment, I’m still gaming a superfast 2.0 TP 3w and a R11s 5w, love them both, been hard to get out of the bag. Interested to hit this, IMO taylormade makes the best fairway woods.

    • Desmond

      Sep 18, 2013 at 11:09 am

      You’re jerking us around, right?

      TM makes very unfriendly fairway woods.

      The stock shafts are of poor quality, the heads are not exactly high launching, and the stock lengths are a prescription for failure.

  17. Cannon

    Sep 17, 2013 at 10:48 pm

    Taylormade is making its return to golf clubs and taking a break from the toy industry…

    • Andrew

      Oct 14, 2013 at 9:02 pm

      I totally agree with you this club looks great and classic, but you gotta admit those “toys” are pretty fun. R1 owner*

  18. Desmond

    Sep 17, 2013 at 10:13 pm

    I’m waiting for them to sell the fairway wood for the rest of us … you know, the guys with moderate swing speeds.

    Tried the RBZ and Stage 2 – failures for normal guys.

    Bye, TM.

  19. eg

    Sep 17, 2013 at 9:38 pm

    the speedpocket there looks like a smiling minion

  20. Dan

    Sep 17, 2013 at 9:26 pm

    reminds me of the burner TP 3W

  21. cj

    Sep 17, 2013 at 8:45 pm

    I might actually like this TM fairway wood

  22. Rick

    Sep 17, 2013 at 7:42 pm

    This is Taylormade being bored and putting their marketing department to the test.

    “Can we take a club we released last year (RBZ fairway wood, original), paint it grey, call it a Little Hamburger, and still get people to buy a “new” club!? Let’s try!”

    • NG

      Sep 17, 2013 at 9:33 pm

      Well done- first negetive comment! I propose you have your eyes checked…first things first, the speed pocket is totally different by the look of it so your statement the have restamped an painted this club is a load of…!

  23. pooch

    Sep 17, 2013 at 6:13 pm

    Looks like a deep face for a lower trajectory. Better have some swing speed.

  24. Billy

    Sep 17, 2013 at 5:22 pm

    I like these better than the driver, and I am not a TM fan at all.

  25. NG

    Sep 17, 2013 at 4:16 pm

    Best looking fairway I’ve seen in a long time from TM, almost has a Vsteel look about it….and with speed pocket, I’m in!

  26. R

    Sep 17, 2013 at 2:46 pm

    if the feel and sound are as good on this wood as they are on the driver i’m buying

  27. Lloyd

    Sep 17, 2013 at 1:55 pm

    Well wot can I say I want one or two now great looking club perfect match for the SLDR driver

  28. Will o'the Glen

    Sep 17, 2013 at 1:49 pm

    The Marketing Team seems to be wagging the dog at TaylorMade.

  29. KK

    Sep 17, 2013 at 1:45 pm

    SLDR without the SLDR feature. Kinda like a Speedblade without the blade. I think TM is doing this intentionally to annoy discerning golfers and TM critics. Next, they will turn bladed putters into precision mallets, hybrids into driving hyper-irons and 3 woods into inverted mega-swing tour driving pistons.

    • MorikawaTMaG

      Sep 18, 2013 at 12:47 am

      you wont see a diffrence in woods, its like why they didnt have the movable weights in the r11 and r11s woods

  30. yomomma

    Sep 17, 2013 at 1:35 pm

    It doesn’t even have a sliding weight! haha this is an entirely different concept then the SLDR driver, so why the same name…?

    • Alex

      Sep 17, 2013 at 4:53 pm

      Being so die hard Titleist and being so against Taylormade I can’t really believe I’m saying this but I actually like the look of this club.

      • Cannon

        Sep 17, 2013 at 10:46 pm

        Has a finish that looks similar to old titliest woods.

    • joe

      Sep 19, 2013 at 2:58 pm

      hahaha… totally agree… it does look nice though

  31. MorikawaTMaG

    Sep 17, 2013 at 1:12 pm

    nice!

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Equipment

Q&A: Martin Trainer on his Bobby Grace “Greg Chalmers” putter, 6.5-degree driver, and “butter knife” 2-iron

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As unbiasedly as I can put it, Martin Trainer has one of the coolest club setups in professional golf. (At some point soon, I’ll put together a top-10 list of “coolest club setups on Tour,” but I know that Trainer will be in the top-10)

What a lineup. He plays a 6.5-degree Wilson prototype driver, a 13-degree Wilson prototype 3-wood, a true blade Wilson Staff Model 2-iron, and a Bobby Grace “Greg Chalmers Commemorative” putter!

 

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I mean, look at this 2-iron from address…

To quote the great author R.L. Stine: “Goosebumps.”

On Wednesday at the 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open, I caught up with Trainer to learn more about his bag setup.

Here’s what he had to say:

You have the Internet going crazy over your bag setup, and your putter. Where’d you pick the Bobby Grace-Greg Chalmers putter up? How long have you had it?

MT: This was from when Bobby Grace came to my course in California: Cal Club. And for whatever reason, they just started having them in the shop. So then I took my buddy’s, started using it, and made, like, a million putts in a row, which is how every putter story begins, I guess.

And then, I bought a couple of my own, used it for years, got to the Tour with it, won on Tour with it (the 2019 Puerto Rico Open). Then, about a year later, started using another putter, did that for a couple years, but now it’s back in the bag.

When did it come back in the bag?

MT: December of this past year. So a few months ago.

What year would you say was the first time you threw that in the bag, or, like, when you bought it?

MT: God…Probably, 2016, maybe? 2018?

Do you remember how much you paid for it?

MT: I don’t know, actually. Maybe $100-150 bucks or something. I think that’s the only golf club I’ve bought between high school and now. Well, two, since I bought two of them.

The driver is interesting, too. What went into the prototyping process?

MT: That was a version of the current driver, but it was the prototype that they first came out with for Tour guys to try. And for whatever reason, I just never switched out to the new one.

It’s just 6.5 degrees, right?

MT: Yeah. Very low loft, yeah.

What kind of ball speed do you have with that these days?

MT: Like high 170’s.

Yeah, that’ll work. And then a 2-iron blade? We’re seeing fewer and fewer of those out here.

MT: Yeah. The butter knife.

Very cool thing to have in the bag. Have you done any testing with driving irons? 

MT: Yeah, I used to have a thicker one, but it was a little offset, and I never hit it that well. And then finally, I started messing around with the butter knife. And I remember the first time I looked down at it, I was terrified. And then I ended up getting used to it, putting it in play, and it’s been in place since. It’s a pretty good club for me.

How far do you carry that? 

MT: Like 235.

A good little wind club, I’m sure.

MTL Yeah, exactly. I can hit it very low. It’s great.

I love it. You have people shook looking at that. Thanks for the time, man. 

MT: Absolutely.

To see more photos and discussion of Trainer’s bag, click here.

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Equipment

Coolest thing for sale in the GolfWRX Classifieds (3/28/24): L.A.B. Golf Mezz.1 Max Broomstick with LA Golf Paige Spiranac shaft

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At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals that all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.

It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.

Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, there is a listing for a L.A.B. Golf Mezz.1 Max Broomstick putter with LA Golf Paige Spiranac shaft.

From the seller: (@hibcam): “L.A.B. GOLF Mezz.1 Max Broomstick- LA Golf Paige Spiranac Shaft- 44″/79.5. Brand new, never used brown leather cover. The head was professionally anodized from Orange to Blue (Orange looked bad with the Pink shaft so I had it changed). Only a few rounds on this combo. Please see last pic- slight ding on back corner. 8.5-10 condition. THE SHAFT COST $475/ THE PUTTER $625. $799 shipped in the US. ONLY $699 SHIPPED.”

To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link: L.A.B. Golf Mezz.1 Max Broomstick with LA Golf Paige Spiranac shaft

This is the most impressive current listing from the GolfWRX BST, and if you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum you can check them out here: GolfWRX BST Rules

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Spotted: Tony Finau’s driver shaft change at the 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open

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Tony Finau has always been known as one of the longest players on the PGA Tour, but he has recently been working on adding a little more distance. Last year, Finau averaged 118.3 mph club head speed and 178.08 mph ball speed, all while playing a Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 70 TX driver shaft. This year, he has increased his club head speed to 123.93 mph and his ball speed to 183.32 mph.

However, Finau’s overall distance has decreased by two yards in that time. From a fitting perspective, something was amiss. We asked Tony about the shaft change at the Texas Children’s Hospital Open.

“[I’m seeing] better numbers with the spin. My driver’s been a little high spin for me over the last month or so, and so I just figured it was time to probably check out the equipment,” Finau said. “And it definitely showed me that I was using a shaft that’s maybe a little too tip-stiff for me, the way I load the club now. [I’m seeing] better numbers with the spin.”

Finau switched from the Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 70 TX into the Diamana GT 70 TX. The newer Diamana GT has a slightly different profile than the D+ Limited with the stiffest handle section in the Diamana lineup. The mid sections between the two are similar stiffness but the tip is just slightly stiffer in the Diamana GT. Both shafts are within one gram of each other in the 70 TX. The torque rating on the GT is 0.1 higher than the D+Limited’s 2.7 measurement.

Mitsubishi lists the Diamana GT as a shaft between the mid-launching Diamana TB and the new low-launch Diamana WB shafts. For most players, it would be considered a mid/low launch and low-spin shaft option. Mitsubishi’s Xlink Tech Resin System makes sure the maximum carbon fiber content is there for smooth feel without reducing the strength of the shaft. MR70 carbon fiber is used for reinforcing the shaft and boron is used in the tip for its high strength and compression properties.

Finau is still using his trusty Ping G430 LST driver in 9 degrees and has the adjustable hosel set to -1 degree of loft (standard lie angle). Finau’s long-time favorite Lamkin UTX Green grip is installed. He definitely has a few extra wraps of tape under that grip as you can see the bulge down where the grip meets the shaft.

One final note: Per Ping’s PGA Tour rep Kenton Oates, Finau’s driver is also adjusted to play with an additional degree of loft to help dial in his desired launch.

We’ll see how he fares with the new setup this week in Houston!

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