Equipment

Spotted: TaylorMade SLDR Fairway Wood

Published

11 years ago

Sep 21, 2013

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

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!

Reply Report comment
- 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
  
  Reply Report comment
bl21

Sep 20, 2013 at 4:24 pm

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

Reply Report comment
- Kc
  
  Oct 1, 2013 at 12:56 pm
  
  Like 🙂
  
  Reply Report comment
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.

Reply Report comment
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.

Reply Report comment
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!!

Reply Report comment
- Dan
  
  Sep 19, 2013 at 8:05 pm
  
  did the same thing
  
  Reply Report comment
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.

Reply Report comment
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.

Reply Report comment
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.

Reply Report comment
andy

Sep 18, 2013 at 12:42 pm

haha! how absurd.

Reply Report comment
chris

Sep 18, 2013 at 11:38 am

Combination of the R9 and RBZ fairway woods

Reply Report comment
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.

Reply Report comment
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.

Reply Report comment
- gary
  
  Sep 21, 2013 at 2:36 pm
  
  Lol too true.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - 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.
    
    Reply Report comment
OP

Sep 18, 2013 at 9:23 am

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

Reply Report comment
David Winchester

Sep 18, 2013 at 5:57 am

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

Reply Report comment
Popo

Sep 18, 2013 at 1:55 am

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

Reply Report comment
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.

Reply Report comment
- 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.
  
  Reply Report comment
Cannon

Sep 17, 2013 at 10:48 pm

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

Reply Report comment
- 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*
  
  Reply Report comment
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.

Reply Report comment
eg

Sep 17, 2013 at 9:38 pm

the speedpocket there looks like a smiling minion

Reply Report comment
Dan

Sep 17, 2013 at 9:26 pm

reminds me of the burner TP 3W

Reply Report comment
cj

Sep 17, 2013 at 8:45 pm

I might actually like this TM fairway wood

Reply Report comment
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!”

Reply Report comment
- 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…!
  
  Reply Report comment
pooch

Sep 17, 2013 at 6:13 pm

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

Reply Report comment
Billy

Sep 17, 2013 at 5:22 pm

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

Reply Report comment
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!

Reply Report comment
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

Reply Report comment
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

Reply Report comment
Will o'the Glen

Sep 17, 2013 at 1:49 pm

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

Reply Report comment
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.

Reply Report comment
- 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
  
  Reply Report comment
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…?

Reply Report comment
- 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.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - Cannon
    
    Sep 17, 2013 at 10:46 pm
    
    Has a finish that looks similar to old titliest woods.
    
    Reply Report comment
- joe
  
  Sep 19, 2013 at 2:58 pm
  
  hahaha… totally agree… it does look nice though
  
  Reply Report comment
MorikawaTMaG

Sep 17, 2013 at 1:12 pm

nice!

Reply Report comment

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Equipment

A shocking Backstryke putter appearance + 7 interesting gear photos from the Zurich Classic

Published

10 hours ago

Apr 25, 2024

Andrew Tursky

Welcome to New Orleans, where TPC Louisiana plays host to the 2024 Zurich Classic. In between breakfast beignets and nightly Creole feasts, PGA Tour players are also competing in the unique two-man format at the Zurich this week.

Although the vibes in Nawlins are a bit lighter-fare than the recent back-to-back competitions the Masters and the RBC Heritage signature event), the gear news was no less serious this week.

We spotted some recent changes from Rory McIlroy, a very rare Odyssey Backstryke putter, dove into the bag of legendary New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, and spotted Patrick Cantlay continuing to test new equipment.

Get your beads out and crack your crawfish, because it’s time for an equipment rundown from The Big Easy (meaning New Orleans, of course, not Ernie Els).

See all of our photos from the Zurich Classic here

Rory’s on-and-off lob wedge

Since the end of 2023, Rory McIlroy has had an on-again, off-again relationship with a Titleist Vokey K-Grind lob wedge. In his last start, it was on, and the wedge is back in the bag again this week. We got a great look at the complicated grind that McIlroy uses.

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A full look into McIlroy’s bag above also shows that he switched out of the TaylorMade BRNR Mini Copper that he used at the RBC Heritage, and he’s back into the Qi10 core 3-wood. As we discussed last week, McIlroy will likely keep the BRNR around as a course-specific club, trading it in and out for the 3-wood.

See Rory McIlroy’s full 2024 WITB from the Zurich here

Turning Back the clock

Unless Tommy Gainey is in the field, it’s unlikely you’ll ever see Odyssey’s Backstryke technology make an appearance on the PGA Tour.

But then, when you least expect it, Russ Cochran shows up.

For more than a decade – since the 2013 Sony Open in Hawai’i – Cochran has been stuck on 599 PGA Tour starts. This week will be his 600th.

Cochran is in the field at the Zurich this week playing alongside Eric Cole, whose regular caddie is Reed Cochran, Russ’s son.

The Backstryke putter was first released back in 2010, and its unique design helps shift the axis point of the putter closer to the CG of the head. And, the putter is getting a nod this week at the Zurich Classic, thanks to Cochran’s 600th career PGA Tour start.

The putter is certainly awesome, but don’t forget to check out Cochran’s full WITB from this week.

Drew Brees with a Super Bowl winning Scotty Cameron putter

Drew Brees, a legendary retired quarterback for the hometown New Orleans Saints, made an appearance at the Zurich’s Wednesday Pro-Am, playing alongside Zach Johnson, Ryan Palmer, and current Saints QB Derek Carr.

Brees’ bag included a TaylorMade Stealth2 Plus driver, a BRNR Mini 13.5-degree, a Stealth 5-wood, a mixed set of P-790 and P-760 irons, Milled Grind Hi-Toe wedges, and a custom Scotty Cameron “New Orleans Saints” putter, which Scotty made for Brees following his Super Bowl MVP-winning performance in 2010.

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It should also be noted that Brees has his Venmo QR code as a bag tag.

If you’re gambling with Brees on the course, just know that not having cash won’t work as an excuse.

Brilliant.

See Drew Brees’ full WITB from the Zurich here

Stricker’s unrecognizable putter

Steve Stricker has made numerous upgrades to his bag recently, including a new TSR3 driver and T100 irons, but his longtime Odyssey White Hot No. 2 putter is still going strong. It’s the most recognizable unrecognizable putter ever.

Here’s a better look at Stricker’s flatstick, which he started using back in 2007.

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Patrick Cantlay has opened the equipment-switching floodgates

Over on the PGA Tour’s Equipment Report this week, we covered Cantlay’s recent switch into Ping Blueprint S irons, and a Titleist TSR2 driver.

Cantlay hadn’t switched irons for about seven years, so the iron switch he made at The 2024 Masters came as a shock to the norm. He simply isn’t one to change gear very often, so anytime Cantlay makes a switch, it’s news.

It seems the floodgates of equipment testing have opened up a bit for Cantlay, who was also spotted testing a custom Scotty Cameron blade putter on Tuesday this week. By Wednesday, Cantlay was back practicing with his familiar Scotty Cameron T5 Proto mallet, but it’s certainly something to keep an eye on going forward.

Daniel Berger’s custom Jailbird site lines

Berger, who’s currently using Odyssey’s Ai-One Mini Jailbird mallet putter, has a unique 3-dot, 2-line alignment on the crown of his navy-white-navy-white mallet putter. Looking down at the putter, it’s easy to see why this alignment system would help; it just seems impossible to set up to the ball off-center, or misaligned to the target.

Also, for anyone worried, you can rest easy. Yes, he’s still playing the 2013 TaylorMade TP MC irons, which we highlighted in our recent “Modern Classics: Old vs. New” video testing series.

FitzMagic teams back up

Brothers Matthew and Alex Fitzpatrick are teaming up once again at the Zurich this year, and Bettinardi Golf hooked them up with some festive “FitzMagic” headcovers to match this week.

See what else is in Alex Fitzpatrick’s WITB here

And, with that, we say goodbye to the Zurich Classic in New Orleans. Don’t forget to check out all of our photos from this week, including 30 unique photo galleries full of equipment photos.

We’ll see you next week in Texas for the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson!

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