WRX Forum Buzzz
TaylorMade holds Speed Pocket World Challenge from 4 cities
Times Square being converted to a TaylorMade driving range at 11pm the night before
To help kick off golf season, TaylorMade is turning Times Square into a driving range by hosting the TaylorMade Speed Pocket World Challenge. That’s right. On Tuesday March 11 from 11am to 2pm, consumers will be able to compare traditional irons to TaylorMade Speed Blade irons and track their distance gains.
FlightScope will track all results on a Global Leaderboard, allowing participants to compete against others in London, Toronto and San Francisco. Aside from local winners, one person will be crowned “Speed Pocket World Champion.” Participation is free and open to everyone.
Famed instructor Hank Haney and Golf Channel’s Charlie Rymer will also be on-hand for the NYC festivities. GolfWRX will be providing some live updates on the site and social media for you, so stay tuned.
GolfWRX will be covering San Francisco and New York events. With temperatures expected to climb north of 55 degrees on Tuesday, timing couldn’t be better.
Follow Rob on Twitter @FreshGrooves
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In our forums, our members have been having an interesting discussion on bag setups. WRXer ‘Ghostdunc27’ has been unable to replace the 3-wood he loved and is currently “toying around with the idea of a mini driver or even a higher lofted regular driver with a shorter shaft” to his bag, and reaches out to fellow members on their thoughts.
Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- tjwilliams31: “I am tinkering with this now. I currently play an SLDR S 14 degree driver at 42.75 as my secondary tee club and it works great. My issue with a lower lofted driver at that length was the tendency for the ball to drop out of the air with a lack of spin. Again this could just be an issue in my delivery at the ball. Everyone in the forum references the Marty Jertson WITB on Youtube with PING and he plays a secondary driver around that length in lieu of 3 wood.”
- adamwon84: “I switch between a mini driver and a normal 3 wood (15 degrees, crank down to 14) depending on the course. The mini driver is the newest Taylormade mini driver, set at 13.5 degrees and the 3 wood is the Callaway Smoke AI 15 degree set to 14. Both are great, but I am finding that the mini driver is more and more impressive as I use it (especially off the tee box). I did have a mini 300 model that had a 42.5 inch shaft that was fun on the deck and off the tee, really really solid. My current one is with the stock length shaft, but I am looking at ordering a shorter shaft to experiment with.”
- agree1977: “Have a TSR2 driver and the 13.5 TM BRNR, I use both about the same amount of times a round, it just changes throughout the year, depending on weather, form, course i’m playing, etc. I just found that my 3-wood and 5-wood were pretty much overlaying in a few areas, so set the 5 wood to 18 degrees and it does all i need for a fairway.”
Entire Thread: “3-Wood vs. Mini-Driver vs. 2nd Driver – GolfWRXers discuss”
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Equipment
What’s the most forgiving and longest driver you’ve played in past 5 years? – GolfWRXers discuss
In our forums, our members have been discussing the most forgiving and longest driver they’ve played over the past 5 years. WRXer ‘bogeykibg’ poses the question and also asks “does forgiveness mean shorter?”, and our members have been sharing their thoughts on the subject in our forum.
Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- Kai Slater: “The Callaway Rogue ST Max driver is the most forgiving/long driver that I’ve personally tried. It’s my current driver and, although, I see no reason to change, I’m very curious about trading up to the AI Smoke when the prices drop later this year.”
- Ger21: “Srixon ZX5 LS MK II. Remarkably forgiving.”
- scooterhd2: “If we are talking about average on course distance, and not max distance, or good hits on a sim, then its G400MAX. Theres no rollout in the woods or the lake. Hit em straight.”
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Equipment
What club purchase has more impact on overall game: Driver or putter? – GolfWRXers discuss
In our forums, our members have been discussing whether a driver or putter purchase has more impact on the game of a player who regularly shoots in the 70s.
Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- hammergolf: “It’s always baffled me that guys will spend $500 at the drop of a hat to hit it 8 yds further, but will balk at spending that same $500 on a putter that could improve their score much more.”
- WipeyFade: “I think with both it’s more about forgiveness than anything. I guess it would depend on which you mishit the most. In my opinion the only difference between a 10 year old driver and a new driver is going to be the forgiveness level. Same with putters.”
- rooski: “The technology of a newer driver will do much more in forgiveness than any putter technology that has come out since they were shafted with wood (other than maybe L.A.B, that’s some real stuff). That being said, if you currently don’t like your putter, I would upgrade it first given that you seem to enjoy your current driver. If your current driver/putter are roughly equal, I’d go driver first.”
- sheepdawg: “I’m a whole lot more finicky with drivers. I can putt pretty decent with most anything. Driver has to suit me just so.”
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Gary Jones
Mar 11, 2014 at 11:14 pm
I went today in San Francisco. Took about 15 seconds to stretch and hit 2 balls. Then hit 3 with the R11 6 iron which has 28 degrees of loft and then hit 3 balls with the Speedblade 6 iron which has 26.5 degrees of loft. I gained 12 yards. I think if I would of hit the R11 again I would have got the 12 yards back just because I was getting loose by each swing. So I don’t really thing that was a valid test, but it was a beautiful day in SF and it was fun to get out of the office.
Gary Jones
Mar 11, 2014 at 11:18 pm
Oh – I got a free T-shirt and koozie too!
DJ
Mar 13, 2014 at 1:56 am
I was in SF too. Was really thrown off by the length of this iron. The R11 I hit was about 201(long) and the Speedblade was 228(long). At this point that is equal to my 3 iron… on a really good day. I know I nutted those shots, but do you think the flightscopes were off? How were your distances compared to your normal?
Gary Jones
Mar 13, 2014 at 4:28 pm
Wow- you must loosen up quick. 🙂 I hit mine quite a bit shorter. Only like 136 with the R11 and 148 with the Speedblade.
DJ
Mar 13, 2014 at 7:02 pm
Walked from Civic Center so I was pretty loose by the time I got there. I emailed TM to get flightscope numbers but nobody’s answered me. I know loft is a lot stronger, just sounds waaaay off and wanted to see if you had overly-inflated numbers. Or… they’re just crazy long!
Steve
Mar 11, 2014 at 7:25 pm
Yeah do a loft for loft challenge! Then you can prove to everyone complaining that you NEED to lower the loft unless they want to hit skyrockets with every fricken club.
Kevin
Mar 12, 2014 at 6:42 pm
these are the comments that show the low IQ of some golfers.
wouldn’t it make sense that lowering the loft would lower the launch angle. go get on a flight monitor, hit a speedblade and compare to whatever club you want at the same loft.
i could care less what people think of speedblades. but thinking that they gain distance only because of loft is downright ignorant.
speedblades deliver distance, but they also deliver improved launch. they are taking a TM 6iron, getting 5 iron distances, but getting 6 or even 7 iron launch angles. go hit a Speedblade 6iron against your own clubs comparable iron in loft, or most likely 5 iron. I’m willing to bet the TM 6 iron goes as far or farther, yet you’ll launch much higher. that is where the technology and improvements are being made.
Stop with the nonsense about jacked lofts. it only shows how little you understand. todays clubs, in many brands, are going higher with better spin numbers. the only way to prevent crazy high launch angles is to lower loft.
Justin
Mar 12, 2014 at 11:49 pm
Finally someone who understands. Even blades of today have “jacked up lofts” as compared to irons from, say, the 80s
jack
Mar 14, 2014 at 1:38 am
If you would read his comment you would understand that he was saying exactly what you said in a drawn out explanation. Possibly your the ignorant one?
Francis Linnane
Mar 11, 2014 at 6:11 pm
I just try it out today in Time Square ,it up my game.Thank you TaylorMade
Bryan
Mar 11, 2014 at 5:20 pm
Will i be able to use my 4 iron against there 6 since the lofts are nearly the same. Lol.
Kevin
Mar 12, 2014 at 6:51 pm
these are the comments that show the low IQ of some golfers.
wouldn’t it make sense that lowering the loft would lower the launch angle. go get on a flight monitor, hit a speedblade and compare to whatever club you want at the same loft.
i could care less what people think of speedblades. but thinking that they gain distance only because of loft is downright silly.
speedblades deliver distance, but they also deliver improved launch. they are taking a TM 6iron, getting 5 iron distances, but getting 6 or even 7 iron launch angles. go hit a Speedblade 6iron against your own clubs comparable iron in loft, or most likely 5 iron. I’m willing to bet the TM 6 iron goes as far or farther, yet you’ll launch much higher. that is where the technology and improvements are being made.
Stop with the nonsense about jacked lofts. it only shows how little you understand. todays clubs, in many brands, are going higher with better spin numbers. the only way to prevent crazy high launch angles is to lower loft.
Gus
Mar 12, 2014 at 8:42 pm
Did you actually go do the test?
I did – Taylormade started me on the R11 6-iron (28*) for 3 shots then another 3 shots on the Speedblade (26.5*). My carry with the R11 were 170, 177,179, and Speedblade was 172, 178, 187. Based on this TM claimed that I gained 17 yards – basically taking my worst R11 shot and my best Speedblade shot!
In fact, there were loads of people testing this club who don’t even golf, and one lady ahead of me only managed to hit one good shot with the Speedblade while shanking all the ones with R11, contributing to a whopping 91yards gained. I think they eventually removed result, but still loads do people in the 60+ yards gained…
I took home the free 6-iron and went to range to compare it with my Miura Tournement blade 6-iron. Speedblade was a club longer, but only a yard or two longer than my 5-iron if I did the comparison based on loft.
Loft is loft, TM can call it whatever club they want but it doesn’t change the fact that people are given the specs from a longer club with labeling of a shorter club.
While everyone should have their loft and lie adjusted to achieve ideal launch conditions and proper yardage gaps, TM advertising distance gains is misleading.
Justin
Mar 13, 2014 at 9:23 am
You might have done the test, but it doesn’t matter. If they made the speedblades 28 degrees everyone would be crying they hit the ball too high.
LorenRobertsFan
Mar 11, 2014 at 2:19 pm
Sorry TM, but if rather have a 7 iron that goes 145-150 rather than a 7 iron that goes 150-165
LorenRobertsFan
Mar 11, 2014 at 2:19 pm
*i’d
Kevin
Mar 12, 2014 at 6:54 pm
haha seriously? why? don’t kid yourself. first, even at 165yds that is a short 7iron on tour.
what we want is the correct spin numbers for a 7 iron at the proper launch angles, and most importantly consistency. no hot spots.
speedblades are MUCH more consistent than previous burners.
what i don’t like, lightweight shaft and longer lengths.
but stop acting like you wouldn’t want an extra ten yards per iron and the proper launch or trajectory.
Lazza
Mar 11, 2014 at 12:12 pm
Should make sure that loft for loft (° for °) is used as a comparison. No good comparing “4i” with 20° loft with 21° 3i blade! All other specs to be identical too (shaft, length, swing weight, flex, etc) and then we see veracity of distance claims.
Kevin
Mar 12, 2014 at 6:56 pm
i bet that TM 20* club goes farther and even with lower loft goes higher. explain that genious. lower lofts on TM speedlines, yet higher launch angles than other clubs at similar launch angles.
Reggie Ramos
Mar 11, 2014 at 1:51 am
I wish i could try it. I like taylormade golf clubs. My golf set are taylormade burner. I like it.
Johnny
Mar 11, 2014 at 1:09 am
I live in Indiana sure would be nice to be able to get into that contest, I just recently purchased an r1 driver,have been using Callaway the last 2 years I am loving the r1 I’m heading Mizuno irons but would like to try the MC TaylorMade