TM r7 CGB max

[Nick Davis]

I've never before seen one of these so just happened to take it out on to the range today and compare against my Indio/Evo Lite.

I didnt even realise that TM did a "non-traditionally shaped" driver but this thing is triangular similar to Titleists D?.

For a 460cc head (10.5*) it is surprisingly compact at address and looks neat and smart with its metallic but subdued red head.

This thing was shafted with a REAX 45g regular flex shaft...now I know I've not had much good to say about the REAX shaft that came in the r7 fairway wood that I acquired recently but I didnt let this prejudice me in any way.

Anyway...after a decent warm up I gave the thing a waggle and proceeded to put it through its paces. Usually when I try a driver out at the range it only takes a dozen or so balls for me to get an idea of its qualities (or lack of) and the guys in the AGD are not surprised to see me handing the club back after only 10 mins or so with a rueful shake of the head.

After a few exploratory shots to get the basic feel of the thing I was allready struck by two things...

1) how damned straight I hit the thing
2) how it sounded like a normal driver...most of the high MOI clubs that are square, triangular or any other shape seem to have a hollow tinny "clonk" sound that really doesnt inspire confidence

Anyway...once I had it dialled in I was impressed by the consistency of the shaft which delivered distance and accuracy and highlighted any flaws in the swing path. I have a tendency to swing from out to in and this was easily revealed by the straight pulls to the left edge of the "fairway". Ball trajectory was medium to medium/low but a slightly adjusted set up would deliver a big high soaring flight more akin to what my 12.5 Indio delivers.

I'd rather have the high flight as standard and have to work the ball low as opposed to have the lower flight as standard and work the ball high but I suspect this aspect of performance could easily be altered by choosing the 12* high launch model.

With the naturally lower ball flight carry distance was slightly down on what I achieve with my Indio but that is something that custom fitting could deal with.

Choking down on the grip an inch or so delivered an immediate and noticeable improvement in striking which also helped trajectory a little bit, delivering more distance. I felt the shaft was responsive to my swing and when I tried really leathering it, it didnt feel like I was overpowering it at all...certainly it took allmighty attempts to induce anything like a slice...a slight fade was the best I could do unless I really opened the clubface badly.

The feeling at impact was nice and "crunchy" very remeniscent of Titleist drivers of old (975JV-S, 905) and SMT drivers. I also felt like I could work the ball a little bit from right to left which I dont find easy to do with the big stick normally.

I would, without much hesitation, confidently say that the TM r7 CGB max is simply the best OEM driver I have hit in the last 4 years. Given the right fitting (44 or 44.5" length and maybe the 12* high launch version or the 10.5 with a higher launching shaft) I would be extremely happy to put one of these in my bag in place of the SMT Indio.

No other driver has come this close to achieving this and I was even tempted to buy the club I was hitting and cut it down and reswingweight it myself...but the £300 price tag put me off. If i'm going to spend that sort of money on a driver then I'm going to get it done properly and get custom fitted.

Oh...yeah...remember I said that most drivers were handed back after 10 mins or so???

This one took the best part of 2 hours before it was reluctantly returned to the shop!!

Superb!!!!

[McStumpy]

Is that the ker-ching of a cash register I hear??

[Colossus]

Have to agree Nick. The shape is very similar to that of my 907 D1 driver. I hated the colour scheme when I saw it, and don't think I could get on with a shaft THAT light to be honest. I'm happy with what I got.

[Nick Davis]

Is that the ker-ching of a cash register I hear??

Well....I believe that TM have a fitting facvility at the Belfry and I just happen to be playing there sometime in April....... ;)

[Dabbler]

The head pro at my local (recently promoted to director of golf) has nothing but good things to say about this driver. He is generally sceptical of mass produced stuff. He says that playing it alongside his current driver he was hitting it straighter and LONGER even when mishit.

[McStumpy]

Well....I believe that TM have a fitting facvility at the Belfry and I just happen to be playing there sometime in April....... ;)


It's like it was meant to be :)

[Nick Davis]

awwww sheeit!!!

i've just gone and done a very very very baaaaaddd thing!!!:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

[Sid]

Good review Nick.

Let me guess - bought one......

[Nick Davis]

Well.... I shouldn't have done but it sat there on the rack crying out to be hit... so I had it taped up (different shop to last time) and took it out to the first tee (course was closed due to the heavy rain) with a small bucket of balls alongside a Superquad and a Burner and my own Indio.

Despite not being warmed up I just swung away with gay abandon and watched as the ball arrowed straight as an...errr... arrow down the middle of the fairway. The watching pro was astonished as he said he'd never seen anyone hit a club for the first time without any sort of warm up quite so well.

I had a few thrashes with my own driver and hit that pretty well but on a slightly higher trajectory and perhaps not quite as long.

The Superquad also fared very well but had a higher floatier trajectory (the pro didn't tell me the lofts of the clubs that I was using as I'd expressed an interest in specifically hitting the 12* high trajectory r7, but he wanted to see me hit balls with no knowledge of what loft I was actually hitting and to choose the trajectory I was happiest with) and was a touch more wayward.

The Burner I didn’t get on with at all and was not consistent… maybe a slightly lower flight than the Superquad but not particularly penetrating.

Despite my previous testing (documented in my first post) indicating that perhaps the 10.5* ball flight was a little low and flat I didn’t find this to be the case at all today…maybe a little adjustment with tee height was the answer. Certainly flight was high enough to convince me that I didn’t need to go to the 12* HT version (which they didn’t have anyway).

As it turns out the Superquad which delivered a high trajectory (even a tad higher than my Indio) was a 12* but I never found out what loft the Burner was.

Also…despite the club being 45.5" long (fully 1.5" longer than my own beast) I never found it that difficult to control and consistently nailed it out of the middle.

So…anyway…two sessions at different locations with different versions of the same club and still totally enamored with the performance, feel and looks of the club….so yes…. I bought one!!!

[Nick Davis]

well...what do you know....

took the club down my usual range this evening for fifty or sixty balls

warmed up with a 6 iron then hit some with my usual driver then some with the r7 then as I gradually got more warmed and stretched alternated between the two clubs

conclusions are quite simple

1) the r7 CGB is easily 15 possibly 20 yards longer in terms of carry
2) the r7 CGB is straighter... I occaisionally lose one right with the Indio but never with the r7
3) more run on landing with the r7
4) despite being an inch and a half longer its pretty damned controllable and gripping down an inch makes things nigh on perfect

All this with decent but not great range balls...God knows how far I'm gonna hit the thing with some proper golf balls!!!!

£300 very well spent!!!

[Colossus]

Sounds great Nick. Almost the Holy Grail. :biggrin:

Wait till the Honeymoon period is over. :wink:

[Nick Davis]

No such thing as a honeymoon period.

You only get this when youve bought something the very first time you hit it.

Even if I love a club to bits I'll allways put it back on the rack and come back to it a few days later. If it still works at the second time of asking then I'll consider buying it.

If it doesnt work then I know that it wasnt for me.

or some sort of bollocks like that anyway:smile::smile::smile:

[Nick Davis]

more range testing tonight and more amazement and wonderment at this drivers capabilities!!!!

ok tonight I thought I'd bugger about with the distribution of the three weights in the r7

I started with the two 1 g weights in the heel and toe and the 16g weight in the middle position which, according to the TM website, promotes "yada yada yada" amount of draw.

OK if you must know the specifics its 15 yards of draw....

http://www.taylormadegolf.com/product_detail.asp?pID=199&section=technology&sr=eu

I must say that ball flight for me was pretty damned neutral....perhaps just a hint of right to left shape.....though that didnt stop me from hitting a few pulls and even a couple of snap hooks....something that has crept into my game recently (with all clubs) as I slowly work at changing my natural fade shape into a slight draw.

Distance was still superbly long with bags of roll.

Moving the 16g weight to the heel (I wont bore you with the alleged yards draw as you can read it on the TM website link above!) actually made a noticeable difference (or was it the placebo effect???) with a significant movement of the ball in the air.....time and time again I was able to aim outside the right edge of the "fairway" (denoted by a row of bushes on either side at 10 yard intervals after the 200yd sign) and watch the ball move back towards the centre of the fairway. It wouldnt surprise me if there was some mental subconcious adjustment on my part, perhaps setting up for the expected draw, but its not a shape I can hit with any consistency with the driver so I'm willing to concede that perhaps the weights do have some effect.

Previous experience with one of the new Mizuno drivers with the moveable weights also had me thinking that perhaps there might be something in it, so perhaps I shouldnt be quite so surprised.

Moved the 16g weight to the toe of the club and things changed again in line with the website blurb. Definitely there was some small left to right movement now at the end of the ball flight but it was certainly subtle. I'd say the difference between putting the 16g weight in the centre or the toe was less than the difference between the centre and heel positions.

I'd certainly like to persevere with the weight in the heel but until I rid myself of the pull/hook that rears its head I've decided to leave it in the central position.

I've never really bought in to the moveable weight technology....tried one of the TM's when they first came out with weights but never really noticed much difference and dismissed it as marketing bull. Recent experience with the MP-600 and now the r7 might have to make me think again.

Oh...one thing I did discover....the TM weight wrench is just the most useless clumsy tool on the entire planet. Why on earth did they bother when a No20. Torx screwdriver does the job perfectly well? I might understand it if it was a torque wrench that didnt let you overtighten the weights!!!