Pros: Shape, sound, adjustability, distance and forgiveness is top shelf
Cons: Havent used the adjustments yet.
Bottom Line:
Liked the diver right out of the box. Something about the shape gives you confidence and that tranlates to better drives. Long and straight... TaylorMade make a great driver!
Wow. That says a lot but we mean it. No wonder why TaylorMade is the king of drivers. They make great equipment. Here we are demo'ing another TM driver and saying Wow. This is another twist to the smaller 440cc head of the R9. This is 460cc and is used by the like of Segio Garia and Rory Sabbatini. We loved the head in testing. Many of us preferred it over the smaller head of the R(. This 460cc driver just felt as if it was going to go straight. We had no problem working the ball either way. The trajectory was average and played true to loft. Many of the tester that went through testing are playing the club today.
Product Description
Adjust the head. Maximize distance. Totally optimize you.
• TaylorMade Flight Control Technology (FCT) lets you change the face angle, loft and lie to promote up to 40 yards of side-to-side trajectory change
• Maximum size 460cc clubhead and Inverted Cone Technology promote maximum forgiveness on off-center hits
• Deeper back CG position makes it easier to launch the ball high and long
• New-classic clubhead shape blends traditional and modern lines
• Aldila RE*AX® 60-gram tip-soft shaft and 45.75" length promotes more clubhead speed and distance
Technology
Flight Control Technology (FCT)
TaylorMade's Flight Control Technology (FCT) allows the player to easily adjust a metalwood's loft, lie and face angle
FCT utilizes a metallic sleeve positioned over the tip of the shaft. The sleeve can be rotated into different positions, changing the characteristics of the head, by loosening the bolt that secures the sleeve and shaft into the clubhead.
Inverted Cone Technology (ICT)
The Inverted Cone is CNC-milled directly into the inner side of the clubface, resulting in a drastic variation in face thickness. ICT optimizes the way the clubface behaves at impact to create an expanded COR zone.
Inverted Cone Technology has been incorporated into every TaylorMade® driver since the R500 SeriesTM.
Ultra-Thin Wall Technology
Ultra-Thin Wall Technology is a casting process that allows thinner clubhead walls than found in most competitive drivers. The saved weight is critical to making the incorporation of MWT and FCT possible in certain TaylorMade metalwoods.
Pros:This clubs allows me to experiment with different positions...6'5", the upright settings are sweet.
Cons: I like the current stock shaft but where are the other choices (too new?).
Rating: I have owned both the R9 and the R9 460 and preferred the 460 over the smaller R9. The 460 felt more solid at impact. I did put a ProLaunch Blue shaft in it and it woke up the driver.
Cons: HIGH launch, HIGH spin, No workability, and no MWT.
Rating: I tried this with the XVS6, XVS7, Diamana BB 73x, and Fubuki 63x. The Fubuki was the best combo for me by far, which was odd because I am murdering my gamer with an XVS6. ('07 Burner TP 8.5.) The 460 R9 launched too high for my liking, the spin was too high, and the ball did nothing but go dead straight. Now, what is wrong with dead straight you ask? Um, doglegs for one... The longest tee shot I hit was maybe 280. I average 295+ with my '07 Burner. I'll be waiting for the next Burner TP installment without dual crown.
Shaft to long. I cut 1.5" off and feels much better. Stock grip was a joke.
Rating:
I have always been a Titleist fan but felt it was worth checking out. I am glad I did. I am short (5'6") and did not like the shaft length, cut inch and a half off and found my new gamer. I played 18 today on NU and will try it open and see how the FCT effects my ball flight.
This club looks fantastic, no crazy graphics, no ugly colors. However, thats all it has going for it. Very forgiving driver but it spins WAY too much. The ball would just start with a decent trajectory and then just sky rockets up and lands. I saw a couple of times that my ball actually spun back on a couple of drives, which is something I usually never do.
This was a great try by TM and they have a good history of putting out great drivers (sometimes a little too many models all at once) but I think they should either put a better stock shaft or make the club face a little less spin. If you need help puttiing spin on the ball, this might be a the driver for you. If you need lower spin, steer CLEAR!!! You will lose distance.
This club was just ok for me. It was long like most new offerings but for some reason, Taylor Made clubs tend to be hook biased for me. It's more forgiving then the 420cc R9 and hits higher. it is pretty long but so are all the other new offerings. Goes left even at 2* open. Not so w/ the L5V which favors a fade. I think the TM offerings may be on the upright side.
It's not hard to find a forgiving driver these days with all the 460cc models out there and this driver is of course very forgiving. What I really like about it that makes it different in my opinion is the sound and feel at impact. It's hard to describe feel but I would say that this head feels heavy/dense/solid at impact and makes a beautiful thuddy sort of sound. This is in contrast to a lot of drivers out there right now that feel somewhat hollow at impact and make a very tingy or pingy high-pitched sound which I am not a fan of.
I didn't really care all that much for the stock stiff shaft that comes in the R9 460. I felt it was way too light and too long to control. It does allow for some very very long drives though if that's what you're after but you lose a lot of control and to me it's not worth it. I reshafted with a shorter, heavier shaft and it is now very controllable, fogiving, long and sounds great. Great stick!
Tried the regular R9 and then went to the R9 460 for the forgiveness factor. Driver is definitely more forgiving and just as long, if not longer. I am not one who likes all the new adjustability out there now, so the driver just wasn't for me. At least this one doesn't have as many options as the regular R9! lol. Nice driver though for the right person.
Forgiveness, Unlimitied Workability, Longer drives (at least me)
Cons:
None
Rating:
I pined over 5-6 drivers before purchasing the R9 460. At first glance, I thought it would be one of those "done after this year" drivers, but after using it, I knew it would be golden. I got it for a heck of a price and am looking at upgrading to the TP shaft down the road. With my swing, I tended to draw the ball to the point being accurate but losing yardage with my Titleist. With the ability to change the clubhead's angle, I was given the chance to work the ball straighter and gain approximately 10-15 yards. Great work TM, I'll be playing the 460 for awhile.
Poor launch and spin numbers. Most likely the shaft for me.
Rating:
Even though there were some good things about this driver, it fell short of the mark. This driver was about 15 yards shorter than the ft-9 for me. The dispersion was not very good and I was getting 20 degrees of launch with about 5000 spin with the stock stiff. A better shaft would improve those numbers and maybe bring this closer to the FT-9. That said, the FT-9 was with the stock shaft so comparing stock to stock the R9460 loses. It does look pretty nice which I liked about it. The adjustability is cool but not something i would really mess around with personally. I also value "cool" factor for golf clubs and this driver is so common and popular it lessens the "cool" provided by the adjustability features. If they had a TP in left handed I think that would be a much better fit for someone like me with a 115+ SS. Overall not my favorite driver.
Nice feel and sound. Forgiving when it needs to be.
Cons:
No MWT!
Rating:
This driver was in my bag for most of the 2009 season. I started with the 9.5* head and moved to the 10.5* head. Both were equal in length, but the 10.5 * gave me just a little more carry and in Michigan where the ground can be soft, that is a good thing.
The appearance is very pleasing to the eye. Not too triangular in shape and just traditional enough that I did not need to "get used" to the look.
The Face Control Technology is where this club shines. I like the look of an open face at address. No need to look at 50 different heads to get the right look. Pull out the wrench and open till it looks good and performs just right.
I currently have the Mitsubishi Fubuki 73 in x-stiff in the driver. I really enjoy this shaft, one of the best shafts for my swing ever.
Overall this driver is as close to perfect as I can find. Until I find a driver that gives me the same amount of confidence, the R9 460 will be in my bag for a while.
Maybe less forgiving than other 460cc drivers. Not the absolute longest or absolute straightest.
Rating:
Within the first four months of the 2010 golf season I was the only person in my weekly foursome not playing an R9. I thought my Cobra L4V, and its premium on straightness trumped what the R9 could offer. Eventually my curiosity got the best of me and after a couple swings with the R9 it was all over. Not the longest or straightest driver I've ever hit, but near the top in both categories. The 460 disguises the triangle shape nicely and gives me confidence at setup.
The non-460 R9 definitely gives a lower ballflight, and there are certainly straighter drivers out there... but the R9 is an amazing package of trajectory, distance and straightness.
Pros: Great setup, easy to fine tune shaft/face angle adjustments.
Cons: Tinkering with face angles won't fix swing flaws.
Rating:
When the other three players in my foursome all bought R9's (these are guys who NEVER buy the same clubs) I knew I had to give it a try. I've never been a fan of TaylorMade Drivers, but a couple swings had me singing a different tune. I opted for the 460 for a little more forgiveness and I've found it to be nearly as straight as my Cobra L4V was. I haven't played around with shafts too much, but hope that will help maximize the distance on my now-much-straighter shots.
You know it's a great club when you can't get excited about trying anything new that's out. That's where I'm at with the R9.
