MyGolfSpy Says Maybe I Should Ditch The Redline??

Orlimar1

Interesting article. https://www.mygolfspy.com/taylormade-m1-vs-taylormade-r7-superquad/

mcavoy

I don't think anybody should be surprised it was longer than the R7. Especially if the R7 had that POS Reax stock shaft in it.

golfer_LD

I saw this article yesterday and while I thought it was interesting I had some issues with the way that MGS handled the testing. 1) MGS should list all of the details regarding the both clubs being tested (Total Weight, Club Length, Shafts, etc) 2) Since the r7 SuperQuad did not have a Neuatral setting for launch (you either put the heavy weights forward for low launch or put them back for high launch) then instead of setting the M1 to Neutral for launch they should have set it to mimick the way the weights were set in the r7. In this case the M1 should've been set to low launch as the r7 was setup for low launch. 3) MGS should also have measured the clubhead speeds to be compared with the ball speeds to see which head was better at converting clubhead speed to ball speed. I would assume the lighter and longer M1 would produce faster clubhead speeds but the ball speed was not much faster than the r7.

Everyone has their own ways of going about testing but if it were me I would've went about this one a different way.

PA-PLAYA

It's not that people find it hard to believe that drivers are longer/more forgiving today than they were 15 years ago. It's that some golfers aren't interested in spending (on average) $27 per yard of more distance.

Based on $399 retail prices, based on 15 yards more distance. Not including tax and shipping.

Release

PA-PLAYA

The real issue is $ vs value.
Obviously there is not enough discretionary money flowing around. Pay scale had not been keeping up with inflation, in some cases, the pay scale had gone backward. Middle class had been the driving force to the game of golf and the equipment sale in the last decade or two. The demise of the middle class is what cause the change for the spending pattern. That apply to all the business.

If I have more disposable money, I'd love to try out all those new equipment every couple of years, why not ?
when budget is tight, people will shop smarter, not because they wanted to but because of necessity.

garyt1957

PA-PLAYA

I'd gladly pay that for 15 yards, but I know I won't get 15 yards. I hit my 2004-ish Wishon 949mc as far as my 2011 Cobra S2 and DTG 2015 model. No reason to believe I'll gain anything by moving up to 2017 tech.

PA-PLAYA

Release

Which is why we see eBay and Preowned trumping the market these days. Even for those who have the means to afford a $400 driver. Why pay retail for the latest and greatest, at $27/yard hopes, when it can potentially be had for half of that within a 9-12 month period after that.

It's like some of these equipment companies refuse to believe that their product isn't being sold for 1/2 the price in the aftermarket, within a year of their unveiling in some instances.

Provisional

The only new OEM I have purchased was my G15 from fitting in Pinehurst. Consensus was you had to do that to improve/optimize driving. My old used Golf Galaxy Cobra driver with Prolaunch blue worked about as well. $320 plus the fitting $ worth of lessons may have been better use of $$. What t Hey , gave it a try. Not likely to change chasing used bargains, it's more fun,as I've always been low buck junkyard dog any way. I do wish driver shaft fitting weren't so complex, but it does present many great options at least.
My experiment with R7 quad max w TM r flex stiff tip never worked very well distance wise either except it was pretty decent off the fairway with a good lie.
Hopefully the Bassara from DTGs Adams sale will finally get my old Ping cooking

garyt1957

Provisional

After reading your post I remember having an R7 years ago. It was shorter than all my other at the time current drivers. Maybe the R7 was just a dud?

sdandrea1

If you ditch the Redline, you'd be getting rid of what, 126 drivers or so?

Orlimar1

sdandrea1 Nah, I don't think I've ever owned more than 30 of these at one time. 😉

sdandrea1

Just because the new driver is longer, there should not be an assumption that it will lower your score. The retail golf industry's obsession with distance goes on. One of my playing partners in VA is about a 20 handicapper that shoots in the mid 90s most rounds. He forked out full retail for a new M2 and yes, his drives are now a bit longer. He still shoots in the mi 90s, but he likes his new driver.

cpanther1995

This MGS article makes me want to go buy an old Superquad to experiment with lol!

Release

I'd try a new shaft in it.
If there is a new driver which is longer than your Redline, mimic the length and get the swing weigh to as close as possible with a lighter shaft.
I had done that with several older drivers ( more than 10 years after the initial introduction ) and worked out well, not exactly the same as the new drivers but darn close ( except for the appearance )

mulegolf

I, for one, have never been able to justify spending what the "newest and greatest" driver costs. I have hit many of them when a friend spends money on them. Granted, it may be only one or two swings with any of them but I just never saw that I could hit them with results much different than what I already was getting with what I was using. I have normally used component drivers (both knockoff and original designs). The only brand name driver I have owned in the past 20+ years is my Adams Blue that I currently have in my bag (most of the time). I did buy the original metal wood, the TM Pittsburgh Persimmon when it was "the latest and greatest" and while I liked it, I didn't seem to use it for long if memory serves correctly. I do remember that I hit it very high and that's why I likely sold it.

rsvman

The other thing the article overlooks is that for the senior golfer or the beginner who has a swingspeed south of 90 mph, higher spin might actually be desirable, for two reasons. One, they may need the extra spin in order to get enough height on their tee shots. A slow swingspeed can't really take advantage of the low-spin heads like the M1 and M2. Two, higher backspin usually means less sidespin, which provides dividends in terms of dispersion. Finding more fairways is a surer path to better scores than is finding 12 more yards off the tee, IMO.

Oh, and the Superquad is a MUCH better looking driver.

sdandrea1

rsvman Oh, and the Superquad is a MUCH better looking driver.

+1............that design was aesthetically awesome.

Provisional

I got my R7 quad as experiment with "MAX" face non-conforming high COR from Play it Again, $35.
Wrong flex and 10.5 loft for aging duffer's sub 90s swing and less forgiveness than 460 cc heads, so never had a chance to work for me . Off to fleabay. Back to my G15, 12, shot tip R flex . Thinking shaft optimization is big key to happy driver. Even bought dozen Felon non-conforming balls . Lost them all before really knowing their distance gain, but suspect they work with higher swing speeds than mine too. They were as long as Callaway super soft I normally use, maybe little better +10-15 yds. on the rare good swipe . Fun to goof around with anyway. I'm looking now to correct swing glitch and new shorter Mitsubishi shaft in my old G15. My goal is carrying ball 200 and hit the @#$#!! fairway.Don't really play often enough to even hope for any consistency, but I keep at it anyway . Golf spelled ,or played, backwards is flog. It's kinda like Marquette against Villanova , you know you're going to lose, but it's too much fun to quit .

Cra¿,maybe should have said Falcons vs New England ? ???