Great Drivers! - TaylorMade R9 460 & Ping G15

TaylorMade R9 460

My previous article on the TaylorMade R9 460 was based on reliable ratings from golf's top magazines, testers' reviews and my very own testing at the range. When this big dog was unleashed on the course, like every new club it needs some time to get real results just like taming a wild stallion or playing with a Jabulani. You have to show it who's the boss. I would gladly announce now that it is everything it was reported to be, maybe more as I found myself with renewed confidence and going to places I have never been before conquering new territories. 


have also settled down to a flight trajectory of "L" meaning "Draw" so much so that I could now just let rip. Hitting a poor shot at the first tee especially those near club houses where many people are watching is like being caught farting in public. R9 460 will take away the nervousness and the butterflies in the tummy. Long, straight or draw is the order of the day all day!

I still have the Ping G10 with me and that in itself was an excellent driver having won awards and accolades but when it comes to the R9 460, it feels so much easier. While you still need to put a decent swing with the G10, it seems that for the R9 460, the lesser you try, the better the results. It's funny but true. For the R9 460 to keep the G10 away from my bag is like Spain choosing Xavi Hernandez and Andreas Iniesta while keeping the excellent Ces Fabregas on the bench limiting him to the occasional appearance or as a sub. 


The newer TaylorMade SuperTri though slightly different in configuration and costing more and looking all black has added MWT (Movable Weight Technology). That is the only addition to the R9 460 which has only FCT (Flight Control Technology). To me this is sufficient. It has everything you want in a driver - straight, long, very forgiving, looks, sound and feel. I say go grab it now whether you play off a single digit or in the twenties. Just make sure your R9 is the R9 460. The original R9 is smaller and harder to play.

Ping - Luis Oosthuizen & Lee Westwood

Meanwhile, the Ping G15 driver has been the number one driver in the USA for three straight months. This is according to Golf DataTech LLC Market Share Reports. The driver introduced in August last year has been the #1 selling model in March, April and May 2010. Bubba Watson captured the Traveleres Championship just recently with the G15 driver. Miguel Angel Jimenez switched to the G15 driver just recently and won the Alstom Open de France using it only for a week. Luis Oosthuizen has just won the Open Championship with an amazing 16 under total at the Old Course at St. Andrews for a commanding 7-shot victory using Ping equipment. 


Lee Westwood, another Ping player finished second at 9 under. Westwood, ranked third in the world has finished top three in four of the five majors and uses a 11 degrees Ping driver. The best advert was when Oosthuizen standing over a 50-ft. putt for eagle and the only flapping in the strong winds were his trousers but not his confidence and he duly use his Ping Redwood Anser putter to roll it in. He led the field in driving accuracy, tied for fourth in driving distance and tied eighth in GIR (greens in regulation). Using a Ping Rapture V2 driver, a commentator enthusiastically commented that "it was one of the finest display of driving I have ever seen in a major tournament." This were the Ping clubs used by Oosthuizen (pronounced Wuhst-Hy-Zen):

Driver: Ping Rapture V2 @ 10.3 degrees (note that this is a "Super-Game Impreovment" Cat driver probably tweaked to 10.3), Irons: Ping S56 for 3-9 irons (Player's irons), Wedges: Pint Tour S-Rustique (47 degrees PW & 54/60 degrees wedges), Putter: Ping Redwwod Anser (milled) and Titlesit Pro V 1x ball.

One of the unique features of the G15 is the propriety high-balance point technology to create a lighter shaft and a heavy head weight so as to increase ball speed and a higher moment of inertia. I will expand on the awards it has won and the accolades and praises sung by testers from pros to weekend and social hackers later. Others in the range are equally impressive from fairway woods, hybrids to irons.

An old friend and golf buddy who is using a G10 and having tried his friend's G15 is going crazy about it singing about how consistent the hits were, how straight and how long and what a beauty it was so much so that I suspect that if I told him I am interested to go for a demo and getting one eventually, he will surely jump in. We need to check shaft specification carefully because Ping's stock shaft is a Ping TFC 149D shaft which is probably better than the previous TFC129D on the G10 which was already pretty good. This is an US spec shaft together with the other option of the Aldila Serrano 60 shaft which is a stiffer version even if regular. The Asian version is the Japanese shaft one which as usual has a bit more flex so it may be necessary to get one that is more like SR (Stiff Regular). It is very important to get the right shaft.

Ping Customs Fitting

All Ping irons can be custom-fitted. Not just relying on manual methods of the past, Ping has an added state-of-the-art technology computerised machine which can measure you launch angle, ball speed, swing speed, distance, flight, etc. which helps in enhancing fitting based on the best suitability in all areas. However, not all retailers has this system which they called the Ping "nFLight" system as they have to purchase it from Ping and it does cost quite a bit I believe. 


I am not sure if they can provide you the same service when you are testing a driver, fairway wood or hybrid. If they could do that as well then it will get very interesting. This will take away all the guess work. Putting you on a monitor and better still hitting balls on the range while being hooked up on this system may give great benefits to potential owners. Maybe when your clubs are really friendly, you dare to attack more. There is trust and confidence. Then you can have your beer. Having a couple can be good. My friend's grandfather is in his eighties and he still doesn't need glasses. He drinks straight from the bottle. Cheers!

Golf as in life, play as it lies.