It is always good to get another golfer’s perspective on clubs, we recently had one of our friends of ForeGolf test drive the new range of products from Taylor Made. Warren Kelly a scratch handicapper from Killeen Golf Club was our guinea pig for the day.

The new R9 Driver with a Grafalloy Pro-Launch Platinum

The new R9 Rescue which had a Standard Stiff Graphite Shaft

The R9 3 Wood which had a Stiff Standard Graphite Shaft

The new Burner Iron set with Regular Steel Flex.

• Driver:

He really liked the shape and the adjustable face angle meant he could manipulate the face to be more open which, in the past, he would struggle to find a driver that was open faced. He loved the solid feel of this club and the hit sounded solid. This is a very important factor to Warren as the past models always sounded quite tinny. He found the shaft very responsive and could hit little 10 yard draw shots all day with this driver. He had no dislikes except the head felt a little heavy for him. He was a little hesitant of the adjustable screw in weights as it could encourage a good player to modify their position if their swing gets a little out of sync. To safe guard this we suggested to glue them in place for him.

• R9 Fairway 3 wood:

This club was not on his favourite list, he said the head felt too heavy and the club lacked balance. The heavy head made the shaft feel washed out and too stiff. All in all a very poor performance from the fairway wood but perhaps a shaft change could sort this out.

• R9 Rescue 19*:

Taylor Made invented the rescue club and this one was just as good as anything from before. The head was a little shut but the feel of the standard shaft was great and produced a lovely little draw shot. This club is great for the normal golfer who wants a good performing hybrid club. Warren is looking forward to the TP model which we will have for testing next month.

• New Burner Iron:

Taylor Made's marketing campaign says “the set is DEAD” and reckon that the set of clubs “never really worked for golfers”. The word from Taylor Made is that this “set” of clubs will revolutionise golf. This iron played just like a normal cavity irons and felt just like the last Burner iron. A good mid handicapper iron but certainly not enough to bin your current “DEAD” set. It's worth a visit to the TaylorMade US Website alot of work has gone into showcasing their new product.

A big thank you to Warren Kelly for his insight into the new range. To arrange you own individual fitting session where you can try these new club please contact us on 045 430660 or hello@foregolf.ie and book yourself in for an hour…