TaylorMade R11s Driver live up to expectations

Taylormade in 2012 is all about tuning and speed.  Improved aerodynamics, hotter faces, improved ball speed. 

There's something to be said about the adjustibility and ease with which you can tune your driver these days. TaylorMade might not have invented the adjustable driver, but they've nearly perfected it.

The cheap r11s driver has a unique feel that struck me right away as different. It's got a really nice, deep feel at impact. I can best describe it as the feeling of hitting a baseball with a wooden bat. It's solid, and when you catch it on the screws the ball simply explodes. The sound is quite different than the high pitched ding of many drivers on the market, although for some reason the sound didn't quite match up with the feel, sounding a tad more high pitched than I would have expected.

At 460cc, the r11s driver is similar to the original R11, the new R11S features a flat-white crown color and black PVD face to improve alignment and accuracy off the tee. TMAG says the white crown color makes it appear even larger (2%) and adds an advantage given that TaylorMade testing indicates that the majority of golfers gain confidence at address from a head that appears large relative to the ball.

When TaylorMade sells distance, it can come with a requisite eyeroll, especially if you take their promises of "20 more yards" year after year at face value. But once you realize taylormade r11s price they're couching their claims based on tuning the club to your swing, fitting you properly and adjusting the head to maximize performance, it makes all the more sense. 

Adjustable Sole Plate technology allows the decoupling of loft and face angle by using a sole plate to adjust face angle independent of loft sleeve setting. Very simply, that means you can adjust the face angle independently of the loft, and vice versa. The five face angles made possible by the improved ASP Technology of the r11s price are neutral, slightly open, open, slightly closed and closed.

I was very impressed with the taylormade r11s sale and hit it well.  What's great was that I was able to take the shaft in my current R11 (Graphite Design ADI 6) and put it into the R11S when I played yesterday.  I was really able to compare both heads, using the shaft I've been fitted for.  What's also cool is that two completely opposite golfers can play the same head.