TaylorMade SLDR Driver Review
19 Jul 2013
by Pete Wlodkowski of AmateurGolf.com
see also: Equipment Reviews
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- photo courtesy TaylorMade Golf
If you've been around golf for a long time
you'll remember the old adjustable iron, which
allowed the loft to go from wedge to 2-iron by
loosening a screw and notching a gear-like
mechanism to the desired loft. Of course there
was no way they could perform like the desired
club, given the obvious limitations like length,
stability, and lie angle. But the dream of
carrying one club was there.
The TaylorMade SLDR kind of reminds me
of that gear-like adjustment, albeit with a
sliding weight on the sole which changes the
driver's bias from draw to fade with a simple
"loosen, slide, and tighten."
TaylorMade achieved a similar effect years ago
with their R7 Quad drivers which had
changeable
weights on the heal, toe, and rear. A similar
system
carried through to the R9, R11, and R1 -- but
all of them required carrying different weights.
The SLDR is much easier and, heck, it's
new. And with the little blue weight being able
to slide to 16 different positions, players will be
able to dial it in to their desired ball flight very
precisely.
The TaylorMade SLDR driver has been
tested at recent events on the PGA and
European Tour, and player reaction has been
positive.
Troy Matteson told Golf Digest:
"The guys who don't like it are the
ones who already spin it low. For the guys who
are high-spin long hitters, it goes a mile. I hit
one 362 yards on 13. It's a beast. With the
sliding weight, I think you can pinpoint the
right setting better. Some guys like a tinny
sound; some like a thud. This is right in the
middle. A lot of guys out here grew up playing
drivers that were filled with foam. Those guys
really like the thud sound. Earlier this week
there were guys fighting over this club
because they only brought like 20
heads."
BLACK IS BACK
The 460cc SLDR driver has a charcoal crown,
slightly different than the recently introduced
R1 black, but continuing on a TaylorMade trend
towards offering colors for players that for
whatever reason don't like a white club. Before
that, all recent TaylorMade drivers (starting
with the R11) had been white.
ADJUSTABLE HOSEL
Like the last few offerings from TaylorMade,
the SLDR has an adjustable hosel that provides
different lie and loft angles.
AVAILABILITY
The SLDR appears set for an August
release.