Ask almost any golfer who has been in the game, since at least the early 2000’s, what they think the most popular driver ever was and chances are they will tell you “A TaylorMade R something or other.” The R label for TaylorMade has been synonymous with elite performance and tour presence and has been one of the most iconic names in golf for well over a decade now. For 2014, TaylorMade went away from the R name badge and instead opted to name their high end driver SLDR. There’s nothing wrong with the SLDR name, or driver for that matter, however I think I can speak for everybody when I say “Welcome back R series, you sexy beast.” Enter the R15.
So what exactly is the difference between the new R15 and the driver it’s replacing?
The short answer: a lot. It’s actually easier to list the similarities between the SLDR and the R15. They’re both adjustable and both are offered in 430cc and 460cc sizes. I will be going into the differences in more detail as we go. Since this driver is new to us, I haven’t had much fitting experience with it so most of my R15 knowledge comes from this test.
I’ll talk about the new stuff a little bit before I get into the testing. Besides completely re-engineering the driver, the most noticeable change is to the slide adjustability on the sole of the club. TaylorMade added a second weight to the slide in the R15 while the SLDR only had 1 weight to move. The R15’s weights are 12.5 grams each versus a single 20 gram weight in the SLDR. By adding a second weight, they increased the adjustability of the driver, and by adding 5 more grams of weight in the slide they also increased its effectiveness. The Fade and Draw settings on the R15 will actually fade and draw the ball more than the SLDR. The slide channel is also moved 12mm forward, which puts it right behind the face. This accomplishes two things – with the weight located closer to the face the ball will launch even higher with less spin than the SLDR. And because the channel is located so close to the face it actually acts like a compression channel which helps maintain efficiency and ball speed on mishits. TaylorMade also flattened out the radius of the sole which helps to keep the weights low especially when they are in their max fade or draw settings.
On to the testing! I gathered data from all of the different clubs by hitting 10 balls with each driver on the TrackMan Doppler Radar machine. Both the 430cc and 460cc versions of the R15 and SLDR were tested side by side for comparison. I hit the 430cc heads first before hitting the 460cc heads, and I tried to make the same swing on every ball. It is December in Michigan, so I’m putting the emphasis on the word tried! I put the stock Fujikura Speeder 757 Stiff Flex in the R15 430. I put the stock Fujikura Motore Speeder Tour Spec 7.3 Stiff flex in the SLDR to keep the shafts consistent, yet unique to each club. To keep the variables as close as possible, I set each driver up for my particular swing. I have a tendency to hit the ball high with a lot of spin and my miss is a massive hook. To adjust for this, I set the face adjustment to the “Lower” face setting to reduce the effective loft on the driver, and pushed both weights to the max fade position to help slow the rotation of the face and lessen my hook. I hit both of the 430 heads in a 10.5* loft with these results:.
Driver | Clubhead Speed (mph) | Ball Speed (mph) | Smash Factor (Ball sp/Clubhead Sp) | Launch Angle (degrees) | Spin Rate (rpm) | Carry Distance (yards) | Total Distance (yards) | Spin Axis (degrees) |
SLDR 430 | 113.6 | 169.5 | 1.50 | 10.1 | 2234 | 269.1 | 295.6 | 14.5 left |
R15 430 | 114.8 | 170.2 | 1.48 | 11.2 | 2533 | 282.1 | 302.7 | 5.7 left |
So what does all of this mean? Well, for me it was pretty simple. The R15 430 outperformed the SLDR 430 in almost every category. I did swing the R15 1.2 mph faster than the SLDR and I contribute that to confidence. I’ll touch on this in a second. Ball speed is faster off of the R15 (because of increased club head speed). The launch angle was higher on the R15 because of two reasons: first the center of gravity is even lower and further forward than the SLDR. The second reason is I hooked the SLDR quite a bit more than the R15 which resulted in a lower launch. The increased hook of the SLDR also explains the 300 rpm lower spin from the R15. Normally the lower spin would be a good thing for me, but not at the expense of accuracy and control. Where the R15 430 really stood out for me was the control and consistency of the driver. Remember earlier in this paragraph when I talked about confidence? Here’s where it really comes into play. I had a left spin axis of 14.5* which means the ball is hooking an uncomfortable amount. I felt like I had to steer the SLDR a little more than the R15 which resulted in a slower club head speed. I had more confidence in the R15 because the ball was only tilted 5.7* left which is just a baby draw. I felt like I could let the swing go a little more and not lose it. Overall, the R15 outdrove the SLDR for me by 7 yards total, and lets be honest…distance may not be everything but it is most things. Purely from a visual standpoint, I like the R15 shape better than the SLDR. Its a subtle change but the R15 has a slight teardrop shape to it, where the SLDR 430 is very round. This personally fits my eye better.
I personally saw even greater improvement with the R15 460 over the SLDR 460. The R15 460 is just like the SLDR 460 in the fact that it is the larger more forgiving big brother of the 430 model of either head. The shaft I hit in in the R15 460 in the stock Fujikura Speeder 661 extra stiff flex, and a Fujikura Motore Speeder Tour Spec 6.3 extra stiff flex in the SLDR 460. Both the R15 460 and the SLDR 460 have a loft of 9.5* and were set up exactly like the 430 heads, in the lower face setting with the weight on max fade.
Driver | Clubhead Speed (mph) | Ball Speed (mph) | Smash Factor (Ball sp/Clubhead Sp) | Launch Angle (degrees) | Spin Rate (rpm) | Carry Distance (yards) | Total Distance (yards) | Spin Axis (degrees) |
SLDR 460 | 113.4 | 168.5 | 1.49 | 9.1 | 2069 | 264.8 | 295.0 | 10.9 left |
R15 460 | 115.1 | 172.6 | 1.50 | 10.3 | 1948 | 284.2 | 311.8 | 7.9 left |
The best driver I hit all day was the R15 460 head. Going back to confidence from the previous paragraph, the R15 460 is even larger and more forgiving than the R15 430, which resulted in my most confident swings of the day with an average club head speed of 115.1 mph, which produced the fastest ball speeds of the day at 172.6 mph. The R15 460 actually saw higher launch, lower spin, longer distance, and reduced spin axis when compared to the SLDR 460. It’s not often that I will see a new release beat the club it’s replacing across the board. The primary performance factor that really blew me away about this driver is how straight it went. Forget about all of the performance numbers for a second such as speed, spin and distance. What really amazed me about the new R15 is the dispersion pattern and control I had with this club. When comparing the dispersion pattern charts between the two I looked like a 15-20 handicap golfer with the SLDR and a 0-4 handicap golfer with the R15. I promise TaylorMade isn’t paying me to write this, the numbers and results are real for me.
In conclusion TaylorMade went back to what made them the most successful metal wood company in the world. They created a driver that looks good, feels good, and works as good if not better than anything else on the market. The R15 430 and 460 both look like traditional TaylorMade drivers. The R15 430 has design characteristics that remind me of the R7 425 TP, and the 460 has hints of the R9 SuperTri in it (in look and feel only, performance is much better). One of my favorite characteristics of the new R15 drivers is the sound. They returned to a traditional TaylorMade sound which is a little more muted yet still powerful. It’s not a sharp piercing sound like there is on the R1 and SLDR heads. It’s a sound that says “I crushed it” without hurting your ears. I am thoroughly impressed with the return of the R series from TaylorMade and will personally be playing the R15 460 for 2015 season based on the results of this test. I will warn you that this driver has many different settings, and adjustments that can be made. It is extremely important that you are properly fit for any driver with multiple adjustments to make sure you optimize performance. We now have heads and shafts available in The Cluboratory at Miles of Golf ready to fit the TaylorMade R15 to your game.
Shawn
Can you tell me the exact loft measure meets on the R15 loft sleeve? I have a 9.5 430 tp thanks for your time and I agree it’s a killer also just got m1 460 9.5 live in Illinois and itching to hit it as well. Tm rsi2 irons as well I love them
I have been looking at this driver since the price reduction but I am curious if someone with a swing speed between 80-90 mph would reap the benefits that this driver has to offer.
Bob,
Thanks for your question. After a full year of fitting the driver I found that it is great across a wide variety of swing speeds including 80-90mph. I would start with a regular flex shaft. I also found that this driver needs to be tee’d down more than the average driver. The R15 likes to be hit slightly lower on the face. We also found that you don’t need to “loft up” as much as we needed to on the SLDR. I would just start with whatever your current loft is and go from there. It is a highly adjustable driver and it is very important that it is set up properly. I personally hit the longest drive of my life with it last year. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Thank you,
Shawn Zawodni
I bought a Demo R15 and whole heartedly agree with your review. The shaft that came with the R15 was the Speeder 57 Evolution R. Do you have an after-market shaft that will add more distance to the R15. In Vegas, if you miss the fairways you are in the gullies and good luck finding your ball. When I visit Michigan in May I want to impress. Any extra yardage will help. My swing speed is 80-87.
Roger, without seeing you hit a golf ball it is pretty difficult to recommend a particular shaft. If you want to stop by when you get back to Michigan, one of our trained club fitters should be able to help answer any and all questions you have. Thanks for your interest in Miles of Golf.
Hey Steve,
Headcover comes directly from TaylorMade. We would agree that it is not their best, sorry.
MOG
I just purchased one , but whats with the lame ass head cover, who made that?