Henrik Stenson Proves Extra Loft Requirement Theory With SLDR Driver

When Henrik Stenson smashed his R1 driver he changed to a new driver, TaylorMade's SLDR prototype for the final round of The Tour Championship. The SLDR Stenson used was 1.5 degrees more lofted than his broken R1, exactly as I had predicted after comparing both drivers. Here’s the skinny.

TaylorMade SLDR Versus R1

sldrTaylorMade’s newest driver, the SLDR, is touted as their longest ever, so I decided to put it up against the R1 in a distance test.

After clinking 20 identical balls with each driver, it quickly became apparent that the SLDR is, as TaylorMade claim, consistently longer. So how can this be? After stripping back the marketing prose to expose the science, I found out why.

Most modern players’ drivers have the Centre of Gravity (CG) pulled low and back in the clubhead to launch the ball high. The position of the sweet spot on the face of a driver projects out perpendicular to the CG so it’s usually pretty high up the face.

Tour players however use drivers that have the CG pulled much further forward towards the face. The SLDR is like this. The sliding weight is a hefty 20 grams and unlike the Mizuno MP600 driver which had its slider at the back of the club, the SLDR has it near the front. This in turn pulls the sweetspot further down the face of the driver, closer to the mass of the leading edge. Having the CG pulled forward translates to 1-2 miles per hour more ball speed off the face and less spin than the R1.

So the question now is, if TaylorMade can do this to get more distance, why doesn’t everyone else? Well the truth is they do. Most Tour players drivers are engineered like this but because they send the ball out on a much flatter trajectory are not that appealing to amateurs.

I found when using the SLDR, I needed to adjust my usual preferred loft of 9.5° up to 10.5° to improve the ball flight.

So it is true, the SLDR is longer than the R1, but it remains to be seen whether it will have the universal appeal of some of their previous models.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Two Naked Pics Of Holly Sonders. The Big News To Emerge From The 2013 PGA Show

Image
The media centre at the 2013 PGA Show was buzzing yesterday.  Not because of anything that happened at the show.  God forbid! When I rocked in, several men (and one woman) were gathered around an iphone ogling and sharing  two pics of who they claimed were Holly Sonders naked. Now I have to hold my hands up and say, I had to google her to find out she’s from The Golf Channel. I don’t watch the Golf Channel because I don’t have an erectile dysfunction problem or need to rent a car from National.  I’m told adverts for both are all that’s on that channel. How they knew for certain it was her, I dont know.  Unless the cheeks of her ass were on her passport photo and they recognized them from there, but I doubt it. The First Pic The first pic is taken from behind. No pun intended.  The media guys say it was taken by her fiancee (?) and shows Holly in a white thong which has disappeared a dangerously long ways into the bummage.  I’m talking t...
Read more

Sarah Stirk Nipple Gate: Navy Top Leaves Viewers Disappointed

Image
London: Sky Sports management this morning issued a statement  apologizing to subscribers after Sarah Stirk wore a navy dress live on air.  It is believed up to 60,000 horny golfers were left limp after they tuned in to final round coverage of the Valero Texas Open in the hope of getting a glimpse of the legendary Stirk starter buttons. “I pay my subscription, I’m bloody well entitled to see Sarah’s Wimbledon strawberries” said factory worker Paul Manning 52 from Hereford. “I even missed the ten minute freeview, coz my mate Derek tweeted that Stirk was going into the shot centre for ten minutes at 11pm”. The Sky statement read: We apologize unreservedly for the navy dress Sarah wore during last nights broadcast, through which no nipples were visible. This was due to a wardrobe malfunction. However we do intend to rectify this during our US Masters coverage and assure viewers that plenty of bridge rivets will be on show, both from Sarah and special guest Colin M...
Read more

Holly Sonders Quits Golf Channel After Contract Talks Fail. Moves To Fox.

Image
Tissues at the ready guys as this will come as a shock to you all that Holly Sonders , the female face of the Golf Channel, has quit and reportedly taken a job with Fox Sports. According to  reports Sonders, who appeared regularly on “Morning Drive” since 2011, could not come to an agreement on a new contract deal with the Golf Channel and was quickly snapped up by Fox Sports where she is expected to work on golf and NFL. Related: Holly Sonders Does The Ice Bucket Challenge We've had some fun with Holly over the last few years ( was that really her in those nudie pics? ) but now it looks like we'll be crying into those tissues. Join the GolfCentralDaily community on Twitter for loads more comment on and off the course. Follow @golfcentraldoc
Read more