The R11 Myth

From 2000 to 2007, official PGA Tour stats show that Tiger Woods gained 4.2 yards in averaqe driving distance. At the turn of the millenium, the world #1 was using a Titleist 975D with a steel Dynamic Gold X100 shaft. Seven years later, with a vast spectrum of "improvements" to the shaft, driver-head, ball and not to mention his own physical development, Woods was still driving the ball more or less the same distance.

I'm simply using Woods as an example. You can take pretty much any player, and the stats tell a similar story. Over the same seven year period, David Toms gained 7.1 yards, Steve Stricker added 6.9 yards, and to go way back to 1995, Davis Love III hits it 4.1 yards further, after 12 years of so-called improvements in driver technology. You could be forgiven for drawing the conclusion that this years model probably goes one or two yards further than last years club, at best.

This month sees Taylor Made release their new flag-ship driver, the R11. They're telling us the R11 will go "6 yards longer" than the recent R9 Supertri. Of course it does.

Let's take Taylor Made's claims as fact for a minute, and look at the same period as above. In 1995 the Burner Bubble was on the scene. The following year, the first Titanium TM driver came along, in the Ti Bubble, probably adding 6 yards. A year later came the Ti Bubble 2 to offer another 6 yards in distance. That spent almost two years on the shelf before the launch of the Firesole in 1999, adding 6 yards to your drives. In 2000, we had the 300 Series. In 2002, throw that old 300 Series in the bin, the R500 Series was the way to go. Then the R7 Quad in 2004, was the real deal - better than anything before it. The R7 425 in 2006 brought even more improvements. The R7 SuperQuad in 2007 was trumped by the the Tour Burner Driver in 2008, which went 6 yards longer. The R9 blew everything out of the water in 2009, until today, where we've finally attained perfection with the R11.

By this rationale, since 1995, pros an amateurs should be hitting the ball 72 yards further. If you hit it 252 yards now, you would have driven the ball 180 yards the year What's the Story Morning Glory came out.

Do people really belive that the R11 has some scientific elements that the last two decades of supposedly in-depth research simply didn't cop on to? With the millions of dollars, pounds and euros flooding into the industry, and being ploughed (supposedly) into R&D, did no one think of making the thing white before? To reduce glare from the sun and make it easier to see in shade? (actual claims on the website). I mean, which is more likely: that Taylor Made "scientists & engineers" have made significant break-throughs since the R9 was released, or, that they figured if they make it a different colour and slightly change the shape they'll get a load of muppets to buy them.

Yes players are hitting it further now, but you have to take into account their bodies, and how much fitness, strength and conditioning has changed. Also the ball has changed a fair amount. And coaching has come on a bit too, especially seeing as the "power game" is a relatively new thing. The point is, even when you take the increase in driving distances (pros or amateurs) over the past ten years, this gain in distance can only partially be put down to new driver technology.

I've no particular issue with Taylor Made by the way. I use Tour Burner irons myself. Most other club makers are just or almost as bad.

My conclusion is, if you get a new driver every 3-5 years, you're more than up to speed with the latest "developments". If you're hitting what you have side-ways and want to change, fair enough, but a couple of lessons might be cheaper, and more effective.

PS: If you're wondering why the opening stats were all from 2000 to 2007, it's because the PGA Tour don't provide official distance stats on their site after 2007. I'm no consipiracy theorist, but is there half a chance they don't update these because it clearly shows new drivers aren't adding 6 yards with every model?