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January 6, 2006
First Look: TaylorMade r7 425 - Get Away With Murder
I'll start by saying this is not my official review of TaylorMade's newest offering (r7 425 Driver) because I have only had the chance to play with it for one round. That's right, one round, no driving range (indoor or out), right out of the plastic and into the bag.
That being said, it turned out to be my best round of 2005, despite cold, wet, and mushy conditions (and to think, I almost decided to stay home that day.)
Long story short (ok, not so short), I get a call from a buddy who has gotten a last minute reprieve from the wife, saying he's available for a quick 18.
"But it's New Years Eve... and it's like 41 degrees, and it's um, raining..." I say, almost not believing that I'm about to turn down golf.
"So what", he says, "You gonna let '05 go out like that... 'cmon, we haven't played for two months!" (actually it was 2 days shy of two months).
"Alright", I said, never wanting to be the one accused of thwarting an attempt for golf, "Let's roll".
As we drive up to the course (Mountain Branch, Fallston, Maryland), it starts raining harder and by now I'm thinking maybe we hit some balls at the range, maybe play 9 holes... Are they even open?
We roll into the pro shop, pay our $65 (o.k. now that we've paid that much, we're playing 18 even if frozen frogs start falling from the sky), grab a cart and away we go.
My goal for the round is simple. After not having played for 2 months, and coming off a year where my game went backwards, I'd say that getting 3 out of every 4 shots airborn would be quite an accomplishment.
First tee, I pull out the shiny new r7 425 the fine folks at TMaG were nice enough to send me for review. Now I haven't taken even one swing in anger with this beauty, but I figure what the hell, I've got nothing to lose. The movable weights are set to "fade" as is the case with my trusty old r7 and away we go.
A few warm up swings and stretches later, and I'm standing on the tee box watching my first drive of my last round of the year sail a good 250, bounce (er, trickle) another 15-20 down the left side of the fairway for what is no doubt one of my best drives of the year.
A nice 8-iron, and tricky 6 foot putt later and I'm in for bird (and making it look easy) ... At this point I'm seriously considering how the logo for "BogeyLounge" will look if I change it to "PARlounge" or dare I say "BIRDIElounge"...
Suffice it to say "BogeyLounge" is safe for now and "BogeyMan" won't be turning into "BirdieBoy" anytime soon. However, with the help of the r7 425, I was able to get away with murder all day long and still hit decent shots without a whole lot of loss in distance.
Even shots that were 1-ball inside or outside of center did not hurt me... as I went on to miss only 2 fairways all day.
And, after not breaking 90 all year (after shooting an 83, 84, 86 in 2004), I actually shot an 88 on a day when the conditions where rough and I couldn't hit a wedge to save my life.
Was it the new driver? Was it the stress reducing lack of high expectations? Whatever it was, I'll tell you this...
Once you fine tune the settings on this new r7, expect to step up to the tee with an awesome amount of confidence, knowing you can get away with murder.
I'll have more to say on the r7 425 once I've had a chance to play it a little more, but for now it's already my early favorite for 2006 driver of the year.
As always, Stay Tuned...
Related links:
r7 425 Press Release [TMag]
TaylorMade Hits Mother Lode with Clarke's r7 425 Comments [BogeyLounge]
Filed under EQUIPMENT REVIEWS | Authored by BogeyMan | Comments (1)
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Comments
That TaylorMade r7 is so easy to hit it, that its like stealing. I'm not one that buys into a lot of golf club hype but this driver is as good as advertised.
Posted by: ziggy at January 6, 2006 11:28 PM
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