Comparing the Taylor Made M1 Driver to the R15 Driver

Taylor Made just launched their new M1 driver in the last couple of weeks.

Taylor Made are calling it their longest driver. We tested the driver recently to see how it compared to last years R15. Is the M1 their longest driver yet? How much better is it then the R15? These are the questions we were looking to answer.

We used 3 players and had them hit 10 shots with each driver. The results were recorded on a Trackman 111 launch monitor. Each player used used a shaft suitable to them and used the same shaft in the M1 and the R15, this way we could measure how much difference there was between the heads only. The Mizuno MP S ball was used for all shots hit.

The results we wanted to compare were Club Head Speed, Ball Speed, Carry Distance, Overall Distance, Lateral Distance from Target, Launch Angle and Spin Rate

Conditions were very good on the day for testing around 15 degrees C and a slight breeze against.

Results

	Carry (Yards)	Overall (Yards)	Club Head Speed MPH	Ball Speed MPH	Side Distance Feet	Launch Angle	Spin Rate RPM
Player A M1	226.9	247.9	101.8	149.4	49.69	10.4	2282
R15	231.5	249.5	103.6	150.6	40.31	10.7	2670
Player B M1	239.9	262.9	107.2	155.7	25.83	11.5	2349
R15	241.7	262.5	108	156	26.82	11	2465
Player C M1	245.3	266.9	108.6	160.8	56.54	11.9	2374
R15	249	266	108	161.3	58.97	11.9	2524

Player A used a 9.5 degree M1 and R15 with a Diamana Kai'li 70 S Shaft

Player B used a M1 and R15 set to 10 degrees with a Diamana 'Ahina 60 X Shaft

Player C used a 9.5 degree M1 and R15 with a UST Attas 7 X Shaft.

Analysis

We can see that the results of both drivers are very similar for all players.

For Player A The R15 had longer carry by 4.6 yards, overall distance by 1.6 yards, higher club head and ball speed, 1.8 & 1.2 mph, better dispersion 9.38 feet closer, launch angles quite similar just 0.3 degrees apart. The M1 had lower spin - 388 rpm lower.

For Player B The R15 had longer carry by 1.8 yards, higher club head and ball speed 0.8 & 0.3 mph. The M1 had more overall distance by 0.4 yards, better dispersion 0.99 feet closer and lower spin 166 rpm less. The M1 had a slightly higher launch angle by 0.5 degrees

For Player C The R15 had longer carry by 3.7 yards and higher ball speed by 0.5 mph. The M1 had longer overall distance by 0.9 yards, higher club head speed by 0.6 mph, better dispersion by 2.33 feet and lower spin by 150 rpm. The launch angles were identical 11.9 degrees.

Things to note the M1 has lower spin for all three players. It also has a very attractive sound when hit. The R15 has longer carry and higher ball speed for all three players.

Conclusion

Is the M1 the longest driver? The answer is yes for some and no for others. In our test for 2 players it was 0.4 and 0.9 yards longer or around 1 foot and 3 feet longer, longer yes but not by much. For one player it was 1.6 yards shorter.  

Should you rush out and buy the M1 immediately? Definitely not, in this test the R15 is better for player A and for players B&C there's negligible difference between the two and not worth the difference in price.

I would say the most important thing when considering buying this driver is to test it and get fitted for it. If your current driver suits you it's unlikely that the M1 will give you a significant boost.

Comments and questions are always welcome.

The Efficacy of Golf Coaching

How does coaching bring about a desired result? 

Hard work leading to a great result for Dave.

The desired result for most players when they receive golf coaching or instruction is to lower their scores. What input from the coach leads to these results?

Aspects of Golf Coaching

Let's first look at the different aspects of golf coaching. 

• Basic Instruction - Grip, stance, swing fundamentals etc
• Physical Conditioning/Fitness - Improving aspects of the body that affect performance
• Mental/Emotional - Using the mind as an ally
• Shotmaking skills - Speciality shots, trajectories etc
• Course Management - Game plans, playing the course
• Equipment - Club fitting

Looking at the last two, course management and equipment, first these components are the quickest and easiest to improve. When a player goes from clubs that don't suit them to ones that do there's an immediate improvement. Also when a player stops playing shots inappropriate to their ability their scores also improve immediately. Examples of this would be a player who struggles off the tee but persists with the driver, switching to a 3 wood or another club which keeps the ball in play will lead to lower scores.

However even though both these will lead to lower scores quickly they will not turn a 15 handicapper into a scratch golfer overnight. Most likely they lead to a 1, 2 or 3 shot improvement over the course of a couple of months and then the player's other limitations i.e. technique, fitness, mental, shotmaking skills stop them from improving further.

Acquired Skills

For Instruction, Fitness, Mental and Shotmaking Skills these are all acquired skills. They all require work and time to improve, time on the practice area, in the gym, working on mental aspects, on the putting green etc

The coach gives the player advice on how to improve the skills and then the player's input becomes the most important aspect as work is required to acquire these skills. Without the player's input and work there is no improvement. The player's improvement makes the coach look great, but it's the player's work that lead to the improvement.

Also if the coach gives the player the wrong advice and the player works on this, the player will dis-improve, all golf coaches will tell of players they've made mistakes with.

The first role of the coach is not to mess the player up, the coach just needs to give the player the tools so they can head off with a clear improvement plan in their head. The great coaches are great communicators, they deliver their message simply and avoid over coaching.

In essence the main difference between the average player and the expert player is centredness of strike and club face control. The expert player hits the centre of the club and has better control over where the club face points at impact. Both are acquired skills and all coaching should lead to making these skills easier to acquire. Improvement is gradual and you shouldn't have to get worse first to get better.

Conclusion

 

Player improvement comes mainly about from the work a player puts in. Effective coaching makes sure the player is on the right path and that they are working efficently. The best coaches are knowledgeable, great communicators, listeners, are invested in your success and take responsibilty. Successful coaching can only be measured in the success of the student. Search out a coach who is the right fit for you and see your golf game improve. 

How to Gain 30 Extra Yards in 30 Minutes

CM came along yesterday looking to be fitted for a driver. He mentioned that a frequent shot of his was high spinning and left to right.

This being a typical poor shot.

The first thing that was looked at was the strike point in the face.

The strike point was towards the heel and low down on the face, which would lead to higher spinning left to right shots. He then focused on the strike point and moved it more to the middle, giving an immediate jump in distance and accuracy.

11 yards more carry and 13 yards more overall. 

Next his angle of attack was looked at. His angle was around 4 degrees down, which is not optimal. We looked at changing the angle of attack to see what would happen.

He changed his angle of attack from around 4 degrees down to 2 degrees up and a further 16 yards more carry and 17 yards more total distance. Giving CM an overall 30 yard jump in 30 minutes!!

To help him strike it more in the middle we gave him a slighter heavier and stiffer shaft. He was using a 73 gram stiff shaft and he went to a 76 gram extra stiff shaft which helped him feel where the club was more in his swing. He kept the same head.

To change the angle of attack CM teed the ball higher, placed the club a couple of inches behind the ball, added a slight more tilt in his shoulders and felt like he was trying to hit up on the ball. 

That's how he did it!!

If you're looking for more distance, two great tips are to be aware of where you strike it on the face and hit more up on the ball. Centred strikes and higher angle of attacks mean more distance!! 

Comments and questions are always welcome.

3 More Golf Equipment Terms Explained and How They Can Help Your Game

Centre of Gravity (COG)

Centre of Gravity heights, photo by @kirkoguri on Twitter

Centre of Gravity (CG) is a point in the head that represents all the mass of head. The above photo shows the position of the centre of gravity in 4 different heads by height. Only minimal differences but enough to make the heads perform quite differently.

The CG is sometimes referred to as the sweet spot of the club. The sweet spot is the projected position of the CG from inside the club on to the club face. It is quite a small spot and is not bigger in some clubs then other.

When the ball is hit on the 'sweet spot' the club face doesn't twist or rotate and the maximum amount of energy is transferred to the ball.

The CG can be moved around the club head by shifting weight, move weight towards the toe the CG goes towards the toe (a small bit, not a huge amount). Moving the weight around influences the flight of a ball by utilising gear effect to help the golfer. More weight in the heel will promote a draw from centred strikes and straighter shots from heel strikes. The spin rate can also be influenced by moving the CG higher or lower.

Moment of Inertia (MOI)

Moment of inertia (MOI) is the measure of an object's resistance to twisting. The higher the MOI the more the object will resist twisting. For a golf club this means for shots that are mishit a head with higher MOI will twist less offline then a club with lower MOI.

In golf heads weight is moved to the perimeter to increase MOI and make them more forgiving. So a cavity back will be more forgiving then a blade. This is also the process that makes a 'sweet spot' bigger, it's not making the 'sweet spot' bigger but the club head twists less giving more forgiveness and the illusion of a bigger sweet spot.

It also helps with putters a big mallet style putter with weight moved to the extremes will not twist as much as a blade style putter meaning the ball will start more online with mishits.

Roll & Bulge

Roll is the curvature on the face of a wood from crown to sole.

Bulge is the curvature on the face of a wood from heel to toe

Bulge and roll are there to counteract what is known as gear effect. When a driver is struck off-centre, the head wants to twist, roughly about it's centre of gravity. In the period of time between impact and separation, the friction between the club face and ball adds spin to the ball in the opposite direction to the rotation of the club head. this is much the same way that in a 2 gear system, if one gear is rotated, the other rotates in the opposite direction (thus the name gear effect.) 

The purpose of bulge is to modify the initial launch direction to compensate for the shape in ball flight caused by an off centre hit. For example on a heel strike the ball will move more left to right and as a result we would like the ball to start further left to compensate for this.

Roll directly effects loft in the vertical plane on the face. A ball hit higher on the face will spin less due to gear effect but will launch higher due to the roll, a ball hit lower on the face will spin more due to gear effect but will launch lower due to roll. These compensations lead to better results from mishits.


Any questions or comments are appreciated.

Effect of Temperature on Golf Balls

As we are well in the Winter season a good question would be how much does the temperature of a golf ball effect performance?

Is it ok to leave your balls in your bag in the car or garage or should you take them indoors? To test this I put 20 Titleist Pro V1s in the car and left them there overnight on a frosty night, air temperatures dropped to -3 degrees C. Also I kept 20 Pro V1s indoors at room temperature.

As soon as the frost cleared the following day I hit 20 balls that were kept in the car and 20 balls that were kept at room temperature. The golf balls that were kept in the car were noticeably cold to touch, the room temperature balls felt normal.

The balls were hit with a Callaway Big Bertha Alpha, 9.5 degrees of loft and a Fujikura Speeder 757 S Flex shaft. The results were recorded on a Trackman 111 launch monitor. 5 cold balls were hit, then 5 room temperature balls were hit until a total of 20 of each ball were hit. The temperature was around 6 degrees when the balls were hit with little or no wind and sun shining.

Results

Ball	Club Speed (mph)	Ball Speed	Launch Angle	Spin Rate	Carry (yards)	Total	Side (feet)
Cold	101.7	152.5	11.3	2722	228.0	246.8	47.04
Room Temp.	102.1	152.4	11.5	2613	229.8	250.4	44.04

Ball speed is the big factor we are interested in and as we see from the results, ball speeds are practically identical, 152.5 mph with the cold ball and 152.4 mph with the room temperature ball. The room temperature ball has a slightly longer carry (229.8 yards against 228) and overall distance (250.4 against 246.8) which is a result of a slightly higher launch angle and lower spin rate.

Can this be attributed to the lower ball temperature? Probably not, it's more then likely down to the vagaries of strike point on the club face. The intention with hitting 20 balls with each was to eliminate this as much as possible but as the test subject wasn't Iron Byron there's always little differences in the strike.

Conclusion

As there was no difference in ball speeds between the cold balls and room temperature balls we can conclude that ball temperature has little effect on the performance of the ball. No need to be storing golf balls indoors!

The biggest factor in loss of distance in the Winter is colder air and unfortunately we cannot control that.

Next experiment will be to see if warming the balls on a heater will have an effect. Any questions or comments are appreciated.