Taylormade M1

[fozcycle]

Had some free time yesterday afternoon, so i went to Dick's and fired up the M1 in their Launch Bay......Nice feel, about the same distance as the Fly Z they had, both setups were 10.5 with regular shafts.  I liked the looks and feel, but will not set out $500 to replace my Bio Cell.

[Fireinthehole]

If I remember correctly the 430 and 460 are suppose to spin as much as one another and I'm wondering what the MOI of both is in comparison. 

[KCLeo12]

So this must not be magic I have seen a lot of used M1's for sale everywhere haha

[silver & black]

At this point in time, I seriously doubt that any driver from any company will be much of an improvement over anything produced in the last 10 years or so.

 

I could buy the latest and greatest driver out,  and I would still get it out there 250 - 270 depending on the day. I'll just keep my "old" 913 D3 for a while longer...lol.

[KCLeo12]

I agree. Some of the new technology is little to no difference for the better players and consistent ball strikers. Most of it benefits the 10-20 hdcp player the most. In my opinion

[Fireinthehole]

I agree. Some of the new technology is little to no difference for the better players and consistent ball strikers. Most of it benefits the 10-20 hdcp player the most. In my opinion

 

Thats probably true- over 10 years though, is a stretch.

 

The other areas they seem to be improving on might be sound/ feel difference and head shape/ color- which isn't enough reason to switch for some, but might be for others. 

 

Also tested out the R15 vs the M1 with my preferred Motore Speeder and the M1 did produce more favorable results particularly on hits outside the middle (on a monitor), sounded better and felt bettter moving through the air; BUT without seeing outside flight not worth a $500 change at this time.

 

The other thing is shaft offerings for no upcharge-  there are a lot more free uprgrades through TMAG than Cobra, Titleist or Callaway and though they might not all work for me, there will be at least one that will. 

[Tom54]

I've been gaming the Callaway BBA (the first one). I just went to Golfsmith and tried the GBB (the most recent one). Thought it was solid. Then I tried the M1 for the heck of it. The M1 blew the GBB out of the water by 20 yds. Granted, I was in work clothes and don't know all the numbers, but I can't figure out why such a disparity. I checked to make sure both were in a relatively neutral setting, and the GBB was 9.0 vs 9.5 for the M1. This has me very curious. Need to get on a good launch monitor somewhere and see further.

[revkev]

I do think that 10 years is a stretch - I believe that driver technology, particularly the shaft and the quality of the stock shaft has improved significantly in the past 10 years.  What that equates to in yardage is hard to say -  5 yards?  More accuracy?  10 yards?  Surely something and I think more for us than guys on tour because in the past 10 years it's become much easier for us to access a fuller range of equipment.

 

I'd still love a test of a 10 year old driver, a 5 year old driver than then the past three winners of the MGS most wanted driver.

[KCLeo12]

Yeah I meant the changes over the last 2-3 years. Previous to that the changes were very good for everyone.

[NiftyNiblick]

I like that Callaway and TaylorMade are both offering smaller, high loft  steel versions of their big head titanium drivers.  This is a trend that Titleist, Ping, Cobra, Mizuno, and others might well emulate.

 

Not to be a broken record, but those of us who like to tee the ball low and not play it so far left (for right handers) in the stance are never going to accept the 460cc driver, especially when we play older courses that don't require the extra distance.

 

Ten years may indeed be a stretch from our good clergyman's perspective, and I'm sure many others, but if one takes the non-tech parameters into consideration--simple metrics like loft, lie, length, sole shape, depth, face angle, etc., some of us old-relic linksters have to go back further than that to find comfortable tools.

[jaskanski]

Amen to that. I'm still rocking a Titleist 983K (365cc) which for me anyway seems to out-perform most other drivers available today.

Interesting that TM decided to resurrect the carbon composite driver head, which for most other companies that tried the same concept, didn't really sell in great numbers. I guess it's therefore only a matter of time before we also get a number of posts where someone says : "my M1 has split in half".

And ultimately, where TM drops the concept for something else - again no change there then. 

[revkev]

Amen to that. I'm still rocking a Titleist 983K (365cc) which for me anyway seems to out-perform most other drivers available today.

Interesting that TM decided to resurrect the carbon composite driver head, which for most other companies that tried the same concept, didn't really sell in great numbers. I guess it's therefore only a matter of time before we also get a number of posts where someone says : "my M1 has split in half".

And ultimately, where TM drops the concept for something else - again no change there then.

 

Is it an older shaft or an after market one? How old is the shaft?

[apprenti23]

Yet to hit the M1 but it sure looks tasty!!!

[Chris O.]

I've been gaming the Callaway BBA (the first one). I just went to Golfsmith and tried the GBB (the most recent one). Thought it was solid. Then I tried the M1 for the heck of it. The M1 blew the GBB out of the water by 20 yds. Granted, I was in work clothes and don't know all the numbers, but I can't figure out why such a disparity. I checked to make sure both were in a relatively neutral setting, and the GBB was 9.0 vs 9.5 for the M1. This has me very curious. Need to get on a good launch monitor somewhere and see further.

This is proof that every driver is different for every person....when the GBB came out I didn't even swing it until the M1 came out. I was trying the M1 one day and my buddy was hitting the GBB really well so I picked it up and swung it. I was consistently 10 yards further with the GBB. And it has been that way every time I have compared the two so it wasn't just me have a weird day.

[jaskanski]

Is it an older shaft or an after market one? How old is the shaft?

 

Probably as old as the head it's installed in

It's a Fujikura Fit On 11 Six Tour Spec (BT-46). A bit of a classic - it later became the Zcom 6 and the simply the "SIX" and found it's way into a number of tour bags over the years. I certainly remember Luke Donald picking one up from the tour van...

[revkev]

Thanks -

[hckymeyer]

I haven't the M1 yet, but it's on my short list.  I'm coming from the SLDR and am wondering if anyone knows if we are still "lofting up" with the M1.

 

I had always played drivers in the 9-9.5 range prior to SLDR and ended up in a 10.5 head set to 11.  Do I loft back down or stick where I'm at?

[jaskanski]

I haven't the M1 yet, but it's on my short list.  I'm coming from the SLDR and am wondering if anyone knows if we are still "lofting up" with the M1.

 

I had always played drivers in the 9-9.5 range prior to SLDR and ended up in a 10.5 head set to 11.  Do I loft back down or stick where I'm at?

 

This is where the M1 differs from the SLDR. The SLDR had it's weight forward towards the face - great for reducing spin, meaning that to optimize launch then extra loft would be needed to offset the reduction in spin - hence the "loft up" campaign.

The M1 differs in that it also has a moveable weight from front to back in relation to the face to optimise spin without necessarily using loft to achieve this - and not forgetting the composite construction which gets the CoG a lot lower too.. Useful for controlling spin loft perhaps (AoA in relation to dynamic loft) but maybe a little hard to optimise for those with less than repeatable swings.

A fitting is certainly recommended to achieve the best combination of loft and weight placement for this club - the old SLDR "loft up" mantra probably won't apply.

[Mr_Theoo]

I haven't the M1 yet, but it's on my short list. I'm coming from the SLDR and am wondering if anyone knows if we are still "lofting up" with the M1.

 

I had always played drivers in the 9-9.5 range prior to SLDR and ended up in a 10.5 head set to 11. Do I loft back down or stick where I'm at?

Having hit it a couple of times I'm not sure. The spin numbers with the lower lofts are pretty low but not so low I couldn't play them. And the higher loft wasn't too bad either. So I'd prolly go with a higher loft for me but that could just be my swing style.

[KCLeo12]

Ruled out the M1 now I hit the King LTD Pro side by side and numbers were identical.

[Fireinthehole]

I hit above the center of the driver face and some near the heel and for some reason I have yet to find a callaway driver that works the R15 with the weight split just seems to be beating everything right now. Interested in trying out the king I really liked the Cobra amp cell pro

[Jmikecpa]

Got to finally hit this over the weekend and wow does this head spin. Could not find a shaft and loft combo that I could get the numbers under 2700 RPMs. Hit it side by side with my D3 and the Titleist was consistently in the 2100 range and much longer than the M1. Just does not seem like a driver for me which is a shame because looks and feel we're just awesome. If the numbers were in the range I am pretty sure I would have left with the 430 head.

[revkev]

This is where the M1 differs from the SLDR. The SLDR had it's weight forward towards the face - great for reducing spin, meaning that to optimize launch then extra loft would be needed to offset the reduction in spin - hence the "loft up" campaign.

The M1 differs in that it also has a moveable weight from front to back in relation to the face to optimise spin without necessarily using loft to achieve this - and not forgetting the composite construction which gets the CoG a lot lower too.. Useful for controlling spin loft perhaps (AoA in relation to dynamic loft) but maybe a little hard to optimise for those with less than repeatable swings.

A fitting is certainly recommended to achieve the best combination of loft and weight placement for this club - the old SLDR "loft up" mantra probably won't apply.

I'm in this same boat except that the M1 is not on my radar. I was fit for an R11s 9 turned up 1. When I was fit for the SLDR it was a12 down 1 so I guess that's 9.75 to 11.25. In the end I'm going to pass on TMag when I go for my fitting in a couple of weeks. Too much confusion and too many other options. I'm very interested in the G30, Big Bertha Alpha and The XR. For yucks I may throw the Kinetex into a R15 head if the proper loft is available but only for my own benefit.

[mcavoy]

Even without a full fitting it was about 7 yards longer then my Gamer mostly due to being so low spin. I have always been a high spin player never being below 2400 rpms consistently. I hit several in the 1800s and one in that was 1670.

1670?!  That would be in the too low range for me.  That's always the challenge w/the driver though.  Getting the sweet spot of spin and dispersion control.  I spent about 10 minutes last weekend watching guys at the range at my local club hitting drivers.  This one guy had a decent swing but you could tell he was getting outrageous spin off of whatever he was hitting - I was too far away to tell.  Balls were ballooning big time.  HIs solution?  Swing harder.

[jaskanski]

Some good feedback. I'm not too surprised that the M1 is a little spinny for some - the low CoG does go some way to promoting this. Ultimately, the moveable weight technology has it's uses in fine-tuning launch characteristics, but if the spin model is completely off, then a careful look at loft (the big spin contributor) would be in order. 

Great to see so many folks trying before buying too! 

[Tom54]

I've hit the M1 a couple of more times. I put in some time at Roger Dunn on the launch monitor and hit it completely different. I forget which shaft - I think it was the Aldila Rogue. Anyway, I started blocking it to the right, which is a pretty common miss for me. I was mostly comparing it to the most recent Great Big Bertha again. This time, the Bertha smoked the M1 on the distance numbers. Only problem was, I suddenly developed some sort of massive draw that had me missing the middle by 30 yards left. It's probably more of a testament to my swing never being the same. At this point, I probably like the GBB better but I have yet to test any against my gamer (BB Alpha) so I don't know if these are much better. 

 

P.S. I did hit the Cobra King a few times. It does feel sweet, and seems to have some pop.