The Taylor Made R9 fairway wood offers a new degree of customization, in the Flight Control Technology that allows golfers to literally set up their club to meet any course or swing demand in just seconds.
This is accomplished by rotating the metallic sleeve positioned over the tip of the shaft. The sleeve can be rotated into eight different positions, each of which has a different loft, lie and face angle. All a golfer has to do is to loosen the FTC bolt with the provided wrench, shift the shaft to the desired position, and then tighten the screw again. The total side-to-side trajectory change can be up to 35 yards, a significant window that allows players to hit their targets more accurately.
The TaylorMade R9 fairway wood is less triangular than other Taylor Made models, and has a more classic look that also has a low center of gravity and ideal launch conditions. It has greater stability than the previous model it's based on, the Taylor Made R7, and also adds a new sole design that is more rounded to reduce contact with the turf.
At most retailers the R9 FairwayWood comes fitted with the 70g Fujikura Motore Graphite shaft in regular, stiff and extra stiff flex, in both left and right hand.
The club definitely looked good at address, and like with most TaylorMade Woods set up well behind the ball. The club did however feel slightly lighter than alot of other Fairway Woods, but not to the extent that it should be a problem for most golfers.
From the tee the TaylorMade R9 3 Wood was brilliant, it is very forgiving and very powerful. We found it to be a very consistent club as well as being long, though probably not quite as long a Wood as the Burner Fairway Wood range from Taylor Made, which hits the ball very far.
The distance was quite constant aswell, even shots that aren't struck to well with the R9 Woods should still travel a very decent yardage.
Not only was the club pretty easy to hit off the tee, but off the deck it was also a good club for getting the golf ball airbourne. Certainly this is a quality that may appeal to mid to higher handicappers looking for a user friendly Fairway Wood.
The ball flight on most shots was usually about a mid trajectory, which isn't a bad thing. Many of todays Fairway Woods can launch the ball very high, and sometimes present you with some problems in windier conditions.
Another good thing was that the TaylorMade R9 Fairway Wood produced a very nice sound at impact. Even when you try to hit it very hard, the noise is never too loud, just a consistent nice ping that's very easy on the ears.
In terms of using the Flight Control Technology, which is the main feature of the R9 Wood range. Well it is there to be used but we didn't really think that there was a great need to use it alot.
This wood is actually pretty easy to work the ball with the head on a neutral set up. You do have the option of altering the club head position to give you a fade or draw with the FCT, and it definitely will give you the desired effect when used.
But a competent and capable golfer who knows what they are doing should have next to no problems playing for a fade or draw anyway, without the effort of altering the club head much, or even at all.
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