TaylorMade-adidas Golf’s long-anticipated R11 driver with what the company calls “Adjustable Sole Plate’’ technology will be available beginning Feb. 5 in R11 (suggested retail price $399) and R11 TP (SRP $499) versions.
“By incorporating our new Adjustable Sole Plate (ASP) technology, along with our proven Flight Control Technology and Movable Weight Technology, into a single club head, the R11 gives golfers the ability to adjust their driver to fit their individual needs with even greater precision,” said Dr. Benoit Vincent, TaylorMade’s chief technology officer.
Vincent said the R11’s white crown makes it look two percent larger than its 440cc.
When you change the club head’s loft using FCT (Flight Control Technology), Vincent said you’re also forced to change the face angle – increase loft and the face angle closes; decrease loft and the face angle opens. Adjustable Sole Plate, according to Vincent, solves that problem by allowing you to adjust the face angle independently of the loft, which is controlled by FCT.
Vincent said the ASP sole plate provides two degrees of face angle change (neutral/square, 2° open, 2° closed). A player can create three lofts with the same face angle, or further accentuate a face angle or counter a negative face angle.
The combination of ASP, FCT and MWT (Moveable Weight Technology) according to Vincent, gives a golfer 48 ways to set up the club head to promotes up to 100 yards of side-to-side trajectory adjustment, the most of any driver in existence. Vincent said that combining full FCT and MWT settings promotes a launch-condition range of 2° launch angle and 1,000 RPM.
The R11 includes two weight cartridges weighing 10-grams and one-gram. To create a neutral bias, a player must install the heavy (10-gram) weight in the toe; for a draw bias, put the heavy weight in the heel. If a more neutral setting is desired, 4 and 6-gram weights are available separately.
Players who prefer a specific face angle setting can bias the weights to adjust trajectory independent of the ASP setting. For instance, a player may prefer an open face angle at address while also desiring a draw-bias performance. With the R11 driver, the player can open the face using ASP and put the heavy weight in the heel, resulting in an open face but a draw-bias weighting..
