Earlier this month, TaylorMade Golf announced the release of their new M1 driver, the Unmetalwood, the M1 fairway woods and rescue as well as their new PSi irons. The new clubs are set to be released in early October and early November respectively but like in previous years, Taylormade invited Eighteen Under Par to their Performance Centre at University Golf Club to be one of the first to hit these clubs in Vancouver, Canada!
The Performance Centre at University Golf Club is now headed by TaylorMade Master Fitter, Garret Hadfield. Upon arrival, our team started testing the new PSi irons. As with previous generations of TaylorMade irons, the PSi irons utilizes Face Slot Technology as well as a new cut-thru Speed Pocket.
With our first hits with the PSi irons, we can immediately tell that our ball speed has increased significantly. This was later confirmed with data from Flightscope, which shows an increase of 6-10 mph in ball speed from our regular set of irons. The new Dynamic Feel System in the PSi irons did its job as these irons definitely felt better and most importantly, sounded better. TaylorMade has gotten rid of the “crackling sound” that was very apparent in last year’s RSi irons and in the previous Speedblades as well.
We then moved on to hitting the M1 rescue, fairway woods and the highly anticipated M1 driver. We were especially excited to hit the M1 driver as during the week that it was released on Tour, many pros including Jason Day, decided to put this in the bag in the middle of the FedEx Cup playoffs. It was rather unusual for that many professionals to switch clubs mid-season, never mind that there was also $10 million up for grabs.
The shape of the M1 driver head was very appealing. Because the M1 was built with Multi-Materials, with a 7-layer Carbon Composite Crown highlighting the contrast, there is a distinct two-tone colour on the clubhead. However, this was not as distracting as we thought it would be, although it would be interesting to see how the club would look in an all-black finish. It looked even better in person than from photos, a very important feature of a golf club.
Unlike last year’s R15 model, the M1 driver utilizes a T-Track system instead of two 12.5 gram sliding weights on the Front Track System. The M1 fairway wood still employs the Front Track system whereas the rescue features two movable weights as well as the Speed Pocket for off-centre hits. The M1 rescue also features a full black crown rather than a black and white crown like the fairway wood and driver.
Initial impressions of the clubs’ performance was a lot higher ball speed and more consistency from shot to shot. Our distances increased dramatically – possibly even too much! By hitting it so much longer, there will definitely have to be an emphasis put on wedges and creating consistent gapping between your equipment.
We are confident that with a vigorous fitting session to personalize these clubs, there’s no doubt that we would be able maximize the potential of the M1 driver and PSi irons as well as our golf game. With the release date of these clubs just around the corner, be sure to do yourself a favour and give them a try yourselves.
Source: Taylormade Golf
