TaylorMade TP R7 Quad vs TaylorMade R7 Quad

This is a golf equipment review of the TaylorMade TP R7 Quad and the TaylorMade R7 Quad of which I currently play the TaylorMade TP R7 Quad.

I got an awesome deal on a used TP R7 Quad from Golfsmith that was in excellent condition. At the time I bought it the TP R7 Quad's were typically going for $699, but I was able to get it for $399 and to be honest with you it looked brand new to me. It had the Speeder 757 XS shaft in it and it was a great looking golf club. Before I walked out with it I had to give a test drive in one of Golfsmith's swing analysis booths. I wasn't exactly prepared to hit a golf club because I went in there to get some new golf shoes and all I had on were flip-flops.

Well I jumped into the swing analysis booth in my bare feet with two drivers. One was the Taylormade TP R7 Quad with an XS Speeder 757 and the other was the regular Taylormade R7 Quad with the stock stiff shaft. My first few balls were with the stock R7 Quad felt pretty good. The swing monitor said I was getting about a 270 to 290-yard carry with a swing speed of 114 mph, which was pretty typical of my golf swing. I then pulled out the TP R7 Quad and I was a little concerned that the XS Speeder 757 was going to feel like a 2 by 4. On my very first swing I hit it pretty pure and I looked up at the swing monitor and it said it carried 300 yards with a swing speed of 114 mph. I continued to hit ball after ball pure with the TP R7 Quad and I was averaging a 300 to 320 yard carry. I think one thing contributing to hitting the ball so squarely was that I was hitting in my bare feet. I guess subconsciously I knew I had to remain as still and solid as possible otherwise I'd be all over the place. Hey I think there's a swing tip in there somewhere.

I was in love with this golf club and knew I was going home with it. On my last swing of the club I had a small audience including the guy running the swing analysis booth. I took a deep breath and hit the purest ball of the day. I looked up at the swing monitor and couldn't believe what I was seeing... it said I had a 360-yard carry with a swing speed of 117 and an accuracy of 1.56. I asked the guy running the booth what the accuracy number meant and he said the ideal number was between 1.50 to 1.60 to be dead on. Now of course I took these numbers with a grain of salt, but I was still very much impressed by the TP R7 Quad.

Needless to say I got everything I could out that club on that one swing... and I was sold. I have to say that I've never just picked up a club like that and hit it consistently in such a short amount of time. I was never a big proponent of paying that much for a club because I didn't think it would be any better than the regular models with a nice shaft, but I was wrong. I took it to the range that day and made a minor adjustment to the weights to get a little more of a draw on the ball.

If you're in the market for a new driver I would definitely test drive the TaylorMade TP R7 Quad with the Speeder shaft, but not necessarily with the XS.