TLDR: The SLDR is a very good driver when fit correctly. Beat my Ping significantly in overall avg distance, but not best vs best, which were about the same. TMAG rolled out the red carpet for us, and we took full advantage. Tom from TM is a guys guy. He was a trip.
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Got back last night and am still in full recovery mode. Man, what a weekend. Tom, our TM guy who led the show was awesome and a great player (used to play the Nike Tour). Ryan, our fitter at Gleneagles TMPL was very good at his job, and SUPER dedicated. He had to be at the club around 3am to start setting up for us. Had a little bit of a snafu with the Trackman, then with the FlightScope, but finally got up and running with a GC2, which frustrated Tom and Ryan a bit, but what are you going to do at that point. Turned out they had sent one of Adams' trackman units that had older software that Ryan wasn't familiar with. They had people scrambling all over the Lab, clubhouse, phones, etc to find someone that knew how to run it. Anyway, we had a literal open bag of options to hit, including the yet-to-be-released SLDR S, or more commonly known as the Mini. While it's not my cup of tee, it was cool to hold a club that hasn't even been released yet. If I were a bomber or had a shallower approach into the ball, I could maybe make the 12 or 14 work off the ground consistently. Off the tee, it WAS a lot of fun to hit.
In a nutshell, here are the specific stats, both with my PING and the SDLR they fit me into (finally....). I was the problem child during this part. I think I hit 15 different head/shaft combos, and finally settled on the SLDR 460 9.5*, two clicks up in loft, slider weight pretty much centered, right at the blue line.
TMAG numbers
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Current set up
Head PING ANSER
Loft 9.5*
Sleeve Setting "+" to 10*
Shaft 'Ahina 70
Flex X
Length 45.5"
Swing Speed 112.7
Ball speed 163.4
Smash 1.45
Launch angle 8.5*
Spin 3581
Decent 39*
Carry yards 260
Total Distance 279
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New Set up
Head SLDR 460
Loft 9.5
Sleeve Setting 2 clicks higher, slider on blue mark (neutral??)
Shaft Oban Kyoshi White 65
Flex 05 (x)
Length 45"
Swing Speed 113.7
Ball speed 164.9
Smash 1.45
Launch angle 7.5
Spin 2661
Decent 32
Carry yards 270
Total Distance 297
Overall distance gained (Avg): +18 yards ($450 won)
Lowered my spin rate by over 900 rpm, and for those of you who know me, that's HUGE because I spin my driver like most would a 3 or 5 wood. Feel of the Oban is unreal. Dispersion is about as tight as any shaft I've played, and even with the softer butt section, it never feels out of sync.
Met some really cool guys, got some really good gear (also able to custom order a fairway wood and Rescue, which will be shipped to us). Ate great food, drank a crap ton of beer, a little too much Makers, and played two nice courses. Gentle Creek was just as I remembered it - awesome. Somewhere I could probably play every day. Cowboys was fun, but that place had some stupid greens, though. Had a 20' putt for eagle on 14, hit my putt where it should have stopped within a foot, but ended up 15' away down the hill. Managed to get the next one past the hole and to stop there for a 3-putt par... Flew home 2 hours later.