TaylorMade drivers have been hot sellers at my shop this year. The R7 Quad, R7 Quad HT, R7 Quad TP and R5 Dual are all great drivers and it seems like TaylorMade has a driver for any type of player. Just when you thought the TaylorMade driver lineup couldn’t get any better… enter the TaylorMade R5 Dual TP.
The Dual TP is basically the original R5 Dual that has been tweaked for the better golfer. TaylorMade kept the same 450CC head size, the same high MOI and the same overall look of the R5 Dual. Like the R5 Dual, the TP is also very forgiving and it’s deep face gives the golfer a lot of confidence at address. So what’s different? TaylorMade has incorporated their movable weight technology into the R5 TP design so golfers can alter center of gravity and weight bias. The other major difference lies in the shaft options… TaylorMade offers some fairly high end shafts in this club. The stock Mitsubishi Diamana 83 is probably the best of the three shafts offered. It feels great in this driver and most of the R5 Dual TP’s that we sell have this shaft. There are two other custom shaft options available in the R5 Dual TP… the Fujikura Speeder 757 and the Fujikura SIX. The 757 weights about the same as the Diamana but offers lower torque. The SIX is a much lighter shaft than the other two (many agree that it is a bit too light) and features a much higher torque. It is probably the least popular of the three. Some customers complain that there are only three shafts available in this club but I think TaylorMade has done a great job covering all the bases and most golfers should be able to find a shaft that suits their needs.
It was just a matter of time before TaylorMade made a TP version of thier popular R5 Dual. I had so many low handicaps mention how they loved the look of the R5 but they wanted the movable weights that the R7 offered. The bigger R5 gives players the confidence to really swing at the ball and the addition of movable weights and quality shaft options make this club a winner. Out testers loved this club. They loved the way it felt, they loved the forgiveness, they loved the ability to tweak the weight and they loved the shaft options. Many testers liked that there are only two movable weights… enough to customize the club but not too many to create confusion. Some consumers complain about the higher price but quality graphite shafts don’t come cheap. Put it this way… if you’re concerned about the price, this driver probably isn’t for you anyways. A better player looking for a TaylorMade driver might want to consider this one over the R7 Quad.
Overall Rating – 90%
Target Handicap – 10 and below
Ball Flight – Depending on weights, fairly high overall
Offset – None
Shafts – Mitsubishi Diamana 83, Fujikura Speeder 757, Fujikura SIX