Driving Distance

Will RBZ or R11 drivers really give you 10's of yards? According to Taylormade's own commercials, Sergio Garcia and Dustin Johnson are cited as gaining stupefying distances. When you consider that tour pros should not lack for the best that technology can deliver for fitting equipment to swings, how is it possible that a PGA tour pro could achieve distance gains of 35 yards?

Ever the curious type, I looked up the driving averages from the PGA Tour going back to 2009. Apparently there must be a problem with
the data TaylorMade's marketing department was citing as both Sergio and Dustin show a decline in driver distance. Surely a gain of 18 or 35 yards
(TaylorMade's own figures in their advertising) would show up in the averages?

Sergio Garcia
294.7 2012
299.2 2011
292.7 2010
298.5 2009

Dustin Johnson
305.9 2012
314.2 2011
308.5 2010
308.3 2009

New Test Results

We just posted TrackMan test results for a comparison of the Graphite Design Tour AD DI vs Mitsubishi's Fubuki K vs Accra's just released Tour Z LT. Interested? This report is available to paid members only. Some of the other tests we will be posting soon:

• Graphite Design Tour AD BB vs Tour AD DI
• Accra Tour Z LT
• TaylorMade R11S with a Tour AD DI vs a Callaway Razr Fit with a Tour AD DI
• Tests for shafts from Accra, Mitsubishi, Graphite Design, UST Tour SPX and more
• Is the RBZ really 17 yards longer?
• The RBZ vs an Adams Fast 12

What is The Launch Monitor? This is a site that accepts no advertising, period. We don't ask manufacturers for marketing samples, we buy everything we test. We test golf equipment using a Trackman, outdoors, and using real golf balls (never any range balls). When we're finished with the test clubs and shafts, we give them away to our members.

Members? We buy every item we test, which is an expensive process. To recover the costs, we rely on members to support the testing. What do you get for $19.99 a year? All of our tests are saved in TrackMan and output as PDF documents. You not only get access to all of our test documents, but only members can be entered in our monthly giveaways; plus we sell new clubs each week - only a few items each week, different items each week.

Why? There are very few sources of tests and reviews that are credible and free of any advertising influence. Most are subjective exercises in creative writing that are impossible to correlate to your swing. TrackMan reports are scientifically accurate recordings of 18 critical measurements of ball flight and swing. Not everyone has access to a facility to test an exotic shaft, but with a test report you'll be able to make a better judgement of whether or not the performance will work for your swing.

Read more: New Test Results

May 31st Giveaway

May 31st we're giving away some very cool prizes. There is one catch...you must be a member to have a chance to win. What are we giving away?

• Callaway Hex Black balls (5 prizes of one dozen each)
• 1 set of 3 KBS Tour Custom Black Pearl wedge shafts (stiff flex)
• 1 Project X 6a3 Tour Issue driver shaft

The rules are simple.

• Winners will be drawn from a list of members
• The members list will be set at 6 PM, May 31st
• Members are eligible to win one prize only per monthly drawing
• Winners will be notified via the email account supplied during registration
• Any prizes not claimed within 48 hours of notification will be deemed forfeited by the winner
• No substitutions, so please do not ask
• Winners are responsible for any taxes
• International members are eligible, subject to the following:
• Shipping costs, taxes, customs and duties are the responsibility of the winner
• Failure to specify shipping method and arrange payment within 48 hours of notification will result in forfeiture of prize

How are drawings conducted? Every member is assigned a number. For examples, if there are 1,000 members, there will be 1,000 corresponding numbers from 1-1,000. These numbers cannot identify anyone, nor can it be used to determine any information about the member. A list of numbers is entered into a list randomizer at http://www.random.org/lists/. The winning numbers are selected from the list in the order generated. If there are 10 prizes, the first 10 numbers will be the winners. Which prize they receive will be determined by another random generation. If there are 10 prizes, each prize will be assigned a number (1-10 in this example). The list of numbers will be entered into the randomizer and the list will be correlated to the list of winners. So, if you are a winner and you are number 5 on the winners list, you receive whatever prize comes up for number 5 on the prize list.