This month kicks off the launch of the new and highly anticipated R11 Irons.
The R11 Iron is a cast, progressively-sized iron with TaylorMade’s inverted cone technology in the face to improve off-center hit ball speed. They combine the distance-enhancing technology of the Burner 2.0 Iron, introduced the fall of 2010, with the Tour Preferred forged irons, introduced earlier this spring season. The top line thickness starts thin in the short-irons to thicker in long-irons so the offset and center of gravity locations change with each different iron to optimize trajectory and spin. The wider soles and head shape increases forgiveness for an easier launch.
The player-focused look and feel creates some interesting talking points. According to Golf Digest, engineers at TaylorMade spent quite a bit of time developing the grooves given the USGA’s decision to roll back groove effectiveness in 2008. For those of you that don’t know about this rule and are new to the golf game, here’s a quick run down: The USGA has made the groove rule changes in order to reduce spin on shots played from the rough by highly skilled golfers and restore the challenge of shots played form the rough to the green. The overall goal was to improve the importance of driving accuracy. The new stipulations reduce the sharpness of the groove edge radius and the total volume of the grooves. The senior director of iron development at TaylorMade, Bret Wahl, said the new groove design produces 16 percent more spin on a pitching wedge from the fairway than in the Burner 2.0 Iron. You get more spin control on the golf ball and can play the game with greater confidence.
In addition, the R11 Iron cast design can be produced in great numbers to keep up with product demand. And let’s just say we anticipate a significant demand for this cool new tool for the course.
Posted in Equipment, Golf Clubs, Product Announcements
