The r7 Wins! SQ, 425, 460

[JEFF4i]

Hahaha, I am so very clever. Get it, the Quad, 425 and 460 are all r7s! Indeed Jeff, indeed.

ANYWHO....

Here's my review, and I'll get pics up eventually....

The r7 460. Long, bottom line. The shaft and head combo are really great for me, I don't know how to explain it, it just suits me well. A little bit erratic, but not so much that I can't hit a majority of fairways. The ProtoNT launches pretty well off the face for me, but the X and Tipped side of it keeps the ball penetrating and some roll on it (except for our sometimes soaking fairways). I finally got an absolute measurement on my 460's open clubface, and it's only .5* open, which I like. I'd prefer square, but it's tolerable.

The shaft: Once again, that ProtoNT feels great. I generally get the ball pretty high, so when I had it made, I had it tipped, X, and 46.5". It's a bomber though. As I've said, the driver has been solid for me all year. That needs to be a consideration, she's been solid, and we suit eachother well.

The r7 425. Yes, I've done a review, but this is updated. I finally shifted the 12s to the front and the 4s to the back in the clubhead. Smaller profile, and a slight bit more upright than my 460.

The shaft: The Blue Tour X is a beast. It's soooooo stiff, but I can force my swing a little more, raise it up to about 90% and it works great. Even at about 80% it feels great. Any draw or slice is minimal. Luckily, the kickpoint is in a position compared to the ProtoNT to where the ball is made to go slightly higher than if I got a ProtoNT Tour X. I find that a good combination. I will say, that I believe the kickpoint raising the ball might be exclusive to my swing, but I'd yield to Rockford or Lyle to say on a general note. Is the ball going high? Not at all. The shaft is stiff, the weights promote lower ballflight, and the clubhead is less forgiving and more aggresive than the 425. It's a great all around club, and if you want, a wind club. Boring, for sure, but the beautiful part...I still get great distance with it.

THE SUPERQUAAAAAAD! Beautiful club, really. It just looks sleak and sexy. When you are looking at it, at address, in the swing, after the swing, when you fall asleep with it in your arms cradling it for sweet dreams, this club is fine. Essentially the 425 but larger. It's slightly more forgiving, but bear in mind the 425 is also a TP. So I'd say maybe about 15-20% more forgiving than the TP, so probably 5-10 than the regular. If I had to guess. I prefer the Quad to the 425 at address, just looks really nice. You feel like you are going to hit it well. I also left the weights neutral, 4-12-12-4

The Shaft: Diamana Blue Board 63 Stiff. I will admit, I was expecting this shaft to be a little whippy given it's my lightest shaft, and softest. I am pleased to announce to you, my peers, my friends, this is not the case. The first time I swung it, it's solid. Not stiff like rebar, but you can tell it's a well made strong shaft. Soft enough to where someone who would normally hit stiff shafts could hit it, but it held up to my harder swings. This made me really happy. It feels good during the swing too, especially if you like to load the shaft. This shaft is made to be well loaded, but good enough for sweepers, as I tried both swings.

Comparison: The 425 is certainly the lowest, and subsequently the shortest. However it has the most control. So let's get on to the big show. The Blue Board I hit higher than the ProtoNT, but that's for the tipped and stiffness. How'd the dispersion look? As much as I hate to say it, the quad is straighter. Don't really know why, it just is. Through 2 rounds, about 20 hits total, I missed one fairway. It's straighter than my r7. The other side of the coin is that it's about 5-10 yards shorter. However, if I had gotten the SQ first, I'd probably stick with that. You must understand, I'm partially biased because my 460 was a birthday present. I will say though, that Superquad is straight. It's such an awesome club. Aesthetically pleasing, confidence building too.

Oh, and something that I just found really good about the SuperQuad, well two things....

The sound. It just sounds great. And I remember Ez saying that this club just launches off the face, he was soooo right. You hit the ball, look up, and it already looks 200 away. I don't know why, but it's very pleasing. I'm torn whether I want to move on from it or not. On the one hand I want to turn and burn and ho, just side drivers, and have fun like WBL and Ez, but on the other, this thing rocks. If I do decide to sell it, I think the review speaks for itself. Solid club, bar none.

Who wouldn't benefit from these 3 drivers?

The 460: No one, really. Perhaps a softer shaft, but the 460 is a long clubhead, and traditional, which is a big seller with me in all TaylorMade clubs. I don't like square, hibore, or sasquatch. This club as with all of them is pretty. For some reason I'm not sure, the ProtoNT isn't on the market anymore. It suits me well though.

The 425: The shaft is just too stiff unless you swing triple digits. The clubhead is less forgiving. If you have a natural control, and get a shaft more catered to yourself than that Tour X, it's a great club. If you are a bit wild, there are better clubs for you. Oh, worth noting, you can set it up to prevent a slice.

The SuperQuad: Same with the 425, it's nice because of the 4 weight ports. The shaft I think is the best middle-ground staff. No so stiff you can't hit it unless you swing, I'd say, under 85. Not so soft that someone with over 100 can't hit it either. It's solid, great balance. The head I've noticed is the middle ground between the 460 and 425. 425 less forgiving, 460 more forgiving. Workable, but straight.

Any questions I'd love to answer,

[Eracer]

Quite a review. Nice work, Carebear...

[warbirdlover]

So now you'll trade all three in for a Burner TP right? Nice review Jeff. I think the SQ is the best looking R7 they've come out with and teamed with a Diamana Blue Board would be the best. But seems like you've got a dilemma picking your gamer.

[Youngun5]

"I finally got an absolute measurement on my 460's open clubface, and it's only .5* open, which I like. I'd prefer square, but it's tolerable."


do you have a TP or tour issue or something? the 460's i've looked at while "working" seem ridiculously closed.....?

[JEFF4i]

Haha, my mistake. I meant .5* closed.

[footballking732]

nice review jeff... now youve got me on ebay..

[gunning4u]

This year I had the R7 460 and liked it at first but after awhile I just hit it too damn high. It is defiantly a higher spinning head and would balloon on me and I could tell I was loosing distance. With the 460 I tended to hit more draws and my big misses would usually be a hook. I picked up a 425 TP a few weeks ago and it’s a very nice club. Piercing ball flight and I don’t know if I would call it an unforgiving head it’s still forgiving but it does have a slightly smaller sweet spot because of the smaller head, if you put a bad swing on the 425 it will more than likely be a bad shot but I can say the same thing about the 460. I went with an 8.5* head in my new 425, because I hit the 9.5 460 too high but honestly I think a 9.5 425 TP would have been perfect because it does spin a lot less but that is splitting hairs. My ball flight with the 425 is either straight or a little fade which I find a lot easier to control than the big 15-20 yard draw I would get with the 460. With the 425 I just aim middle-left of the fairway and just let it go. It’s defiantly a good 10 maybe 15 yards longer then the 460 on average but that might be because I’m getting better launch angle and spin rate. I would like to get it on a launch monitor to see what the numbers are they have to be close to perfect maybe a degree or two low. It’s a little harder to get the 425 to turn over right to left but I had a some what hard time getting the 460 to fade consistently on command. I really like the TP reax-rombax shaft its probably the stiffest playing stiff flex I have played it might feel a little boardy to some but I like that feel better than a shaft that feels a little whippy. On a side note I can’t believe you like that blue X shaft Jeff, that is one crazy shaft. I bought one last year and it made me feel like a pussy and that was only the 65g blue X, and you have the heavier tour model that is one of the stiffest shafts out there.

[JEFF4i]

Hehehe, I love the thing. I guess I'm kind of a weirdo though, I picked it up and you can tell it's different, but better different.