50 Words or Less
The TaylorMade R15 hybrid is a great looking club well-suited to better players.
Introduction
TaylorMade has done a great job differentiating between their two 2015 product lines – R15 and AeroBurner. We recently reviewed the AeroBurner hybrid and found that it’s a club designed for higher handicap players looking to simply hit their long clubs a longer way. The R15 hybrid, on the other hand, is geared toward the better player who want more precision from their rescue club.
Looks
The things that stands out most about the TaylorMade R15 hybrid is its size. At between 98 and 103 cc (depending on loft), it’s markedly smaller than last year’s SLDR Rescue, and it’s one of the smaller hybrids on the market today. At address, you’ll also notice that the toe is taller and more squared.
Sound & Feel
The TaylorMade R15 hybrid has a sound that’s perfect for a hybrid – it’s a blend of the hot, metallic sound of a fairway wood and the quiet “thud” of an iron. Overall, it’s fairly quiet and traditional. The feel is very solid on pure strikes, but it is hard and unforgiving when you miss the center.
The R15 hybrid is similar to the AeroBurner in that it’s head-heavy, but the heavier shaft does put more in the hands as well.
Performance
The look of the R15 hybrid tells you that it’s for better players, and the performance backs up that look: it is not nearly as forgiving as the AeroBurner. This is a club meant for players who consistently find the center of the face. Good ball strikers are rewarded with a neutral center of gravity that makes the R15 far less hook-prone than most hybrids.
In my testing, I found that the stock shaft in the R15 performed really well, whereas I didn’t get along with the AeroBurner’s stock shaft. This led to the R15 having better numbers for me across the board – higher launch, slightly lower spin, better distance, and much better accuracy. I do want to emphasize, however, that the R15 head itself is not as forgiving as the AeroBurner, so it’s important to test both to see which one performs better for you.
Conclusion
The audience for the TaylorMade R15 hybrid will undoubtedly be smaller than that of the AeroBurner, but the better players who want a neutral CoG and smaller head will really like what TaylorMade has done here.
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He founded Plugged In Golf in 2013 with the goal of helping all golfers play better and enjoy the game more.
Matt lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago with his wife and two daughters.
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