R9 Driver Instructions - How to Configure Your R9 Driver

Taylormade has taken two of their best technologies for customization and enabled both to be used together in one golf club. Their FCT and MWT features are now available in the R9 driver creating an enormous amount of custom options, and although it's fantastic to be able to customize your driver, it can get very confusing. Well that's where we come in, we'll show you how to take your new R9 driver and transform it into a powerful weapon that will change your golf game forever.

The FCT feature stands for Flight Control Technology, which is when you unscrew the shaft, twist it to the setting you want, and then screw it back into the clubhead. There are 4 main options, L, R, N, NU, with 4 more options in between for a total of 8. We will describe below what effect the FCT settings have on the face angle, lie, loft when the clubhead is square at impact, and the trajectory bias.

Taylormade's Moveable Weight Technology (MWT) was first introduced in the r7 Quad driver. This technology allows you to move the center of gravity (CG) in the club head by changing the position of weight around the perimeter of the head,which in turn affects the trajectory. The R9 driver comes standard with two 1 gram weights and one 16 gram weight. We'll describe below how the position of each weight affects the trajectory.

FCT Instructions & Specs for Each Loft

The charts below are read left to right showing the following specs in the order below.

Note: The lofts in the below chart are when the club head is square. The negative numbers for trajectory bias mean a bias to the left or a draw bias, whereas a positive number reflects a bias to the right or a fade.

FCT Position, Face Angle, Lie, Loft, Trajectory Bias

10.5 Loft Drivers

Pos. 1 R, 2 Open, 59, 9.5, 16

Pos. 2 N-R, 1 Open, 58.5, 10.0, 10

Pos. 3 NU-R, 1 Open, 59.5, 10.0, 8

Pos. 4 N, Square, 58, 10.5, -2

Pos. 5 NU, Square, 60, 10.5, -6

Pos. 6 NU-L, 1 Closed, 59.5, 11.0, -16

Pos. 7 N-L, 1 Closed, 58.5, 11.0, -18

Pos. 8 L, 2 Closed, 59.0, 11.5, -24

9.5 Loft Drivers

Pos. 1 R, 2 Open, 59, 8.5, 16

Pos. 2 N-R, 1 Open, 58.5, 9.0, 10

Pos. 3 NU-R, 1 Open, 59.5, 9.0, 8

Pos. 4 N, Square, 58, 9.5, -2

Pos. 5 NU, Square, 60, 9.5, -6

Pos. 6 NU-L, 1 Closed, 59.5, 10.0, -16

Pos. 7 N-L, 1 Closed, 58.5, 10.0, -18

Pos. 8 L, 2 Closed, 59.0, 10.5, -24

8.5 Loft Drivers

Pos. 1 R, 2 Open, 59, 7.5, 16

Pos. 2 N-R, 1 Open, 58.5, 8.0, 10

Pos. 3 NU-R, 1 Open, 59.5, 8.0, 8

Pos. 4 N, Square, 58, 8.5, -2

Pos. 5 NU, Square, 60, 8.5, -6

Pos. 6 NU-L, 1 Closed, 59.5, 9.0, -16

Pos. 7 N-L, 1 Closed, 58.5, 9.0, -18

Pos. 8 L, 2 Closed, 59.0, 9.5, -24

MWT Instructions and Trajectory Bias for Each Weight Configuration

Taylormade's MWT technology basically uses simple physics by adding more weight to certain areas of the club head to affect the center of gravity. The MWT feature is to be used on top of the FCT technology to increase trajectory bias even more than what you see above in the FCT chart instructions.

The simple logic behind moving the trajectory bias from left to right and vice versa is as follows. If you add more weight to the heel of the club the toe will be lighter and thus it will close faster through impact providing more of a draw bias or right to left trajectory. If you add more weight to the toe of the club, the toe will close slower through impact resulting in a left to right shot or a fade. Now unless you have more weight available you won't have to worry as much about the weights affecting the height of your shots, but if you do the weights affect the height in the following way. The more weight you put towards the front of the golf club the lower the ball will fly since you are moving the CG (center of gravity) closer towards the face. Whereas, the more weight you put in the back-center of the clubhead, the higher your trajectory will be since you're moving the CG further back, which would also increase backspin.

The following chart is a basic guideline for the 3 weights that come with the R9.

Toe, Center, Heel - Trajectory Bias

16g, 1g, 1g - Fade Bias

1g, 16g, 1g - Straight

1g, 1g, 16g - Draw Bias