The Best Driver: TaylorMade R9 SuperTri, R9 SuperTri TP Drivers

From Sports Illustrated Golf+ Equipment Issue (February 8, 2010)
The R9 SuperTri Driver is the first driver to unify all of TaylorMade's major driver technologies in a maximum-sized, 460cc clubhead: Movable Weight Technology, Flight Control Technology, Inverted Cone Technology and Ultra-Thin Wall Technology. The head is sleeker than previous R9 heads, thanks to a reshaped crown that reduces wind resistance. Though the shape is more aerodynamic, the face is the deepest (62mm) TaylorMade has ever incorporated into a driver with Movable Weight Technology.

From the Shop Blog (January 2010)
The TaylorMade R9 driver featured a 420cc head, three movable weights and a system that allowed golfers to unscrew the clubhead and re-attach it to the shaft in one of eight different positions. Next came the bigger and more powerful R9 460, which also featured the adjustable head but lacked the movable weights.

Players who wanted a TaylorMade driver that combined a 460cc head with three movable weights and an adjustable face were out of luck … until now. TaylorMade is set to release the R9 SuperTri and R9 SuperTri TP drivers on February 19.

The all-black head of the SuperTri is reminiscent of the r7 SuperQuad, which TaylorMade says was one of its most-popular clubs.

From a performance standpoint, the 460cc head of the SuperTri is more forgiving that the original R9. Because the center of gravity has been moved lower and 2 millimeters back in the head, drives should launch higher with slightly more spin for greater carry distance. In fact, the center of gravity in the SuperTri is even slightly lower and farther back than the R9 460's. The face is also the deepest TaylorMade has ever produced.

According to TaylorMade, the eight different face-angle settings combine with the three adjustable weights (two 1-gram weights and one 16-gram weight) to give the SuperTri up to 75 yards of left-or-right adjustability. In addition, as golfers adjust the face to be more closed, effective loft is added, which increases the launch angle. Adjusting the face to be more open decreases effective loft for a lower trajectory.

The R9 SuperTri will be available in four lofts (8.5°, 9.5°, 10.5°, 11.5°) and come standard with a Fujikura Motore 60-gram shaft in one of five flexes (L, M, R, S, X). The R9 SuperTri TP features the same head with a choice of 10 premium shafts, including the Aldila Voodoo, Mitsubishi Fubuki and Matrix Ozik.

$229.99 at

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