00:00Retro review time and I've got an absolute cracker for you today. I'm going to take you
00:03back to 2004. A young Mark Zuckerberg has just released a little website called Facebook.
00:09JLo and Ben Affleck split up for the first time and the TaylorMade R7 Quad Driver was
00:15released. We've teamed up with Golf Clubs for Cash, one of the leading retailers of pre-loved
00:20equipment and they've given us some absolute gems to test. So please check them out in
00:23the description below. Now to the best of our knowledge, this was the first ever driver
00:27with adjustable weights. These four weight ports have got two wide at the front here,
00:32two close together at the back and they housed a couple of 2 gram weights and a
00:35couple of 10 gram weights and the idea was you could move these around in
00:39whatever area you wanted in the club to create different flight preferences
00:43through moving that CG. Now people used to do this with lead tape for years and
00:47years on tour and this driver negated the needs of that and you tend to see it in
00:52almost every modern day driver now. Now we picked this up for the bargain price of
00:5631.99 so we better go and see how it performs. So I've come down to the fifth hole at
01:02the
01:02beautiful Stoke Park Golf Club because I wanted to get some baseline data. I brought
01:06them in my full swing kit launch monitor and I just want to get a flavour for what
01:10it's doing from a spin and launch perspective. Now down behind the ball it's
01:14actually a really interesting look. It looks really small but it's 410cc which
01:19isn't actually that small. Most modern day drivers max out at 460cc but because the
01:24face is so very very deep there wasn't enough spare mass to push it back and wide to
01:29give a larger footprint like some of the modern drivers so it's actually a deceptive
01:33look. So let's hit a couple of ways and see what data I can get.
01:43Okay it's a good hit. Turned over a bit. Decent club head speed. 165 on the ball speed. 2.8
01:51of spin and 2.67 in total.
01:53Not too bad. Expect a little bit more yardage out of it maybe. Let's go again.
02:07Slightly better struck. A little bit more on line. Ball speed at 165. Spins popped up a bit there. Nearly
02:15three and a half thousand revs and 2.7.4 in
02:18carry distance. So quite pleased with that. For $31.99 that's not bad at all. So let's put it up
02:24against the modern day equivalent and see what we get. To see if that R7 quad can still perform, I've
02:29thought it's going to be good.
02:29It's putting it up against one of the latest and greatest from TaylorMade, the QI10 and I've got the LS
02:34model because it's the most adjustable of that family.
02:37So I'm going to do the same. I'm going to hit a couple away, get some baseline numbers and let's
02:40see how it gets on.
02:46Right here, a little bit left. Much higher on the ball speed so into the 170s there. Spins right down
02:53at 2.1 and that's carried at 2.83 so there's more yardage in it.
02:57Let's hit another one away.
03:01So yeah, it's noticeably quicker off the face but launched at a similar height but yeah, ball speed up again
03:07in 170s. A little bit more spin that time near 3,000.
03:12290 on the carry so there's definitely more in this from a speed point of view and a raw ball
03:17data point of view.
03:18But that's not what this is about. This is all about adjustability. So we're going to start moving some weights
03:23around and see how much we can manipulate that ball flight with each of these drivers.
03:28So I want to highlight the adjustability and how much you can maneuver the ball flight with these weights, these
03:32two 10 grams and these two 2 grams.
03:34I'm going to show you how to adjust the head to put them into a draw setting first but there
03:39is one rather big problem.
03:51As you can see, that was very, very slow and not that easy to do. Now it's not the end
03:56of the world, you're not going to be moving these weights around all the time and obviously you can't during
04:00the course of a round.
04:01But it is something to note. It is quite a cumbersome process but we're in the draw setting now so
04:06let's hit one away and see if we can get it moving.
04:12Well that was a nice high draw. It started just at the bunker on the right turning over into the
04:16middle of the fairway and I felt I put a very, very similar swing on that.
04:19So the CG change really does seem to have done what it's supposed to do there.
04:23So you're going to have to bear with me a second when I change these over into the fade setting.
04:28Let's see if it can do it on a left to right shot.
04:37OK, that's a beautiful little fade that started hugging the trees on the left hand side just drifting right centre
04:44of the cut.
04:45So that's doing exactly what it's supposed to do. Let's see if the modern equivalent can do the same.
04:50So I've got the Qi10 LS now and I want you to pay close attention to how much easier it
04:55is to get this in the draw setting.
04:57I've got one screw, loosen that, push the weight all across, tighten it up, job done.
05:07We're in the draw setting, let's see if it works.
05:14OK, that's doing what it's supposed to do. Started a bit straight, just turning down the left hand side.
05:18Very similar level of curvature to the R7 quad there. So that's really interesting. It is doing what it's supposed
05:24to do.
05:25Now we've got 18 grams of adjustable weight on the Qi10 LS here, as opposed to the 24 grams of
05:31adjustability with the R7 quad.
05:34So let's shift it all the way across the fade now and see if it does what it's supposed to
05:37do there.
05:38So we're in full fade setting now. Let's see if that does what it's supposed to do.
05:45OK, so it's doing its job. Started left side, fading perfectly back into the middle.
05:51And that's really interesting. Between those two drivers, essentially they're both doing what they're supposed to do.
05:56When I move them into the fade setting, they're both fading in pretty similar amounts.
06:00I'd say there was five or six yard curvature on both of the fades. Similar with the draw.
06:05Again, when you're both in the draw setting, five or six yards of curvature.
06:09So not much to choose between the two heads there in terms of adjustability.
06:13So from a driver that's 30 pounds, essentially, and 20 years old, that's pretty impressive.
06:19So if you're struggling with a certain shot shape and you want to influence it with the CG,
06:23you can do that without having to spend 500 pounds by the looks of things.
06:26From a raw ball data point of view, I think it's tough to argue that the QI10 LS is a
06:32superior driver.
06:33I was getting more ball speed. I was getting a higher carry number.
06:37Everything I look for in a driver in this day and age was here with the QI10 LS.
06:41But from an adjustability point of view, and that's kind of what I really wanted to see between these two
06:46drivers,
06:46there really wasn't much in it. In the draw settings, they both drew and a very similar amount of curvature.
06:52And in the fade setting, they both did what they were supposed to do there.
06:56Arguably, they're very, very similar levels of adjustability.
06:59I've got 24 grams I can shift around in the R7 quad versus 18 grams I can shift around here.
07:05Admittedly, the R7 quad was in the pre-loft sleeve era.
07:09So I've got a bit more adjustability in terms of face angle and base loft with the QI10 LS again.
07:15But in summary, if you're someone who's looking for a cut price option and you've got a specific ball flight
07:20you want to dial in or even avoid,
07:22and you're not going to move those weights around too much because that's another point.
07:26You saw how slow and cumbersome it was to move these weights around.
07:29If you're not someone who's going to shift those around a lot, the R7 quad for $31.99 could be
07:35a really great option.
07:36You sure?
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