Ok, I can pretend I'm Tiger Woods...
Written: Aug 31 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: nearly doubled my distance; entire club face feels like a sweet spot
Cons: cost
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| kboo's Full Review: Taylor Made FireSole Woods |
Actually, no one would ever mistake me for Tiger Woods, on or off the course. First of all, I'm a mediocre player. Second, and more importantly, I'm a moderately tall, moderately athletic, left-handed woman. These physical characteristics make me a golf-club-buying nightmare! (I'm also a nightmare on the course, but that's another story.) However, I recently bought a Taylor Made Firesole 3 "Wood" and it has changed my golf game dramatically, and lightened my golf bag as well, since this 3 Wood takes the place of all my woods, my driver, and my long irons.
I set out to try a variety of woods from several makers, since a golf store nearby was having a sale. Of course, there are always few lefty clubs to choose from, and you might as well forget about a lefty "woman's" club. Fortunately, I'm strong enough and tall enough that I can hit a men's club pretty hard.
The store had a hitting area in a separate room, and I bundled all of the lefty "sale" clubs I could find (Adams, Orlimar, Callaway Big Bertha Steelhead) in the $100-$150 price range. "Just for kicks" I also decided to "try" the Taylor Made SuperSteel ($199), the Callaway Big Bertha Hawkeye Titanium ($500!!), and the Taylor Made Firesole.
With all of the clubs, I experienced a vast improvement over my non-name starter set. Even with my lack of skill and completely inconsistent hitting, I was striking the ball more accurately, although I still had my fair share of slices and hooks.
However, the Taylor Made Firesole stood out from all the others, even to the point of making it worth the $100 more than I'd expected to spend. First of all, the Firesole is a very forgiving club. Even a strike on the heel or toe of the club stays reasonably straight. If my hit wasn't perfect- for example if I "topped" the ball, or "fatted" it (striking the ground before the ball), I was still able to send the ball a good distance- easily over 100 yards, even on a poopy hit.
The added bonus to the forgiving nature of the Firesole is that it increased my confidence while hitting. I can take a very tight windup and really follow through, knowing that my shot isn't going to fly crazily into the woods. As a result, I can regularly hit well over 200 yards now, where before I was lucky to go 150 with a "perfect" hit. For the men who are out there reading this, it may not seem like a lot, but I almost doubled my distance with this club. Look out boys, I'm hitting from the BLUE tees!!
Another excellent feature about the Firesole is the weighted head, which has made it easier for me to control my swing and made it much easier to hit off the ground. I still make ridiculous divots sometimes, but shots I used to take with a long iron to get the ball in the air, I can take with the Firesole with confidence.
Another thing I learned while shopping for this club is that price is not a measure of how good the club is for you. The closest competitor was the Big Bertha Steelhead, priced at $150. The Big Bertha Hawkeye Titanium, with the weighted plug and graphite shaft, was most similar in design to the Firesole, but cost twice as much. Oddly enough, I simply couldn't hit the darn ball with that club. Something just didn't feel right to me.
The difference between the Firesole and all the other clubs I tried was so dramatic that my husband, standing outside the room, could tell by listening when I was swinging the Firesole:
Firesole:
TING! whizz... THWACK!!
(pause)
TING! whizz... THWACK!!
(pause)
TING! whizz... THWACK!!
Other clubs:
<whiff> "ERR, darnit! @#$%!@!" CLICK! Thwack!
thud! "Ow!" crack!
Ultimately I chose the Firesole over the B.B. Steelhead because of the lighter graphite shaft of the Firesole and because I still hit the Firesole more consistently, and straighter. I figure that in about 5 years I'll save the $100 difference in golf balls- since now most of my shots stay on or near the fairway.
The only concern I've had is that with the significantly longer shaft in a men's version and a much heavier club head than my old woods, my arms got sore after a while- but this was after playing 18 holes and then hitting four buckets of balls in an hour, all the while swinging 100%.
After all this, you may be wondering why my handicap is still over 30+.
Two words:
Putting sucks.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
kboo
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 - Top 1000 |
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Location: New York, NY
Reviews written: 130
Trusted by: 284 members
About Me:
De-fezzed in two topics. Ask me if I care. Hey, what happened to my picture?
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