Drivers

Are You Burned Out on TaylorMade Burner Drivers?

BY Adam Beach
Aug 26th 2008
Read all comments

Don’t Fix What Ain’t Broke…Well

Hey…everyone understands that there is a reason for the phrase “Don’t fix what ain’t broke”. But after today’s release of yet another Burner driver from TaylorMade…which by the way comes only a few weeks after the Burner Plus driver was released…it has TaylorMade faithfuls asking themselves one question…WHY?!

Most gear heads by now are aware that TaylorMade has a different business model then most of the other big players in golf (Ping, Callaway, Titleist, etc). In many golfers minds the product cycle for TaylorMade has simply gotten out of hand though.

Plan Gone Wrong?

I am sure in the beginning the plan sounded great. I can almost close my eyes and picture the scene….big circular boardroom table…you know the ones that are so big they have the speaker in the middle….everyone in ties…cigar smoke filling the room…then…Todd Beach looks at Sean Toulon (both work for TaylorMade Golf) and says “How are we going to get a leg up on Callaway?” He replies back, “Hmmm, well we could put out a new club every month and drown’em out and then we can pay big bucks to almost everyone on all the Tours to play our clubs…if we do this then they will have no choice but to follow our lead and by that time it will be too late!” (fictitious conversation…of course).

ZZZZ….Yawn

Well for the short term it looks like their decision worked, whomever came up with the grand plan was most likely commended and given a promotion but more importantly how will this one decision effect the future of TaylorMade Golf? Well, from the comments we have received at MYGOLFSPY, at least in regards to the Burner line…they are beginning to….zzzzz….yawn! Actually more then yawn…they are starting to look other places for a driver, which is not a good sign for TM.

Most our readers agree that TaylorMade produces a quality product…but if your not going to do much more then put a new paint job or sink a useless weight in the back of a previous model then the least you could do is change the name…right?

Take A Glance: Maybe This Is The Reason

Burner 2009

Burner Plus

Tour Burner

Burner 200? (starting to forget?)

Burner Draw

Burner

Burner Forged Ti Bubble 2

Burner Ti Bubble

Original Burner

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Adam Beach

My name is Adam Beach. This place, this site, it’s more than just a business to me, it truly is an expression of who I am and what I believe in, down to my core. I feel the work I do is a reflection of who I am and the idea behind the work I do is more important than the work itself. You see, I don’t actually see myself in the golf business at all, I am in the business of caring. I am a guy who wakes up with one goal: do the right thing.

Adam Beach

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Driver PING G430 Max 10k	Hybrid PING G430
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comments

Join The Discussion

Luke

11 years ago

Regardless, the club feels great, looks great, nice and sweet/solid through impact and best of all, let’s off an all mighty CRACK!!!!!, the club is a full head turner, I love it. About time for me to upgrade but I can’t bring myself to part with it.
Luke, melbourne, Aus

Matt

14 years ago

I guess the club can evolve in different ways. Once every 2 years. Or once every 2 months. Essentially its the same thing with a different business model.

Most companies wait for a fairly significant change before bringing out what they call a NEW driver. Taylor Made changes a few details and calls that a new driver. Really you have to jump a number of models for it to be a NEW driver.

There is nothing wrong with it. People who buy into every new driver are either rich, naive or addicts! Either way it rewards TMs business model.

I use a Mizuno mx-700-better than all TM drivers IMHO!

mygolfspy

14 years ago

The Mizuno is a good driver you are correct.

glenn

14 years ago

Uh…didn’t the original burner come out way before that model? I had a Tour Burner as far back as the mid 80s. First metal I ever owned.

9handicapper

14 years ago

“..The old equipment plays better, responds better,..”

You didn’t print that with a straight face – did you….??

mygolfspy

14 years ago

I almost spit my drink out when I read that comment.

lefteyelouie

14 years ago

Get real people! The only reason people gripe is because they work and they are popular. If you check all the equipment is made in some crap hole third world country.ALL OF THEM NAME BRANDS”AMERICAN MADE” or not. Theirs works for good players and bad so people who can’t swing can hit a straight”ish” shot and it makes “better” players made PERIOD
I play Mizuno T-zoid True blades made in Japan by Mizuno. The clubs are old they hit great and were made by the company on the club. If you keep buying crap they will keep squating and grunting it out. The old equipment plays better, responds better, the only thing new is the shafts. So, go out buy an original club made by the company not for it, and learn how to play. That is what makes a pro a pro and a hack the go yelling profanities and fore all the time!

[email protected]

15 years ago

Anyone who thinks the burner is anything but the best driver out is an idiot. The burner is simply better than every driver made to date. Go hit one.

mygolfspy

15 years ago

You willing to put some money on the line? I got about 10 drivers sitting right beside me that test better then any Burner ever made.

TAYLORMADE IS A JOKE

14 years ago

This just shows your ignorance and lack of knowledge in golf. The burner driver is one of the worst drivers ever produced in the history of the game. Mass produced rubbish, that is always not the right loft or face angle that it is supposed to be. A cheap grip and shaft put on to reduce production costs and ship them out as soon as possible. The average length of shaft on the PGA Tour is 44.5 inches and the Burner 09 is 46.25 inches, hmmm? If tour players can’t hit shafts that long why are run of the mill amateurs. The club is junk and so is Taylormade Golf. I suggest everybody that owns one get the loft and face angle checked out, I’m sure you will be rather shocked! The only good driver you can get is one that is built for you from scratch, anything else is just junk!

mygolfspy

14 years ago

I think he was just another guy from Taylormade employee trying to post a positive comment. They tend to do this on all the big golf sites.

CRay

15 years ago

Chris,

Food for thought…

Nobody is knocking Taylormade and their marketing … what’s being said is, their new clubs (any new clubs) are based on 2 things – shaft and grip… anything after that is paint and promotion.

3/4 years ago you could by hybrids for $59/$79 … now try buying one for under $129/$179, and “except” for the difference in shafts (and maybe the grips) they’re the same hybrid that was sold 3/4 years ago .. a little difference in paint and promotion – yes, but it’s the same club that was marketed 30 months ago…

As far as the launch monitor specs, they could easily be changed by a different shaft or by a different manufacturer – or even the same manufacturer … 2 months ago I sent back a Cleveland Hibore XL with a Fuji “reg” 10.5 shaft, the frequency was 355, I don’t think Tiger plays a 355 frequency shaft, it should have been 230/240 … so how many buyers have one and now feel they need a new club.? 10, 50, 250..? … unfortunately the consumer gets bit in that deal, not the manufacturer — and TM has the highest rate of returns.

The cost of shafts are dropping like anvils on Jupitor, here’s a good example …. 2 months ago you couldn’t find a Proto 80 for under $129..

Aldila VS Proto 80 Hyb
Price: $36.99
Brand NEW Hybrid Pullout
Aldila NVS Hybrid 85-R Pullout Shaft

You might consider looking at Diamond Tour Golf, Hireko Golf or Giga Golf and finding $450 golf clubs for $150 and they’re custom fit…

I hope this helps.

CRay.

–

Chris Fortune

15 years ago

I’ve been playing the 2008 Burner and love it, but yesterday on the launch monitor the new 2009 model was consistently giving me another 3 MPH, 5-8 more yards carry with a slightly lower trajectory (maybe adding more roll?). That could actually mean another 10 yards or more in the end. Most of these posts are highly critical, but for me I’ll say,”Way to go Taylormade!”. I think their continuing research and testing is top-notch and the variety of drivers offered only tells me that there’s a TM Driver that will suit everybody right off the shelf. Much better than buying another manufacturer’s and then adding a $200 shaft to get it to perform just right!

mygolfspy

15 years ago

Chris,
You could honestly do that with almost every head on the market…as long as you get the right launch parameters. You most likely did not have the right ones before hand. And also tying different balls will show dramatic differences on monitors as well. I am happy if you got improved results…but that is not what the article was about. It was about TM turing the industry into a commodities based market. And 81% of our readers agreed…so we felt it would be a good topic to discuss,

Thanks for your thoughts though…keep’em coming.

CRay

15 years ago

.. Not to worry Vijay … the manufacturers are doing discounts like never before, so take your time and wait for January .. you’ll see 50% and then some.

–

Vijay Eswaran

15 years ago

Wow! Glad I found this post. I was considering buying one because I found a retailer giving a 50% discount. The normal price for the new Burner driver in Malaysia costs around US$499.

mygolfspy

15 years ago

Vijay,

Glad it helped.

wes

15 years ago

I just got the new Burner and love it! I have been hitting the 07 model since it came out and I think its a great club too. Got the new one for christmas played with it today and am not gonna look back at my old one. I understand they come out with ton of differnt crap but at the same time does it really matter? I mean if I had a golf company I would be coming out with as much new stuff as I could. Then again what do I know.. Bring on the snarky comments!

mygolfspy

15 years ago

Well it is typically a failing business model for the long term. And you can tell it is wearing on both the customer and the vendors. Many golf stores are very upset because their inventory is now worth crap only 5 months after they release their clubs. And with 27 drivers and 59 irons it makes it tough in regards to branding.

But thanks for your opinions…love to hear everyone’s view.

Ben

15 years ago

I’ve owned just about every TM driver to date. I currently have the Tour Burner for about 2 months. It’s all about the shaft. TM is getting out of hand. To many drivers back to back. Looking at getting another driver at the end of the year and it wont be a TM.

Travis

16 years ago

The only thing saving TM is the tour presence – however, that has to be a marginal return on investment. I think TM will eventually be in Walmart etc

mygolfspy

16 years ago

I agree with you about the tour presence but Wal-Mart I don;t see. THey simply have too deep pockets. I think their numbers will slide soon but they will get it right soon.

don brooks

15 years ago

I have seen older TM drivers at Meijers (major chain store in the midwest, alot like Wal-Mart). Their golf/sporting goods section is almost mirrored to Wal-Marts, so seeing these clubs at these stores soon is not that far away. I am also seeing alot of Calaway merchandise at Target.

Travis

16 years ago

The main problem with TM is the green grass shops have difficulty stocking and keeping up with the technology. When a shop sells 12-18 drivers per year for several different brands- it is going to be difficult to stay with TM. Much easier for a small shop to stick with the brands that only bring out new clubs once a year- or better yet, once every 2 years

mygolfspy

16 years ago

It is causing a major problem for them.

Kiwi

16 years ago

I’ve got the Burner 200?? version. Non TP with a salthering of lead tape on the toe.
I’ve hit all the new models out of curiosity, they may look different but I haven’t switched yet. They don’t go any further, nor muych straighter. I always pull the shafts anyway so that doesn’t worry me. Bring on the D3Comp I say

CJM

16 years ago

Has anyone compared the 2007 Burner with the Tour Burner? I know that the introduction of the dual crown came with the Tour Burner, but has anyone noticed an increase in performance? Is it worth the upgrade? It make me dizzy to see yet another Burner model being introduced.

Whchoclte

16 years ago

To me its more of whats the big diff between the NEW BURNER TP and Tour Burner TP. Longer shaft? 460 head??? Why not just combine the two in one offering and save the hassle of retailers and customers. Create one Burner line.

The last thing that gets me is the release date of the reg and TP version of this NEW BURNER. Seriously a 5-month wait for the TP version. WHats the deal???

Golfer

16 years ago

I can’t agree more! I linked to this post from my blog, hope that is okey with you.

mygolfspy

16 years ago

Not a problem at all.

CRay

16 years ago

.. Another, better, bigger, faster, taller Cleveland driver for 2009:

Cleveland Launcher Driver:

At only half a millimeter thick, the Cleveland Launcher Driver crown moves every bit of potential weight low and deep to improve the CG (center of gravity), optimizing launch conditions and maximizing distance. The sole’s horseshoe weight pad also improves launch conditions by localizing weight low and deep, improving both MOI (moment of inertia) and CG locations, while the largest Launcher face to date allows generous room for mis-hits.

Yikes.! … the XLS has been out for 9/10 months…?

–

mygolfspy

16 years ago

Sorry didnt understand…this one was about TM not Cleveland.

mygolfspy

16 years ago

I have heard the same…interesting how it effected to smaller guys in the short term…but mark my words it will hurt TM in the end. Nickent might not leapfrog them but TM will not be on top for much longer. I give them another 1- 1 1/2 years and then they will see a major slide.

CRay

16 years ago

I had a interesting conversation with one of the Reps from Nickent the other day … he had mentioned how their business was off by 20% from last year.

With Nickent being so popular and getting rave reviews from everybody, I was really taken back by this at first … he explained, it’s because of so much product on the market right now.

— But with so much product, why aren’t these clubs being discounted anymore than they are.? … lets be reasonable, a $399 TaylorMade Tour Burner discounted $100 is not a big discount considering Dicks Sporting Goods or Golfsmith only pays $75 … shafts cost more than the clubs nowadays.

golfercraig

16 years ago

If you think anyone is selling drivers for 300 bucks that they only paid 75 for (at least from any of the big manufacturers) you couldn’t be more wrong.

CRay

16 years ago

.. Please be more clear and explain..

Ric Yip

16 years ago

TaylorMade make good clubs, however the releases of new models every few months really hurt their business.
My current driver is a R5 Draw and playing great with it. Tried hitting the Tour Burner earlier, love the way it swing similar to my R5 with more forgiveness. This make me seriously considering switching, however, few weeks later the price reduced dramatically for new line-up coming out in the same year. This make me to put a hard brake of the purchase because there might be further reduction in another few months. Same thing happened to the Rossa Spider putter that I am putting a brake on purchasing because there were more than 30 models of putter have been released from TaylorMade in the last 3-4 years. All my playing partners all waited a few months to get the nearly new line for a big bargain.
This is just ridiculous in a business and golfers point of view. There is technically zero resale value of TM clubs…

Roy Smith

16 years ago

I am a retailer of golf equipment in the UK. The paying customer is confused and rightly annoyed at Taylormade and their constant and relentless release of new Burner Drivers purportedly giving greater distance and accuracy. Imagine then how we the retailer feel, continuous new models with prices of the “old” model going down mean constant hassle from our valued customers, try explaining to a customer why that driver “New Burner” he bought a few weeks ago has now been replaced and lost half its value, they think we are making a fortune at there expense!!!
I wish, the only people making money from the Burner driver is Taylor Made!!!

mygolfspy

16 years ago

We’re hearing this complaint a lot from both retailers like yourself and the consumer. I truly think they are shooting themselves in the foot.

Tim Weston

16 years ago

Don’t forget the real original burner that came out in the late 80s. I used the Burner Plus all through high school and college golf. That was a great club but it looks like a hybrid now with that small head.

The good news for me is that I now just tune out the new product introductions and wait (used to be a year, now it is just a few months), for these models to be introduced on Ebay. That to me is when the club is really introduced.

mygolfspy

16 years ago

I think you hit the nail on the head…golfers are starting to tune out all their new releases…which in the long run hurts their brand tremendously.

CRay

16 years ago

I guess I’m just not getting it …

Cleveland has had 3(?) different “hibores” in the last 3 years, Cobra has done similar changes, Callaway the same and now we have the 5th/6th(?) “bigger and badder” TaylorMade that has come out in the last 5 years .. and that doesn’t include the CGB’s or the Superduper quads…

My question is … is anybody getting anything out of these clubs..? ..besides a newer shape and a different color from last years and spending $299, $399 or $599 dollars – is anybody “really” seeing any big changes in yardage or game improvement.?

It’s basic science nowadays .. we all know the grip is the steering wheel and the shaft is the engine ..a new grip will probably give you another 3 to 10 yards, also the “right grip” will save you 10 or 20 yards – and the “right” shaft can easily give you another 10 or 20 yards depending on your swing plane and your speed … and the new clubs are doing what.?

I play 150/160 rounds a year, and I play courses up and down the east coast … but I don’t see many amateur guys like myself seeing the benefits of these $500 drivers — maybe that’s the reason why companies like Diamond Tour Golf and others are being so successful.?

–

mygolfspy

16 years ago

Well like we said I think the other companies felt the need to try and keep up and I feel it is going to backfire the most for TaylorMade. The others have changed their model as well but the guy thats leads the pack always gets most of the attention…and that is not good right now for TM.

I always tell people “if it does not improve on the driver you have right now then don’t spend a dollar on a new one…it just does not make sense”

Thanks for the comment

Ron Freeny

16 years ago

I really wish I knew why they are doing this. It doesnt make any sense to me. I am betting in 5 years they are not going to even be in the Top 4.

Cori Gurrera

16 years ago

You took the words right out of my mouth. I am going to be going with the new Titleist this year.

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Drivers

Are You Burned Out on TaylorMade Burner Drivers?

Don’t Fix What Ain’t Broke…Well

Plan Gone Wrong?

ZZZZ….Yawn

Take A Glance: Maybe This Is The Reason

For You

For You

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comments

Luke

Matt

mygolfspy

glenn

9handicapper

mygolfspy

lefteyelouie

[email protected]

mygolfspy

TAYLORMADE IS A JOKE

mygolfspy

CRay

Chris Fortune

mygolfspy

CRay

Vijay Eswaran

mygolfspy

wes

mygolfspy

Ben

Travis

mygolfspy

don brooks

Travis

mygolfspy

Kiwi

CJM

Whchoclte

Golfer

mygolfspy

CRay

mygolfspy

mygolfspy

CRay

golfercraig

CRay

Ric Yip

Roy Smith

mygolfspy

Tim Weston

mygolfspy

CRay

mygolfspy

Ron Freeny

Cori Gurrera

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