Taylormade Rocketballz vs. Ping V2 Rapture

I used to have a Ping V2 Rapture but I traded it to my buddy for his brand new Taylormade Rocketballz Tour.  He said the white color really distracted him and I jumped at the chance to trade my three-year-old club to him for a brand new driver with an adjustable head and newer technology. Both clubs are 9 degrees of loft.  I took the RBZ to the range before I agreed to the trade and saw the difference immediately.  Longer drives with the RBZ for sure. Made the trade that day.

Ever since, it's been boom or bust.  Sometimes I'll hit it 240, sometimes closer to 270 and then there are the 300 yarders that pop up once or twice a round.  But the complaint here is it's boom or bust.  What I just mentioned is the boom.  The bust is that this club brings me to slice maybe 40% of the time.  I wasn't getting the distance with my Ping that I am with the RBZ, but I very rarely sliced with the Ping. What gives? Anyone have any insight or a similar experience?

No one has had any slicing issues with the RBZ Driver?

I would bet the slicing issue has nothing to do with the head of the club.

But it could be the shaft; and

It could be the RBZ is actually closer to 9 degrees whereas the Rapture V2 head was notorious for being 1-1.5 degree higher than the stated loft. I had to ask Ping to digitally loft the V2 head to get a 10 degree head and they used a 9 degree head to do it. Lower loft = more sidespin

So I would suggest having someone check the loft of the head, and see if the shaft is a good fit;

Also, the slice may be a combo of inconsistent setup and an over the top move when you try too hard.

That's interesting about the Ping loft inconsistency.  Time to adjust the loft to 10 on the RBZ and see what happens at the range.

Relax and spend more time with the club. I normally give a club a month - if the head is good, I fool around with the shaft and length at my fitter's place, and let him do his thing. Golf and sex must be interrelated because we're always talking about shafts and length.

My guess is its the indian and not the arrow.  Unless the shaft is way too stiff a good move will produce good results.

I have the RBZ Tour and it took me about two weeks to work it out. Now, I hit it straighter and farther than any driver I've owned. Your problem could be any number of things. The first culprit could be shaft flex. I was fitted for my RBZ and ordered it custom, since you got it from your buddy there could be an issue there. Give it a few weeks and hit a bunch of balls with it. If it doesn't get better get on a launch monitor and see if the numbers are off. If they are you can buy screw in replacement shafts all over the place for less than $100.

I just picked up the RBZ Tour 3 days ago. It's so funny that you're having this problem because like Judge Smails, I never slice! Jk. My mishit is a hook. I previously had a SF 2.0 (non TP, X-flex, 48g) which is actually closed 2*. I didn't like it at first but it was a gift so I learned to use it and I was crushing the chit out of that thing. The face cracked so I had to send it back. Since it was under warranty they had me send it back, but they sent me back a RBZ Tour since the SF is now discontinued. I thought, "Great!" I get the new model, but alas, I took it to the range and felt like a 30 handicap, banana-ballin' it like it was my job. I get it. It's a new club and I need to give it some TLC before I can decide to turn it into scrap metal but CHIT! It was pretty frustrating. The RBZ Tour has a neutral face and the shaft, compared to the one in the SF, is 12g heavier. Dig the ball flight on this thing. After hitting 1 out of 10 drives well, I couldn't help but utter, "Now that's RocketBallz," while chaneling my best Camilo. Let's do this!

Fixed the problem. Just dedicated an entire large bucket to the driver last night and figured that thing out. Just had to compensate for the Tour model having a neutral face, as the SF 2.0 I was using previously was closed 2*. I did that by exaggerating my draw swing then fine tuning it progressively. Teeing it higher also helps, as promotes ascending contact. Teeing lower will just open up your chances of hitting down on it and giving you more spin which we all don't want.

Raised the loft from 9 to 9.75.  The difference was incredible.  Didn't slice once!

two questions

1.  you can adjust the loft?

2,  you don't get distracted by white color?

Yes, you can adjust the loft in .75 increments to 1.5 degrees in either direction, tops.  The white makes zero difference.  It is really is a sweet looking club.

I currently play a Rapture v2 as well. I tried the RBZ and didn't care for the white head. The RBZ did produce more slice (I play a 5-10 yd fade anyway). This could have been a mental factor of me thinking "I don't like the white head, therefore I will hit this club poorly". The same day I also hit the new i20, I was playing a slight draw with hit and gained about 7 yds. All of this was done on a launch monitor btw. I didn't really get a lot of attention at the PGA store I went to, matter of fact, no one asked if I wanted to try different shaft set ups; I guess the 8 month winter beard scared them away.

Could be the weak stock shaft is leading to issues with the RBZ.

White paint job? Not a problem with a non-RBZ club after a few swings. In fact, I think it does help alignment.