Taylormade has taken two of their best technologies for customization and enabled both to be used together in their R9 driver. Their FCT and MWT features are now available in the R9 family of drivers creating an enormous amount of options, and although it's great to have the ability to customize your driver, it can get quite confusing. Well that's where we come in, we'll show you how to take your new R9 driver and transform it into a powerful weapon that will change your golf game forever.
The FCT feature stands for Flight Control Technology, which is when you unscrew the shaft, twist it to the setting you want, and then screw it back into the clubhead. There are 4 main options, L, R, N, NU, with 4 more options in between for a total of 8. Described below are the effects that each of the FCT settings have on the face angle, lie, loft when the clubhead is square at impact, and the trajectory bias. Taylormade's Moveable Weight Technology (MWT) was first introduced in the r7 Quad driver. This technology allows you to move the center of gravity (CG) in the club head by changing the position of weight around the perimeter of the head,which in turn affects the trajectory. The R9 driver comes standard with two 1 gram weights and one 16 gram weight. We'll describe below how the position of each weight affects the trajectory.
FCT Instructions & Specs for Each Loft
The following charts show you how each FCT position effects the face angle, lie, loft, and trajectory bias. Note: The lofts in the below chart are when the club head is square. The negative numbers for trajectory bias mean a bias to the left or a draw bias.
FCT Position, Face Angle, Lie, Loft, Trajectory Bias
10.5 Loft Drivers
Pos. 1 R, 2 Open, 59, 9.5, 16
Pos. 2 N-R, 1 Open, 58.5, 10.0, 10
Pos. 3 NU-R, 1 Open, 59.5, 10.0, 8
Pos. 4 N, Square, 58, 10.5, -2
Pos. 5 NU, Square, 60, 10.5, -6
Pos. 6 NU-L, 1 Closed, 59.5, 11.0, -16
Pos. 7 N-L, 1 Closed, 58.5, 11.0, -18
Pos. 8 L, 2 Closed, 59.0, 11.5, -24
9.5 Loft Drivers
Pos. 1 R, 2 Open, 59, 8.5, 16
Pos. 2 N-R, 1 Open, 58.5, 9.0, 10
Pos. 3 NU-R, 1 Open, 59.5, 9.0, 8
Pos. 4 N, Square, 58, 9.5, -2
Pos. 5 NU, Square, 60, 9.5, -6
Pos. 6 NU-L, 1 Closed, 59.5, 10.0, -16
Pos. 7 N-L, 1 Closed, 58.5, 10.0, -18
Pos. 8 L, 2 Closed, 59.0, 10.5, -24
8.5 Loft Drivers
Pos. 1 R, 2 Open, 59, 7.5, 16
Pos. 2 N-R, 1 Open, 58.5, 8.0, 10
Pos. 3 NU-R, 1 Open, 59.5, 8.0, 8
Pos. 4 N, Square, 58, 8.5, -2
Pos. 5 NU, Square, 60, 8.5, -6
Pos. 6 NU-L, 1 Closed, 59.5, 9.0, -16
Pos. 7 N-L, 1 Closed, 58.5, 9.0, -18
Pos. 8 L, 2 Closed, 59.0, 9.5, -24
MWT Instructions
If you try to use simple logic and physics, then you shouldn't have too much of a problem mastering Taylormade's MWT technology. You can use MWT on top of FCT to increase the draw or fade bias you want even more.
If you think logically about how the weight is positioned around the perimeter of the club head you'll find this is all fairly easy to comprehend. If you're trying to hit a draw you'd try to rotate your right hand a little more through impact to close the face through impact. So what you're essentially doing is closing the toe of the club even more as the head goes through the hitting zone. So what if you want to achieve the same result but just by using the position of weight in the club head? All you would need to do is make sure the toe is lighter than the heel of the club. So to hit a draw, all you would do is put your 16g weight on the heel and put your 1g weight on the toe. What about for a fade? You got it, the exact opposite, position the 16g weight on the toe and the 1g weight in the heel to help slow down the closing of the face. So try to commit at least this part to memory so if you are out on the course or range without a chart at least you'll know how to setup your R9 for a draw or fade.
Now if you have more weights available than just the 16g and 1g weights and you want to mess around with the height of your drives you can do this by changing how the weight is positioned from the front of the club near the face, to the back of the club. If you add more weight to the back-center of the club this moves the CG back, which will raise your trajectory and will also increase your spin rate. To lower the height of your drives just add weight to the front of the club near the face, which will also lower your spin rate.
Use the below chart as a guide for the three weights that come standard with your R9 driver.
