Can a 23-year-old TaylorMade R580 REALLY compete with the new Qi10? We put these two 3 woods from different eras to the ultimate test using the incredibly accurate UNEEKOR Eye Mini launch monitor. The results will shock you!
ModGolf host and 16 handicapper Colin Weston hit them head-to-head, comparing all the critical data: ball speed, carry distance, smash factor, spin rates, and dispersion. Is modern technology really that much better, or does old-school titanium still have some magic left? Find out in this epic retro vs. modern driver showdown!
⛳ CHAPTERS:
00:00 – The Ultimate Driver Challenge: Old vs. New
01:15 – Introducing the Contenders: R580 vs. Qi10
02:30 – Tech Specs & The UNEEKOR Eye Mini Setup
04:10 – Swing #1: The R580 Data Reveal
05:45 – Swing #1: The Qi10 Data Reveal
07:20 – Side-by-Side Data Comparison
09:00 – The Verdict: Which Driver Actually Performed Better?
10:30 – Final Thoughts & Who Should Game What
🔬 Tested with: UNEEKOR Eye Mini Launch Monitor https://uneekor.com/
📍 Location: The University Golf Club in Vancouver BC Canada https://universitygolf.com/
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Hey, it’s Colin with ModGolf. So, today we’re going to have a fun little comparison. So, with our Tailor Made clubs, I won a brand new QI10 3-wood here. Won this for uh for a podcast award. Here, we’re going to do a little comparison. I have the favorite club I have in my bag, my other freewood. And this is my 23year-old R580. No grooves left on this bad boy, but I can hit this one pretty consistently. So, we’re going to have a little fun here. We’re going to do a comparison with the data here with our friends from uh and uh got the i mini here. We’ve got this setup that uh we’ve got this unit that we’re testing here that they send here for a couple months. And yeah, so the i mini, love this. We got all the data. It’ll record everything that we need here just as far as ball flight, the carry, the roll out, and all the uh the data that we actually need for the clubs. So, we’re going to give this a go here today and have some fun. I know with this I risk the chance that Tailor Maiden may not like me after the results here, but hey, that’s the way it goes. Going to hit 10 balls with each one of these clubs, have the data, and compare it and see which club wins. First up, we’re going to get my old reliable here, my 23-year-old R580. Going to hit 10 balls with this and let’s see what Unicor has with the launch monitor with the stats for that. All right, so with this Unicor unit, this i Mini, so to set up at the range here as we have, it’s now searching for a ball. I’m just going to put the ball down. And if you can see within the little rectangle here, it’s even placing. I’m out of the zone as you can see there. I’m gonna move it a little bit over here and search again. And now it’s in the zone. And also over here to my right is uh we’ve got this hooked up to an iPad that we’ve got the ability to track all the other information that we’ll be showing you later. So don’t have any data up here on the screen at the moment here, but it captures all the shots. So it’ll have all 10 of the first shots with the R580 and then the five the 10 shots that I’ve got with the the Qi10. and then we’ll be able to compare that afterwards and uh see the final result and see which club wins the day. My first shot with the R580 was a draw, carrying the ball 198 yards and rolling out to 210. I forgot to put the white tracking dot sticker on the club face for the first couple of swings, which is why you don’t see the smash factor, club path, and club speed data. The club path sits at just over 10° from the inside, launching the ball with an 8° left start line. Backspin is around 5,400 RPM, and sid spin is minimal. Unicor provides a side view to compare the ball apex height against the other shots during the session. You also receive the shot dispersion graphic for all your shots. I struggle to square up the club face at impact with my typical miss leaving it open for a push to the right. I found the ball impact video helps to visually reinforce what I’m doing right and wrong. The final shot graphic compiles all the data into an easy to digest numeric format. During the R580 session, I hit 14 shots, but a couple of them didn’t register. So, I will drop them from the final comparison to the Qi10. [Music] On the next two swings, we see carry distances of 194 and 205 yd, but with a slightly lower launch angle, which shaves off some of the height and produced a stronger, more piercing trajectory. Again, the backspin is consistent in the mid 5000s, and side spin stays well controlled across this session. Ball speed is clocking in at around 13 to 139 mph with club head speed keeping pace at around 100 mph. That’s a pretty solid efficiency ratio for me, confirming consistent contact in the center of the face, even though I tend to hit both random fades and draws with the R580. The smash factor of around 1.4 is consistent across the session with the R580, showing good energy transfer from club to ball. As you can see from shots four to seven, my natural shot shape with the R580 is a fade, with shot four being an unfortunate snap hook that rears its ugly head a couple of times around for me. The attack angle of between 10 and 17° is positive, helping me launch the ball higher without excess spin. Higher descent angles help the ball hold greens while still getting some forward roll. Shot eight was a complete mishit, and I pretty much cold topped it. But I wanted to include this to show that A, Unicorn can track your bad shots, and that B, I don’t pretend to be anything but an average golfer. Although my club head speed and ball speeds for shots 9 and 10 are lower than what I would like, I will take that level of accuracy all day long. Overall, this session with my old R580 using the Unicor Mini launch monitor produced accurate data for my antiquated tailor made 3-wood. So, I hit 10 shots with the R580. Hit some good ones, hit some not so great ones. So, we’re not just going to be comparing these two clubs on overall distance here with the data that we have from uh Unicor with the launch monitor here. We’re also going to be looking about for uh for consistency just as far as dispersion and as far as launch angle. So, it’s not just going to be judged on distance alone here. So, yeah, some of the ones I hit here were a little bit spinny, and that’s my swing. But, let’s see if the brand new Qi10 uh is a bit more forgiving on my bad shots and also increases the uh the quality of my good ones. Okay, so now we’re going to give the brand new Tailor Made Qi 103wood a go. So, just to show you a little comparison here, you can see the difference in the technology. Yeah, it’s it’s kind of uh evolved over the last couple of decades here, quarter century. So, I said I hit uh my mish hits with this one were really bad. So, one thing I’m really interested to see with the 10 shots of the ones that I don’t hit so great if they’re going to be more forgiving also. So, uh let’s give it a go. My first shot with the Qi 10 was a slight fade right down the middle with a carry of 204 yds and rolling out to 220. I realized this was only my first swing, but I already have an 8% distance increase over my old R580. Shots two and three were hit with a small fade. And with my club head speed around 100 m, a total distance around 215 yards is a very good result for me. I’m already noticing that my ball dispersion is much tighter than with the old R580. But I’m only three balls in. So, let’s keep going to see if this nice trend holds. Shot four went dead straight with a little sid spin and managed 206 yd of total distance despite a slow 86 m club head speed. Shot five was my best one so far, hitting a slight fade with 141 mph ball speed for a 214 yard carry and 230 yards in total distance. My club head path between 3 and 9° left tells me that more work needs to be done to create an inside out swing plane. My vertical launch angle for shots four, five, and six is around 14°, showing that I’m hitting up on the ball. Shot 7 is my first poor contact with the Qi10, but with a total distance of 211 yd and right down the middle, my 16 handicap is okay with mish hits like this. Shots 8 through 11 were more erratic, but the ball dispersion is tighter than with my old R580. Shot 9 was my first snap hook that usually ends up out of bounds, in trees, or in the water. Although this bad strike is way left, it would probably still be playable. Or if I hit the same shot with the R580, the ball would have been lost. So, I just finished the 10 shots with the uh the Qi 10. So, we’re going to get that stats once I get back home. We’re going to compare all that information. One thing I want to talk about with the I Mini here, nice little carry case that it has here, so you can take it right out to the course. Uh, one thing I want to talk about, they’ve got these stickers. So, you got to put these on the club here. And the reason you have to do that is otherwise it doesn’t pick up the club head speed, all the information about the ball. I’m sorry, about the club and also regarding, as we’ll see, it actually does pick up some very high frame video of the club, the good and the bad with my swing. So, yeah, we didn’t put these on at the beginning because we didn’t read the manual the whole way, our mistake. But once we did, it does capture all that information here. So, with this unit, it’s uh yeah, still for the average golfer like myself. A bit pricey if you’re in the range for this. I believe this is around $5,000 US for this unit. There are other brands and other ones that are pricier in that $10 to $20,000 US range. So, yeah, really good value here from what I can get so far. Uh got an Ethernet cable. The reason we have this is uh we’re going to shoot another video in the next little while and that is going to be talking about hooking this up indoor to a PC. Fortunately, it doesn’t work on a Mac. I’m an Apple guy, so that’s one strike against them, but we still love the product. But yeah, we’re going to hook it up to a PC so you can really turn it into an entertainment system and kind of and a simulator. So, that’s something we’re going to test uh on the next video that we do. But yeah, let’s get back home, see the results, and see which one of these two clubs is the winner. The Unicor iMin nicely captured the dozen shots I hit with my old tailorade R580 and also did the same for the new Qi10. The data and numbers for all the shots are difficult to digest in only a couple of seconds. So, I created a comparison of the shot averages and maximums to determine which Tailor made 3-wood is the winner. My Tailor Made R580 averaged a carry distance of 190 yard, a total distance of 204 yd, a smash factor of 1.4, 4, which again is the efficiency of energy transferred from club to ball, calculated by dividing the ball speed by the club head speed. My average ball speed was 131 mph with a 93 mph club head speed. The club launch angle was 10.7°, resulting in a ball apex height of 76.7 ft that stayed in the air for 9.8 seconds. Of the 11 shots I hit with the R580, the maximum carry distance was 205 yd and a total distance of 222 yd, a smash factor of 1.46, a ball speed of 139 mph with a 102 mph club head speed. The highest club launch angle was 17.4°, resulting in a ball apex height of 103 ft that stayed in the air for 11.1 seconds. My new Tailor Made Qi10 averaged a carry distance of 197 yd, a total distance of 212 yd, and a smash factor of 1.39. My average ball speed was 133 mph with a 96 mph club head speed. The club launch angle was 12.8°, resulting in a ball apex height of 79.2 ft that stayed in the air for 9.9 seconds. Comparing the averages, the Qi10 is the winner as both my carry and total distance increased by 3.7%. And although the smash factor remained roughly the same, my ball speed increased by 1.8% and my club head speed increased by almost 3%. Of the 11 shots I hit with a QI10, the maximum carry distance was 215 yards and a total distance of 230 and a smash factor of 1.55, a ball speed of 141 mph with 170 m club head speed. The highest club launch angle was 15.5°, resulting in a ball apex height of 100 ft that stayed in the air for 11 seconds. The Qi10 showed an even greater improvement over the R580 when comparing my best shot with both as the carry distance increased by 4.8% and a total shot distance by 3.9%. The maximum smash factor increased by 6.2% compared to the R580. Maximum ball speed increased by 1.6% and my club head speed increased by more than 5%. I like the improved distance that my Tailor Made QI10 gives me, but the more important difference is the tighter ball dispersion that will result in fewer shots ending up in the unplayable bad stuff. So, that wraps up my head-to-head test with my old R580 3-wood compared to my brand new Qi10 3-wood from Tailor Made. So, Tailor Made doesn’t have anything to worry about because the numbers prove out that this guy here, the Qi10, it’s the club that’s now in my bag because not only was I hitting it further on average, but for me as a 16 Handicap, the dispersion, as you saw there, not only the graphics, but also the numbers, they don’t lie that my misses were not as bad as the misses with my old 23-year-old R580. 80. So, I had fun doing this video. Thanks again to Unicor for sending me the i Mini for testing and I said they’re not paying me for this, so I had no idea how that was going to work out, but yeah, worked out just fine. Hooking that up to our iPad, getting all those numbers out of the range there. Big thanks to University Golf Club here in Vancouver also for giving us some range time for this. And yeah, I had fun doing these. And hey, if you want to see more of these type of videos with me, the relatable average golfer, the 16 handicapper that I am, I’m more than happy to do these on the ModGolf YouTube channel. And stay tuned because we’re going to be doing some more mod golf giveaways in the next little while, too. Excited for that. So, there you go. So, there is the Tailor Made 3-wood challenge. New versus old. And, uh, as we would hope, new came out victorious. So, there you go. All right, we’ll see you soon.
