Drivers

The ’12 minute’ driver that led Lucas Herbert to victory in Bermuda

By: James Colgan
lucas herbert swings driver

Lucas Herbert's TaylorMade driver was assembled in just 12 minutes.

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In 15 minutes, you can save 15 percent or more on your car insurance, or so the saying goes. But in 12 minutes? On the PGA Tour, that’s enough time to save your entire week.

Lucas Herbert grabbed the first win of his PGA Tour career on Sunday at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, battling through vicious winds and an active Sunday leaderboard en route to a one-stroke victory over Patrick Reed. Herbert, a 25-year-old with two wins on the European Tour, has earned a fast reputation as a battler in his professional career. Particularly, it turns out, in the face of unique challenges.

On Saturday in Bermuda, Herbert found himself in an unfortunate crossroads. Midway through his warmup, he noticed an issue with the face of his driver. By the time he realized he’d need to replace the entire head of the club, he had 12 minutes remaining before his tee time.

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What did Herbert do? He changed driver heads, hustled out to the golf course, and promptly shot a third-round 65 to vault himself within two strokes of the 54-hole lead. On Sunday, with the new driver in his bag for all of a day, he tallied a final-round 69 and won the tournament.

His driver is the TaylorMade SIM2, the newest in the “Shape in Motion” family. TaylorMade touts its SIM2 as featuring many of the best technologies of years’ past (TwistFace and Inertia Generator technology, in addition to a speed-injected face and carbon crown) while still adding a bevy of new features.

The highlight of the SIM2’s new tech is its weighting — a change created by a carbon sole plate and aluminum back ring — which drives the club center of gravity further back, making it more forgiving for mishits. For those of us hoping to ditch our bout with the hooks, that’s good news. For those of us needing to replace a driver face in 12 minutes without seeing our scores skyrocket? Well, that’s also good news.

To learn more about the SIM2 family, including the SIM2 Max and Max D, check out the link below.

TaylorMade SIM2 Driver

$529.99
OUR TAKE: Asked to describe the look of the new SIM2 drivers, our testers labeled them as “futuristic,” “modern” and “fast.”  And who can argue when there’s all of that new-age carbon on the sole? While TaylorMade’s SIM2 drivers carry on the original name of the SIM (Shape in Motion) drivers that excelled in 2020, the company has made a few big changes. One initially skeptical GOLF tester took notice of the improvements: “I tried to hit the original SIM last year, but this new one feels a million times more solid. This is going to be tough to beat.”   THE DETAILS:  To craft its new SIM2 heads, TaylorMade combined proven technologies from recent years (TwistFace, Inertia Generator, Speed-Injected faces, thru-slots, carbon crowns) with all-new designs to make the drivers more forgiving. Most notably, a new sole plate is made up entirely of carbon composite to save weight, and there’s a new blue aluminum back ring, which connects the rear sole to the crown. The new pieces work together to drive weight back for better performance on mishits. Not a fan of the blue colorway? TaylorMade is now allowing for personalized color changes on five different areas in the heads through its MySIM2 custom platform.  Check out 150+ reviews from our gear experts in the ClubTest 2021 collection
 
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