R510 Tour Experts Need Help

davo32683 · April 19, 2012

I acquired this club from a reliable source stating it was tour issued. Does have a serial, but not a TXXXXX serial. Serial also was called in to Taylor Made and they said it did not come up in their database, however due to the short nature of the serial itself, they said it could have very well been tour.

Having hit the club, I can verify it does not feel like a retail head. I have owned several retail heads and a few tour heads so I have a little experience to go back on. Very muted feel and sound.

Any insight?

davo32683 · April 19, 2012

Anyone?

Spooky67 · April 19, 2012

Does it sit open?

MrParr1Noid · April 19, 2012

A retail head might be tour issue. Does this head have "Titanium" on the toe or the TP "Shield"? From what I can see, it looks to be the R510 TP retail version but it could be tour issue as well.

The true tour head is that the weight ports are like the R510 that you've pictured, and with "Titanium" on the toe. Those serial numbers tended to start with a "B" if I'm not mistaken. They were referred to as the R510 DF Proto or the deep face proto.

I'm sure there's someone more versed than I, and they will set us both straight...

p.s. On second thought, I'm not sure but there might not be any serial numbers on the "Titanium" on the toe version. After a tour version with the TP Shield on the toe, then came the retail version, and guys were passing those off as tour, and then the serial numbers came more into play.

Some guys had lazer etching tools to change serial numbers too. There was a bunch of money to be made with that style driver head. Some were less than honest..

MrParr1Noid · April 19, 2012

Curious but what shaft did it come with? 757?

davo32683 · April 20, 2012

TP shield. Graphite Design Tour AD M-65 X flex was the shaft, which is absolutely tour only. My guy is legit for sure, but I was curious about the serial.

junkfry · April 20, 2012

The watermark is blocking the serial number in the pic. I can't see it.

PixlPutterman · April 20, 2012

underlined loft is tour from what i remember

bub72ck · April 20, 2012

Those heads have such a sweet sound and feel.

Thrillhouse · April 20, 2012

I have a tour issue one in the basement and it has a TXXXXX serial number. There are retail r510 tp's on ebay that have the loft underlined as well so from that I would assume that the underline does not mean tour issue. It is possible that you have a head that was pulled off the line, COR tested, and hotmelted despite the fact that it doesn't have a TXXXXX serial number, but im not sure on that.

From the looks of things (and I wish the watermark wasn't covering the serial in your picture) you have a stock 510 tp head. From what you told us it sounds like the head might be hotmelted but that doesn't necessarily mean that it is tour issue. Retail or not its a great club!

davo32683 · April 21, 2012

Here it is again no watermark

NPVWhiz · April 21, 2012

I don't want to be a contrarian, but the hosel looks like it has been worked on to me, although during that time TM had a few different formats for the serial numbers, both in terms of size and the sequence of letters and/or numbers. But, you would have expected to see the T serial format for the fakes. So perhaps the letter sequence on yours just suggests that it's a regular production run head.

The bottom line is that if it is an authentic TM r510 TP head, then by definition it's a great old head, but with the TP shield, TM was turning out the TP heads to tour players routinely (but not absolutely) with T format serials in the larger letter format early, then in the smaller format later on if I recall correctly (but I could be off on that one..the smaller T serials may have been on the r7 heads. I could walk downstairs if I weren't so lazy this morning.) I have a bunch of these generation heads down in the basement. It was always interesting to see posts back in those days like "The 300 Tour has NO serial number...NONE!" I have one that has the small letter format "89" on it. My DF has no serial, which is reasonable as a very early production run head. My other 300 Tour has no serial.

I had a one point a really rare TM 320 Tour that had the smooth top but no "tour" on the sole. My sense was that this one was pretty rare. I also have a couple of the r540 DF heads...underlined loft, titanium on the toe, 335 hosels. If they had been just a little deeper faced, it might have been the best head from that series for me. Although the 510 DF was likely identical to the TP head in almost every respect, I think the 580 Tour and the 580XD/TP were really highly regarded. I traded some things for a SuperDeep years ago, but it just wasn't comparable. The DF I had was a little flat and a little open, with a Penley ETA Tour shaft with no flex designation, but it was an X. I hit the longest drives I've ever hit with that stick. If you hit it high on the face, it launched and went forever...it must have had an AOD in the mid 30s. It would roll and roll.

TeeBonZ · April 21, 2012

To me, that looks like a retail serial#.

I have a a Tour Issue R580XD TP and my 3B is sitting above the Txxxxx serial#. I've had a few of them and they all look this way with the 3B on top of the serial.

Still a great head nonetheless :good:

MrParr1Noid · April 21, 2012

I don't want to be a contrarian, but the hosel looks like it has been worked on to me, although during that time TM had a few different formats for the serial numbers, both in terms of size and the sequence of letters and/or numbers. But, you would have expected to see the T serial format for the fakes. So perhaps the letter sequence on yours just suggests that it's a regular production run head.

The bottom line is that if it is an authentic TM r510 TP head, then by definition it's a great old head, but with the TP shield, TM was turning out the TP heads to tour players routinely (but not absolutely) with T format serials in the larger letter format early, then in the smaller format later on if I recall correctly (but I could be off on that one..the smaller T serials may have been on the r7 heads. I could walk downstairs if I weren't so lazy this morning.) I have a bunch of these generation heads down in the basement. It was always interesting to see posts back in those days like "The 300 Tour has NO serial number...NONE!" I have one that has the small letter format "89" on it. My DF has no serial, which is reasonable as a very early production run head. My other 300 Tour has no serial.

I had a one point a really rare TM 320 Tour that had the smooth top but no "tour" on the sole. My sense was that this one was pretty rare. I also have a couple of the r540 DF heads...underlined loft, titanium on the toe, 335 hosels. If they had been just a little deeper faced, it might have been the best head from that series for me. Although the 510 DF was likely identical to the TP head in almost every respect, I think the 580 Tour and the 580XD/TP were really highly regarded. I traded some things for a SuperDeep years ago, but it just wasn't comparable. The DF I had was a little flat and a little open, with a Penley ETA Tour shaft with no flex designation, but it was an X. I hit the longest drives I've ever hit with that stick. If you hit it high on the face, it launched and went forever...it must have had an AOD in the mid 30s. It would roll and roll.

As I eluded to earlier in another post, I couldn't remember if our R510 DF Proto (Titanium) on the toe, had serial numbers or not, ours / my son's is in Texas. However, all of the TP's had serial numbers, whether for tour issue or retail.

By the way, he still hits it as far as any driver to date but the forgiveness of the new is more...

p.s. The TM R510 DF proto with a Fujikura Speeder 771 TA is absolutely the best looking driver I've ever seen. Talk about stealth / killed...

jwo · April 21, 2012

[quote name='PixlPutterman ' timestamp='1334935200' post='4757962']
underlined loft is tour from what i remember
[/quote]

This was a for sure tour issue mark from what I remember on the R540 and 580 xd TP's. Sorry to threadjack but if anyone reading this has a R540xd TP head please pm me! Been looking for one.

MrParr1Noid · April 21, 2012

underlined loft is tour from what i remember

This was a for sure tour issue mark from what I remember on the R540 and 580 xd TP's. Sorry to threadjack but if anyone reading this has a R540xd TP head please pm me! Been looking for one.

They're "Not for Sale" but we do have (2), 8.5 and 9.5. I believe the 8.5 has "Titanium" on the toe, and the 9.5 has the TP shield on the toe. R540 DF proto, and R540 TP's are one of the best, if not the best driver head that TM has made. (Sales promotion here) BUT...The TM SF TP V2 is every bit as good, and might be a shade longer... ...For me, that is..