Introducing TaylorMade Stealth!!
Each winter, the Scottsdale Golf offices are visited by representatives from all the major golf club manufacturers as they showcase their new product lines to the management. It is an exciting time for the many of us here that are still active players, as we get to see a sneak preview of what we will soon be spending our hard-earned wages on. On a cold and windy morning in November just gone, there was particularly feverish energy in the office as we awaited the arrival of TaylorMade to unveil what was rumored to be a completely new technology for drivers.
We even had an office sweepstake where we tried to guess the name of the new range of woods. There were some marvellous suggestions including Glitch, Tim 2, QuadSpeed, TP Speed and GyroFlex. Sadly, none of these guesses turned out to be correct which was something of a shame it must be said. When TaylorMade arrived, we were ushered into the boardroom, the lights were dimmed, and a short presentation video was played to us as the new products were slowly revealed. It was quite the build-up, and had the product been the SIM 3 it could definitely have been said that TaylorMade had overplayed their hand.
Thankfully, the hype was very much justified, and we were shown a new range of drivers that will almost certainly revolutionise the driver market once again. By the time you read this, virtually all of you will have seen the new driver in action as Tiger Woods immediately put it in to play at his comeback event, the PNC Championship. The black head and unmistakably red face of the new TaylorMade Stealth was at once plastered all over the internet, where golfers began forming their opinions of it without ever holding one, never mind hitting one. On the reveal day we were fortunate enough to be able to take some demo products down into our fitting centre to test them on the GC Quad and we were all blown away by the performance. I hit a lot of balls in the fitting centre before I start work each day, so I know what my ball speeds usually are. When I hit the Stealth Plus driver (in a spec that was wrong for me) I achieved ball speeds right at the top end of where I would get to at my fastest thoughout the duration of a session - and I only had time to hit five or six shots. This driver is fast... really fast!
TaylorMade Stealth Driver Family
Named the TaylorMade Stealth driver, this amazing new product line has something vastly different about it. Instead of the face of the Stealth driver being made with the usual Titanium, it has been constructed with sixty layers of carbon which are then covered by a polyurethane cover that optimises launch and spin, regardless of the weather conditions. This has created a face that is 44% lighter than an equivalent Titanium face and one that is 11% larger than that of the SIM 2 driver and an incredible 20% larger than the face found on the original SIM. The weight savings created by using carbon have allowed the rather clever chaps at TaylorMade to add more weight low and deep in the head, increasing the M.O.I to previously unattainable levels. Whilst that all sounds great, what is that going to mean for us golfers?
During our brief testing session, we found it to be a driver that produced the fastest ball speed of any product we have hit in our fitting centre so far. The most impressive part of the Stealth driver though is that the previous sentence is not the most impressive part. The level of forgiveness that the Stealth offers is, quite frankly, ridiculous. Shots that were hit substantially out of the heel or toe barely showed any loss of ball speed, with far less curve than was expected. Obviously, these mishits were made by a colleague and not by me - all my shots were flushed straight out of the middle of the club.
Another surprising aspect of the TaylorMade Stealth driver was the feel from the clubhead at impact. When I heard that the face was made from carbon, I was expecting the feel to extremely muted and dull, but nothing could have been further from the truth. The Carbon produced a remarkably metallic feel at impact and felt incredibly solid. Centre strikes were rewarded with a gloriously satisfying feeling whilst (I’m told) the mishits offered enough feedback to inform you of strike position whilst retaining a strong and solid sensation.
There are three models to choose from, the Stealth Plus (the lowest launching and lowest spinning) The Stealth (more forgiving, slightly higher launching and higher spinning) and the Stealth HD (designed to eliminate slices and produce a high draw)
TaylorMade Stealth Fairway Family
The TaylorMade Stealth Fairway Woods and Hybrids were also shown to us at the same time, and both represent a solid step forward in design, despite not having the same carbon face of the driver. The fairway woods feature a new carbon crown that pulls mass away from the high toe area, allowing more weight to be positioned towards the back of the head to produce optimal forgiveness. Behind the ball, the all black profile looks superb with new Advanced Laser Alignment technology providing a vital contrast between the face and the crown helping the golfer to aim more accurately.
The rescue also benefits from an all-new carbon crown with 7g of mass being relocated. This has resulted in a hybrid that is supremely easy to launch and one that delivers 15% higher M.O.I. than that of the SIM Max rescue. TaylorMade have always made superb rescue clubs and the Stealth Rescue looks set to continue this trend.
TaylorMade Stealth Hybrid Family
Overall, we couldn’t help being enormously impressed by the new TaylorMade Stealth family of woods. The driver creates an entirely new category - the Carbon Wood. Judging by the way the TaylorMade Stealth driver performs, we suspect other companies will soon follow suit.
Rounding off this amazing new collection, is of course the Stealth iron. A surprising difference between the Stealth irons and the outgoing SIM 2 range of irons is that the two SIM 2 offerings have been condensed into one head. TaylorMade have produced one Game-Improvement club that outperforms both the old heads, making the requirement for a second, bigger head obsolete.
TaylorMade Stealth Golf Irons
The Cap Back design that first appeared on the SIM 2 has been improved and enhanced and now includes Toe-Wrap construction. Apart from the obvious benefit that this design features looks amazingly cool, it also has the desirable effect of increasing distance, forgiveness and feel when compared to the previous model. The Toe-Wrap construction is a remarkable feat of engineering and has allowed TaylorMade to shift the mass from the extreme high toe of the head, reposition it throughout the sole and create an extremely lower centre of gravity. This all adds up to an iron that is incredibly easy to launch and one that produces a high and hot trajectory throughout the set. Ideal for the Mid to High handicap golfers.
As with the woods, the Thru-Slot Speed pocket has been further improved to allow for maximum flexing of the face. This provides excellent ball-speed on shots that have been mis-hit, especially when struck from low on the face. Perhaps one thing that has blighted the game-improvement clubs in the past has been their lack of feel at impact. TaylorMade have done an amazing job improving the feel through their innovative Echo-Dampening System. This consists of a soft polymer blend that has been placed behind the face to channel away any harsh vibrations and creates a feel that is much closer to that of a forged iron. Amazing stuff!
TaylorMade have always been at the forefront of innovation and consistently produce exciting technologies that have the potential to transform our golf games. The new Stealth range is quite simply the best they have ever released and, although we have come to expect it from these golfing behemoths, this year they have really hit the jackpot.
Check Out The Full Stealth Range Below
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Scottsdale Golf (UK) Limited, 01605709 207, Knutsford Road Grappenhall, Warrington, Cheshire, United Kingdom, WA4 2QL. Scottsdale Golf (UK) Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority FRN 727749 and is a broker not a lender. Scottsdale Golf (UK) Limited offers credit products from Secure Trust Bank PLC trading as V12 Retail Finance registered in England and Wales 4585692. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registration number: 679653. Registered office: Yorke House, Arleston Way, Solihull, B90 4LH
