Taylormade Stealth Driver

[Shooter McPowick]

How are people finding theirs? The closed face is a struggle for me.

Absolutely loving it, came from an OG M2 with the 1/2 white head and I think the black crown is so nice. Can barely even notice the red face ad address, I think my playing partners see it more than I do.

I'm finding off center strikes to be much more forgiving

 

[gopher99]

How are people finding theirs? The closed face is a struggle for me.

I have the stealth plus so the face is square for me.

 

[garyinderry]

Have to hand it taylormade. Their marketing team is worth their weight in gold.

I saw the stealth driver in hand for the first time over the weekend. The actual driver is a lot more subtle than the pictures and marketing material that has gone along with it.

The red face is so much more darker in real life. It positively glows bright red in the marketing pictures.

Noticed no red faces on the woods and hybrids. Strange.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Have to hand it taylormade. Their marketing team is worth their weight in gold.

I saw the stealth driver in hand for the first time over the weekend. The actual driver is a lot more subtle than the pictures and marketing material that has gone along with it.

The red face is so much more darker in real life. It positively glows bright red in the marketing pictures.

Noticed no red faces on the woods and hybrids. Strange.

I was told by our Pro they haven’t used the same technology in the face of the woods and hybrids.

 

[garyinderry]

I was told by our Pro they haven’t used the same technology in the face of the woods and hybrids.

Really. That's a bit of an own goal if true.

Likely coming in the 2nd wave of stealth.

 

[BiMGuy]

Really. That's a bit of an own goal if true.

Likely coming in the 2nd wave of stealth.

The fairway woods are still metal faces.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Really. That's a bit of an own goal if true.

Likely coming in the 2nd wave of stealth.

Reading the Stealth woods and hybrid stuff on their website:
“Built from carbon DNA, the Stealth™ Rescue combines Tour-validated designs with a new carbon crown construction to elevate performance for golfers of all skills. Powered by a redesigned V Steel™ sole with precision weighting, this Rescue is engineered for high launch and forgiveness.”

3 Wood:
TITANIUM ZATECH TWIST FACE
This breakthrough in materials technology enables TaylorMade engineers to push the limits of ball speed using an ultra-strong and thin face. It pairs with Twist Face to promote straighter shots.

Were as for the SimMax2 3 Wood their website says:

ZATECH TITANIUM WITH TWIST FACE®
Ultra-strong titanium allows for incredibly fast ball speeds, engineered for unprecedented performance while Twist Face overcomes inherent golfer tendencies on mis-hits for straighter shots.

The cynic in me says they’ve changed the order of the words and the only major difference is the Stealth 3 Wood has a 12% larger face.

 

[Imurg]

From what I remember from a TXG video, TM say there isn't any benefit to putting the carbon faces on fairways or hybrids...yet.
Its a bit like Callaway's Jailbreak - initially only on drivers but within a year or so available on everything.
I think TM just need a bit more ti e to make the carbon face worthwhile in the smaller headed clubs..
I'll be surprised if it doesn't come..

 

[Deleted member 16999]

From what I remember from a TXG video, TM say there isn't any benefit to putting the carbon faces on fairways or hybrids...yet.
Its a bit like Callaway's Jailbreak - initially only on drivers but within a year or so available on everything.
I think TM just need a bit more ti e to make the carbon face worthwhile in the smaller headed clubs..
I'll be surprised if it doesn't come..

Totally agree, but how many will possibly trade up from SimMax2 to Stealth thinking the technology is there?

 

[Imurg]

Totally agree, but how many will possibly trade up from SimMax2 to Stealth thinking the technology is there?

To be fair, all the reviews have been pretty clear that the Carbonwood stops at the driver and the rest is steel as per usual.
On the face of it, apart from the looks, I doubt there's much between the Sim2 fairways and the Stealth........
If people don't do the research then that's their lookout...

 

[bwstokie]

I Must be in the minority - had a demo of the plus and max and despite loving the looks absolutely did not get on with them at all! Tried a couple of the new Callaway offerings at the same time as well and none seemed to go as well as my now 3 year old Cobra Speedzone Xtreme. I’m not looking to change luckily and am more than happy with my current driver.

 

[Foxholer]

From what I remember from a TXG video, TM say there isn't any benefit to putting the carbon faces on fairways or hybrids...yet.
Its a bit like Callaway's Jailbreak - initially only on drivers but within a year or so available on everything.
I think TM just need a bit more ti e to make the carbon face worthwhile in the smaller headed clubs..
I'll be surprised if it doesn't come..

Marketing and development aspects apart, there's not a huge 'driver' (sic) for companies to extend technology to FWs. In fact, the COR limits initially only applied to Drivers as the authorities apparently didn't believe any OEM would attempt to try until Wishon got close. Physically, it's more difficult to increase COR with a smaller head and maintain durability.
However, from a marketing pov, simply having a carbon faced FW would be a serious plus for TM.
Jailbreak was a relatively simple (and cheap) tech to pass to FWs. Using a carbon face insert could well be considerably more expensive, though cost to consumer bears no relationship to cost of production for golf hardware! A complete carbon 'cup' might be more resilient.

 

[HeftyHacker]

I Must be in the minority - had a demo of the plus and max and despite loving the looks absolutely did not get on with them at all! Tried a couple of the new Callaway offerings at the same time as well and none seemed to go as well as my now 3 year old Cobra Speedzone Xtreme. I’m not looking to change luckily and am more than happy with my current driver.

You're not only one. The pro at our place gave me his demo for 2 weeks so I had the chance to use it on course and see what it was capable of on the sim as well.

Really didn't get on with it - I found it felt really dead off the face and the head felt really heavy to me. It wasn't as long or as straight as my Epic Flash on course.

On the sim I hit about a dozen drives, with some decent ones in there, and it was beaten by all three of the following attempts with my Epic Flash.

Disclaimer though, I obviously wasn't fitted properly, so it may not have been the right spec for me, and I have never really got on with Taylormade drivers whenever I've tried them in the past.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

The TM fitter is coming to our place on Friday, so I've booked in for a fitting.
Hopefully he can get the roight combo of head, loft, shaft etc, as I'm pretty sure my now 5 year old driver needs replacing. The Titleist and Callaways, I tried last year, certainly gave better numbers.

 

[road2ruin]

Disclaimer though, I obviously wasn't fitted properly, so it may not have been the right spec for me, and I have never really got on with Taylormade drivers whenever I've tried them in the past.

Strange that, I'm the opposite to you. I have never found a Callaway driver that I can get on with! They're obviously decent and I've played with plenty of people who can hit them brilliantly but whenever I've been fitted they just don't perform. Irons on the other hand, the Callaway CF16 were some of the best irons I've ever had so it's definitely not an 'anti-Callaway' thing. With regards the Stealth it performed really well for me in the fitting, I'm going back to have another thrash just in case it was a one off.

 

[chrisd]

Just bought a Stealth, 10.5 with HZRDUS Red 6.0. They say they are a bit spinny but that works for me.

I'll watch out for the "for sale" thread later in the year, I hope it's in my spec!

 

[Ethan]

I'll watch out for the "for sale" thread later in the year, I hope it's in my spec!

I'll put your name on the waiting list.

 

[HeftyHacker]

Strange that, I'm the opposite to you. I have never found a Callaway driver that I can get on with! They're obviously decent and I've played with plenty of people who can hit them brilliantly but whenever I've been fitted they just don't perform. Irons on the other hand, the Callaway CF16 were some of the best irons I've ever had so it's definitely not an 'anti-Callaway' thing. With regards the Stealth it performed really well for me in the fitting, I'm going back to have another thrash just in case it was a one off.

It is odd, it may just be that I'm used to a certain feel with mine perhaps. It certainly felt heavier in the head than the Epic Flash.

It wasn't just me either, my regular PP was with me when I played a round with it and he absolutely buttoned one with the Stealth, it looked massive. Then he played a pretty much identical shot in terms of swing and resulting ball flight with his Mavrik and put it a good 20 to 25 yards further up the fairway (they were both unbelievable drives tbf).

 

[Deleted member 3432]

My mate had a driver fitting last week and came away with a Cobra.


The fitter who is well regarded in the area for knowing his stuff was telling him that they have been seeing a lot of disappointing numbers with the Stealth and that the Callaway and Cobra offerings are better fits for the majority of handicap golfers.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I'll watch out for the "for sale" thread later in the year, I hope it's in my spec!

Annoyingly @Ethan keeps getting clubs in stiff spec. So selfish ? ?