Golf Equipment Reviewss

Golf Club Tested

Club: TaylorMade Stealth Plus Driver
Shaft: Project X Riptide CB 40
Flex: Regular
Loft:10.5°
Loft Setting: 10°
Weight Setting: Neutral

Technology:

TaylorMade have introduce a new face material for the Stealth driver range named Carbonwood and the new 60x Carbon Twist Face uses 60 layers of carbon fibre arranged to optimise energy transfer. This helps deliver a higher COR and a more precise face geometry through a lighter, but larger face. Carbonwood is a lighter material than titanium, so the TaylorMade engineers were able to design a larger face than the one that sits in the SIM2 and SIM2 Max drivers. It also only weighs 26g, which is 40 per cent lighter than the titanium face in those SIM drivers.

The 60 layers of carbon have a nanotexture cover which is made from a thin polyurethane layer that creates a strong and flexible striking surface. This helps optimise distance in both dry and wet conditions. The nanotexture face texture helps create the ideal amount of friction between the face and the ball at impact to reduce spin in dry conditions, but with the nanotexture face featuring full-face score-lines it’s also designed to provide improved spin performance in wet conditions.

Because of weight savings from the 60X Carbon Twist Face, engineers were able to incorporate the use of a 10g sliding weight track designed to help golfers control shot shape by shifting mass on the sole to create desired ball flight. Stealth Plus is designed to be the lowest-spinning driver in the family.

You can personalise the Stealth Plus model, choosing from six face colour options: red, green, yellow, blue, orange, and grey; and two body colour options – black and chalk. You can also choose a gloss or matt crown finish with or without the TaylorMade T-logo and eight sole colour options: blue, black, red, orange, green, gold, pale blue and volt. There is also a choice of mono or colour head cover.

Conclusion:

I think, like a lot of you out there, I was excited to get hold of the new Stealth driver and loved the look of the red face and the many colour options available if you wanted to customise. And I have to say when I got the driver in my hands I wasn’t disappointed. The red face really jumps out and the matt finish of the crown and the flashes of red really give it a mean look.

After playing the Stealth driver in both casual and competitive rounds of golf, I have to ask. Did it give me more length off the tee than the SIM1, which I had to stop practicing with on the practice ground because it was too long and balls were going into the trees? No, it didn’t. Did it give me more forgiveness and tighter dispersion than the SIM2, which I was very impressed with? Again no it didn’t.

The Stealth driver does have the distance of the SIM1 and forgiveness of the SIM2. If you have any of those drivers I would say wait until the next generation. But, if you haven’t purchased a driver in the last five-years, I would certainly recommend the Stealth driver. You will get more distance and more forgiveness with better dispersion than your current model. So make sure you get it on your testing list.