TaylorMade Stealth Drivers: Tested By You

TaylorMade Stealth Drivers: Tested By You

Watch as four golfers test out the TaylorMade Stealth driver for the first time

The new TaylorMade Stealth driver range has certainly captured the imagination of many golfers looking to upgrade their driver in 2022. By using 60 layers of lightweight carbon fibre on the face and making it bigger, the three Stealth drivers in the range are said to deliver a better energy transfer through impact for more off-centre forgiveness and more ball speed across the face, translating into extra distance.

The new Stealth range features three heads, the standard Stealth driver, the low-spinning Stealth Plus and the draw-bias Stealth HD. The extensive range should see golfers across the handicap spectrum be able to enjoy the benefits of entering the Carbonwood age. But to test this theory out, we invited four ordinary golfers to West Hill Golf Club to get fitted into the Stealth driver range by TaylorMade product specialist Stuart Gauld to see there were improvements to be had over the drivers currently in their bags. 

Guy Hall

Handicap Index: 22
Current Driver: TaylorMade SIM
Fitted For: TaylorMade Stealth, 10.5°, Proforce V2 HL F4 stiff flex shaft.

Fitter Analysis 
"Guy was using a driver that wasn’t helping him out at all - it had a low spinning shaft, a low spinning head and not enough loft to suit his game. All of these factors combined meant Guy had lost a lot of confidence with his driver and he had a two way miss left and right. So the biggest thing for me was to find him some more consistency and focus on the off centre hits as much as the ones he hit out of the middle. We went straight into the standard Stealth head to help Guy generate more spin than his current SIM driver and straight away that bred some confidence into him. With the head being a little bigger and the face being 20 percent larger, Guy immediately felt more comfortable over the ball. Once we had the head and loft sorted we looked at the shaft and he ended up with a much higher spinning, lighter shaft than his previous one. We ended up with around 14 yards extra carry as well as an increased average ball speed."

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Golfer Feedback 
"Like many higher handicap golfers, my bad shot with the driver can be a massive slice one day and a massive hook the next. Since I’ve started missing it both ways I’ve lost a lot of confidence with the driver and have only been using a 3-wood off the tee. I strike the ball all over the driver face so I needed a lot of help when it came to mishits. Working with Stuart to get me into the right head in the Stealth range was fantastic. That larger head and clubface immediately gave me more confidence with the driver and I could see it in the results too with my poor strikes staying straight and not losing too much distance versus my good hits." 

Before                                                       After
Ball Speed: 132.1mph                               Ball Speed: 132.5mph
Carry: 203.7 yards                                     Carry: 217.3 yards (+14)
Total: 229.1 yards                                      Total: 238.2 yards (+9)

David Gilmour

Handicap Index: 10
Current Driver: TaylorMade M5 Tour
Fitted For: TaylorMade Stealth Plus, 9.75°, RDX Blue 60g stiff flex shaft

Fitter Analysis
"David is a good ball striker with his driver but because he doesn’t play as much anymore, a bit of inconsistency had crept in. David also didn’t want to see a large head behind the ball as he’s very much a traditionalist when it comes to looks. For that reason, the Stealth Plus head was perfect for him as it’s a nice, compact shape with the matte black crown really suiting his eye. We still needed to control the spin too, so the Stealth Plus with the weight toward the front of the head was just what we needed to keep his spin numbers down and maximise distance. David’s bad shot was out to the right, so we took a 9° head and lofted it up to 9.75° to close the face slightly and this immediately cut out a large percentage of his sliced shots. Overall, we saw a near five mph jump in ball speed, 11 yards of extra carry and his dispersion was much better now we’ve eliminated his shot to the right." 

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Golfer Feedback 
"Overall driving is the strength of my game and when I drive it well the rest of my game tends to follow. However, I’ve grown to be slightly inconsistent recently as I’ve been playing less golf. I’d never been custom fitted before today either and I tend to just buy clubs off the shelf, but the difference today with Stuart was amazing. The Stealth Plus was perfect for me and I was impressed with how well bad strikes performed as my bad shots was only a few yards behind my good shots. It’s this kind of consistency that I know will really help me drive the ball well even on days where I might not be striking the ball great. It’s significantly more forgiving than my current M5 Tour driver and the Stealth Plus really looks the part too." 

Before                                                      After
Club Speed: 99.8mph                              Club Speed: 102.1 mph
Ball Speed: 140.9mph                             Ball Speed: 144.5mph (+4)
Carry: 222.3 yards                                   Carry: 234.2 yards (+12)

Doug Watterson

Handicap Index: 5
Current Driver: Titleist 913 D3 
Fitted For: TaylorMade Stealth Plus, 9°, ProForce V2 Yellow 7 F4 stiff flex shaft

Fitter Analysis
"Doug had a ten year old driver in the bag so he was really interested to see what modern driver technology could bring to his already sound ball striking off the tee. I put him straight into the Stealth Plus head as we wanted to control the backspin, and then it was a case of showing him what the Stealth Plus can do for him when he doesn’t strike it out of the middle. We spoke in detail about what the Twist Face technology in the Stealth can do when he really goes after a drive. When he used to go after a drive with his old club, he’d find a toe strike would almost duck hook to the left. With Twist Face technology he found his drives didn't duck down and he gained 27 yards in extra carry when he tried to turn a little draw with the new driver. All he needs to do now is take that confidence and trust to the course."

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Golfer Feedback  
"Driving is one of the strengths of my game. I’m not overly long, but I like to find fairways. I’ve had my Titleist 913 driver for over 10 years now and I get on with it well, with my bad shots tending to be a hook or a block. I’d also never been custom fitted before today and I found it a fascinating experience chatting with Stuart about the different technologies and how they were affecting my shots. I’m also a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to looks, so I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about the red face. But I was won over by the compact shape of the head and the contrast between the black crown and red face looked great behind the ball. The biggest surprise from today was how the Stealth Plus performed when I thought the ball was going to move. Whenever I hit a shot that felt like it was going to go a long way left or right, the flight stayed straight and powerful. By the end of the fitting I really had the confidence to go after the shot." 

Before                                                          After
Ball Speed: 109.9mph                                 Ball Speed: 114.6mph (+5)
Spin Rate: 3406rpm                                    Spin Rate: 2765rpm
Carry: 223.8 yards                                       Carry: 234.3 yards (+11)

Sharon Olive

Handicap Index: 15
Current Driver: Ping G410 SFT
Fitted For: TaylorMade Stealth HD, 10.5°, Air Speeder 45g regular flex shaft  

Fitter Analysis
"Sharon had a fairly suitable head in her old driver, but the shaft was too heavy and it wasn’t giving her any forgiveness. So straight away I put her into a shaft that was about 20g lighter to help increase clubhead speed, launch and her overall consistency. For this fit we went straight into the Stealth HD head as Sharon’s miss is to the right and the HD head offered her a nice amount of draw bias to get her hitting those shots straighter. The combination of a more forgiving shaft, a more forgiving driver head and some draw bias gave Sharon around 17 yards extra carry distance and the Stealth HD head and carbon face was giving her an extra six mph ball speed compared to her old driver."

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Golfer Feedback  
"I’ve always tended to lose the ball to the right with my tee shots and this has cost me quite a bit of distance over time. Despite the fact I’ve been custom fitted before, today was a world of difference thanks to the variety of shaft and head options I had.  I also loved the look of the Stealth HD when I first got it in my hands, the all black crown suited my eye better than the silver women's option and created a confidence inspiring look with the shaft Stuart fitted me for. Performance wise I could immediately see my shots were drifting less to the right and I can’t wait to see that translate to more fairways hit out on course."

Before                                                       After
Ball Speed: 92mph                                   Ball Speed: 97mph (+5)
Carry: 121.8 yards                                    Carry: 139.5 yards (+18)
Total: 144.2 yards                                     Total: 160.8 yards (+16)