TaylorMade Stealth HD Driver Review

TaylorMade Stealth HD Driver Review 

Neil Tappin reviews the full TaylorMade Stealth Driver range

We tested the TaylorMade Stealth HD driver up against the rest of the Stealth range on a Trackman launch monitor and then took it out onto the range at the London Club in Kent to see what golfers can expect from this draw bias driver model.

For golfers who struggle with a slice with their tee shots, TaylorMade has devised the Stealth HD driver. As with the other two heads in the Stealth range, the HD features a lightweight carbon fibre face. Have these additions made it one of the best golf drivers of 2022?

TaylorMade is known for being a brand that looks to break technological barriers in golf equipment, and this move to ‘Carbonwoods’ is its next step. By using 60 layers of lightweight carbon fibre - and making the face bigger - TaylorMade is saying the Stealth drivers should deliver a better energy transfer through impact for a higher COR and more ball speed. 

Often, standard draw bias drivers help promote a desired draw shape but at the expense of overall forgiveness. However, by utilising the weight savings from the 60X Carbon Twist Face, TaylorMade is claiming they have created a driver head that maintains a draw-bias while creating the highest MOI in the Stealth family. 

Aesthetics

Of course, the red face will be one of the biggest talking points from this range of drivers. In person, the red is a lot duller than in imagery, so it’s definitely worth checking out in person yourself. Overall though, we liked it and it's a huge contrast to last year's SIM2 drivers.

With the matte black finish covering the top and crown, it’s hard to actually tell the difference between the HD version with the standard Stealth and Stealth Plus driver. This can certainly be seen as a positive point for continuity amongst the range, but we feel like the stealthy black finish provides a more compact look at an address that won’t suit all those in the market for a draw bias driver. We’ve got to say that all three drivers look great down behind the ball, but they’re probably less confidence-inspiring than the SIM2 Max.

To our eye, the Stealth HD also sits slightly closed behind the ball, which is probably why we struggled with it the most out of the three Stealth options during our testing. 

Feel

The introduction of carbon fibre to the face of the driver immediately brought concerns to us about the potential acoustics of the new driver. Pleasingly however, the engineers and designers at TaylorMade clearly understand the importance of feel and sound, and the entire Stealth range sounds and feels excellent. 

We thought the Stealth models sounded a fraction higher in pitch than the previous generation SIM2. The good news is that all of the new models - including the HD - sound powerful wherever they are struck off the face. 

Performance

We started our testing of the Stealth HD indoors, on the launch monitors at Kings Golf Studio. We tested the HD driver up against the rest of the Stealth range, using Titleist Pro V1x golf balls and the same Aldila Ascent 60s shaft in each driver. All three drivers were set at 9° and you can see our launch monitor data below.

With the same lofts and shafts used, the Stealth HD created the most spin of the three heads and also comfortably achieved the most overall height. 

It’s important to note that due to the fact it sits slightly closed at address, we struggled with the HD over the other heads. However, what we were impressed with was how much this driver did encourage us to hit more of a draw shape with the ball - it'll certainly be the best driver for slicers in the range.  The ball speeds are impressive and we could really feel the extra forgiveness across the face at play. 

While it created the most spin of the three drivers, we were impressed with how close the spin numbers were to the other heads. Most draw bias variants of driver heads spin much more, and the spin numbers between the three Stealth heads are pleasingly close. To us, it proves that TaylorMade has managed to make a driver that encourages  a draw shape without losing too much of the forgiveness or power found in the rest of the range. 

There’s a driver for every kind of golfer in the Stealth range, and the HD driver is an excellent option for those who struggle with slicing it off the tee. The compact and aspirational aesthetics, along with the striking red face, make this one of the top driver contenders for 2022.

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