TaylorMade Stealth Plus Fairway Review

TaylorMade Stealth Plus Fairway Review

The irony of TaylorMade Stealth – a product line named for evading detection and moving secretly - is that it’s probably the biggest equipment story in golf just now.

You won’t find a bright red carbon face in the new Stealth fairway woods but you will find two new models inspired by TaylorMade’s Carbonwood revolution. The Stealth Plus and Stealth fairway woods replace the TaylorMade SIM2 fairway and the more forgiving TaylorMade SIM2 Max fairway.

In this review, we tested out the 15° Stealth Plus Fairway, the smaller headed model with an adjustable loft sleeve, that TaylorMade says offers an ‘ideal blend of playability, shot making and distance.’

Wrestle with the excessively tight-fitting headcover and you’ll find a striking club built around all the tour proven technology that has made TaylorMade one of the best fairway woods to own in golf. There’s a silver 80g V Steel sole, Speed Pocket and Twist Face. New in the Stealth line up is a handy laser-etched alignment aid on the top of the clubface, making it easy to line up. The clubface is made from ultra-thin Zatech titanium which promotes faster ball speed and pushes the limits of face flexibility.

The biggest difference between Stealth Plus and the SIM2 fairways is the infinity edge carbon crown. Its surface area is 12 percent larger than the SIM2 Titanium fairways. Using more carbon in the crown frees up weight to be moved lower in the clubhead and allows mass in the 80g V Steel sole to be re-engineered, for better turf interaction, reduced drag and higher launch. In theory, the carbon influence in Stealth should mean a longer and more forgiving fairway wood.

I tested this club around The Hunting Course at Slaley Hall, a former European Tour venue in Northumberland and on a TrackMan at Brancepeth Castle Golf Club. The feel from the face was phenomenal although the results were a little inconsistent because the mid-spin HZRDUS Smoke RDX shaft had a lively mid-section and seemed to kick more than I’d like on the downswing.

The launch monitor confirmed it was producing more launch and spin than was optimum for my swing speed and it was actually coming up shorter than the Stealth Fairway but it just shows how important a custom fitting can be in every area of the bag. Fully dialled in, this club would undoubtedly be hard to beat. 

On the positive side, smash factor was high at 1.48, ball speed was second highest on test at 152.5 mph and average clubhead speed was actually highest at 103.3mph. I actually hit my longest shot of the session testing many different models across different manufacturers with the Stealth Plus - carrying a whopping 250 yards. While the control wasn't there for me, it certainly has the wow factor from the middle while delivering consistency off centre too. 

There’s a lot more performance in the Stealth Plus fairway on offer than I was able to unpack but with the numerous shaft and loft options available, a custom fitting is more important than it has ever been to fully maximise both distance and accuracy. The Stealth Plus retails at £349 and is available with an extensive range of custom shaft options at no extra cost and a more specialist range of lofts - Rocket 3/13.5°, 3/15° and 5/19°.

If you decide to buy from this range, take a look at our handpicked TaylorMade discount codes.