TaylorMade 2023 Product Testing and Fitting Experience Live At The Kingdom! Follow Along Here!

[Kylekoz17]

2 hours ago, radiman said:

Oh wow. That’s so cool. I’d be absolutely wiped. I imagine it’s been a whirlwind day for you guys. 
 

So, feeling pretty confident in what you were fit into? Any gear that you were surprised to land in?

I'm not sure I was surprised with what I was fit into as much as I was surprised with the performance.  The new driver is truly great on misses.  I'll do a longer write up for sure, but the spin, ball speed, and carry on my heel and toe misses were better than anything I've ever hit before.  Sub 3k spin and maybe 3-4 MPH loss on the high end I just couldn't believe

 

2 hours ago, QuigleyDU said:

That crazy. It would be awesome to hit balls at some place pure like that for that long. Tinker tinker tinker!! Awesome stuff!

it sure was!  The range was pure.  Couldn't ask for anything better.  They have every shaft and combo you could possibly imagine.  They didn't have a specific shaft built up already, so Greg (my awesome fitter) and I walked into their club building room and built a shaft in 5 minutes.  It was laugh out loud cool

[radiman]

1 minute ago, Kylekoz17 said:

I'm not sure I was surprised with what I was fit into as much as I was surprised with the performance.  The new driver is truly great on misses.  I'll do a longer write up for sure, but the spin, ball speed, and carry on my heel and toe misses were better than anything I've ever hit before.  Sub 3k spin and maybe 3-4 MPH loss on the high end I just couldn't believe

 

it sure was!  The range was pure.  Couldn't ask for anything better.  They have every shaft and combo you could possibly imagine.  They didn't have a specific shaft built up already, so Greg (my awesome fitter) and I walked into their club building room and built a shaft in 5 minutes.  It was laugh out loud cool

That’s pretty awesome haha. That’s an experience in and of itself. 

[MFBach]

7 hours ago, QuigleyDU said:

Whats in the bag!! Whats in the bag!!

 

Just your typical, run of the mill swag bag…

 

Except for all the epic, one off gear from The Vault/The Kingdom. Trying to be safe here for the most part, I know everyone wants pictures, but TM has been truly first class for the entire event and the launch is obviously a big deal for them. 
 

Not trying to click bait anybody, but there are some amazing things that we literally cannot post at the moment. Hopefully everyone will still be interested we that’s the possibility! 

[MFBach]

6 hours ago, radiman said:

How long are the fitting sessions?  If I remember right, it was pretty much a full bag fitting?  Are the guys on a timeline or is it a it takes as long as it takes scenario?

We went through the entire bag with more detail than you can truly absorb in one fitting… the shafts and heads at their disposal are everything you could imagine, plus some you can’t. It probably lasted 3-4 hours, but felt like the blink of an eye. Their attention to detail, tech, and knowledge is absurd though. 

[MFBach]

6 hours ago, bfizzy said:

Holy Crap, is that a Chandler / cncsquared sighting?  That guy knows his stuff!

Absolutely was… he gave us a full, detailed presentation on a “new product” prior to the fitting. Again, trying to respect their situation here, but Chandler was a phenomenally knowledgeable and overwhelmingly friendly guy. 
 

To be honest, the entire staff was amazing. Willing and happy to answer everything from the most basic to the highest tech/design questions. Really an amazing crew all around! 

[Kylekoz17]

A few cool pictures of the champions hall

 

[MFBach]

 

I hate to keep cropping this stuff for discrepancy, and I’m sure everyone is jonesing for some good product pictures, but this is my new favorite room on the planet. 
 

As for what’s inside the cabinets… everything you know and a couple you’re going to want. 

[BallerNate]

5 hours ago, gticlay said:

Yes, they will build clubs for us - I believe they take 4-5 days to build and then sent out to us at home.

[geauxWRX]

Can we get stealth vs stealth 2 trackman numbers with the same shaft?

[RoyaleWithCheese]

well, one more sleep was now one sleep ago

[QuigleyDU]

8 hours ago, MFBach said:

 

Just your typical, run of the mill swag bag…

 

Except for all the epic, one off gear from The Vault/The Kingdom. Trying to be safe here for the most part, I know everyone wants pictures, but TM has been truly first class for the entire event and the launch is obviously a big deal for them. 
 

Not trying to click bait anybody, but there are some amazing things that we literally cannot post at the moment. Hopefully everyone will still be interested we that’s the possibility! 

That K hat is “killer”!!!

[Kylekoz17]

I spent some time with 4 iron MC vs the 4 iron 770 trying to figure out where to split my set.  The 4 iron MC was just a little too small looking for me and I had a lot more confidence standing over the 770.  Here’s a pic between the two:

 

after the presentation we got on the new clubs and technology, I was excited to try the new Plus 3 wood.  I really really love my M5 so I was happy to see the Stealth 2 Plus has the same shape.  Even though the new head is a little bigger, the color scheme makes it appear similar in size.  

 

[radiman]

9 minutes ago, Kylekoz17 said:

I spent some time with 4 iron MC vs the 4 iron 770 trying to figure out where to split my set.  The 4 iron MC was just a little too small looking for me and I had a lot more confidence standing over the 770.  Here’s a pic between the two:

 

after the presentation we got on the new clubs and technology, I was excited to try the new Plus 3 wood.  I really really love my M5 so I was happy to see the Stealth 2 Plus has the same shape.  Even though the new head is a little bigger, the color scheme makes it appear similar in size.  

 

Did you guys play around with the weight?  I am really curious what kind of changes you guys were seeing in launch/spin. 

[QuigleyDU]

9 minutes ago, Kylekoz17 said:

I spent some time with 4 iron MC vs the 4 iron 770 trying to figure out where to split my set.  The 4 iron MC was just a little too small looking for me and I had a lot more confidence standing over the 770.  Here’s a pic between the two:

 

after the presentation we got on the new clubs and technology, I was excited to try the new Plus 3 wood.  I really really love my M5 so I was happy to see the Stealth 2 Plus has the same shape.  Even though the new head is a little bigger, the color scheme makes it appear similar in size.  

 

 

Interesting!! It is slightly mini driver'ish..

[Olde Maroon]

Cheers from Carlsbad! 

 

 

I'm sure you are all inundated with Stealth 2 content given the embargo date being today. I know personally I woke to about ten review video notifications up on YouTube, so I'm guessing you have all watched at least one of those (probably more). What can I offer you that those pros can't? Well, for better or for worse, I can share the entire TM launch experience and the fitting experience from the perspective of a middling golfer. 

 

So, a bit about me. I'm 41 with a couple kids and a busy job (like many of you), so golf has fallen to the back burner for me in the last five years or so. I currently sit at a 16 handicap (up from a low around 10) and I play about 15 rounds per year lately. I'm pretty sure I buy more clubs/shafts here on BST each year than rounds I play... As you might expect, I struggle with consistency. I've been a member of the GolfWRX forums for a bit over a decade, learning a ton, spending a ton, and enjoying the enthusiast environment. 

 

Coming into this trip, I had never been fit before. My bag prior to the fitting was as follows:

 

SIM Max 9*, Tensei 1K 65x

Cobra F9 3w @ 15.5*, GD IZ 7s

Cobra F9 19h, 22h, GD IZ 85s

Titleist TS2 25h, Ventus Velo 8s

Srixon ZX5, MMT 105s

Cleveland CBX 2 wedges (50/55/60) Recoil 110 F4

Odyssey Stroke Lab 2-Ball 

 

As you can see, it's a real mix of what I guessed would be correct for my skill level (limited). 

 

I'll skip to the punch line and let you know where I ended up after my fitting with Chandler (who was incredible - more on that later):

 

Stealth+ 2 9.0 (down to 8.75* and one click upright), Fuji Ventus Blue TR 6x

Stealth 2 HD 3w (lofted up to 16*), Fuji Ventus Blue TR 7s

Stealth+ 2 4h, Fuji Ventus Blue HB 8s

P790 5-7, MMT 105s

P770 8-PW, MMT 105s

P770 GW (bent to 49*)

Milled Grind 3 (high bounce) 54 (bent to 53*) and 58*, MMT 125s wedge shafts

Spider putter that shall remain a secret...but I can say that I went with a slight toe hang, which helped prevent a slightly closed face at impact. 

 

So, that's the end result, but as you might expect, the journey to get there was something special, which I'll put in the next post. 

 

Edited January 11, 2023 by Olde Maroon

[Kylekoz17]

As for the driver, I hit a few shots with my 9* TSi3 to establish a baseline.  Was hovering around 165 ball speed and ~2500 spin, something I am pretty happy with for my January swing in the north east.  One thing we wanted to do was improve my descent angle which was around 40.  The goal was sub 35.  We tried the 8,9, and 10.5* heads.  The 10.5 wasn't a fit right away, so we spent our time finding the right combination of head and shaft between the 8 and 9 heads.  For my swing yesterday, the 8* was probably the right fit, but we were also talking about a mid season swing and taking that into account when ultimately deciding on which one we would go with.  In the end we went with the 9* head with Tensei Orange 65x as it was a good combination of spin, ball speed, and descent angle that we think will also be a good fit in the summer.  The 8 was awesome and the 30* descent angle would run forever, but I think spin was was just a touch too low.

 

Two things about the driver that really impressed me:

1. the efficiency of ball speed as I started slowing down after hitting a lot of balls.  A couple mph swing speed less as I got tired and the ball was still jumping off the face and distance really hadn't changed

 

2. forgiveness.  If I remember correctly, I was as high as 167 ball speed with the Stealth 2 Plus at the same swing speed as my TSi at the same loft, so the couple MPH gain was nice, but my misses were so good.  My miss is a high spinny right shot, so when I caught shots low on the face or heel, I would always go back and check to see what spin and distance were doing.  It was shocking to see the ball speeds at 162-164 with spin staying below 3k.  That is unheard of for me and frankly had my fitter questioning where I actually caught the ball on the face when I said I missed it, but we confirmed my strikes with trackman.  Carry distances were about 10-15 yards shorter than solid strikes

[Kylekoz17]

18 minutes ago, QuigleyDU said:

 

Interesting!! It is slightly mini driver'ish..

Interesting you say that.  Not sure it is big enough to be mini driver, but with the sliding weight, you can effectively turn it into one, and also why you won't see a 16.5 head.  I know everyone will say changing the loft changes the face angle, but the engineers assured us the club will still sit square on the ground and changing the loft doesn't have much of an affect on face angle with the fairway.  So with that said, you can crank the loft down and move the weight all the way forward and have a low launching tee machine, or you can move the weight back and maybe even keep the 15* loft, and get the same distance and launch you'd want to see from a 16.5 head.  Or even crank the loft higher and and move the weight forward.  They told us that Scott Stallings plays a 7 wood but they don't make a 7 wood in this head.  He also some times switches to a 5 wood, but in his testing with the club he was able to get 2 clubs out of one.  They played with the weight back for him on the 5 wood and he was getting same distance and spin he needs from a 7 wood, and then also move the weights around to also get a 5 wood when he needs it.  No need to have 2 different clubs with different lengths and characteristics

[radiman]

Just now, Kylekoz17 said:

Interesting you say that.  Not sure it is big enough to be mini driver, but with the sliding weight, you can effectively turn it into one, and also why you won't see a 16.5 head.  I know everyone will say changing the loft changes the face angle, but the engineers assured us the club will still sit square on the ground and changing the loft doesn't have much of an affect on face angle with the fairway.  So with that said, you can crank the loft down and move the weight all the way forward and have a low launching tee machine, or you can move the weight back and maybe even keep the 15* loft, and get the same distance and launch you'd want to see from a 16.5 head.  Or even crank the loft higher and and move the weight forward.  They told us that Scott Stallings plays a 7 wood but they don't make a 7 wood in this head.  He also some times switches to a 5 wood, but in his testing with the club he was able to get 2 clubs out of one.  They played with the weight back for him on the 5 wood and he was getting same distance and spin he needs from a 7 wood, and then also move the weights around to also get a 5 wood when he needs it.  No need to have 2 different clubs with different lengths and characteristics

That is interesting. Definitely something I need to play with.  I am torn on just a straight up 3w.  Or, going with a 5w, lofting it down a touch, and moving the weight forward to get it to play similarly to a 3w or a 3HL

[Kylekoz17]

26 minutes ago, radiman said:

Did you guys play around with the weight?  I am really curious what kind of changes you guys were seeing in launch/spin. 

A little bit, maybe not as much as I'd have liked but also didn't want to make swings just to make swings when I'm already hitting a ton of balls.  Greg knew what we were trying to accomplish after hitting my M5.  But see my post above for more details on the launch and spin and the weight tech they have in this one.  Can't wait to get this thing!!

[QuigleyDU]

5 minutes ago, Kylekoz17 said:

A little bit, maybe not as much as I'd have liked but also didn't want to make swings just to make swings when I'm already hitting a ton of balls.  Greg knew what we were trying to accomplish after hitting my M5.  But see my post above for more details on the launch and spin and the weight tech they have in this one.  Can't wait to get this thing!!

Looking forward to trying these. 

[QuigleyDU]

8 minutes ago, Kylekoz17 said:

Interesting you say that.  Not sure it is big enough to be mini driver, but with the sliding weight, you can effectively turn it into one, and also why you won't see a 16.5 head.  I know everyone will say changing the loft changes the face angle, but the engineers assured us the club will still sit square on the ground and changing the loft doesn't have much of an affect on face angle with the fairway.  So with that said, you can crank the loft down and move the weight all the way forward and have a low launching tee machine, or you can move the weight back and maybe even keep the 15* loft, and get the same distance and launch you'd want to see from a 16.5 head.  Or even crank the loft higher and and move the weight forward.  They told us that Scott Stallings plays a 7 wood but they don't make a 7 wood in this head.  He also some times switches to a 5 wood, but in his testing with the club he was able to get 2 clubs out of one.  They played with the weight back for him on the 5 wood and he was getting same distance and spin he needs from a 7 wood, and then also move the weights around to also get a 5 wood when he needs it.  No need to have 2 different clubs with different lengths and characteristics

Yeah, not quite a mini driver. But it seems to be larger like the TSR2+. So that in a 13.5 head could be a monster. 

[knudson81]

The boys right before they had their minds blown!

[Kylekoz17]

16 hours ago, JDSPGA said:

How on EARTH is TaylorMade still not using a TM4? Crazy. 
 

Not a knock on the brand I just don’t get it. I give my Callaway Rep s*** every time he busts out his TM3. Like all this money the companies are making and you don’t use TM4??

 

Especially shocking at the kingdom. 

I'll also add they have down range trackmans paired as well so the output is accurate to the inch or something crazy like that.  Trust me, no skimping at the Kingdom!!

[Jayshaft]

Love these threads every year! Congrats to all!

[KC4441]

Lots of great information gents!  

[OspreyCI]

Great stuff fellas. Enjoy and can’t wait to hear about those fairways. 

[Olde Maroon]

I know I'm going to be jumping around, but I want to get straight into the fitting experience with Chandler (who also gave us the launch presentation for the new line of SGI irons). Chandler has worked in several roles around Taylormade and is a hell of a golfer himself, so he offers great perspectives on everything we covered. Most importantly for me, he was great at working me through my initial nerves and getting me comfortable quickly (except when the drone would buzz over my shoulder mid-swing). 

 

We dove straight into the big stick, which was my preference. I hoped to swing hard and punch through those nerves. Chandler had me hit my current driver (again, SIM Max 9* with Tensei 1K 65x). Historically, my preferred shot is a slight draw, and my miss is when I'm trying to control it and I get tight - then it's a duck hook and I'm OB left. I swing around 105, a bit higher if I warm up and/or have a beer. Today, I had a bit of a block right, but the contact was okay. Launch was low at around 9* (pretty common for me). My launch angle was around neutral or even slightly negative, which isn't typical for me but that's the challenge with an inconsistent player. 

 

Chandler put me straight into a Stealth 9* lofted up one setting with a Tensei Orange 65s (because I have historically played counterbalanced shafts to help my AOA). This felt smooth and helped increase my AOA a bit, but it was a bit too loose for me and my dispersion suffered. It also spun up to above 3000 which killed my distance. 

 

Next up was a Graphite Design AD-XC 6s. This shaft felt great to swing and helped a bit with the dispersion, but launch was too low and spin remained too high. The result was low risers, which combined with the headwind at The Kingdom, meant loss of distance. We could do better. 

 

Chandler stuck a Ventus TR Blue 6s into the Stealth+ 2 head, and we saw some immediate results. The spin dropped a few hundred revs and the flight was more penetrating. Launch also went up a bit to just about 11*. The shaft felt great. I've previously tried the original Ventus Blue and it was a bit too spinny and loose for me. The Black was too manly for me. The Ventus Blue TR really hit that Goldilocks zone. Still, my flight started just a bit too right. Chandler said he had another tweak to make. 

 

He then switched it up completely, giving me a Hulk shaft. I'm pretty sure he just needed a quick pick-me-up so he wanted to watch me struggle to keep the ball on the planet. We had some fun laughing at block after block, and he casually handed me his real plan.

 

Stealth+ 2 with the Ventus Blue TR 6x. When he gave me the club back, I didn't notice that he had gone up a flex (I tried to never look at any changes he made). I immediately started belting drive after drive straight down the middle (which I cannot stress enough is not something I am usually capable of doing). Flight was noticeably higher and more penetrating. Turns out he had set it upright one degree, put the weight towards the heel, and dropped the loft a touch. With those changes, we had found the winner. 

 

Coming into this, I would never have guessed I would have ended up in the plus model. The tweaks Chandler made improved my strike so much, and the club has so much inherent forgiveness, that I had better dispersion than I've ever had. 

 

Chandler was an absolute genius throughout, spotting flaws and making tweaks to address my needs. He was full of surprises, too, but more on that in a bit (typing on my phone is so slow that this report is going to take about as long as the fitting itself). 

Edited January 10, 2023 by Olde Maroon
I'm human

[QuigleyDU]

I would have put a ton of swings on the P7-TWs.. One of the sexiest irons out there.. 

 

I know they are old and there is new. But I love those irons. 

Edited January 10, 2023 by QuigleyDU

[Olde Maroon]

2 minutes ago, OspreyCI said:

Great stuff fellas. Enjoy and can’t wait to hear about those fairways. 

The fairways are genuinely interesting this year. It's definitely not the typical lineup where it's minor iterations to the same clubs. Each model is distinct in its role and they all play very differently. 

[radiman]

5 minutes ago, Olde Maroon said:

I know I'm going to be jumping around, but I want to get straight into the fitting experience with Chandler (who also gave us the launch presentation for the new line of SGI irons). Chandler has worked in several roles around Taylormade and is a hell of a golfer himself, so he offers great perspectives on everything we covered. Most importantly for me, he was great at working me through my initial nerves and getting me comfortable quickly (except when the drone would buzz over my shoulder mid-swing). 

 

We dove straight into the big stick, which was my preference. I hoped to swing hard and punch through those nerves. Chandler had me hit my current driver (again, SIM Max 9* with Tensei 1K 65x). Historically, my preferred shot is a slight draw, and my miss is when I'm trying to control it and I get tight - then it's a duck hook and I'm OB left. I swing around 105, a bit higher if I warm up and/or have a beer. Today, I had a bit of a block right, but the contact was okay. Launch was low at around 9* (pretty common for me). My launch angle was around neutral or even slightly negative, which isn't typical for me but that's the challenge with an inconsistent player. 

 

Chandler put me straight into a Stealth 9* lofted up one setting with a Tensei Orange 65s (because I have historically played counterbalanced shafts to help my AOA). This felt smooth and helped increase my AOA a bit, but it was a bit too loose for me and my dispersion suffered. It also spun up to above 3000 which killed my distance. 

 

Next up was a Graphite Design AD-XC 6s. This shaft felt great to swing and helped a bit with the dispersion, but launch was too low and spin remained too high. The result was low risers, which combined with the headwind at The Kingdom, meant loss of distance. We could do better. 

 

Chandler stuck a Ventus TR Blue 6s into the Stealth+ 2 head, and we saw some immediate results. The spin dropped a few hundred revs and the flight was more penetrating. Launch also went up a bit to just about 11*. The shaft felt great. I've previously tried the original Ventus Blue and it was a bit too spinny and loose for me. The Black was too manly for me. The Ventus Blue TR really hit that Goldilocks zone. Still, my flight started just a bit too left. Chandler said he had another tweak to make. 

 

He then switched it up completely, giving me a Hulk shaft. I'm pretty sure he just needed a quick pick-me-up so he wanted to watch me struggle to keep the ball on the planet. We had some fun laughing at block after block, and he casually handed me his real plan.

 

Stealth+ 2 with the Ventus Blue TR 6x. When he gave me the club back, I didn't notice that he had gone up a flex (I tried to never look at any changes he made). I immediately started belting drive after drive straight down the middle (which I cannot stress enough is not something I am usually capable of doing). Flight was noticeably higher and more penetrating. Turns out he had set it upright one degree, put the weight towards the heel, and dropped the loft a touch. With those changes, we had found the winner. 

 

Coming into this, I would never have guessed I would have ended up in the plus model. The tweaks Chandler made improved my strike so much, and the club has so much inherent forgiveness, that I had better dispersion than I've ever had. 

 

Chandler was an absolute genius throughout, spotting flaws and making tweaks to address my needs. He was full of surprises, too, but more on that in a bit (typing on my phone is so slow that this report is going to take about as long as the fitting itself). 

Love this story.  Sounds like they were able to keep you relaxed and he was able to dissect your swing over time and land you in a perfect fit.