A few weeks ago i bought a cobra driver which was called a cobra f9s it was a new version of an old driver from 2019. But it had some subtle technology differences when i tested it i noticed differences in performance and the f9s for me was not as good as the original f9. And i bought that driver to warn you now this time i spotted taylormade i've brought out a new version of an old driver the m4 and i had to buy one to give it a test so as you can see on my desk i've got what looks like two identical tailor-made m4 drivers one of them was the original taylormade m4 driver from 2018 a very successful driver first time taylormade had introduced things like twist face a way of curving the face to optimize miss hits to help you find more fairways hammerhead technology behind the face to optimize ball speed carried on with this idea of a carbon crown. But overall an incredibly successful driver but also i've got on the desk a taylormade m4 2021 which is a brand new driver that launched the back end of last year over in america. But has just hit stores here in the uk now so obviously i'm curious i want to make sure that there's no wall beam pulled over the eyes. So as soon as i knew they were in stores to buy i had to go. And investigate and as i walked in i saw him there proud on the shelf a big rack of brand new in wrappers tailor-made m4 drivers the big new logo there ready for sale and on first inspection they looked identical to an m4 driver i was seeing things like twist face hammerhead technology carbon crown the same atmos shaft you would get in it originally if you bought it in 2018 the same grip everything was exactly the same. But i thought well hold on a minute let me just pull up some images of the original m4 driver let's see if there's anything that i spot that's different and you know what i was pretty good at spot the difference growing up. So i decided to properly have a look at my old review from 2018 and see if there's any differences and it was then.
At that moment i realized these two drivers are not identical there are subtle little differences that i started to spot the main one being on the original m4 driver on the m first off it was an italic font. And on the top left side of the m was a blue accent. And on the right side of the end was a red however.. And it sounds subtle this but it might lead to something on the new one the font wasn't in italic it was standard text. And both accents were red now straight away alarm bells started to ring because if there's little subtle differences like that what else could it potentially lead to. And even the head covers have changed slightly so this one here on my right hand side is the original one with the blue. And red accents where this one on the left-hand side doesn't have the blue it's just got the red accents above the m very subtle little changes but it got me thinking why why have taylormade made these tiny changes because surely that must cost them money compared to the original one what's the reasoning behind it i know these little things on their own aren't going to affect performance. But what also might have been tweaked or changed that could affect the performance and the only last thing i spotted was the 2021 driver did have a slight lighter color crown not much in it. But it was definitely noticeable compared to the original. So there's only one thing to do i had to buy this new m4 driver. So i picked it up in nine and a half degrees of loft and a stiff atmos shaft because i knew at home i had exactly the same driver but the older version i thought would be good head to head 279 pound it cost me and that 279 price tag is considerably less than the taylormade stealth driver which here in the uk is currently priced at 469 pounds. So before going out testing these two drivers head to head i decided to give taylormade a quick call to ask him about this new m4 driver. And how does it differ if all against the original m4 driver now taylormade said to me on the phone that there is no difference whatsoever. And the only reason they've changed the colorway is just to freshen it up a little bit now since that i've actually heard rumors online that bmw were not happy at all with the original colour scheme with the italic font. And the blue and red because it very much looks like their m4 lineup of cards i don't know if there's any truth in that but it probably doesn't quite make sense now that's what taylor made said on the phone to me. But as you know i'm not just going to take their word. For it it was time. For me to test these two drivers head to head out on the golf course so this should be the perfect test both heads in 9.5 degrees of loft both shafts in a stiff atmos and both golf clubs exactly the same length so first up was the original m4 driver. And after hitting it a few times i remember why it was such a successful driver. For me it sounded incredible it really did that lovely kind of dead noise. And it felt good off the face bore flight wise was consistent. And i felt like overall i hit a lot of very very good driver shots with the m4 and even on the bad shots they didn't seem to be that punishing or that bad and my average carry with the original one was 279 yards. And i've got to say i hit a lot of fairways with the original m4 so now it's time to test the new model taylormade say there's no difference what will i find [Music] all right guys. So after all the shots have been hit with both drivers i've got to say something this 2021 driver not only looks sounds feels the same as the original it performs exactly the same as the original the numbers across the board on carry spin ball speed it was like i was hitting the same driver. So you know what props to taylormade i came into this test with a little bit of skepticism certainly after what i found with the cobra f9 and f9s but i've got to say for the price at 279 this is a very good driver. And it's exactly the same bar a few tiny cosmetic changes but you know what it then.
Got me thinking if you can pick up such a great driver that's brand new. For 279 well how does that compare to a brand new taylormade driver that's out now. So funny enough i had my stealth on me as well so i gave that a hit to compare the numbers to the m4 [Music] so after hitting loads of shots with the stealth driver straight after the m4 this is what i found. For me sound wise and feel wise i would categorically give it to the m4 driver just sounds better than this carbon face driver it does numbers wise what was interesting averages the stealth was a fraction longer by about two. Or three yards on average what was really interesting is on the long hits this has got the advantage found i could hit some even closer to 290 yards however. found on the bad strikes this was not performing as well as that was on the bad strikes it's really interesting. So after all the testing it got me thinking i always think taylormade might have shot themselves in the foot you look at performance these two drivers i think. For most golfers they're not going to see a massive difference considering there's 200 pounds price difference i also feel like. For most golfers they might even get a little bit more forgiveness from the m4 driver if you're looking for a brand new driver this year that's still in a wrapper you get a brand new head cover this is an incredible option if you really want to fine-tune it. And get custom fit which you can't do on the m4 you can only get in stiff. And reg you might have to look at something a little bit more expensive but overall if you want a brand new driver and you want a tailor-made to be honest that's where i'd probably point most people thanks for watching stay tuned lots more to come i'll see you soon.
