Without question the most talked about driver in recent years has been the TaylorMade stealth with its red carbon face you have guys like Tiger Woods Rory McIlroy some of the best players in the world putting it straight in the bag well there's a new one stealth 2.0 apparently it's faster straighter more forgiving or is it let's find out foreign foreign whether you are a tailor-made fan. Or not there's no denying the height. And anticipation TaylorMade managed to drum up last year for the launch of the stealth driver was unquestionable I mean everybody wanted to find out more in fact it was the fastest drive review video I've ever released to get up to 1 million views the fastest you had guys looking at the drive. And going what it's got a red face. And it's carbon I've got to test it I've got to hit it surely I'm undergoing to golf shops last year and everybody wanted to test still you had guys like Tiger Woods putting in the back Rory macaron all of the TaylorMade athletes were putting it straight in the bag. And raving about it um I'll be honest throughout the year 2022 I actually took the TaylorMade stealth driver to the driving range quite a bit because I found that when you absolutely crushed it from the middle like you do a stupid long drive swing the distance was incredible quite stupid what I also discovered however. anything off-center was. So unbelievably punishing and after speaking to a lot of people throughout last year a lot of people thought the same there were some golfers that just literally could not hit the stealth Drive they just couldn't go on with it at all. So stealth driver was very polarizing well this year Taylor Made have obviously found out about that they know that the driver last year wasn't forgiving therefore. stealth 2 which I've got on the desk right now is their attempt to try. And combat that forgiveness issue and to keep the same distance but to give a little bit more forgiveness so before I come on to how TaylorMade have claimed to make these drivers more forgiving let's talk about the drivers and the look so there's three in the lineup there's the stealth 2 there's a stealth 2 plus which has got a movable track at the front and there's a stealth 2 HD Hydra or stop it no slice I honestly believe this is one of the nicest looking drivers I've ever seen personally you'll know. For my logo I love red I love black I love the White and the kind of silver detailing it is. So lovely there is one thing I change is this year the carbon Crown is the loss ah I'm not the biggest fan of that I feel like it shines up too much. But it's already a small thing you still got the red carbon base not quite as striking red this year a little bit more dulled down and many features you saw on the stealth definitely but with a few extra additions I'd also have to know the head cover this year I mean it's absolutely nagga I think it's if there's an award. For head cover of the Year stealth 2 has got it and the price for these drivers this year 529 pounds I put the dollar price there as well now before we talk about what's new with the stealth drivers let's talk about what's carried through well 60 layer carbon base that's going to continue as mentioned last year Taylor Made It committed to making carbon Woods. For the foreseeable future so that's not going anywhere it's still got twist face to offer more forgiving of off-centered hits. And it still has a level of adjustability the stealth two horse model has this weight at the front which can slide more from toe to heel to make it more fade. Or Draw biased and then.
The HD version this again something had similar slash here but they've enhanced it put an even bigger weight at the back to make it more forgiving for those slightly higher handicappers and as always you can change the Loft by two degrees up. And two degrees down and you can make the driver more upright if you want to hit it a little bit more to the left. And overall from the looks it's very obvious it's the stealth's newer brother there's not that many things change so if you do have a style from last year this doesn't feel like a massive massive upgrade I doubt you'll be going out itching to buy one of these straight away just from the looks anyway it's not totally different. So let's mention what is actually different in these drivers to offer that more forgiveness. So new features well first off a carbon Soul matching the carbon head this way they can save weight. And distribute it more in the head if you've seen my Callaway review something similar they've done um a lot of the brands are trying to do that. So they can move its weight around to make it more forgiving. And also on this back ring here which is in red on the stealth 2 model this is a carbon reinforced composite ring now tell me to claiming I mean this material is ridiculously strong they are claiming that strength in that ring going around reinforces the lighter parts of the driver head to maximize the distance off the face. And the Forgiveness when you don't strike it exactly in the middle which is as I mentioned before is the biggest issue with stealth last year. And the other big technology Story the carbon face as much it's not changed massively we've now managed to bring in inverted cone technology in the carbon phase which they managed to do with titanium before. But they've now also managed to do that with carbon effectively it says face thickening. And thinning elements of it so across the face the ball speed stays more consistent again going back to that off-centered strike which is good I'm. So glad that's what Taylor Made have focused on this year Terminator often kind of get a bit guilty of going all out the distance. But this didn't need distance this year it needed more forgiveness so all in all for TaylorMade not the most exciting launch this year it's more of a an evolution rather than a revolution but last year they had the big differences this year it's been a bit more of a refinement and that's fine as long as it works so the first thing to do was give it a test I went straight to thorax on GC quad hitting Pro V1 to collect some data from these drivers I was also monitoring even though I was in the simulator how much to the right. Or to the left the shots were going like what was the dispersion pattern starting to look like because that was my biggest concern with stealth last year. So let's look at the numbers first and if you know from my drive reviews I like to try and carry the ball at 280 yards with about 2 000 RPM spin with about 160 miles per hour full speed we're starting off with the stealth two first and as you can see from the day today.
I was averaging carrying this driver 281 yards with around about 2 000 screen just under 160 ball speed pretty much what I'd expect to average carrier a modern driver these days didn't blow me away. But it certainly wasn't disappointing moving into the stealth two plus the one with the movable weight front and back and there's not visually there's not much difference is bar the back ring on the stealth 2 plus has been blacked out. So actually when you set the club up behind the ball you don't see the red kind of ring going around it's blacked out which I can't really have a massive Preference they both look pretty good to me behind the ball it's the glossy head that is actually carried a little bit further that Rivals carried at 287 yards 2 100 spin ball speed 106 miles per hour. So good solid numbers for stealth 2 plus however. if you've seen the Callaway dragon video I did with the low spin triple diamond that was absolutely smashing it even 10 years after that. So for me good not outstanding what a good start HD version this is the Hydra not again designed. For me it's very toned in I actually have this head in 10 and a half degrees of Lock and when it was in that head in that Loft it looked like the base was aiming very very much left I couldn't hit it right at all when I cranked it lower down to 90 degrees to get more numbers distance the face looks a bit more leveled a bit straighter. But then.
It stopped going left um I think. For the right golfer that has definitely got a chance of fixing slices for me it would go way too high up in the air spinning way too much and I couldn't kind of match it up for what I wanted it to do. So the numbers are there I was carrying that 265 yards the steam rate was much much higher at two you know nearly 2 700 800. And the ball speed just wasn't there for me but again I know that's not really for me that's much more from a slice slicer now the one thing as I mentioned before I was really looking out. For dispersion rights and left shorts and Backs from these two drivers were stealth two. And the stealth two plus um I was a little bit concerned a little bit worried I was definitely not hitting it very straight the drivers like I just feel with whether it's twist face I've never mastered the gun with that whether it's the fact that's still not really really forgiving I found. For me to sell two driver the front and back this version was a bit off. So I'd hit some much shorter ones and then.
A few longer ones where they're still too poor I felt like the distance stayed fairly consistent but then.
Rights and lefts were coming in all the time like big rights. And Laps as well and that's not what I've been seeing with drivers certainly the testing I've been doing this year so it's time to take them out in the golf course and see actually in reality what does that look like. So mainly Focus this on the stealth 2 and stealth 2 plus and started hitting some shots now the only way I can best describe it this is the ball flights it's unpredictable like every shot just seemed a bit different like whether it was ones that leaked off to the right. Or they kind of went low left I felt like it was it was hard work like both drivers it felt like every time I've set it up. And hit a shot I didn't know what the outcome would be now I'd like to think I'm a pretty good driver with a golf ball. And a lot of the testing I've been doing recently certainly a lot of the drivers I can tell if I'm gonna fade it. Or and draw it and do it on some level demand that I know what my Miss is these stealth to drive. And I just don't know what the outcome is going to be. And I tried I really did I hit loads. And loads and loads of shots trying to work out what do I why am I getting on with them how can I make these work. And I promise I just couldn't I hit some long ones on the course I did there's no question about that. And similar to last year these L2 drivers were going to hit out the middle are. So bloody long it's ridiculous and on that note they sound fantastic like the drive the strikes off the head sound so so good but if you're trying to find a fairway oh my goodness it's hard fights really hard I would however. still caveat it they were slightly less volatile than the stealth from last year slightly less like the misses were huge rights. And left they were just kind of a little bit right a little bit left. But just never find a new Fairway well I think the stealth you would be on a different Golf Course sometimes um I don't think they've got it right. Yet certainly for golfers who don't hit the middle of the face which is me. And I'm sure many of you guys watch it I think they're the best players in the world these are fantastic drivers um I think they look great I think they sound fantastic I'll still don't think they are as forgiving as they need to. And could be guys thanks for watching hope you enjoyed the video make sure you like And subscribe subscribe to my new review Channel which is going to be coming soon I'll put a link in the first line of the description thanks. For watching guys thank you lots more to come and let's hope hey stealth three might be the forgiving model we'll see you next.
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