TaylorMade Qi35 Drivers | Golf Monthly Review

When TaylorMade releases new drivers, the industry takes note. In this video

I'm going to be taking an in-depth look at the three new models. So without further ado, meet QI35

So what have we got? Well, as normal for TaylorMade, we've got the LS model

which is the more compact low spin offering. We've got their core or standard model in the middle

and we've now got the Max, the 10K Inertia Maximum Forgiveness model at the end

Now, before I get into the tech, I have to say these things look incredible. I absolutely love

this kind of light gray carbon effect that we've got on the crown here. It really is a different

color to anything else on the market at the moment. I think this is a master stroke from

TaylorMade. From a marketing point of view, when you see this out on tour in the bags of your Rory

McElroy's, your Scotty Scheffler's, you're going to know exactly what it is. Reminds me a bit of when

they released the R11 driver back in the day of the whitehead. You knew exactly what you were

looking at on the TV. This matte finish gives it such a premium feel. It looks like the interior

of some sort of supercar and I'm thrilled to say they've stuck with the Infiniti crown that they

brought in the QI10 family instead of having one of those banner strips across the front. It just

suits my eye a little bit better. Talking about the front edge, they've also kept this little

white line that was brilliant for alignment. I found that really useful on the QI10 range

and subsequently in my testing of this, once again, it's really useful for alignment

Now this lineup is super minimalistic in terms of its coloring. There's next to nothing

but the tiny accents that there are are kind of a vibrant light yellowy green. They've been used

super sparingly and I think that's really to the benefit of the look here. Now, as always with

visuals in anything in life it's all totally subjective what you like i might not like and

vice versa but for me personally i can't remember liking the look of a driver family as much as this

in years so that's a great start with the looks but we want to know about the technology right

and as always there is quite a heavy tech story that has sculpted the development of this range

so heavy in fact that i've had to come back to my office and grab a pen and a whiteboard to do some

explain it. So the story of this QI35 range is all about CG or more accurately CG projection. Now

you probably all know what CG is. It's the centre of gravity or essentially the point at which the

driver head is perfectly balanced and I've represented that here with this little circle

with the cross in. But CG projection is kind of a new term to some of us. So that's represented

here by the dashed line heading out towards the face. It's basically where this CG projects onto

the face relative to the loft. So we'll call that this point here

Now, TaylorMade are telling us that's very, very important because that has a huge influence

on the ball flight characteristics such as launch and spin. So generally speaking when you strike beneath that CG projection you get one of those lower launching higher spinning ball flights that we know can rob us of distance So TaylorMade have been working on what they call their area of opportunity which is creating more space to hit above that CG projection to give us those

high launching low spinning ball flights that we know result in optimal distance. But it's tricky

because they want to also make a driver more forgiving. So when people have been dragging CG

locations back, so if we pretty much go horizontally back from the other CG location

what we'll see there is based on the loft of the face the cg projection raises again which lowers

our area of opportunity to get those optimal ball flights so what tailor made have done

is they've saved a lot of discretionary rate in the hosel and the crown area and they've moved

that weight around the head as low and as far back as possible thus moving that cg back but

also keeping it as low as possible to get much lower cg projection and increase that area of

opportunity that's going to allow us to hit longer drives more often. Simple, right

So let's go through the family model by model, starting with the low spin or the LS model. And I

was really interested to see this this time around because on tour last year with the QI10 range

the LS didn't actually pick up much traction. Players like Rory McIlroy and Scotty Scheffler

actually favored a version of the core model and put that in place

I was intrigued to see what had changed. And in terms of the head shape, at least, very little

It's almost identical to the QI10 LS in the playing position. So the more compact, pear-shaped head remains

but the weight track that sat underneath on the QI10 LS has been replaced with some interchangeable weights

We've also got a third at the back in this rear weight position. In terms of the raw performance data

I haven't actually seen much difference between the new LS and the QI10 LS in terms of speed

and spin numbers. However, one thing I really did pick up on is it feels a lot more playable

than the QI10 LS for me. Last year's model, whilst brilliant and very low spin and quick

I did find it quite volatile on those mishits, which is why I wonder if a lot of those tour

players that I've referred to there, your Rory's and your Scottie's, opted into the core model for

just that little bit more forgiveness. In terms of the impact feel and the acoustics, I really like

it. It does feel a touch firmer and a bit more robust than last year's range, but that's a feeling

I really like and that continues throughout the whole family. All in all, this LS model does

exactly what it's supposed to do and those of you who love a little bit more of a compact

pair-shaped profile and low spin characteristics are going to love this driver. In terms of ball

flight and spin and overall performance, it'll do exactly what you're hoping it will do. However

However, I think this next driver might give it a bit of a problem. So on to the main QI35 head

And as soon as I picked this up, I knew I was going to like it. I'm a sucker for a rounded profile and a driver and they don't come much rounder than this

It one of the reasons I leaned into the core model from last year in the QI10 and they actually made it even rounder So much so when you put them down next to each other now in hindsight the old QI10 which I thought was really rounded actually looks a little bit pear in comparison So not only the looks hit the spot here for me I found

the performance exactly what I was looking for. It had a lively feel, albeit a touch firmer than

last season's model. It provides a seriously powerful impact feel and the data is tough to

argue with. Now in the neutral weight setting I found this an incredibly safe and user-friendly

driver. Plenty of spin but nothing excessive and I found a lot of fairways in this setting

What I really like about this is these two interchangeable weights make a massive difference

As soon as you flip it around and get more weight to the front I was seeing about 200 to 250 revs

difference in spin almost activating beast mode if you like and producing a really low penetrating

ball flight with minimal spin that really upped my distance output. I did sacrifice a little bit

of accuracy in that setting but that's to be expected when you're moving that CG forward

and I love the versatility this offers. You're almost getting two drivers in one here. Now this

is where I do wonder whether this head could be a problem for the LS model. Essentially like I said

if you're in that neutral setting it is a different driver. If you want to flip it over and move that

weight forward you're getting a really similar spin profile to the LS but in a much more user

friendly shape with a touch more MOI so once again I do worry about the LS with the quality of this

QI35. Sorry to interrupt if you are enjoying this content please like the video and subscribe to the

channel we've got loads of great content coming out this review season so you won't want to miss

any. And last but by no means least the QI35 Max. Now last year was a huge year for high MOI drivers

and the QI10 Max was a real success at retail. In my testing I found it lacked a little bit of the

oomph of some of the other models that were professing to have 10k but that's really been

addressed with this new QI35 Max. So although as you would expect and hope the spin has jumped up

a little bit from the core model here. It is far from excessive. One thing I did find with the QI10

Max last year was my spin numbers got a little bit out of control and that cost me in the distance

regard. But with the QI35, I'm actually spinning at around 200 revs per minute less than I did the

QI10 Max and I haven't sacrificed any dispersion. When I tested this out, I had a fitting at the

TaylorMade HQ in Basingstoke. You could throw a blanket over all of my test balls. It was incredible

the tightness of the dispersion there and in my subsequent testing sessions that has continued

Now TecnaMate actually contacted me last year after my reviews of the Qi10 range because I was

reporting some quite reduced speed numbers in the Qi10 Max in particular and what we found was quite

interesting. The Qi10 Max itself would actually play about quarter of an inch shorter than the

rest of the range because the head had been squashed down to facilitate that wider head to

increase the MOI, the hosl had shrunk a little bit, which made it play about a quarter of an inch shorter

as I said and I was actually losing clubbed speed And when I lost that clubbed speed obviously that generally translates into ball speed Now in the QI35 max they have addressed it the hosel gotten slightly longer

so we're going to play the same shaft length throughout this entire range that's going to

maintain that speed and that's what I've seen in testing my distance numbers have really jumped up

because of it. However with the max distance isn't really the main story although it is impressive

it's the dispersion that's the really standout factor for me off miss hits off heel toe high

high-low, the stability of this head is simply fantastic. And I don't think I've ever hit a driver straighter

than I hit this thing. So to summarize, the tailor-made driver drop is one I always look out for

and this one has not disappointed me at all. Starting with the looks

they've absolutely smashed it out of the park. I can't remember a driver family

I've liked the look of more in recent years at all. This light gray carbon finish

I think is a master stroke A in terms of marketing, and it just looks so clean and minimal

And the minimal theme continues with the accent colors. There is some, but like I said

it's been used really sparingly. I think that really benefits the overall look

of these clubs. In terms of the model lineup, well, there's three really strong models

that have all definitely improved upon their predecessors. The only slight criticism I would have within this range

is I do feel that LS model is going to struggle purely based on the quality and the versatility

of the main QI35 model. I can't see why you'd push yourself into that LS model

unless you really like that pear-shaped look when you can get a very similar spin profile

out of the main QI35 and get a little bit more forgiveness and MOI in there as well

Secondly, while the QI35 Max is an absolutely brilliant product and it has certainly moved on from the QI10 Max

the stability's there, the slightly lower spin profile, and as I said, it's just incredibly forgiving

I feel there is a slight lack of a heavily, heavily draw bias product within this range

Now, TaylorMade will argue, and I agree, you can add some draw bias in with the loftsy by

lofting up and changing that face angle, but you can't really do it with the weight setting here

So if you're a really heavy slicer of the golf ball, that might be something to think about

but generally speaking, it's really neutral, it's super forgiving, and it's a great range of drivers

The major highlight of this range for me is that middle QI35 model

There's nothing I don't like about it. It could well be winging its way into my bag

The looks, the profile, the performance, and the versatility make that a real standout driver of 2025 for me

Another thing worth noting for me is that TaylorMade have released a really clever fitting head

of every model that all sort of major fitting accounts with TaylorMade will have access to

This has got built-in face sensors that are in precisely the right place to give you super accurate launch monitor data

and club readings. So this to me at least is TaylorMade's most impressive driver family launch since the incredibly successful SimRange

But I want to know what you think about it. I always like reading your comments so drop them down below

Is this something you're interested in trying out and what are your thoughts on what we've done here

As always, thanks for watching and we'll see you next time