With the TaylorMade Qi10 driver family, the “Q”, “i” and “10” tell a specific and applicable story. That is, a quest for inertia, specifically 10,000 points of it. I was hoping for something closer to “Chi-ten” as in, “this line is so good, it’s like cheatin’.” Opportunity officially missed but I wasn’t on the naming committee.
That said, the TaylorMade Qi10 fairway woods and hybrids (or “rescues” as TaylorMade typically labels the category) maintain the Qi10 designation, though this tech story doesn’t revolve around a push for industry-leading forgiveness.
TaylorMade Qi10 Key Technologies
To varying degrees, TaylorMade uses the following technologies in the Qi10 family of fairway woods and hybrids: “Infinity” Carbon Crown, Twist Face, Speed Pocket (thru-slot), asymmetrical V Steel Sole and Aero Hosel, in addition to adjustable moveable weights in the Qi10 Tour model (more on that in a bit).
Many of these are carried over from previous generations and continue to serve a similar purpose.
The standard array of fixings includes the V-Steel sole which helps provide clean turf interaction from various lies (tee, fairway, light rough) while the Speed Pocket is designed to increase face flexibility (and help preserve ball speed) on shots struck low on the face. It’s not lost on TaylorMade, or the industry at large, that this is where most amateur golfers tend to make contact with many fairway wood shots, particularly those off the fairway or with tight lies.
Also included in this list is Twist Face, TaylorMade’s face technology that works to mitigate the realities of gear effect. By using “corrective face angles”, the intention is to generate straighter shots and improve downrange accuracy.
To Infinity (Carbon Crown) And Beyond
At least that got you to stop scrolling, right? Generally with fairway woods and hybrids, we get one (sometimes two) technologies that carry over from the flagship driver. Sorry, it’s still not a carbon face and it’s not going to be a carbon face any time soon. The juice isn’t worth the squeeze. What makes a carbon face viable (larger face surface area) isn’t present in fairway woods and hybrids. I apologize if that feels like a large swig of orange juice right after brushing your teeth.
What the TaylorMade Qi10 fairway woods do feature, however, is an Infinity Carbon Crown. Quick note: The Qi10 hybrids use larger carbon crown but it’s not yet worthy of the “infinity” designation.
The benefits of this new crown design are equal parts form and function. Also, the “infinity” component speaks to the virtually non-existent separation between the crown and topline, creating what I would term a rather stealthy look. (See what I did there?)
At address, TaylorMade loyalists will notice that the aesthetics are decidedly non-TaylorMade insofar as the steel/titanium topline is gone. I think it provides a cleaner appearance, though it might be an adjustment for those who still have a trusty 2016 M2 in the bag.
Regarding performance, the larger carbon crown frees up additional weight that TaylorMade uses to alter CG location (and thus ball speed, trajectory and spin).
As is the case with any metalwood, removing a heavier material (carbon is lighter than steel and titanium) for a lighter one is the primary way in which engineers free up mass to allocate elsewhere in the design.
In fact, if you could take a side-on X-ray of each head and look at where mass is concentrated, you’d have a pretty good idea of the performance attributes and target golfer of each model.
TaylorMade Qi10 Fairway Woods – 3 Models
The names are slightly different but TaylorMade is again offering three fairway wood models with a bit more separation between models. The standard model is, well, still standard. A “Max” model effectively replaces the “HD” offering and “Tour” sits where the “Plus” used to be. All models include TaylorMade’s base assortment of technologies, previously referred to as “standard fixings.” One of my New Year’s resolutions is to maintain at least one food reference/analogy in each launch article and I appreciate your support with that.
The thinking is that this should provide golfers with a clearer picture of which model is right for them.
TaylorMade Qi10 Max Fairway
As with the Qi10 driver, the Qi10 Max fairway is the largest and most forgiving model in the line. In fact, it has the highest MOI of any fairway wood ever produced by TaylorMade. Compared to the standard Qi10 fairway, the Max model is five millimeters (about 3/16 of an inch) longer from front to back. The 200cc head features a shallow face and low/rear CG to help golfers who generally struggle to elevate fairway woods off the deck or from the tee.
Save your Cialis jokes for another time, friends.
The TaylorMade Qi10 Max is available in 3-wood (16 degrees), 5-wood (19) and 7-wood (22). All lofts are available in both right- and left-handed.
Retail price for the TaylorMade Qi10 Max is $349.
TaylorMade Qi10 Fairway
As with the Qi10 Max, the standard Qi10 fairway features a carbon-and-steel construction with a fixed hosel. If you want loft adjustability, you’ll find it in the Qi10 Tour.
At 190cc, it’s slightly (10cc) smaller than the Qi10 Max and is designed with a blend of performance and forgiveness. Compared to Stealth2, Qi10 has a slightly lower CG projection, leading to marginally higher launch and a bit more forgiveness.
Because it’s likely to fit the majority of golfers, TaylorMade is making it available in five lofts: 3/15°, 3HL/16.5°, 5/18°, 7/21° and 9/24°. LH is available in 3/15°, 5/18° and 7/21°.
Retail price for the TaylorMade Qi10 Driver is $349.
TaylorMade Qi10 Tour Fairway
This is the flagship, better player fairway wood with all the bells and whistles. It’s the most adjustable of the Qi10 fairway family and, frankly, it’s the one I’m most geeked up to test head-to-head with my current Stealth2 Plus fairway.
With the Infinity Carbon Crown, TaylorMade harvested a bit more weight which it used to drive the native CG position slightly lower. However, the most notable feature is a 50-gram sliding weight on the sole. This is where the fun really starts. Remember that when weight moves so does CG. And when CG shifts, it can rather drastically change launch and spin conditions.
With the Qi10 Tour, sliding the weight to the extreme rear position, or what TaylorMade calls the “HL” setting, spin increases by 150 rpm and launch jumps up a bit as well. Conversely, if the golfer wants a more penetrating flight, moving the weight all the way forward will decrease the spin by 150 rpm as compared to a neutral setting or 300 rpm compared to the HL setting. In addition, the Qi10 features TaylorMade’s adjustable loft sleeve which allows for a loft adjustment of +/- 2° and a range of lie/face angle settings.
Ultimately, the Qi10 Tour is best suited for the faster player who can benefit from the extensive fitting capabilities to fine-tune trajectory, spin and distance.
The TaylorMade Qi10 Tour fairway is available in both RH and LH in 3/15° and 5/18° lofs.
The retail price for the TaylorMade Qi10 Tour fairway is $449.
TaylorMade Qi10 Hybrids – 3 Models
As expected, TaylorMade maintains a similar arrangement (and naming conventions) with the Qi10 hybrids aka “rescues.”
The standard Qi10 rescue offers a classically shaped mid-sized footprint and balanced performance. A slightly more robust Qi10 Max rescue is the most forgiving of the three models and, while it exhibits the largest footprint, it has the most shallow face.
Then we get to the compact Qi10 Tour Rescue. Of the three models, it’s the only one with an adjustable loft sleeve (+/- 3°). Looking face-on, the face is deeper with a squared-off toe profile for golfers seeking iron-like turf interaction.
Qi10, Qi10 Max and Qi10 Tour hybrids are $299.99 USD each.
The Qi10 rescue has lofts of 3-19°, 4-22°, 5-25°, 6-29° and 7-33° with Fujikura Ventus TR BlueHB (7S, 6R, 5A). Both the Qi10 Max and Qi10 rescue have Lamkin’s Crossline 360 Black/Blue 47g grip. Qi10 Max women’s comes with Lamkin’s ST Soft Grey/White 0.580 40g grip.Qi10 Max comes in lofts of 3-20° (RH/LH), 4-23° (RH/LH), 5-27°, 6-31° (RH only) and 7-35° (RH only). They are equipped with Fujikura Speeder NX TCS 50 (R, A) and 60 (S). A women’s offering is also available with Fujikura Speeder NX TCS 40 shaft and the Lamkin ST Soft Grey/White grip. Featuring Golf Pride’s Z-Grip Plus2 0.6000 52g grip, the Qi10 Tour rescue is offered in lofts of 2-17° (RH only), 3-19.5° (RH/LH) and 4-22° (RH/LH).
Final Thoughts
“TaylorMade” and “class-leading fairway woods” go together, like my free time and trips to the local ice cream vendor. And yet, what’s true is that year-over-year changes aren’t generally enough to warrant a new purchase*.
(*Assumption is that the previous club is optimally fitted.)
Put differently, we’re talking about tenths of mph ball speed, fractional changes in launch conditions and maybe a step or two in total distance. But my sense is that TaylorMade has a better understanding—or perhaps ability to bring to market a product—of the design elements that help create discrete models to better match the needs of golfers.
Last year, I played the Stealth2+ (15°) with the loft sleeve at -2° with the sliding weight in the extreme rear position. This year, who knows? If the Qi10 Tour is better, it will go in the bag. If not, well, you get the picture.
Retail Availability
All TaylorMade Qi10 series fairway woods and hybrids are available for pre-sale at TaylorMade.com and retail locations now. Full availability begins Feb. 2.
For more information, visit TaylorMadeGolf.com.
Nicholas
2 months ago
This is just pure gold the writing is so engaging and I love the puns. Perfection.