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List of TaylorMade Drivers by Year
TaylorMade Driver Model History:
Did you know that TaylorMade was the very first company to make a metal driver?
That’s right, up until that historic day in 1979, all drivers had been constructed from laminated persimmon wood… hence the name ‘1 Wood’ (or the more common ‘fairway wood’ you still hear today).
It was only later, after the metal club heads began to catch on, that the term ‘Driver’ started to rise in popularity. After all, it didn’t make much sense to call it a ‘Wood’ anymore right?
Birth of the Metalwood
Gary Adams, the founder of TaylorMade, was a simple golf equipment salesman in the 1970s. But he had an idea to create a ‘wood’ made from metal.
He took out a $24,000 loan on his house, and with the help of 3 employees, created a single product:
A 12° driver cast from stainless steel.
Little did they know, these old TaylorMade drivers would change the golf industry forever!
The Original “M1” and the Pittsburgh Persimmon
When the first metal driver came out, it was simply the ‘1 Metal’, or the “M1” if you will.
But less than a year later, Adams put out a handwritten sign reading “Pittsburgh Persimmon” referring to the driver head’s steel construction.
The nickname stuck and TaylorMade began etching it into the rest of the drivers in the line.
And thus, the TaylorMade Pittsburgh Persimmon driver was born in 1980.
TaylorMade Burner Drivers by Year
The first Burner was introduced as a 7° driver in 1983.
TaylorMade also introduced different versions of the club to accommodate various golfer’s skill levels… the Burner and Tour Burner, which ultimately found its way into 147 tour pro’s bags that same year.
Later, the Burner was used to win the 1988 U.S. Open Championship by Curtis Strange, who beat out Nick Faldo in a playoff, giving TaylorMade its first major victory.
A few years later, the Bubble Shaft Burner would claim the 1994 Masters championship with just a prototype.
The official Bubble Shaft Burner was released in 1995, officially the first graphite shaft in golf.
The Burner would make a few reprises in the early to mid 2000’s, and eventually again in 2015 as the Aeroburner Driver.
The R series Drivers
In early 2002, the Inverted Cone Technology (ICT) made its debut in the R510, R540, and R580 TaylorMade Drivers.
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The ICT was a major breakthrough in the industry, which significantly increased the size of the COR zone to give consistently longer tee shots. As a result, this earned TaylorMade the “Best of What’s New Award” from Popular Science Magazine.
Moreover, the R series continued to innovate the industry with the first moveable weight system introduced in 2004 with the R7.
As a result, the R series would continue through the years up to the R11 and R1 in 2012 and 2013. The R series ran from 2002 through 2013, when TaylorMade transitioned to the M series.
TaylorMade M Driver History
Next came the unveiling of the M1 (a throwback to the original M1 “1 Metal” that started it all) in 2016.
The M1 introduced the fully customizable driver setup we see throughout the industry today. Complete with 2 separate slidable weights to change between draw, neutral, and fade bias; as well as high, medium, and low launch and spin settings.
The M series continued up through the M6 in 2019.
SIM 2 Driver Series
It started with the original SIM in 2020, followed by the SIM 2 in 2021. The big “new” tech this time was TaylorMade’s Speed Injected Twist Face Technology, basically improving the ball speed thresholds right up to the maximum legal limit.
Stealth Driver Series
As one of the biggest developments in history, we can say: welcome to the new carbonwood era!
TaylorMade went out on a big limb when they secretly developed a carbon fiber face for their 2022 Stealth driver lineup.
The TaylorMade Stealth driver is going to be the model most golfers should get. It’s the most forgiving as a result of higher launch than the low spinning and low launch TaylorMade Stealth Plus driver model.
The TaylorMade Stealth HD driver is the model if you’re looking to either eliminate a slice, or simply just want to play mostly draws off the tee.
The next generation rolled out were the Stealth 2’s:
- The TaylorMade Stealth 2 Driver – Great mix of forgiveness and distance
- The TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus – Sliding weight, pretty low spin, longest distances
- The TaylorMade Stealth 2 HD – Draw bias with high launch
Qi10 Series
The Qi10 landed in 2024 as TaylorMade’s most well-rounded driver release in years. The standard Qi10 is built for a wide range of players, blending distance, forgiveness, and workability better than the Stealth 2 it replaced, with a lower CG and higher MOI that made it noticeably more stable through impact. The Qi10 LS is the low spin version built for better players and higher swing speeds who want to maximize distance with a sliding weight that adjusts between draw and fade bias.
Tour players including Tiger Woods, Scottie Scheffler, and Rory McIlroy all put the Qi10 LS in play, which tells you everything you need to know about how it performed at the highest level. The Qi10 Max rounds out the lineup as the most forgiving of the three, with a high launch profile, mid spin, and TaylorMade’s claim at the time that it was their most consistent driver across the face ever produced. It was the first TaylorMade driver to crack the 10,000 g-cm² MOI threshold, which is a meaningful number in the forgiveness conversation.
Qi35 Series
The Qi35 is TaylorMade’s 2025 driver lineup and a genuine step forward from the Qi10. The big story is CG projection — moving the center of gravity lower and deeper pushes the sweet spot higher on the face for better launch, lower spin, and more ball speed on real-world strikes, not just pure center hits. The full lineup — Qi35, Qi35 LS, Qi35 Max, and Qi35 Max Lite — features a fourth-generation Carbon Twist Face, Infinity Carbon Crown, Thru-Slot Speed Pocket, and an adjustable weight system for real trajectory control. The Qi35 Max retains 10K MOI while improving mishit distance. Aesthetically, the matte grey carbon crown and chrome sole are a serious upgrade over the glossy Qi10 finish. That said, for most golfers, the Qi10 or Qi4D will likely be the better overall value but 2025 was a big year for driver advancement.
Qi4D Series
The Qi4D series dropped in January 2026 and is TaylorMade’s most fittable driver family to date. The standard Qi4D is the all-around pick, built for a wide range of players with four movable TAS weights — two 9g and two 4g — that let you dial in spin, launch, and bias more precisely than anything TaylorMade has offered before. Position the heavier weights forward for lower spin and more speed, or push them back for added stability and higher MOI depending on what your game needs.
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The Qi4D LS is the low spin tour option, with a reengineered profile to cut drag and boost clubhead speed. Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood both put it in the bag immediately after release. The Qi4D Max and Max Lite are built for mid to high handicappers who want maximum forgiveness and the easiest possible launch. The Max uses an ultra-lightweight aluminum collar construction that pushes MOI even higher than the Qi10 Max, with adjustable TAS weights to fine tune the setup. Across the board the Qi4D brings a fifth-generation Carbon Twist Face and tighter spin consistency than any previous TaylorMade driver, with spin variability down to around 216 rpm compared to the Qi10’s 430 rpm. That is a real number that shows up in real results.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
The newest TaylorMade drivers for 2026 are the Qi4D series, released in January 2026. The lineup includes five models: the Qi4D, Qi4D LS, Qi4D Max, Qi4D Max Lite, and Women’s Qi4D Max Lite. The Qi4D features TaylorMade’s fifth-generation Carbon Twist Face, four movable TAS (Trajectory Adjustment System) weights, and improved aerodynamics — making it TaylorMade’s fastest and most fittable driver family to date. Tour pros Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood both put it in play immediately after its release.
TaylorMade made the first metal driver in golf history. In 1979, founder Gary Adams took out a $24,000 loan and produced a 12° stainless steel driver called the original “1 Metalwood.” Before that day, every driver in golf had been made from laminated persimmon wood. TaylorMade followed it up in 1980 with the Pittsburgh Persimmon, a nickname Adams coined by hand-writing a sign that referenced the steel head’s Pittsburgh steel construction. That name stuck and changed the industry, and the company, forever.
TaylorMade has been on roughly a one-year release cycle for drivers over the last several years, which is faster than most other brands. For example, they released the Stealth in 2022, Stealth 2 in 2023, Qi10 in 2024, Qi35 in 2025, and Qi4D in 2026.
The original TaylorMade M2 driver was released in 2017. It was one of the most popular drivers TaylorMade ever produced — known for being extremely forgiving, easy to hit, and long for a wide range of players. The M2 was part of the M series that ran from 2016 through 2019, which also included the M1, M3, M4, M5, and M6.
The original TaylorMade SIM came out in 2020 and the SIM2 followed in 2021. SIM stood for Shape In Motion, a reference to the asymmetric sole design that improved aerodynamics through the swing. The big tech upgrade in the SIM2 was Speed Injected Twist Face, which pushed ball speeds right up to the legal limit on every individual head. Both were excellent drivers and are still worth picking up at used prices today.
The SIM (2020) introduced the asymmetric sole and inertia generator that pushed weight low and back for better launch and forgiveness. The SIM2 (2021) took that platform and added a forged aluminum ring construction that allowed TaylorMade to save weight in the body and push it where it mattered most — low and in the perimeter. The SIM2 also brought in Speed Injected Twist Face for more consistent ball speeds across the face. Same DNA, meaningfully better execution.
The Qi4D is the more meaningful, and newer, upgrade. It brings a fifth-generation Carbon Twist Face, a fully adjustable four-weight TAS system, and significantly tighter spin consistency across the face and down to around 216 rpm of spin variability compared to the Qi35’s numbers. The Qi35 was a solid driver, but head-to-head testing shows the performance gap over the Qi10 was marginal. The Qi4D is where the real jump happened. If you’re on a Qi10 or older model, skip the Qi35 and go straight to the Qi4D.
The Qi4D Max is the best option for high handicappers right now. It’s TaylorMade’s most forgiving driver, with an oversized head, ultra-high MOI, and adjustable weights that make it easy to dial in a draw bias if you need help keeping the ball in play. The Qi35 Max and Qi10 Max are also excellent options at a lower price point if you want to go a generation back.
The Qi4D Max with the weights shifted to the draw position is your best bet. Before that, the Stealth HD and Stealth 2 HD were specifically built with a draw-bias design, high launch, and high MOI to help golfers fight a slice. The “HD” designation across the TaylorMade lineup stands for High Draw so any time you see that on a model name, that’s the one aimed at slicers.
The TaylorMade Qi10 Max (2024) was TaylorMade’s first driver to break the 10,000 g-cm² MOI threshold, earning it the title of their most forgiving driver at launch. The Qi35 Max matched that 10K MOI while improving mishit distance, and the Qi4D Max builds on both with an ultra-lightweight aluminum collar design for even higher MOI and tighter dispersion on off-center strikes.
LS stands for Low Spin. Any TaylorMade driver with LS in the name — like the Qi4D LS or Qi10 LS — is built for lower handicap players and higher swing speeds who want to reduce spin and maximize distance. These models typically have a smaller, more compact head shape, lower and more forward CG placement, and less offset. They’re tour-level clubs and not the right fit for most recreational golfers who actually need more spin to keep the ball in the air.
Rory McIlroy plays the TaylorMade Qi4D driver (9°, set at 7.75°) with a Fujikura Ventus Black 60g X-Stiff shaft. He switched from the Qi10 to the Qi4D in late 2025 after testing sessions convinced him it offered clear, measurable performance gains — specifically praising the driver’s spin stability on mishits.
In my opinion, skip the Qi35 — head-to-head testing shows the performance difference is marginal and the Qi35 costs roughly $120–$130 more. The Qi4D is the more meaningful upgrade, bringing a fifth-generation carbon face, tighter spin consistency across the face (down to just 216 rpm of spin variability vs. the Qi10’s 430 rpm), and a fully adjustable four-weight system that the Qi10 lacks. If you haven’t upgraded in two or more years, the Qi4D is the version worth testing.
Other Brands Drivers By Year
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