TaylorMade Stealth Driver Review | The Carbon Wood Age

By Coach Erik Schjolberg – Jan 2, 2024

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They have a red-hot face for a reason … you guessed it, the Stealth drivers by TaylorMade can provide the distance you seek with their innovative 60x Carbon Twist Face which replaces the market trend towards titanium.

New in 2022, TaylorMade revamped an old concept and improved on it to provide a family of drivers that look good, feel good, and are easy to swing. For the average player, this is a great option to get ball speed up and reach a little further on the fairway.

Forgive me in advance, you’re going to see the words, “face”, “ball speed”, and “distance” over, and over, and over again… if anything, it’s a big compliment!

TaylorMade Stealth Driver Review (The SERIES as a whole)

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Driver Models – TaylorMade Stealth vs Stealth Plus vs Stealth HD

• Stealth
• Stealth Plus
• Stealth HD (High Draw)

The Stealth is your “all-around” option in the bunch. It’s going to fit the most golfers and have the most forgiveness, but still allow room for shot shaping.

The Stealth Plus is the “low spin” choice of the group. Geared more towards the advanced player who has a high swing speed, and has no trouble getting the ball up in the air. This is the model you’ll see out on the PGA Tour (our full TaylorMade Stealth Plus Driver review here).

And the Stealth HD, standing for High Draw, is the draw biased preference. It’s going to help those who slice off the tee, as well as those who just simply like to play draws and rarely change their shot shape (our full TaylorMade Stealth HD Driver review here).

Construction and Tech

TaylorMade has been hard at work in the past few years with the SIM and the SIM 2 – both excellent drivers – with a ton of options for each respective player. But in secret (some would say stealth-ily) they have developed the 60x Carbon Twist Face for this latest release.

It’s a big statement, it’s a bold look, and it works very well considering that Carbon Fiber was considered somewhat of a failure 20 years ago. We’re looking at you, Big Bertha C4 (2002).

TM claims that titanium has met its limits as the primary material for driver faces, and that their carbon sheet face with 60 layers produces better energy transfer and faster ball speed across a larger area of the face.

In addition to the obvious material change, TM has also added an innovative nanotexture cover designed to finetune the impact interface on the Stealth driver family for optimal launch and spin.

Run your fingers along the face and you’ll actually feel the difference.

TM boasts that the use of carbon fiber in the face creates a 44% weight reduction when compared to the previous titanium material. This allows them to position more mass low in the head to improve launch angle and provide additional forgiveness.

As with the SIM 2, the proprietary Speed Pocket design returns and is tweaked to produce maximized ball speeds and forgiveness on low-face strikes.

Each of the heads measures 460cc and has a slightly asymmetrical shape that may feel stretched out to some. The actual face looks enormous at address, which inspires confidence and is further accented by the bold red looks.

Overall this combination yields a nice *snap* sound on a well struck ball that is satisfying to the ears and the eyes.

Worth the Upgrade? – TaylorMade Stealth vs Sim2

The TaylorMade Stealth vs SIM 2 – Should you make the switch? The answer is an obvious “Yes”!

The big-brand companies typically just tweak their drivers with materials, shift around the weight, and change up the paint scheme.

The trend has been leaning towards MOI and center of Gravity tuning to give the average player a better shot at those long Par 5s. It’s been wildly helpful in making the driver more accessible for the game.

*Enter the TaylorMade Stealth family*. TM took a big left-turn from the industry standard and produced something NEW. After 5 shots dialing the head in, you’ll see the difference for yourself in the Stealth vs SIM2.

Lofts Available

9⁰, 10.5⁰, 12⁰ (RH only)

Handicap Range

8-20+. This 2022 TaylorMade driver fits a really wide range of players.

Technical Review

Aside from the obvious carbon face that is shared throughout the TaylorMade Stealth family, the standard Stealth model sports a wide range of loft options that will appeal to players of all ages and handicaps.

TaylorMade advertises this driver as having a “neutral” bias, but as with the previous SIM and SIM2 series, I find that TaylorMade drivers have a bit of a draw bias in my hands. Unless I really blocked a shot out to the right, I was hard pressed to hit a fade.

In addition to stock loft options, the hosel provides the option to change loft by up to 4⁰. TM does a really nice job with this by providing clear notches and indicators to align your shaft.

Compared to the Stealth+, the Stealth driver lacks a sliding weight track to help tailor your ball flight shape. This reduction in hardware at the base of the club allows for redistribution of weight internally, yielding 15% more MOI comparatively (adding forgiveness).

Players that need help lifting the ball into the air will definitely appreciate this design.

TaylorMade Stealth Driver Shaft Options

The pure stock option currently includes a Fujikura Air Speeder 45 shaft, but other options are available for customization including choices from Aldila, Fujikura, Graphite Design, KBS, LAGP, Mitsubishi, Project X, and UST.

Many of these choices are at zero upcharge with most premium options adding an extra $250.

Performance

As advertised, this driver face is RED HOT. It took me a good 10 shots to get dialed in using the Hzrdus Smoke Black and Red RDX Shafts (6.5, 60g), and to properly “find” the face of the driver to appreciate the difference in feedback.

But, even from the first hit, the head feels crisp, snappy, and won’t make you hesitate to go after the ball.

The average player will hit the ball and, assuming they find the fairway, be very happy with how far it went.

But what truly makes this Carbon Twist Face stand out is the consistency of ball speed on a launch monitor. Hitting the ball slightly left or right of center doesn’t drop the numbers in a significant way.

Regardless of the shot shape I sought, I was able to keep ball speed with the Stealth to an average of 161mph with the lowest number coming in at 157mph for a sample size of 15 balls.

Swing speed was an average of 109mph producing a smash factor just under 1.49. Testing was done with older Chrome Soft balls that have seen some wear-and-tear. I’m sure that those numbers can climb a bit higher with a fresh set.

I use a Hzrdus Black shaft in my gamer-driver and typically get around 2000-2300 rpm spin on my best shots. I was shocked to see the spin levels for the Stealth dip as low as 1900 rpm and stabilize around 2100 rpm!

Remember, this is NOT the low spin head. That’s a surprisingly low spin for an accessible driver and will help a lot of players with roll-out.

Having said that, I tested out the Red RDX shaft with the same head and found more comfortable results. This is definitely a driver that will require some fine-tuning between stiffness, shaft profile, and weight.

Looks

I’m a big fan of clubs that make a statement on course and love the fact that you can customize the color of the club-face with the TaylorMade Stealth driver family. Aside from the configuration of weights, it’s hard to tell the difference between the different Stealth models.

I’m convinced that TM decided to call the driver “Stealth” based on the secrecy of the project as opposed to the looks because the stock red stands out big time. The face is visible at address and stands prominently behind the ball.

Aside from the red face, TM chose to return to a more traditional black look with subtle accents instead of the previously bold white. The crown of the driver is matte black upon first glance, with a very light carbon fiber design.

At 460cc the driver head doesn’t look overly large and has a slight pear-shape to it. It sits nicely next to the ball at address.

Sound and Feel

TaylorMade has always been known for its muted, solid drivers. The SIM and SIM 2 both have identifiable sound reports that you can pick up on the range, or even on course when someone else is teeing off.

TM continues this trend with the Stealth family. The addition of carbon to the face gives this driver a crisp *thwack* sound that confirms this face is made of something different.

You won’t find anything even reminiscent of the metallic *ping* coming from a Titleist, Cobra, or Callaway driver.

Having said that, the face feels very firm and “grabby” (thank you to my 8 year old nephew for that adjective) due to the textured face.

Your experience may vary but I felt confident that when I tried to shape shots, the face helps to impart the spin I wanted to move the ball left to right or vice versa.

• Ball speed is excellent and consistent
• Textured surface adds to the experience of hitting/shaping drives
• Flashy looks!
• Generous roll-out after carry
• Carbon fiber face — very unique!

• Price… oof… this is not a cheap driver
• Flashy looks may not be for everyone
• Low spin considering it’s a mid-model head

The Bottom Line

This really was a fun review and I’m excited to see where the market is going for materials after TM successfully integrated carbon fiber into their face.

I’m putting my money on many of the other brands following suit, or even seeking out other materials like Kevlar to make the next series of drivers better.

You really can’t go wrong with this driver if you’re looking to update and hoping to eke out a bit of extra distance on your drives. Well done TM, well done!

Alternate Choices to the TaylorMade Stealth

Cobra LTDx

If you like the forgiveness to distance reward ratio of hitting it in (or out) of the sweet spot that the Stealth provides, a similar setup to check out is the Cobra LTDx. It’s fits in pretty closely for the forgiveness, launch, and spin reduction profile in my opinion, and is also a 2022 new driver offering. Check out my test results with this driver in this article if you think it might be for you.

Ping G425 Max

The Ping G425 is still one of my favorite driver lines from 2020, and it’s still Ping’s latest model released (they don’t release drivers but every few years). The Max model is the one that’s going to compare best to the TaylorMade Stealth in my opinion.

TaylorMade SIM 2 Max

If you really like TaylorMade but don’t want to drop the extra cash for “this year’s driver”, The SIM2 family is a great option. Again, the SIM 2 Max driver model is going to compare best to the TaylorMade Stealth driver in spin and forgiveness.

All the TaylorMade Drivers by Year

If you’re looking for a complete list of ALL the TaylorMade drivers and their release dates, check out TaylorMade drivers by year over here.

Easiest Driver to Hit

If you’re just starting out, OR you just can’t seem to find consistency hitting the driver yet, we’ve done a full round up ranking of the absolute easiest drivers to hit if you want to check those out here.

FAQ

Note – Some of these FAQs were covered throughout the article, but I still get these questions a lot… so here are the “short and sweet” answers to the most common questions:

Which stealth driver is most forgiving?

The TaylorMade Stealth model is the most forgiving option in the family of Stealth drivers. This is going to give you the best control and distance on off center strikes.

Is TaylorMade stealth better than SIM2?

The TaylorMade Stealth is better than the SIM2 in my opinion. The carbon face is just something out of the future that no other companies have implemented… yet!

Are carbon drivers better than titanium?

The old carbon driver from Callaway in 2002 was a complete flop of an attempt at a carbon face. This release by TaylorMade is the exact opposite! It’s my opinion that the success of the Stealth driver line will force other OEM’s to follow suit in 2024.

1. 1. To adjust the TaylorMade Stealth driver, you’ll first need a golf specific torque wrench (it doesn’t matter what brand)
   2. Using the wrench, simply unscrew the head from the hosel
   3. Use the chart below in the next section to determine which hosel position you want
   4. Connect the hosel back to the driver head at the desired location
   5. Screw the hosel screw back down and tighten the screw until the torque wrench “ratchets”

What are Carbonwood drivers?

A Carbonwood driver is simply a driver that has a face made from carbon instead of a titanium face. First attempted by Callaway in 2002, it never really caught on. But TaylorMade has absolutely NAILED it with the Stealth family release, and I personally think it’s a trend that’s here to stay.

When is the Stealth Driver Release Date?

The Stealth Drivers were released on February 4th, 2022.

Which TaylorMade driver is the best?

The all new Stealth 2 line is the best Taylormade driver out right now. The specific model depends on what your individual strengths and weaknesses are. Check out our review and test of the Stealth 2 Driver, the PLUS, and the HD (high draw).