00:00Okay welcome back to another retro review from Golf Monthly and today we've
00:03got an absolute humdinger and it is the TaylorMade Rocketballs fairway wood.
00:09Now this is a particularly favourite one for me. This was in my bag for probably over
00:12five years so I'm really looking forward to seeing how it stacks up against its
00:15modern-day equivalent. We've partnered up with Golf Club for Cash, one of the
00:19leading retailers of pre-loved equipment and they've supplied us with some
00:22absolute gems to test. So if you want to check those guys out look in the
00:26description below. Let's get to it.
00:30Okay so the TaylorMade Rocketballs 3 wood. Now this came out in 2012 to a lot of fanfare and a lot of marketing from
00:42TaylorMade with claims of 17 extra yards and it was a really clever marketing
00:47ploy and the other marketing ploy that was great was the white head. You could
00:50see it from miles away on the golf course. Anyone you saw on TV you knew
00:54they were playing the TaylorMade Rocketballs head. Now the tech story
00:57behind the extra speed was what they called their speed slot which is this
01:01little carved out piece on the sole which increased the COR and had massive
01:05jumps in ball speed which is what people noticed. So let's get to the range, test
01:09it out and see how it goes. Okay so I've come down to the driving range now at
01:12the Oxfordshire Golf Club and it's probably a good time to introduce what
01:15I'm going to be comparing the Rocketballs to. So the modern-day
01:17equivalent we're using is the TaylorMade Stealth. When you put them down beside
01:21one another, surprisingly similar in terms of dimensions. The overall
01:25footprint's very similar, face depth very very similar. There's not a lot of
01:30change in terms of its overall profile which is really interesting so I'm going
01:33to I'm going to hit a couple away and just see what I can tell in terms of
01:36difference wise from the feel and the sound. So I'm going to go with the Rocketballs
01:39first. It sits nicely behind the ball, very square. That's a lovely strike, it's right
01:50out the middle, nice strong flight. Feels hot, feels very quick off the face. Let me
01:55go again there.
02:04Yes it's quite a high pitch noise and it feels, harsh wouldn't be the right word
02:10but you can certainly feel the speed there, that's really interesting.
02:13Yeah very strong penetrating ball flight. Let's have a go with the Stealth. Again like I
02:19said really similar look down by the ball in terms of its overall size and
02:22footprint. Nice strong hit again, it's popped up a little bit more than the RBZ and
02:31felt probably again less high pitch, a little bit deeper in terms of strikes, so
02:35different sensations. I wouldn't say I preferred one over the other but
02:39noticeably different in ball flights. It's probably a good time to introduce
02:42some of the data that we've taken here and as you'll see from the Rocketballs
02:46the data I got there, a fair bit less spin than with the Stealth. It's quite a
02:52hotter flight so it reached less of a peak height, much more penetrating ball
02:56flight. Ball speed numbers were very comparable and overall distance was very
03:00comparable. They achieved in two very different ways, more launch from the
03:04Stealth, a bit more spin, stayed in the air for longer whereas the Rocketballs
03:08had a really penetrating strong flight which again depending on the conditions
03:12you're going to be playing in could be really beneficial. Okay so you've come
03:16out on the course to see how it performs in a real-life situation. I'm on the 17th,
03:20the beautiful 17th at the Oxfordshire Golf Club. It's a tough par 5, I've got
03:24about 240 over water into a bit of wind so it's a good test for it. So I'm going
03:29to hit three away with the Rocketballs, three with the Stealth and see where we
03:32end up. A little bit out the neck, go in the middle of the green, left of the pin,
03:45interesting to see if it's made the carry. Joel will tell us that shortly.
03:50Again, let's go again. Similar line, that's come off very flat with no spin. Very, very
04:04similar in terms of line. Let's see if we can get this one holding up against that
04:08wind a little bit more. Touch heavy, it's going to make the carry, it's about 220
04:21over it. I think I've got away with it and just about got that on the green. All a
04:26touch left of the pin which might be explained by the wind. So let's have a
04:31little look at Stealth. Set up a nice lie again. A little straighter, a little higher
04:46than the RBZ, it's got a touch more spin. Maybe just carried a little bit further
04:54that one, it was very well struck. That one could be really good, that started on it,
05:08holding against it with a fade. Last one, let's go and see where they end up.
05:13Just left of the pin, cutting back 10 or 15 feet left of it. Okay, let's go and take a look and
05:27see where they've gone. Okay, so we're up by the green now. Let me just show you where those balls
05:31have ended up and then I'll give you my thoughts on maybe how and why they got there. So first of
05:35all, the one we've got just here, this was from the Stealth. The other two Stealths that I hit
05:40sat pretty on the green there. The furthest one, the closest to the hole and the one on the right
05:44here. With the Rocketballs, one on the green which is great and then another two in the bunker here
05:49which is probably eight to ten yards past pin high and about 20 yards, 15-20 yards left of
05:56where I was aiming. And I noticed that in the fairway. I felt when I put the Rocketballs down,
06:00face angle was slightly toed in so I was probably expecting a bit more left than I was in Stealth
06:06and that's what I saw. But what I also saw was a lot more penetrating ball flight from Rocketballs.
06:10It probably had 10 to 12 feet less peak height and certainly less spin. It kept penetrating a
06:17little bit further. That could be attributed to the fact the Stealth I'm trying has a slightly
06:21softer shaft which tends to add spin as well. But it was really noticeable that the Rocketballs did
06:27have that much more penetrating ball flight. So that was interesting. Okay, so the key differences
06:32there that I noticed were there was a little bit more left in Rocketballs but the main thing I
06:37noticed was the ball flight. Ball flight was a lot stronger with Rocketballs, a lot less peak
06:41height and less spin. On a day like today when it's really, really soft, not a huge problem. They
06:46both carried very similar distances but that land angle would change significantly between the two.
06:51Stealth coming in a little bit higher gave me that bit more stopping power and maybe control
06:55there on the green but the Rocketballs would have its advantage in windy conditions, particularly
07:00into the wind with that flight. Okay, that concludes the test for the Rocketballs and if
07:04you like what you saw and you want to grab yourself a bargain, head across to golf clubs
07:07for cash. Links in the description below and you'll grab yourself some really good bargains
07:11there. So that's it from me at the Oxfordshire. We'll see you next time on Retro Reviews.
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