- yesterday
Golf club expert Joe Ferguson gives his verdict on the new TaylorMade Qi35 drivers for 2025. He gives the Qi35, Qi35 LS and Qi35 Max a thorough test and while there's plenty to like about all three drivers, there is one problem he's stumbled upon that could pose a problem for one of the models... be sure to watch to the end to find out.
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00:00When TaylorMade releases new drivers, the industry takes note. In this video,
00:04I'm going to be taking an in-depth look at the three new models. So without further ado, meet QI35.
00:25So what have we got? Well, as normal for TaylorMade, we've got the LS model,
00:28which is the more compact, low spin offering. We've got their core or standard model in the
00:33middle, and we've now got the max, the 10K inertia maximum forgiveness model at the end.
00:39Now, before I get into the tech, I have to say these things look incredible. I absolutely love
00:44this kind of light gray carbon effect that we've got on the crown here. And it really is a different
00:50color to anything else on the market at the moment. So I think this is a master stroke from TaylorMade
00:54from a marketing point of view. When you see this out on tour in the bags of your Rory McElroys,
00:59your Scotty Schefflers, you're going to know exactly what it is. Reminds me a bit of when
01:03they released the R11 driver back in the day of the Whitehead, you knew exactly what you were
01:07looking at on the TV. This matte finish gives it such a premium feel. It looks like the interior
01:13of some sort of supercar. And I'm thrilled to say they've stuck with the infinity crown that they
01:17brought in the QI10 family, instead of having one of those banner strips across the front. It just
01:22suits my eye a little bit better. Talking about the front edge, they've also kept this little white
01:27line that was brilliant for alignment. I found that really useful on the QI10 range and subsequently
01:33in my testing of this, once again, it's really useful for alignment. Now, this lineup is super
01:38minimalistic in terms of its coloring. There's next to nothing, but the tiny accents that there are
01:43are kind of a vibrant light yellowy green. They've been used super sparingly, and I think that's
01:49really to the benefit of the look here. Now, as always with visuals in anything in life,
01:54it's all totally subjective. What you like, I might not like, and vice versa. But for me personally,
01:59I can't remember liking the look of a driver family as much as this in years. So that's a great start
02:06with the looks, but we want to know about the technology, right? And as always, there is quite
02:10a heavy tech story that has sculpted the development of this range. So heavy, in fact,
02:15that I've had to come back to my office and grab a pen and a whiteboard to do some explaining.
02:20So the story of this QI35 range is all about CG, or more accurately, CG projection. Now,
02:26you probably all know what CG is. It's the center of gravity, or essentially the point at which the
02:31driver head is perfectly balanced. And I've represented that here with this little circle
02:35with the cross in. But CG projection is kind of a new term to some of us. So that's represented here
02:40by the dashed line heading out towards the face. It's basically where the CG projects onto the face
02:47relative to the loft. So we'll call that this point here. Now, TaylorMade are telling us that's very,
02:52very important because that has a huge influence on the ball flight characteristics, such as launch
02:57and spin. So generally speaking, when you strike beneath that CG projection, you'll get one of those
03:03lower launching, higher spinning ball flights that we know can rob us of distance. So TaylorMade
03:08have been working on what they call their area of opportunity, which is creating more space to hit
03:13above that CG projection to give us those high launching, low spinning ball flights that we know
03:18results in optimal distance. But it's tricky because they want to also make a driver more forgiving.
03:24So when people have been dragging CG locations back, so if we pretty much go horizontally back from the
03:29other CG location, what we'll see there is based on the loft of the face, the CG projection raises again,
03:36which lowers our area of opportunity to get those optimal ball flights. So what TaylorMade have done
03:42is they've saved a lot of discretionary rate in the hosel and the crown area, and they've moved that
03:48weight around the head as low and as far back as possible, thus moving that CG back, but also keeping
03:54it as low as possible to get much lower CG projection and increase that area of opportunity
04:00that's going to allow us to hit longer drives more often. Simple, right?
04:08So let's go through the family model by model, starting with the low spin or the LS model. And
04:14I was really interested to see this this time around because on tour last year with the QI10 range,
04:20the LS didn't actually pick up much traction. Players like Rory McIlroy and Scotty Scheffler actually
04:26favored a version of the core model and put that in place. I was intrigued to see what had changed,
04:30and in terms of the head shape at least, very little. It's almost identical to the QI10 LS in
04:36the playing position. So the more compact pear-shaped head remains, but the weight track that sat underneath
04:42on the QI10 LS has been replaced with some interchangeable weights. We've also got a third
04:47at the back in this rear weight position. In terms of the raw performance data, I haven't actually seen
04:53much difference between the new LS and the QI10 LS in terms of speed and spin numbers. However,
05:01one thing I really did pick up on is it feels a lot more playable than the QI10 LS for me. Last
05:07year's model, whilst brilliant and very low spin and quick, I did find it quite volatile on those
05:12mishits, which is why I wonder if a lot of those tour players that I've referred to there, your Rory's
05:18and your Scotty's, opted into the core model for just that little bit more forgiveness.
05:22In terms of the impact feel and the acoustics, I really like it. It does feel a touch firmer and
05:28a bit more robust than last year's range, but that's a feeling I really like, and that continues
05:33throughout the whole family. All in all, this LS model does exactly what it's supposed to do,
05:38and those of you who love a little bit more of a compact pear-shaped profile and low spin
05:42characteristics are going to love this driver. In terms of ball flight and spin and overall performance,
05:47it'll do exactly what you're hoping it will do. However, I think this next driver might give it
05:52a bit of a problem. On to the main QI35 head. As soon as I picked this up, I knew I was going to
05:59like it. I'm a sucker for a rounded profile and a driver, and they don't come much rounder than this.
06:04It's one of the reasons I leaned into the core model from last year in the QI10, and they've actually
06:08made it even rounder. So much so, when you put them down next to each other now, in hindsight,
06:13the old QI10, which I thought was really rounded, actually looks a little bit pear-shaped in
06:17comparison. So not only the looks hit the spot here for me, I found the performance exactly what
06:22I was looking for. It had a lively feel, albeit a tough firmer than last season's model. It provides
06:28a seriously powerful impact feel, and the data is tough to argue with. Now, in the neutral weight
06:33setting, I found this an incredibly safe and user-friendly driver. Plenty of spin, but nothing
06:39excessive, and I found a lot of fairways in this setting. But what I really like about this is
06:44these two interchangeable weights make a massive difference. As soon as you flip it round and get
06:48more weight to the front, I was seeing about 200 to 250 revs difference in spin, almost activating
06:54beast mode, if you like, and producing a really low penetrating ball flight with minimal spin that
07:00really upped my distance output. I did sacrifice a little bit of accuracy in that setting, but that's
07:05to be expected when you're moving that CG forward. I love the versatility this offers. You're almost
07:11getting two drivers in one here. Now, this is where I do wonder whether this head could be a problem
07:16for the LS model. Essentially, like I said, if you're in that neutral setting, it is a different
07:21driver. If you want to flip it over and move that weight forward, you're getting a really similar spin
07:26profile to the LS, but in a much more user-friendly shape with a touch more MOI. So once again,
07:33I do worry about the LS with the quality of this QI35. Sorry to interrupt. If you are enjoying this
07:40content, please like the video and subscribe to the channel. We've got loads of great content coming out
07:45this review season, so you won't want to miss any. And last, but by no means least, the QI35 Max. Now,
07:52last year was a huge year for high MOI drivers, and the QI10 Max was a real success at retail. In my
07:59testing, I found it lacked a little bit of the oomph of some of the other models that were professing
08:03to have 10K, but that's really been addressed with this new QI35 Max. So although, as you would expect
08:10and hope, the spin has jumped up a little bit from the core model here, it is far from excessive. One
08:15thing I did find with the QI10 Max last year was my spin numbers got a little bit out of control,
08:22and that cost me in the distance regard. But with the QI35, I'm actually spinning at around 200 revs per
08:28minute less than I did the QI10 Max, and I haven't sacrificed any dispersion. When I tested this out,
08:34I had a fitting at the TaylorMade HQ in Basingstoke. You could throw a blanket over all of my test balls.
08:39It was incredible, the tightness of the dispersion there. And in my subsequent testing sessions,
08:44that has continued. Now, TaylorMade actually contacted me last year after my reviews of the
08:48QI10 range, because I was reporting some quite reduced speed numbers in the QI10 Max in particular.
08:55And what we found was quite interesting, the QI10 Max itself would actually play about a quarter of
09:00an inch shorter than the rest of the range. Because the head had been squashed down to facilitate that
09:05wider head to increase the MOI, the hosl had shrunk a little bit, which made it play about a quarter of
09:10an inch shorter, as I said, and I was actually losing clubbed speed. And when I lost that clubbed speed,
09:15obviously that generally translates into ball speed. Now in the QI35 Max, they have addressed it,
09:20the hosl has gotten slightly longer. So we're going to play the same shaft length throughout this
09:25entire range. That's going to maintain that speed. And that's what I've seen in testing.
09:29My distance numbers have really jumped up because of it. However, with the Max, distance isn't really
09:34the main story, although it is impressive. It's the dispersion that's the really standout factor for me.
09:39Off miss hits, off heel, toe, high, low, the stability of this head is simply fantastic. And I don't think
09:46I've ever hit a driver straighter than I hit this thing. So to summarize, the tailor-made driver drop
09:51is one I always look out for. And this one has not disappointed me at all. Starting with the looks,
09:57they've absolutely smashed it out of the park. I can't remember a driver family I've liked the look
10:02of more in recent years at all. This light gray carbon finish, I think is a master stroke A in terms
10:08of marketing, and it just looks so clean and minimal. And the minimal theme continues with the accent
10:14colors. There is some, but like I said, it's been used really sparingly. I think that really benefits
10:20the overall look of these clubs. In terms of the model lineup, well, there's three really strong
10:24models that have all definitely improved upon their predecessors. The only slight criticism
10:29I would have within this range is I do feel that LS model is going to struggle purely based on the
10:36quality and the versatility of the main QI35 model. I can't see why you'd push yourself into that LS
10:42model unless you really like that pear-shaped look when you can get a very similar spin profile
10:47out of the main QI35 and get a little bit more forgiveness and MOI in there as well. Secondly,
10:53while the QI35 Max is an absolutely brilliant product and it has certainly moved on from the QI10
10:59Max, the stability is there, the slightly lower spin profile. And as I said, it's just incredibly
11:04forgiving. I feel there is a slight lack of a heavily, heavily draw bias product within this range.
11:10Now, TaylorMade will argue, and I agree, you can add some draw bias in with the lofty by
11:16lofting up and changing that face angle, but you can't really do it with the weight setting here.
11:20So if you're a really heavy slicer of the golf ball, that might be something to think about,
11:25but generally speaking, it's really neutral. It's super forgiving and it's a great range of drivers.
11:30The major highlight of this range for me is that middle QI35 model. There's nothing I don't like
11:36about it. It could well be winging its way into my bag. The looks, the profile, the performance,
11:41and the versatility make that a real standout driver of 2025 for me. Another thing worth noting
11:47for me is that TaylorMade have released a really clever fitting head of every model that all sort
11:52of major fitting accounts with TaylorMade will have access to. This has got built-in face sensors
11:57that are in precisely the right place to give you super accurate launch monitor data and club readings.
12:03So this to me, at least, is TaylorMade's most impressive driver family launch since the incredibly
12:09successful SimRange, but I want to know what you think about it. I always like reading your comments,
12:14so drop them down below. Is this something you're interested in trying out? What are your
12:19thoughts on what we've done here? As always, thanks for watching and we'll see you next time.
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