- 11 hours ago
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 middle,
00:33and we've now got the max, the 10K inertia maximum forgiveness model at the end. Now,
00:39before I get into the tech, I have to say these things look incredible. I absolutely love this
00:45kind 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
00:58McElroy's, your Scotty Scheffler's, 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 white head. 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
01:28brilliant for alignment. I found that really useful on the QI10 range. And subsequently in my
01:33testing of this, once again, it's really useful for alignment. Now this lineup is super minimalistic
01:38in terms of its coloring. There's next to nothing, but the tiny accents that there are are kind of a
01:44vibrant light yellowy green. They've been used super sparingly. And I think that's really to the benefit
01:50of the look here. Now, as always with visuals in anything in life, it's all totally subjective.
01:55What you like, I might not like and vice versa. But for me personally, I can't remember liking
02:01the look of a driver family as much as this in years. So that's a great start with the looks,
02:06but we want to know about the technology, right? And as always, there is quite a heavy tech story
02:11that has sculpted the development of this range. So heavy, in fact, that I've had to come back to my
02:16office and grab a pen and a whiteboard to do some explaining. So the story of this QI35 range is
02:22all
02:22about CG, or more accurately, CG projection. Now you probably all know what CG is. It's the center
02:29of gravity, or essentially the point at which the driver head is perfectly balanced. And I've
02:33represented that here with this little circle with the cross in. But CG projection is kind of a new
02:38term to some of us. So that's represented here by the dashed line heading out towards the face. It's
02:44basically where this CG projects onto the face relative to the loft. So we'll call that this point
02:49here. Now, TaylorMade are telling us that's very, very important because that has a huge influence
02:54on the ball flight characteristics, such as launch and spin. So generally speaking, when you strike
03:00beneath that CG projection, you'll get one of those lower launching, higher spinning ball flights that we
03:05know can rob us of distance. So TaylorMade have been working on what they call their area of opportunity,
03:11which is creating more space to hit above that CG projection to give us those high launching,
03:16low spinning ball flights that we know results in optimal distance. But it's tricky because
03:21they want to also make a driver more forgiving. So when people have been dragging CG locations back,
03:27so if we pretty much go horizontally back from the other CG location, what we'll see there is based
03:32on the loft of the face, the CG projection raises again, which lowers our area of opportunity to get
03:39those optimal ball flights. So what TaylorMade have done is they've saved a lot of discretionary rate in the
03:45hosel and the crown area, and they've moved that weight around the head as low and as far back as
03:50possible, thus moving that CG back, but also keeping it as low as possible to get much lower CG projection
03:57and increase that area of opportunity that'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. I was
04:14really 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
04:25actually favored a version of the core model and put that in place. I was intrigued to see what had
04:30changed. And in terms of the head shape, at least very little, it's almost identical to the QI10 LS
04:36in the playing position. So the more compact pear shaped head remains, but the weight track that sat
04:41underneath on 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
05:06me. Last year's
05:07model, whilst brilliant and very low spin and quick, I did find it quite volatile on those miss hits, which
05:13is why I wonder if a lot of those tour players I've referred to there, your Rory's and your Scotty's,
05:19opted 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. And
05:38those of you who love a little bit more of a compact pear shaped profile and low spin characteristics
05:43are 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 a
05:53bit of a problem. So on to the main QI35 head. And as soon as I picked this up, I
05:59knew 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 comparison.
06:18So not only the looks hit the spot here for me, I found the performance exactly what I was looking
06:23for. It had a lively feel, albeit a tough firmer than last season's model. It provides a seriously
06:28powerful impact feel and the data is tough to argue with. Now in the neutral weight setting,
06:33I found this an incredibly safe and user friendly driver, plenty of spin, but nothing excessive. And I
06:42really like about this is these two interchangeable weights make a massive difference. As soon as you
06:47flip it round and get more weight to the front, I was seeing about 200 to 250 revs difference in
06:52spin,
06:53almost activating beast mode, if you like, and producing a really low penetrating ball flight with
06:59minimal spin that really upped my distance output. I did sacrifice a little bit of accuracy in that
07:05setting, but that's to be expected when you're moving that CG forward. And I love the versatility this
07:10offers. You're almost getting two drivers in one here. Now this is where I do wonder whether this
07:15head could be a problem for the LS model. Essentially, like I said, if you're in that neutral setting,
07:20it is a different driver. If you want to flip it over and move that weight forward, you're getting
07:24a really similar spin profile to the LS, but in a much more user friendly shape with a touch more
07:30MOI.
07:32So once again, I do worry about the LS with the quality of this QI35.
07:37Sorry to interrupt. If you are enjoying this content, please like the video and subscribe
07:43to the channel. We've got loads of great content coming out this review season, so you won't want
07:47to miss any. And last, but by no means least, the QI35 Max. Now last year was a huge year
07:53for
07:54high MOI drivers and the QI10 Max was a real success at retail. In my testing, I found it lacked
08:00a
08:01little bit of the oomph of some of the other models that were professing to have 10K,
08:04but that's really been addressed with this new QI35 Max. So although, as you would expect and hope,
08:11the spin has jumped up a little bit from the core model here, it is far from excessive. One thing
08:16I
08:16did find with the QI10 Max last year was my spin numbers got a little bit out of control, and
08:22that
08:22cost me in the distance regard. But with the QI35, I'm actually spinning at around 200 revs per minute,
08:28less 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
08:39balls.
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 hosel had shrunk a little bit, which made it play about a quarter
09:10of an inch shorter, as I said, and I was actually losing clubhead speed. And when I lost that clubhead
09:15speed, obviously that generally translates into ball speed. Now in the QI35 Max, they have addressed
09:20it. The hosel 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,
09:33distance isn't really the main story, although it is impressive. It's the dispersion that's the really
09:38standout factor for me. Off miss hits, off heel, toe, high, low, the stability of this head
09:43is simply fantastic. And I don't think I've ever hit a driver straighter than I hit this thing.
09:48So to summarize, the tailor-made driver drop is one I always look out for. And this one has
09:54not disappointed me at all. Starting with the looks, they've absolutely smashed it out of the
09:59park. I can't remember a driver family I've liked the look of more in recent years at all.
10:04This light gray carbon finish, I think is a masterstroke A in terms of marketing,
10:09and it just looks so clean and minimal. And the minimal theme continues with the accent colors.
10:15There 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 I would
10:30have within this range is I do feel that LS model is going to struggle purely based on the quality
10:36and
10:36the versatility of the main QI 35 model. I can't see why you'd push yourself into that LS model,
10:43unless you really like that pear shaped look, when you can get a very similar spin profile
10:47out of the main QI 35 and get a little bit more forgiveness and MOI in there as well.
10:53Secondly, while the QI 35 Max is an absolutely brilliant product, and it has certainly moved on
10:58from the QI 10 Max, the stability is there, the slightly lower spin profile. And as I said,
11:03it's just incredibly forgiving. I feel there is a slight lack of a heavily, heavily draw bias
11:09product within this range. Now, TaylorMade will argue, and I agree, you can add some draw bias in
11:15with the lofty by lofting up and changing that face angle, but you can't really do it with the weight
11:19setting here. So if you're a really heavy slicer of the golf ball, that might be something to think
11:24about. But generally speaking, it's really neutral, it's super forgiving, and it's a great range of
11:29drivers. The major highlight of this range for me is that middle QI 35 model. There's nothing
11:36I don't like about it. It could well be winging its way into my bag. The looks, the profile,
11:41the performance, and the versatility make that a real standout driver of 2025 for me.
11:46Another thing worth noting for me is that TaylorMade have released a really clever fitting head of
11:50every model that all sort of major fitting accounts with TaylorMade will have access to.
11:55This has got built-in face sensors that are in precisely the right place to give you super
12:00accurate launch monitor data and club readings. So this to me, at least, is TaylorMade's most
12:06impressive driver family launch since the incredibly successful SIM range. But I want to know what you
12:12think about it. I always like reading your comments, so drop them down below. Is this something you're
12:17interested in trying out? What are your thoughts on what we've done here? As always, thanks for watching
12:22and we'll see you next time.
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