Taylor Made Stealth Driver

[Weirfan]

RFT - Replaceable Face Technology

[spas1]

Love it!!!

[rgk5]

RFT - Replaceable Face Technology

TM did that with wedges several years ago and promised replacement faces for 2-3 years. They vanished within 15 months IIRC.

[Geeve1008]

Everybody is a huge Taylormade hater but yet they still dominate the driver market every year, say what you want Taylormade makes a hell of a driver

[hammy1983]

Everybody is a huge Taylormade hater but yet they still dominate the driver market every year, say what you want Taylormade makes a hell of a driver

exactly. It's weird seeing all the people get upset about a TM releasing a driver every year but all they are doing is following the same trend as electronics, vehicles, apparel etc.
The increase in cost over last year is actually decent when you consider the COG on all items has increased significantly. In the food industry, the average impact of covid on COG's was 11%. Much higher if the product was offshore or at least a portion of the ingredients were from offshore.

[ARL67]

^^^ Agreed, TM looks to be the leader, and compels the other OEMs to also innovate with their own.

Though I like TM, I haven't gamed anything from them in many years. And me and Twistface to not agree with each other -> my miss of a Driver push-fade becomes a push-mega-slice.

Has anyone seen the new Stealth irons ? At first I thought they looked really cheap, and after further thought, looks like Srixon ZX7 with a triangle carbon-fill. And not sure what's going on with the milled pockets in the hosel. But every release needs to offer something different, so it is what it is.

[bl8d]

RFT - Replaceable Face Technology

Off hand I don't know how they can make that a DIY screw-on, unless it features a one-time compression gasket. (think cylinder head gasket)

The weight of the face screws would undue the club head balance.

[TheBaconator]

^^^ Agreed, TM looks to be the leader, and compels the other OEMs to also innovate with their own.

Though I like TM, I haven't gamed anything from them in many years. And me and Twistface to not agree with each other -> my miss of a Driver push-fade becomes a push-mega-slice.

Has anyone seen the new Stealth irons ? At first I thought they looked really cheap, and after further thought, looks like Srixon ZX7 with a triangle carbon-fill. And not sure what's going on with the milled pockets in the hosel. But every release needs to offer something different, so it is what it is.

They remind me of the Rocketbladez from a few years ago, which isn’t a bad thing. The notches in the hosel started with the Aeroburner irons, I believe, and are a way to take some weight out of that area.

[maverickdrinker]

They remind me of the Rocketbladez from a few years ago, which isn’t a bad thing. The notches in the hosel started with the Aeroburner irons, I believe, and are a way to take some weight out of that area.

the Stealth Irons remind me of Nike Vapor MM Protos…

[LongLefty]

As an aside, why do you guys care what a club sounds like? I totally understand the reasoning behind not being comfortable with the look at address or not liking the feel (ie. lack of feedback), but the sound happens after the shot.

My new gamer is a G425, and the sound is not great, but it performs. If you told me that the Nike Sumo would give me another 10 yards with tight dispersion, I'd play that instead. I couldn't care less if people at the range are staring at me wondering "WTF was that" after every shot.

Sounds is part of the feel and plays a major role when I purchase a club. Similar to the colour and shape of the head. You aren’t seeing it when you make contact with the ball but if you don’t like the look of it you aren’t going to be confident.

[DriveItHome]

exactly. It's weird seeing all the people get upset about a TM releasing a driver every year but all they are doing is following the same trend as electronics, vehicles, apparel etc.
The increase in cost over last year is actually decent when you consider the COG on all items has increased significantly. In the food industry, the average impact of covid on COG's was 11%. Much higher if the product was offshore or at least a portion of the ingredients were from offshore.

Especially considering the average TGN'r hasn't paid retail for a driver since the Ice Age. Never seen a bunch of people moan and complain about the cost of new equipment so much yet almost nobody on this forum plays new equipment save for a small group. The rest cobble together used stuff from 5+ years ago or more and will proudly let anyone know it. I don't care what you play either way, whether you have $100 in disposable income or $100,000. However, if you complain about the cost of something you are never going to buy new in the first place, then you don't have any reason to complain. That goes for golf clubs, cars, you name it.

[Gwelfgulfer]

Especially considering the average TGN'r hasn't paid retail for a driver since the Ice Age. Never seen a bunch of people moan and complain about the cost of new equipment so much yet almost nobody on this forum plays new equipment save for a small group. The rest cobble together used stuff from 5+ years ago or more and will proudly let anyone know it. I don't care what you play either way, whether you have $100 in disposable income or $100,000. However, if you complain about the cost of something you are never going to buy new in the first place, then you don't have any reason to complain. That goes for golf clubs, cars, you name it.

Actually people do have a right as it also drives up the pricing on the used market...

You have iron sets going for $1k+ used when 6-8 years ago they were $1k new... The price for irons and wedges over the last number of years for basically nothing (looking at all 1 piece forged offerings or cast wedges) and it's all jumped 50% to 100%.

The steel shaft market for pulls is a boarder line joke because retail is beyond insanity... Basic DG's that used to be $15-$20 are now $45+... $60+ for PX's...

The comment about 'cobbling together stuff from 5+ years' is a bit off putting and arrogant, given how little has really changed in that time span, how on earth can you actually see that as a bad thing...

[hammy1983]

I think demand is driving up the cost more than anything. Throw in the fact that anything coming from offshore costs substantially more for shipping, and it's almost certain to be delayed.

[DriveItHome]

Actually people do have a right as it also drives up the pricing on the used market...

You have iron sets going for $1k+ used when 6-8 years ago they were $1k new... The price for irons and wedges over the last number of years for basically nothing (looking at all 1 piece forged offerings or cast wedges) and it's all jumped 50% to 100%.

The steel shaft market for pulls is a boarder line joke because retail is beyond insanity... Basic DG's that used to be $15-$20 are now $45+... $60+ for PX's...

The comment about 'cobbling together stuff from 5+ years' is a bit off putting and arrogant, given how little has really changed in that time span, how on earth can you actually see that as a bad thing...

Supply and demand. It's no secret golf has exploded in popularity over the last couple of years. Combine that with supply chain issues you have higher prices. Again, buy it or don't. I don't think its arrogant at all. You can play golf with a 20 year old warbird driver and a set of 1960s Wilson blades if you want to, right? Nobody is guaranteed anything nice in life. I'm very far from well off, but I was able to budget accordingly to afford most of my stuff. So again, I don't think anyone has any reason to complain about the cost of something if they have no intention of ever buying something new. Can't afford it, don't buy it. PXG and Tour Edge offer new product for almost half the cost of the name brand OEMs with the exact same tech, but there are some who still think they are worth too much. It's a fundamental disconnect on the prices and what stuff actually costs. I used to see it all the time when I worked at Golf Town in the early-mid 2010s. People were shocked at prices, quoting that they bought a set brand new 20 years previous for $500. Okay, cool. What do you want me to do about it? Some people walked shaking their heads in disbelief. There's nothing that can be done about it. I saw it, people were happy to pay that price all the time.

As for your last comment, I didn't say it was a bad thing. I am just pointing out that the vast majority of this board have nothing to complain about. They are never going to pay full retail so they can't comment about the price of something new. They aren't the target and will have zero impact on any change because they aren't doing anything to actively change it. If the entire golfing population suddenly said enough is enough and TM sold next to no Stealths brand new, then we might have an agent for change. But guys griping over an $850 driver because it might drive up the price 2% on a 5 year old Aeroburner driver is stupid and won't change anything because they were never going to actually influence TM's bottom line in the first place.

One last comparison. Let's use cars as an example because they mimic golf clubs pretty similarly; a drastic drop off in value almost immediately upon use, various "levels" of brands that all do the exact same thing, etc. Do you really think Mercedes or Aston Martin are worried about what a habitual Hyundai or Kia driver thinks about their price on cars? Or better yet, do you think they actually care what price their cars go for on the used market when they have a queue as far as the eye can see to buy new? Or even better, do you think they care about the price of what used parts are going for on second hand stores or what their prices are going to do the price of the baseline Volkswagen if they increase their price by 2%? Honest question.

[Gwelfgulfer]

Bad analogy in using Merc as they are expanding their offerings to try and entice people at lower price point segments to make the jump vs. the alternatives. Also, even with a glut of equipment on the secondary market, prices increase. So an over supplied market coupled with less in sales (demand) each year, yet prices go up anyway. So I question that model being used wrt golf equipment, covid aside as a complete anomaly currently. Wedges for instance isn't something that is bought often by the vast majority of players, yet they have increased exponentially in recent years. No tech, nothing new in anyway to justify the price increases, no demand and when you look at the shelves, an over supplied segment.

Also, The Aeroburner driver is garbage, so again, bad analogy given no one wants it and it's hard to sell regardless of scenario. Your GT days should have shown you an over supply to demand ratio.

Pre Covid, the golf industry was contracting, period. Yet prices were increasing while they over supplied a dwindling market that had less demand. As soon as covid is over, things will return back to the way they were as more entertainment options become available for people and they take their money there (the youth will still have zero attention span for 5+ hr hours). Maybe 10% of those who have taken up the game during the last 2 years will stay with it, those numbers aren't high enough to cover what is about to be lost in the next 15-20 years when the vast majority of players are still 55+.