The Kalea Gold fairway wood forms part of the new family of clubs from TaylorMade designed specifically to help women golfers of all abilities get the most out of their game. The fairway wood comes in three options, 3, 5 and 7, and I was keen to find out if the 5-wood shaped up as one of the best women’s fairway woods out there.
Compared with TaylorMade’s previous generation of women’s clubs, Kalea Premier, in my opinion Kalea Gold looks far more elegant. The crown is predominantly dark navy with pops of silver and gold, which combine for a striking finish on the crown and sole. It’s fitted with an ultralight graphite shaft and has one of those nice squidgy SuperStroke grips in navy and white.
Fairway woods are my favorite clubs to hit, so this one had a lot to live up to! I like the look of the shiny carbon crown at address, which is always important for a confidence boost. It sits neatly behind the ball, and on my very first stroke using this club, I found it easy to launch, plus the ball flew high and straight, so my first impression was very good.
Interestingly, I have also reviewed the TaylorMade Kalea Gold driver, which took me a little longer to get used to, whereas I found the fairway wood lightweight and effortless to hit from the get-go. In particular, I noticed how powerful the ball felt coming off the clubface with a penetrating flight and distance was pleasing, comparable with Titleist’s TSR1 fairway wood. I also like small TaylorMade logo on the top of the crown, it's a useful alignment aid.
Of course, not all my fairway shots were perfect, but with the help of TaylorMade’s Thru-Slot Speed Pocket technology, which flexes the face for optimal spin and provides forgiveness on shots hit low on the face, I got away with a few off-centre strikes. The look and feel also gave me the confidence to use it from light rough.
It’s worth mentioning the luxurious-looking headcovers for this family of woods because while the outer fabric is easy to keep clean, and just as well as it’s predominantly white, the inside is silvery grey velour, so you need to make sure you wipe any mud off, otherwise it will soon become very dirty.
I cannot fault this fairway wood, but when I was reviewing this club, one of my playing partners (who is fairly tall) also gave it a try, and she immediately found it to be too short for her. On inspection, it is about an inch shorter than some other fairway woods, so the length might minimally impact some women.
On that note, alongside the Qi10 women’s range, Kalea Gold is available via custom fitting, and this is always worth doing so you can find the exact setup of the club to suit you and combine with your other clubs to form one of the best women's golf sets.
