TaylorMade driver launches are always exciting. As one of the most innovative brands in the game, I am always intrigued to see what is coming next, and now it is the arrival of the Qi10 range. More specifically for the purposes of this review, the Qi10 LS, TaylorMade’s low spinning, forward CG driver model.
WATCH: Joe Ferguson compares all three drivers in the TaylorMade Qi10 range
Having already made it into the bags of Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods, we knew in advance that it wasn’t going to be a dud, but I was very interested to see what had progressed from Stealth 2 Plus driver.
Well firstly, the red face is gone. This was a very divisive look in the Stealth and Stealth 2 range, so as many of you will be jumping for joy as will be mourning the end of the red face era. I have to say, I am in the jumping for joy camp. I was never particularly enamoured with the red face and am happy to see it replaced by a more conventional dark navy. This new, more subtle face is joined by an equally subtle white strip along the top line which genuinely helps with face alignment, contrasting well against the all black crown.
Speaking of the top of the clubhead, the thick banner along the top edge of the driver is no more, having been replaced by a new infinity crown. This gloss black finish covers the whole crown providing a much simpler visual behind the ball and one that I very much welcome. The LS model retains a familiar pear shaped TaylorMade profile, whereas a more rounded footprint is evident in the Qi10 and even more so in Qi10 Max.
So far so good. How about performance?
A lot of my initial testing was conducted in South Carolina in relatively warm conditions with minimal breeze. I was using TaylorMade TP5X golf balls and a Trackman 4 launch monitor to record my data.
The numbers I was producing were really strong in terms of ball speed and spin but nothing in excess of what I was already producing from the Stealth 2 Plus driver I have been testing all year.
That is by no means meant as a negative, sometimes when you have already produced an excellent driver, there is very little wiggle room for noticeable improvements and that is what I feel is the case here.
Ball speed was in the low 170s for me and spin was very low at under 1700rpm.
These ball speed and spin numbers would stand up against any of the best low spin drivers on the market, but the Stealth 2 Plus was already there. As I have already mentioned, there have been significant visual refinements and TaylorMade is suggesting that it has marginally increased the MOI of the LS model, albeit not as dramatically as with the Qi10 Max model, but I can’t honestly say that I found it perceptibly more stable than Stealth 2 Plus.
I had very little difficulty in producing my stock fade with the Qi10 LS and a little tweak to the sliding front weight produced a more neutral flight easily.
The TaylorMade Qi10 LS is a strong performer in this low spin driver category and its performance will stand up to any of its major rivals in all parameters. Whilst the performance improvements over its predecessor aren’t glaringly obvious, TaylorMade has done a good job in cleaning up the aesthetic to appeal to a broader audience.
