The Stealth drivers each have a 60-layer carbon-fiber face. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

For decades, TaylorMade and other brands have made driver faces using titanium alloys that are light and flex without breaking. The USGA and R&A limit how much the faces are allowed to bend, and TaylorMade and several other brands have been at that limit for a few years. To produce more speed, they have tried to improve aerodynamics and enlarged the sweet spot. But TaylorMade designers believed they had pushed titanium to its limits. To get better performance, they have been researching the viability and use of carbon fiber instead of titanium.

Carbon fiber is significantly lighter than titanium, but it can be brittle and is typically not used on items that absorb impacts. For example, if you accidentally hit a ball with the graphite shaft of your driver, the shaft can easily break. To get around that, TaylorMade created a 60-layer carbon-fiber face and arranged the layers at different angles to increase their strength. A sophisticated manufacturing process ensures there are no air pockets or bubbles between each layer that could cause weakness and lead to breakage.

While the carbon fiber does not inherently increase ball speed or improve performance, TaylorMade’s carbon-fiber face weighs only 26 grams, making it 40 percent lighter than a titanium face of the same size. In an industry where designers scratch and claw for a gram or two, the 17-grams of weight savings are enormous.

The circular pattern in the center of the Stealth driver’s hitting area helps golfers align the ball with the sweet spot. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

That saved weight unlocks something interesting. When a golf ball is hit with a driver, the face flexes while the ball deforms and springs off the face to fly, hopefully down the fairway. At impact, the part of the head that bends back, the face, is not transferring momentum to the ball. The rest of the head is while it swings through the impact area. The more designers can shift mass out of the face and move it to the rest of the head, the more momentum and force a driver can apply to the ball at impact.

So while the Stealth’s overall weight has not increased, using an ultra-light carbon-fiber face means the club can transfer more energy to the ball. That’s why the Stealth creates more ball sped and distance. 

TaylorMade said the Stealth Plus+ generated 1.1 mph more ball speed in robot testing than the SIM2, and human testers saw more significant increases. Typically, a 1-mph increase in ball speed results in 3 or 4 yards of distance. When Sergio Garcia visited TaylorMade’s test facility in July 2021, he hit the Stealth Plus+ 9 yards farther than his SIM2.

Carbon fiber is very smooth, and the spin characteristics of shots hit in wet or dry conditions vary greatly, so TaylorMade engineers worked on ways to manage spin. First they added a thin polymer layer on top of the last layer of carbon fiber. Score lines were added, and finally a nano-texture that is just 14 microns thick was included over the entire hitting area – the polymer and textured surface help hold the ball on the face and improve launch conditions.

Despite the change in materials, the sound at impact is not dramatically different than would be expected with a titanium face. If the face was painted silver or chrome, most players would be unlikely to detect any difference in sound

Instead of white trim or alignment markings, the Stealth drivers have a clean, all-black top. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

TaylorMade opted to make the face red to ensure golfers see that this is something different. A series of red hexagons covers the hitting area, but open black spaces between them form a circular area in the center to aid in alignment.

Unlike the past several generations of TaylorMade drivers, the Stealth family has an understated look in the address position. The white and silver topline areas are gone, replaced by a black piece and a matte-black carbon-fiber crown. Yes, there is a simple, white TaylorMade logo to compliment the black circle on the face and help golfers position the center of the head behind the ball more easily, but even the Stealth logo is discretely placed in black in the back heel area. 

The Stealth Plus+ has a moveable weight to encourage draws and fades. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

TaylorMade has built moveable weight systems into drivers for years. The first SIM driver, released in 2019, featured a sliding weight that could be positioned in different areas along a track behind the leading edge to create a draw or fade bias. However, last season’s SIM2 driver lacked the sliding weight track – the large carbon-fiber pieces in the sole could not house it.  

The titanium sole of the Stealth Plus+ allowed TaylorMade designers to add a 10-gram weight. With the weight in the heel, the toe should close more easily on the downswing to promote a draw. Moving the weight to the heel side encourages a fade. 

The asymmetrical sole is designed to make the Stealth drivers more aerodynamic. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

The wind tunnel-tested body shape of the SIM and SIM2 drivers carries over to the Stealth drivers. The asymmetrical sole design helps make the clubs more aerodynamic, so players can swing them faster with the same effort.  

Twist Face technology, which debuted in the M3 and M4 drivers, is also present in the Stealth drivers. It peels back the top of the toe area and the lower-heel areas, which TaylorMade said helps shots fly straighter when players make contact in those regions of the face.

All three Stealth drivers also feature a large Speed Pocket slot behind the leading edge in the sole. The slot allows the bottom of the face to flex more at impact, so low-struck shots do not lose as much ball speed.

The TaylorMade Stealth HD driver (David Dusek/Golfweek)

The base model is the Stealth, which has a 460-cubic-centimeter head and replaces the SIM Max and SIM2 Max drivers in TaylorMade’s lineup. It is designed to be forgiving and will likely be the ideal choice for the broadest range of players.

The Stealth Plus+ is the lowest spinning and most adjustable. TaylorMade said it creates about 250 rpm less spin than the standard Stealth, and with the moveable weight track, it is capable of having either a draw or fade bias. 

The Stealth HD is for players who battle a slice. It has the most significant draw bias and creates a higher launch. It produces about 100-150 rpm more spin than the standard Stealth.