Golf’s Biggest YouTubers Give Their TaylorMade Stealth Driver Verdict

Golf’s Biggest YouTubers Give Their TaylorMade Stealth Driver Verdict 

The launch of the new TaylorMade Stealth driver caused quite a stir when we first lay our eyes on it in January. Since then, reviews online and on YouTube have been flooding in as content creators around the world have had their say on one of the most exciting new products we've seen for many years. 

Here at Golf Monthly our verdict on the new TaylorMade Stealth driver was that it was, "A hugely impressive, all-round performer. The standout gain was in the consistency of ball flight and distance, especially on shots struck away from the sweetspot. The red face, matt black crown combination might put some off but we loved the striking, premium aesthetics." 

We also saw fairly significant performances gains versus the outgoing SIM2 drivers. "It is important to say here that whilst we weren’t trying to swing the club any harder, we did deliver an extra three miles per hour in clubhead speed with the latest model. As you’d expect, this (along with a reduction in spin versus the original SIM) translated into more distance."

We've also reviewed the Stealth HD and Stealth Plus driver in the new range, and were equally impressed with the aesthetics and performance upgrades on offer.

Watch Neil Tappin's full video review of the TaylorMade Stealth drivers

The community of gear reviewers on YouTube has also been reacting to this new driver, and we're going to take a look at what golf's biggest YouTubers have had to say about the Stealth range. Did they find the same performance gains that we did? Did they like the red face? What do they make of the idea of a carbonwood? Let's dive in...

Rick Shiels

At the time of writing, Rick Shiels' video review of the Stealth drivers has 1.1 million views, comfortably the most viewed review on the product. In it, he directly compares the new Stealth range with the outgoing SIM2 drivers from 2021 out on course using a GC Quad. 

From a data perspective, he struggled to find too many gains versus the SIM2. As you might expect, he hits the Stealth Plus further than the standard head. However when he compared them to the titanium face SIM2, he found the carry distance to be exactly the same as the standard Stealth at 280 yards, "I can't categorically say they were better than last year's driver, the performance is almost exactly the same across the board. It's going to be down to you and getting fitted as to whether you'll get anything more from the Stealth range."  

His final conclusion in the video was that, "I can definitely say that these carbon faced drivers are no worse than the titanium drivers. I found that the performance was still very, very good." 

The Average Golfer

In another fantastic review on his YouTube channel, The Average Golfer starts out his video talking about the TaylorMade Stealth saying, "I'm not going to tell you anything different about how good this driver is. This driver is fantastic, I've had some unreal performance with it. Whether you like the look of it or not, I still think this is going to be an incredibly big seller in 2022."

Interestingly despite this, The Average Golfer goes on to talk about how the Callaway Rogue ST Max driver is his favourite driver of 2022. Both the Stealth and Rogue ST drivers were launched on the same day back in January, and while it certainly feels like TaylorMade is winning the battle versus Callaway's driver range so far, The Average Golfer certainly feels strongly that Callaway has just edged TaylorMade this time around. 

In fact, he called the Callaway Rogue ST Max, "probably the best performance in terms of a driver in my hands on video, ever. That's how good it is." Indeed, he was getting what he described as uncharacteristic carry distances with the Rogue ST Max and, "the best performance that I've ever achieved with a driver."

He did commend the Stealth however. "This isn't about knocking the Stealth, its performance has also been phenomenal since I've tried it. I can't fault it. Much the same, and just edging it, would be the performance of the Rogue."

Peter Finch 

In his review, Peter Finch compared the new Stealth Plus to the SIM2 and SIM drivers from 2021 and 2020 respectively. He offers up some really good insight into how carbon faces compare to titanium faces whilst also offering his opinion on the looks and sound and the benefits of the new range. 

"It is pretty cool. I have to say the red face is very noticeable but I would've actually liked them to make the face even more vibrant. If you're going to give us a carbon face make it stand out even more, go crazy with it. I think I still prefer the original SIM behind the ball. The red face has a nice contrast, but for such an exciting club, I want it to look a little more exciting." 

"Whilst the carbon face certainly gives some differences, it's not going to completely revolutionise the driver market. This is a good starting point for some potentially exciting changes. I was getting much more consistent back spin when using the Stealth Plus and on off centre hits, the Stealth is much better than the old drivers. Players are not going to find incredible improvements in distance, but they may find improvements on consistency and accuracy especially from off centre hits."

TXG Tour Golf Experience

The guys at TXG gave us their first impression and first hits of the Stealth driver range on their YouTube channel. With the new carbon face being one of the biggest talking points in the Stealth, sound has been a popular talking point across content creator's reviews.

"Honestly [the sound] is not all that dissimilar to the Titleist TSi3 driver which I think is one of the better sounding drivers that has been launched recently. The Stealth Plus maybe feels slightly firmer too but we're talking fractionally and a bit more muted too."

They were also impressed with the standard Stealth and the distance achieved versus the Stealth Plus. "The non adjustable weight version is not too bad in terms of spin reduction. Some people presume with the non-adjustable version loses out on spin reduction, and we're not seeing that so far."

Mark Crossfield 

On his YouTube channel, Mark Crossifield took the standard Stealth driver out on course to decipher how the revolutionary new carbon face would look, sound and feel. 

"It looks fantastic. It still feels like other drivers gone by, it feels and sounds nice but it doesn't feel like anything totally new. But it's one of the best looking drivers out there. The sound reminds me of when I've watched Seve or Woosnam hitting shots at Wentworth in the trees, it sounds almost in between a wooden and titanium driver, it's really nice." 

"All in all I think this is a really solid driver, but I wonder how much of my enjoyment of it comes because it's something a bit different. Do I see something that is better than SIM2 or even M2? No, not really. But it's still a good driver. Go and test it and see if it's good for your game." 

So, the verdicts are in firmly in on the new TaylorMade Stealth drivers. What do you think about the new drivers? Do you like the face? Have you tested them for yourself? Which YouTuber's verdict to you agree with the most? Let us know on Twitter or Facebook.