What to know about TaylorMade’s Qi35 driver, woods launch

Off the back of a 2024 season seeing 13 wins by drivers from TaylorMade, 11 of which came with their Qi10 lineup, TaylorMade has launched their new Qi35 models. First seen in the bag of women’s world No. 1 Nelly Korda at the 2024 Grant Thornton Invitational, a handful of PGA TOUR stars put the new driver in play to start the season at The Sentry. Collin Morikawa almost earned the first victory with the new club, finishing only behind a record-setting Hideki Matsuyama.

Here’s what you need to know about the latest offering from TaylorMade.

Optimizing the balance point

The new Qi35 driver lineup combines a lowered center of gravity (CG) of projection (the balance point of the head projected onto the face) while maximizing the moment of inertia (MOI) resulting in more distance from more of the face.

When the ball is mishit below that balance point, it creates more spin and a lower launch usually resulting in a shorter drive, whereas hitting above the balance point creates a high launch angle with less spin for further drives.

The Qi35 model has a lowered balance point and better-positioned weight in the head to create a larger area on the face for optimized launch and spin. This can be further improved with the TaylorMade Trajectory Adjustment System (TAS), which uses interchangeable weights on the Qi35 and Qi35 LS heads and helps create the most mass-efficient CG adjustments for shot shape and control.

Each Qi35 driver head features a fourth-generation Carbon Twist Face, Thru-Slot Speed Pocket and the 4-degree loft sleeve while moving to chromium carbon fiber and Infinity Carbon Crown. This allowed engineers to remove excess weight and apply it farther back to increase MOI in Qi35 lineup.

Four driver heads designed

The Qi35 features four different driver models to help golfers across the board. The standard Qi35 sees the same high inertia shape as the Max head with increased size from front to back. The Qi35 is set up with two weights – 13 grams in the back and three grams in the front – to customize the balance point and CG. With the standard weight positioning the Qi35 is a 9K inertia driver but when swapped it lowers to an MOI of 8.1K but increases distance for on-center hits.

The Qi35 Max features a rear fixed tungsten weight resulting in 34 grams without increasing overall head weight. This keeps MOI at 10K while lowering CG projection to improve launch conditions.

The Qi35 LS is the lower spin option in the lineup and comes with one 13-gram weight in the back and two three-gram weights in the front. Changing to the TAS weight setup in Qi35 LS instead of a sliding weight found in the Qi10 removes weight and is more mass efficient creating a greater change in CG, launch conditions and spin.

An ultra-light weight driver is also available in the Qi35 lineup with the Qi35 Max Lite. Qi35 Max Lite is over 35 grams lighter than Qi35 Max and is aimed toward golfers who are looking to increase their clubhead speed. Qi35 Max Lite is also offered in the fairway woods and hybrids and as a women’s spec.

Qi35 SelectFit for efficient fitting

TaylorMade has introduced launch monitor-enabled fitting heads to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the fitting process. Reflective fitting markers are found on Qi35 SelectFit driver faces and will be available at all TaylorMade experiential events and retail fitting locations.

The built-in fitting markers deliver more accurate club-head positioning at impact and allow fitters to fully optimize the fitting process.

“We engineer our products to the highest level, but we know we can unlock even more performance when we optimize the technology properly,” said Matt Simone, director of custom product creation. “Qi35 SelectFit driver heads can allow a fitter to identify the most optimal head model with the correct loft, weight configuration and shaft. Marrying the technological benefits of Qi35 with the highest-level fitting capability allows us to give every golfer the forgiveness they need with the distance they deserve.”

Fairway wood and hybrid lineup

Along with the driver launch, TaylorMade will offer both Qi35 fairway woods and hybrids. The fairway wood lineup sees the standard Qi35, Qi35 Max, Qi35 Max Lite as well as a Qi35 Tour version. Tour-inspired, the Qi35 Tour fairway wood features a compact head to prioritize workability. Qi35 Tour fairway woods come with a 40g sliding weight that can be moved back depending on whether distance or accuracy is preferred. Hybrid offerings come in Qi35, Qi35 Max and Qi35 Max Lite utilizing optimized CG locations to promote high launch conditions.