As promised last year, Golfalot will be reviewing women’s golf clubs comprehensively. Today I am looking at the new TaylorMade Kalea Premier range which is specifically designed for women golfers.
TaylorMade have recently employed a women’s advisory board to help them produce better women's golf products in order to compete with Ping, who are known as the best in the business.
Historically Kalea is seen as a range which focuses on style and elegance but often lacked in substance. I am pleased to say this fourth generation promises all of the above, but has the technology to help your game also.
However you won’t see these clubs in the hands of tour players such as Charley Hull, they are very much aimed at amateur women golfers or golfers who play socially.
New to the game or in need of a little bit more advice when it comes to golf equipment? Read our ultimate GUIDE TO BUYING WOMEN'S CLUBS HERE.
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The Tech
It's important to point out that there is more technology in these clubs than ever before, mirroring much of the same tech seen in the TaylorMade SIM2 range - so unfortunately there's no red carbon face like in the Stealth driver.
Breaking down the set, the following technologies can be found:
- Kalea Premier Driver - The Kalea Premier driver is built for speed and forgiveness and comes at standard in 12.5 degrees with a carbon crown and carbon sole, as well as a 22g steel rear back weight. Moving the Inertia Generator towards the heel encourages optimal launch and spin rates, providing more distance for those with slower swing speeds.
- Kalea Premier Fairways - The fairways are designed to be easier to launch and come with a 37% larger face than the Kalea 3. Each loft option has the same size head and comes with V Steel technology to improve forgiveness, versatility and turf interaction.
- Kalea Premier Rescue - The rescue again has a V Steel sole design which helps to produce high launching shots from any lie. The face is the largest of the Kalea generations with low CG, adding forgiveness.
- Kalea Premier Irons - A Cap Back Design provides extra stability in the topline and upper perimeter of the face, working alongside the Speed Pocket to improve face flexibility, ball speed and distance. They also feature Inverted Cone Technology which varies face thickness and pinpoints performance where golfers need it the most, making way for an optimised sweet spot that covers the most common impact areas. The head shaping has been uniquely designed to create the forgiveness of a super-game improvement iron, in a sleeker profile.
- Spider Mini Putter - The putter that comes available with the Kalea Premier set is a modern Mini Spider which provides all of the stability and forgiveness of a Spider putter but in a 15% more compact shape. It comes with Pure Roll face technology and a long single sightline.
The light green and white colourway of Kalea 3 has been replaced by a premium and strong blue, white and grey colour scheme. If you are Scottish you are going to love the look of these clubs!
The build quality of these clubs has jumped back up to the kind of level that you'd expect from TaylorMade. The clubs essentially look like a version of the SIM2 Max range with a lighter and short shaft. Straight off the bat, I think it's a real step in the right direction in looks and technology compared to last year's Kalea.
TaylorMade Kalea Premier Women's Range Review
I invited one of my female students, Helen Roberts, down to Stockport GC to try these clubs out with me. Helen plays off a 28 handicap and her bag is made up of a real mix: women's Cobra irons, men's hybrids and the women's SIM2 Max Driver. She doesn't like fairway woods, instead preferring hybrids, and her longest iron was a 6 iron.
Kalea Premier Driver (£379)
Let's start at the top of the bag with the driver - it worked better than Helen’s current SIM2 Max, even though the driver head was almost identical albeit just a different colour. This was because the shaft was lighter and more reliable, so Helen got the club down to the ball in a better position with more speed.
As a result, the tee shots flew straighter rather than to the right, and Helen commented that it felt lighter and easier to hit even when swinging at the same tempo as her own driver.
Once I pointed out the white line on the crown of the head this helped with lining up her club face to the target. The only negative was the colour of the headcovers being white, as Helen pointed out that with so many of them n her bag, they can get dirty easily and will hard to keep clean.
Kalea Premier Fairway Wood (£219) & Rescue (£179)
Moving on to the fairway woods, Helen has had a real mental block with these and so she was sacrificing any distance between 140 and 160 yards in her game.
I encouraged her to try the 3 wood first from a tee, and then the 5 wood from the fairway. The height was notable, and they were easy to launch which is not always the case with fairways.
Increasing the launch to 16.5 degrees certainly helps with this, as launch is always an issue in the women's game due to the lower swing speeds.
Now for Helen's favourite... the hybrids, or 'rescues' as TaylorMade call them. They didn't disappoint, and she loved them so much she was willing to swap her 6 iron for the 6 hybrid as the same amount of effort generated more height and more consistent shots.
The rescues are more expensive by nearly £50 per club, but is that a price worth paying for better shots?
Kalea Premier Irons (£610 for 5 irons 6-PW)
I was a little disappointed by the irons in the Kalea 3 range, as I felt the build quality was poor - the badge on the back looked as if it could peel off at any time.
This time around the finish was a lot better, and the new Cap Back looked great. However they didn't have as much technology in them as in the SIM2 Max with no Echo Damping system. As a result they weren't able to beat Helen's own Cobra Women's Radspeed irons , which are packed with even more technology.
What did stand out to me on the day is how much work needs to be done to better educate women golfers about equipment. Helen had to ask me what an AW was, as the Kalea range offers one to sit in between the pitching wedge and sand wedge.
This is why I really want to review women's clubs for you all - to help with your research and understanding when buying golf equipment!
Spider Mini Putter (£229)
Finally the putter, which was the club that shone for Helen and was the most significant positive change from the whole test. Helen had been using an Odyssey blade which was too heavy and too long for her so she was struggling to have any feel on the greens.
The Spider Mini made life so much easier, using the white sightline to aim the putter at the target gave her much more consistent results. This highlights that even a putter needs to suit the golfer holding it, rather than just being a hand-me-down from a friend or husband, or a cheap purchase off eBay. I would advise all women to go and get fitted for every club in the bag - you will see the results!
TaylorMade Kalea Premier Women's Range Verdict
It was brilliant to see these clubs in the hands of somebody who is clearly within the target market, and it was also great to witness the confidence that Helen gained from knowing that the range was designed with golfers like her in mind.
She had been used to just making do, and adapting to heavier or longer clubs because "I'm not a great golfer so it doesn't matter what clubs I use". This perception changed within two shots on the course. We played a few holes and I guided her around with club selection.
I also tested the Kalea Premier during the test with the driver and it came off quick but left, as the shaft is too light and whippy for my swing. The driver shaft in this test is just 40 grams compared to my own 55 gram stiff shaft, however there a number of custom fit options available in to suit a wide range of women golfers.
This is not a package set, but I would suggest buying as many clubs as you can afford together due to the fact that they match up. Helen liked the fact that these clubs weren't pink or purple and, being a proud Scot she loved the blue and white!
It is a total turnaround from what we have seen Kalea do in the past. They do look better quality, so now we'll have to wait and see if the use of blue works on sales.
Who Are They Aimed At?
I thought these clubs would be too light for Helen, who is a fit middle aged woman, but they really weren't. Her shots improved with every club she hit compared to her own clubs except for the irons, which were already pretty well suited to her.
Having lighter, shorter and thinner grips all helped to improve her game, she had huge confidence knowing that these were built with her in mind, rather than having to make do.
If you want a set of clubs which will last you then these are ideal for the recreational golfer, sporadic golfer or keen golfer who wants to maximise their speed and gain some consistency throughout the bag.
Would I Use Them?
No, they aren't aimed at me but I can think of plenty of people who I'd recommend them to though!
If you enjoyed this, you may also like:
TaylorMade Kalea 3 Women's Range Review
TaylorMade SIM2 Drivers Review