The new TaylorMade Qi4D range recently celebrated it’s first major victory at the first opportunity, thanks to Rory McIlroy’s historic title defence at The Masters.
TaylorMade fairway woods have been at the top of the table for usage on Tour for a number of years now, and the Qi4D has made a very promising start to life.
It features much of the same DNA as the new drivers, as well as some familiar favourites from TaylorMade’s woods, across four different models.
After being fitted at the TaylorMade Kingdom in Carlsbad late last year, I put the standard Qi4D Fairway to the test to see if I could work out what has made it already so popular.
Who’s It Aimed At?
There are four different heads in the Qi4D Fairway lineup, ranging from a compact, low-spinning Tour model all the way to the Max Lite, which is for golfers who struggle to generate swing speed and launch.
The Qi4D Fairway is what TaylorMade call their ‘Core’ head, and it’s the standard model in the range which should be best suited to the widest number of golfers.
If you’re someone who doesn’t want something too big behind the ball or with too much draw-bias, this might be a better option than the Max model. It’s a bit more forgiving than the Tour model too, even if it is slightly less versatile.
Personally I do think that if you’re somebody who hits their 3 wood from the deck regularly, especially if you’re not a low handicapper, you may find that there are other ‘standard’ heads on the market that are probably easier to hit.
The Tech
TaylorMade say the new Qi4D Fairway is designed for golfers who want the advantage of advanced technologies, to get that combination of distance along with versatility and control.
The Trajectory Adjustment System consists of an 8g weight towards the front of the head, allowing golfers to optimise flight, spin and swing weight in the most efficient way.
This combines with a 4° loft sleeve, which can be used to adjust loft, lie and face angle to fine-tune ball flight, and it’s also available all the way down to 9 wood.
Whilst there are not huge wholesale changes in technology from the Qi35, things like the sit point, lie angles, view at address and CG locations have all been updated and refined. This is to ensure that the fairway performs well for golfers across all skill levels.
Like the drivers, the fairways feature the new REAX shafts developed in conjunction with Mitsubishi. You don’t go through the same shaft profile and rotation testing as your would during a driver fitting, but there are two different weights and four difference flexes total.
You also get some of TaylorMade’s existing technologies, including an improved Speed Pocket which helps keep up ball speeds and reduces spin when struck low on the face.
Twist Face also uses ‘corrective face curvature’, to encourage straighter shots on mis-hits by reducing the effects of toe or heel strikes.
TaylorMade Qi4D Fairway Wood Review
Looks
First things first I think in terms of shelf appeal the Qi4D looks fantastic. Like the driver it’s a big improvement on the Qi35 aesthetically. I really like the matte head on the fairway, as it stops any unwanted glare or reflections.
The darker, almost navy, colourway is much easier on the eye than the silver of the Qi35, and the headcover looks better in the bag too.
There’s a simple but clear TaylorMade alignment logo on the head, and I like the thin white lip at the top of the face. This helps add a bit of confidence that you can see more of the face at address, as well as helping with alignment too.
The 3 wood has a pretty compact 185cc head, which almost felt like it was somewhere in between a standard and a low spin tour head in terms of size. It’s definitely not as shallow or low to the ground as the likes of a Ping fairway, which just seem to give you a bit more confidence when hitting off the deck.
Feel
As you may already know, TaylorMade’s fairway woods revert back to traditional face construction rather than the carbon that you see in the drivers. This is because TaylorMade say you don’t get any discernible performance benefit with that smaller head.
As a result the Qi4D features a steel face, which is a bit of a different feel compared to the Qi4D Driver. It still feels hot and fast off the face though, whilst the overall profile of the head is balanced and easy to swing too.
Performance
When I had my fitting I was actually fitted for the 3HL model in the Qi4D, which is exactly the same setup as the standard but with more loft in the 3 wood head (16.5 degrees). This is because I naturally have quite low spin rates and low ball flight, so for me a typical 3 wood can dip out of the air.
The extra loft in the head, whilst maintaining a very similar look at address, was helpful in giving me more launch, a bit more spin and in turn a bit more distance too.
My good strikes were getting up over 140mph ball speed, with carry distances of around 220 yards off the deck. My current Ping G440 Max goes around 230 off the tee and 220 off the deck, so this fits right into the same gap for me.
I did still find that spin rates and launch were on the slightly lower side, as I was regularly seeing numbers below 3000rpm. It almost seemed to perform like a blend of a standard head and a Tour head, with quite a penetrating ball flight.
Maybe I’ve been spoilt by the fact the the G440 Max is so forgiving, but I did find the fairway to be a bit more visually intimidating at address, and I wasn’t getting quite the same levels of help on mis-strikes.
When you hit it out of the middle, it can go like a rocket, but there was a couple of occasions in the fairway when I found myself reaching for a hybrid over the fairway on a par 5 to make sure of a better strike.
TaylorMade Qi4D Fairway Wood Verdict
All in all, the Qi4D Fairway, and the range in general, seems to have taken pretty much everything that was good about the Qi35 and refined things slightly, as well as upgrading the overall looks.
As a result you get a really strong performing fairway wood. In an ideal world I think I’d want something that was in between the core head and the Max model, as there were a couple of ocassions where I just didn’t trust myself hitting it from the deck.
If you’re planning to use it mostly off the deck, or you’re a confident fairway wood player, I would definitely recommend this model as it looks fantastic, there’s plenty of power from the face and it did feel pretty workable too.
Would I Use It?
I love the overall design of the head, and I’ve hit some great shots, but it might have to work a touch harder to replace my trusty Ping G440 Max in the bag.
