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Tom Irwin brings you the low down on 2023 TaylorMade’s Stealth 2 fairway wood – sounds great, looks fantastic, is easy to hit and is over £100 off – what more could you want?
The Stealth 2 fairway wood is the main model in the new Stealth 2 fairway wood family. So how does it perform? You can find out in our TaylorMade Stealth 2 fairway wood review.
Fairway woods are one of my strengths, and I currently game a SIM 2 3-wood so I was looking forward to trying these Stealth 2 fairway woods.
The Stealth 2 builds on the success of original Stealth Fairway, and features a slightly lower crown, for even lower CG and you guessed it – more forgiveness.
PROS
CONS
All three of the new Stealth 2 fairway woods are Stealth fairways, but this is THE TaylorMade Stealth 2. It is distinct from the adjustable TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus and the left-bias TaylorMade Stealth 2 HD.
Confusing, isn’t it? I will try and simplify it. The Stealth 2 (this one) and the HD are the same composition and do not offer the sliding weight in the sole to alter spin rates that the Plus does.
The Stealth 2 fairway builds on the success of the original Stealth fairway, which was among the most-played fairway woods on the PGA Tour in 2022. It features a slightly lower profile carbon crown that pushes CG down and away from the high-toe area. This all adds up to more forgiveness and a product that is easier to launch. This is very much the message for all of the Stealth Fairways, the message is the ease of use, and they certainly deliver on that.
As you will read in my other fairway reviews I am a player who tends to look at fairway metals as precisely that, rather than something to be used from the tee. I have never bought into the idea of a powerful 3-wood, always preferring to squeeze a driver. So the first think I am looking for is how deep the face is, I am often looking for something really shallow.
This head is 185cc and is not overly deep, the additional CC from the Taylormade Stealth 2 Plus means the head is longer as opposed to deeper and I have to say this does help with confidence as it sits behind the ball.
It sits really cleanly, and I feel like I can open and close the face as there is some ‘roll’ in the sole. I like this as it feels workable. TaylorMade calls this a ‘V steel’ sole, and it is designed to improve versatility, as well as lowering CG, obviously. Early impressions are that it will as the Stealth 3 wood nestles in for the first few shots of our test.
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The story this year is all about forgiveness and this is undoubtedly the case with the Stealth 2 Fairway. These are indeed the easiest-to-use TaylorMade 3-woods I have used. Contributing to that is what TaylorMade call Advanced Inverted Cone Technology. In simple terms, the face is variable thicknesses, so weight can be distributed to where you need it most.
I am pretty pleased with my left to right dispersion with the Stealth 2 3-wood. It is more left than right if I am being honest, but that is my tendency. A left path and a shut face tends to see most of my shots left of target. If you look at my data below you will see that my carry distances vary significantly, my problem, but my total distances are really tight. The club solving my problems effectively. Some of those totals are really quite punchy for me with a 3 wood, and whilst the story here is all about forgiveness the Stealth 2 3-wood is still pretty hot.
To achieve ball speeds in the 150s every time from a club speed of 100mph is exceptional from a 3-wood for me. All of this was very much off the shelf, I did not mess with the loft and whilst I had a shaft suitable to me, it was not custom fit for me. I could get this really dialled in for me with a proper custom fit.
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The data was gathered on a grass range with a Trackman, from tee peg. I also took the Stealth 2 out on to the course and played 3 holes. A dog leg left, a dog leg right and a straight hole from a high tee downwind.
The slightly bigger head in this versus the Plus probably inspires slightly more confidence from the tee and the low profile head, and lower CG made it easy to launch off the tee and off the turf. I think, for me, I have a slight preference for the Plus. The more compact head just feels a little bit more workable, and with the weight moved back I feel like I am getting the same CG benefits that baked into the Stealth.
Compared to my SIM2 Fairway, I feel like there is more to this Stealth 2 fairway. The build quality feels better, and it feels like a proper golf club. I tested the TaylorMade Stealth 2 3-wood, but It comes in lofts up to a 24-degree 9 wood!
To test this product we travelled to West Cliffs a leading European golf course just North of Lisbon. The idea was to get some warmer weather and escape our frozen British courses. It of course rained, a lot, was very windy. Each of our test team were allocated a category of golf clubs, fairways, or a specific type of driver or iron.
We gathered data on a Trackman 4 or FlightScope. We used Titleist Pro V1 for all tests. The samples we have are either fully fitted for our testers or ordered in our assumed specs. We are then able to optimise performance by swapping shafts and playing with the adjustability. As well as that dry testing all of the product was tested on course in a comparative environment with other product from the same category. We recognise that no testing process is perfect and just aim to be fair in our treatment, transparent in our process and candid in our feedback.
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Available: Now
RRP: £299 / $349.99 – now reduced in price
Lofts: 3 – 15°, 3HL – 16.5°, 5 – 18°, 7 – 21° and 9 – 24°
Shafts: Fujikura Ventus TR Red FW
Grip: Golf Pride Z-Grip
More information: TaylorMade Website
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