What’s new? How much does it cost? And how does it perform? Hannah Holden brings you the low down on the new TaylorMade Kalea Golf range
TaylorMade are back with a brand-new women’s line of clubs ahead of the 2024 AIG Women’s Open. The Kalea Gold range is designed by women, for women. So what’s changed?
“We decided to name this line Kalea Gold because we wanted to set the gold standard with our second premier women’s line. We’re building on the momentum of Kalea Premier to create a premium product line through design, technology, and performance. The most important part of the DNA of this product is that it’s designed by women,for women. Kalea Gold represents a new and fresh way of thinking about women’s golf club design.”-Michelle Penney, Principal Engineer,Product Development
TaylorMade Kalea Gold: The Design Process
In creating Kalea Gold, TaylorMade engineers and designers identified the critical role input from women would play in the design process. That’s why they enlisted four distinct cohorts of women golfers for their feedback.
The first was the TaylorMade Women’s Advisory Board. This group is comprised of female golf industry professionals located across Europe that represent specific niches like teaching, club fitting, and even women’s golf travel. Together, these women were able to give TaylorMade teams expert feedback on what both they and their female clients liked and didn’t like.
The second group was the TaylorMade Women’s Golf and Social Club. Consisting of TaylorMade employees, these women were able to provide real-time, organic feedback on everything from colours incorporated into the design to the grips on each club.
Women’s data-driven/perception test panels and online reviews from Kalea Premier were the final two cohorts that helped guide the vision of what Kalea Gold would ultimately become.
In analysing feedback from these groups of women, TaylorMade engineers and product creation teams found that two main priorities rose to the top: cosmetics and performance. Cosmetically, women overwhelmingly advocated for a departure from the soft, pastel colours that are often found in women’s clubs. Instead, they preferred elegant colours like white, blue and gold that are found in Kalea Gold.
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From a performance standpoint in testing, women found the Kalea Gold clubs to be lightweight, forgiving, and high-performing.
Through this process, TaylorMade teams gained a keen understanding of who the Kalea Gold consumer truly is. While some women were purchasing Kalea Gold as their first set of clubs, a significant portion were making the change to the Kalea Gold line for their second or even third set of new equipment. It became clear early on that Kalea Gold showed tangible benefits for women of all abilities.
TaylorMade Kalea Gold: The Technology
For the first time, the Kalea Gold driver utilises Carbonwood construction throughout the club head. By using more lightweight carbon, TaylorMade saves weight which can be repositioned within the head to deliver more speed, optimise launch and maximise distance while also providing forgiveness.
All these weight savings have allowed the addition of a 2° loft sleeve and a TSS weight in the sole of the driver for more precision tuning and custom fitting options.
The fairway woods have a wrapped carbon crown to give a more confidence inspiring look at address. Again lightweight carbon enhances launch conditions, speed and forgiveness.
Speed Pocket and Inverted Cone technology feature in both the fairway woods and hybrids to minimise the downrange miss on off-centre strikes.
The Kalea Gold irons utilise Cap Back Design, which works with the Speed Pocket to maximise launch and forgiveness. They also feature an Echo Damper that promotes better sound and overall feel. The optimised face in each iron is engineered to increase COR for faster ball speeds.
Visually, the top lines of Kalea Gold irons are thinner than those of Kalea Premier providing a sleeker, cleaner look in the playing position.
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The Kalea Gold range is rounded out with a Spider S putter. I really like the contrast of the blue and gold colours here especially against the green backdrop of the putting surface.
For the first time, the Kalea Gold range comes with a choice of a trolley bag or a carry bag, so you can pick how you bring your clubs in style.
TaylorMade Kalea Gold: Custom Fitting
The all-new Kalea Gold emphasises TaylorMade’s commitment to providing women golfers of all abilities and swing speeds with the best performing golf clubs for them. Alongside the Qi10 Women’s range, Kalea Gold will be available via custom allowing the golfer to choose the exact setup which suits them, including a variety of shaft and grip options available. Combined with the ability to tweak loft and lie, it allows the golfer to achieve their desired performance for every club in their bag.
TaylorMade Kalea Gold: The Details
Available: 8th September
Driver specs: 11.5° or 13.5°. Kalea Gold Ultralight Graphite 40-L shaft. SuperStroke Traxion Tour Navy/White 37g grip.
