The club that bridges my irons and my fairway woods has been in constant rotation over the past couple of years and one of my New Year resolutions was to find something that I like and to try and stick with long term to gain some consistency when it comes to that area of the bag. Enter the TaylorMade Qi35 hybrid as a serious contender.
After completing my testing of the new TaylorMade Qi35 fairway woods and falling in love with the Qi35 Tour fairway wood in particular, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the Qi35 hybrid and see if I was going to experience similar levels of total performance. From a looks standpoint, the hybrid immediately ticked all of the boxes. It oozes the same premium aura as the rest of the Qi35 lineup thanks to the chromium carbon fiber finish on the crown and sleek gloss silver and grey sole.
The medium-sized footprint of the Qi35 hybrid is one I love and looks great when down behind the ball. The rounded back and decals on the rear of the crown helped me center the ball easily and the satin banner running along the top of the crown provides more vivid clubface alignment. TaylorMade has opted for only two hybrids in its 2025 lineup, ditching what would have been the equivalent to the Qi10 Tour hybrid we saw last year.
As my colleague Joe has written about recently, hybrids look like they’re gradually dying out on tour with more players opting for a driving iron or high-lofted fairway wood as a replacement. The Qi35 hybrid is aimed at the majority of amateur golfers, while the Qi35 Max hybrid is for those seeking a slightly higher launch and larger footprint. Both will be available to purchase as of the 30th January at $299/£269.
The CG in the TaylorMade Qi35 hybrid has been centered to offer the most optimum energy transfer through the ball at impact and alongside a Speed Pocket and TwistFace, the Qi35 hybrid is well and truly packed with technology. To see how useful this was I put the Qi35 hybrid to the test both indoors on a GCQuad launch monitor using Titleist Pro V1x golf balls as well as out on the golf course.
After looking at the numbers I began to see large differences between my longest and shortest shots as well as a pretty high variance in spin rates. While a lot of this has to be taken with a pinch of salt down to user error, I found the Qi35 Max hybrid offered much more consistency.
Through impact the Qi35 hybrid felt as good as expected, producing a harsh thud-like sound through impact and a compressed feeling off the face. I actually really enjoyed the feeling of hitting this club off a tee when I got on the course as it felt extremely powerful and produced a fairly penetrating ball flight compared to the more floaty trajectory I saw when striking it from the turf. That said, the adjustable hosel means you can alter the loft to produce the flight you want to see, adding to its versatility.
While I did see a drop off in distance on my mishits, for the most part, the head felt extremely stable and the ball rarely deviated far from my target line. I did hit some shots from the rough and I would say it coped fairly well, not as well as say the Callaway Elyte hybrid but solid enough that the ball popped out cleanly and got on or near the green from all of the worst lies.
The TaylorMade Qi35 hybrid is one of the best golf hybrids around when it comes to its aesthetics both in hand and behind the ball and produces well-rounded performance. It remained fairly solid in terms of distance, forgiveness and versatility without really excelling in any individual area. If you’re a fairly competent ball striker, this hybrid is likely to be a very strong option, however, if you’re prone to miss-striking your hybrid and you’re looking for as much distance as possible, the Qi35 Max model arguably worth considering first.
