The Qi10 Max driver of last season was the flagship product of the TaylorMade range, so much so that it named the entire family after it. While it was extremely successful at retail, and undoubtedly an impressive product, there were a couple of things that I didn’t love about it. Looking to sit amongst the best drivers of 2025, let’s see if they have been addressed in the new Qi35 Max driver.
WATCH: Joe Ferguson takes an in depth look at the TaylorMade Qi35 driver range
The technology story from TaylorMade this year is all about CG projection. To read about that in slightly more detail, head over to my Qi35 driver review, but the basic premise is that by shifting CG lower and further back in the head, that CG projects lower onto the clubface, allowing the user more face area to strike above CG, thus producing higher launches and lower spins, which we know equates to more optimal ball flights.
On top of that, we have a massive 34g weight at the rear of the club head or ‘inertia generator’, a multi-material construction that includes chromium carbon, steel, aluminum, tungsten, and titanium, and a fourth-generation carbon twist face.
First things first, the new look is simply outstanding. Whilst looks will always be subjective, I can only give my opinion, and I don’t know if I have ever seen a better-looking driver family than the Qi35 range. A light grey carbon wraps around the head creating a cohesive visual between the crown and the sole, and I think this finish is fantastic. While not as brash as the white drivers of yesteryear, I think this is also an excellent marketing strategy from TaylorMade as the color will stand out well on TV broadcasts. The branding is subtle and minimal, much like the ‘barely there’ pale green accent color. This is as premium as it gets for me.
In the playing position, the good news continues with the continuation of the clean infinity crown, and the very rounded head profile. This looks excellent behind the ball and the vast footprint provides genuine confidence at address. Another touch I love that remains is the subtle white strip across the top line to aid alignment which somehow looks even better against the grey crown than the black of Qi10 range.
Top marks so far, but this superficial makeover would be completely irrelevant if the product didn’t deliver on performance. Thankfully, I can report it absolutely does.
I have tested the Qi35 Max in a number of different scenarios against the Qi35 driver and Qi35 LS driver, but most of my quantifiable data was gathered at the Foresight Sports UK HQ using a GC Quad launch monitor and Titleist Pro V1x golf balls.
I had two main issues with the TaylorMade Qi10 Max of last season. Number one, because the head had been squashed down to push more weight to the extremities of the back, heel and toe, the area where the shaft adapter joined the hosel also dropped. This meant that the product generally played around ¼ of an inch shorter than the rest of the range. It may not sound a lot, but I found it genuinely inhibited my ability to generate sufficient club head speed, and as such my distance output dropped. Anyway, that has been fixed, and now the Qi35 Max comes out at the exact same playing length as the rest of the range. Excellent.
My second issue was that I just found it far too spinny. While I fully accept that I am a high-speed player and this type of product will likely spin up in my hands, Ping managed to achieve the same level of forgiveness but with significantly less spin in the Ping G430 Max 10K, which in my opinion put that driver in the hands of a broader spectrum of players. Anyway, once again that has been addressed.
The lower CG projection seems to have done the trick here coming in 15 per cent lower than Qi10 Max which has resulted in a spin drop of over 250rpm for me personally. And if you are a slower speed player who is concerned this might be too low, then fear not as what you lose in spin, you will gain back in launch in my experience.
In terms of dispersion, I can’t recall a driver (maybe since the square Nike days!) that I hit as straight as Qi35 Max. When I tested it at the TaylorMade UK HQ, you could throw a blanket over my grouping and I am happy to say that has continued in every testing session since. The stability on offer here is quite brilliant.
Feel and sound, as with the rest of the Qi35 range have been tuned up a notch too, with a slightly livelier acoustic and marginally firmer feel than Qi10, both of which I prefer.
Overall, I think TaylorMade has smashed its brief here. It has taken an already very successful product and fine-tuned a couple of areas that have genuinely yielded more impressive results. On top of that, it’s been given a tremendous visual makeover which in my opinion puts it as comfortably the best-looking driver family in the game currently.
The Qi35 Max will be available at an RRP of £529/$599 with stock shaft offerings of either the Fujikura AirSpeeder or the Mitsubishi Diamana T+.
