Stealth Driver not launching???

[JustinM]

Been a while since I’ve been on this great forum because I’ve been so happy with my clubs but I traded in my Sim 2 driver for the stealth plus. I didn’t get fit but hit their demo club in the bay and hit it well. So when I took it to the course first drive was a line bullet and most drives I can’t get it over 50 feet in the air. It’s weird because I hit up usually between 2-3 up and never had this problem. I hit my friends drivers and no problems.  I have a 10.5 degree and I thought it was the hzrd shaft so I bought a Ventus blue. Still same problem. Is it possible the face it compromised? 

Edited July 29, 2022 by JustinM

[KWG86]

I too couldn’t hit the stealth when I first got it.  I went through 5 shafts before I found my perfect fit and hit it better then any driver I have tried. Not sure if that helps but worked for me

[Jeff58]

Just my experience…

 

I use a SIM 2 Max (see Sig). Bought a Stealth 10.5 / RDX Blue as that should have been close to perfect, as the Tm Ventus Blue is a bit whippy and repeatably spins a bit much. The Stealth was a disaster. Similar flight as you described. However, I had 3 other shafts to try, as I assumed the shaft selection/guess was glossy wrong. All were similar and I ended up trading it in on another club.

 

Recently went to a TM fitting. Hit a Stealth 10.5 and it didn’t react at all like the first one. Flight and spin were completely normal, and the only real difference or advantage to the SIM were slightly lower spin and 1.5mph higher ball speed, exactly as predicted by the fitter.

 

Rather hesitant to blow another $600+ at this point.

[JustinM]

I definitely think this club is going to have a short life span in my bag. It’s killing my scores not being able to go over trees at my course on some of the holes. Now I’m trying to hit more up on the ball and I’ve sky marked it a few times. Which I never sky mark a driver.  I know new clubs usually take a bit to get used to but Ive probably hit 200 balls now with the course and range. Still the same.  

[SwooshLT]

8 minutes ago, JustinM said:

I definitely think this club is going to have a short life span in my bag. It’s killing my scores not being able to go over trees at my course on some of the holes. Now I’m trying to hit more up on the ball and I’ve sky marked it a few times. Which I never sky mark a driver.  I know new clubs usually take a bit to get used to but Ive probably hit 200 balls now with the course and range. Still the same.  

 

Don't be afraid to go through a few shafts.....I'm in the riptide mx and that's giving me perfect launch conditions based on needs. 

[JustinM]

I’ll still give it some time. I don’t want to take a bath on this driver if I don’t have too. I have a tensi av blue I’ll try. Hopefully that’s the right fit. The Ventus blue is better than the hzrds but still not what I’m used to. Frustrating 🙂 

[getitdaily]

Add weight. I had a sim that I loved. Got the stealth+ and got it weighted the exact same as sim. I would hit low bullets with it. I added 2g additional lead tape to the rear and everything came up.

 

I think this is a driver that needs to be a bit heavier than you have been playing.

[JustinM]

10 hours ago, getitdaily said:

Add weight. I had a sim that I loved. Got the stealth+ and got it weighted the exact same as sim. I would hit low bullets with it. I added 2g additional lead tape to the rear and everything came up.

 

I think this is a driver that needs to be a bit heavier than you have been playing.

Definitely going to try this, I feel they made the head way light 

[PJE]

TM quality control problems ? 
Maybe you got a defective driver or worse a counterfeit ? 

[QuigleyDU]

13 hours ago, getitdaily said:

Add weight. I had a sim that I loved. Got the stealth+ and got it weighted the exact same as sim. I would hit low bullets with it. I added 2g additional lead tape to the rear and everything came up.

 

I think this is a driver that needs to be a bit heavier than you have been playing.

I too added a few grams of lead tape to the head. It seemed to unlock it.

[RogerinNewZealand]

Try adding 2,4,6 grams lead. Looks like a super sensitive design to Hit the possibly 3% It Works Window vs Dud. Thats counter too all the usual 20% bigger sweetspot stuff. Go back to supplies and ask for help.Genuinely.

Edited July 30, 2022 by RogerinNewZealand
Grams..

[Pastit]

23 hours ago, JustinM said:

Been a while since I’ve been on this great forum because I’ve been so happy with my clubs but I traded in my Sim 2 driver for the stealth plus. I didn’t get fit but hit their demo club in the bay and hit it well. So when I took it to the course first drive was a line bullet and most drives I can’t get it over 50 feet in the air. It’s weird because I hit up usually between 2-3 up and never had this problem. I hit my friends drivers and no problems.  I have a 10.5 degree and I thought it was the hzrd shaft so I bought a Ventus blue. Still same problem. Is it possible the face it compromised? 

I never trade in my current driver until I’m happy with the trial ON THE COURSE.

 

Seems you’re not getting enough spin. Try the basic model. Some of the stock shafts may be the root cause.

[KWG86]

14 hours ago, JustinM said:

I’ll still give it some time. I don’t want to take a bath on this driver if I don’t have too. I have a tensi av blue I’ll try. Hopefully that’s the right fit. The Ventus blue is better than the hzrds but still not what I’m used to. Frustrating 🙂 

The Tensei blue was a good shaft for me but it spun way too much and lost distance. But it was a step in the right direction as I didn’t spin other shafts near as much. Good luck. 

[MFBach]

On 7/29/2022 at 11:48 AM, JustinM said:

So when I took it to the course first drive was a line bullet and most drives I can’t get it over 50 feet in the air.

Are you saying you can’t hit it higher than that with good contact/solid strikes? It sounds like low contact on the face combined with a high strike on the ball. Basically, a “thin” driver. I’m surprised nobody has linked Howard’s Driver Tune Up yet, but it would be a good place to start.
 

Unless it’s a defective head from the factory, which is possible but unlikely, a shaft change isn’t going to double your apex if you’re already making good contact. 
 

 

Edited July 30, 2022 by MFBach

[phizzy30]

Stealth in general was lower launch compared to the SIM 2 line.  However 50 foot apex is unusual for any driver unless you're consistently hitting the bottom of the face. 

[JustinM]

Even with good contact on the strikes it just seems to fly funny and a lot lower than I’m used too. I was on the range Friday and hitting super flush and it was a little better but not what I like. I might just take it back to GG and see what they say. 

[MFBach]

2 hours ago, JustinM said:

 

Even with good contact on the strikes it just seems to fly funny and a lot lower than I’m used too. I was on the range Friday and hitting super flush and it was a little better but not what I like. I might just take it back to GG and see what they say.

 

 

Range balls are designed for durability, not performance. They typically fly lower, spin less, carry shorter, and travel less total distance than the ball you play on the course. Depending on the range ball, the differences can be anywhere from 10-20%. As long as the range balls aren’t terrible, you should get consistent results for consistent performance anyway. If not, it still sounds ill fit to me. 
 

If you just don’t like the club, then dump it, but I wouldn’t expect GG to make any significant concessions unless the club is obviously and visually defective, i.e. cracked face, separated crown, compromised  structural integrity, etc. Maybe you can hit it on a monitor and compare those results with a demo to draw some kind of conclusion. 

[Andygolderson]

I believe the stealth plus is low spin, which might be ore difficult to launch dpending on the shaft that's paired to it.

Depending on your swing speed, it might be that you need more help from a higher launching shaft ?

Otherwise, check your face contact or AoA to see where you're hitting it.

[DrShaftE]

I have noticed that Stealth + have a different weight distripution compared titanium drivers (because lighter face, as marketed) and usually needs a little higher swing weight than you might have used to. So I would try to add lead tape like people have suggested earlier or heavier weights. Just try to increase swing weight a little for example if you have D4 (now and earlier drivers) go to D5 or D6. Some reason I would say that even when swing weight scale show same value Stealth feels lighter to swing. That only my opinion and thing what I have noticed. 🤔

[Pastit]

2 hours ago, DrShaftE said:

I have noticed that Stealth + have a different weight distripution compared titanium drivers (because lighter face, as marketed) and usually needs a little higher swing weight than you might have used to. So I would try to add lead tape like people have suggested earlier or heavier weights. Just try to increase swing weight a little for example if you have D4 (now and earlier drivers) go to D5 or D6. Some reason I would say that even when swing weight scale show same value Stealth feels lighter to swing. That only my opinion and thing what I have noticed. 🤔

I’ll let the experts comment but is the swingweight not a result rather than a cause ? I added weight to both my original SIM models: SIM & SIM Max, but not the SIM 2, and the 3 perform roughly well and identically - I ignored swingweight. The corollary being the SIM 2 is a better design. 
 

On the original poster’s point. I’ve had both Stealth models out on the course with my SIM 2 shaft fitted ( Velecore 6R ) and found a lack of spin with the Stealth + on c 10% of drives. I note a USA golfer won the DPWT event at the weekend with what looked like the original SIM MAX, Sean Crocker.

Edited August 1, 2022 by Pastit

[getitdaily]

5 hours ago, DrShaftE said:

I have noticed that Stealth + have a different weight distripution compared titanium drivers (because lighter face, as marketed) and usually needs a little higher swing weight than you might have used to. So I would try to add lead tape like people have suggested earlier or heavier weights. Just try to increase swing weight a little for example if you have D4 (now and earlier drivers) go to D5 or D6. Some reason I would say that even when swing weight scale show same value Stealth feels lighter to swing. That only my opinion and thing what I have noticed. 🤔

I believe there are 2 core things going on...

 

1. The lighter face has slightly shifted CoG away from the shaft axis. This give a slightly lighter feel despite the same static weight. Now, I say CoG, but that could be a misnomer if TM shifted other weight forward to keep CoG in a place they like it. There seems to be less mass on the shaft axis tho. And that's causing delivery issues for some folks.

 

2. The low strike with stealth+ does not spin up ridiculously. Low strikes on the sim models would kick spin up more so that low strike still got height. The stealth+ just stays flat. 

[JustinM]

So I went to GG to test it out on their trackman with the rep and we tested against their demo stealth plus and then one off the shelf and hit about 10 balls on each and the stealth I had was spinning at around 1200 and launch at 8 and the others were spinning around 2300-2400 and launching at 13 ish. He hit my stealth and he had very similar results. All tested with same shaft and the strikes were all similar. They let me take the one off the shelf and they are sending mine back to Taylormade as a defect. Most of the times they would send back the head and have to wait to see if it is but I have a good relationship with a manager. Definitely way better results with the other head. Played last night and it was night and day. Hits my window and so much more happier with it. 
 

thanks for all the things to try and support. I think I will still add a bit of weight to it tough. 

[phizzy30]

1 hour ago, JustinM said:

So I went to GG to test it out on their trackman with the rep and we tested against their demo stealth plus and then one off the shelf and hit about 10 balls on each and the stealth I had was spinning at around 1200 and launch at 8 and the others were spinning around 2300-2400 and launching at 13 ish. He hit my stealth and he had very similar results. All tested with same shaft and the strikes were all similar. They let me take the one off the shelf and they are sending mine back to Taylormade as a defect. Most of the times they would send back the head and have to wait to see if it is but I have a good relationship with a manager. Definitely way better results with the other head. Played last night and it was night and day. Hits my window and so much more happier with it. 
 

thanks for all the things to try and support. I think I will still add a bit of weight to it tough. 

What in the world would make your "defective" Stealth launch so much lower and drop spin that much compared to the other ones?!  This is the first time I've ever seen or heard of a discrepency that vast. 

Edited August 2, 2022 by phizzy30

[BraxtonFullerton]

48 minutes ago, phizzy30 said:

What in the world would make your "defective" Stealth launch so much lower and drop spin that much compared to the other ones?!  This is the first time I've ever seen or heard of a discrepency that vast. 

 

Considering this gen the carbon face is basically glued on, there's gotta be a defect in how it was attached to the frame.

[getitdaily]

1 hour ago, phizzy30 said:

What in the world would make your "defective" Stealth launch so much lower and drop spin that much compared to the other ones?!  This is the first time I've ever seen or heard of a discrepency that vast. 

Could be a layer of glue didn't cure properly...or multiple layers 

 

I will.say this...my custom stealth does launch a touch lower than the stock one I had for a few days. But I also think it's slightly longer. I've hit some absolute bombs with it.

[Mikepaul]

17 minutes ago, getitdaily said:

Could be a layer of glue didn't cure properly...or multiple layers 

 

I will.say this...my custom stealth does launch a touch lower than the stock one I had for a few days. But I also think it's slightly longer. I've hit some absolute bombs with it.

In my experience the stealth / stealth plus are mid launch heads, hence low launch shafts compliment the carbon face design. This low launch problem is symptomatic of  a shaft which is too stiff or a swing issue. Maybe try a demo head at a fitter  with the same shaft to confirm it’s not a faulty head. 

[JustinM]

I’m not exactly sure what would cause it but after trying a head vs head with the same shaft and with him even hitting it he couldn’t get it to launch or get the spin over 2000 he said it had to be something with the face not flexing properly. Whatever it was I’m happy to they switched the head out for me and I’m so happy with the stealth now 

[MFBach]

28 minutes ago, JustinM said:

even hitting it he couldn’t get it to launch or get the spin over 2000

Defective or not, give me two swings and I’ll have it launching moon balls in the high 3,000’s. 😂

 

28 minutes ago, JustinM said:

Whatever it was I’m happy to they switched the head out for me and I’m so happy with the stealth now 

Regardless, I’m glad they were able to sort it out with a replacement. It’s kind of unexplainable, but sometimes new technology causes more problems than it solves. It would be interesting if GG gets an explanation for the performance issues though. I hope TM would have quality control that prevented an improperly adhered faced from getting out of the factory, but it wouldn’t exactly surprise me either. 
 

ETA: If the head legitimately wouldn’t spin above 2k or launch higher than 10*, I would have slapped it on the BST for a fortune. SPIN KILLER! UNICORN STEALTH BOMBER!! ONCE IN A LIFETIME FIND! 

Edited August 2, 2022 by MFBach

[JustinM]

9 minutes ago, MFBach said:

Defective or not, give me two swings and I’ll have it launching moon balls in the high 3,000’s. 😂

 

Regardless, I’m glad they were able to sort it out with a replacement. It’s kind of unexplainable, but sometimes new technology causes more problems than it solves. It would be interesting if GG gets an explanation for the performance issues though. I hope TM would have quality control that prevented an improperly adhered faced from getting out of the factory, but it wouldn’t exactly surprise me either. 
 

ETA: If the head legitimately wouldn’t spin above 2k or launch higher than 10*, I would have slapped it on the BST for a fortune. SPIN KILLER! UNICORN STEALTH BOMBER!! ONCE IN A LIFETIME FIND! 

Yeah I missed my opportunity there 😂 could’ve help with some cash for Vegas 😀

[jc2]

I really really wanted to get fitted into the Stealth.  So much that I had my fitter try maybe 3x the number of shafts that we tried in other heads.  Just could not get anything that worked for me.  105mph club head with 6-7 AoA, and every almost other head worked better.  I was disappointed.  But also very happy with what my eventual winner was