Equipment
TaylorMade 2017 M2 Fairway Woods and Hybrids: What you need to know
TaylorMade’s M2 line of golf equipment is designed to help golfers increase distance and accuracy by offering more forgiveness, at least when compared to TaylorMade’s M1 line, which targets better golfers. Generally speaking, the M2 drivers, fairways woods and hybrids have larger club heads and lower profiles to help golfers hit higher, longer shots.
Compared to the previous line of M2 fairway woods and hybrids, the new M2 models offer more forgiveness, better sound and improved feel. Learn more about how TaylorMade designed its new M2 fairway woods and hybrids below, and join the discussion of the clubs in our forums.
M2 Fairway Woods
Like the M2 drivers, the M2 fairway woods have a lighter 6-layer carbon fiber crown that helps lower the center of gravity (CG) of the club heads to make them high-launching and more forgiving. Unlike the drivers, however, TaylorMade’s new M2 fairway woods have a recess, or a “step” between the white, steel portion used on the front of the crown and the black carbon fiber used on the rest of the crown. The new geometry also lowers the CG of the fairway woods.
The M2 fairway woods also mark the first time TaylorMade is putting its Inverted Cone Technology (ICT) in a fairway wood. The technology, which serves to spread out the sweet spot of a club, has been commonly used in TaylorMade driver and iron designs, but never in a fairway wood.
“Inverted Cone” club faces are thicker in the center and get progressively thinner around the perimeter of the club face. The thicker center portion allows COR (coefficient of restitution, a measure of spring-like effect) to remain at the USGA’s legal limit in the center of the club face, and maintains COR on the outer portions of the face, thus raising ball speeds on off-center hits.
The soles of the M2 fairway woods are designed with TaylorMade’s “Geocoustic” theme, as seen throughout the M2 metal wood line. It uses geometry to tune the sound of the club head at impact, moving weight structures from inside the club head to the outside where they can improve CG location while also managing vibrations from impact.
The soles of the M2 fairway woods also have a Speed Pocket, a slot in the sole that’s longer and more flexible than its predecessors. It increases forgiveness across the club face, according to the company. As in the 2016 M2 fairway woods, the hosels of the clubs are also “fluted” to remove weight from the top of the clubs, ultimately lowering CG and dampening vibrations up the shaft.
The M2 fairway woods will be offered in 3 (15 degrees), 3HL (16.5 degrees), 5 (18 degrees), 5HL (21 degrees) and 7HL (24 degrees) options and will be available on Jan. 27 for $249 each.
M2 Tour Fairway Woods
Despite their smaller club head size (about 156 cubic centimeters), the club heads of the M2 Tour fairway woods use all the same technologies as the standard M2 fairway woods. Their compact design can improve versatility and reduce turf interaction for better players, however, while providing the more compact look that many golfers prefer.
It’s expected that the M2 Tour fairway woods will produce all the ball speed golfers have come to expect from M2 fairway woods, while producing slightly more spin because of their deeper club faces to help better players more easily manipulate trajectory.
The M2 Tour fairway woods ($299.99) will be available Jan. 27, 2017 in lofts of 15 and 16.5 degrees. Mitsubishi Rayon’s Kuro Kage Silver TiNi 70 (R, S X) will be the stock shaft.
M2 Hybrids
The M2 hybrids have the same recess or “step” seen in the M2 fairway woods. And golfers who enjoy the black-and-white look of TaylorMade’s driver and fairway wood crowns will also be happy to see a new black-and-white paint scheme its added to the M2 hybrids.
The soles of the M2 hybrids have a Speed Pocket that TaylorMade says is “more active” compared to its predecessors. It’s larger, and is said to transfer more energy to the golf ball on off-center hits. The hosel of the new hybrids are also fluted, but shorter than their predecessor to help lower the CG of the club heads.
Although the M2 hybrid heads are still larger and longer from front to back than the M1 hybrids, which makes them play more like mini fairway woods, the 2017 models are slightly smaller than the 2016 M2 hybrids. They also have more rounded soles for improved turf interaction.
TaylorMade’s M2 Rescue clubs will be offered in 3 (19 degrees), 4 (22 degrees), 5 (25 degrees) and 6 (28 degrees) options, and will be available for $199.99 apiece starting on Jan. 27.
Related
- See what GolfWRX members are saying about TaylorMade’s M2 fairway woods and hybrids in our forums.
- TaylorMade 2017 M1 Fairway Woods and Hybrids: What you need to know
- 12 Important Changes to the 2017 TaylorMade M1 and M2 drivers
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Equipment
Why Rory McIlroy will likely use the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper at the RBC Heritage
Although we spotted Rory McIlroy testing the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper last week during practice rounds at the Masters, he ultimately didn’t decide to use the club in competition.
It seems that will change this week at the 2024 RBC Heritage, played at the short-and-tight Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head.
When asked on Wednesday following his morning Pro-Am if he’d be using the new, nostalgic BRNR Copper this week, McIlroy said, “I think so.”
“I like it,” McIlroy told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday regarding the BRNR. “This would be a good week for it.”
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According to Adrian Rietveld, the Senior Manager of Tour at TaylorMade, the BRNR Mini Driver can help McIlroy position himself properly off the tee at the tight layout.
Here’s what Rietveld told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday:
“For someone like Rory, who’s that long at the top end of the bag, and then you put him on a course like Harbour Town, it’s tough off the tee. It’s tight into the greens, and you have to put yourself in position off the tee to have a shot into the green. It kind of reminds me of Valderrama in Spain, where you can be in the fairway and have no shot into the green.
“I’m caddying for Tommy [Fleetwood] this week, so I was walking the course last night and looking at a few things. There’s just such a small margin for error. You can be standing in the fairway at 300 yards and have a shot, but at 320 you don’t. So if you don’t hit a perfect shot, you could be stuck behind a tree. And then if you’re back at 280, it might be a really tough shot into the small greens.
“So for Rory [with the BRNR], it’s a nice course-specific golf club for him. He’s got both shots with it; he can move it right-to-left or left-to-right. And the main thing about this club has been the accuracy and the dispersion with it. I mean, it’s been amazing for Tommy.
“This was the first event Tommy used a BRNR last year, and I remember talking to him about it, and he said he couldn’t wait to play it at Augusta next year. And he just never took it out of the bag because he’s so comfortable with it, and hitting it off the deck.
“So you look at Rory, and you want to have the tools working to your advantage out here, and the driver could hand-cuff him a bit with all of the shots you’d have to manufacture.”
So, although McIlroy might not be making a permanent switch into the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper, he’s likely to switch into it this week.
His version is lofted at 13.5 degrees, and equipped with a Fujikura Ventus Black 7X shaft.
See more photos of Rory testing the BRNR Mini here
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Equipment
Spotted: TaylorMade P-UDI driving iron
It seems like the RBC Heritage is full of new gear to be spotted, and you can add TaylorMade’s P-UDI utility irons to that list.
We spotted a 17-degree P-UDI 2-iron in Nick Dunlap’s bag yesterday, and now have some photos of both the 3- and 4-irons. Nick has his P-UDI 2-iron setup with a Project X HZRDUS Black 4th Gen 105g TX shaft.
From what we can tell, this new P-UDI utility iron looks to have some of the usual TaylorMade technology as we can see the Speed Slot on the sole of the club for additional face flexibility. A toe screw is usually used to close off the hollow body design that will probably be filled with a version of TaylorMade’s Speed Foam that is present in the current iron lineup. This hollow body, foam-filled design should offer additional ball speed, soft feel, and sound, as well as an optimized CG for ball flight.
“Forged” is etched into the hosel, so we can assume that either the face, body, or both are forged for a soft and responsive feel. The club looks good from behind and at address, where we can see just a little offset and a topline that I would consider medium thickness. We don’t have the full details on what is under the hood or how many loft options will be available yet.
TaylorMade P-UDI 3-iron – 20°
TaylorMade P-UDI 4-iron – 22°
- Check out the rest of our photos from the 2024 RBC Heritage
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Whats in the Bag
Collin Morikawa WITB 2024 (April)
- Collin Morikawa what’s in the bag accurate as of the RBC Heritage. More photos from the event here.
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 LS (9 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 60 TX (45 inches)
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (13.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 80 TX
5-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 80 TX
Irons: TaylorMade P770 (4), P7MC (5-6), P730 (7-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue Mid 115 X100 (4-6), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (7-PW)
Wedges: TaylorMade MG4 (50-SB09, 56-LB08), TaylorMade MG4 TW (60-TW11)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: TaylorMade TP Soto
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Tour 2.0
Grips: Golf Pride Z-Grip Cord
Ball: TaylorMade TP5x
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Mr Poopoo
Dec 10, 2016 at 4:01 pm
M2 Tour = RBZ 3.0