I have to admit, when I heard that the new TaylorMade Stealth Rescue didn’t have a bright red carbon face, I was a little disappointed.
If it’s a revolutionary piece of technology, surely the brand would want it in all of their woods and not just the driver?
Perhaps I’m asking for too much, considering that this is only the first time that the technology has made it into a driver following 20 years of research and testing. If it’s a success, I’m sure TaylorMade will look to add it to their fairways and rescues going forward.
TaylorMade say that the Stealth Rescue proves distance and forgiveness you can rely on. I wanted to find out if that was the case.
The Tech
Whilst the red carbon face unfortunately does not translate from the driver into the rest of the woods, TaylorMade has still packed the Stealth Hybrid with what they claim to be game-enhancing technologies:
A new carbon crown relocates 7 grams of mass to create a hybrid which is easy to launch, with plenty of stability. It delivers a 15% higher MOI compared to the SIM Max Hybrid, meaning that golfers can start hitting greens from distance.
Providing a contrast between the face and the crown, the laser etched alignment aid is designed to make it easier to line the club up correctly as well as boosting confidence.
The design of the sole is able to refine weight distribution to provide plenty of forgiveness, while maintaining optimal launch properties. As you’d expect from the V-Steel it is also there to aid turf interaction and allow you to play shots from a variety of different lies with ease.
Using a high strength C300 steel allows TaylorMade to generate a strong, fast face which provides impressive ball speeds. The Twist Face design has been used in TaylorMade’s woods for quite some time and is designed to help golfers overcome mis-hit tendencies and straighten up their shots.
This is TaylorMade’s most flexible Speed Pocket design, engineered to maximize ball speeds and produce additional forgiveness on low-face strikes.
The Stealth Hybrid is available in five different lofts for men from 19° up to 31°, and in four lofts for women from 22° to 31°.
TaylorMade Stealth Rescue Review
Looks and Feel
This is one of the best-looking hybrids (or rescues in TaylorMade’s case) I’ve seen. TaylorMade really have nailed it this year in their woods with the all black crown and red detailing, and the reaction from golfers everywhere has been very positive.
There is also a Stealth Plus Rescue available, which has a thinner iron-style profile while the Stealth that I tested is a more slightly larger footprint which will probably suit a wider range of golfers and ability levels.
One of my worries with hybrids is that they can tend to be a little toed-in and therefore seem to overdraw, but the Stealth had a relatively neutral profile at address.
There’s a very small Stealth logo on the back heel of the crown, whilst the new alignment aid on the face is just about visible at address and helps to frame things up nicely.
I usually quite like a small alignment aid on the crown of my woods, but I found the clean look of the Stealth hybrid fantastic.
The Stealth felt hot off the face right away whilst staying very stable through impact, and each strike produced a nice solid thump at impact.
The Data
I tested the Stealth Hybrid using the Flightscope Mevo+ launch monitor and my usual Titleist Pro V1x golf balls, and it performed well despite the fact that I tested it in near-freezing conditions.
An average carry distance of 185 yards was a few yards shorter than I would ideally like, although I’m confident that in warmer weather I could push that up towards my usual number of around 200 and the fact that my tenth shot carried over 190 was encouraging.
One thing that really impressed me was the consistency of the spin rates between all of my golf shots, with a standard deviation of just 119 rpm across all eleven which is excellent.
Considering that this is called a ‘rescue’ club you want to be able to trust that it’ll perform when necessary, so seeing this kind of consistency is really reassuring.
I did see most of my misses out to the left, which is a common miss for me with a hybrid, although I think it was more than manageable and I could hit fades pretty easily if I wanted to.
There was a bit of variance in height between the shots as you can see from the table. This is mostly due to my strike than anything else but I did see a few low bullets which may struggle to hold the green in the summer.
On-Course Performance
If I was to use one word to describe the Stealth Rescue on the course, it would be ‘easy’. It felt easy to swing, easy to launch and there was plenty of forgiveness from a variety of different lies and scenarios.
The V-Steel Sole produced pretty consistent results whether from the fairway or the rough. If you really catch one heavy then you may still suffer but on those shots where you just don’t quite catch it right, you should feel the club working to keep moving through the turf and so your shots shouldn’t be quite so badly affected.
As mentioned in the data section from my Flightscope testing I did see a few shots which came out quite low out on the golf course. This is to be expected when hitting out of the rough and I also don’t mind it with a hybrid because it can be useful when hitting into the wind or if conditions are firm, in the same way that a long iron is. But it’s worth bearing in mind that you may be prone to the odd bullet with plenty of run.
I always worry that hybrids are going to be a little one-dimensional on the golf course in just producing high shots with a draw bias, but I was actually able to shape the ball both ways quite easily during my on-course testing.
TaylorMade Stealth Rescue Verdict
You might not get the same revolutionary face technology as the driver promises but I still have to admit that the Stealth Hybrid was very impressive and I really enjoyed using it.
The price tag of £229 is about what you can expect to pay for a hybrid from one of the top brands these days so it’s probably decent value for money, and it’s good to see that TaylorMade have actually kept the price the same as the SIM2 Max from last year too.
TaylorMade woods are extremely popular both among professionals and amateurs, and it's easy to see why. They are great at marketing, their products look great and they perform very well. Add the Stealth Rescue to that list.
Who Is It Aimed At?
Pretty much everyone. Some elite players may like the smaller iron-like profile of the Stealth Plus but I can imagine that the majority of golfers could use this as a long iron replacement. I will be interesting to see whether the likes of Rory McIlroy opt t add the Stealth Rescue to their bag this year.
Would I Use Them?
I’ve been looking for a new hybrid for some time, and I think this might be the one that goes into the bag for the first part of 2022 at least.
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TaylorMade Stealth Driver Review
Titleist TSi2 & TSi3 Hybrids Review