With its new Qi35 drivers, TaylorMade is using technology within the carbon face to get golfers fitted into the right product.
Reflective markers placed within the face are making the drivers launch monitor enabled, giving fitters more data and more tools to find the right driver for the consumer. Having more data at our fingertips is going to help ensure the fitters are diagnosing the right problem and getting the right driver in your hands.
“All of our select fit parts across the globe will be launch monitor enabled products, so they’ll work with optical systems, as well as radar systems,” TaylorMade Director of Product Creation, Andrew Oldknow, said. “We want every single golfer out there to get fit, we don’t want you just pulling it off the shelf and buying it. We can unlock so much distance and accuracy for everybody when you go through a fitting process.”
TaylorMade has placed reflective markers within the carbon face layers on driver heads at their retail partners that will be identified by certain launch monitors. It will allow the launch monitor to pick up pre-impact data, as opposed to just data from the ball.
Allowing the system to pick up more data will give fitters a chance to properly diagnose the issue in a golfer’s swing.
“We want to see where the impact is, is the club opening up based on impact or is the club opening up because of your swing? Is the club dynamically lofting too much, are we moving weights versus changing loft,” Oldknow said. “So, the more information you get pre-impact, the better the fitter can fit you. So, really, it’s looking at all the data, not just the ball, but also what’s happening with the golf club within about two feet of impact.”
The markers won’t be on the product that golfers purchase, but are a big part of the company’s push to get more golfers fit and into the right driver.
It’s also a push forward in technology for TaylorMade, as the company continues to push the boundaries on advancements and innovation. The practice range used by TaylorMade, called The Kingdom, is where Tour pros go to test product and where the company gathers a large amount of data on new products.
The range has four Trackman monitors and multiple GC Quad launch monitors, which gives the company both optical and radar measurements.
“This is one of the only ones in the world, I believe, where you can track the ball to within two inches,” Oldknow said. “Then we take all that data and drive it over to the engineer team to a system where take all the data. And you can pull it up and (ask), ‘What is very 10.5 (handicap golfer) doing currently right now. We use all of that to drive where we go.”
No longer are the old days of producing clubs, as well, where manufacturers would pour metal, blast it, put it together and weld it. Oldknow points out that TaylorMade’s manufacturing processes have become more and more in depth as innovation has pushed the company more towards the future.
“We’ve changed our factories, especially for the carbon technology where it’s this high-tech place. You’ve got to put on a Tyvek suit, you’ve got to put on booties, you’ve got to walk across fly paper and then you have to go through this anti-dust chamber just to get inside,” Oldknow said. “Then, you’re met with all these technicians, robots and ultrasound machines. We ultrasound every layer of the carbon on the face, we scan every face.”
There are 60 layers of carbon fiber on the face, so ultrasound allows TaylorMade to guarantee that each layer is bonded perfectly to create the thickness and strength that they are looking for. The ultrasound helps to ensure there are no air bubbles or any gaps between each layer, making it consistent throughout.
TaylorMade continues to move technology forward to produce the best products they can and now are manufacturing drivers with features to help every golfer. The company has patents on materials and processes and are innovating every day to stay ahead of the game.
“It gives us a new lens to look through. If each one of these things is a little puzzle to solve, or a challenge, you have a new tool to attack that challenge with,” TaylorMade’s Product Creation Director for irons and wedges, Matt Bovee said. “The engineers, their brains start turning, I have a new tool in my toolbox, how do I utilize this? It gives us more runway to keep pushing performance or feel or consistency for players. That’s why we get up every single day, that’s why we do what we do, because we’re trying to make the best possible products.”
