Stealth carbon face durability?? (Post PGA show pics from Reddit)

[TBS 738]

Did anyone else see this on r/golf over the weekend? Here is what the face of the Stealth looked like after the PGA show. Here is a link to the full post with more pics. 

 

 

I know that it took a ton of shots but any markings on the face concern me. There were a number of comments of people who had fittings with them already that were surprised with the number of markings. Is this something to be concerned about? I know carbon fiber can be very strong but I also know that if there is any damage to it, it becomes extremely weak and compromised. 

[pakman92 470]

That's actually the polyurethane cover (nanotexture cover, TM calls it) over the carbon fiber.  So the 'damage' you see is on the cover and not the carbon fiber itself.  None of the less, if the picture is really showing damage to the cover, that's concerning, because that nanotexture cover is supposed to fine tune the spin and launch characteristics in wet(?) conditions.   It's hard to tell in the picture.    I have to assume TM has done enough testing on the cover material, but who knows.

[GolfSpy_APH 8,684]

3 hours ago, TBS said:

Did anyone else see this on r/golf over the weekend? Here is what the face of the Stealth looked like after the PGA show. Here is a link to the full post with more pics. 

 

 

I know that it took a ton of shots but any markings on the face concern me. There were a number of comments of people who had fittings with them already that were surprised with the number of markings. Is this something to be concerned about? I know carbon fiber can be very strong but I also know that if there is any damage to it, it becomes extremely weak and compromised. 

Very interesting. I know metal faces get marks in the mas well, but thats mainly wear of paint. I guess for TM what really matters is their microgrooves they have in the cover (I can recall some of the reviews call the feel a bit soft so these marks aren't too surprising). If these microgrooves make a big impact on launch and spin conditions then yeah I for sure could see this being a question for performance as it's use goes on. Or is this more like a regular driver that gets that discolouration after so many hits? Regardless will be interesting to see follow along with. I may be going in to do a fitting today for a driver and stealth is on my list to hit... I wonder how their demo will look? 

[russtopherb 9,802]

7 hours ago, pakman92 said:

 I have to assume TM has done enough testing on the cover material, but who knows.

Agreed. This thing has been in development most likely for years and that face material has seen hundreds of thousands of shots. If marking was a concern leading to failure they would have worked that out long ago. 

[RickyBobby_PR 10,242]

They’ve been working on this for 20 years and they along with everyone else put their faces thru thousands of shots.

What I want to see is all the beads that were at the demo day and not just one head. 
 

As of now this isn’t a concern imo

[cnosil 26,441]

I’ll have to look at the ones at HQ to see if there is any noticeable damage.  I also reached out to ask Phillip if he  was seeing the same thing.  Wonder which OEM was using stealth drivers; TM wasn’t at the PGA show.  

[cnosil 26,441]

Heard back from Phillip and he isn’t seeing any marks; other than sky marks , on the ones in most wanted testing.   He did mention that they do have issues with the fiducials coming off the face. 

[jlukes 16,776]

4 minutes ago, cnosil said:

Heard back from Phillip and he isn’t seeing any marks; other than sky marks , on the ones in most wanted testing.   He did mention that they do have issues with the fiducials coming off the face. 

What types of tees are used at the test center?

[cnosil 26,441]

8 minutes ago, jlukes said:

What types of tees are used at the test center?

I used epoch since the tees are too high for my liking.   Don’t know if this is the specific brand but these look right; yes they are softer than the epoch tees.   
 

https://www.realfeelgolfmats.com/product/adjustable-practice-mat-tee-combo/

[fixyurdivot 18,281]

1 hour ago, cnosil said:

Wonder which OEM was using stealth drivers; TM wasn’t at the PGA show.

Now that's interesting.  Competitor staff using a scarred ball in an attempt to slow down this years marketing phenom? 

[chisag 19,944]

4 hours ago, fixyurdivot said:

Now that's interesting.  Competitor staff using a scarred ball in an attempt to slow down this years marketing phenom? 

 

... One of the "tricks" at the pga show when TM was an exhibitor was finding a shaft company that used their new driver (among others) to showcase their shafts. Since they used a LM for every hitting station, TM could have as much as a 2-3 hour wait to hit their clubs and you could often step right up and hit them at a shaft OEM tent. 

[Golfspy_CG2 34,053]

5 hours ago, cnosil said:

I’ll have to look at the ones at HQ to see if there is any noticeable damage.  I also reached out to ask Phillip if he  was seeing the same thing.  Wonder which OEM was using stealth drivers; TM wasn’t at the PGA show.  

 

4 hours ago, fixyurdivot said:

Now that's interesting.  Competitor staff using a scarred ball in an attempt to slow down this years marketing phenom? 

No it's most likely oneof the shaft companies, llike Fujikura.   The use all the OEM heads int their booths to demo their shafts.    Kind of tough to demo a shaft without a head

As a longtime visitor of the show, it's one of the little secrets, instead of waiting an hour in the TM booth to demo the new line, just go to Fuji, or UST or Graphite Design, they all have them!

3 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... One of the "tricks" at the pga show when TM was an exhibitor was finding a shaft company that used their new driver (among others) to showcase their shafts. Since they used a LM for every hitting station, TM could have as much as a 2-3 hour wait to hit their clubs and you could often step right up and hit them at a shaft OEM tent. 

LOL!!  Chi!  We must have been typing the same thing at the same time

You know what they say about great minds

 

[Golfspy_CG2 34,053]

But back to the original point.  As @RickyBobby_PR and @cnosil have eluded to.   TM has hit I'm sure tens of thousands of shots with this material.  What is a typical player going to hit ove rthe course of the life of a driver.  Several hundred maybe?  I'm confident as well it won't be an issue. 

Also it was a demo day, clubs get treated worse there than a disgruntled O'hara international baggage handler.   Have you ever seen the demo clubs in a bin a Golf Galaxy or PGA Superstore, they have been trough the ringer getting banged around and topped by weekend warriors. 

[Manavs 18]

I was with the person who took these photos, and have done extensive testing of gears with the stealth.  The face does not pass the fingernail test as defined by the usga.  Tees leave a mark as does your finger.  I have no idea how tm got away with this.  

Side note. Carbon doesn't spin, so the "jelly" face is adding spin to make the carbon usable as a face material.

[mcoz 4]

1 hour ago, Golfspy_CG2 said:

 

No it's most likely oneof the shaft companies, llike Fujikura.   The use all the OEM heads int their booths to demo their shafts.    Kind of tough to demo a shaft without a head

As a longtime visitor of the show, it's one of the little secrets, instead of waiting an hour in the TM booth to demo the new line, just go to Fuji, or UST or Graphite Design, they all have them!

LOL!!  Chi!  We must have been typing the same thing at the same time

You know what they say about great minds

 

FYI, Fujikura wasn't at the show either along with  all of the Big OEMs. They were debuting new product in a new release Launch.  Not sure what high end shaft companies were there. I didn't go this year myself.

 

 

[Manavs 18]

Graphite Design had some as did the GEARs booth on the etc range 

[TBS 738]

34 minutes ago, Manavs said:

I was with the person who took these photos, and have done extensive testing of gears with the stealth.  The face does not pass the fingernail test as defined by the usga.  Tees leave a mark as does your finger.  I have no idea how tm got away with this.  

Side note. Carbon doesn't spin, so the "jelly" face is adding spin to make the carbon usable as a face material.

Interesting thought, if true. Anybody else have perspective on this?

[CanadaMike 45]

Interesting topic! My first thought was I wonder how this will affect the used market of these clubs. So many people buy clubs that are 1-6 years old and if the face is all scratched up they might look at a different model.

[Golfspy_CG2 34,053]

2 hours ago, mcoz said:

FYI, Fujikura wasn't at the show either along with  all of the Big OEMs. They were debuting new product in a new release Launch.  Not sure what high end shaft companies were there. I didn't go this year myself.

 

 

Gotcha. Not being there I was just guessing.  Perhaps Graphite Design? I saw @McGolf do an interview with them.  Which was very good by the way.

Jim. Can you tell us whst shaft companies were there. 

[Dweed 22]

He did mention that they do have issues with the fiducials coming off the face. 

Please help us with less capable golf vocab to understand the above please. Thanks