TaylorMade Qi10 Drivers - 2024 Forum Member Review

[IndyBonzo]

2 hours ago, Michael.Sandoval33 said:

Made it out to the range today after a week hiatus, swung the Qi10 Max 8-10 times and was feeling really good with it. My swing is coming around, literally, and less up and down so closing the face has become a lot easier. Also feels like my speed is trending upwards which is a bonus. Still waiting for the shorter shaft to arrive and put it in the driver, can't wait to see if I like the shorter length or if maybe I have grown accustomed to the standard length. Some other experimentation is on the way as well, let's just say Sir "Otto-Phlex" will be making his way around the Max soon with a lot of great guidance from @IndyBonzo.

All in all much more to come, including a tee time this Sunday!

This is all great news @Michael.Sandoval33.  I love the upbeat confidence.  Hope you love one of the new shafts.  

[GreenSlayer6]

I had a chance to hit the Qi vs my Stealth 2+ head to head on the range but didn't have access to any LM or anything.  I know feel is different from person to person but I just couldn't feel any real difference between the two.  My experience was just feel and what I saw with my eye.  I felt like ball jumped off the face with my gamer but with the Qi, something about the feel just didn't gel with me.  It looked like the Qi spun a little more and didn't have quite the flat piercing trajectory that my gamer S2+ has.  

Yes, this is all 100% anecdotal but not everyone has access to a LM 24/7 and a lot of us are left with just feel and how the flight looks to us personally.  I do see some potential with the Qi, because it's obviously successful for so many people.  I would like to have the chance to maybe play 3 rounds with one to get a true feel for it and be able to compare apples to apples....or I could just take it to our local golf shop and hit it in the sim.  I might be old fashioned but I prefer to test things side by side on the course, where it actually matters.  

Just figured I'd share my experience and FWIW, I used the same exact shaft while testing both drivers.

[Jmikecpa]

Finally got some half decent weather on Saturday and shot my low round of the year with a 67.  According to Arccos the driver didn't help me off the tee but also didn't hurt me as I was neutral for strokes gained off the tee.  From a qualitative standpoint it did help me quite a bit since I generally hit it where I wanted it to go and on the course that I played sometimes that means a missed fairway to avoid trouble with both 9's out on the water.  The addition of the new Mini Driver has been huge and makes the driver's ability to not turn over easily just moot at this point.  I have a second tee club that I can shape both ways and no issues at all off the deck.  Going to get 9 in later this week and then another 18 on Saturday morning.

[HikingMike]

8 hours ago, Jmikecpa said:

According to Arccos the driver didn't help me off the tee but also didn't hurt me as I was neutral for strokes gained off the tee.  From a qualitative standpoint it did help me quite a bit since I generally hit it where I wanted it to go

So is that strokes gained vs. pro? Sounds great to me! Hell of a round

[KC Golf]

On 4/19/2024 at 6:04 PM, chisag said:

 

... Yup Scotty and I play the exact same club with the exact same specs. With the exception of mine at 10.5* turned down twice. And a Ventus Red instead of a Ventus Black. And his is 78 gms while mine is 58.5 gms. Oh yea and his is X flex and mine is R flex. But other than those very minor differences we could swap drivers and probably not even notice any difference. 

But starting next week. This sweet combo will be swapped out with an Autoflex Dream 7!  Scottie may be envying your driver shaft soon...

[Jmikecpa]

8 hours ago, HikingMike said:

So is that strokes gained vs. pro? Sounds great to me! Hell of a round

It was strokes gained vs that of my handicap equivalent. This is what the round would have been against a Tour pro. Still not bad considering I am a hack amateur. 
 

 

[Michael.Sandoval33]

Another day out at Green Tree GC where I ended up shooting a respectable 98 (+1 from my previous two outings here). The Qi10 Max once again performed exceptionally well with 10/14 fairways hit. 2 were actually pulled left, as I was working hard on closing the face, which I did to a fault. The other 2 faded right as has been typical thus far. Of the 4 misses, only 1 of them was terribly off center and that was one of the fades that ended up on the fairway for the next hole. Still, all in all, another really solid outing for the Qi10 Max as I wait for the shortened shaft and my 'otto-phlex' experiment shaft to arrive this week. Continued testing will proceed at that time.

[fixyurdivot]

On 4/15/2024 at 11:06 AM, IndyBonzo said:

My final review is a tad delayed, but I have a good reason!  See below.  (And the final review will be up today in short order.)

Let's Talk about the Swap

I apologize in advance for this long post, but the truth is in the details here.  I am addressing a new and different Qi10 model for the first time.  So I am going to try to go all the way down the rabbit hole.

If you, dear reader, have followed this thread, you already know that @GolfSpy_BEN is a very gracious dude, that I struggle to contain driver spin historically, and that he and I last week, at the very end of our review period, executed a swap of my tester "standard" Qi10 model for his Qi10 LS model.  Yesterday I embraced the chance to hit the LS model on the range very briefly, and then play the LS model in a round of 18 at Eagle Creek Golf Course on Indy's west side.

I played the Qi10 LS at a loft sleeve setting of 7.5* and -300 RPM, at 44" of length on the (wonderful) ACCRA FX 3.0 140 M2 shaft.

I weighted the driver at D4, which required some (or a lot of) lead tape . . .

. . . and played the Bridgestone Tour RBX MindSet golf ball as part of the multi-member review here on the forum.  (Many thanks to Bridgestone and MGS for that testing opportunity also!) 

The result?  In two words:  Performance and Potential  For me and my particular swing, the Qi10 LS performed significantly better!

The weather was warm and sunny, but the wind increased steadily throughout our round, finally landing at a consistent 20-30 mph wind during the back nine.  Indy received more than 3 inches of rain in the days preceding the round.  The results will show that.  Here are the specifics on the 9 driver holes:

Hole 2 - Par 4 365 yards

This was a strong start.  It is important on this hole to hit fairway left (which I seem to never, ever do) or carry the right bunker and avoid getting into or behind the trees on the right.  The Qi10 LS delivered a strong drive into a gusty crosswind that carried the bunker and came to rest at 258 yards.  I was very pleased.

 Hole 5 - Par 4 428 yards

User error, as I hit far into the heel-side of the clubface.  That cost me distance, but look at that straight drive that found the middle of the fairway.  The Qi10 LS's forgiveness helped me a great deal here.

Hole 6 -- Par 5 543 yards

This drive confused me, as I felt like it was good contact and in the middle(ish), but I did not feel the compression or hear that confirmation on strike.  Still, I found fairway, if not the distance I expected.  I suspect I hit it too low.  

Hole 7 -- Par 4 408 yards

Here comes the wind!  Straight at us, 20 mph+.  And now the Qi10 LS delivers, with a pretty good piercing of the gusts, landing at 232 yards in the fairway.   This is the shot I will recall a long time, as this was the first time I heard the Qi10 LS deliver more of a "bang" at contact rather than a clicky/ish (Stealthy?) pop.  It felt great; the compression of the ball was evident.  Everyone in my group commented.  "That sounded and looked different!" Remember the wet conditions - there was no roll-out at all.  Into that wind, I'll gladly accept the 232 yards fairway middle result.

Hole 9 -- Par 5 528 yards

Remember user error?  Yuck.  This was my classic brain fade/unfinished swing/high slicey fade balloon ball.  But it still went 213 yards into that wind and remained playable.  This was definitely not the driver's fault.

Hole 10 -- Par 5 469 yards

This hole is easy.  If you don't take too long in the clubhouse, get stiff, forget everything you ever knew about golf, or hit into a hurricane.  I did all that.  Shots 2 and 3 on this hole were worse.  Did I mention the tee box is elevated and aimed directly into God's own oscillating fan (cranked to 11)?  But it went straight!?!?   Again, not the driver's fault.

Hole 13 -- Par 4 372 yards

Finally a hole where the wind helps a bit, as it still crossed the fairway but pushed a little too.  I hit a bomb (by my standards), that rolled maybe (only) 10 yards on the wet turf, for a very playable 263 yard result.  (Pay no attention to the idiot chunking his gap wedge on shot 2.)

Hole 16 -- Par 4 370 yards

More crazy wind, and a unique crazy pull by the author.  I blame the wind.  You, dear reader, should blame me.

Hole 17 -- Par 5 433 yards

Yes - more nutty wind in our faces.  But I was glad to hit a ball that carried 238 yards, and nestled in at 243 yards (wet!), on this short par 5.  This set up the solid hybrid shot 2, and boo-yah! wedge shot 3, that yielded a tap-in putt and, unusually, the only birdie our group could muster on this day.

Summary

I give the Qi10 LS very high marks for its first post-swap round.  For me and my swing, I found the face to be more lively than the standard model, distance was better as a result, and with the lower spin forgiveness was just as good if not better for me. I think it has great potential, and I look forward to getting to know it better and updating this thread with additional results.     

I will post my final review of the standard Qi10 very soon.  But like every Star Wars movie or series or novel or cartoon or whatever (except that rogue one), this will not be the end.  

 

  

 

Great write-up's.  I may have missed it, but did you get spin numbers for the LS?  You mention -300 RPM... is this the average reduction from the Qi10 Standard?  I too fight spin and want to test how the LS might help with that... hopefully without trading forgiveness.

[Jean D]

My Qi10Max is about to go into testing overdrive with the Autoflex Dream 7 shaft testing  Looking to hopefully hit 1000 (ish) balls in the testing period- will be a good test of the durability of the Qi10Max and the 3 shafts !  Great reports from everyone on this thread (official and non-official alike)!

[Michael.Sandoval33]

6 minutes ago, Jean D said:

My Qi10Max is about to go into testing overdrive with the Autoflex Dream 7 shaft testing  Looking to hopefully hit 1000 (ish) balls in the testing period- will be a good test of the durability of the Qi10Max and the 3 shafts !  Great reports from everyone on this thread (official and non-official alike)!

Can't wait to read about it! Sounds like the perfect opportunity to put that shaft through the ringer after seeing good results with your other two.

[fixyurdivot]

On 2/12/2024 at 2:06 AM, GolfSpy_BEN said:

The InBetween: The further we get into this season, I will be keenly watching for other cases of the club malfunctioning, because I am genuinely curious if what happened to me was a one-off or a part of a larger pattern of quality concerns for Taylor Made. Going back to the original SIM, there have been cases of faulty heads, so it bears monitoring.

Hmmm, this is interesting.  I completely missed hearing about your driver face cracking at the onset of testing.  As we all recall, there was a social media Blitzkrieg about the Gen 1 Stealth carbon faces having issues (micro-cracks, delamination).  Those I know using them and speaking with them about this say, unequivocally, "poppy-cock", and quickly show me their driver faces which pretty much look like new.  As someone who spent 30 years in aerospace working with both composites and titanium alloys, I'm actually impressed they can take the repeated impact so well.  What might be happening subsurface (through the cross-section) could be a different story... dunno.  I suspect TM did considerable life-cycle tests going into this face technology as that had to be a primary concern.

If TM has been experiencing chronic problems with these (as in customer returns), they have managed to keep a tight lid on it... which in today's on-line climate would be the 8th wonder of the world .  Certainly cannot say for certain, but would guess your situation was an anomaly. 

As one who has the Qi10 on the shortlist of new drivers, I'll be keeping an eye on this as well.

 

 

[GolfSpy_BEN]

2 minutes ago, fixyurdivot said:

Hmmm, this is interesting.  I completely missed hearing about your driver face cracking at the onset of testing.  As we all recall, there was a social media Blitzkrieg about the Gen 1 Stealth carbon faces having issues (micro-cracks, delamination).  Those I know using them and speaking with them about this say, unequivocally, "poppy-cock", and quickly show me their driver faces which pretty much look like new.  As someone who spent 30 years in aerospace working with both composites and titanium alloys, I'm actually impressed they can take the repeated impact so well.  What might be happening subsurface (through the cross-section) could be a different story... dunno.  I suspect TM did considerable life-cycle tests going into this face technology as that had to be a primary concern.

If TM has been experiencing chronic problems with these (as in customer returns), they have managed to keep a tight lid on it... which in today's on-line climate would be the 8th wonder of the world .  Certainly cannot say for certain, but would guess your situation was an anomaly. 

As one who has the Qi10 on the shortlist of new drivers, I'll be keeping an eye on this as well.

 

 

In the interest of clarity, mine cracked in two places on the rear of the driver. The point of origin appeared to be where the crown met the sole and it spidered from there. The face still looked pristine when I shipped it back. 
 

I agree that the failure is most likely an anomaly, as none of the other testers have had any issues and I haven’t had any with the head I swapped @IndyBonzo for. 
Overall, I think the QI-10 is a good line of drivers and if you go that route, you’ll be pleased. 

[KC Golf]

10 minutes ago, GolfSpy_BEN said:

In the interest of clarity, mine cracked in two places on the rear of the driver. The point of origin appeared to be where the crown met the sole and it spidered from there. The face still looked pristine when I shipped it back. 
 

I agree that the failure is most likely an anomaly, as none of the other testers have had any issues and I haven’t had any with the head I swapped @IndyBonzo for. 
Overall, I think the QI-10 is a good line of drivers and if you go that route, you’ll be pleased. 

I totally agree, I have never seen a driver break in that rear area (where you typically don’t see major impact much less damage), so I think it’s an anomaly that happens some times when you move to full production.  

I have been amazed seeing the photos from the testers how well the carbon face is wearing after repeated strikes.  It looks much better than the original Stealth.

[fixyurdivot]

21 minutes ago, GolfSpy_BEN said:

In the interest of clarity, mine cracked in two places on the rear of the driver. The point of origin appeared to be where the crown met the sole and it spidered from there. The face still looked pristine when I shipped it back. 
 

I agree that the failure is most likely an anomaly, as none of the other testers have had any issues and I haven’t had any with the head I swapped @IndyBonzo for. 
Overall, I think the QI-10 is a good line of drivers and if you go that route, you’ll be pleased. 

Holy Mackerel, now that is a crack .  You must have hit it exactly where the TM Stress Engineers said it would be a 1/1,000,000 chance.  Clearly they did not account for "spy tests" .

[Josh Parker]

33 minutes ago, GolfSpy_BEN said:

In the interest of clarity, mine cracked in two places on the rear of the driver. The point of origin appeared to be where the crown met the sole and it spidered from there. The face still looked pristine when I shipped it back. 
 

I agree that the failure is most likely an anomaly, as none of the other testers have had any issues and I haven’t had any with the head I swapped @IndyBonzo for. 
Overall, I think the QI-10 is a good line of drivers and if you go that route, you’ll be pleased. 

It's such a weird spot to crack.  I have seen on previous models, the face but never heard that location. TM has always been good about swapping though. 

[GolfSpy_BEN]

1 minute ago, Josh Parker said:

It's such a weird spot to crack.  I have seen on previous models, the face but never heard that location. TM has always been good about swapping though. 

All in all the process took about 3 weeks from incident to replacement. In real time, a reasonable amount of time. In testing time, it meant half the testing period was spent waiting for a replacement. 

[Rob Person]

4 minutes ago, Josh Parker said:

It's such a weird spot to crack.  I have seen on previous models, the face but never heard that location. TM has always been good about swapping though. 

Other new drivers have also cracked on the crown in the middle too.

[Josh Parker]

Just now, GolfSpy_BEN said:

All in all the process took about 3 weeks from incident to replacement. In real time, a reasonable amount of time. In testing time, it meant half the testing period was spent waiting for a replacement. 

Absolutely!  Real time it was relatively quick, but I understand the testing period aspect as well. 

I think personally, I would have liked to have seen half that time in general with any company at today's prices. 

[JRP3]

Good luck, guys! 

[IndyBonzo]

4 hours ago, fixyurdivot said:

Great write-up's.  I may have missed it, but did you get spin numbers for the LS?  You mention -300 RPM... is this the average reduction from the Qi10 Standard?  I too fight spin and want to test how the LS might help with that... hopefully without trading forgiveness.

Hey @fixyurdivot!  Thanks for the excellent question.

The quantified reduction in spin came from me playing the driver at the lowest loft setting on the adapter sleeve, which has the stated (and verified) effect of reducing spin.

Also, based on the results of my playing tests, there is no doubt whatsoever that the LS model is lower spin than the standard model.  I could sometimes get ideal spin rates with the standard, but can consistently get my desired spin parameters with the LS.  If you struggle with spin like me, of course you should try the different models out with various shafts to see what fits you, but I think it likely that you will be most pleased with the LS model.

[Michael.Sandoval33]

Update from my round on May 2nd (my birthday round) at Hesperia Golf & Country club. Took out the Qi10 Max and shot another +25 for the day.

Hitting 10/14 on the fairways once again but 2 of the missed fairways were completely my fault. In assuming that the flight was going to be the usual fade, I did set up the shot aiming towards the left of the fairway. On both occasions the drive ended up flying perfectly straight from where it was set up, and to the left of the fairway.

This I believe means that my driver swing is improving and closing the face has become easier so I no longer need to constantly play the fade. Distance is also seeing small increments of improvement because of this. 

Either today or Monday I will be receiving the new shafts to test with the Qi10 Max and I cannot wait to share more information as my testing continues!

[TJ Hall]

16 hours ago, Michael.Sandoval33 said:

Update from my round on May 2nd (my birthday round) at Hesperia Golf & Country club. Took out the Qi10 Max and shot another +25 for the day.

Hitting 10/14 on the fairways once again but 2 of the missed fairways were completely my fault. In assuming that the flight was going to be the usual fade, I did set up the shot aiming towards the left of the fairway. On both occasions the drive ended up flying perfectly straight from where it was set up, and to the left of the fairway.

This I believe means that my driver swing is improving and closing the face has become easier so I no longer need to constantly play the fade. Distance is also seeing small increments of improvement because of this. 

Either today or Monday I will be receiving the new shafts to test with the Qi10 Max and I cannot wait to share more information as my testing continues!

Nice round and happy late birthday! 

[Rob Person]

17 hours ago, Michael.Sandoval33 said:

Update from my round on May 2nd (my birthday round) at Hesperia Golf & Country club. Took out the Qi10 Max and shot another +25 for the day.

Hitting 10/14 on the fairways once again but 2 of the missed fairways were completely my fault. In assuming that the flight was going to be the usual fade, I did set up the shot aiming towards the left of the fairway. On both occasions the drive ended up flying perfectly straight from where it was set up, and to the left of the fairway.

This I believe means that my driver swing is improving and closing the face has become easier so I no longer need to constantly play the fade. Distance is also seeing small increments of improvement because of this. 

Either today or Monday I will be receiving the new shafts to test with the Qi10 Max and I cannot wait to share more information as my testing continues!

Oooh!  Whatever you did... keep doing it!  I struggled so much with exactly what you described.  Adjust for my swing,  and Bam! Something changed and found myself adjusting for that!  Then *poof* the previous version kicks in and I'm at square one again.

Hope the new shafts prove to be what it takes.

Question for the testers.  Has anyone kept the stock shafts in the heads, and are you satisfied with the performance of them if they were to remain stock?

[Michael.Sandoval33]

7 hours ago, Rob Person said:

Oooh!  Whatever you did... keep doing it!  I struggled so much with exactly what you described.  Adjust for my swing,  and Bam! Something changed and found myself adjusting for that!  Then *poof* the previous version kicks in and I'm at square one again.

Hope the new shafts prove to be what it takes.

Question for the testers.  Has anyone kept the stock shafts in the heads, and are you satisfied with the performance of them if they were to remain stock?

Great question, I believe @EMacK1961 and I were the only testers to keep the stock shaft through testing, but I could be mistaken.

Since I believe a big issue for me was the playing length, I will be trying out the shorter-length shafts. One of the new shafts is much lighter as well. If I had more knowledge and experience before testing, I believe the appropriate length Ventus TR 5-S would have been perfect for me and could still be in the future if it does turn out that a shorter length would have worked better and I decide to shorten it.

[EMacK1961]

2 hours ago, Michael.Sandoval33 said:

Great question, I believe @EMacK1961 and I were the only testers to keep the stock shaft through testing, but I could be mistaken.

Since I believe a big issue for me was the playing length, I will be trying out the shorter-length shafts. One of the new shafts is much lighter as well. If I had more knowledge and experience before testing, I believe the appropriate length Ventus TR 5-S would have been perfect for me and could still be in the future if it does turn out that a shorter length would have worked better and I decide to shorten it.

Yes, I have one of the stock shafts. I kept it because it is working out well for me. I recently got to 90% of fairways hit and only missed one by a yard or two. Quite pleased with the twist face technology.

[EMacK1961]

I had the best driving day with my TaylorMade Qi10. I went 9 for 10 in fairways hit using the Qi10 Standard. The 10th one was only a couple of yards off of the fairway. Our rough isn't too penal but trees are an issue. Angles are at a premium if you are off-line. I was very happy to be able to do this. The Qi10 performed like a champ. The Twist Face technology used in the driver were evident during my round as I don't always hit the sweet spot. The driver's forgiveness is a godsend.

On another note, the driver cover I chose seems to fit this club well. I tell my partners I play with that the "Moose is loose!" I feel more confident with this club than I did with my other club. As you can see in the picture, the Moose fits in well with my bag.

[EMacK1961]

Yesterday, 05/07/2024, I played at Bajamar Golf Resort. The course is having their greens punched so we could only play on the Ocean course. That is significantly more difficult than the inland portion. Of course, my TaylorMade Qi10 made the trip as well. During a breezy and cool day, the Qi10 performed really well. I was able to hold the ball into the wind on the water holes. The TwistFace Tech. helped tremendously. I'm getting more used to the club the more I use it, of course.

I'm not having any issues with any face separation as mentioned in another post. The driver is holding up well under my own level of abuse - shots off the toe, shots off the upper face, etc. 

[GolfSpy_BEN]

Stopped in the golf shop this afternoon for  something unrelated, but while I was there I was chatting with my guy Todd about how things were progressing with the QI-10, which led to a discussion about the G430 10k max, which led to me hitting some balls on the trackman. I had initially tried it back in January and found it a bit spinny for my tastes, but I was curious if the spin was swing related or club related or both. 
 

With a better swing these days, I found the G430 10K max was a little slower club speed wise but the results were mostly straight or a slight draw with an average spin of 2900 rpm.

I should have stopped there.

But i decided to hit some balls with the QI-10 for comparison sake. It started off well, with ball speeds in the mid 150’s and the ball going where I wanted it to, I was becoming satisfied that, while the 10k max is nice, for me the QI-10 produces similar results. And then I heard an all too familiar sound on my last swing. I looked at the head and…

Yep. Another cracked head. In more or less the same spot as the LS that cracked on me. Fortunately, Todd arranged another replacement that is supposed to arrive at the shop no later than 5-24, so I should have it for the Kingsmill outing. The wild thing to me, is both swings are hat produced cracked heads were center strikes, so I am completely baffled as to why this keeps happening.

[TJ Hall]

2 minutes ago, GolfSpy_BEN said:

Stopped in the golf shop this afternoon for  something unrelated, but while I was there I was chatting with my guy Todd about how things were progressing with the QI-10, which led to a discussion about the G430 10k max, which led to me hitting some balls on the trackman. I had initially tried it back in January and found it a bit spinny for my tastes, but I was curious if the spin was swing related or club related or both. 
 

With a better swing these days, I found the G430 10K max was a little slower club speed wise but the results were mostly straight or a slight draw with an average spin of 2900 rpm.

I should have stopped there.

But i decided to hit some balls with the QI-10 for comparison sake. It started off well, with ball speeds in the mid 150’s and the ball going where I wanted it to, I was becoming satisfied that, while the 10k max is nice, for me the QI-10 produces similar results. And then I heard an all too familiar sound on my last swing. I looked at the head and…

Yep. Another cracked head. In more or less the same spot as the LS that cracked on me. Fortunately, Todd arranged another replacement that is supposed to arrive at the shop no later than 5-24, so I should have it for the Kingsmill outing. The wild thing to me, is both swings are hat produced cracked heads were center strikes, so I am completely baffled as to why this keeps happening.

OMG…maybe you are the common denominator???

This is terrible.  I was in my local store and the standard Qi had my interest, but a little reluctant based on your trials.

[GolfSpy_BEN]

41 minutes ago, TJ Hall said:

OMG…maybe you are the common denominator???

This is terrible.  I was in my local store and the standard Qi had my interest, but a little reluctant based on your trials.

Once is a freak occurrence, twice is a trend. That being said, I haven’t seen this problem anywhere else and none of the other testers have had any problems, so maybe it really is just me. I can’t have nice things