The new TaylorMade Stealth driver is here. There have been pictures of the driver making their way on social media for weeks ahead of the Jan. 4 launch -- and Feb. 4 sales date -- and golfers have been quick to point out that the Stealth driver's red face has "60X Carbon" printed on it.
Golfers have been wondering what that "60X Carbon" graphic callout means, and it turns out that TaylorMade is telling golfers about the innovation they feel will carry drivers, fairway woods and hybrids to a new level of performance.
What does 60X Carbon mean?
The "60X Carbon" callout on the TaylorMade Stealth driver is to point out that the face is made of carbon fiber. Carbon fiber has become common in modern drivers, but it's been used particularly in the crown and sole, with its lightweight strength able to offer stability while giving engineers discretionary weight to use elsewhere in the head for performance improvements like center-of-gravity positioning and increasing moment of inertia. TaylorMade has often used seven layers of carbon fiber in these components.
However, with the Stealth drivers, TaylorMade is using 60 -- yes, sixty -- layers of carbon fiber for the face. The company is moving on, it says, from titanium faces and will be using carbon fiber moving forward. The company says carbon fiber is lighter and stronger than titanium, meaning it can make a faster face while saving weight, both from the materials themselves and from being able to use glue to bond the carbon fiber to the body instead of welding.
With the 60 layers of carbon fiber laid over each other in various directions to create strength, TaylorMade says the face will hold up to thousands of strikes better than titanium, which has a propensity to lose its shape and strength over time, causing performance issues. The carbon fiber still allows TaylorMade to use technologies like Twist Face and Inverted Cone, which have become staples of performance, while doing so in a package that's 20 percent larger than the original SIM driver from 2020.
What is the face red?
The face is red -- or at least has red graphics on it -- as a result of a decal designed to call attention to the face. It doesn't do anything special; it's really just marketing. However, carbon-fiber faces will be able to be customized in a way golf fans might love, with unique colors and designs that can fit their personality. That's the result of a polyurethane nanotexture coating that is applied on top of the carbon-fiber face. It is millimeters thick and contains the grooves and graphics of the driver face.
