TaylorMade Qi35, Qi35 LS, Qi35 Max, Qi35 Max Lite drivers

Gear: TaylorMade Qi35, Qi35 LS, Qi35 Max, Qi35 Max Lite drivers

Price: $629 with Mitsubishi Kai'Li, Mitsubishi Diamana T+, Fujikura Ventus Blue or Fujikura AirSpeeder shaft and Golf Pride Z Grip

Specs: Carbon fiber face, crown and sole panels with adjustable weights and adjustable hosel

Available: Jan. 30

Who they're for: Golfers seeking high stability with more ball speed (Qi35, Qi35 Max, Qi35 Max Lite), and players looking for enhanced ball speed, low spin and shot-shaping adjustability (Qi35 LS).

What you should know: TaylorMade has modified the center of gravity in its drivers to produce more ball speed while maintaining high levels of stability and forgiveness.

The deep dive: There is a secret in golf that many accomplished players know and take advantage of that most recreational players don't: When you're hitting a tee shot, the ideal place to hit the ball is almost always just a little higher in the face than the center.

Sure, you can never go wrong hitting a drive in the middle of the face, and most golfers try to do that on every swing. But elite players usually notice that striking the ball higher in the face can produce a higher launch angle with less spin, and that means more distance.

With the new Qi35, Qi35 LS, Qi35 Max and Qi35 Max Lite, TaylorMade focused on helping golfers transfer more energy from their swing into the ball so they can increase ball speed without sacrificing the stability TaylorMade developed in last season's Qi10 drivers. To achieve this, designers concentrated on the concept of “CG projection.”

Whether a driver has 7 degrees, 10.5 degrees or 13 degrees of loft, every club has a center of gravity location, a theoretical spot where the driver can be balanced. The center of gravity may be relatively high or low, but it’s always there. If you draw a perpendicular line from the driver’s face through the center of gravity location, the point where the line meets the face is the CG projection, and making contact on that spot results in the most efficient energy transfer. The lower the center of gravity, the lower the CG projection on the face — and vice versa.

This explains why some elite players in the past learned drivers usually performed better on shots hit slightly higher on the face rather than dead center – the CG projection was elevated. Plus, instead of hitting low, spiny drives produced by shots hit below the CG projection, high strikes create high launch and low-spin drives, which result in better distance.

By reducing weight at the top of the Qi35 drivers using a massive carbon fiber crown and lightening the hitting area with a 60-layer carbon fiber face instead of titanium, TaylorMade’s engineers shifted more weight to the lower-back portion of the head. This adjustment pulls the center of gravity lower and farther back, lowering the CG projection on the face. Now positioned closer to the center of the hitting area, center strikes generate more ball speed and forgiveness. Additionally, golfers can create higher-launching, lower-spinning shots from a larger area above the CG projection, leading to distance gains.

The standard Qi35 (9, 10.5, 12 degrees) features a 460-cubic-centimeter volume and includes a 3-gram weight in a forward port and a 13-gram weight in the back. The weights are adjustable, but with the heavier weight in the back, the Qi35 offers significantly more stability than last year’s Qi10, thanks to a raised moment of inertia of approximately 9,000 g-cm². TaylorMade achieved this by making the Qi35 larger from front to back.

With the heavier weight in the forward port, golfers can generate more ball speed and a slightly lower flight with less spin because the CG projection drops to nearly the perfect center of the face. In fact, with the weight up front, TaylorMade said the Qi35 is 7 yards longer than last season's Qi10.

The Qi35 Max (9, 10.5, 12 degrees) shares the same shape as the standard Qi35 but features a single 34-gram weight positioned in the back of the sole. This large weight pushes the moment of inertia even higher. Like the Qi10 Max last year, the Qi35 Max surpasses the 10,000 total MOI threshold, catering to players seeking maximum stability and forgiveness.

The Qi35 LS (8, 9, 10.5 degrees) includes three adjustable weights – a 13-gram weight and two 3-gram weights – with ports in the back and the heel and toe areas up front. Like previous LS models, the Qi35 LS is designed to produce less spin for fast-swinging players, but TaylorMade has adjusted the center of gravity as well. With the heavier weight in the back, stability increases and the CG projection lowers. Shifting the 13-gram weight to the heel port promotes a draw, while moving it to the toe encourages a fade.

For slow- and moderate-swinging golfers seeking a lighter driver, TaylorMade offers the Qi35 Max Lite (10.5, 12 degrees). The back weight is 12 grams lighter than in the standard Qi35 Max, and it comes standard with a 40-gram Mitsubishi Vanquish shaft and a 43-gram Golf Pride Z Grip that is 9 grams lighter than the standard grip.

Starting in March, TaylorMade plans to launch the Qi35 Designer Series, allowing golfers to order an all-black, glossy version of each Qi35 driver.

The Qi35 Max, like the Qi10 Max, boasts a combined MOI – adding heel-to-toe and bottom-to-top measurements – that exceeds 10,000 g-cm². For mid- and higher-handicap golfers who struggle to consistently hit the center of the face, this Qi35 driver promises to deliver the straightest shots.