Taylormade Jetspeed Driver

Here is something new . . . TaylorMade has another driver on the market, the JetSpeed. Yea, we know, they have released about 14 new drivers this year but the fact is they are not so much trying to get you to upgrade every 3 months; instead they just want to make sure they always have at least one driver on the “just released” shelf. I mean, if you are gonna buy a new driver then you might as well get the newest new driver right?

It’s an old joke by now, but it really is tough to tell what even TaylorMade thinks of each driver they put out. Is the JetSpeed bigger and better than the Rocketballz? Better than the SLDR? I think the best way to answer that question is by price point: the JetSpeed retails a cool $100.00 below the new SLDR driver, so it’s safe to say that the JetSpeed is aiming for the medium price range. What I expect from a club in this category is top-tier performance and maybe a few less bells and whistles.

Turns out I’m a genius, because the JetSpeed actually is a fairly dramatic change from most of the drivers that have hit the market in the past 18 months in that it is only “partially adjustable”. While most drivers allow you to adjust loft and angle, the JetSpeed only allows for loft adjustment. For this guy, that is a welcome reprieve. Maybe I am alone in this camp, but I have never adjusted the angle. It comes neutral and I leave it neutral. I am just more comfortable getting a club that fits my swing rather than a DIY version. God knows I don’t need to add another lever to the tweaking arsenal.

Under the proverbial hood the TaylorMade JetSpeed incorporates the new Speed Pocket, which is supposed to promote less spin and greater ball speed for shots hit low on the club (where most mis-hits occur). Additionally, they also filled the Speed Pocket in with a polymer so you don’t have to clean out the slot after you chunk your driver (or in the case of the fairway woods, after every shot). You can get the JetSpeed in three different lofts and adjust each one with plus or minus 1.5 degrees of loft. This actually makes sense to me as tweaking the loft seems a lot less intrusive to your swing.

So yea, you are probably gonna add another 17 yards to your game (heavy sarcasm). Actually, I, along with TaylorMade will make no such claims, but I am intrigued by the idea that a club is designed to perform better when the user screws up. It seems like most clubs are designed to perform for when you swing perfectly without much concern for how most people swing the club.

Speaking of which, isn’t it time for someone to design a new Robbie Robot that has a nasty over the top swing? Or one that can, for no discernible reason, yank it dead right (they could call it the Murley Machine). Anyhow, you get the idea, we all have less than perfect swings so it is at least comforting to know TaylorMade was thinking about us when they designed the JetSpeed.

Picking up the JetSpeed for the first time, it is noticeably lighter, which of course is a result of TaylorMade wanting to promote a higher swing speed. This is not to say if feels too light or whippy, it just doesn’t feel like you are swinging a mallet. The sound is not a big thwack nor a whimpy ting. Just right in the middle where it neither annoys you or makes you take notice.

From an aesthetics standpoint, the TaylorMade JetSpeed is also fairly plain Jane in comparison to some of the blinged out versions we have seen recently. The JetSpeed has a simple matte black crown with subtle alignment markings. Frankly, I am thankful to move away from white crowns as they have always seemed too bright for me. Bright clothes, yes, bright driver heads, no. In my mind the JetSpeed seems to just harken back a few years. Whether it be limited adjustability, matte black crown, or the stripe on the head cover, the vibe is way different than recent TaylorMade drivers.

Now for the Three Guys Golf test lab. What, you didn’t know we had a fancy test lab? It is called “my home course” that I have played 500 times and know exactly how far I can, and usually do, drive the ball on every fairway. The results: I hit the ball as far as I usually do. Sometimes I hit it really well and it goes far (I actually had my career long drive on #17) and sometimes I don’t hit it very well and it does not go far. Guess what, I am a 10 handicap and that is how it goes for us.

Overall, I really do like this club. For me, there was no break-in period. You know how with some drivers it just does not feel right and you need to gain a symbiotic relationship with it? The JetSpeed was easy to hit right out of the gate and it never felt squirrelly. Making it more appealing is that it is relatively cheap. Because it has no angle adjustment, you can basically save $100.

This makes total sense to me. Why pay for something if you don’t want it. If you don’t like sunroofs then don’t get the $1000 upgrade – duh.

So if you are in the market for the latest and greatest but want to maybe save a few bucks, check out the TaylorMade Jetspeed.  You can learn more on the TaylorMade website.