TaylorMade Golf today is unveiling the longest, most innovative high performance fairway woods and Rescues we’ve ever created with the introduction of RocketBallz. The new RocketBallz metalwoods are years in the making, a byproduct of extensive research and development to find breakthrough performance in fairway woods and Rescues, most specifically increased ball speed.
“The RocketBallz fairway woods and Rescues represent a game-changing breakthrough in performance comparable to few products in the history of our industry,” said Sean Toulon, Executive Vice President of TaylorMade. “To hold a RocketBallz metalwood in your hands is to possess confidence, power, speed and distance potential that will regularly and quite literally redefine the long game for golfers.”
Construction of RocketBallz Technology
Major challenges had to be surmounted to develop RocketBallz technology, including the need to create a durable yet flexible sole/face structure with a deep sole pocket. Additionally, we needed a deeper face design and low CG to maintain excellent playability off turf. Lastly, the products needed a front-low CG without sacrificing playability and control.
To achieve these qualities, the RocketBallz fairway woods and Rescues were developed with a high-strength 455 steel face plate welded to a cast body. They incorporate improved sole geometry and a “Speed Pocket” to improve overall head and face flexibility and a.slightly deeper face with a further-forward CG location than traditional designs.
RocketBallz fairway heads are shaped more traditionally (compared to Burner Superfast fairways) yet are still extremely forgiving. We lowered the CG and pulled it forward to promote a higher launch angle and lower spin-rate – launch conditions that promote greater distance.
Compared to our previous fairway woods, RocketBallz fairways have a larger, deeper face and a large appearance at address. Combining an exceptionally deep face with an exceptionally low CG was a challenge we met thanks to our Ultra-Thin Wall casting process and our Thick-Thin Crown construction.
The incorporation of deeper face, low-and-forward CG and RocketBallz technology has allowed us to create the first steel fairway that reaches USGA/R&A speed limits. In addition, employing Pull-Face construction, and a high-strength 455 alloy steel face allowed us to combine high MOI with an exceptionally large face/hitting area, and more area for mis-hits above the center of the face.
The flat white crown color and black PVD face provides optimum contrast to make it easy to align the face accurately at address. The white crown color also eliminates the glare and “hot spots” that are a common issue with gloss-finish metalwoods.
RocketBallz Tour Fairway Woods
We’re also offering the RocketBallz Tour fairway wood with a similar shape and face size but a slightly smaller address profile, a more open face angle, and toe weighted center of gravity and come equipped with a tour-grade shaft that’s heavier and stiffer compared to the stock shaft in the standard RocketBallz fairways.
RocketBallz Rescues
Much like in the fairway wood category, hybrids have yet to benefit from a technology that adds significant speed to the face — until now.
Two models of RocketBallz Rescue are being offered, standard and Tour. The standard model incorporates a lightweight shaft and lightweight grip to promote increased swing speed. The clubface is large and deep, yet the CG is located low and forward, a combination that’s desirable yet difficult to achieve, made possible employing both our Ultra-Thin Wall casting process and our Thick-Thin crown design. The resulting combination of the afore-mentioned attributes promotes faster ball speed, a higher launch angle and lower spin-rates for significantly greater distance.
The RocketBallz Tour Rescue has a comparatively smaller address appearance, a slightly open face angle, a toe-weighted CG, and is equipped with a heavier, stiffer, tour-grade shaft.
The overall weight of the standard RocketBallz Rescue is less than 350 grams, making it exceptionally light. As with the RocketBallz fairway woods, we’ve rebalanced the Rescues to a highly higher swingweight to help players generate more swing speed, and we redesigned the head’s mass properties and the shaft to promote playability.
This length, combined with the lightweight shaft and grip and the effect of RocketBallz technology on the COR, makes it one of the longest hybrids in company history.
Both the standard RocketBallz Rescue and the Tour version will feature a flat white crown color and black PVD face provides optimum contrast to make it easy to align the face accurately at address. The white crown color also eliminates the glare and “hot spots” that are a common issue with gloss-finish metalwoods.
Pricing and Availability
The RocketBallz fairways’ lightweight shaft and grip are critical to the overall weight of just 315 grams. The RocketBallz fairway woods come standard with a Matrix Ozik XCon 5 50-gram graphite shaft in four flexes (S, R, M, L). It will be offered in three lofts for right-handed golfers (Lofts: RH: 3-15°, 3HL-17°, 5-19°, 7-21°, 9-24°) and three for left-handed golfers (LH: 3-15°, 5-18°, 7-21°).
The RocketBallz Tour fairway woods come standard with a Matrix Ozik RUL 70 75-gram graphite shaft in three flexes (X, S, R). It will be offered in three lofts for right-handed golfers only (Lofts: RH: 13°, 14.5°, 18°). Additionally, a selection of 25 custom TP shafts will be available for upgrade.
The RocketBallz Rescues come standard with a 65-gram graphite shaft in four flexes (S, R, M, L). It will be offered in four lofts for right-handed golfers only (Lofts: 3-19°, 4-21°, 5-24°, 6-27°).
The RocketBallz Tour Rescues come standard with an 85-gram graphite shaft in three flexes (X, S, R). It will be offered in four lofts for right-handed golfers only (Lofts: 2-16.5°, 3-18.5°, 4-21.5°). Additionally, a selection of 5 custom TP shafts will be available for purchase.
All of the RocketBallz fairway woods and RocketBallz Rescues are available on February 3, 2012 with the individual product pricing listed below.
RocketBallz Fairway Woods: $229
RocketBallz Tour Fairway Woods: $229
RocketBallz Fairways with TP shaft upgrade: $329
RocketBallz Rescues: $179
RocketBallz Tour Rescues: $179
RocketBallz Rescues with TP shaft upgrade: $229
These look very similar to the Superfast 2.0 series but I do look forward to hearing if the distance claims are accurate.
Still a bit surprised they kept the name….
The crown looks almost identical to the Superfast line, and I like that it is a lightweight shaft. I’d love to see a difference in numbers between the two.
Interesting that the RBZ standard hybrids come in 3H, 4H, 5H & 6H, looks like all of the OEMs are realizing that the “average” golfer can benefit more from bagging a 6H instead of a 2H. These are nice looking with a good price point. If the distance claims are accurate TM will sell a huge amount of these hybrids and woods.
Very sharp looking fairway and hybrid clubs! TaylorMade is bringing the goods and in a good way!!!
I’m shocked this name made it through anything other than a company wide joke… that aside! Interesting to see how these perform. I just don’t know.
Very interesting name, but name really does not matter if the club performs. I am curious how it performs compared to other fairway woods and hybrids.
looks like TM is bringing the HEAT in the FW and HB markets !
I’ll be very interesting in reports/reviews on the FW compared to the SF 2 as I currently have the SF 2 FW under consideration.
does look fairly similar to the BSF2.0, with a page out of Adam’s book with a small “velocity slot” there on the bottom. very interesting indeed…
i smell testing/reviews around the corner for some lucky THPers…
Like others I am not a fan of the name but i am interested in how they perform. I am looking forward to reading more about these.
Still hate that nmae but the clubs look pretty nice. Curious if they live up to the distance claims.
Irons are more appealing than these for some reason.
If the distance claims are true, I may have to have one of the FWs. I think these all look good, now that the shock value of white clubheads has faded. Kind of wish they had brought the FCT technology into these since they did the driver, but I haven’t used that as much on the R11 FW and Rescue 11 this year.
I REALLY like how they are offering a HL 3 wood. That’s a really smart move in my opinion.
I wasn’t a fan of the forgiveness found in the R11 hybrids but if these improve upon that I think even more people will ‘go white’ with their hybrids this year
I really like the looks from the top. It’s not so different or new that it creates doubt. I also am glad that the faces are slightly deeper with lower CG’s. Personally I prefer the heavier shaft’s as well. I look forward to trying them out.
Looks very much like the superfast line, but all in all a good looking bunch.
Looking forward to the opportunity to test these clubs when they become available. The price points seem reasonable for the average golfer too!
I love the green accent and would love to test these against my Superfast 2.0 hybrid.
I guess this is really growing on me. Starting to like ’em.
Cant wait for feb 3rd this will going right in the bag just for the name!! The distance won’t hurt though..
I like the looks, still not crazy about the name
I can’t wait to try this FW out! I am loving the news I am hearing about it so far! Let the dreaming begin!
I can’t wait to demo these bad boys. Love the fun name!
Wow, looks like Taylormade learnt somthing from Adams!!!!
Just returned home
Sorry, just returned home from a trip to Carlsbad and a morning at the Kingdom. I did the MAT-T fitting and worked with the staff on a full fitting. I started with the R11 and then they put the newest weapon in the TM arsenal in my hand. Wow, what a club. Up until today I have played a 3 year old superfast. The rocketballs (named by Dustin Johnson – when he hit it he said the ball came off like a rocket) and it does. Clean sleak lines. Very managable and the ball jumps off the club face like a rocket. Added 20 yards to my length and was very hard to mishit.
The I was fitted for the 3 wood and rescue. I changed up shaft on the 3 wood to get the feel. It was different from any other 3 wood, in sound and impact. I don;t know how to describe it.
Then the rescue… I hit it once and said – sold, add one of those to my order.
They have been working for 3 years on the technologhy and have it perfected. Can’t wait until February.
If you get a chance to hit the wedges, i suggest that too. They have really worked out the sole. It sits beautifully on the ground and adds a ton of contro to shots under 100 yeard and around the greens.
I’m sold. you cannot go wrong with there new series.
B
The more I hear about these, the more intrigued I get. I still think the name is a little on the odd side.
DJ hitting the 3 wood 331 yds wow! I Wish!
I’ve heard a lot about how long the woods are. I’ll be curious to see if that’s true.