The TaylorMade Rocketballz Review:  A Line of Golf Equipment That’s Brand New for 2012

Well, I "get" what the name of the new TaylorMade Rocketballz line is all about: something along the lines of "hit the ball with one of these clubs and it will fly like a rocket." But part of me thinks some people might be put off by the slightly goofy name. In my opinion, TaylorMade might be better off calling its new-for-2012 line of golf equipment the "TaylorMade RBZ" or something similar. But that’s just my opinion. Let’s concentrate on what the new line is all about.

First, the Rocketballz lineup is the first entirely new equipment series introduced by TaylorMade in quite some time. In other words, it’s not another version of the R5/7/9/11 series, and it’s not an update of the Burner line. It’s an altogether new name (not a name I like very much, but oh well) and an entirely new series that includes not just drivers, fairway woods, hybrids and irons, but also balls, bags, gloves and umbrellas. There are even TaylorMade Rocketballz golf towels!

The first thing you might notice about the new TaylorMade golf equipment is the color. The drivers, fairway woods and hybrids feature the white crowns that have been popularized by the company’s R11 series, but the overall color scheme is different. Instead of the familiar red, black and white of the TaylorMade Burners and “R” series, the Rocketballz clubs, bags, umbrellas and so forth are designed in green, black and white. But that’s just cosmetic stuff. What’s “under the hood” of the clubs?

I’ll overview them here, but you’ll have to read our reviews to find out any real specifics about the different clubs. On other pages of this site we review the TaylorMade Rocketballz driver, the TaylorMade Rocketballz fairway woods, the TaylorMade Rocketballz hybrids and the TaylorMade Rocketballz irons. Simply click on the appropriate link and you’ll be taken to the particular review you’d like to read.

The TaylorMade Rocketballz Driver

For now, let’s just touch on a few of the high points of this new series of TaylorMade golf equipment. As I mentioned earlier, the Rocketballz series includes drivers, fairway woods, hybrids, irons, gloves, balls, bags, umbrellas and golf towels. Let’s start with the big dog – the TaylorMade Rocketballz driver.

If you disregard its goofy name, this new TaylorMade driver packs a lot of promise. It’s available in two models – the Rocketballz and the Rocketballz Tour. Like the company’s recent “R” series drivers, both versions of the Rocketballz driver are adjustable. By the way, TaylorMade says the Rocketballz name was at least partially inspired by Dustin Johnson. When he hit a prototype version he described it as being “like a rocket.” As with TaylorMade’s other recent clubs, the Rocketballz driver has a white crown and black face, said to help alignment and improve player confidence by making the club head appear larger in comparison to the ball. It uses TaylorMade’s Flight Control Technology (“FCT”) – an adjustable hosel that allows golfers to optimize their ball flight by adjusting the face, lie and loft angles of the club. The Rocketballz driver has a shallower face and more draw bias than the equally new TaylorMade R11S driver (you can read our review on the TaylorMade R11S driver on another page of our site). But the Rocketballz driver takes a slightly different approach than many other recent drivers: to promote accuracy, it uses a stock shaft that’s ½-inch shorter than the shaft fitted to the TaylorMade Burner 2.0.

TaylorMade claims it’s seeing an average distance gain of about 17 yards when players are hitting Rocketballz fairway woods instead of their regular clubs. That’s quite a claim. The company incorporates a ton of technology into these clubs, and as a result they push the legal limit for Coefficient of Restitution (“COR,” also referred to as the spring-like or trampoline effect). All things being equal, more spring-like effect equals more distance. The woods look a little like the Burner 2.0 woods, but with a slightly more appealing, balanced look.

The Rocketballz hybrids use technology similar to the fairway woods, and TaylorMade is claiming an average distance gain of about 10 yards for the hybrids. Both the woods and hybrids have a slot in the sole (similar to the slot which has been used by Adams and Nike) which is intended to make the face more flexible and therefore “hotter.” Neither the fairway woods nor the hybrids feature the adjustable FCT technology, but hey ... I’ll take 10 to 20 more yards any day!

Two iron sets are in the Rocketballz line – the TaylorMade Rocketballz irons and the Rocketballz Max. Both are high-end iron sets, but the strong-lofted Rocketballz Max is said to produce a little more distance than the regular version.

If you’d like more details on any of these clubs, please read the reviews we’ve posted on our site. We hope you enjoy reading about TaylorMade’s new Rocketballz line.

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