Golf Monthly
  • 4 days ago
Retro Review:
Joe Ferguson gets his hands on the iconic TaylorMade RBZ fairway wood from 2012, which launched with bold claims of an additional 17 yards! So we wanted to put this to the test to see how it performed today against the more recently-launched TaylorMade Stealth model. Joe puts them both to the test on the range, launch monitor and golf course to fully get to grips with the performance on offer and see if the RBZ can still hold its own on the market today.
Transcript
00:00Okay welcome back to another retro review from Golf Monthly and today we've
00:03got an absolute humdinger and it is the TaylorMade Rocketballs fairway wood.
00:09Now this is a particularly favourite one for me. This was in my bag for probably over
00:12five years so I'm really looking forward to seeing how it stacks up against its
00:15modern-day equivalent. We've partnered up with Golf Club for Cash, one of the
00:19leading retailers of pre-loved equipment and they've supplied us with some
00:22absolute gems to test. So if you want to check those guys out look in the
00:26description below. Let's get to it.
00:30Okay so the TaylorMade Rocketballs 3 wood. Now this came out in 2012 to a lot of fanfare and a lot of marketing from
00:42TaylorMade with claims of 17 extra yards and it was a really clever marketing
00:47ploy and the other marketing ploy that was great was the white head. You could
00:50see it from miles away on the golf course. Anyone you saw on TV you knew
00:54they were playing the TaylorMade Rocketballs head. Now the tech story
00:57behind the extra speed was what they called their speed slot which is this
01:01little carved out piece on the sole which increased the COR and had massive
01:05jumps in ball speed which is what people noticed. So let's get to the range, test
01:09it out and see how it goes. Okay so I've come down to the driving range now at
01:12the Oxfordshire Golf Club and it's probably a good time to introduce what
01:15I'm going to be comparing the Rocketballs to. So the modern-day
01:17equivalent we're using is the TaylorMade Stealth. When you put them down beside
01:21one another, surprisingly similar in terms of dimensions. The overall
01:25footprint's very similar, face depth very very similar. There's not a lot of
01:30change in terms of its overall profile which is really interesting so I'm going
01:33to I'm going to hit a couple away and just see what I can tell in terms of
01:36difference wise from the feel and the sound. So I'm going to go with the Rocketballs
01:39first. It sits nicely behind the ball, very square. That's a lovely strike, it's right
01:50out the middle, nice strong flight. Feels hot, feels very quick off the face. Let me
01:55go again there.
02:04Yes it's quite a high pitch noise and it feels, harsh wouldn't be the right word
02:10but you can certainly feel the speed there, that's really interesting.
02:13Yeah very strong penetrating ball flight. Let's have a go with the Stealth. Again like I
02:19said really similar look down by the ball in terms of its overall size and
02:22footprint. Nice strong hit again, it's popped up a little bit more than the RBZ and
02:31felt probably again less high pitch, a little bit deeper in terms of strikes, so
02:35different sensations. I wouldn't say I preferred one over the other but
02:39noticeably different in ball flights. It's probably a good time to introduce
02:42some of the data that we've taken here and as you'll see from the Rocketballs
02:46the data I got there, a fair bit less spin than with the Stealth. It's quite a
02:52hotter flight so it reached less of a peak height, much more penetrating ball
02:56flight. Ball speed numbers were very comparable and overall distance was very
03:00comparable. They achieved in two very different ways, more launch from the
03:04Stealth, a bit more spin, stayed in the air for longer whereas the Rocketballs
03:08had a really penetrating strong flight which again depending on the conditions
03:12you're going to be playing in could be really beneficial. Okay so you've come
03:16out on the course to see how it performs in a real-life situation. I'm on the 17th,
03:20the beautiful 17th at the Oxfordshire Golf Club. It's a tough par 5, I've got
03:24about 240 over water into a bit of wind so it's a good test for it. So I'm going
03:29to hit three away with the Rocketballs, three with the Stealth and see where we
03:32end up. A little bit out the neck, go in the middle of the green, left of the pin,
03:45interesting to see if it's made the carry. Joel will tell us that shortly.
03:50Again, let's go again. Similar line, that's come off very flat with no spin. Very, very
04:04similar in terms of line. Let's see if we can get this one holding up against that
04:08wind a little bit more. Touch heavy, it's going to make the carry, it's about 220
04:21over it. I think I've got away with it and just about got that on the green. All a
04:26touch left of the pin which might be explained by the wind. So let's have a
04:31little look at Stealth. Set up a nice lie again. A little straighter, a little higher
04:46than the RBZ, it's got a touch more spin. Maybe just carried a little bit further
04:54that one, it was very well struck. That one could be really good, that started on it,
05:08holding against it with a fade. Last one, let's go and see where they end up.
05:13Just left of the pin, cutting back 10 or 15 feet left of it. Okay, let's go and take a look and
05:27see where they've gone. Okay, so we're up by the green now. Let me just show you where those balls
05:31have ended up and then I'll give you my thoughts on maybe how and why they got there. So first of
05:35all, the one we've got just here, this was from the Stealth. The other two Stealths that I hit
05:40sat pretty on the green there. The furthest one, the closest to the hole and the one on the right
05:44here. With the Rocketballs, one on the green which is great and then another two in the bunker here
05:49which is probably eight to ten yards past pin high and about 20 yards, 15-20 yards left of
05:56where I was aiming. And I noticed that in the fairway. I felt when I put the Rocketballs down,
06:00face angle was slightly toed in so I was probably expecting a bit more left than I was in Stealth
06:06and that's what I saw. But what I also saw was a lot more penetrating ball flight from Rocketballs.
06:10It probably had 10 to 12 feet less peak height and certainly less spin. It kept penetrating a
06:17little bit further. That could be attributed to the fact the Stealth I'm trying has a slightly
06:21softer shaft which tends to add spin as well. But it was really noticeable that the Rocketballs did
06:27have that much more penetrating ball flight. So that was interesting. Okay, so the key differences
06:32there that I noticed were there was a little bit more left in Rocketballs but the main thing I
06:37noticed was the ball flight. Ball flight was a lot stronger with Rocketballs, a lot less peak
06:41height and less spin. On a day like today when it's really, really soft, not a huge problem. They
06:46both carried very similar distances but that land angle would change significantly between the two.
06:51Stealth coming in a little bit higher gave me that bit more stopping power and maybe control
06:55there on the green but the Rocketballs would have its advantage in windy conditions, particularly
07:00into the wind with that flight. Okay, that concludes the test for the Rocketballs and if
07:04you like what you saw and you want to grab yourself a bargain, head across to golf clubs
07:07for cash. Links in the description below and you'll grab yourself some really good bargains
07:11there. So that's it from me at the Oxfordshire. We'll see you next time on Retro Reviews.