TaylorMade Qi4D Driver Review: Reclaiming the throne in style

While they remain perhaps the most influential of all of golf's OEMs right now, it's not an exaggeration to say that TaylorMade needed to get things right with its new driver for 2026.

The Qi35, while a driver that looked great and performed well in the hands of most amateurs, almost overwhelmingly made headlines for the wrong reasons. 

Issues with small manufacturing inconsistencies in the face from club to club, caused primarily by TaylorMade's process of hand-grinding each face to shape, led to a notoriously slow uptake by TaylorMade's tour staff, as well as common reports of customers not seeing the same performance between the club they were fitted for and the club they'd eventually receive in the post. Most famously, headline players Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler ultimately opted not to put it in the bag at all.

2025 is behind us, however, and TaylorMade's focus is firmly on the future. And with the launch of its new driver for 2026 named the Qi4D, it seems TaylorMade has made a major breakthrough, not only improving drastically on the Qi35, but creating a package compelling enough that Rory, Scottie and Tommy Fleetwood, the world's three top-ranked players right now, have all immediately put it into play.

Of course, designing a club to be hit with the speed and consistency of the world's very best players is one thing. But can the Qi4D deliver an even better package for the everyday golfer compared to TaylorMade drivers of years gone by, and how does it stack up against the best new drivers of 2026? 

Thankfully, we were invited along to TaylorMade's Qi4D launch at their Kingdom HQ in California to get fully acquainted with what could be their most important driver in recent times.

Check out our video review below and scroll on to read our detailed thoughts. Let us know what you think of the new range in the comments below, and be sure to check out our review of the new TaylorMade Qi4D irons and Qi4D fairway woods here.

Looks and features

While, at first glance, the name would have you think that the Qi4D is more of an incremental upgrade over Qi models of old, in some ways the its updated moniker doesn't really do it much justice. TaylorMade have changed a lot about this driver compared to the old model, and effectively rebuilt their entire manufacturing process from the ground up in order to create the club you see before you.

The 4D concept refers to what TaylorMade calls the four dimensions of speed, which to you and me just means the four basic elements that make up the club. First, and most importantly in the case of the Qi4D, is its new face which is made from a new carbon-based material and has a new curvature designed to reduce the impact of off-centre hits (particularly on the vertical axis). This, in combination with the Qi4D's improved MOI, new cut-through Speed Pocket and Carbon Twist Face design, means that TaylorMade have managed to unlock spin reductions of up to 50% on some parts of the face.

None of this means anything if the product isn't consistent, however, and perhaps most importantly the brand has also introduced a new machine finishing process that guarantees the face of every Qi4D driver should, in practice, be identical.

Second of all is the shaft, where TaylorMade has made big strides by partnering with Mitsubishi on a new custom range of shafts designed to cater for a wider range of swings. Named the REAX line, this selection was last seen in 2016 and makes its return as an exclusive in-house option for TaylorMade fitters, with the white, blue and red band models engineered to cater for players with varying rotation and release points in their swing. 

While other shafts from brands like True Temper and Fujikura will still be offered (ironically, we ended up being fitted into an aftermarket shaft with the Qi4D), TaylorMade expects that the REAX line should prove a fit for the majority of presumptive Qi4D players.

A driving motivation for TaylorMade's engineers going into 2026 was the notion that they wanted each of their new models to feel as distinct from one another as possible. As such, the four new models (namely the Max, Qi4D, Qi4D LS and Qi4D Lite) are far more distinguishable from one another than we saw in the Qi35 range. 

The core Qi4D model reverts back to the much-loved shape of the Qi10, with a more compact profile that adds forgiveness and adjustability through the addition of a new quad weighting system. Here, players can tweak their set up to produce more forgiveness, ball speed, and produce both fade and draw biases, with the idea being that the core, rather than the ultra-forgiving Max, should be the driver that suits most golfers.

TaylorMade have adopted a fairly minimalist aesthetic identity for the Qi4D's design, offsetting the lashings of matte carbon that fill the crown and sole with a subtle metallic navy and golden accents. TaylorMade have also addressed an alignment issue that cropped up for many golfers who struggled to square up the TwistFace design at address, placing a white line over the top of the crown that now makes it much easier to align properly. We think it looks absolutely brilliant.

Performance

Straight off the bat, the key takeaway is that the core model Qi4D driver is so forgiving that, in our fitting session at least, it simply wasn't necessary to even test the 10K MOI Max model (although a review of that particular model is forthcoming). That should tell you plenty about just what TaylorMade have achieved with this driver.

The Qi4D is exceptionally easy to hit and unquestionably more consistently fast than the Qi35 (although just by how much we're yet to confirm until we bring out the launch monitor). The new face design and geometry has brought the model on leaps and bounds compared to that of both the Qi35 and the Qi10, with consistent results and drastically reduced dispersion on errant strikes, with TaylorMade claiming that they've cut down unwanted spin by up to 50% off certain areas of the face. 

The feel at impact will be familiar to players used to TaylorMade drivers, with the brand once again hitting the sweet spot in creating a face that feels effortlessly powerful and neither overly hollow nor clicky. You just get that brief sensation of the clubface almost grabbing the ball before release, with a sense of power and speed that's almost soft.

Perhaps the biggest peace of mind factor, however, is the simple fact that the driver you're fitted into will be the driver you receive at pick-up, with every driver face now machine manufactured to be completely identical. This is a huge selling point over the former model.

In terms of its overall profile, the Qi4D cuts a much more distinct figure in relation to the max compared to the Qi35. TaylorMade have done an outstanding job packing as much forgiveness as they have into a profile that's noticeably more sleek than the 10K option, and the Qi4D's quad weighting system makes adjusting the driver to suit a wider range of swings an absolute breeze. 

As such, we agree with TaylorMade's prediction that the base Qi4D will suit a much wider range of drivers compared to other core models, with the Max reserved more for players who really need that boost in MOI.

Should you buy the TaylorMade Qi4D driver?

TaylorMade have knocked it out of the park with the Qi4D, delivering a driver that erases the known faults of the Qi35 while building a platform that immediately places itself streets ahead of the former Qi10 and Stealth models. It's telling that according to TaylorMade's own fitters, Rory McIlroy himself declared that the 4D was improvement over its predecessors almost immediately, which goes a long way to explaining why he was seemingly so eager to get it in the bag.

The Qi4D is a club that performs as good as it looks, with tons of forgiveness for a core model driver and an expanded array of fitment options bolstered by its new custom suite of Mitsubishi shafts (although plenty of other stock shafts are available). It's fast across the face, produced outstanding dispersion numbers when properly dialled in, and thanks to its return to the much-loved Qi10 head shape, offers an entirely different profile at address that we absolutely love.

TaylorMade Qi4D Golf Driverfrom £549.00 at Scottsdale Golf

Whether or not the model's new range of stock shafts will fit the majority of golfers really remains to be seen, and we feel that the average joe buying one off the rack might have a tricky time figuring out exactly what shaft suits their rotation profile. Consequently we feel more than ever that this is a driver that really needs to be custom fit to get the most out of it, and there's a solid chance that, like us, you might not even end up with one of the REAX shafts anyway.

Even so, many brands moving more and more players into forgiveness and MOI-oriented Max models, it's refreshing to see TaylorMade use their core model driver as the real heavy lifter, offering a balanced, customisable profile for golfers of all levels. The proof, quite frankly, is in the pudding, and we feel that this is well and truly the driver to beat for 2026.