Forgiveness is for everyone as we review the TaylorMade Qi35 Max Fairway Wood

TaylorMade is offering maximum forgiveness with impressive customization in their new Qi35 Max fairway woods, and it’s a combination that’s going find its way into plenty of bags in 2025

With the TaylorMade Qi35 Max Fairway Wood, you’re going to be struggling to find a better fairway wood for forgiveness and ease of use in 2025. In fact, with the new additions to the adjustability of the Max model of fairway wood, there’s a real reason to believe this may be the most universal golf club the company has ever offered in the metalwoods category.

The three key focuses for Qi35 are Form, Function, and Fit.

We’ll get back to the first of those two in our categories below, but I think it’s worth taking a moment to discuss ‘Fit’ and why TaylorMade thinks it’s worth addressing as one of its big tenants going forward.

Every golfer is unique and therefore requires equipment suited to them to get the most out of their game. With the evolution of technology, our understanding of how many variations of the golf swing there are has increased dramatically, and therefore options need to be there to cover it.

You might be a golfer who struggles to find the middle of the face but also hooks the ball – a traditional high-forgiveness fairway wood, with its built-in draw bias, isn’t going to help with that but nor is the open-faced pro-orientated model.

Based on that learning, the brand has been at great pains to make sure that as many models as possible in the Qi35 series offer maximum customization.

So, with that in mind, how does the Qi35 Max fairway wood stack up?

Looks/Feel – 4/5

With ‘Form’ as the first of TaylorMade’s keys, it seems only fair we start there.

The Qi35 Max fairway shares some designs in common with both the Qi35 Tour and the Qi35 standard model fairway wood, most notably in its chromium carbon finish. It’s an eye-catching look to be sure, one that maps over the entire crown of the club before transitioning into a gloss metal on the sole.

Looking down at address, with the silver-grey weave of the carbon fiber knotted across the top, you’re given a fantastic frame for the golf ball, although not a distracting one as the satin overcoat helps return your focus back to the target in front of you instead of causing a distraction.

As the maximum forgiveness model in the range, it’s the biggest fairway wood of the four heads with the 3-wood at nearly 200cc. This size, designed to help bring CG (Center of Gravity) back, is meant to inspire confidence from its shallower, stretched-out look. TaylorMade has added a half-ring of black linework to the rear of the head to make the head look slightly smaller, and it does a good job, but there’s still an obvious difference in size when comparing all the Qi35 fairways.

The face height has also been lowered, again for ball flight goals, and the ball now noticeably sits higher than the top line of the club.

If I were a golfer who is struggling to create height, this look, no doubt, helps give the impression that the golf ball is going to get airborne. For someone who can already launch the ball, it worried me at address to see the face so low to the ground (although I will say that the fear doesn’t match the reality once I started swinging).

Technology – 5/5

The second focus of ‘Function’ means we can really get into the meat of the product’s purpose.

We’ve noted the size of the club, and most of it comes from a shape that is both flatter and longer. The purpose of this is to pull weight as far rearward as TaylorMade can, increasing MOI (Moment of Inertia) to stabilize the face during mishits.

Now, as amateur golfers, most of us are looking for more help for sure, but the one drawback with a rearward CG is that it can make it easier for the face to rotate through impact.

This rotation will, for golfers who do turn the clubhead over naturally, close the face too much and cause hooks, or over-drawing the ball.

To address the golfer that does want the off-center help, but doesn’t need to square the face up more, the new adjustable loft sleeve comes into play.

We mentioned fitting these clubs at the opening, and this is where the crossover with the ‘Function’ design ties in. The sleeve now lets you change loft by up to two degrees in either direction (the 15.5º 3-wood can go between 13.5º and 17.5º) as well as change face and lie angles.

This, coupled with the new TSS custom weight on the sole, means that you should be able to fit any golfer into the TaylorMade Qi35 Max Fairway Wood, regardless of their ball flight needs.

Performance – 5/5

While the TaylorMade Qi35 Max Fairway Wood’s forgiveness isn’t typically what I need in my fairway woods, it gave me a great chance to experiment with the setup to see if I could make this club – a design that often spins too much and hooks the ball – move the way I wanted it to.

Having set the Max 3-wood up how I best suited it (13.5º loft, face angle 4º open), I was delighted to see the launch and spin drop to far more optimal positions for me compared to the standard settings.

It’s still a high-draw shape, as I would expect it to be for me, but it’s a gentle movement and something I’d be more than happy to look at from the tee box or off the deck during a round of golf.

Conversely, I moved the adjustability to the opposite end (at 17.5º loft, and a 4º shut face angle) of the spectrum to see how much difference it would make to the shape.

When trying to hit cut shots, the TaylorMade Qi35 Max Fairway Wood has been impressive, without much movement at all.

Your mileage may obviously vary – and that’s why TaylorMade is encouraging you to get fitted with all the shaft and weight options that entails – but I’m comfortable in recommending the Max to anyone who suffers from slices in their game.

That shallower face that I keep mentioning also helps the ball leave the club nice and high, and it’s easy to get the face tight to the ground without the risk of skying your lovely new fairway wood.

Overall – 5/5

I said at the start that this might be the most universal fairway wood TaylorMade has ever built but I’d like to amend that slightly. This might be the most universal fairway wood that any company has ever built, it really is that diverse in its settings and configurations.

Coupled with the normal Max model is the Max Lite head too.

There’s too much similarity for a separate review of the Lite, but it certainly adds another string to the fitting bow, and if you are a golfer who needs to maximize their speed it makes for a great, lightweight variation of the standard TaylorMade Qi35 Max model.

I absolutely believe the TaylorMade Qi35 Max Fairway Wood will impress golfers with how easy it is to use, however, you choose to set it up, and TaylorMade’s decision to make this a product that can work for virtually every golfer has to be praised.

So am I going to play it myself?

No. But that ‘no’ is in spite of how well the club performs, not because of any fault in the performance.

Ultimately, my fitter put me into something different to create my optimal fairway wood, again emphasizing getting fitted with these woods, but how close the Qi35 Max fairway wood came to being the winning option is a testament to the quality on offer and probably says more than anything else I can write about it.

About the author

Lewis Daff

Lewis joined the Today’s Golfer digital team in 2024, having spent more than a decade in both big-box golf retail and independent stores working as a club fitter and builder.

Experienced with every level of golfer, from beginner to professional, he has achieved Master Fitter and Builder status with most major manufacturers, including Mizuno, Taylormade, and Callaway, helping him to cement both a wide and deep knowledge base, ideal for helping guide golfers towards the correct equipment for them. Lewis specializes in Clubs, Shafts, Training Aids, Launch Monitors and Grips.

In Lewis’ bag is Titleist GT3 Driver (9º) with Fujikura Ventus Black, TaylorMade SIM Max Fairway Woods (15º and 18º), Wilson Staff D9 Forged 3-iron, Srixon ZX7 MKii Irons (4-PW), Titleist SM9 Wedges (52º, 60º), Toulon San Diego Putter, and the Titleist ProV1X Left Dash.

Talk to Lewis about why steel shafts are now dead and graphite is the only way forward, or any other equipment you’d like to debate, via his email, Instagram, or Bluesky.

RRP: £309.00 / $349.99

Lofts: 3-15.5º / 5-18.5° / 7-21.5° (RH/LH), 9-24.5º (RH Only)

Head Size: 190cc / 175cc / 175cc / 165cc

Lie: 57-61º / 57.5-61.5º / 60º / 60.5º

Standard Shaft Length: 43.25" / 42.25" / 41.75" / 41.5"

Stock Shaft Options: Fujikura Air Speeder 50g

Stock Grip: Golf Pride Z-Grip Black/Silver