With the brand’s drivers used by three of the world’s five best golfers (as well as the arguable greatest of all time), the reveal of a new TaylorMade driver is all but guaranteed to go down as one of the biggest equipment stories of the year.
Now, with the end of the season approaching and a mere matter of weeks until the equipment machine properly fires up for the start of the 2026 calendar year, new models from all of the major equipment brands are beginning to filter their way into the public realm.
TaylorMade is no exception, and while their new drivers likely won’t be officially revealed for some time to come, they’ve had no hesitation in adding three new driver models to the USGA’s conforming list in time for this weekend’s DP World Tour Abu Dhabi Championship. As such, it’s given us our clearest picture yet of what we can expect TaylorMade’s 2026 driver offering to entail.
Apparently named the Qi4D, the new driver continues the naming convention TaylorMade laid down with the Qi10 back in 2023. Standing for ‘Quest for Inertia’, the name celebrated the Qi10’s status as one of the first models in the industry to crack the 10K MOI figure: a stat that has now become the industry standard for forgiving golf drivers.
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The first snapshot of TaylorMade’s new Qi4D driver. Courtesy USGA
TaylorMade continued this run with the Qi35 line this year: a model that despite firmly proving itself as one of the best drivers of 2025, didn’t quite endear itself with TaylorMade’s entire roster of staff players.
Given TaylorMade have elected to get the Qi4D certified in time for this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Championship, it’s likely that TaylorMade’s most notable staffers set to play at Yas Links, namely Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood, will be testing it out or perhaps even putting it in the bag.
So what can we gleam from the USGA photos about the Qi4D? First and foremost, it’s fairly minimalist in look, departing from the mint green accents of the Qi35 and adopting a monochrome colour palette.
Like most TaylorMade drivers to come before it, it’ll come in three models, all of which have been given USGA conforming status. The core Qi4D will be the brand’s all-rounder, equipped with a pair of adjustable weights for different shot shaping purposes.
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The Qi4D LS will provide a lower-launching, lower-spin option for better players, with a 15g forward weight and and a separate backward weights, while and the Qi4D Max will be the most forgiving of the trio with a 4g front weight and a larger weight placed at the back for maximum launch and MOI.
TaylorMade’s upcoming Qi4D Max and Qi4D LS
All Qi4D models list carbon as the face material, while the brand’s famed ‘Speed Pocket’ technology, which has been included on TaylorMade drivers for some time now, will also return to assist ball speeds across the face.
That, sadly, is all we’re allowed to know for now. However as soon as we get more official details, we’ll be sure to update this space.
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