Have you been thinking about what improvements TaylorMade has made from the 2012 Rocketballz driver to the 2013 RocketBallz Stage 2? We've got the low down from one of our scratch golfers on staff. We did the testing, now here are the results. 

Golfer: Jeff Bushnell | Handicap: 0 | Age: 36

TaylorMade RocketBallz Stage 2 Set Up

RBZ Stage2

Driver Loft: 9.5 Degrees (adjusted to 10 Degrees)

Face angle: Neutral

Length:  46 inches

Shaft: Stock TaylorMade Rocket Fuel by TaylorMade 50 gram Stiff Flex 

Swing Weight: D4

Frequency: 272 CPM’s

Golf Ball Used: Titleist Pro V1

The Testing

During testing the driver was tested 20 times using Hurricane Golf's Vector Ball launch monitor with the Titleist Pro V1 golf ball. I then averaged the top 10 results to base this review off of.  

The Numbers

Average Club Head Speed: 108 mph

Average Ball Speed: 161 mph

% Increase of ball speed versus club speed: 33%

Average Ball launch angle: 11.6

Average Ball Spin: 1988

Average Carry Distance: 260

Average Roll: 31

Average Total Drive: 291

The Analysis

My current driver is the TaylorMade R1 so I must say I was intrigued when asked to put the RocketBallz Stage 2 through its paces and see how it performed. When checking the specs and setting up the golf club to my preferences, I was a little surprised by one of my findings. When the Stage 2 driver was put on our frequency analyzer, at 46 inches it came out to 272 cpm’s (cycles per minute). This is incredibly rigid for a shaft marked as a stiff as 272 cpm’s is on the high end of an X-Stiff flex bordering on 2X. Other than that everything else on the RBZ Stage 2 came out about as I expected.  

The swing weight is a little high for my liking, however at 46 inches, D4 is in line with where it should be. The RBZ Stage 2 driver I tested was a 9.5 degree and it allows you to increase or decrease loft up to 1.5 degress at .5 degree intervals. The RBZ Stage 2 driver also allows you to choose a more upright lie setting where the loft can also be changed in the same fashion.  

Once warmed up and on the Vector Ball Launch Monitor I was very pleased at the overall aesthetics and performance of the RocketBallz Stage 2. Although there isn’t any adjustment for the face angle on the golf club, I was happy to see that it set up nice and square at address.  I’m not much of a fan of the graphics they are putting on the top of drivers now, however these are not over the top and after a few swings I didn’t even notice them.  The feel of the RBZ Stage 2 driver was very solid and the Titleist Pro V1 ball jumped nicely off the club face. I did seem to launch the ball slightly lower than normal and the spin rate was also down a little bit from my norm but I have to believe the launch angle and spin is due to shaft being stiffer than what I would normally use.  

The Final Verdict

In conclusion, other than the shaft being out of spec, the other aspects of the TaylorMade RocketBallz Stage 2 tested very well.  This golf club is stock at 46 inches long so I was a little more erratic with this club than my normal R1 driver (45”), however the drives I hit solid did go farther. I picked up an average 2 MPH of club head speed and the overall distance with this Stage 2 driver was around 7 yards longer than my current TaylorMade R1 driver. If you struggle to hit the fairway with your driver, going with a longer golf club is not always the best answer. Although if picking up few extra yards outweighs overall driver accuracy, this might be the right golf club for you. Chicks do dig the long ball.

BUY THE NEW RBZ STAGE 2 DRIVER HERE

BUY THE NEW RBZ STAGE 2 TOUR DRIVER HERE