Three new TaylorMade SIM drivers have been added to the USGA conforming list of club heads, one of which was featured in an Instagram video posted by Dustin Johnson, who will be competing this week at the PGA Tour’s 2020 kickoff event, the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.
The TaylorMade SIM drivers added to the list, which also includes left-handed versions, features three main models. One identified as SIM features what appears to be a weight that slides in a track toward the front of the sole. A second, SIM Max, does not have the weight track, nor does a third, SIM Max D. Each appears to feature a keel-like structure on the sole, along with the phrase “AERODYNAMIC SOLE DESIGN.” That sole structure is centered but angled slightly, somewhat mirroring the inside path the club travels coming into the ball.
The sole also features the phrase “SPEED INJECTED,” likely a reference to the manufacturing process the company introduced with its M5 and M6 drivers a year ago. With that idea, a resin is injected behind the face to bring it just under the conforming standard for spring-like effect. The faces are manufactured extra thin to be illegal under the rules for coefficient of restitution and the resin is used late in the process to then inch the clubs back into conforming status.
All the drivers appear also to employ a covered channel in the sole just behind the face. This is likely the next iteration of the company’s “speed pocket,” a slot in the sole designed to allow the face to give more at impact to create better rebound across a larger area of the face. In the past, the company has introduced three new drivers at the start of the year, with the third model being a draw-biased version known as “D-Type.” The SIM Max D likely would fill that role.
Johnson posted the video Sunday during a practice round for the Sentry Tournament of Champions.