Better players typically prefer a compact fairway wood for easier workability, but they also want one with a hot face, and it would be nice if the wood could be forgiving for its size. Well, the only way to get all those things in a smaller package (both in volume and face area) is to use lightweight titanium. The Sim2 features a rare tita-nium alloy developed specifically for TaylorMade’s use in this tour-shape model, which is 11 percent smaller than the SIM2 Max. The alloy is 20 percent stronger than typical titanium, which allows the club to have an extra springy face. When combined with a carbon- fiber crown, the club’s lighter weight makes room for an 80-gram steel weight pad on the sole. That’s almost 40 percent of the head’s total weight positioned directly on the bottom of the club. Doing this lowers the center of gravity to just 12 millimeters from the ground, which puts it in line with the center of the face for the most direct energy transfer at impact. The V-shape steel weight pad stretches front to back along the sole and connects to an additional weight screw so that the compact frame actually has a higher moment of inertia (stability on off-center hits) than last year’s larger head. Read more >>