February 20, 2018 – Some weeks ago MyGolfWay.com had the chance to speak, in exclusivity for the Spanish market, with Brian Bazzel, Vice-President of Product Creation of TaylorMade Golf, about what is behind the new Twist Face Technology.

For over 18 years, Bazzel has played an integral role in developing breakthrough technologies for the company, including Moveable Weight, Speed Pockets, Multi-Material Designs, and now the Twist Face, brand’s latest game-changing innovation.

Making golf easier and more enjoyable for more players has been a constant for the company, which created the first metalwood in 1979. TaylorMade has done it yet again, pushing the boundaries of driving potential with the Twist Face technology with the new M3 and M4 drivers. This is a radical departure from traditional driver-face design, engineered to correct for typical miss-hit trends that involve all levels of golfers.

The beginning of a breakthrough named Twist Face technology started after studying some compelling data from the R+D Team. With the thousands of human swings captured, they were able to understand more exactly than in the past, what happens to the golf ball at impact. Then they discovered that the traditional “bulge-and-roll” driver face wasn’t performing with humans the same way it does in robot testing. There was an opportunity here to explore a solution that could correct for it.

Everyone miss-hits golf shots – average golfers frequently do, and also the best players in the world. And the trends for all are surprisingly similar, from low-heel to high-toe in 90% of strikes. Studying the face angle relative to the path of the club, the TaylorMade design team understood why the traditional bulge-and-roll wasn’t working. As a result, they reshaped the driver faces to account the swing tendencies, engineering the Twist Face, with more loft and a more open face in the high-toe area to increase spin and help minimize the toe-hook. Then, they reduced loft and slightly closed the face in the low-heel to help minimize the spinny heel-slice that so many golfers battle against.

Twist Face is designed to ensure that you hit it straighter. That, combined with the new Hammerhead slot, provides golfers with the best mix of accuracy, speed and forgiveness.

MYGOLFWAY: Would you consider the new M3 & M4 drivers an evolution of the M family of 2017, or a new product construction design?

BRIAN BAZZEL: I believe the M3 & M4 is a revolutionary change from the M1 & M2, and the main reason for that is the new Twist Face. The bulge and roll, the curvature of the face, hasn’t really changed for a hundred years. In the Twist Face we actually discover how to provide more accurate shots, straighter shots, for golfers of all levels, based on the data that we have now, based on how the golfers actually present the club at impact when they are miss-hitting it. So the new Twist Face is designed to bring balls back to centreline when they’ve been hit off centre.

MGW: Can you explain the origin of the idea of the Twist Face as a game-changer?

BB: The bulge, in 1988, was the first convex face. Now over the last ten to fifteen years we have been able to study golfers swings, and we’ve looked at more driver swings that really any other golf company in the history of golf. And now we can study that to a degree that we never could before, and what we have discovered is that shots that are hit from different zones, and most shots are hit from the low heel to high toe on the face, are not averaging out to being on the centreline, which the curvature of the face is supposed to be designed to do. And now with that insight, and knowing what golfers are doing to create their shots, we can figure out what the right curvature is, in order to help those shots when they are miss-hit. And this is what Twist Face is doing.

And so the discovery process which happened three or four years ago was obviously an exciting moment for us, and now its even more exciting as we’ve finally brought the product to life.

MGW: How do you think the Twist Face technology can help the amateur player to be straighter?

BB: We are going to reduce more side spin on shots for amateur golfers, and by doing this we are going to help them to go straighter. We can’t solve all the problems for golfers. I wish I could! They have straight-path and face-angle challenges, but what we can do is make them the best they can possibly be, and I think this is what Twist Face is doing.

So custom fitting still is hugely important, and the M3 driver allows you to do that more than any other driver, but the Twist Face is going to make it a lot straighter for them.

MGW: Twist Face, Hammerhead slot, Y-Track, Geocustic technologies… but personally, what you like most about the new drivers?

BB: Honestly, I am most proud of the Twist Face, because, again, when I saw the data four years ago it was one of those moments when you say… oh my Gosh! That is going to be game changing for every golfer, when can we get it done, how do we solve it, and its now finally come to life. If this Twist Face wasn’t on this product, what I see in the Y-Track and the connection with the Y-Track, which was also very difficult to do, is something that I am very excited for, for the fitters, but nothing really trumps the Twist Face.

MGW: Do you remember what happened when the drivers first came into the hands of Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Tiger…

BB: In fact we have five of the Top-12 players, and I had the chance to work with them, and they fell in love with the product immediately. When we showed Tiger the new product, and he doesn’t switch very often, he showed a good appreciation of we’ve done, and he’s put the product into play as well.

MGW: When Jon Rahm tested it for the first time, do you remember what he said?

BB: Yes, I did spend some time with him. We all agree that Jon is not only a great person to work with, but his reaction to the new product was amazing. He fell in love with the M4, and I’m quite happy if he chooses the M3 or the M4, whichever one works for him. That was the one he felt he could hit all of his shots with, because it felt more accurate to him.

You know he hits a lot of drivers, and he is an aggressive player, and for him it’s important to have a driver that is very accurate. It’s like saying ‘I’d rather to be closer to the hole in the trees than laying further back and behind the trees’. I think the Twist Face is going to help him to go further and straighter.

MGW: What do you think about a Spanish player such as Jon Rahm being involved in the company? Is he like the relay to Sergio Garcia?

BB: No, with Sergio was spectacular, I loved working with Sergio, and with Jon… I got to know him over the last year and a half, and he is an incredible person. Very genuine, a great storyteller, very articulate about what he sees in the product and how he plays golf. I enjoy every moment I am with him!

He is the second in the world, in just one year! The Majors are waiting for him.

With no doubt, like the Tour players, average golfers who play the M3 or M4 drivers will have a distinct advantage over any other driver thanks to the Twist Face technology.