Realizing everyone doesn’t have time to consume endless content on club launch day, we’re offering a fresh version of our detailed tech write-up that focuses on the high points. Here’s what you need to know about TaylorMade’s Kalea Gold women’s club line that’s available for pre-order in stores and through TaylorMade’s official site for $1,899 (10-piece set plus bag).
Package set
Mention the word “package set” to a female golfer and there’s a good chance you’ll catch an eye-roll. For years, women golfers had few options in the marketplace until TaylorMade principal engineer Michelle Penney came along and created a line of Kalea clubs that broke the one-size-fits-most mold.
If the initial release of Kalea was a welcome surprise, consider TaylorMade’s Kalea Gold line the new gold standard for women’s clubs. (Yes, we went there.)
“We decided to name this line Kalea Gold because we wanted to set the gold standard with our second premier women’s line. We’re building on the momentum of Kalea Premier to create a premium product line through design, technology, and performance,” Penney said. “The most important part of the DNA of this product is that it’s designed by women, for women. Kalea Gold represents a new and fresh way of thinking about women’s golf club design.”
To create the premium lineup, Penney’s team tapped four distinct groups to help shape the clubs — TaylorMade’s women’s advisory board, their own women’s golf and social club, women’s data-driven/perception test panels and Kalea Premier online reviews. The women’s advisory board is comprised of female industry professionals in the golf space located across Europe who teach and fit, while TaylorMade’s women’s golf and social club consists of company employees who provide real-time feedback on everything from colorways to grips. TaylorMade didn’t want to leave any stone unturned during the design process.
What Penney’s team learned from the feedback was women preferred more “elegant colors,” like white, blue and gold, as opposed to the soft pastels used in previous cycles. The clubs needed to be lightweight, forgiving and perform, but they didn’t have to be super game-improvement. Yes, the line is designed with first-time golfers in mind, but a significant group of Kalea Gold users are making it their second or third set of clubs.
In other words, they needed to look good and perform for a wider group of playing abilities.
Carbon coming
Go back and look at the previous Kalea Premier line and you’ll notice the driver is missing the carbon face found on the most recent Qi10 driver. That will change with Kalea Gold. The driver in the line utilizes Carbonwood construction throughout the head, which allows for a redistribution of weight that’s strategically returned to the structure to optimize energy transfer, launch and improve ball speeds.
The Kalea Gold driver is meant to be faster and more forgiving than its predecessor on off-center strikes. Mass optimization also made it possible to include a 2-degree adjustable loft sleeve and TSS weight for precise tuning during the fitting process.
The fairway woods feature a carbon crown, Speed Pocket and Inverted Cone face — Speed Pocket and Inverted Cone can be found in the Rescues as well — that combine to produce a higher launch and improved downrange dispersion.
Cap is back
Designed around a thinner profile than the Kalea Premier, TaylorMade’s Kalea Gold irons take a page from Qi10 with the inclusion of a cap back design merging the benefits of hollow body iron with a more traditional cavity back by replacing a large section of the rear with a lightweight carbon cap. This helps to lower the center of gravity, providing a better feel. An Echo Damper was also added to the head to tune sound and feel.
And for golfers who need help turning the ball over, each iron in the set has a progressive upright lie angle for a built-in draw bias.
The 10-piece includes a Kalea Gold putter that utilizes Spider S construction and a multi-material design to reduce twisting at impact for a more consistent roll. The blue body, grey True Path alignment and gold trailing edge provide a reliable alignment line that also fits in with the overall colorway of the Kalea Gold line.
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