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Now residing in Arizona from her native Germany, it was a short hop to The Kingdom in Carlsbad for Team TaylorMade member Esther Henseleit to join up with Tour maestro Adrian Rietveld to discover the all-new Stealth 2 range and setup her bag ready to tackle a mixed season of Ladies European Tour and LPGA events.
Last season Esther spent a lot of time with Adrian to dial in every aspect of her bag, with tweaks being made to irons, and a change in her golf ball. This gave her the confidence in her equipment which saw a visible change in her performance the latter part of last season. So her recent visit to The Kingdom really allowed her to focus on the new product line up, a quick change over into the new P7MC irons which are a direct replacement of her spec from last year, loving the feel but also the new look iron.
“Esther commented on the look being a lot sharper which suits her eye a lot, which is good to hear, we like to ask all of our athletes for feedback as this often helps the team with ideas for future products” - Adrian Rietveld, Senior Manager Tour, TaylorMade Golf
The main difference in performance on the irons being in the replacement of the P770 which spins a little less and carry’s 3-4 yards more which Esther didn’t mind, but the real swinging point for them going straight in the bag was the improved consistence in her distances. Having the irons dialled in, and a direct replacement rescue slotted right into the gapping it was onto the new driver.
More time was planned in getting the driver right but found that it performed well right off the bat. Wanting to be certain that it was a real fairway finder, a few small tweaks were needed as Esther is a big fan of seeing the ball draw in the air. We began the comparison, Stealth 2 Plus versus the Stealth 2. With the Stealth 2 Plus a small tweak to the lie angle and CG by moving the weight, Esther was turning the ball over more than she liked. We tried the Stealth 2 with a little less loft, due to this naturally launching higher than her previous Stealth driver, this gave the ball flight and shape Esther has full confidence in. With the head chosen it was time for the real test,
“Esther is a very rhythmic player, and she naturally finds fairways, but as golfers sometimes we have to give it a little more, we asked Esther to give it all she had to test out the dispersion, and swinging harder didn’t affect it must at all” - Adrian Rietveld
With Esther’s driver being her main club off the tee the needs of her three wood are a little different. For this number she has a set total distance she requires, including carry and roll, which can obviously change based on course conditions. This is where the new movable weight technology comes up clutch, allowing Esther to adapt to the playing conditions by moving the weight either forward for a strong three wood, or back for more of a four wood. Having the Stealth 2 Plus three wood paired with the Stealth 2 five wood, allowing a similar carry but much more stopping power it really sets Esther up to be making the most of her accuracy for her approach shot into greens.
Last but certainly not least was the putter for Esther, she had previously been using a blade model but moved to a Spider GT last season. Toe hang is important for Esther, especially with the control of her putting stroke, and with the weight being back in the Spider GT it wasn’t allowing her to release the putter as efficiently as she would have liked. So, she tested out a few putter options gravitating back to the blade style of the TP range, which affords Esther the toe hang she seeks to feel comfortable on the greens.
To round out Esther’s equipment with what could be seen as the most important part, as it’s the one constant throughout the round, is golf ball. Esther has been using the TP5 all of last season, however Adrian had discussed with her about testing the TP5x.
“She was struggling a little bit around the greens, but having done some testing with her, our suggestion to her that we test the TP5x more extensively. Just to give a little bit a little bit less spin and a little more distance in terms of her ball flight. After a little bit of discussion Esther agreed and I sent her over some of Tommy’s TP5x PIX” - Adrian Rietveld
Testing with the PIX allowed Esther to be able to compare the two different models with ease, and also offered feedback on her short game testing and work on the putting green. After concentrated testing over the winter Esther came to the decision that not only did, she prefer the TP5x but also quite liked what the PIX ball offered her.
“When testing the TP5x in the PIX model I found that I preferred the feedback and concentration it offered me on and around the greens. It allowed me to feel more focused on my stroke than my alignment, as that was already dialled in." - Esther Henseleit