Taylormade SIM Max 3 Wood Review
The Taylormade SIM family of clubs emerged onto the scene in 2020 and received great reviews like this one on the Golf Digest 2020 Hot List & this one by us! The Taylormade SIM Max 3 wood got great reviews as well. However, 3 woods can sometimes be optional given the popularity of hybrids. All the more important to know what you’re getting into if you’re thinking about buying a new fairway wood!
In this post, Bogey Buddy reviews the Taylormade SIM Max 3 Wood and we hope it helps you decide purchase this club, brand new or gently used, as it could make a difference in a lot of golfers golf game.
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OVERALL 4.3/5- Very Good
How we See It: We don’t think you can go wrong if you choose to purchase the SIM Max 3 Wood. It looks great like all of the SIM clubs and performs nearly as well.
Looks 5/5- Outstanding
Feel 4/5 – Excellent
Performance 4/5 – Outstanding
Value 4/5 – Excellent
How Does the SIM Max 3 Wood Look?
In The Bag
The Taylormade SIM Max 3 wood looks great before you take the headcover off. The fairway wood’s headcover is a sleeker version of the driver’s with the same blue accents paired with the black, white and gray leather main colors. (check out our review of that club here)
Removing the headcover showcases a sleek sole. The sole is mostly black save for the white outline along the edges and some subtle blue accents a little nearer to the center of the club.
The SIM logo is displayed prominently down the center of the club leading your eye to the “V Steel” and “Speed Pocket” call outs close to the face.
Over The Ball
We love the way this clubhead looks while we’re at address. That black-grayish, almost snake skin covers the majority of the head and is a great contrast to the stark white that outlines the face. A small Taylormade emblem sits in the middle of the top of the face designed to help you line up your ball.
For a fairway wood the clubhead is large and seems almost a tad long in that it extends further away from the face than most. Really nice visuals on this clubhead that help frame up that 2nd shot on a long par 5.
Grips & Shafts
This club comes with Fujikura Ventus Blue Graphite stock shafts which matches the rest of the club beautifully. The shaft is a slightly deeper blue than most of the markings on the head of the club. However, it still works well and looks great with the white trim elements.
Taylormade is far from a slouch when it comes to getting the look of its clubs right and the Taylormade SIM Max 3 wood is no exception. We love everything about the design of this club and give it a perfect score for looks. 5/5 stars for Look.
How Do The Clubs Feel?
From The Grip
The SIM comes with Golf Pride grips standard which are very nice and should last along time. We tested the Fujikura shaft at regular flex and there feels like plenty of whip in this stick.
For us shorter gents at Bogey Buddy, the club does feel a bit long for us when we’re gripping it. That might add to why we feel like we can really whip it, but we feel like some players may need to cut down the shaft to have this fit properly.
During the Swing
Similar to the SIM Max Driver, you can really feel the weight of the clubhead when you swing this club through the hitting zone. The weight of the clubhead gives the feeling that you’re getting that oh-so-precious lag and sledge hammering into the ball at the moment of impact.
At Impact
A well-struck shot with this club is a beautiful feeling. Fairway wood tend to be a little harder for us to hit at Bogey Buddy due to the narrower face than the driver and we normally pick out the higher lofted hybrid as a result. That said, there’s no denying that this club sounds and feels solid when you pure it.
Outside of the Taylormade SIM series running a tad long, there is a lot of good here with feel. The fairway woods feel like clubs that will generate a lot of speed at the bottom of the arc of the swing. 4/5 stars for Feel.
How Does The Taylormade SIM Max Driver Perform?
Distance
You’re not going to get any complaints from Bogey Buddy on the distance we see out of this club. For us, we except a 3 wood to go 225 yards and the SIM Max gets us all of that and more when we hit it well. Best part is that it travels very well even on strikes that are a bit off center.
Accuracy
The SIM Max models have bigger faces than their SIM counterparts and we think that helped us achieve greater accuracy with the 3 wood as well. This club tends to be one that we have trouble keeping straight in our game and the length of the club for our height my contribute to some of the spraying that we do.
That said, we did find our dispersion of shots to be narrower than normal with the 3 wood so the club still receives high marks for accuracy just like it got for distance.
Forgiveness
The SIM series shines in the forgiveness column across all of the types of clubs that we’ve tested. We particularly like the SIM Max and SIM Max-D models given their larger face size because that really seemed to increase our ability to keep the ball in play and hold most of our distance.
Despite being a generally difficult club for us to hit, we find the Taylormade SIM Max 3 wood to give us everything we’re looking for in a fairway wood. The SIM series is a knock-out in terms of performance. 5/5 stars for performance.
Is the SIM Max 3 Wood a good value?
Fairway woods tend to come in a little less expensive than drivers do for single clubs, but its still nothing to sneeze it. Brand new, this club would’ve cost you about $299 buying through Taylormade.com, but now you can snag one of these for about $50 off of that.
Overall, we think Taylormade clubs represent some of the best value you can get out of any equipment in the game of golf. For the quality brand, strong performance and sharp looks, we still think this club is a great value.
Seeing as how the club is a few years old and you can snag it for a lower price, we think the SIM Max 3 Wood is a great value. 4.5/5 stars for Value.
What Does Taylormade Say About The SIM Max 3 Wood?
The folks at Taylormade talk about a handful of things related to their fairway woods. The first is the “V Steel” sole plate which is meant to keep the club sliding on the turf rather than digging in. We didn’t notice big problems with chunking the ball with this club so maybe that was why!
Related to the V Steel is the “Thru-Slot Speed Pocket” which adds a bit of flexibility to the sole of the club for the same reason as above.
One thing we love that Taylormade is the marketing speak related to its multi-material construction. V Steel! C300 Steel! Composite Carbon! Any idea what those mean? Nope, but sounds cool to us so I’m buying.
Lastly, “Twist Face” technology is also on the fairway woods to give you a bit extra help keeping the ball straight. Hard for us to buy this one, but, hey, we’ll take what we can get.
Final Thoughts on the Taylormade SIM Max 3 Wood:
Overall, we highly recommend the Taylormade SIM Max 3 wood. We gave this weapon an overall score of 4.3/5 – an “excellent” score. We’ve been playing a SIM Max fairway wood in our own bag for several years now and don’t really see a reason to change.
Between the known quality of a Taylormade club, the sharp looks and the performance of 3 wood even on mishits, we don’t think you can go wrong by purchasing a SIM fairway wood if you’re in the market for a new or used one.
Other FAQs
Is the Taylormade SIM Max forgiving?
Forgiveness is one of the key benefits across the lineup of Taylormade SIM Max clubs. From the driver, to the irons, to the fairway woods, its hard to find a series that is more forgiving than SIM Max.
In the case of the woods, the slightly larger face is what helps give it some forgiveness on mishits. There is also loads of other technology that keeps your ball more straight, more often.
Do high handicappers need a 3 wood?
Interesting question. Generally, a high handicapper probably doesn’t need to carry a 3 wood and might be better served carrying a full lineup of hybrids or other higher lofted clubs. Reason being, lower lofted woods are tougher to hit off the grass and the faces tend to be a bit bigger on hybrids.
What is the difference between Taylormade SIM & Max 3 Wood?
There are a few small differences between the base SIM and the SIM Max for the 3 wood. Most notably, there is a ZATECH ultra-strong titanium face on the SIM to help the ball come out “hotter” or at higher ball speeds. There is also more adjustability on the loft for the SIM if that is important to you.
On the downside, the SIM model is a little bit more expensive than the SIM Max due to the extra tech. We’re more fans of the SIM Max and would recommend that for the everyday player.
How Bogey Buddy Does Reviews
At Bogey Buddy, we test every product we review and put on our best of lists. We don’t do anything overly scientific – and that’s the point. Our mission is to provide information that the everyday golfer can understand.
If you have any questions about our process or just want to provide feedback on one of our posts, feel free to comment below. See you out there bogey buds!
