NEW YORK — Building on the foundation of the successful Burner line, TaylorMade introduced the company's AeroBurner metal woods — driver, fairway wood and rescue — at an event on Thursday evening.

According to TaylorMade, the name AeroBurner comes from the product's "advanced aerodynamics," a performance variable that TaylorMade's R&D department has used in the past to design faster driver heads.

To improve the club head speed in the driver, fairway wood and rescue, a small fin — called an "Aero hosel" — was added to the heel of the club that reduces drag during the downswing. A raised center crown and rounded toe section also help improve the aerodynamics of the club.

MORE: Read about TaylorMade's new R15 series of metal woods here



Along with an aerodynamic design, the AeroBurner line has the largest Speed Pocket that TaylorMade has ever produced. The Speed Pocket in the sole allows the lower portion of the face to flex more effectively at impact while also stretching the sweet spot lower on the face to help golfers hit the ball about the same distance on off-center shots.

"For the golfers who missed the phenomenon that was RocketBallz, or for those who are ready to upgrade to more speed and distance in their metal woods, AeroBurner is what you are looking for," said Brian Bazzel, TaylorMade's senior director of product creation for metal woods. "We’ve drastically improved the performance of the sole’s Speed Pocket and significantly improved the aerodynamics to deliver maximum speed to the golfer."

AeroBurner driver

TaylorMade's 460cc AeroBurner driver ($300), available Jan. 9, 2015, features a Speed Pocket in the sole that is double the size of the first version that was introduced with the JetSpeed line. Increasing the size of Speed Pocket, which boosts balls speeds on off-center shots, forced TaylorMade engineers to get creative the club's design.

To maintain the low and forward CG position that's become a staple of TaylorMade metal woods in recent years, engineers added a non-adjustable hosel that helped extend the length of the Speed Pocket across the entire face for improved performance.

An Inverted Cone design, a technology TaylorMade has used in every driver since the R500 Series in 2002, was also milled into the inner side of the clubface. The design promotes higher ball speeds on off-center hits.

Sticking with the speed theme, AeroBurner comes standard with matte a 50-gram Matrix Speed Rul-Z shaft that brings the total club weight to less than 300 grams. The driver will be available in four lofts — 9.5, 10.5 and 12 degrees — as well as a High Loft version.

The AeroBurner driver will also come in a Tour Preferred version that has Matrix Ozik 6X4 White Tie shaft and longer .335 hosel that allows for a variety of TP shaft offerings ($70 upcharge).

AeroBurner fairway wood and rescue

The AeroBurner fairway wood is a blend of two of TaylorMade's most successful fairway wood designs — the RocketBallz fairway channel and through slot of the JetSpeed fairway wood.

“The original RocketBallz represented a breakthrough in performance which started a whole new replacement cycle for fairway woods," said Bazzel. "We have continued to pour R&D resources into better understanding the potential of flexible sole boundary conditions which has led us to AeroBurner, a fairway with our largest Speed Pocket ever. We are now achieving driver like launch conditions with a fairway wood."

Combining the two designs allowed TaylorMade to create a larger Speed Pocket in combination with an extremely low and forward center of gravity (CG). The face size of the fairway wood is also 2.5mm shallower for better playability from the turf, and the sweet spot (COR) — it's reportedly double the size — increased to boost forgiveness and ball speeds.

AeroBurner ($230) comes standard with a 43.25-inch Matrix Speed RUL-Z 60 shaft that's shorter than previous fairway wood offering to improve playability while maintaining speed from the new aerodynamic head. The fairway wood comes in four models — 3, 3-HL, 5, 5-HL and 7 — with a non-adjustable hosel.

Like the fairway wood, the AeroBurner Rescue ($200; Matrix RUL-Z 70 shaft) has a larger open channel Speed Pocket that boosts ball speeds; a white crown and black contrasting face; and a crown alignment that helps with accuracy and consistency.

Shortened 1/2-inch to improve playability and forgiveness, the Rescue also features a high-strength, Ni-Co 300 Superalloy Steel face and precision-cast crown with Thick-Thin crown technology that produces a lower and more-forward CG location by varying the thickness of the crown. Both designs are part of TaylorMade's AeroBurner fairway wood.

In addition to the standard version, TaylorMade will offer an AeroBurner TP fairway wood ($300) and TP Rescue ($270) that sit two degrees flatter and one degree more open. The TP fairway (Matrix Ozik 7X4 White Tie shaft) has a more compact head shape and deeper face that make it a preferred option off the tee, while the TP Rescue features Matrix's Ozik HX4 White Tie shaft.