Taylormade M4 Fairway Wood Review – Is it Forgiving & Good for High Handicappers?

“The M family of woods from Taylormade has been one of the company’s most successful lines.”

And it’s clear to see why. The M family is known for being forgiving, offering great turf interaction and producing a deep, rich sound when you make pure contact.

But does any of that equate to a good fairway wood for high handicappers? That’s what we wanted to find out in this test session.

We tested the Taylormade M4 to see how it holds up against its predecessors and to see how viable it is for high handicappers.

The Taylormade M Fairway Wood Family

“If you’re not thrilled with the Taylormade M4 fairway wood, the M3 is still a solid club.”

The Taylormade M3 fairway wood sports a slightly smaller head so right off the bat, it’s a little less forgiving.

However, the Taylormade M3 launches slightly higher and plays a little longer – mainly by producing lower spin rates than the Taylormade M4 fairway wood.

Is it Good for High Handicappers?

“The Taylormade M4 features two classic taylormade game improvement features…”

Namel, inverted cone technology and the Speed Pocket. The inverted cone design will cover your high-toe misses while the Speed Pocket will increase ball speed on low-face mis-hits.

Overall, this is a good combination for high handicappers because these are the sections of the face where they typically mis-hit.

In addition, the Taylormade M4 features split mass weighting which breaks up the weight pad in previous M models into two separate weights placed near the heel and toe of the club head.

In our testing, we could feel that the Taylormade M4 produced straighter flight on lateral mis-hits as well. So you’re covered pretty much everywhere on the face.

The Taylormade M4 also has a pretty large footprint. The 15° (3-wood) version has a 176cc head volume while the 18° (5-wood) version has a 156cc head volume.

Both versions look very assuring at address if you’re a high handicapper.

Is it Forgiving?

 “The Taylormade M4 saves a little weight here and there thanks to a fluted hosel and the GeoCoustic sole design.”

So while the Taylormade M4 has a pretty large head, it doesn’t come at the cost of swing speed.

The Taylormade M4 feels light and manageable throughout your swing so you can really load up on it without excessive effort.

Something else we really liked about the Taylormade M4 was that it offers up really smooth turf interaction.

It didn’t matter if we were in the rough, semi-rough or on the fairway, it was really easy to make clean contact and scoop the ball out.

The face is very forgiving as we discussed in the previous section. Ball speeds were consistent (around the 145 MPH mark) as well.

The Taylormade M4 also plays very straight. Usually, we were only getting diversions of 1.4 – 1.8 yards on mis-hits – very impressive figures.

So it’s not hard to keep the ball on-line with the Taylormade M4. And with the limited diversion yardage, you are likely to gain those yards back in the form of carry distance.

Difference Between the Taylormade M4 and the Taylormade M3

“The Taylormade M3 fairway wood has a more compact profile than the M4.”

The Taylormade M3 fairway wood also doesn’t play as straight as the M4.

While it produces slightly higher launch angles, the M3’s range of lateral divergence is significantly wider.

In other words, you have to be more accurate with the Taylormade M3. However, back and side spin rates are lower with the Taylormade M3.

Available Shafts

The Taylormade M4 isn’t the newest fairway wood from the company so in 2023, your stock shaft options are limited.

The only shaft you can get direct from Taylormade is a Fujikura Atmos Red 5 Fairway. In regular flex, you’re looking at 55 grams. The amateur flex version is 54 grams.

Is the Taylormade M4 Fairway Wood Worth it?

“The Taylormade M4 is definitely worth it if you’re looking for a forgiving fairway wood that plays clean in a variety of lies.”

Plus, you can get it directly from Taylormade for around $200.

It’s a great deal on a fairway wood that will likely improve your accuracy and offers the forgiveness that high handicappers need.