TaylorMade M1 fairway wood review

The Golf Monthly TaylorMade M1 fairway wood review, a club that features the same carbon crown as the M1 driver and two sliding weights to change shot shape

TaylorMade M1 fairway
Golf Monthly Verdict

The M1 fairway combines playability and distance, making it an extremely versatile weapon to have in your bag. The black and white sections make it easy to align and the feel from strike points across the face is explosive. Forgiveness levels are also impressive, especially with the two 15g sliding weights split, leading to a mix of yardage and accuracy everyone should try at least once.

Reasons to buy
  • +

    A solid, powerful feel from a wide face area. High launching from the deck producing exception carry distances

Reasons to avoid
  • -

    The Front Track still gathers dirt when hit from the fairway

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The Golf Monthly TaylorMade M1 fairway wood review, a club that features the same carbon crown as the M1 driver and two sliding weights to change shot shape

The M1 fairway wood is TaylorMade’s first multi-material fairway, featuring the same carbon composite section on the crown as the M1 driver.

Where the R15 fairway wood had one 25g sliding weight, the M1 fairway wood has two sliding weights, giving golfers the option of splitting the two weights to the perimeter to raise forgiveness.

While we didn’t have access to a launch monitor during our brief testing period at the launch event, using a 240-yard post (confirmed with a laser) for reference was a decent starting point to assess the M1 fairway’s performance.

Down at address, the M1 fairway sits squarely behind the ball with the slight kink where the titanium meets the carbon composite actually helping to position the ball centrally in the face.

M1 Fairway wood

My usual carry from the tee with a fairway wood is around 245 yards and the M1 equaled this and on some particularly well-stuck shots, flew well past this. While it was difficult to determine exact carry and total distances, what was clear was that the M1 is up there with the best on the market in terms of distance.

The feel off the face is one that is both solid and powerful, just like the driver. While the sound may not be quite and head-turning, the forgiveness levels were very impressive, with slight mishits holding their line admirably and losing minimal yardage.

The shape of the face makes it sit flush to the turf on fairway shots and the low CG helps the ball get up in the air with relative ease. One minor qualm is the amount of dirt that gathers in the front track, requiring the user to regularly pick out pieces of dirt with a tee before returning it inside the headcover.

All in all, the M1 fairway’s performance was just as impressive as the driver and should be place considerably high on your test list.

The M1 fairway wood is available in three lofts: 3 – 15°, 3HL (RH only) – 17° and 5 – 19°. All will have the Fujikura Pro 70 shaft in X, S, R and M flexes with an RRP of £249.

Joel Tadman
Technical Editor

Joel has worked in the golf industry for over 12 years covering both instruction and more recently equipment. He now oversees all product content here at Golf Monthly, managing a team of talented and passionate writers and presenters in delivering the most thorough and accurate reviews, buying advice, comparisons and deals to help the reader find exactly what they are looking for. So whether it's the latest driver, irons, putter or laser rangefinder, Joel has his finger on the pulse keeping up to date with the latest releases in golf. He is also responsible for all content on irons and golf tech, including distance measuring devices and launch monitors.


One of his career highlights came when covering the 2012 Masters he got to play the sacred Augusta National course on the Monday after the tournament concluded, shooting a respectable 86 with just one par and four birdies. To date, his best ever round of golf is a 5-under 67 back in 2011. He currently plays his golf at Burghley Park Golf Club in Stamford, Lincs, with a handicap index of 3.2.


Joel's current What's In The Bag? 

Driver: Titleist TSR3, 9° 

Fairway wood: Titleist TSR3, 15° 

Hybrid: Titleist TSi2, 18° 

Irons: Ping i230 4-UW

Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM8, 54°. Titleist Vokey SM9 60° lob wedge, K Grind

Putter: Evnroll ER2V 

Ball: 2023 Titleist Pro V1x