The RocketBallz is the new family of products which TaylorMade have launched for 2012, and I must say from the very top of this golf club it looks like a fairly traditional hybrid. With a nice white anti-glare finish and the black club face helping alignment, when you look at it from the top you'll wonder what all the hype is about.

But it's not until you turn it over and see this dramatic speed pocket that TaylorMade have introduced to the hybrid that you realise just truly how good it is.

The speed pocket produces much faster ball speeds off the club face. Not quite as dramatic as the fairway wood, because that really did hit the ball much further, but it does increase your distance.

The speed pocket has also allowed TaylorMade to move the centre of gravity slightly lower and further forward, giving a much higher launch angle with a lower spin rate.

It's got a lovely deep club face, and that also increases the moment of inertia, so anything hit off-centre will be much straighter.

I'm going to head off to the driving range and hit a few shots, because the new lightweight shaft and the grip should help me swing it faster, the speed pocket will help me hit it further, and the deeper face will help me keep the ball straighter. It all sounds perfectly legible, scientifically, to me, so I want to go and put it into practice and see whether this is the hybrid for 2012.

Well I've just had a good few shots on the driving range with this hybrid. I have to say, from a technology viewpoint, it does exactly what it says on the tin. It does hit the ball further, it is a lot more forgiving, but I think most importantly for me as a professional, it just sits so nice to the ball; it looks fantastic.

I know that all the technical aspects are really important - we all want to hit the ball straighter and further and it does do that, but I think equally they've really got the aesthetics so perfect with this. It looks amazing.

I haven't really mentioned it before with the other RocketBallz products that I've reviewed, but I love the green, grey and black flash on the paintwork; it just looks really good, and in tune with the grey and green finish on the shaft - it looks really cool, this product, and quite young too - it's got everything going for it, so I think 2012 is going to be a real bumper year for TaylorMade.

Get out, have a hit with it and enjoy it - if you like it as much as I do, you'll be taking those long irons out and putting this hybrid in.

What the Web is Saying

"The TaylorMade RocketBallz Rescue is rescue with a rocket attached to it for more speed and easier launch out on the golf course." - americangolf.co.uk