The Green Fee Today was the first “official” day of the PGA Show and we got some doozies! We heard from Cobra explaining in more detail why their drivers are better, Mizuno releasing new woods and telling us their new marketing strategy, and XXIO released some VERY high end clubs.
ST210 Drivers
This was probably my favorite session of the day. Mr Voshall from Mizuno did an excellent job of explaining the idea and the process behind the new drivers. When thinking of Mizuno not many folks are thinking of woods and Mizuno is ready to change that idea. We should be prepared to see Mizuno in some places we havent seen them marketing before. The most telling part of the session was when he called some competitors “marketing companies”. It is a subtle thing but one that really caught my attention. Mizuno has always been first about performance and it seems these are going to be winners for them. I cant wait to get my hands on them and give them a go. Ill also be doing a more in depth look at the technology in these clubs in the upcoming weeks.
Cobra RAD Speed
Another interesting session today was the Cobra RAD Speed. They really went in depth on why the Radial weights in the new driver are better. They have never really been one to harp on the weighting in their driver but this year they are HEAVILY focused on weighting. The weights closer to the face increase ball speed and the radial weights in the back give you maximum forgiveness. They have more weight in the extreme areas of the club (Front and back) than any other competitor. Callaway has a lot of weight up front (Jailbreak) that leads to huge ball speeds but may lose some forgiveness with not much weight back. Taylormade has their Inertia generator which places a lot of weight back. That leads to maximum forgiveness but they may sacrifice some ball speed. Cobra with the use of these radial weight has a larger amount of weight in the extreme parts of the head. It should lead to maximum ball speeds and forgiveness. Overall avery intriguing product.