The Green Fee Almost everyone released some kind of new product this week. I keep thinking we are done with launch season yet here we go another jammed packed week. I literally went through and opened tabs for every release this week and came across 1 releases. Thats an insane amount of releases and they include everything from golf balls to shafts. Ill seperate everything based on the type of product to keep it all organized
Drivers & Fairway woods
The big news on the wood side this week came from Tour Edge. After the huge news of them signing Bernhard Langer to their staff they introduced the all new 721 series woods. The 721 uses 20% more carbon fiber than they ever have. The leading technology in the new woods is what Tour Edge is calling the “Ridgeback” the Ridgeback is a stripe of titanium running along the middle of the crown. On either side you will find carbon fiber giving the clubs a *unique* look. In addition to the Ridgeback crown you will also see a modified 2.0 Diamond Face and an adjustable rear weight. I may not be the biggest fan of the look but Tour Edge makes a quality product and I wouldnt think this is much different.
Irons
Irons had 2 big releases. Both of which were surprises. We started with Srixon on Monday and on Thursday, PXG announced their new irons. Ive done a write up on the new Srixon irons here so I will focus on the new PXG Irons right now.
I have given my fair share of criticism to PXG. I have gone so far as to call them “Fancy Ping”. They have been known for their massive price tags. While they do perform well, its been hard to say they were worth the extra money. PXG created the 0211 irons back in January and they looked great. In addition to creating beautiful clubs they also dropped the price to a much more reasonable price. This week PXG added the ST version of the 0211. The ST version is a true blade iron. They are using the same carbon steel that Vokey uses in their wedges and the same steel that is used in the PING Blueprint irons. While it is a blade PXG did incorporate some forgiveness to the club. The first way they did this was by shaping the muscle on the back. By shaping the muscle so the weight is low and out towards the toe the MOI is as high as possible. Overall a beautiful club and at $150 a club reasonably priced for a forged blade.
Wedges
We didnt necessarily get *new* wedges but we did get some fairly significant options to already available clubs. We got new options to the Wilson Staff Model, The Taylormade Hi-Toe, and the Taylormade Bigfoot.
I have been a big fan of the look of the new Wilson Staff Model wedge. Nice classic lines. This update though doesnt feel like a big addition but it feels like a new option that should have been available since the beginning. Wilson is now offering a “Tour Grind”. Basically its a grind on the sole of the club that makes it easier to open up the club to provide better versatility around the green.
From Taylormade we get a new finish on their super popular Hi-Toe and Bigfoot models. Taylormades Milled Grind wedges have featured a raw face and that is moving over to the other wedges in the lineup. The raw face helps reduce wear and frankly it just looks awesome. Im a big fan of this moving to the Hi-Toe. As I have said multiple times, the more raw clubs the better!
Putters
If youre a putter guy or gal this was your week! Scotty Cameron updated his Phantom line, PXG expanded their Battle Ready line, and Cleveland added to their Frontline series.
Lets start with Scotty and the changes he made to the Phantom X line up. The Phantom X lineup hasnt gotten nearly the acclaim other Scotty camerons have but they obviously hope these new updates will help. As a refresher the Phantom are mallet style putters that feature a steel and aluminum body. This allows Scotty to move the weight out to the edges and create a huge boost in MOI and forgiveness. Scotty has made 4 new models. The new Phantom 5 and 5.5 look like an Odyssey 7. they have the fangs off the back but are a little more slanted and wider than the 7. The difference between the 5 and the 5.5 are the way the head attaches to the shaft. The 5 is close to face balanced while the 5.5 is more of a flow neck. We are also getting the 11 and 11.5 shaped head. The biggest change is the alignment mark goes all the way back on the head and the fangs have a tail. Overall a nice putter.
PXG putters dont move the needle for a lot of people. I will say I have always liked the look and feel but I havent always been interested in getting one. They expanded the lineup with the addition of the Mustang and the Bat Attack. The Mustang is the wide body blade version. Its got some “wings” but nothing too extreme. The Bat Attack is a Plumbers neck Odyssey 7. It looks great but its a 7. The lineup does include PXG’s optimized face texture and Tungsten weighting to increase MOI
Finally, we got Cleveland adding a plethora of models to their Frontline lineup. These putters are low-key a great putter. The technology used in these were kind of stolen by Taylormade with the FCG. The putters use tungsten weights on the face to move the weight forward. It lowers MOI but it does reduce the gear effect of the putter which increase the chance of the putt staying on line. The other aspect of the Cleveland putters is their SOFT face which is a special milled pattern that changes based on the putter model to help keep the ball rolling the same distance no matter where it is struck. With the lineup expansion we are getting a Number 9 shaped head, a widebody blade, a rounded square mallet and finally a plumbers neck 7 style. All in all a very underrated putter and Im excited to see the new shapes!
Golf Balls
Taylormade couldnt just let Srixon and Titleist have all the fun. They had to announce an update to the WILDLY successful TP5 and TP5x. The TP5 is the only 5 layer golf ball on the market. That many layers helps Taylormade optimize launch and spin for drivers all the way down to wedges. While some other companies produce a gradual core Taylormade instead uses the extra layers to have the same effect. The big story this year is a new dimple pattern. The new dimple pattern combines shallow dimples for reduced drag in ascent and when it is falling back to earth the deeper dimples maintain lift. When you combine those 2 types of dimples together you get maximum carry.
Shafts
This week was an interesting one for golf shafts. We got Fujikura going back to its roots and working on the entry level while TPT is attacking the upper end of the price spectrum.
TPT introduced a new 600 dollar Fairway wood specific shaft. Thats right a 600 dollar 3 wood shaft! I couldnt believe it either. TPT shafts got a lot of play when they first arrived to the market but slowly fell off as their shafts kept breaking for whatever reason. They have remerged with the red line up and have said their shafts wont break anymore. Not really sure what makes these shafts “fairway wood specific” but at 600 bucks I’d assume some decent R&D went into this one.
One the other side of the price spectrum Fujikura reintroduced their Vista Pro lineup. Some of you may remember the Vista pro as a beginner “aftermarket” shaft. It used better materials than the stock shaft that came in your driver but it didnt break the bank either. These new models will take a lot of the research they have used in the Ventus and other high end models to really fine tune the performance of the shaft.
