PXG has been somewhat of a unicorn here. Although representatives of the company visit the country from time to time, you had to know someone who knew how to touch base with them to arrange a fitting appointment. Then there was the inconvenience of having to pay in foreign currency and, the wait for your club to be built and shipped to you. Not the easiest transaction.
All that changed earlier this year when J-Ten Sports, country distributors of Srixon, Cobra, Cleveland and a host of other brands, won the right to distribute PXG in the country. Now, arranging a fitting is as simple as walking into one of the numerous Srixon Proshops.
The timing was great for the Philippines as PXG’s formal entry into our market coincides with the introduction of the PXG Gen 2 line of clubs. This is a significant event since PXG has committed itself to not release new product until it is significantly better than what’s currently on the shelves. And, if you follow this section, you’ll know the Gen 1 clubs were very, very good.
As an introduction to PXG’s Gen 2 line, we managed to spend some range and course time with the 0811 X Gen 2 driver. As with most distributors these days, PXG carries two functionally different drivers; the X is the low spin monster and the XF is the more forgiving, easier to hit model. You can get almost any shaft on the planet in your 0811 driver, many premium shafts are available at no extra cost. But it’s what you’d expect for a driver that will set you back a tad over 50-grand.
To improve on the Gen 1 drivers, PXG drew inspiration from something really fast and unmistakably American—the hot rod. The obvious difference between the generations is apparent at address; there’s a bulge on the crown of the Gen 2 drivers reminiscent of the bulge on the hood of one of the straight-line monsters that inhabit American freeways.
On any high-performance piece of equipment, with wheels or without, nothing is added that doesn’t provide a performance benefit. The bulge on the crown creates a reinforcing structure that limits deformation of the clubhead on impact. This transfers more energy back to the golf ball and should result in an increase in clubhead speed.
One of the design goals for the Gen 2 drivers was to improve how they felt at impact. It was a complaint voiced by existing PXG customers, and PXG listened. Gen2 drivers again feature PXG’s proprietary Thermoplastic Elastomer honeycomb insert. The TPE sole insert dampens vibrations and enhances feel, as well as the drivers’ acoustics. It takes a different form in the soles of the 0811 X and 0811 XF drivers, with the X having more TPE toward the face of the club. It creates a very unique feel; it’s slightly muted but very solid. It does feel somewhat like a persimmon wood head but with a distinctly metallic note.
The 0811 X features a very low CG that falls. One hundred sixty below the axis line and even farther forward, which in turn reduces spin (which has always been the key criticism of the Gen 1, i.e., that it spun too much) and enhances launch conditions. This is well below other current drivers, which should make the 0811 X one of the lowest spinning drivers on the market.
Both drivers include precision-weighting technology. The weights are larger and heavier than those in the 0811 models but offer players the same ability to adjust based on a draw/fade bias and alter launch angle and spin. More specifically, the 0811 X has three 4.1-gram silver tungsten weights and six 0.8-gram black titanium weights. The XF has three of the silver weights and two of the black.
This allows quite a bit of adjustment for the 0811 X driver. PXG claims an increase of 400 MOI from 4400 to 4800 by moving the heavier screws to the back of the clubhead. Not the most forgiving of the low spin drivers but far better than most of its competition.
We are intimately familiar with other drivers in this niche, especially the class-leading Callaway Epic Flash Subzero. Hit back-to-back on the driving range and on the golf course with identical shafts, both clubs produced very similar results. We didn’t have the benefit of a launch monitor, but the golf balls hit by either driver finished within a few yards of each other.
We tried two Graphite Design Tour AD shafts (TP and VR) in both Epic Flash SZ and 0811 X, and the shafts both felt more pliant in the PXG. The 0811 heads weigh in at 206 grams each, 11 grams more than the Epic Flash Subzero, which accounts for the discrepancy in feel. It didn’t seem to affect performance at all.
While we did not have a launch monitor at our disposal for a detailed comparison, the field tests showed that the PXG is more than a match for the Epic Flash Subzero or any other driver in the segment. If the same holds true with the 0811 XF, it should be one of the most forgiving drivers in the market.
Then there’s the elephant in the room; the price. Either of the 0811 Gen 2 drivers will set you back a cool P53,000. To put that in perspective, that’s P11,000 more than the Epic Flash Subzero, but roughly 30-percent less than the old 0811 Gen 1.
Although still high, PXG’s prices no longer seem unreasonable. The performance is there waiting to be unlocked. The 0811 drivers are available with a variety of Graphite Design Tour AD shafts for the stronger golfers and Mitsubishi Chemical’s ubiquitous Bassara in weights as low as 40 grams for those that need more assistance.
Are the PXG drivers worth the premium? That depends entirely on you. The performance benefits are undisputable and there is the unmistakable cool of having something in your bag that few others do. If you admire Bob Parsons’s renegade spirit and some of the coolest clubs on the planet, then you need to give PXG serious consideration.