The New Year is more like Christmas for golfers because it’s at this time of the year that golf equipment companies start rolling out their new products for the new golf season, just in time for their world introduction at the PGA show in Orlando, Florida.
Golfers have complained about the rapid pace at which the golf manufacturers roll out equipment, but this phenomenon is not unique to golf. In other tech industries, the pace is even more rapid; take mobile phones or other electronic devices, for example. The rate of new product announcements is even more rapid there, but you don’t hear complaints from the tech geeks. It’s time we embraced these new products; one of them might hold the key to better golf.
Last year, some incredible products made it to market. Some, like the Titleist TS2/TS3 drivers, broke new ground for Titleist, others like the Rogue drivers, built on the successes of their predecessors and introduced improvements of their own. Irons are now being made with processes refined in the manufacture of drivers and metal woods. So just what does 2019 hold for us, the consumers?
Let’s break it down.
CALLAWAY GOLF
Callaway has the most to reveal this year, having revamped their lineup, pretty much from top to bottom in 2019; two new drivers, a new set of irons, a new hybrid, fairway metals, wedges and a new golf ball are all set to conquer the market this year.
Callaway’s headliners for 2019 are the Epic Flash and Epic Flash Subzero drivers. Callaway has the best narrative for 2019 for our money and the Epic Flash and Epic Flash Subzero drivers are poised to be the dominant drivers on the market today.
The Epic Flash twins are Callaway’s technology leaders; they’re crammed with every distance enhancing technology that Callaway has in their arsenal and then some. Jailbreak, the TC2 Triaxial Carbon Crown and the adjustable weight track from the original Epic driver are all present in the Epic Flash drivers. New here is that the weight track is also found on the Epic Flash Subzero, but the defining technology is Callaway’s new Flash Face, which they’re calling the fastest face in golf.
Flash Face was designed on Callaway’s new super computer, using artificial intelligence. The parameters were to design the fastest clubface in golf. The super computer went through 15,000 virtual prototypes before settling on Flash Face. For comparison, engineers usually do eight to 10 iterations of a clubface, before settling on the one they intend to produce.
The inside of the titanium face features dozes of what look like flowing ripples across the entire surface. It looks like the effects of a pebble dropped in a pond, but the structures work to increase the COR at the center of the clubface, which translates into longer drives.
It’s the most unique driver face in golf. It’s not something that’s intuitive either, comparing it to Callaway’s previous face technologies, X-Face and VFT, it is glaringly different. The wave configuration isn’t symmetrical, nor does the pattern seem logical. Yet, the ripples work together in a complex manner to maximize ball speed.
Of course, there’s also an accompanying suite of fairway metals to compliment the new drivers.
The Apex has been one of Callaway’s most popular irons in recent years. The Apex and Apex Pro fit a huge demographic of golfers and have been at the forefront of the new genre of player’s distance irons. While other players in this market have gone the route of using fairway metal manufacturing techniques, Callaway has stuck with its original formula for the Apex, using a 1025 forged carbon steel frame and a high-strength, high-speed carpenter steel face. For the 2019, the Apex gets urethane microspheres in the cavity as well as a metal injection molded (MIM) tungsten weight to precisely locate the center of gravity and to tune out unwanted harshness at impact.
Callaway’s putter brand, Odyssey, has unveiled its new range of putters, the Odyssey Stroke Lab and Odyssey EXO with Stroke Lab. Previously restricted to the Japanese domestic market, the newest line of Odyssey Stroke Lab putters is set to hit shops soon, as will the new Odyssey EXO with Stroke Lab.
At the heart of the new line of Stroke Lab putters is a method of weight distribution designed to improve the physical dynamics of the stroke. This weight distribution is achieved through Odyssey’s Stroke Lab shaft, which is a full 40 grams lighter compared to a standard steel Odyssey putter shaft.
The new Odyssey shaft design combines a graphite body with a steel tip, which in total weighs just 75 grams, with most of the weight concentrated in the tip. According to Odyssey, the addition of their new shaft and weight distribution results in better tempo and more consistency in face angle and the putting stroke. Putter shafts will never be the same again.
A new PM Grind wedge, designed by Phil Mickelson and Roger Cleveland, with modifications made to the previous iteration of the wedge suggested by Mickelson himself and a new soft feeling distance ball, the ERC, named after company founder Ely Callaway, round out the new products from Callaway.
COBRA GOLF
Cobra Golf throws their new King F9 driver into the thick of the driver wars. Cobra has thrown the kitchen sink at the King F9, using every technological trick in their arsenal at the new driver. According to the early releases, Cobra engineers identified a common problem in today’s driver designs: to get optimal aerodynamic properties, you must sacrifice other parts of the design. Cobra claims Speedback Technology is a revolutionary breakthrough in driver engineering and is the first to combine a streamlined, aerodynamic shape with a low center of gravity. Paired with the only CNC milled driver face, the King F9 driver should deliver substantial improvements in club speed, ball speed and distance without sacrificing forgiveness.
Three different models (9.0, 10.5 and 12.0) feature eight adjustable lofts and a front to back adjustable CG system, allowing golfers of all abilities (Tour to 25 handicaps) to find the perfect launch and spin configuration for their game.
Early test results have been very impressive. This is our pick as the sleeper driver of the year. The fact that it sell for significantly less than the drivers from Callaway, TaylorMade and Titleist could see the King F9 make its way into many golfers’ bags this year.
Of course, matching fairway metals should get to market at the same time as the driver.
Mizuno ST190 and ST190G drivers
Mizuno isn’t exactly a household name when it comes to drivers, but that belies the amount of work the company’s put into producing the best drivers they’ve ever built. To put it succinctly, the ST190 drivers are the most technologically advanced drivers in Mizuno’s storied history.
For the ST190 drivers, Mizuno started designing the drivers with their tour staff. Distance and low spin were the design goals and once they had achieved that, they worked backwards to build a club that was more playable by the vast majority of golfers.
The ST190 drivers feature a face made of forged SP700 titanium which is much stronger than the 6-4 titanium used by most other manufacturers. They feature a carbon composite crown and an Amplified Wave Sole that increases ball speeds across the clubface by controlling the clubhead’s deformation and rebound at impact. Mizuno also fine-tuned the drivers’ sound with what they’re calling Harmonic Impact Technology, which adds internal ribs to the structure to improve sound and feel.
The ST190 is designed for low to mid spin and will be the driver of choice for most golfers. The ST190G is the low spin offering, which features the company’s Fast Track Technology; two adjustable 7-gram weights to tune ball flight.
Unlike previous Mizuno drivers, the ST190 has already found its way into the bags of members of Mizuno’s tour staff. Could this be the driver that finally gets Mizuno some respect for its metalwoods?
PXG 0811 X and XF Gen 2 drivers
Before we delve into the technology behind the new PXG 0811 Gen 2 drivers, the really big story in most golfers’ minds is the price. PXG was well known to have some of the most expensive drivers in the game, certainly the priciest of the American brands.
The Gen 1 drivers sold for $850 a pop, their irons $400 a piece and the forged wedges an astronomical $650, so price is always going to be a hot topic when discussing any new products from PXG. So, here’s the big news—The Gen 2 drivers will set you back $575 each. And no, that’s not a typo; I didn’t leave a “1” off the price. $575 is it.
The company line is that most of the start-up costs have been amortized and PXG has decided, much to our delight, to pass the savings on to us. However, PXG is quick to point out that the Gen 2 drivers are still the most expensive in golf (barring the upscale, almost unobtainable Japanese luxury brands). With retail costs much more in line with the mainstream wing of the equipment industry, PXG has positioned itself to compete with Callaway, TaylorMade, and PING.
0811 Gen2 drivers feature what PXG calls Hot Rod Technology, which manifests visually as a raised, multilevel, variable thickness crown. The design itself was inspired by the performance and styling of American muscle cars. The rib structures help to stiffen the crown and reduce energy loss due to deformation at impact which, in turn, provides more consistent ball speed. An unintended consequence of the design is that the raised portion of the crown also serves as an alignment aid, which can help to frame the ball at address.
Fans of PXG are familiar with the weight screws on the sole. Many will notice that the number of weights has been reduced on the Gen 2 drivers. The X model features nine weights, while the XF features only five. The weights themselves are heavier than they were in past models. The heavier tungsten weights are 4.1 grams each, while the black titanium weights are just under .8 grams each.
The X is the “player’s” model. Although it’s 460cc or thereabouts, it’s got a taller face and is shorter from front to back than the XF. The CG is adjustable; moving the heavy screws to the face side of the sole lowers ball flight and keeping them back improves launch, much like the older Callaway Subzero drivers.
The XF is the high MOI offering and should be as easy to use as any driver on the market to date. The head is right at the limit of how big the USGA allows driver heads to be and the MOI numbers are right up to the limits set by the governing bodies.
Ball speeds are up too. Versus the previous 0811 X product, PXG says its tests show 1-2 mph higher ball speeds, a 300-400 rpm reduction in spin, 7-10 yards more distance, and 26 percent tighter dispersion. The XF is 1 mph faster than its predecessor and PXG claims dispersion is 34 percent tighter, to boot.
The performance upgrades and the lower price should bring PXG within reach of many more golfers than in years past.
TaylorMade M5 and M6
It wouldn’t be a new year without new club introductions from TaylorMade. It might seem odd that the most popular drivers of 2018 can’t stay on the market for more than one season, but such is the pace of development these days.
In a market where distance dominates the conversation, TaylorMade has always been at or very near the top year in and year out. This year, TaylorMade has made what they’re calling the most aggressive technological changes since the SLDR.
The marquee technology this year is Injected Twist Face. For those of you that have been under a rock last year, Twist Face was TaylorMade’s enhancement on a driver face’s bulge and roll. TaylorMade basically added a degree of loft of the clubface in the high toe and took away a degree from the heel for more gear effect that aggressively corrects the ball’s trajectory in the two areas that most golfers mishit the golf ball.
To improve on this, TaylorMade says the new M-twins start life with faces that are hotter than the COR limits set by the USGA and R&A then work backward to bring them back within the legal limits by injecting a resin into a cavity behind the clubface through two screws set low in the toe and heel. This allows the clubface to be closer to the COR limit than any driver in TM’s history.
Ball speed is increased in the M5 and M6 drivers through the interplay between a reengineered, more-flexible Hammerhead 2.0 slot, an ultra-thin titanium face with redesigned Inverted Cone Technology (ICT), internal support foam with variable amounts of injected resin, and a proprietary algorithm to tune each head.
The M5 moves away from the M3’s Y-Track and to an Inverted T-Track that allows for 1,770 unique CG configurations via the two 10-gram weights, as well as a range of MOI options. One degree of launch angle and 600 rpm of spin change adjustability, in addition to 25 yards of left-to-right adjustability. As with previous M Series drivers, the 2-degree loft sleeve allows for the adjustment of the loft, lie angle and face angle of the driver.
TaylorMade’s fourth generation of carbon composite technology furthers the aim of efficient mass distribution and an optimized center of gravity. In addition to the 460cc M5, TaylorMade is launching an M5 Tour model, which features a 435cc head.
The M6 features the same six-layer carbon composite crown and a full carbon fiber sole that is 54 percent lighter than the preceding M4. This allowed TM’s engineers to free up yet more discretionary weight to move low and to the rear of the clubhead for the most possible forgiveness and a lower center of gravity. For 2019, TM is introducing a draw-biased version, the M6 D, to help golfers fight a slice.
In 2019, Twist Face makes its way to the M5/M6 fairway metals and hybrids. New M5/M6 irons will also come to market, complementing the new metalwoods with what TM is calling Speed Bridge Technology, which is basically a high-strength, mass-efficient structural beam spanning across the cavity back of the club to connect the top line with the back bar of the iron.
Speed Bridge works in concert with a thru-slot Speed Pocket, which changes how the iron face performs during impact by shifting the point of maximum deflection lower on the face. According to TaylorMade, this activates the Speed Pocket more efficiently, delivering extra flexibility over a large area of the face and delivering faster ball speeds than their previous irons.
Both irons also feature a new HYBRAR Compression Damper, which aims to control and minimize vibration for a soft and solid feel and an ultra-thin face design with TaylorMade’s patented Inverted Cone Technology.