Welcome to the first Bag Drop at our new Tuesday morning home. Let’s get right to the good stuff. As expected, some new products are coming to light prior to this month’s PGA Merchandise Show & Convention. Last week, two new Callaway Golf products were unveiled – one introduction was intentional, while the cat jumped out of the bag on the other.
The cat, as it were, is a new line of hybrids from Callaway. The company will soon announce a line of Fusion hybrids to match the Fusion FT-3 driver and Fusion fairway woods currently in the company’s lineup.
The new Fusion hybrids were spotted in the new issue of Golf Digest, where they are part of the magazine’s annual Hot List. The Fusion hybrids have a stainless steel body with a carbon composite top, and a deeper face than Callaway’s existing Heavenwood hybrids.
How did the Fusion hybrids make it to Golf Digest before Callaway officially introduced them? Knowing it would be introducing the new hybrids some time this month – right around the time Golf Digest hit the stands – Callaway must have decided to get the magazine some testing samples a month or two early. Good move: The Fusion hybrids were given a thumbs-up in the Hot List, earning “Recommended” status. Expect an official announcement on the new product any day now from Callaway.
The “official” introduction from Callaway last week was the 2006 Big Bertha Irons, the third iteration of the company’s all-steel game improvement irons. The ’06 model isn’t radically different from the 2004 version. The biggest visual difference is a sharp new black-and-red cavity medallion. Under the hood, the main upgrade is a change to the undercut cavity channel that shifts weight further from the clubface, which helps improve forgiveness and lower the center of gravity. The ’06 Big Bertha Irons also drop the confusing 10-iron from the set. The 2002 and ’04 Berthas had a 10-iron that was equivalent to the pitching wedge (46 degrees) in other Callaway iron sets. Then what was an A-Wedge (50 degrees) in other sets was called the pitching wedge in the Berthas. I liked the idea behind this – that something with only 46 degrees of loft isn’t really a pitching wedge – but calling it a 10-iron just made people say, “Huh?”
The ’06 Big Bertha Irons are also available with new Royal Precision MicroTaper shafts, which are 110-gram uniflex models, as well as graphite shafts, and have a suggested retail price of $999 with graphite shafts and $760 with the Royal Precision steel shafts. Yes, lefties, they’re available for you, too. The ’06 Big Bertha Irons are scheduled to start hitting golf shops next week.
Another company dropping new products last week was Nickent Golf, which rolled out two new models in the Pipe putter family. The PP 004 and PP 005 models are blades outfitted with the distinctive white pipe alignment aid Nickent has used on three previous models of Pipe putters. The PP 004 has a crank-neck hosel, while the PP 005 has a flare-tip shaft and a shorter gooseneck hosel.
As with the other Pipe putter models, the white Pipe section of the putter has a tungsten weight at the end, serving to move weight away from the front of the putter to improve the Moment of Inertia (MOI) for better roll. Having had a chance to submit both new models to a quick indoor test, I can say that they are worth a second look if you’re in the market for a new putter. The impressive bright orange putter covers will also help your golf bag stand out from the rest at the bag corral. Suggested retail price on the new Pipe putters is $149, and they’re available at golf shops now.
And one quick note from the first PGA Tour event of the season. Jim Furyk finished third at the Mercedes Championship in his first event as a Srixon staff pro. Furyk, late of Top-Flite and Ben Hogan, is under contract to play a Srixon ball and forged wedges, and is working with the company on a custom set of forged blades.
Furyk went back to his old Titleist 983K driver for the Mercedes, and he’s free to use whatever driver and woods (he’s been partial to Sonartec in the past) he wants. This is a good move by Srixon, as Furyk is a well-liked, fairly high-profile player. The company’s golf balls already have a good reputation, and Furyk might get a few potential customers to check out Srixon’s slick forged gunmetal wedges. And since he likes to swap out his putters and woods as the mood strikes him, the deal gives Furyk plenty of freedom.
So far, the switch is working. Furyk finished third at the Mercedes on the strength of four consecutive 72s.
Other new equipment sightings at the Mercedes included Vijay Singh teeing it up with Cleveland Golf’s new HiBORE prototype driver, and Sergio Garcia putting TaylorMade’s new R7 425 TP driver in play.