Tour issue clubs....Whats different about them?

Tour Issue basically means that they are manufactured to tighter specifications then normal clubs and also often have attributes that normal clubs do not.

If you take a look at the "tour issue" clubs, or Tour Authentic as Callaway terms it, these tend to be the Players category clubs. No Diablo Edge irons here. Callaway's latest tour authentic offerings center around the X Prototype irons, played by* Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson, or X Forged (Phil carries the 4 iron). The X Prototypes evidently are special order. Never seen any in stores; only seen pictures, plus a few sets on Callaway Preowned.

Back to reality... Except for scratch golfers, most amateurs lack the "tour issue" swing to really capitalize on these well-tuned clubs. We have too many wobbles and glitches in our stroke to benefit from lofts and lies within a quarter-degree of perfect.

Average golfer can come as close as he needs by getting a loft and lie check each spring on his irons.  If through manufacturing glitch or bag wear your 6i and 7i end up a degree apart in loft, this will mess up your distance yardstick. Same problem if your 5i is two degrees flatter than the rest.

Quote:

Lefty said   ".... a driver head you buy stock at the store that says 9.5 could range anywhere from 9-10 degrees."

Also check the woods, just to know what you actually have as far as face angle and loft. Bought an Air Zevo driver a few years back that had "square face" on its specs tag. When I got to mid-season, however, I tended to have trouble hooking the ball. Got it checked out on a launch monitor, and found out I got best hits at "2* open." A clubhead check showed the driver had a 2* closed face. Solution: Go with slightly open stance.

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* Info courtesy of Golf Digest's What's In My Bag section