Sneak Peak at Callaway’s 2006 New Products

It wasn’t long ago that Callaway Golf unveiled the long-awaited Big Bertha Fusion FT-3 driver. It’s been a solid hit at retail, but the season is drawing to an end. Several companies – including Cleveland, Cobra, Ping and Titleist – have already announced and/or shipped new products with next year in mind, and TaylorMade is expected to announce new products any day now.

Callaway gave some of its key accounts a sneak peek at what new products it will be bringing to market in the first part of next year at the recent PGA Fall Expo in Las Vegas. The Bag Drop has the scoop on those new sticks, some of which are already in the bags of tour players as prototypes.

The biggest new product Callaway will add to its lineup in 2006 is the Big Bertha X460 driver. Unlike the titanium/composite combo design of the company’s FT-3, the X460 will be all titanium. The driver sports a dark finish, and those who have seen it say it’s the best-looking Callaway driver in years. It is longer from heel to toe than the FT-3, with more hitting area.

One interesting design element of the X460 is a new sole configuration meant to help the driver set up square at address. There is an concave area of relief in the center of the sole, meaning the front and the back of the sole are the only parts that touch the turf when you ground the club. By having two points of contact rather one, the X460 automatically squares up – unlike many supersized drivers, which tend to swivel closed at address. The sole design also adds a bit bounce to the clubhead, which will help improve contact when you hit behind the ball. (Not that you ever drop-kick a drive. Of course not. Neither do I.)

Like the FT-3, the X460 will be available in a “tour” version with slightly different weighting and a more open setup. Seeing the success of offering a premium shaft (the Aldila NVS) in the FT-3, Callaway will add a big-name shaft to the X460. There are still a couple possibilities, but prototypes have been spotted with Fujikura Tour Platform shafts. The X460 is similar to the X-18 driver Callaway recently unveiled in Japan, but without the X-18’s composite crown and with a slightly different head shape.

Joining the X460 in the lineup will be a new line of X fairway woods. They’ll have a compact, lower-profile design that is somewhat reminiscent of the classic S2H2 woods – the precursor to the original Big Bertha. The X fairway woods will be stainless steel, and they’ll have a similar sole design to the X460 driver. The X fairway woods have already been used on tour by the likes of Charles Howell III and Rocco Mediate.

Look for the X460 to fill the $299 price point under the $399 FT-3 for Callaway, with the Big Bertha 454 sliding down to a lower price point. Look for them to ship in the first month or two of 2006.

Another addition to the Callaway collection for ’06 is a new line of forged wedges from famed designer Roger Cleveland. Aside from his considerable success with his namesake company, which he left in the mid-90s, Cleveland has had a major impact on Callaway’s designs since joining the company in 1996. His third line of forged wedges for Callaway will likely be called the X-Tour wedges, following the success of the X-Tour forged irons.

Those who’ve seen the wedges say they are truly classic-looking blades, with higher toes and lower heels than previous Callaway Forged Wedges. The teardrop shape is sure to be a hit with tour players, and Phil Mickelson has been an early adopter. Mickelson has helped test a new concave sole that will be used in the X-Tour wedges, meant to help the leading edge get under the ball before the trailing edge makes contact with the ground. This increases spin and ensures crisp contact. The lob wedges (58 and 60 degrees) in the X-Tour collection will also have a new groove design that is meant to compete directly with wedges like Titleist’s Spin-Milled Vokeys and TaylorMade’s RAC Y-Cutters. The X-Tour wedges will be available in a satin chrome finish that matches the X-Tour irons, along with a raw finish, and will be forged from 1020 carbon steel. No retail release date is set at this time.

Callaway’s sister brand, Odyssey, will also have some new models hitting stores early in 2006 to join the recently announced Dual Force 2 putters. Odyssey will release a new line called SRT for Saturn Ring Technology. These will be mallet putters with a large half-circle freestanding weight running 180 degrees around the perimeter of the putter head. This weight is visually reminiscent of the weight bar design of the Scotty Cameron Futura Phantom or the Ping Doc putters. The SRT putters are big, and they make it appear that there’s no way to miss a short putt.

The first putters in the Odyssey SRT line will be a White Steel models: One will be a redesigned Two-Ball model, and another will be a new Tri-Ball model. What’s a Tri-Ball? Well, picture a Two-Ball putter with one more ball-sized alignment aid on the top. Yep, that’s one big putter. These super-large putters have a higher MOI than other Odyssey putters. Large, MOI-centric putters have done very well lately, and Odyssey should sell a ton of the SRT putters. They’ll be real conversation pieces in golf shops and on the greens next season.

Firm release dates for all of these products should come sometime in January, certainly by the PGA Merchandise Show, which kicks off on Jan. 26, 2006. There are likely to be other surprises sprung by Callaway in the meantime, but the new products that are now on the radar signal that the retooled company is intent on recapturing some of its lost market share.

If you’ve been lucky enough to see any of these products in a tour player’s bag or in a sales rep’s hands, leave us a comment below and let us know what you think.