Category: Clubs

Wedges really have not changed much lately, especially since the inception of the new groove condition of competition back in 2010. We used to hear from OEMs yearly about “Y-Cutter” grooves or “Mack Daddy” grooves or “Zip Grooves,” and now – nothing. In the ever-popular evolution vs. revolution dichotomy, what we have seen with wedges doesn’t even register on the scale.

We have seen refreshes and we have seen steps-up, but nothing show-stoppingly innovative, nothing that will truly blow your socks off with technology.

Callaway isn’t necessarily here to change that. Callaway is going to offer their typical brand of understated refinement, and to bring a certain amount of elegance to the wedge game. After the slightly flashier X-Forged and JAWS lines of wedges, the Forged Wedges are minimalist, simple, and great-looking. And from a variety of lies, they perform great.

That’s as good a reason as any, but is it enough of a reason to buy a few over similar offerings from Titleist and Cleveland? Read on to find out.

Continue reading “Callaway Forged Wedges Review”

It’s easy to see that the big boys dominate the golf club industry. Big companies like TaylorMade, Titleist, Callaway, and PING sell a lion’s share of the clubs purchased by the millions of duffers every year looking to improve their games. So when a small company like Brex Golf pops up and gets some attention, it is often worth it to take a better look.

Brex golf was nice enough to allow me to get a first hand look at their unique putter and fitting system, and put it into play for several weeks. It was an eye opening experience; lets see how it went.

Continue reading “Brex Golf BG-1 Putter Review”

Over the last handful of years, Callaway Golf has released numerous drivers trying to appeal to golfers of all abilities. This year, Callaway has trimmed down its offerings to three drivers; there is the RAZR Fit Xtreme (the sequel to last year’s RAZR Fit) and the new X Hot and X Hot Pro. The RAZR Fit Xtreme offers the most adjustability of Callaway’s three drivers and is aimed at the better player. The X Hot line, on the other hand, is aimed at golfers seeking a little more in the way of forgiveness and a lot more in the way of distance. Callaway claims this to be their hottest driver and with the X Hot line their focus is very much on hitting the ball a long way.

In fact, the company’s focus on distance is so high that this year that they have assembled their “X Team” of long hitters. For every 325+ yard drive that is hit by a Callaway staffer, they are receiving a “bomb patch” to put on their bag and a special “4 bills” patch is out there for those who smash one over 400 yards. While most amateurs won’t be hitting the ball quite as far as that, Callaway says that this club will have you further down the fairway than ever before. Read on to find out if this club is really a hot as they say it is.

Continue reading “Callaway X Hot Pro Driver Review”

For many, there is nothing better than getting a new driver in the bag. The thrill of hitting a new big stick is an awesome one, especially when you pipe it down the fairway past all of your buddies. If you ask me though, while hitting the big drive is nice, sticking it in close to the hole or making a crucial up and down to save par and keep the round going is even better. To do this though, you have to have confidence in your short game and having the right wedges in the bag is a big part of that. Mizuno’s newest wedge, the MP-T4 looks to fill that spot in the bag. Read on to find out if their attempt was a success.

Continue reading “Mizuno MP-T4 Wedge Review”

Moment of inertia.

It was the name of the game about five years ago, thanks to square drivers, perimeter weighting, and a USGA restriction on the industry’s previous CoR and clubhead inroads. MOI was capped eventually, but even before hitting the max the OEMs turned away en masse. We haven’t seen anything quite so boxy in a while, and objectives seem to have turned. Companies got sidetracked towards adjustable hosels, colorful crowns, and innovative aerodynamics.

But it’s back. Ever since Karsten Solheim designed the original Anser putter way back when, the golf industry has been trying to find new and creative ways to distribute weight to the edges of the clubhead. Not just with putters, but with cavityback irons and woods as well. Until now they had to resort to odd shapes (namely, squares or triangles) or heavier tungsten inserts.

Nike says the Covert, and its rear cavity, has changed the game. Let’s take a look.

Continue reading “Nike VR_S Covert and Covert Tour Drivers Review”

Recently, TaylorMade has released two different driver and woods product lines. Last year it was the R11s line and the extremely popular Rocketballz line. For the 2013 season TaylorMade switched it up and released the R1 line and continued with the Rocketballz line, dubbing them Stage 2. It is my belief that the success of the Rocketballz driver surprised TaylorMade. At my club among golfers who used TaylorMade drivers the Rocketballz ruled over the R11s by a two to one margin. The Rocketballz price point is a bit below that of the R11s but still provided a great experience.

Hoping to continue with the fantastic success of the Rocketballz driver TaylorMade has released the Rocketballz Stage 2 driver. TaylorMade has taken some of the adjustable technology and crown graphics that they offered in the groundbreaking R1 driver and they added speed providing a driver with more control and distance. It is always a challenge to follow up such a successful club but leave it to TaylorMade to give it a try.

Continue reading “TaylorMade Rocketballz Stage 2 Driver Review”

Last year TaylorMade made a huge splash with the announcement of their Rocketballz fairway wood. They advertised that golfers would get seventeen more yards by making the switch to this oddly named club. It debuted to a huge success with numerous professionals and amateur golfers alike making the switch to this new technology.

In 2013 TaylorMade has now released an update to the Rocketballz line with Stage 2 fairway wood. The marketing campaign has termed the new line Rocketballz-IER. With the advent of social media they have added #IER and added the -IER to all of the TaylorMade professional staff bags. Much of the underlying technology that made the initial Rocketballz a success is packed into the Stage 2 clubs and they have also added some new features which TaylorMade claims added an additional ten yards to the club. Although to be fair in terms of advertising this claim is made with a ball speed of 150 MPH which is much greater than any of the weekend warriors I play with, myself included.

For this review I was given a 15 degree fairway wood, with a graphite Matrix RocketFuel stiff shaft. Join me as I go through the details of this RBZ Stage 2 fairway wood.

Continue reading “TaylorMade RocketBallz Stage 2 Fairway Wood Review”

When I think of PING my first thought is to the revolution that they brought to the market with cast cavity-back irons, the PING Eye2. Since that time PING has continued to make irons every type of player – from the average to the touring pro. It is my opinion that PING has one of the most loyal fan bases of any of the club makers, and anytime a new iron set is released there is bound to be excitement. With the announcement of the new G25 irons PING has once again created quite a stir.

The newest offering from PING, the G25s are a slight change from the G series of irons that PING has traditionally been offering. It seems they have taken feedback from golfers that the top line and sole width had been getting too large and decided to have the designers change it up a bit with the G25s. Even with all the cosmetic and performance changes PING wanted to make sure it was a high performing and forgiving iron that would appeal to golfers of all skill levels.

Continue reading “PING G25 Irons Review”

As many golfers know, Mizuno Golf is best know for designing some of the best forged irons in the world. First building their reputation by manufacturing muscle back blades, Mizuno grew to expand their line into forged cavity backs and forged game improvement clubs. The new JPX line is geared for the average player, the player that needs more help with forgiveness and getting the ball in the air. The JPX 825 Pro is the best of both words, combining Mizuno’s pure forged sound with updated forgiveness. Let’s take a closer look.

Continue reading “Mizuno JPX 825 Pro Irons Review”