Fall is the time of year club manufacturers start the introduction cycle for the coming year. I know it seems early but in the world of golf retail the buying cycle leads the golf season by several months. As a measure of how it has changed over the years, new club announcements used to be reserved for the PGA Merchandise Show held annually in January. Now with the shortening of product life cycles due to more intense competition, the computerization of retailing as well as club design, we continue to see earlier and earlier introduction dates. In the past couple of weeks here is a sampling of items brought to market.
Mizuno Golf
MP-53 irons for better players with a CNC milled back cavity in the 3- through 7-irons so the weight saved could be pushed out to the perimeter. The 8-iron through wedge use the company company’s more traditional Solid Power Bar configuration plus a 360 degree grind on the back cavity allows for a thinner top line. MSRP and street price (at least for now) with steel shafts is $899.99 and with graphite $999.99.
Wilson Golf
Wilson may have been the equipment played by the winner of 61 majors over the years but they are hardly on the consumer radar now days after years of making substandard product and coporate manuverings worthy of an Oliver Stone movie. The brand is being played by one hig profile tourster, Padraig Harrington with of course three majors, but Wilson still lacks total redemption in the eyes of club purchasers. That could change with the new FG62 muscle-backed forged irons, the better palyers version of the FG Tour irons out last year that were so well received.
TaylorMade Golf
The Corza Ghost mallet-style putter was an instant hit for TMaG, a company not know for putters, especially after Justin Rose won two times in a month using one. The newest Ghost is an extension of the line in a a blade called the Rossa Daytona Ghost and designed with the help of Dave Stockton, the hottest putting instructor on the PGA Tour. The Rossa Daytona Ghost carries a street price of $129.
Nike Golf
The latest irons are more of the iron line named the VR Pro Combo, aimed at good players who want to take advantage of the benefits of perimeter weight placement. The 3- and 4-irons have a large cavity pocket which transitions to a split cavity in the 5-, 6- and 7-irons and finally to a blade design in the 8- and 9-irons and pitching wedge. Not avialable until the end of November they will carry a MSRP of $1, 079.99 with steel shafts only. A 2-iron as a special order is $134.99.
Maruman
Maruman has been trying to build a presence in the American market and now expands their offerings with the Shuttle series of clubs beginning with the i4000 driver employing the company’s idea that accuracy is more important that raw distance. The stock shaft is 441/2 inches or as much as 11/2 inches shorter than some others. However the club that caught my attention has a name that harkens back to the past, the i4000X Brassie. The Brassie is an alternative for those who are “driver-challenged” and who like fairway woods. The Brassie has 13 degrees of loft, as much as 4 degrees more than the typical driver in the weekend warrior’s bag plus again a shorter shaft.
Bushnell
The new Yardage ProXGC+ from Bushnell takes all the technlogy used in their award-winning previous didtance measuring decvice models and combines it with a pre-loaded database of 16,000 U.S. courses thereby removing the problem of having to download new courses. At a retail price is $299.99 the XGC+ seems like a good choice for those looking to upgrade a present DMD or for those buying one for the first time.
Yes! Golf
Yes! is bringing out three new putters in December priced from $300 to $600. The Naomi is a cavity-backed blade with a tungsten back, the Courtney is another cavity-back blade but made from stainless steel and the Jennifer is a center-shafted mallet with a high resistance to twisting. Yes! has been making really good putters with their patented C-Groove technology for years but received a lot of attention with Jim Furyk using a used model he found in a club barrel for $39 to win the FedEx cup in Sept.
About Ed Travis
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