Major golf manufacturers rise up with lines for fall

The new Rapture V2 lineup includes a 460cc titanium driver with external tungsten weight pads in the rear, matching fairway woods and hybrids, and oversized, game improvement irons.

Ping Rapture V2 driver

The driver is engineered for high launch and enhanced distance and has a high MOI stability factor. The irons have a tungsten sole weight, titanium face, stainless steel body and elastomer insert, all promising enhanced stability, forgiveness and higher launch.

List price for the new driver is $500, while the irons carry a $165 tag per club with steel shafts, $195 with graphite.

The new iWi putter series, available in six models, features a two-piece insert combining stainless steel and elastomer, with steel or tungsten sole weights. The putters, with suggested retail prices ranging $190 to $220, offer player customization via interchangeable weights.

"At a time when the golf industry is somewhat stagnant, we're experiencing growth," Ping chairman and CEO John Solheim said in a statement. "All these products will (get) a major emphasis going forward."

Cleveland: A new Launcher driver and matching fairway woods, HiBore XLI irons and a Niblick hybrid are all part of Cleveland's fall launch.

The new Launcher driver boasts an extremely low spin, mid trajectory and high MOI, along with a larger face than the original Launcher and Launcher Comp.

The HiBore XLI hybrid irons utilize what Cleveland calls Distance Driven Geometry with a lower crown to provide a lower and deeper center of gravity for greater forgiveness. The clubs also utilize toe and heel drag relief zones.

The new Launcher driver has a list price of $299; the hybrid irons range $599 to $699 per set.

Adams: Insight Tech a4 and Idea Tech a4OS are both new lines of clubs from Adams, targeted at different types of players.

The Insight Tech a4 series, which began shipping this week, should appeal to the better player with a new driver, hybrid-fairway woods, regular hybrids and hybrid irons.

Hybrids feature Adams' familiar Boxer Technology shaping.

The Idea Tech a4OS clubs ship in November, also featuring a new driver, hybrid-fairways, hybrids and hybrid-irons. Tungsten perimeter weighting on the driver moves the center of gravity low and deep for a high MOI stability factor. The iron set is integrated with Boxer Technology hybrids.

Suggested retail prices include $499.99 for either the a4 or a4OS driver, $899.99 to $1,099.99 for the iron sets, depending on type and composition.

Taylormade: The company's prolific introduction includes an r7 Limited driver with moveable weight technology, Burner Plus and Tour Preferred irons, new Burner and Burner TP drivers, and a new putter called the Rossa Itsy Bitsy Monza Spider.

A scaled down version of TaylorMade's Monza Spider, the new Itsy Bitsy putter is designed to appeal to midsize mallet users seeking a very high MOI on the green. Shipping later this month, list price is $240 for the putter.

TaylorMade continues to promote SuperFast and Dual Crown technologies in the newest generation of Burner drivers, geared for players seeking a distance bomber off the tee. The newest Burner, which replaces last year's similar model, is extremely lightweight and promotes an extremely fast swing speed.

"The club is an easy-to-swing distance machine," Harry Arnett, TaylorMade senior director for the metalwood category, boasted in a news release about the new driver.

The list price for the new Burner driver, shipping this month, is $400. A Burner TP (Tour Preferred) version will be available in March 2009 with a suggested retail price of $500.

The new Burner Plus irons are targeted at double-digit handicap golfers seeking greater forgiveness. Big clubheads feature a thin and responsive clubface, significant perimeter weighting and offset stature, and extremely low and deep centers of gravity.

Suggested retail prices for the irons are $699 per set with steel shafts, $899 with graphite. The clubs also come packaged as a combo set, with several Rescues plus regular irons.

Miura: Going against the grain, as he usually does, Japanese-based premium ironmaker Katsuhiro Miura is bringing out a Small Blade forged set of irons. In an age of oversize clubs, the new Miura iron features a muscleback head that is 15 percent smaller than the company's Tournament Blade head.

Why buck the industry trend?

"Industry fads mean nothing to me," said craftsman Miura. "These fads are developed by the marketing departments of the equipment manufacturers simply to boost sales and have little to do with performance."

Available in Nos. 2-PW, Miura's Small Blade irons carry a list price of $1,799 for a set of eight clubs with steel shafts.