New items from Callaway, Armour and Sun Mountain

X continues to mark the spot for Callaway, which has long utilized “X” in many of its naming schemes.

Late this past fall, for full distribution throughout 2007, the company added an X Hot fairway 3-wood and an assortment of X hybrids to its X family of clubs. The series already included an X460 driver, regular X fairway woods, three models of X irons and a series of X-Tour wedges.

The X Hot fairway wood is most notable in that it is larger than most 3-woods with a shaft that is longer than the norm, all designed to achieve greater distance with this particular type of club.

Meanwhile, Tommy Armour returns to its 845 nameplate and Sun Mountain has a “waterproof” H2O Tech bag in a pair of unique introductions for the new season.

The new Armour 845 VCG irons have a variable center of gravity weight that can be moved and set to match up with an individual player’s swing pattern.

Here’s a closer look at these new products from Callaway, Tommy Armour and Sun Moutain.

CALLAWAY

In some ways, the new X Hot fairway wood is virtually a driver meant to be hit from either fairway or rough. And, while it has fairway wood characteristics, the club would be suitable as a second option off the tee.

Callaway's X hybrids come in four different four.

The X Hot club, featuring a Carpenter steel face for enhanced velocity, has 15 degrees of loft. The 44-inch shaft (43 inches for women) is longer than the norm, geared for increased speed at impact. The larger head, with a shallow face, is designed to be both stable and forgiving.

Like the other clubs in the X family, the X Hot club has an X-Sole design, allowing the head to rest on two distinct areas of the sole at address, helping to eliminate rocking back and forth, and eventually leading to greater accuracy.

The fairway wood also contains several patented Callaway features, such as the S2H2 hosel and Tru-Bore shaft technology.

Fujikura’s Banzai graphite shaft is standard for the X Hot fairway wood, but an assortment of 14 other types of shafts, in numerous flexes, is available for men’s clubs. Women’s clubs come with either a Fujikura 55 or Aldila NV Pink 55 shaft.