This has been one busy fall season for golf equipment introductions, with no sign of a letup by the major manufacturers. That might seem strange, considering that the amount of rounds being played and the amount of equipment being purchased is, at best, flat.
But in a sports equipment business that is consolidating among manufacturers and becoming even more competitive, the companies can't hold back in bringing new products to market.
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| King Cobra 2009 Transition-S irons |
The current late summer/early fall period has been one of the most prolific for new product introductions in years. The past few seasons, a handful of companies launched new equipment at this time of year, while others waited until January, and others until the spring. But not this time around. Nike, Ping, TaylorMade, Titleist, Cleveland, Cobra, Callaway, Mizuno, Adams and others are announcing all sorts of new clubs, from drivers to irons to putters and more.
"The aim is to announce and showcase the latest products now, then spend the fall ramping up sales so that at the beginning of the year, we're ready to ship our new clubs and have them available for golfers everywhere," explained Tim Reed, Adams Golf vice president of research and development.
For some companies, the new clubs being introduced are shipping now, or will be shortly. Others will begin distribution later in the fall or midwinter.
Here's a closer look at who's making club introductions and what's new for 2009.
Callaway: The company takes the next step in multimaterial Fusion Technology with the introduction of the FT-iQ driver, a followup to the FT-i. With a futuristic look, the new driver is engineered with features designed to enhance both distance and accuracy.
According to Callaway execs, the FT-iQ club incorporates "Complete Inertial Design," a principle that factors in characteristics such as Moment of Inertia (stability on off-center hits), center of gravity, face design, loft and lie to optimize performance.
The new driver will be available in both men's and women's versions, and in standard and Tour models. The Tour version has a slightly more open face.
Shipping begins internationally on Oct. 15; its debut is Nov. 15 in the U.S. and Canada. Suggested retail price is $625.
Cobra: Rejuvenated by recent successes on the PGA Tour, Cobra is offering an updated Transition-S hybrid/iron set and a new multimaterial L5V driver.
The integrated Transition-S game improvement sets are custom crafted in standard men's, seniors and women's models. The composition of the men's set, for example, is Nos. 3, 4 and 5 utility metals, Nos. 6 and 7 hybrid irons and Nos. 8-PW wide-sole irons.
Suggested retail price is $840 per set.
The L5V driver is a successor to the L4V, the model with which staff pro Camilo Villegas recently won the PGA Tour's Tour Championship.
Technological advancements in the L5V include the largest driver face Cobra has ever made, a lightweight carbon composite that helps shift the center of gravity even lower, and a choice between standard and draw-biased faces.
A swingweight screw is specifically weighted to match stock shafts, while 30 custom shaft options are available. The drivers are Speed Tuned to match various players' swing and balls speeds.
Shipping began just this week, with a suggested retail price of $480.
Mizuno: Three forged and one cast set of irons are being introduced.
For the more skilled player, the company is offering an MP-62 blade with a small cavity and thin sole, along with an MP-52 set featuring a slightly larger Dual Muscle cavity and larger sole.
For players seeking greater game improvement, Mizuno has the forged MX-200 cavityback irons and a cast MX-100 set with integrated hybrids and greater forgiveness.
Suggested retail prices range from $700 to $1,200, depending on the set and its composition.
Titleist: New drivers and putters are both on tap.
Three models of drivers arrive later this month in what's labeled as the 909 series. The 909D2, 909D3 and 909DComp are engineered to deliver different launch and spin characteristics. They also represent slightly different geometric shapes.
The DComp is geared for more average golfers, with a high degree of MOI stability and a high launch trajectory.
List prices are $500 for the D2 and D3 drivers, $600 for the DComp.
In putters, Titleist has extended it Scotty Cameron Studio Select lineup with four new offerings: Squareback 1, Fastback 1, Newport 2.6, Newport 2.7. The Newports are heel/toe blade craftings. The Fastback is a mid-mallet design with a rounded flange, while the Squareback features a squared flange in the rear.
As premium products, the new Scotty Cameron putters have a suggested retail price of $325.
Nike: Victory Red is the name of a family of irons Nike will begin shipping in November. There are three models: Forged TW Blades, Forged Split Cavity and Victory Red.
The TW blades feature a more traditional muscleback and more modified backpad with a slightly thicker toe than Nike's original Blades.
The Split Cavity irons have a moderately wider sole and slightly thicker topline, while maintaining a traditional look and high degree of workability.
The basic Victory Red set offers a full cavity iron with a wide sole, thick topline and moderate offset, features that should yield greater forgiveness and appeal to the average golfer.
List prices for the Victory Red sets range $799.99 to $999.99.
Ping: After two years, Ping is replacing its multimaterial Rapture series of clubs with the Rapture V2 models, along with introducing tour-style S57 irons and a series of iWi putters. It's a substantial introduction overall, which just began shipping at the end of September.
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.
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| Ping Rapture V2 driver |
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.