TOUR EDGE Exotics Fairway Wood w/Graphite Shaft

Tour Edge is a company that has made its reputation on producing low cost, high quality products. Their designs are originals, their materials top quality and their workmanship superb. Their clubs made the Golf Digest hot list in five different categories. And yet they produce clubs that are as low priced as those found among second-tier Chinese knockoffs.

I owned a Tour Edge Bazooka steel driver a couple of years ago, and thought that it was an excellent club for the money. I’d still be playing it except for the fact that I swap drivers like some people swap putters. That’s one club that I sometimes wish I still had.

So how does Tour Edge do it? They claim it’s because they don’t spend money on marketing and advertising. Instead, they seem to work on getting their clubs onto showroom and green grass pro shop floors. I first saw them in the otherwise poorly stocked pro shop of a local course.

So the low-end strategy has worked for Tour Edge. But in recent years, Tour Edge has tried to break into the premium markets with its “Exotics” line of clubs.

The Exotics Fairway woods combine two materials in the head: a cup faced titanium face with a Hypersteel body. The two metals are bonded with a process that Tour Edge calls combo brazing. The process seals the two pieces together without the added weight of a welding process. The weight savings then is moved down and back.

The Exotics name not only stems from the materials and manufacturing, but also from its looks. The club definitely had an edge with lines that remind me of the new Cadillacs.

Tour Edge claims that its 3-wood outdrives the Callaway, PIng and Cobra fairway woods by at least 20 yards.

TOUR EDGE Exotics Fairway Wood w/Graphite Shaft

I was in Dick’s Sporting Goods today looking for a TaylorMade glove (no luck), but found something more interesting: a line of clubs called the TaylorMade R5 XL.

Did I miss this in the past somehow, or is this a new line? I can’t find them on the TaylorMade site either in the “new” section or in the “vintage clubs” section.

The drivers, fairways and hybrids look a lot like the R7 line, sans movable weights. There also was a set of R5 XL irons, which looked somewhat like the R7XD irons that I like so much.

UPDATE:

An executive at TaylorMade tells me that the R5 XL line is made by TaylorMade exclusively for Dick’s Sporting Goods in the US. The design is TaylorMade, the quality is TaylorMade. These are NOT knockoffs.

Here’s a link to the webpage at Dick’s with the irons:

TaylorMade r5 XL Irons - Dick’s Exclusive

Pinemeadow’s Oxygen Fairway Woods are an inexpensive alternative to Ping’s G2 Fairway Woods. Constructed of 17-4 stainless steel, these clubs have a low profile for a lower center of gravity. Better yet, you can get one for as low as $49.

As with all of Pinemeadow’s products, the Oxygen Fairway Woods come with 30 day playability guarantee and a one year warranty.

Oxygen Type S Fairway Woods

The TaylorMade R7 TP Titanium Fairway wood now is in stock at Golfsmith. The R7 Fairway is the TaylorMade’s most recent addition to its adjustable weight family, which has been astoundingly popular on tour, winning bag count after bag count.

The TP models are the same clubs that are used by the Tour Players—as TaylorMade says: Not “almost like”, not “similar to”, exactly the same.

That being said, it would be easy to assume that these clubs are only for the best of players. But I’ve found that’s not true. I play with both a TP driver and a TP 3 wood, and both are well-suited for my game as a 12 - 15 handicapper. Their best attribute is their forgiveness. Even bad swings result in adequate results.

The R7 TP TI was created for tour palyers who wanted the look of the popular V Steel with the movable weight technology of the R5s. The dual TaylorMade Launch Control (TLC) ports change the club’s center of gravity to promote a fade or a draw. The spacing of the weights also boosts the club’s moment of intertia (resistance to twisting) for better results on mis-hits. The club also kept its V Steel heritage with the V-shaped sole to reduce turf resistance.

The other new innovation is TaylorMade’s new RE*AX shart, which was designed in conjunction with Fujikura. The shaft is supposed to resist deformation during the swing, resulting in straighter, longer ball flight.

TAYLORMADE r7 TP Ti Fairway Wood w/ Reax Shaft

Sonartec is a brand that flew under the radar until Todd Hamilton used one from every conceivable lie and distance to win the British Open. Then, one of the best kept secrets in golf was out. Luke Donald had one in his bag when he won the recent Honda Classic.

The Sonartec SS-2.5 is the company’s latest fairway wood offering, and it made the 2006 Golf Digest Hot List.

This model actually goes in the opposite direction of most manufacturers by raising the center of gravity so that it is in line with the impact point on the ball. This, Sonartec says, will produce a more penetrating ball flight.

On the down site, Golf Digest notes that it also makes the club a little less forgiving than others.

SONARTEC SS-2.5 Fairway Wood