Bionik 105 Nano White Putter

Bionik 101 Nano White Putter

Grade: A
Teacher’s Comments: Nice sight lines, nice feel

White clubs have been all the rage since an eye doctor determined that the color provides optimal contrast for visibility.  The Bionik putters take advantage of this principle and to the optic white enamel finish add a couple of highly contrasting sight lines to help you line up the putt.

Does it work? In a word, yes. The white positively “pops” on the greens (o.k., at this point in the season, they’re more like browns), making it quite clear where the face is aimed down the line. Even better—the three sight lines make it easy for me to ensure the face is perpendicular to the line of the putt.

I really like the effect and am actually considering spray painting my favorite Heavy Putter white.

Both the mallet and blade putters are nicely balanced and a pleasure to putt with. The heads are constructed of zinc, with a milled aluminum insert that imparts a nice feel at impact.

As with most clubs from Hireko, however, the best part is the price. You can get either of these excellent putters for under $30.

More photos after the jump

PowerPlay System Q Adrenaline Driver

Grade: A
Teacher’s Comments: Good bang for the buck

When you’ve maxed out size, moment of inertia and coefficient of restitution (COR), one remaining frontier in club design is clubhead speed. By optimizing the aerodynamics of the head, designers now are hoping to gain more clubhead speed, and thus more distance.

Hireko golf’s original design work with a wind tunnel has resulted in the design of the PowerPlay System Q Adrenaline. Like a Formula 1 race car, the idea is to keep the turbulence and resistance to a minimum, thus allowing maximum speed. Here’s a chart from Hireko:

Hireko builds these club heads from titanium, using a Plasma Arc Welding technique that creates smoother joints and requires less solder than the more commonly used gas tungsten arc welding. That method also allows Hireko to save 7 grams of weight, which are re-positioned to locations that improve distance and accuracy.

In practice, the club plays well. I won’t say it is my favorite, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it, and plenty that is right. The System Q Adrenaline is more than long enough and has a nice ball flight. It compares favorably to the Nike I keep in my bag on a more-or-less permanent basis (I have a sentimental attachment).

As with most clubs from Hireko, the best thing about the System Q Adrenaline is the price/performance ratio. You can get this perfectly good club starting at around $100, with a variety of options, including shaft type, flex, length, grip type and grip size. Even with your best choices, you can still get a club that’s a third of the price of a name brand stick.

Finally, I like that fact that I can buy with confidence from Hireko, thanks to their 60-day playability guarantee. If I don’t like it, I can return it. That’s confidence on their part.

More photos follow.

Dynacraft Spot Adjustable Putter

Grade: A
Teachers’ Comments: A clever adjustable putter

With all of the adjustable clubs available, it is inevitable that someone would create an adjustable putter. That someone is Hireko Golf with its Dynacraft Spot Adjustable Putter.

The design is exceedingly clever, involving three differently shaped and offset necks, which are attached to a standard putter head via two allen wrench screws. The putter head has four holes (see the photos), which further allows a player to move each of the necks further toward the heel or toe, depending up on preference. That totals twelve different configurations for the single putter head.

The different hosel/neck styles are designed to mitigate your putting tendencies. If you tend to leave the face open (push), then the “Plumber” hosel is the ticket. If you’re pushing a putt, the straight hosel will help. A player who is square at impact will benefit from the slanted hosel.

Positioning the hosel on the putter also has an impact. Bolting the hosel to the inside holes is for a player with a straight through swing. The middle is for a slight arc, and the back for a pronounced arc.

I settled on the slanted hosel, positioned forward.

In all three configurations, though, I found the putter to be nicely balanced, and well behaved. It has a nice feel at impact and I putted well with it.

The club is available both assembled and as a kit.

More photos after the jump.

The latest set of clubs in my mailbox are these Dynacraft Avatar Hybrid Irons from Hireko Golf. From the promotional literature.

Part hollow-bodied iron, part hybrid, the Dynacraft Avatar Evolution set takes on a progressive appearance throughout the set. For the weekend warrior who wants to improve their game this set perfectly integrates all the necessary tools to help them achieve that goal.

The #3 and 4 irons have a more a typical hybrid footprint that has an increased breadth and a shallow face to position the center of gravity much lower and more rearward within the design to allow even less skilled players added confidence with the ability to easily get the ball airborne and increase the solidness of contact.

The mid-irons progressively become narrower as less game improvement is required and bridge the gap between conventional iron appearances.

The scoring clubs starting with the #8 look traditional at address as the additional loft beautifully hides the hollow-body but still to help increase the moment of inertia. These have the rounded top line to provide plenty of face area and help to raise the center of gravity enough to control the trajectory. The inclusion of three wedges provide for better course management by eliminating distance gaps.

Unlike most hybrids on the market, the Evolution are designed to be direct replacement in terms of distance and club length to irons where accuracy is at a premium. That way customers don’t have to ask which hybrid replaces what iron.

Winter being what it is here in Michigan, it’s unlikely I’ll be able to give these a worthwhile test until March or April. But from a few swings in the sunroom I like the feel of these things.

PowerPlay System Q Adrenaline Hybrid Hirekogolf.com.

Grade: B
Teacher’s Comments: Another solid Hireko offering.

I’ve not been particularly successful hitting hybrids, so you’re going to have to take this review with a grain of salt.

What I’ve found with the PowerPlay System Q hybrid is that I hit it just as well (or as poorly) as I hit any other hybrid. While I on occasion hit a beautiful shot with a hybrid, I’m just as likely to duff it.

Still, for those shots where things go well, I found the PowerPlay System Q Hybrid to be nicely balanced, with decent distance and a nice high arc. I haven’t had much success with it from the fairway, but from the rough, it performed admirably.

The head is on the small side; on the iron-wood scale, this falls more squarely on the iron side. The grooves on the face also are more reminiscent of an iron; deeper than a wood. The bottom has a rail sole design that I like; other clubs with a similar feature have worked well for me.

The best part about the club is the price: around $40, custom built. And it has a money back guarantee.

Still, to get a better sense of how this plays, I’ve foisted the club off on a friend, who promises to let me know how he likes it. More later.

Acer XF Leggera Driver

Grade: B
Teacher’s Comments: Another solid value

If you’re in the market for a very reasonably priced, solidly performing driver, the Acer Leggera XF just might be the ticket. Designed for a length of at least 46 inches, the Acer XF Leggera Driver is longer than the driver standard. That should translate into more clubhead speed, and thus more distance. Unfortunately—ceteris paribus—lengthening a club also increases the swingweight, potentially making the driver feel heavy and upsetting a player’s balance and rhythm. So to offset this, Acer designed this stick with a lighter clubhead and shaft.

Does it work? Yes. I did get considerable distance out of the Leggera. But that length also comes with another price: decreasing accuracy. Again, all things being equal, the longer the club, the less accurate it is. I wasnt’t spraying this one all over the course, but it’s not as straight as my Nike MachSpeed or my TaylorMade R7.  But it’s also not a club that better player will likely be able to work, with its 1 degree closed face angle.

On the other hand, Hireko did do the job on the swing weight. The Acer XF Leggera swings as smoothly as any club in my bag.

From address, the club is very nice looking, with the white crown that these days is all the rage.

Build quallity on the Acer XF Leggera is very good. The seams on the driver head are smooth, and the ferrules and grip properly installed.

As with all the Hireko products, the Acer XF Leggera is a bargain for what you get: a 460cc titanium driver built to custom specs for just over $100.

System Q Adrenaline Hybrid

I just got one of these for review. The weather still isn’t cooperating here in Michigan, so I’ll have to delay a proper review. Here’s what Hireko has to say:

Based upon our best selling hybrid of all time, the Power Play Adrenaline is more than just a face lift, it is a complete makeover. What is new is a score line pattern and grooves like an iron, improved weight distribution and a slightly larger size at address. Lastly, the addition of a unique uni-rail sole is designed to efficiently get through any lie.

However, a few things did not change. One of which is the hosel position ensures the Adrenaline hybrids are easy to align, easy to hit, accurate and forgiving. But don’t forget about the ultra-low center of gravity over any conventional iron which makes it a cinch for the ball gets up quickly and toward your target. As with the original, the Adrenaline hybrid is available as a full set. Never hit a #1 iron in your life? Now you can!

When regular irons can’t cut the mustard anymore, the Power Play Adrenaline hybrid is there to the rescue.