Tag: Hybrids

First Look: Tour Edge Exotics EXS 220 Woods & Hybrids
Tour Edge, a little golf company from Chicago, had a great year in 2019. Their EXS and CBX 219 lines sold like hotcakes, they signed several prominent players on the PGA Tour Champions, and they rode that momentum into 2020.

This year’s EXS 220 clubs are the end result of that momentum. Tour Edge President David Glod’s strength is R&D and he has poured all of his knowledge of golf and advanced materials into the new clubs.
- Diamond Face Tech: Produces a hotter face with more ball speeds, less spin and more forgiveness.
- Sound Diffusion Bar: Using finite element analysis software, they added strategically placed material to alter the acoustic properties of the club. In other words – It sounds better!
- Max MOI: A new elongated shape and adjustable 9g back weight increases MOI (moment of inertia) for greater forgiveness. The 5440g per cubic meter is a 20% increase from the prior generation.
- Titanium Face: Using 8-1-1 ultra-premium titanium in the face allows Tour Edge to better distribute weight, as it is lighter than normal titanium.
- Triple Carbon Tech: Carbon fiber placed on the crown, heel and toe of the sole provides extreme weight savings and allows for repositioning of weight to increase forgiveness
- Adjustable Hosel: Loft can be adjusted +/- 2 degrees, creating a range of loft options between 7.5 and 14 in three heads.
I’ve fitted my EXS 220 driver with one of KBS Shafts’ new TD line of driver shafts. The KBS TD Driver shaft is new for 2020. This mid-launch, low spin shaft is ideal for stronger players. In fact, the Category 5 flex (Tour-X) that I have is even a bit too stiff for my 114-118 swing speeds. Still, this driver is an absolute missile launcher.

With a street price of $349, the Tour Edge Exotics EXS 220 driver is the best value of 2020. You simply can’t get a better performing driver for the price. This clubs outperforms many drivers costing $499 or more. It’s true what Tour Edge says: “Pound for pound, nothing else comes close.”

The EXS 220 three-wood and hybrid are in the hands of a club tester and based on his comments, I’m afraid I may not get them back!

Once I get some more data from the awesome little Flightscope Mevo launch monitor, I’ll post the data and compare with a few other drivers, fairways & hybrids I’ve tested for comparison. For now – Enjoy the photos and find a local demo day to try them out! You won’t regret it.
March 25, 2020
Hybrids Aren’t Always the Answer

Photo courtesy Golf.com

This article was originally published on June 29, 2009. I thought it would be a good time to update it with some new links and republish it for people to re-discover in case you had not seen it before. Enjoy!

For many, hybrids have changed the way we play golf. I have been experimenting with hybrids for several years and they have made a definite impact on my game. I am able to hit par fives in two with greater frequency now, and hitting a long shot out of tall rough is much easier. I have carried two Adams Idea Pro hybrids for a few years now – A three (20 degrees) and four (24 degrees), but I find myself swapping them out with long irons on many occasions. For one, I tend to hit them too far. While this may sound like a great problem to have, I end up with a 20 to 25 yard gap between a five iron and my four hybrid. I tend to play courses the measure 7000+ yards, so I decided to take out the overrated and hard to hit 64 degree wedge and put the four iron back in the bag. For all intents and purposes, the four hybrid is really a three iron, and the three hybrid is really more like a two iron for me. As my game evolves I find myself looking for a two hybrid to bridge the gap between my three wood and three iron, and I have taken the four iron back out of the bag to make room for it. Adams has since introduced the new Idea Pro Black hybrids which will be more playable for better players, so I’ll have to give those a try.

The other issue I have with hybrids is the inability to hit the so-called "stinger". Tiger Woods may have made this shot famous since turning pro, but I was hitting it back when Tiger was playing with Mizuno irons and wearing a goofy straw hat. The Stinger is typically a long iron shot that flies very low and rolls a long way. On a dry fairway, I am able to hit my two iron over 250 yards while never getting more than head high. It is a great shot to have in the wind, in dry conditions, or even when the pressure is on and you need to hit a fairway. Hybrids, with their much lower center of gravity and greater perimeter weighing, hit the ball much too high for an effective Stinger. This is the main reason why Tiger says he has not yet adopted hybrids. He claims they hit the ball way too high for him. Hybrids are indeed very easy to hit, and compared to my long irons they hit the ball higher and straighter, but they aren't always the answer. If you know when and where to use them you will get the biggest benefit from their technology, but don't throw away your long irons just yet! In case you want to learn it, check out my article on how to hit the stinger. Once you master the shot, it will become your go-to shot in the wind and pressure situations!
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March 1, 2010
Adams Idea Pro Black Hybrids – Sneak Peak

Adams golf has become a big player in the golf world in the last 5 years, largely due to the success of their hybrids. Widely adopted on the professional tours, Adams have built a solid stable of tour players from the Champions Tour to the LPGA and PGA Tours. Last years Idea Pro Gold hybrids however, didn’t do so well. Most of the pros stuck with the venerable Idea Pro hybrids or the tour only “peanut” hybrids. Adams needs to make a bit if a comeback, especially with Taylor Made and Titleist catching them fast in the weekly hybrid counts on the PGA Tour. I think Adams has responded very well with two new hybrid offerings – the Idea A7 and the Idea Pro Black.

While the A7 Hybrids take design elements from every generation of their clubs, they are geared a bit more towards the average player. The Idea Pro Black hybrids are designed for the better players and pros. Taking the design cues and name from their Idea Pro Black muscle back irons, they have a black nickel plating just like the irons to reduce glare and give the club a menacing look. I call them the Darth Vader of hybrids. They are designed to hit the ball with a more penetrating ball flight and for greater workability than the A7.

The Adams Idea Pro Black hybrids will be offered in lofts starting at 16 degrees, ranging up to 26 degrees, and the shaft options are plentiful. The standard shaft offerings are the Aldila VooDoo 85gm or Matrix Ozik 95gm, and several others are available via custom order. I counted over 20 custom shaft options.

Idea Pro Black hybrids begin shipping to golf shops October 1 (with Aldila Voodoo shafts) and November 15 (with Matrix Ozik shafts) with a suggested retail price of $249.99. I’m looking forward to hitting these new hybrids, as I’ve been playing the older Idea Pro hybrids for several years now. The black finish and custom shaft options should make them very popular, most likely solidifying their spot as the number one hybrid on the PGA, Nationwide and Champions tour for another year. Enjoy the photos and let us know what you think! As always, if I can get my hands on a few of these I’ll post a full review.

September 11, 2009
How to Hit Tiger’s Stinger Shot

Photo By J.D. Cuban/Golf Digest

Tiger Woods didn’t invent the knockdown shot, or stinger as it is often referred to, but he seems to have made it popular again. The stinger is a shot with a long iron or fairway wood that stays very low with little spin and runs after hitting the ground. Tiger has made great use of this shot over the years. It’s a great shot to hit under pressure and in the wind. Paul Azinger made a pretty good name for himself while hitting the knockdown almost exclusively with his irons. Either way, it’s a crown pleaser and also very effective, especially on fast, dry courses and links.

How do you hit this shot? I’m going to show you. It’s not as hard as you might think, but it does require some grasp of the fundamentals and I wouldn’t recommend this shot (or any specialty shot) to high handicappers. If you can’t make consistent contact yet you should probably work on that first before you try hitting anything but a basic full swing shot.

As with most shots, the secret to hitting the knockdown shot is in your setup. To hit the ball lower, you have to make a few changes that will help you de-loft the club and basically turn a 5 iron into a 3 iron.

Step 1: Take an extra club or two and grip down on the club so that a few inches at the top of grip stick out past your left hand. Choking down on the grip gives you a bit more control and makes the club shorter, which reduces clubhead speed and spin.

Step2: Move the ball back a few inches in your stance. Ideally you want to play the ball just behind the center of your stance. The reason we do this is mostly to force the hands ahead of the ball and deloft the club. Be carefull not to play the ball too far back, as this forces you to make compensating moves to hit the ball solid and produces too much of a decending blow, creating backspin. The goal is to reduce backspin so the shot flies lower.

Step 3: Make a full backswing and shoulder turn. Don’t confuse the knockdown with a punch. This isn’t a punch shot. A punch shot requires a shorter backswing, but a knockdown is a full swing that flies lower, so make a normal, full shoulder turn.

Step 4: Lead with the hands. The key to this shot is delofting the club, and the setup is designed to help that. At impact your hands should be ahead of the ball and the club should be striking the ball with a slightly descending blow. You have to resist the urge to help the ball in the air by flipping it, the goal here is a low flying shot. The Tour Striker training aid is perfect for teaching you to lead with the hands, and I highly recommend it!

Step 5: Follow through low with your hands going towards the target. Tiger likes to play this shot with “soft hands”, which basically means that he’s not releasing the club aggressively. Instead he doesn’t let the right hand overtake the left on the follow through and the result is a low flying stinger, as shown below.

Drills: The best drill to learn the knockdown shot is one I was shown by my college coach when he taught me this shot back in 1993. On the range, take a long iron, such as a 2 or 3 iron, and set up to the ball to hit a knockdown as described above. Start by hitting chip shots, then work your way up to 20 and 30 yard shots, while keeping your hands ahead of the ball at impact. Keep gradually increasing your backswing and hit 60 and 70 yard shots, then 100 yards, 150, etc. The idea is to show you the feel of leading with the hands and shortening your follow through to produce the low shot. To hit the ball further, you simply increase your backswing. Give it a try, it really works! If you don't master the stinger shot right away, don't give up. It's easy to learn but difficult to master. At the very least you'll have a great option when pitching out of the woods! A Note about Hybrids: Hybrids have become very popular with amateurs and professionals alike because they are more forgiving than the long irons they replace, and hit the ball higher and straighter. As far as hitting the stinger shot, they aren't as friendly. This is the main reason why Tiger said he hasn't made the switch yet. The low center of gravity of hybrids is there to help the ball get airborne. I've struggled hitting low shots with hybrids, and I know many others do too. If you want to hit the stinger frequently, stay with the old 2 iron. Videos: This video is a bit crude, but a great demonstration of Tiger's stinger. Take a look: I found a great video by Gary Koch on USA Network's website that demonstrates the shot I just talked about. Check it out! http://www.usanetwork.com/videos/index.html?xml=pgatourgolf.xml&video=1|8 I always welcome comments, questions, hate mail - whatever. I want to hear from you out there! Let me know if the 5 minutes you wasted at work to read my blog was worthwhile, and how you are hitting your stinger! Cheers!

August 11, 2009