2021 golf equipment: Late-season releases
The Halloween candy-induced sugar rush is starting to wear off, summer is a distant memory and Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away. We can excuse you if some interesting releases of new golf equipment slipped past you in the last few months.
Not too long ago, late summer and early autumn were quiet times in the world of gear, but not anymore. While the major driver and iron launches still typically drop in December and January, manufacturers started releasing some products into the market ahead of that time because, for retailers and golf lovers in the sunbelt, golf season is kicking into high gear.
Since August 1, brands such as Callaway, Cleveland, Mizuno, Ping, PXG, TaylorMade and Tour Edge have released new gear. You can see it all below.
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Adams Tight Lies fairway woods and hybrids
Adams Tight Lies fairway woods and hybrids (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Price: Fairway woods $179.99 (at adamsgolf.com), hybrids $149.99 (at adamsgolf.com) with Aldila Synergy shaft and Golf Pride Tour Velvet grip
Specs: Stainless steel head with tri-sole design. 3-wood (16 degrees) and 5-wood (19 degrees); 4-hybrid (23 degrees), 5-hybrid (26 degrees) and 6-hybrid (29 degrees).
Adams Golf was acquired by TaylorMade-Adidas Golf in 2012, and many of the technologies the company had developed found their way into TaylorMade products. In time, Adams quietly slipped out of many golfers’ minds, but the Tight Lies fairway woods and hybrids have been available on the company’s website for more than a year.
Now, updated versions of the Tight Lies fairway woods and hybrids are being made available. They include some of the features golfers loved in the original clubs along with a few modern enhancements to make them perform even better. More …
Callaway Apex UW utility wood
Callaway Apex UW utility wood (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Price: $299.99 each with Project X Smoke RDX graphite shaft and Lamkin UTX grip (at callawaygolf.com and Carl’s Golfland)
Specs: Stainless steel head with forged C300 maraging-steel face. 17-, 19- and 21-degree versions
Over the last two seasons, several well-known players have added high-lofted fairway woods to their bags because companies can now deliver more ball speed, and clubs such as a 7-wood can create shots that stop more quickly on firm greens.
With the new Apex UW, Callaway is offering accomplished players a club that fits into the gap between hybrids and fairway woods, trying to offer better players the best of both worlds in a new utility wood. More …
Callaway Epic Max Star woods and irons
Callaway Epic Star driver (Callaway)
Price: Driver $699.99 at Carl’s Golfland; fairway woods $429.99 at Carl’s Golfland; hybrids $349.99 at Carl’s Golfland; irons from $2,800 for seven-club set at Carl’s Golfland.
Most recreational golfers need woods and irons that boost clubhead speed, encourage more carry distance and enhance forgiveness.
Callaway has addressed this part of the golf market for the past several seasons by making lighter, longer and easier-to-hit versions of its flagship clubs and given them the moniker Star. That trend continues in 2021 with the release of the Epic Max Star drivers, fairway woods, hybrids and irons. More …
Callaway Epic Super Hybrid
Callaway Epic Super Hybrid (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Price: $399.99 (at Carl’s Golfland) with Steelfiber FC Hybrid shaft and Lamkin UTx grip
Specs: Carbon-fiber crown, titanium chassis and face with internal tungsten weights and stainless steel support bars. 16-, 18-, 21-, 24- and 27-degree options
Imagine a golf equipment maker crammed several driver technologies and features into a club that could not only be hit off the tee, but also off the turf instead of a long iron. That’s precisely what Callaway has done to develop the new Epic Super Hybrid. From titanium and carbon fiber to internal tungsten weights, chassis-stiffening bars and an adjustable hosel, it’s all here. More …
Callaway JAWS Full Toe wedges
Callaway JAWS Full Toe wedges (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Price: $169.99 each (at Carl’s Golfland and Dick’s) with True Temper Dynamic Gold Spinner steel shaft or Project X Catalyst Wedge graphite shaft and Lamkin UTX grip.
Specs: Cast stainless steel. Available in 54-, 56-, 58-, 60- and 64-degree options. Chrome and raw black finishes.
In 2014, Phil Mickelson and Callaway’s resident wedge guru, Roger Cleveland, worked together to create the first Callaway Mack Daddy PM Grind wedge, a club with an especially high toe and grooves covering the entire hitting area. Mickelson nearly won the 2014 PGA Championship with that club in his bag and has used PM Grind wedges ever since, including in May when he won his sixth major, the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island Golf Resort’s Ocean Course.
Now Callaway is releasing a new wedge, the JAWS Full Toe, that blends the aspects of the PM Grind with elements of the company’s JAWS wedge line. More …
Cleveland Launcher XL Halo fairway woods, hy-woods, hybrids
Cleveland Launcher XL Halo fairway woods and hybrids (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Price: Fairway woods, $229.99 (at Carl’s Golfland and Dick’s); hy-wood $219.99 (at Carl’s Golfland and Dick’s); hybrids $199.99 (at Carl’s Golfland and Dick’s)
Lofts: 18, 21, 24 and 27 degrees (fairways); 18 degrees (hy-wood); 18, 21, 24 and 27 degrees (hybrids)
Cleveland released a new family of drivers in early August that is not aimed at tour pros or elite, fast-swing golfers. The Launcher XL drivers are for recreational players who struggle to generate clubhead speed and lack distance. They’re also big with a high moment of inertia, making them more forgiving and stable on mis-hits.
Now Cleveland is releasing a complementary group of fairway woods and hybrids designed with several of the same principles and technologies: the Launcher XL Halo fairway woods, hy-wood and hybrids. Like the drivers, these clubs are designed to inspire confidence for mid- and higher-handicap golfers, send the ball high in the air and be easy to hit. More …
Cleveland Launcher XL irons
Cleveland Launcher XL irons (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Price: $799.99 (4-PW) at Carl’s Golfland and Dick’s with True Temper Elevate 95 steel shafts and Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 grips. $899.99 with Project X Catalyst graphite shafts
Specs: Hollow-body long irons blended with cavity-back short irons and counterbalanced shafts.
The new Launcher XL irons blend two types of clubs into one set to deliver easy-to-hit long irons and precision-focused scoring clubs.
All of the clubs are 15 percent larger from heel to toe than the previous generation of Launcher irons, and they have a wide V-shaped sole that is designed to work in and out of the turf efficiently to help golfers get better performance on fat shots. Each of the irons has Cleveland’s MainFrame face, a hitting surface created after computers simulated thousands of shots with different face designs to create the fastest and most forgiving hitting area possible. More …
Cleveland Launcher XL Halo irons
Cleveland Launcher XL Halo irons (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Price: $799.99 (4-PW) at Carl’s Golfland and Dick’s with True Temper Elevate 95 steel shafts and Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 grips. $899.99 with Project X Catalyst graphite shafts
Specs: Hollow-body long irons blended with cavity-back short irons, with counterbalanced shafts.
For people who are new to golf or who struggle to make solid contact, hybrids and fairway woods are often easier to hit than irons because they have a bigger face, lower center of gravity and wider sole that tends to slide over and through the grass easily. The Launcher XL Halo irons, which are essentially a set of iron-lofted hybrids, bring all that to the party. More …
Mizuno ST-G 220 driver
Mizuno ST-G 220 driver (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Price: $499.99 at Carl’s Golfland
Specs: Titanium face and chassis with carbon-fiber crown, adjustable hosel and three moveable weights.
Like the ST-Z and ST-X, the ST-G 220 has a large carbon-fiber crown on the top to create discretionary weight and lower the center of gravity. The hitting area is made from SAT2041 Beta titanium, a special alloy that Mizuno said has a higher strain recovery rate. That means it should snap back into shape faster than other titanium alloys, so the face should efficiently return energy to the ball. It also resists fatigue better, which means over the driver’s lifespan, the characteristic time (the springiness of the face) will not creep over the USGA and R&A’s legal limit and make the club non-conforming. More …
Mizuno T22 wedges
Mizuno T22 wedges (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Price: $159.99 each with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue Wedge shafts and Golf Pride Z Grip at Carl’s Golfland.
Specs: Forged 1025 boron steel with milled grooves and four sole grind options. Lofts from 45 to 62 degrees.
When it comes to wedges, Mizuno traditionally has followed the same recipe. The Japanese company has tinkered with blue-finished wedges, but there has always been a satin chrome option, a traditional teardrop shape and groove technologies to enhance spin that don’t distract golfers in the address position.
With the release of the T22 wedges, Mizuno continues to bring spin and control-enhancing features to the short game in a package that should appeal to those who love the look of classic wedges. More …
Ping Glide Forged Pro wedges
Ping Glide Forged Pro wedges (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Price: $217.50 each with Ping Z-Z115 steel shaft and Golf Pride Arccos Lite Tour Velvet 360 grip. $232.50 per club with UST Recoil 760 ES graphite shafts (From $199 at Dick’s)
Specs: Forged 8620 carbon-steel with milled face and grooves and water-repellent finish. Two sole grinds with even lofts between 50 and 62 degrees, with special options available through a custom program and a special 59-degree club
The Glide Forged Pro wedges were designed to be “shotmaker’s” wedges. The hitting area has a darker finish than the heel and toe areas, which creates a bracketing effect behind the ball in the address position. While it has a similar offset to the Glide Forged wedge, the Glide Forged Pro has a shorter length from the hosel to the hitting area (this is known as the par area), so the blade length appears more compact.
Ping also moved the first groove down closer to the leading edge and made it longer to fit in the space more cleanly. More …
Ping i59 irons
Ping i59 irons (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Price: $275 per club with Project X LS steel shafts and Golf Pride New Decade MCC Arccos-enabled grips. $290 per club with UST Recoil 760 ES graphite shafts. (From $250 each at Dick’s and $285 per club at Carl’s Golfland)
Specs: Forged 1025 carbon-steel body with a 17-4 stainless steel face, aluminum insert, tungsten toe and hosel weights.
The i59 has a more complex design than the minimalist outside might have you believe.
The body is forged from 1025 carbon steel for a soft feel, and Ping added a laser-cut 17-4 stainless steel face. However, instead of leaving the head hollow, Ping added a new technology to the i59 called AlumiCore. It is an insert made from aluminum, and Ping makes a unique one for each i59 iron.
The aluminum is approximately one-third the weight of the stainless steel it replaces, so the AlumiCore insert creates about 30 grams of discretionary weight in each head that Ping designers redistributed to improve performance. More …
PXG 0211 putters
PXG 0211 putters (PXG)
Price: From $129 each at pxg.com
Specs: Cast 303 stainless steel with speed-control insert
Parsons Xtreme Golf (PXG) starting making golf clubs in 2014 and immediately grabbed attention with the unique look of its irons and the technologies that were designed into its clubs, but the price tag attached to those items also raised eyebrows. In time, the 0211 family was released, and updates to those drivers, fairway woods, hybrids and irons were made available in 2021. Again, they shared many of the technologies found in the top-of-the-line PXG clubs, but at a lower price. Now PXG is updating 0211 putters for golfers who want high-end performance at a more budget-friendly price.
There are five 0211 putters: three heel-toe weighted blades, a small mallet and a high-MOI mallet. All five are milled from 303 stainless steel and have a dark, non-glare finish. More …
PXG 0311 GEN4 ST irons
PXG 0311 GEN4 ST irons (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Price: $275 per iron, $1,925 for seven-club set at pxg.com
Specs: Forged 8620 carbon steel with milled areas and adjustable swing weights. 3-iron through gap wedge available.
Since Parsons Xtreme Golf was founded in 2014, the company has made irons that look like muscleback blades but have the game-improvement features most golfers need.
At the same time, the company has offered an actual muscleback blade for a very select group of players. These clubs do not have the distance-enhancing technologies or forgiveness that the 0311 T, 0311 P and 0311 XP feature. The blades, referred to as the ST (for super tour), are all about feel and control, and now PXG has released a new version, the 0311 GEN4 ST, to deliver more of what elite golfers want. More …
PXG 0341 XF GEN4 fairway woods, 0317XF GEN 4 hybrids
PXG 0341 XF GEN4 fairway woods, 0317XF GEN 4 hybrids (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Price: Fairway woods, $249 each at pxg.com; hybrids, $249 each at pxg.com
Specs: Stainless steel bodies with carbon-fiber crowns featuring aluminum vapor coating. Lofts: 16, 19 and 22 degrees (fairway woods); 19, 22, 25 and 28 degrees (hybrids)
Last February, PXG launched the 0811 GEN4 family of drivers, which includes three models: the low-spin GEN4 X, the tour-inspired GEN4 XT and the ultra-forgiving GEN4 XF. At the time, fairway woods and hybrids were also released that matched the GEN4 X. They were ideally suited for golfers who wanted a lower, more-piercing ball flight.
Now, PXG is releasing the GEN4 XF 0341 fairway woods and GEN4 XF 0317 hybrids for golfers who want more forgiveness. While the clubs are designed to do different things, they share several technologies and features. More …
TaylorMade Milled Grind 3 wedges
TaylorMade MG3 wedges (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Price: $179.99 each with True Temper Tour Issue S200 shafts and Lamkin Crossline 360 grips at Carl’s Golfland and Dick’s.
Specs: Cast 8620 carbon steel in low-bounce, standard-bounce and high-bounce versions. Even lofts 46, 50-60 degrees.
TaylorMade has had success with its two main wedge options, the Milled Grind 2 (MG2) and Hi-Toe, both on professional tours and with recreational players. So before designers set about trying to make the next generation of TaylorMade wedges, they talked with elite golfers and staff players and asked what they liked and what they wanted to see adjusted. The result is the new Milled Grind 3 (MG3) family of wedges, and their focus is on helping golfers at every level generate more spin and control on wedge shots hit from the fairway and around the green. More …
TaylorMade P790, P790 UDI irons (2021)
TaylorMade P790 irons for 2021 (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Price: $185 each with True Temper Dynamic Gold VSS steel shafts or Mitsubishi MMT graphite shafts and Golf Pride Z-Grips at Carl’s Golfland and Dick’s.
Specs: 8620 carbon-steel body with forged 4140 stainless steel face, internal tungsten weights and foam-filled inner chamber. 3-iron through attack wedge (50 degrees) are available
The first two versions of the P790 were hollow-bodied irons filled with SpeedFoam, a soft material that absorbed vibrations created at impact to improve sound and feel without inhibiting the face from flexing or reducing ball speed.
At the heart of the new P790 is a less-dense version of SpeedFoam called SpeedFoam Air. The new material is 69 percent lighter but still soaks up vibrations like the original material. The benefit of using SpeedFoam Air is it saves up to 3.5 grams of weight and pushes more of the head’s overall weight to the perimeter of the club. More …
Tour Edge E522 woods and irons
Tour Edge E522 driver (Tour Edge)
Prices: $249.99 for drivers, $159.99 each for fairway woods, $139.99 each for hybrids and $99.99 per iron at touredge.com and Carl’s Golfland
The Hot Launch E522 series of woods and irons were designed to provide extremely high stability and forgiveness (the “E” stands for extreme spec).
The driver (10.5, 12.5 and 15 degrees), fairway woods (16, 20, 23, 25, 27 degrees) and hybrids (19, 22, 25 and 28 degrees) all feature the Houdini Sole design. It pushes more of the head’s overall weight back, away from the hitting area, to increase the moment of inertia and encourage more spin. That should help slow- and moderate-swinging golfers hit shots with more lift and height for increased distance. More …
Tour Edge C522 woods and irons
Tour Edge C522 driver (Tour Edge)
Prices: $249.99 for drivers, $159.99 each for fairway woods, $139.99 each for hybrids and $79.99 per iron at touredge.com and Carl’s Golfland
The C522 series of woods and irons are slightly more refined and traditional than the E522 clubs, but they are still loaded with technologies to make them easy to hit.
Like the E522, they have the Diamond Face 2.0 face design for extra ball speed, but the C522 driver, fairway woods and hybrids also have a Power Channel in the sole behind the leading edge that extends from the heel to the toe. The Power Channel allows the face, especially the lower part of the hitting area, to flex more efficiently for increased ball speed and distance.
Extra weight was positioned in the middle-back portion of the sole to lower the center of gravity and encourage higher-flying shots and more carry distance. The extra weight also helps boost the moment of inertia and add stability in the woods. More …
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