For a better golfer, this is a bit of a renaissance time. With the creation and development of the player's distance iron category, better players no longer have to feel a sense of shame in putting shovels in their bag to chase distance. They can have a set of irons designed with modern technology, meant to go long and offer similar forgiveness higher-handicappers need, but they can have it in an iron that's typically forged, has less offset and gives good feedback at impact..
(Seriously, how did it take this long for OEMs to realize better golfers tend to spend more, and they want technology, too?)
Tour Edge Golf is staking their flag in the player's distance category, offering the Exotics EXS irons as what they believe is one of the leading products in the burgeoning category.
The Exotics EXS irons are a progressive set, split into two sections. The longer irons have a hollow-body design, while a classic undercut design is used for the short irons. LaunchPad technology, which is a TPE polymer coated with a special performance gel which absorbs shock and improves ball speeds, sits behind the face of all of the irons for consistent, ideal launch conditions, while a 19-gram tungsten weight is ported into the toe (as is the style) for better clubhead delivery and higher speeds.
Behind the forged cup face of the irons -- the thinnest the company has made to date -- is SpiderWeb VFT (Variable Face Thickness) technology for better energy transfer throughout the face. The idea is the feature design works to springboard energy transfer by harnessing the power of the rest of the web away from where the ball is struck.
The sole is ramped in the middle for heel and toe relief for improved turf interaction.
For those of you who ask, the lofts are stronger on these compared to traditional thinking, but they're not radically different than other competitors in this category. Like you hear from other manufacturers, the jacked lofts are in part a design response to lowering the center of gravity which, to itself, would lead to launch conditions too high for most better players.
The Exotics EXS irons have the Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei CK Blue 2G as the stock graphite shafts, ranging from 60 grams (ladies, A-flex) to 70 grams (regular) to 80 grams (stiff, X-stiff). The KBS Max 80 shaft is the steel offering, available in regular and stiff flexes.
The Tour Edge Golf Exotics EXS irons are available from Nov. 2, with a full bag available from 4-iron down through a gap wedge, with sand, pitching and approach wedges available as well. The irons retain for $700 in steel and $800 in graphite.
