XXIO Prime and Prime Royal golf clubs cater to slower-swinging enthusiasts
Equipment

XXIO Prime and Prime Royal golf clubs cater to slower-swinging enthusiasts

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Very few golfers swing the driver 105 mph. The bulk swing closer to 90 mph, probably. But there is absolutely a large swath of golfers who swing closer to 80 mph or less, and those golfers can benefit from club design that specifically caters to their physical capabilities.

There's where XXIO Prime (for men) and XXIO Prime Royal (for women) come in -- provided you have the budget.

XXIO typically caters to golfers who swing under 90 mph, and that's a big tent. However, there's a subset in that population -- senior golfers, primarily -- that swings 80 mph or lower, and XXIO has identified those players need even more specific tech benefits to help their game. Hence, XXIO Prime, which is an offering of ultra-lightweight clubs through the bag.

XXIO Prime isn't just about putting an even lighter shaft in each club. Each component is designed to be lighter to make a total product that helps clubhead speed throughout a round, even as golfers tire out toward the end of 18 holes.

The XXIO Prime driver uses the Rebound Frame technology found in the new Srizon ZX drivers, which uses different stiff and flexible zones to help deliver ball speed through the Super-Tix Plus titanium cup face shared by both drivers. There are three sections in the Rebound Frame: the flexing area in the hitting zone, a small stiffer portion on the outer perimeter which allows the face to flex, then another small flexing area on the outermost perimeter of the cup face. It's that last outermost section that is the secret sauce when working in tandem with the reinforcing nature of the clubhead, which has ribbing to help with performance.

The sweet spot, XXIO says, is three times as large as the previous XXIO Prime, basically taking lower-performing parts of the prior-gen face and bringing those up in performance compared to the dead middle of the face.

The fairway woods and hybrids also feature the same titanium cup face, which is a performance benefit often not included in other fairway woods and hybrids, but XXIO thinks that added boost and lighter weight is important to golfers in this category.

Since golfers swinging at these speeds have trouble squaring up the club face, the whole family is draw-biased both in terms of weighting and face design, through bulge and roll shaping. They all feature what's dubbed Weight Plus, too, which is fundamentally counter-balancing the club head and the butt end with shaft design. A weight behind the hands helps a golfer gets the head moving up in the backswing and move the hands into position on the downswing to hit the ball straighter.

The irons feature the Super-Tix Plus titanium cup face and have the Weight Plus counterbalancing. The irons have a big profile, a wide sole and a 26-gram tungsten weight that, relative to the body, moves the center of gravity quite dramatically. Lower than low and backer than back is where XXIO wanted the center of gravity in the XXIO Prime irons. A pair of slits in the bottom of the steel frame are designed to help that face flex, particularly on low shots, to preserve ball speed. There's plenty of MOI to go around here, meaning these irons are designed to protect a slower-swinging golfer from all the things that go wrong swinging slower.

The XXIO Prime driver is available Feb. 12 in 10.5- and 11.5-degrees heads for $900 each, while the fairway woods are in 15-, 18-, 21- and 24-degree heads for $600 each. The hybrids come in 23-, 26-, 29- and 32-degree lofts for $400 each. The XXIO Prime irons are $275 each, available in 5-iron through sand wedge. The shaft offering is the XXIO Prime SP-1100 shaft.

Then there's the XXIO Prime Royal collection, which is specifically geared toward slowing-swinging female players. It's been a seller in the Korean market that's been brought here. Think of these clubs as having every bit of weight-cutting technology XXIO has, and there's the price tag to boot.

The Royal Edition driver is $1,200, with the fairways for $800 each and the hybrids at $450 each. The XXIO Prime Royal irons are $300 each.

About the author

Ryan Ballengee

Ryan Ballengee is founder and editor of Golf News Net. He has been writing and broadcasting about golf for nearly 20 years. Ballengee lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his family. He is a scratch golfer...sometimes.

Ballengee can be reached by email at ryan[at]thegolfnewsnet.com

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