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Srixon’s Z355 driver, fairways, hybrids and irons debut Action Mass Technology

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Last year, Srixon covered the needs of better players with its Z545 and Z745 drivers, ZF45 fairway woods, ZH45 hybrids and Z545 and Z745 irons. This year, the company aims to help the rest of the golfing population with its new Z355 club line.

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The common theme of the Z355 line? Each of the models use extremely heavy club heads and lightweight, counterbalanced shafts. Srixon has coined the design “Action Mass Technology,” and it can help certain golfers create more distance while improving accuracy.

[quote_box_center]”Our extensive player and digital simulation testing revealed that the most effective method to place the game-improvement, performance-type player in a position to make consistently successful golf swings is by strategically concentrating more weight in the club head and raising the balance point of the shaft,” the company said in a press release. “We have established in years of testing that this design promotes distance by organically creating more club head speed through the downswing and more ball speed at impact thanks to greater kinetic energy.”[/quote_box_center]

Here’s photos of the new clubs, and what you need to know about them. They’re in stores Sept. 18.

See what GolfWRX Members are saying about the clubs in our forum. 

Srixon Z355 Driver ($349.99)

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The key to making the Z355 driver and the rest of the line playable for its target audience of slower swingers is Miyazaki’s new ultra high balance point Jinsoku shaft. The lightweight shaft counterbalances the extremely heavy club heads, creating the opportunity for more ball speed, and thus more distance.

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Think of it this way: with all other variables staying the same, a heavy object can deliver more energy to a golf ball than a lighter object. But there’s an accuracy component as well, according to Srixon. The Jinsoku shaft’s higher balance point creates more stability during the swing, as it increases the club’s overall moment of inertia (MOI).

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The Z355 driver has a 6-4 titanium cup face, as well as the company’s QTS adjustable hosel with 12 unique settings for loft, lie and face angle.

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Shaft and Grip Specs

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Srixon Z355 Fairway Wood ($229.99)

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The Z355 fairway woods are larger than the company’s ZF45 model (185cc v. 168cc in the 3-wood), to offer golfers more forgiveness and more confidence at address.

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The fairway woods use Srixon’s HT1770 Maraging Steel Cup Faces to boost ball speed and forgiveness across the face, and have bonded hosels.

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Shaft and Grip Specs

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Srixon Z355 Hybrid ($199.99)

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The Z355 hybrids are larger than the company’s ZH45 model (128cc v. 114cc in the 3-hybrid). That makes the clubs look more like small fairway woods at address, and also enables a bit more distance and forgiveness on off-center hits.

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Like the Z355 fairway woods, the hybrids use Srixon’s HT1770 Maraging Steel Cup Faces and have bonded hosels.

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Shaft and Grip Specs

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Srixon Z355 Irons ($799 steel, $899 graphite)

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The Z355 irons are designed for consistency, but won’t skimp on distance. They 4-7 irons use a two-piece construction, highlighted by Maraging Steel faces that are welded to 17-4 stainless steel bodies to deliver extra ball speed and forgiveness. The 8-AW are one-piece irons made from 431 stainless steel to improve feel and control.

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Like the rest of the line, the irons use Action Mass Technology, and come with a choice of Miyazaki’s Jinsoku graphite iron shafts or Nippon’s N.S. Pro 950GH DST steel shafts. Both are counterbalanced, with the steel shafts tipping the scales at between 91 and 95 grams — about 20 grams more than the graphite option.

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A peek at the spec chart above shows off the concept behind Srixon’s redesigned Tour V.T. Sole, which has a considerable amount of leading edge bounce to reduce digging, and drastically less bounce (or in some cases negative bounce) on the trailing edge of the sole to help the club glide through the turf with little resistance.

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Shaft and Grip Specs

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See more in-hand photos of the clubs.

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21 Comments

21 Comments

  1. That Bob Guy

    Feb 29, 2016 at 8:12 am

    I’m a little concerned with the playability of the V-sole. My concern is the V-sole raising the leading edge of the club, and it’s effect on the strike. Will a forward shaft lean be required to negate this effect, or is my thinking wrong?

  2. Ike Leverone

    Aug 31, 2015 at 1:08 pm

    The higher MOI head design is designed with a shallower profile to promote easier launch. A fast and powerful HT1770 maraging steel face creates a larger sweet spot for increased consistency and distance from the fairway or off the tee.

  3. christian

    Aug 21, 2015 at 3:57 am

    Srixons sister brand XXIO, have had this counterbalanced tech available in the JDM market for a while now.

  4. Tim

    Aug 19, 2015 at 9:27 pm

    What I’m waiting for is the comments on the non-standard .362″ shaft tip diameter for the irons and hybrids. So much for being able to easily re-shaft if desired. It doesn’t mention if this is a taper tip design or a parallel tip design, but either way nothing else is going to fit easily. Wilson finally gave up on their Fat Shaft concept, despite a larger diameter being more stucturally stable, simply to take advantage of more shaft availability.

    • christian

      Aug 21, 2015 at 3:53 am

      Did they promise the clubs are going to be easy to re-shaft?

  5. duffer888

    Aug 19, 2015 at 11:46 am

    Not real impressed with the line, but the driver should be a must try for peeps that play drivers shorter than 45″. Put a non-counterbalance shaft in there at 44.5-44.0 and it should SW around D5-D3 depending on shaft weight. No need for lead tape or hot melt!

    Also, it seems to me that adjustable hosel is quite heavy. For comparisons, a Ping G30 head specs at 206g, D3 SW at 45.75″ with a 55g shaft.

    • Tim

      Aug 19, 2015 at 9:19 pm

      Just going to suggest that the extra weight is likely not from the hosel. Their other adjustable hosel drivers don’t seem out of line with other manufacturer’s models or seem to have any additional weight. More likely the extra weight is simply in a thicker sole or in some sort of internal weighting scheme cast into the sole. The extra weight does make some sense from a Physics perspective, in that a heaver mass will provide more energy right up to the point where it starts costing clubhead speed. They’ve likely found a law of diminishing returns, where reducing the weight doesn’t result in a corresponding increase in speed (the club is no longer the limiting factor in speed, but rather all the other moving parts of the swing become the limiters). Also, increasing the weight is an easy way to increase MOI, although a few grams likely doesn’t help that much. What it might also be helping is tempo and more center strikes, which is far more helpful in distance than speed. The D8 swingweight seems to indicate there’s not a lot of counterbalancing going on here. If the length were shortened to 44.5″ with the stock shaft, and assuming something like 4 points/half inch instead of the “standard” 3 points/half inch to account for some counterbalancing, we’d be looking at D4 at 44.5 or D0 at 44″, with some swingweight likely being recoverable by a lightweight grip

    • christian

      Aug 20, 2015 at 2:34 pm

      Did you even read the article, they DELIBERATELY made the head heavier, it’s part of the whole concept of this line. They use the same hosel on their other lines where the heads weigh under 200 grams.

  6. Chuck

    Aug 18, 2015 at 11:00 pm

    I ask; based on a picture alone… Is there a better-looking driver anywhere in production right now, than that Srixon? Black head, stainless face. THAT is what a driver is supposed to look like.

    I hope one of the big shops near me in Michigan (Carl’s Golfland or Miles of Golf) will have one to demo.

  7. Alex T

    Aug 18, 2015 at 2:52 pm

    I love the look of the driver but here’s my issue: despite being 6″1 I really struggle with hitting anything longer than 44.5″ out of the middle of the club. My current driver is 44.25″. I totally understand the whole “heavier head, higher balance point, more distance” thing, but I can’t imagine the driver being less than 45″ (in all likelihood it will be 45.5″-46″) stock length. My question is this: how drastically will chopping 1.5″-ish off the butt of a counterbalanced shaft affect the swing weight? Or does that defeat the point of the whole counterbalanced driver thing?

    • tbone

      Aug 18, 2015 at 3:38 pm

      The specs in the article above state 45″

      • Alex T

        Aug 18, 2015 at 3:49 pm

        Yeah, sadly I noticed that the second I posted my comment. Should have read it a little closer. My mistake, but my question stands simply out of curiousity- how does trimming affect counterbalancing?

        • Tim

          Aug 19, 2015 at 8:33 pm

          Typically, every 1/2″ of club length changes the swingweight by 3 points. However, with a counterbalanced shaft (more weight in the butt end), it’s likely that this ratio would not be the same. More swingweight reduction should be had by the same amount of length reduction, but how much more I couldn’t say without knowing the weight distribution of this shaft as compared to others. “Counterbalanced” means there’s more weight in the butt, but how much more would be the question. Maybe 4 points for a 1/2″ change in overall length with this type of shaft.

  8. JohnJohn

    Aug 18, 2015 at 12:14 pm

    I would love to try it. I have a brand new Z545 driver sitting in my spare bag. Hit twice w/ impact tape. Has the reg flex KK shaft. I don’t know why I could not hit it, shaft ? Head? Would love to try this with the Miyazaki shaft though.

  9. Quint

    Aug 18, 2015 at 10:15 am

    Here’s my take on the Srixon thing. I absolutely love their products. They have a great tour presence on every professional tour. Here is my issue, they are always in the closet in pro shops or at any retail shop. There is not much marketing in the USA, as there is in Japan. If they were pushed more in the USA, I believe they would be much more competative in the USA marketplace. Cleveland Golf outside of their wedges was the same way. The best thing they had going was the hibore drivers, but they went away from that, and ended up looking like everyone else. Lets go Srixon! Get in the USA average golfer marketplace. You have the tour side covered.

    • Large chris

      Aug 19, 2015 at 2:42 pm

      This ^^^^
      Even when they get a tour win, can you walk in a pro shop and buy the same club on Monday? Absolutely not, compare that to the marketing success of TM the last few years.

      • Quint

        Aug 20, 2015 at 6:40 am

        That’s what I’m talking about! They make some of the best stuff, but you can’t find the product anywhere? I so agree, Chris. I sent Cleveland an email to their customer service department yesterday, saying the same comments. I may not be able to change the world, but maybe a voice can make someone listen at Srixon/Cleveland golf, and get the word out to consumers.

  10. Nolanski

    Aug 18, 2015 at 9:36 am

    Get ready for the uproar about the 44* PW… 3… 2… 1…

    • BeanieTX

      Aug 18, 2015 at 10:12 am

      And the 5° jump down to the 9i

      • Nolanski

        Aug 18, 2015 at 10:58 am

        I have a 10 yard gap between my 40* and 45* irons so the loft gap doesn’t bother me personally. What’s your loft and yardage gap preference?

      • Tim

        Aug 19, 2015 at 9:04 pm

        Nolanski makes a very good point. The traditional 4 degree loft progression was “standardized” a very long time ago, with blade type irons, high spinning balls, and pro level clubhead speeds to get an “acceptable” 10 yard distance gap from that 4 degree loft change. Today’s world with lower CG’s, non-linear spin rates (more spin off the wedges and less proportionally off the driver thanks to multiple core layers) means the loft progression is likely different, especially with non-pro level clubhead speeds. Amateur clubhead speeds result in a lower yardage change/loft change ratio, which is why those with moderate clubhead speeds hit their 5 iron and 4 iron the same distance, or perhaps the 5 even further than the 4 (especially if there’s no tee involved and you look at averages rather than “best case” strikes). I’ve got a set of irons with 5 degree gaps from the PW to the 6 iron, with 4 degree gaps to the 5 and again to the 4. Yardage gaps are just fine, and the more traditional PW means I don’t need a gap wedge as there’s also a 5 degree gap to the SW. Of course, a setup like this would defeat the whole manufacturer’s method of having their 6 irons outperform your existing 6 iron on Demo Day, and many demo irons are now 7’s. Remember when Demo Day irons were always 5 irons? There’s a reason that doesn’t happen anymore, and there’s no chance Demo Day will ever include something like a 4 iron, as someone with an older 4 iron that has more loft would likely find it outperforming the latest demo version. Rather, we’ll have you demo the 4 hybrid, where we can count lower CG to offset the lower loft from a trajectory perspective, and that lower loft to add more distance than your existing 4 iron (disproportionally so thanks to the lower spin rate with the new ball).

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Equipment

Spotted: Tony Finau’s driver shaft change at the 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open

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Tony Finau has always been known as one of the longest players on the PGA Tour, but he has recently been working on adding a little more distance. Last year, Finau averaged 118.3 mph club head speed and 178.08 mph ball speed, all while playing a Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 70 TX driver shaft. This year, he has increased his club head speed to 123.93 mph and his ball speed to 183.32 mph.

However, Finau’s overall distance has decreased by two yards in that time. From a fitting perspective, something was amiss. We asked Tony about the shaft change at the Texas Children’s Hospital Open.

“[I’m seeing] better numbers with the spin. My driver’s been a little high spin for me over the last month or so, and so I just figured it was time to probably check out the equipment,” Finau said. “And it definitely showed me that I was using a shaft that’s maybe a little too tip-stiff for me, the way I load the club now. [I’m seeing] better numbers with the spin.”

Finau switched from the Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 70 TX into the Diamana GT 70 TX. The newer Diamana GT has a slightly different profile than the D+ Limited with the stiffest handle section in the Diamana lineup. The mid sections between the two are similar stiffness but the tip is just slightly stiffer in the Diamana GT. Both shafts are within one gram of each other in the 70 TX. The torque rating on the GT is 0.1 higher than the D+Limited’s 2.7 measurement.

Mitsubishi lists the Diamana GT as a shaft between the mid-launching Diamana TB and the new low-launch Diamana WB shafts. For most players, it would be considered a mid/low launch and low-spin shaft option. Mitsubishi’s Xlink Tech Resin System makes sure the maximum carbon fiber content is there for smooth feel without reducing the strength of the shaft. MR70 carbon fiber is used for reinforcing the shaft and boron is used in the tip for its high strength and compression properties.

Finau is still using his trusty Ping G430 LST driver in 9 degrees and has the adjustable hosel set to -1 degree of loft (standard lie angle). Finau’s long-time favorite Lamkin UTX Green grip is installed. He definitely has a few extra wraps of tape under that grip as you can see the bulge down where the grip meets the shaft.

One final note: Per Ping’s PGA Tour rep Kenton Oates, Finau’s driver is also adjusted to play one degree upright to help dial in his desired launch.

We’ll see how he fares with the new setup this week in Houston!

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Whats in the Bag

Zac Blair WITB 2024 (March)

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Driver: Titleist TSR2 (10 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Red 6 X

3-wood: TaylorMade M5 Rocket 3 (14 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Speeder 757 Evolution V1 X

Utility: Titleist U510 (3)
Shaft: Aldila Tour Blue 85 X

Irons: Ping i210 (4-6), Miura MB-001 (7-9)
Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (46-10F, 58-08M @57, 60 @61), Vokey Design WedgeWorks (52-M)
Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 Tour 105 X

Putter: Scotty Cameron prototype

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Ball: Titleist Pro V1

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Whats in the Bag

Martin Trainer WITB 2024 (March)

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Driver: Wilson Staff Staff Model (6.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Kai’li Blue 70 TX

3-wood: Wilson Staff WLabs Prototype (13 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Orange 80 TX

Irons: Wilson Staff Staff Model (2, 4-9)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Wedges: Wilson Staff Staff Model (52, 56, 60)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Putter: Bobby Grace Greg Chalmers Prototype

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

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