Equipment

Odyssey 2012: Interview with Austie Rollinson

Published

11 years ago

Dec 3, 2011

When Keegan Bradley raised his arms to celebrate his first major championship victory at the 2011 PGA Championship in August, he reached higher than any major champion had ever before — literally.

Along with his arms, Bradley also raised his 46.75-inch Odyssey White Hot XG Sabertooth putter, making him look more like Patrick Ewing than his aunt, Pat Bradley. It was a life changing moment for the 25-year-old PGA Tour rookie, but possibly even a bigger moment for the putter industry.

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Bradley’s win was the fuel for the vast long putter migration that has occurred during the final months of the 2011 season, a trend that has carried over to the retail side as well. Since Bradley’s win, Odyssey has seen a 400 percent increase in demand for long putters from consumers, which has caused the company to fast track release of the retail version of the White Hot XG Sabertooth belly putter. But there’s much more to building successful line of long putters than shoving an extra-long shaft in a putterhead, according to Odyssey Principal Designer Austie Rollinson.

Because of the extra weight necessary for a long putterhead, most companies including Odyssey have opted to use mallet-styled putterheads that better accommodate the added bulk. But there’s another reason for the use of mallet-styled heads in long putters.

“When players use a belly or long putter, they tend to stand more upright,” Rollinson said. “They’re farther away from the ball, so they need to have a bigger head looking down. Some of our bigger mallets, including the new D.A.R.T. we just came out with – they lend themselves better to long and belly putters.”

There are many different ways to add extra weight to a putter. Both TaylorMade and Titleist have introduced putters with removable weights that allow a player to fine tune the weight of a putter to their liking. Another approach is to increase the size of the putterhead, as a way to keep the putter’s proportions in check when the extra weight is added. But Rollinson and his crew came up with a different approach for the White Hot XG Sabertooth, one that allowed them to keep the popular dimensions of the standard-length putter, but also add the necessary weight needed to balance its longer length.

Instead of casting the White Hot XG Sabertooth belly putters from stainless steel, Odyssey cast them out of a denser material called tunnite. For that reason, the putter Bradley used to win the PGA Championship had the exact same dimensions as the standard-length White Hot XG Sabertooth, but a heavier head weight because of the tunnite casting.

Odyssey will release the White Hot XG Sabertooth belly putter Nov. 18. It will be available in a 43-inch length, and feature the same tunnite construction Bradley uses in his putter.

ProType Tour Series Putters

While a lot of Odyssey’s focus has been on its long putter offerings, the company has also been hard at work with its new standard-length putter line, the ProType Tour Series.

The ProTypes are a departure from what has been Odyssey’s bread and butter in putter design, insert putters. The ProTypes are milled from 1025 carbon steel and feature the deeper, sharper milling marks on the face that have gained popularity among tour professionals for their softer feel and truer role.

In Europe and Japan, Odyssey’s high-end insert putters have thrived because of high use on foreign professional tours. But in the United States, where purchases are highly influenced by what consumers see Tour players using, one-piece putters have risen in popularity, which has shifted Odyssey’s U.S. strategy.

The ProType models will include Odyssey’s No. 2, 3, 6, 7 and 9, as well as a Two-Ball mallet that will be released without an insert for the first time.

“For the 2012 line, we chose models by what’s doing well on Tour,” Rollinson said. “A former Callaway staff player won the U.S. Open using the No. 7, and the No. 6 model is a lot like the TriHot TriForce No. 2 shape that K.J. Choi and Steve Stricker have been using for years.”

The ProTypes will be released Feb. 17 in with a slew of custom options. They will feature a dull, milky white chrome plating and a Lamkin 3Gen Pistol Grip, available in six different color options that can be matched with the putterhead paintfill for an added charge. All models will be available in 33-to-35-inch lengths. They have an MSRP of $335, with the exception of the Two-Ball Mallet, which has an MSRP of $375. The No. 2, No. 3, No. 9 and Two-Ball Mallet will be available in left-handed models.

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Equipment

Everything you need to know about PXG’s new 2023 Gen6 golf clubs

Published

7 hours ago

Mar 23, 2023

Andrew Tursky

Parsons Xtreme Golf (PXG) has officially announced the release of its new Gen6 family of products, which replace the company’s previous Gen5 lineup.

The new Gen6 stable includes two driver options (o311 and 0311 XF), two fairway woods (0311 and 0311 XF), two hybrids (0311 and 0311 XF), and two iron models (0311 P and 0311 XP).

PXG offers two different versions of each club type to satisfy the varying needs of different golfers. The standard 0311 metalwoods and 0311 P irons offer players a combination of forgiveness and performance, whereas the 0311 XF metalwoods and 0311 XP irons are made for players who need a little “X”-tra forgiveness on mishits.

The Gen 6 clubs are available for purchase on PXG’s website, or in PXG in-store locations, as of Thursday, March 23. The Gen 6 driver is selling for $499, fairway woods $299, hybrids $289, and irons $219 apiece.

Below, we break down the new technological enhancements in the Gen 6 family.

PXG’s 0311 and 0311 XF drivers

The PXG 0311 driver model (pictured above and below) offers a traditional tear drop shape and a compact profile, and the PXG 0311 XF model has a larger footprint and shallower face to help players who hit mishit the ball more often.

New this year for PXG is a robotic polishing process that helps with tighter CT tolerances to boost ball speeds for product users. PXG has also improved sound and feel compared to previous iterations by using what the company calls High Modal Frequency Designs.

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Additionally, each head is designed with a 3-port adjustable weighting system in the sole, and they’re built with high-strength Ti412 face structures to increase speed.

The 0311 driver is available in 7.5, 9 and 10.5 degrees, and the PXG 0311 XF is offered in 9, 10.5 and 12 degrees.

PXG’s 0311 and 0311 XF fairway woods

The PXG 0311 fairways (13, 15, 18 and 21 degrees) and the 0311 XF fairways (16, 17, 19 and 22 degrees) each have adjustable sole weights – three weight ports in the 0311, and two weight ports in the 0311 XF – and each are designed with flatter soles to lower the overall mass of the heads to increase forgiveness. The 0311 XF model, in particular, is designed with a Railed Sole Geometry to help create lower friction to help with turf interaction.

The Gen 6 fairway woods are built with AM355 steel bodies and HT1770 steel faces.

PXG’s 0311 and 0311 XF hybrids

The PXG 0311 hybrids have a more compact shape at address, while the 0311 XF features a larger shape that offers more forgiveness. As with the Gen 6 fairway woods, the soles of the hybrids are flatter to keep weight low, and the XF in particular has protruding split rails to enhance turf interaction.

The 0311 hybrids are available in 17, 19, 22 and 25 degrees, and the 0311 XF hybrids are available in 19, 22, 25, 28 and 31 degrees.

PXG’s 0311 P and 0311 XF irons

PXG’s new 0311 P and 0311 XP irons now have a 15 percent thinner face, and PXG is calling them “the fastest irons we’ve ever made,” and the “softest irons we’ve ever made.”

The faces are made from high strength HT1770 maraging steel, and they have milled channels behind the faces to increase face deflection, increase launch, and raise ball speeds. In between the faces and the back cavity, PXG uses its propriety XCOR2 material to enhance feel, energy transfer and durability. The bodies themselves are five-times forged from 8620 steel, and they have milled back surfaces to reduce wall thickness and increase precision.

PXG’s new 0311 P and 0311 XP irons also use Tungsten weighting in the low-and-back portions of the heads to increase launch and forgiveness.

According to PXG, the 0311 P irons are designed for low-to-mid handicappers and have moderate offset, whereas the 0311 XP irons have more offset, and they’re built for mid-to-high handicaps who want more distance and forgiveness.

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The Gen 6 irons are also offered in a PXG Black Label Elite option, which comes with an Xtreme Dark finish.

See more photos of the Gen 6 products here

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Whats in the Bag

Scottie Scheffler WITB 2023 (March)

Published

10 hours ago

Mar 23, 2023

GolfWRX Staff

Scottie Scheffler what’s in the bag accurate as of the WGC-Dell Match Play. More photos from the event here.

Driver: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus (8 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X

3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8 X

Irons: Srixon ZU85 (3: 20 degrees, 4: 23 degrees), TaylorMade P7TW (5-PW)
Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 GOST Hybrid Prototype 10 X (3), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (4-PW)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM8 (50-12F, 56-14F), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks Proto (60-T), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks Proto (60.5-T)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putter: Scotty Cameron Special Select Timeless TourType GSS prototype

Ball: Titleist Pro V1

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

More photos of Scottie Scheffler’s WITB in the forums.

More Scottie Scheffler WITBs

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Whats in the Bag

Billy Horschel WITB 2023 (February)

Published

12 hours ago

Mar 23, 2023

GolfWRX Staff

Billy Horschel what’s in the bag accurate as of the Honda Classic. More photos from the event here.

Driver: Titleist TSR3 (9 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Black 6 X

3-wood: Titleist TSi2 (15 degrees @14.25)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX 70 6.5 TX

5-wood: Titleist TSi2 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX 80 6.5 TX

Irons: Titleist 620 CB, Titleist 620 MB
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (52-12F, 56-08M), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks Proto (60-T)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue Onyx S400