Connect with us

Equipment

GolfWRX Spotlight: Tour Edge Exotics EXS 220 driver

Published

on

tour edge exotics exs 220 driver sole

Product: Tour Edge Exotics EXS 220 driver

Pitch from Tour Edge: “The Tour Edge Exotics EXS 220 driver is a substantial leap forward in design and innovation. This driver is packed with the latest technology that Tour Edge has to offer like Diamond Face Technology where behind the face there are diamond shapes in different thicknesses to produce a massive sweet spot. This Diamond Face Technology produces a hotter face, faster ball speeds, better performance on off-center hits, as well as spin reduction.”

“The Ultra-Premium 8-1-1 titanium and Triple Carbon tech allow for more weight repositioning to the back of the head. This weight repositioning, along with the elongated shape help create an extremely high MOI, one of the highest in a driver. Finally, the EXS 220 features an adjustable hosel that gives +/- 2 degrees of loft adjustment, combined with the three offered loft heads, to fit any golfer.”

Our take on the Tour Edge Exotics EXS 220 driver

The Tour Edge Exotics line tends to only get a lot of focus on the fairway woods, but those aren’t the only ones that deserve some attention. Last year’s Exotics EXS driver was a lower-launching driver that really performed great and not enough people noticed or gave it a try. So this year, Tour Edge decided to pull out all the stops and really load up the Exotics EXS 220 with all the technology that they currently have!

Open the box, and the Exotics EXS 220 greets you with a white-and-black headcover with a nice leather feel to it. Take that off, and underneath is a driver head with a whole lot of carbon fiber staring back at you. The top of the head is a nice gloss black that fades into the carbon fiber and the sole features a section of the toe and heel with a blue-tinted version of the same carbon. The fit and finish are really high-quality, and you can tell that the folks at Tour Edge took the time to make sure everything went together seamlessly. Fit and finish are what you would expect from a $500-plus driver, and the Exotics EXS 220 costs only $350!

tour edge exotics exs 220 driver crown

Out on the course, the Exotics EXS 220’s elongated shape will turn some of you away, but those of you who stay will be impressed. Setting the driver down gives you a square, if not slightly open, face angle in the neutral setting. Adding loft will close the face, so if face angle is important to you, buy the next loft up.

The first ball impression was really good, the ball jumps off the face and goes straight! That shape and deep weighting really do make the Exotics EXS 220 a straight driving machine. The stability of the head is easily shown off: balls hit off the toe and heel still go left and right, but the amount of movement is greatly reduced. My (main) miss is low heel and those shots still got higher up in the air and held off from going farther right than I usually expect. Same experience on toe contact as well: the ball just didn’t have the same drastic movement and direction as you would expect. Shots hit in the center of the face are going to give you a nice high, low-spinning, shot that bores you the entire time.

Launch is effortless and definitely higher than the previous EXS driver. The Exotics EXS 220 has an internal Sound Diffusion Bar to engineer the sound profile, and the noise it makes is actually pretty good. A nice solid crack is created at impact, but if I allow myself to nitpick, I would prefer the sound to be a few decibels lower.

tour edge exotics exs 220 driver face

Overall, the Tour Edge Exotics EXS 220 driver is a real contender with the more expensive offerings this year. If you are looking for a driver that is going to help you hit it higher and straighter, the Exotics EXS 220 has to be on your list this year.

Your Reaction?
  • 146
  • LEGIT28
  • WOW8
  • LOL4
  • IDHT1
  • FLOP6
  • OB1
  • SHANK5

I have been an employee at GolfWRX since 2016. In that time I have been helping create content on GolfWRX Radio, GolfWRX YouTube, as well as writing for the front page. Self-proclaimed gear junkie who loves all sorts of golf equipment as well as building golf clubs!

5 Comments

5 Comments

  1. James Stammer

    Feb 2, 2020 at 12:12 am

    Hey Brian. Played in your group at the Media event at Lake Nona. I agree with your thoughts and inpressions on this driver. I really like last year’s model, but this one really jumps.

    • Brian Knudson

      Feb 2, 2020 at 8:53 am

      James, great to hear from you! I had a great time playing with you, Dan, and Jen at the media day! The EXS wood line is really solid, I am testing the 3 wood and hybrid right now as well!

  2. Mike Barnett

    Feb 1, 2020 at 7:35 am

    Would love to hit it as I still love and use their woods. Hard to find a place that sells them to try though.

    • JP

      Feb 1, 2020 at 8:02 am

      My local Golf Galaxy carries them. But they’re back in the odd corner next to Cobra.

  3. Pelling

    Jan 31, 2020 at 5:19 pm

    Meh?

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Whats in the Bag

Kevin Tway WITB 2024 (May)

Published

on

Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X

3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 80 TX

5-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 90 TX

Irons: Wilson Staff Utility (2), Titleist T100 (4-9)
Shafts: Mitsubishi MMT 100 TX (2), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (4-9)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 52-12F @51, 56-14F), SM7 (60-10S)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (48-56), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (60)

Putter: Scotty Cameron T-5 Proto
Grip: Scotty Cameron Black Baby T

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Plus4

More photos of Kevin Tway’s WITB in the forums.

Your Reaction?
  • 0
  • LEGIT0
  • WOW0
  • LOL0
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK0

Continue Reading

Equipment

Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?

Published

on

Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.

The timing of Lowry’s putter changeup was curious: Was he just using a Spider putter because he was paired with McIlroy, who’s been using a Spider Tour X head throughout 2024? Was Lowry just being festive because it’s the Zurich Classic, and he wanted to match his teammate? Did McIlroy let Lowry try his putter, and he liked it so much he actually switched into it?

Well, as it turns out, McIlroy’s only influence was inspiring Lowry to make more putts.

When asked if McIlroy had an influence on the putter switch, Lowry had this to say: “No, it’s actually a different putter than what he uses. Maybe there was more pressure there because I needed to hole some more putts if we wanted to win,” he said with a laugh.

To Lowry’s point, McIlroy plays the Tour X model, whereas Lowry switched into the Tour Z model, which has a sleeker shape in comparison, and the two sole weights of the club are more towards the face.

Lowry’s Spider Tour Z has a white True Path Alignment channel on the crown of his putter, which is reminiscent of Lowry’s former 2-ball designs, thus helping to provide a comfort factor despite the departure from his norm. Instead of a double-bend hosel, which Lowry used in his 2-ball putters, his new Spider Tour Z is designed with a short slant neck.

“I’ve been struggling on the greens, and I just needed something with a fresh look,” Lowry told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship. “It has a different neck on it, as well, so it moves a bit differently, but it’s similar. It has a white line on the back of it [like my 2-ball], and it’s a mallet style. So it’s not too drastic of a change.

“I just picked it up on the putting green and I liked the look of it, so I was like, ‘Let’s give it a go.’”

Read the rest of the piece over at PGATour.com.

Your Reaction?
  • 1
  • LEGIT0
  • WOW0
  • LOL0
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK0

Continue Reading

Equipment

Webb Simpson equipment Q&A: Titleist’s new 2-wood, 680 blade irons, and switching to a broomstick Jailbird

Published

on

With seven career wins on the PGA Tour, including a U.S. Open victory, Webb Simpson is a certified veteran on the course. But he’s also a certified veteran in the equipment world, too. He’s a gearhead who truly knows his stuff, and he’s even worked closely with Titleist on making his own custom 682.WS irons.

On Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship, I caught up with Simpson to hear about his experience with Titleist’s new prototype 2-wood, how Titleist’s 680 Forged irons from 2003 ended up back in his bag, and why he’s switching into an Odyssey Ai-One Jailbird Cruiser broomstick putter this week for the first time.

Click here to read our full story about Simpson’s putter switch on PGATOUR.com’s Equipment Report, or continue reading below for my full Q&A with Simpson at Quail Hollow Club on Wednesday.

See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here

GolfWRX: It seems like you’ve been a little all over the place with your irons in the past six months or so, and now going back to the 680’s. Is that just a comfort thing? What’s been going on with the irons?

Webb Simpson: Titleist has been so great at working with me, and R&D, on trying to get an iron that kind of modernizes the 680. And so the 682.WS took the T100 grooves, but kinda took the look and the bulk and the build of the 680’s into one club. They’re beautiful, and awesome looking. I just never hit them that well for a consistent period of time. It was probably me, but then I went to T100’s and loved them. I loved the spin, the trajectory, the yardage, but again, I never went on good runs. Going through the ground, I couldn’t feel the club as well as with the blade. So last week, I’m like, ‘Alright. I’m gonna go back more for…comfort, and see if I can get on a nice little run of ball striking.’

So that’s why I went back.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by GolfWRX (@golfwrx)

OK, that makes sense. I know you had done some 2-wood testing recently. Is that in the bag right now?

It’s like day-by-day. I used it at Hilton Head every day. Valero, I used it one round. And this week, me and my caddie will do the book every morning, and if it’s a day where we think we need it, we’ll just put it in and take the 3-wood out. I love it because it’s a super simple swap. Like, it doesn’t really change much.

Yeah, can you tell me about that club? I mean, we don’t really know anything about it yet. You know? I haven’t hit it or anything, obviously.

It has grooves like a 3-wood. Spin is perfect. And it’s honestly, like, everything is in the middle of a 3-wood and driver number. Trajectory, spin, carry, all of it. So, a Hilton Head golf course is almost too easy to talk about because, you know, there, so many holes are driver 3-wood.

Valero, our thinking was we had two par-5’s into the wind, and we knew that it would take two great shots to get there in two. So instead of hitting driver-driver, we just put it in. And I used it on those holes.

Hilton was a little easier because it was off-the-tee kind of questions. But Colonial will be a golf course where, you know, there’s a lot of driver or 3-woods. It’s kind of like a backup putter or driver for me now. I’ll bring it to every tournament.

So it’s, like, in your locker right now, probably?

Well, it would be. It’s in my house [because Webb lives near by Quail Hollow Club, and is a member at the course.] It’s in the garage.

Oh, yeah, that’s right. Do you know what holes you might use it out here if it goes in play? 

Potentially 15, depending on the wind. Second shot on 10. Could be 14 off the tee. The chances here are pretty low (that he’ll use the 2-wood). But, like, Greensboro would be an awesome club all day. I’m trying to think of any other golf courses.

There’s plenty that it’ll be a nice weapon to have.

It’s interesting, the wave of 2-woods and mini drivers. Like, it’s just really taken off on Tour, and all the companies have seemed to embrace it.

Yeah. The thing I had to learn, it took me, like, at least a week to learn about it is you gotta tee it up lower than you think. I kept teeing it up too high. You need it low, like barely higher than a 3-wood. And that was where I got optimal spin and carry. If you tee it up too high, you just don’t get as much spin and lose distance, I don’t know if that’s just a mini driver thing.

And you obviously have a Jailbird putter this week. What spurred that on?

Inconsistent putting. I’m stubborn in a lot of ways when it comes to my equipment, but I have to be open minded – I just hadn’t putted consistently well in a while. And I’m like, ‘Man, I feel my ball-striking coming along. Like I feel better; for real, better.’

If I can just get something in my hands that I’m consistent with. Being on Tour, you see it every year, guys get on little runs. I can put together four to five tournaments where I’m all the sudden back in the majors, or in the FedExCup Playoffs. You can turn things around quick out here. I’m like, ‘Man, whatever’s going to get me there, great.’

My caddie, David Cook, caddied for Akshay at the Houston Open and he putted beautifully. Then, I watched Akshay on TV at Valero, and he putted beautifully. And, I’m like, ‘I’m just going to try it.’

I’ve never tried it for more than a putt or two, and I just ordered what Akshay uses. It was pretty awkward at first, but the more I used it, the more I’m like, ‘Man, it’s pretty easy.’ And a buddy of mine who’s a rep out here, John Tyler Griffin, he helped me with some setup stuff. And he said at Hilton Head, he wasn’t putting well, then tried it, and now he makes everything. He was very confident. So I’m like, ‘Alright, I’ll try it.’”

And you’re going with it this week?

Hundred percent.

Alright, I love it. Thank you, I always love talking gear with you. Play well this week. 

Thanks, man.

See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here

Your Reaction?
  • 36
  • LEGIT3
  • WOW1
  • LOL2
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK3

Continue Reading

WITB

Facebook

Trending