Equipment
Tour Edge EXS Pro Forged irons launched
Tour Edge is expanding its better player targeted EXS Pro line with the addition of the all-new EXS Pro Forged irons—a tour-inspired design developed with multi-material technology, and looks to match.
Just like the limited edition EXP Pro driver, the EXS Pro Forged irons utilize the highest quality materials and processes to deliver a golf club built for the most discerning players. The goal of designer David Glod was to produce the most forgiving distance iron possible in a player-preferred package and the EXS Pro Forged live up to the lofty challenge.
“As a club designer, I love player iron designs that are as beautiful as they are playable. These three designs were made to be irons that are drooled over by the core golfer, not only in looks and feel, but in how they perform.” David Glod – Tour Edge Lead Designer
“I believe that the milled forged iron connoisseurs out there are going to be very impressed with the playability we were able to combine with a traditional forged feel.”
Inside the Exotics EXS Pro forged irons
The EXS Pro Forged cavity iron is constructed of Japanese S25C mild carbon steel to offer an extremely soft feel to the golfer. After the forging process, the faces are CNC milled to precise tolerances and the grooves are designed to maximize performance throughout the set. The CNC milling of the EXS Pro doesn’t stop at the face either—the cavity is designed to boost MOI as much as possible in the compact clubhead, so the back of the club is also CNC milled to offer the thinnest face possible without sacrificing feel.
Speaking of feel, the term forged can be overused in the world of golf club construction with some lesser companies only stamping precast pieces once and calling them forged, but the EXS are not those clubs. The S25C club heads are triple-forged (struck 3 times at very high-pressure) to offer a thinner, stronger clubhead that allows the designer to push more mass to the toe and heel weight pads for more forgiveness and more consistent ball speeds across the face. To further improve feedback, the iron has an acoustic engineered cavity insert consisting of a polymer and a dampening gel to provide the best possible sound and feel.
Now about ball speeds and technology: The 3- 6-irons in the EXS Pro Forged cavity have a concealed 10g tungsten toe weight to push more mass away from the hosel and make the clubs more forgiving on heel and toe misses in the longer irons. This is similar technology to irons that are priced much higher in the market.
Availability, Specs & Pricing
The new Exotics EXS Pro Forged irons will be available for purchase on June 1, 2020 through select Tour Edge retailers and custom club fitting locations.
The stock shafts are: True Temper Elevate Tour VSS Pro—available in regular and stiff flex—as well as True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 in R300, S300.
The stock grip will be the Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360.
$149.99 per iron.
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- Patrick Reed what’s in the bag accurate as of the PGA Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Ping G400 (8.5 degrees)
Shaft: Aldila Rogue Silver 125 MSI 70 Tour X
3-wood: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (15 degrees)
Shaft: Aldila Rogue Silver 125MSI 80 Tour X
Hybrid: Callaway Apex Pro (18 degrees)
Shaft: Aldila RIP Phenom Hybrid 100 TX
Irons: Titleist 716 TMB (2), Grindworks PR-202 (4), Grindworks PR-101A (5-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore (50-10 Mid), Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (56-08M @55), SM10 (60-04T)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Odyssey White Hot RX Pt Customs No. 2
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Grips: Golf Pride MCC
More photos of Patrick Reed’s WITB in the forums.
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Welcome to the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.
In the last two PGA Championships held at Valhalla, Tiger Woods won in 2000 – when he famously pointed his golf ball into the hole during the historic duel with Bob May – and Rory McIlroy won the 2014 event, basically in the dark on the final hole.
The point is, history shows that Valhalla tends to produce top-tier champions and plenty of drama.
This week at the 2024 PGA Championship, GolfWRX got its first up-close look at what some of the LIV Tour players have in their bags in 2024. We also caught back up with a few PGA Championship legends, such as Rich Beem and John Daly, and we dove into the bags of PGA Sectional qualifiers, too.
In total, we captured 47 different photo galleries this week, including 32 individual What’s In The Bag (WITB) forum threads. Click here to see all of our photos from the event, or continue reading to see my 10 equipment highlights from Valhalla.
1) Brooks Koepka’s new putter
Koepka was previously using a Scotty Cameron T5.5 putter with a slant neck, which he used to win at the beginning of the month in Singapore on the LIV tour. This week, however, he tried a T5.5 with a plumbers neck instead of the slant neck, and it’s immediately going in the bag. According to Scotty Cameron Tour rep Drew Page, Koepka already loved the head, and now finds the plumbers neck a bit more familiar to the blade-style putters he’s used throughout most of his career.
2) The lead tape king returns, with putting goggles
Phil Mickelson has always been one of the GOATs when it comes to lead tape usage, so it was no surprise to see his 64-degree custom Callaway wedge slathered with slabs of lead tape on the back.
The big surprise was that lefty was spotted using ProAim putting training goggles on Wednesday during his warm-up session.
The ProAim goggles are helpful to find center lines and ensure proper alignment to the target.
See Phil Mickelson’s full WITB from the 2024 PGA Championship
3) Dobyns’ old-school gamer setup
Speaking of lead tape, check out Matt Dobyn’s old Titleist 718 T-MB irons, which are so loaded with lead tape that the club is nearly unrecognizable.
Respect.
The head professional at Meadow Brook Club is making his sixth start in a PGA Championship, and he’s using a throwback Callaway GBB Epic driver with MOI-boosting lead tape and adjustable weight placements.
As GolfWRX Forum user “InTheBag” pointed out in our Matt Dobyns’ WITB thread, he has the type of setup that makes you want to hide your wallet: “I don’t know Mr. Dobyns, but one look at that bag tells me he can take your money,” writes InTheBag.
Spot on.
4) John Daly’s custom Sub70 irons and wedges
We first saw John Daly using $750 direct-to-consumer Sub70 659-CB irons and TAIII wedges at the 2023 PNC Championship, and he still has them in the bag, but he’s since stepped up the customization on the Sub70 clubs.
Does Daly ever NOT keep things entertaining?
View this post on Instagram
A true showman.
5) DJ’s custom putter
Dustin Johnson has always been one to test multiple putters week-to-week, and he has a keen eye for different alignment lines and crowns. This week, he’s opting for a completely gray TaylorMade Spider Tour “T3.0” prototype with a short slant neck.
See the rest of DJ’s WITB from the week here
6) Patrick Reed still rocking GrindWorks irons
Patrick Reed knows his stuff when it comes to equipment, and he’s a prolific tester. Still, however, the GrindWorks PR-101A irons are squarely in the bag after his departure to the LIV tour.
The most notable new addition to Reed’s bag is this Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond 3-wood.
Click here to see Reed’s full WITB from this week
7) Beem’s Scratch set
Rich Beem, who won the 2002 PGA Championship at Hazeltine National, came to the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla with a bag full of Scratch Golf irons, which are loaded with lead tape and equipped with some of the coolest custom ferrules in professional golf.
See Rich Beem’s full WITB here
8) Jon Rahm’s 10-iron
Before going to LIV, Rahm was using a Callaway Apex TCB pitching wedge.
Now, he’s using a Callaway Apex TCB “10 iron.”
He’s also since upgraded to three Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke metalwoods, and fresh stampings on his Jaws Raw wedges. Click here to see Rahm’s full WITB from the 2024 PGA Championship.
9) “Why so serious?”
Tyrrell Hatton, another LIV player in the 2024 PGA Championship field, channels his inner Joker to ask everyone, “Why so serious?”
10) Block’s “Proto” iron, from address
As you probably know by now, Block switched out of his old TaylorMade Tour Preferred MC 2014 irons, and into a full set of TaylorMade’s new “Proto” irons. We’ve already seen the Proto 4-iron in the bags of Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa, but this is our first look at the higher-lofted irons in the set.
Here’s a look at the 7-iron from address:
See what GolfWRX members are saying about the Proto irons in our Forums
And, with that, we say goodbye to Louisville, and the second major championship of the 2024 season. We’ll see you next week at the 2024 Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas after a champion has been crowned.
Until then, don’t forget to check out all of our photos from this week at the 2024 PGA Championship!
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We will be one quarter of the way through Thursday night men’s league season after this week. BK played much better last week, so he is hoping to continue that success and post another good score.
Here are the 14 clubs that will hopefully win him some skins!
Driver: PXG 0311 Black Ops (9 degrees, neutral setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 X (2024)
3-wood: Cobra Dark Speed LS Titanium (14.5 degrees, set +1)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD IZ-7x
Fairway: Callaway Apex UW (19 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura ATMOS Tour Spec Blue 8 X
Hybrid: PXG 0311 Black Ops 4h (22 degrees, Flat Setting)
Shaft: KBS Tour Graphite Hybrid Prototype 85 S
Irons: TaylorMade P770 Phantom Black (5-PW)
Shaft: KBS Tour 120 Stiff
Wedge: PXG Sugar Daddy II (50-13 BP)
Shaft: Nippon Modus3 Tour 120 Stiff
Wedge: PXG Sugar Daddy II (56-13 BP)
Shaft: Nippon Modus3 Tour 120 Stiff
Wedge: PXG Sugar Daddy II (60-13 BP)
Shaft: Nippon Modus3 Tour 120 Stiff
Putter: L.A.B. Mezz.1 Max
Shaft: Accra x L.A.B. White
Ball: Titleist ProV1 Enhanced Alignment
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Patrick Reed what’s in the bag accurate as of the PGA Championship. More photos from the event here. Driver: Ping...
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Dave Bryce
May 27, 2020 at 11:31 pm
Nice looking irons;however, they look like clones too the Callaway Apex irons! Need more grip and shaft options.
Scrumpdelicious
May 26, 2020 at 6:22 pm
Darn, you guys beat me to it; “Mr. Exotic CEO, you have a call on line 1 from some guy calling himself God. This God guy says Eli Callaway would like to have a word with you.”
Ben More
May 26, 2020 at 5:05 pm
Are graphite shafts an option ?
Jeff Boulay
May 26, 2020 at 3:30 pm
making blade and player iron but do not offer Xstiff shaft.
Paulo
May 26, 2020 at 2:12 pm
“Hi this is the Callaway legal department calling”
Tank
May 26, 2020 at 12:40 pm
These are some of the first irons I’ve seen from TE that I really like and wouldn’t mind owning them.
DukeOfChinoHills
May 26, 2020 at 11:31 am
Nice to see a new offering from Tour Exotics.
I’d like to see a simple chart of irons featuring multi-material construction and see which models have the MOST (average) tungsten being used. Which companies are really pushing the envelope vs. others that are just following the trend.
Gus Chiggins
May 26, 2020 at 9:11 am
i didn’t even think of callaway apex irons when i saw these.
jgpl001
May 26, 2020 at 11:32 am
Me neither!