Equipment

Tour Edge Hot Launch 521 Series hybrids

Published

4 years ago

Oct 8, 2020

The Tour Edge C521 hybrids bring with them the same technology and game improvement advantages as the C521 driver and fairway woods for players looking to maximize forgiveness in a traditionally shaped club. The newly configured head shapes include the Houdini Sole, which places more mass low and farther away from the face to achieve an extremely high MOI, along with Tour Edge’s patented diamond face technology.

Tour Edge C521 hybrids

According to Tour Edge, the rear sole weighting and deep CG of the C521 increases the total MOI four percent by lowering the CG by 10 percent and pushing it 14-percent farther back in the head compared to the previous best selling HL4. This reconfiguration results in higher launch angles, a higher shot apex, and more carry—which helps golfers hit it farther and land it softer—key factors in holding greens from longer distances and scoring better.

The Tour Edge E521 Hybrid

The Tour Edge E521 hybrids continue the “E” Series philosophy by pushing weight as low and as far back as possible in a shallow offset clubhead. According to Tour Edge, the E521 hybrids have a CG that is a shocking 30 percent further back than the previous HL4! This shift along with the lowering of the CG by seven percent results in a total MOI boost of nine percent, which, like the “E” Series driver and fairway wood, officially makes them the highest-launching and easiest-to-hit hybrids Tour Edge has ever produced.

Like the namesake magician, the Houdini Sole works magic by pushing mass farther back without increasing friction when the club contacts the turf. Just like the E521 fairway, the reshaped hybrid sole reduces ground interaction by 35 percent. This is a big help for medium-to-slower speed players who use their hybrids all over the course including out of the rough. This combined with the shallow head and offset makes for one easy club to hit that helps golfers reduce the most common miss (a slice).

Just like the other “metals” in the E521 series the hybrids come stock with Control Length Shaft Technology, which makes the stock lengths shorter to help improve overall contact. The 3 hybrid starts 39.75″ and progresses .75″-.5″ down from there depending on the club, this makes them close to an inch shorter than most manufacturers’ stock lengths. It has been proven that shorter lengths improve the efficiency of contact leading to better control and tighter dispersion. Tighter dispersion leads to more greens hit, more greens hit leads to fewer putts, and few putts mean lower scores.

Hot Launch 521 Series hybrid technology

Even though the C512 and E521 hybrids are targeted towards different golfers, they do share technologies to offer more consistent ball speeds, higher launch, and increase forgiveness.

Diamond & 17-4 Steel Cup Face – The diamond face was designed with the help of finite element analysis to simulate energy transfer and helps the hybrids (like the fairway woods) produce faster and more consistent ball speeds on off-center hits by placing mass where it’s needed. It features 29 varying thick and thin diamond “mini-trampolines” on the back of the 17-4 steel face cup face to increase performance.

This technology was previously only available in Tour Edge’s premium Exotics line, but by bringing it to the Hot Launch series they offer greater performance at an undisputed value.

“To be able to take an amazing innovation like Diamond Face that changed the level of what we produced with Exotics EXS and to be able to bring it over to Hot Launch is a huge deal for the performance characteristics of these clubs. This is going to help a lot of golfers gain speed and power.”

Power Channel – The Power Channel sits on the sole of the club behind the clubface to increase face flex and help boost ball speeds on shots hit lower on the face – this along with the deeper center of gravity makes the hybrids just that much more forgiving on lower face strikes. On the C521 hybrid, the channel is 25% deeper than the previous HL4.

Thin body construction – Just like the 521 Hot Launch fairway metals, the hybrids are constructed of 17-4 stainless steel and utilize a thinner and lighter forged steel crown to save weight and lower CoG for added forgiveness. Tour Edge has done everything they can to bring fairway wood technology to their hybrids to help golfers see better results from their clubs.

Acoustic Engineering – Last but certainly not least, the other continued design feature of the hybrids that is also present in the 521 series driver and fairways are the sound diffusion bars to improve impact sound.

Price, specs, and availability

The Tour Edge C521 and E521 hybrids will retail for $129.99 each.

All Tour Edge Hot Launch clubs, including the 521 series hybrids, are hand-built in the United States and are part of Tour Edge’s 48-hour custom fitting delivery and lifetime warranty programs.

C521 Hybrid Specs

Stock Shaft: Aldila Rogue (hybrid): 50g L-Flex, 50g A-Flex, 60g Regular-Flex, 60g Stiff Flex, and 60g X-Flex
Stock Grip: Lamkin Z5, available in undersize, standard, and Midsize.

E521 (Offset) Hybrid Specs

Stock Shaft: Mitsubishi Fubuki HD (hybrid): 50g L-Flex, 55g A-Flex, 55g Regular Flex, and 60g Stiff Flex
Stock Grip: Lamkin Z5, available in undersize, standard, and Midsize.

Both of the new Hot Launch 521 hybrids will be available on November 1.

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Whats in the Bag

Patrick Reed WITB 2024 (May)

Published

12 hours ago

May 16, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

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

Check out more in-hand photos of Patrick Reed’s clubs in the forums.

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

Check out more in-hand photos of Patrick Reed’s clubs in the forums.

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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Equipment

John Daly’s $750 custom irons and 10 must-see gear photos from the 2024 PGA Championship

Published

12 hours ago

May 16, 2024

Andrew Tursky

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.

See Koepka’s full WITB here

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?

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A true showman.

See Daly’s full WITB

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?”

See Hatton’s full WITB here

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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Whats in the Bag

Club Junkie WITB, league night week 5: Another L.A.B. putter arises

Published

16 hours ago

May 16, 2024

Brian Knudson

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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