Each week there’s a PGA Tour event, there typically are a few players using some piece of prototype gear. Maybe it’s a new putter or a soon-to-be-released shaft, but manufacturers often give the green light to pros to use the club in competition before it reaches consumers but after it lands on the USGA and R&A conforming lists.
That’s the stuff regular consumers can’t get – at least, not yet – but PXG is making an exception.
Ryan Moore, Wyndham Clark and Pat Perez had been using prototype PXG drivers – the PXG 0811 X and 0811 X+ Tour – throughout the fall and winter, and now the Scottsdale, Ariz., brand is making them available to the public.
“We’re excited to offer a limited number of our 0811 X and X+ Tour Prototype drivers,” said Bob Parsons, PXG’s founder in a release. “We believe we’ve created something special and are looking forward to getting feedback from average golfers, like myself, in the coming weeks.”
The 0811 X Proto will only be available in a right-hand version with 9 degrees of loft, but it has an adjustable hosel mechanism that allows golfers and club fitters to change the stated loft by as many as 1.5 degrees. The club’s standard length is 45 inches.
PXG said the 0811 X Proto is designed to optimize a swing that approaches the ball on either level or slightly downward attack angle. It has a low center of gravity and is being touted as a low-spin club.
To help achieve that, the 0811 X Proto comes standard with four moveable weights, one heavier than the other three. Shifting the heavy weight’s location shifts the center of gravity and encourages different shot shapes. With the heavier weight in the heel, the club has a draw bias; moving the heavier weight to the toe encourages a fade.
PXG has given the 0811 X Proto a honeycomb-shaped thermoplastic elastomer insert that rests on the sole inside the club. It absorbs vibrations to soften the feel at impact and enhance the acoustics.
The 0811 X+ Proto also has four moveable weights, an adjustable hosel and an internal insert to improve sound and feel, but it was created for golfers who tend to have an upward, positive attack angle into the ball.
The 0811 X+ will be available in a right-handed, 10.5-degree version, and it should produce more spin than the 0811 X Proto.
Both drivers will cost $495 and are available on PXG’s website.