Cleveland developed the HiBore XL’s unique shape using artificial intelligence.
Gear: Cleveland HiBore XL, HiBore XL Lite drivers Price: $399.99 with Aldila Ascent shaft and Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 grip Specs: Titanium face and chassis with adjustable hosel Available: Dec. 6
Who it’s for: Mid- and higher-handicap golfers who want a blend of distance and forgiveness off the tee.
What you should know: Cleveland used artificial intelligence to develop a triangular head shape that optimizes forgiveness, ball speed, and sound.
The deep dive: In the late 2000s, Cleveland HiBore drivers were easy to spot at PGA Tour events for two reasons. First, stars like Vijay Singh and David Toms played them, and second, in a few cases, those HiBore drivers looked nothing like the other drivers. Several models featured a dramatic downward swoop in the crown that drastically lowered the center of gravity (CG) location at a time when carbon fiber was scarcer in golf equipment than golfers who weren’t intimidated by Tiger Woods.
Over time, and with the introduction of new technologies and materials, the HiBore drivers’ look toned down, but now Cleveland is announcing the HiBore XL and HiBore XL Lite drivers and designing them for recreational players who want a blend of distance and forgiveness.
While artificial intelligence has been used to create many drivers’ faces and hitting areas, Cleveland designers turned to A.I. to create a chassis shape that would create the ideal blend of forgiveness, distance and enhanced sound. So, instead of seeing a swooping crown, the first thing golfers will notice when they set the HiBore down is the triangular shape and extended back portion of the crown.
The face and hitting area of the HiBore XL drivers are also 19 percent larger and look significantly taller. The variable-thickness MainFrame XL design and enlarged shape broaden the sweet spot and help golfers who struggle to consistently make center-face contact by protecting ball speed on mis-hits.
To help golfers make solid contact more often, Cleveland also added ActivWing, an aerodynamics-enhancing feature to the heel portion of the crown. ActivWing does not make the driver go faster on the downswing but instead acts like an airfoil and helps to keep the head more stable as it approaches the ball. The two notches in the crown make the air move around the head in a way that encourages the face to square through the hitting area, which should result in better performance.
While ActivWing is not designed to help golfers swing the HiBore XL driver faster, the Action Mass CB shaft design might make the club feel lighter. With an 8-gram weight at the top of the shaft, it counterbalances the weight of the head, so with the same effort, the club should feel lighter.
The 12-gram weight in the back of the head helps to pull the CG down and back, away from the hitting area. The weight can be adjusted by custom fitters who want to change the club’s swing weight.
For players who want even more clubhead speed or who battle a slice, the HiBore XL Lite features the same technology as the standard HiBore XL but is designed with a draw bias and comes standard with a lighter shaft and grip. It generates slightly more spin than the standard HiBore XL driver to help slower- and moderate-speed players create more carry distance.
Both the HiBore XL and the HiBore XL Lite feature Cleveland’s new hosel sleeve that allows players and fitters to increase or decrease the loft by up to 1.5 degrees.
Here are several close-up images of the Cleveland HiBore XL and HiBore XL Lite drivers:
The Exotics E725 is the first driver from Tour Edge to eclipse the 10,000 total MOI mark.
Gear: Tour Edge Exotics E725, C725 drivers Price: $399.99 with Project X Cypher or Denali Blue shaft and Golf Pride Tour Velvet grips Specs: Titanium chassis and face with carbon fiber crown and adjustable hosel. Available: October 15 (pre-order); November 1 (in-stores)
Who it’s for: Golfers who want to maximize forgiveness and stability (E725); Golfers who want a lower-spinning driver that offers more ball speed with enhanced stability.
What you should know: The Exotics E725 is the first driver from Tour Edge to eclipse the 10,000 total MOI mark, making it the most stable driver the brand has ever made. The C725 produces a lower flight and less spin, but it also boasts more stability.
The deep dive: Earlier this year, Tour Edge released an updated version of its Hot Launch wood lineup for budget-minded players who still want modern technologies and performance, but the Exotics family has always been where the Batavia, Illinois-based brand has showcased its most-advanced gear. With the drop of the Exotics E725 and C725, the Tour Edge is keeping that tradition intact.
The newest Exotics drivers are crafted with distinct player types in mind. As it has done in the past, Tour Edge has made the E driver for golfers who want extreme levels of forgiveness and stability, while the C driver is for competitive players who typically swing faster and need more spin reduction. However, the Exotics E725 and C725 drivers are built around shared technologies and a greater emphasis on forgiveness.
Enhanced Stability
Despite being tailored for different player types, the Exotics E725 and C725 share some core elements, but the most significant point of emphasis has been on increasing the moment of inertia (MOI) and boosting stability.
The E725, which has a volume of 460 cubic centimeters, has the higher MOI of the two drivers and is the first Tour Edge driver with a combined MOI above the 10,000 g-cm² threshold. That makes it more resistant to twisting on off-center hits, so shots should fly straighter.
To achieve that, Tour Edge created a weight system in the Exotics E725 it refers to as Flight Tuning. It’s an 18-gram weight that is in the trailing edge that can be shifted to a draw, neutral or fade position, but in every setting, it pulls the center of gravity (CG) location back and down, which elevates the MOI while also creating a shot-shaping bias.
The Exotics C725, which has a volume of 445 cubic centimeters, also has a Flight Tuning system, but it comes standard with a 10-gram weight that stays in a center-back location. It still boosts stability, in fact it MOI is five percent higher in the C725 than it was in the C723, which it replaces, but not as much as the Exotics E725. However, the combination of a smaller volume and a more forward CG location should help to produce a lower ball flight and less spin.
Other Shared Technologies
Both the Exotics E725 and C725 also feature 360-degree Ridgeback technology. the original Ridgeback system had a titanium beam that extended from the topline to the back of the chassis, and was flanked by carbon fiber panels. The new, updated version of Ridgeback has a supporting brace that encircles the crown, allowing it to be made with 22 percent more carbon fiber to save weight while maintaining strength.
Both drivers have also been made with an updated version of Tour Edge’s 3D Diamond Face technology. On the inner-facing side of the titanium face, Tour Edge has added 61 diamond-shaped areas of various thicknesses, and working together, they enlarge the sweet spot and protect ball speed on off-center hits.
E725 or C725: Which is right for you?
The best way to tell which driver is ideal for you is to hit both alongside a training fitter who has a launch monitor and then study the data.
That said, if you’re a golfer who values straight drives above all else or are someone who wants to minimize the impact of mis-hits, the Exotics E725’s high MOI and more forgiving design could make that club ideal for you.
For golfers who seek to shape shots and who prefer a more traditional driver profile, the C725 offers lower spin, more workability, and more forgiveness than many other control-oriented drivers.
The Paradym Ai Smoke Tactical drivers have a special green trim, customized shaft and loads of technology.
Looking down in the address position, every Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max driver has the same look that features a black carbon fiber crown and matte black trim. The same thing goes for the Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond drivers. Sure, the sole of each of those drivers looks a little bit different because the bottom of each club is made with forged carbon, and as that material is superheated and pressed into shape under high pressure, the bits and pieces of each sole panel create unique patterns.
But for golfers who want the technology designed into the Paradym Ai Smoke Max or Triple Diamond, but thirst for something with a special look, Callaway has dropped limited-edition Tactical versions of each club.
The limited-edition Tactical drivers, which are available for pre-order now on Callaway’s website and should be in stores starting June 14, feature green forged carbon and weights, along with a green Mitsubishi Tensei shaft and a matching Golf Pride MCC grip for $699.
Like the standard Paradym Ai Smoke Max and Triple Diamond drivers, the Tactical editions have been designed with Callaway’s Ai Smart face, a titanium hitting area that was created by having computers use artificial intelligence to study thousands of swings made by real golfers. Using those swings and the data collected from shots, the computers optimized the hitting area of each driver to create the most ball speed and forgiveness possible, effectively producing miniature sweet spots across the hitting area.
The 460cc Paradym Ai Smoke Max has a sliding adjustable weight in the back of the sole to help players and fitters create a draw or fade bias while maintaining a high moment of inertia and stability. The 450cc Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond has adjustable weights in the front and back of the sole to allow players and fitters to fine-tune the spin rate and launch angle.
MUIRFIELD VILLAGE, Ohio – Titleist brought its newest drivers and fairway woods – the yet-to-be-released GT2, GT3 and GT4 – to the 2024 Memorial Tournament and made them available for staff players such as Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Will Zalatoris and Cameron Young. Their use this week will be their first in a PGA Tour event.
In addition to the GT drivers, Titleist is also debuting the matching GT fairway woods at Jack Nicklaus’ event.
It has been nearly two years since Titleist released the TSR family of drivers, fairway woods and hybrids, and with the brand typically dropping clubs and balls on two-year product cycles, it was not surprising the GT woods were added to the USGA’s Conforming Driver Head list Monday.
Titleist did not release official information or comment about the GT drivers or fairway woods, but the company did note in a press release the clubs were developed with the help of feedback from staff players.
If history can be used as a guide, there are a few things the USGA’s notes and in-hand photos obtained by Golfweek on Monday at Muirfield Village can teach golfers:
GT2: The Point and Shoot driver. Titleist drivers given a “2” designation in the past have offered a high moment of inertia with centers of gravity farther back in the head to boost stability. With the GT2, we once again see a club that is larger from front to back than the other drivers in the family, along with a single weight located on the seam that joins the back of the crown with the sole. Extra mass there would pull the center of gravity down and back.
GT3: Draw-Fade adjustability. The TSR3 driver, as with the TSi3 driver it replaced, has been extremely popular among Titleist players because it has a five-setting adjustable weight that allows players and fitters to shift the center of gravity to create a draw or fade bias. We can clearly see that weight in the sole of the GT3. With the location of the adjustable weight more forward in the sole, it should help reduce spin and create a lower ball flight. The GT3 also has a classic pear shape and a more compact look than the GT2
GT4: Spin and launch adjustability. The GT4 would logically seem to take the place of the prior-generation TSR4, which Titleist offered as a club for fast-swinging golfers who want to fine-tune spin rates to achieve ideal launch conditions. As with the TSR4, the GT4 has two adjustable weights, with one in the front and one in the back to go along with a compact head design. A heavier weight in the front with a light weight in the back would reduce spin and help the GT4 produce a more-piercing launch, while putting a heavier weight in the back and a light weight in the front would increase the spin rate and launch height. While the GT3 may give golfers left-and-right adjustability, it appears the GT4 is designed to create up-and-down adjustability.
All three GT drivers appear to have been designed with Titleist’s 16-setting SureFit hosel system, which allows golfers to independently change the loft and lie angle.
The GT fairway woods appear to follow the same design philosophy as their corresponding drivers, with the GT2 appearing to be the largest in size and the GT3 having a moveable weight that can create a draw or fade bias.
Titleist has not provided information about when the GT2, GT3 and GT4 drivers and fairway woods might be made available to consumers, but historically the brand has released new clubs two to three months after starting the seeding process on the PGA Tour. If that’s the case, we could see the GT family in pro shops and golf specialty stores by late summer.
Below are several in-hand photos of the new GT2, GT3 and GT4 drivers.
All three Darkspeed drivers have an aerodynamic shape, fast face and moveable weights.
Gear: Cobra Darkspeed Max, Darkspeed X, Darkspeed LS drivers Price:$549 with Project X HZRDUS CB Red shaft or UST Mamiya LIN-Q M40X Red shaft and Lamkin Crossline grip. Specs: Forged titanium face with carbon fiber crown and sole panels, moveable weights and adjustable hosel. Available: Jan.11 presale, Jan. 19 in stores
Who They’re For: Golfers who want an aerodynamic driver that delivers more ball speed and trajectory control.
The Skinny: Available in three models, the Darkspeed drivers have three different weight systems that allow golfers to obtain the ideal blend of forgiveness, ball speed and spin.
The Deep Dive: If you still think about bright orange, blue or red clubs any time someone mentions Cobra drivers, you might not recognize the new Darkspeed X, Darkspeed Max or Darkspeed LS. As with Henry Ford’s Model T, the Darkspeed drivers come in any color you like as long as it’s black. In this case, matte black. But don’t let the dialed-down cosmetics fool you into thinking these clubs lack technologies and features to help you gain distance and find more fairways.
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All three Darkspeed drivers have an aerodynamic shape, with the edges and seams around the hitting area, the heel and toe being rounded. The highest portion of the carbon fiber crowns has also been pushed farther back and away from the topline, so as you swing down to the ball, air flows over the head more efficiently. The back of each head has also been raised, the hitting area is more oval and the sole has been smoothed. These are details golfers might overlook, but they work together to make it easier for golfers to generate more clubhead speed.
Each of the three Darkspeed drivers also has features an updated, laser-welded PWR Shell face. This manufacturing technique allows Cobra to make the face plate larger, which naturally helps enlarge the sweet spot and protect ball speed on off-center hits.
In the high-toe area of each Darkspeed driver, you will see “H.O.T. Face” etched. It is an acronym for Highly Optimized Topology. This involves computers dividing the hitting area into 15 spots and making those regions thicker or thinner until the best-performing face is revealed. With the hitting area of the Darkspeed drivers being larger than last season’s Aerojet, the 15 regions are spread farther apart, which once again aids in protecting ball speed on mis-hits.
Finally, all three Darkspeed drivers have been made with an internal bar that Cobra calls a PWR Bridge. It is positioned inside the head and connects the heel and toe areas directly behind the face. The PWR Bridge in the Darkspeed drivers is slightly lighter than the one found in Aerojet drivers, but it still lowers the center of gravity and helps reduce spin.
Along with a large carbon fiber sole panel and an adjustable hosel system that allows players and fitters to increase or decrease the stated loft by as many as 1.5 degrees, those are the things the Darkspeed Max, Darkspeed X and Darkspeed LS drivers have in common. Several things make them different and ideally suited for different golfers.
The weight saved by opting for a carbon fiber crown and sole gave Cobra designers a significant amount of discretionary weight. In the Darkspeed LS, that weight was repurposed as a 12-gram weight and two 3-gram weights. The weights can be affixed into any of the three ports, with two ports designed into the front of the sole and one in the back. When the 12-gram weight is in the front, it pushes the center of gravity forward, encouraging a lower launch and less spin. It also allows players to set up the club with a slight draw or fade bias. When the 12-gram weight is in the back, the spin rate increases, the launch angle goes up slightly and the Darkspeed LS becomes more stable.
The Darkspeed X – available in lofts of 9, 10.5 and 12 degrees – comes with two moveable weights, one 12 grams and the other 3 grams, with the forward port being more in the center of the sole. Cobra chose this location because several staff players added internal weight (called hot melt) to last season’s Aerjet to lower its spin rate. For the Darkspeed X, adding weight in that area is as simple as positioning the 12-gram screw there.
The Darkspeed X, which has a neutral weight bias, creates a slightly higher launch and more spin than the LS, but it delivers a high moment of inertia and added stability.
For golfers who battle a slice, Cobra is offering the Darkspeed Max, which will come in lofts of 9, 10.5 and 12 degrees. This is the most forgiving Darkspeed offering and features a 12-gram and 3-gram weight like the X, but the Max’s two weight ports are in the back and the heel area. Putting the 12-gram weight in the heel encourages the face to close more easily on the downswing and square as it impacts the ball, resulting in less sidespin and a straighter shot. When the 3-gram weight is in the heel, the club still has a draw bias, but its moment of inertia and stability are elevated.
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Below are several images of the Cobra Darkspeed drivers:
Cleveland Launcher XL 2 drivers are for recreational golfers who want to maximize forgiveness and forgiveness.
Gear: Cleveland Launcher XL 2, Launcher XL 2 Draw drivers Price:$449.99 with Mitsubishi Tensei AV Blue or Aldila Ascent PL shaft and Lamkin Crossline 360 grip Specs: Titanium face and body with adjustable hosel. Lofts: 9, 105. and 12 degrees Available: Jan. 19, but available NOW via pre-sale
Who It’s For: Recreational golfers who want to maximize forgiveness and forgiveness.
The Skinny: The Cleveland Launcher XL 2 drivers were made with faces and a weight system designed to counteract many recreational golfers’ most common problems and to help them hit more fairways.
The Deep Dive:Cleveland’s newest generation of Launcher drivers will not be spotted on the PGA Tour, DP World Tour or the LPGA. Srixon, Cleveland’s sister brand under the Dunlop Sports umbrella, offers plenty of driver options for elite players, so Cleveland designers are free to focus on woods that will specifically help recreational golfers and weekend players. As a result, different aspects of performance are emphasized when they sit at the virtual drawing boards, and in the Launcher XL 2 family, that means extra forgiveness.
Cleveland has invested in computing power and it helped designers engineer the hitting area of the Launcher XL 2 drivers. The system developed new variable thickness titanium faces that deliver better ball speed protection on mis-hit drives, which should be especially helpful in a driver designed for weekend players and recreational golfers, not tour pros.
The MainFrame XL faces are complemented by the addition of second-generation Rebound Frame, a technology that debuted in 2020 in Srixon’s ZX driver family. Cleveland designers made a more-flexible area behind the stiff area behind the leading edge, where the face meets the chassis. Behind the flexible area, the body of the club gets stiff again. This system acts like a spring at impact, allowing the entire face to flex back before rebounding forward. The resulting trampoline effect helps the Launcher XL 2 drivers generate more ball speed over an even larger area.
In addition to using computer simulations to design the hitting areas, Cleveland harnessed computing power to test thousands of different internal weight pads. After identifying the most common mis-hit locations for recreational golfers, Cleveland instructed the system to study how changes in weight distribution could improve performance. This exercise allowed designers to fine-tune the spin and launch characteristics and suit how weekend players, not tour pros, tend to hit their drives.
Cleveland added a network of internal ribs to improve the acoustics of the head and make the sound of impact more pleasing.
The Launcher XL 2 drivers come standard with an 8-gram weight inside the top portion of the shaft. It acts as a counterbalance and should make the clubs feel easier to swing, especially on the takeaway.
The Launcher XL 2 drivers look big and reassuring in the address position. Hideki Matsuyama and Brooks Koepka will not play these drivers, so Cleveland engineers could make the clubs larger from front to back and appear easier to hit.
There are two versions of the Launcher XL 2, a standard model and a Draw version. While the standard XL 2 has a slight draw bias, the Draw model has a face that appears more-closed in the address position, which should help to provide more slice-fitting assistance. The Draw version also produces more spin and a higher ball flight, with a more considerable draw bias.
Studying thousands of shots from real golfers helped Callaway design the Paradym Ai Smoke drivers
Gear: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max, Paradym Ai Smoke Max D, Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond, Paradym Ai Smoke Max Fast drivers Price:$599.99 with Project X Cypher 2.0 shaft, Project X Denali Black shaft or Mitsubishi Tensei AV Blue shaft and Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 grip Specs: Forged titanium face and chassis with carbon fiber crown, carbon fiber sole and adjustable hosels for most of the models Available: Feb. 2, but available via pre-order NOW
Who They’re For: Golfers who want more ball speed and forgiveness on mis-hit drives.
The Skinny: After studying hundreds of thousands of shots, Callaway designers used artificial intelligence to create different faces for each of the four Paradym Ai Smoke drivers so they are optimized to enhance distance and protect ball speed.
The Deep Dive: Callaway purchased its first supercomputer in 2009, back when A.I. stood for Allen Iverson and no one had ever heard of ChatGPT. By 2016, engineers were using it to study impact dynamics, develop prototype iron faces and more. In 2019 the Epic Flash driver was released with a hitting area designed using artificial intelligence. More woods and irons followed, but there was a shortcoming with the data used by the computers in developing those clubs: It was collected with the help of swing robots, and robots don’t play golf.
So Callaway captured swing data on more than 250,000 real players’ swings and collected over a million data points to create a dataset the supercomputers could use to develop the Paradym Ai Smoke Max, Ai Smoke Max D, Ai Smoke Triple Diamond and Ai Smoke Max Fast drivers.
By instructing the supercomputers to study how real golfers of various abilities swing and hit the ball, then directing the system to create faces that maximize performance for fast-swinging players, golfers who tend to slice the ball, slower-swinging players and golfers who need extra forgiveness, Callaway developed different faces that are optimized for various players in the four Paradym Ai Smoke drivers.
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Each has a unique series of thick and thin areas in different places, creating what Callaway refers to as microdeflections, and they act like tiny sweet spots. The result is enhanced face performance for specific players.
Callaway said that thanks to the microdeflections and customized faces, the standard Paradym Ai Smoke Max is 12 yards longer on mishits in the toe, 11 yards longer in the heel and 9 yards longer on shots hit high in the middle of the face over last season’s Paradym.
Like last season’s Paradym drivers, the Paradym Ai Smoke drivers feature a forged fiber crown that wraps around the toe and heel areas and forms the sole, removing significant weight from the middle of the head. Most of the models also come with adjustable hosels that allows players and fitters to increase or decrease the loft by as many as 1.5 degrees and make the lie angle flatter or more upright.
The Paradym Ai Smoke Max likely will fit the broadest number of players and is the only Smoke driver with a sliding weight in the back of the head. The 14-gram weight allows golfers and fitters to shift the center of gravity to create a draw or fade bias. The Smoke Max also has a weight behind the leading edge in the sole, allowing fitters to increase or decrease the club’s swing weight. It is available in 9-degree, 10.5-degree and 12-degree versions.
The Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond has a forward weight and a back weight in the sole and comes in 8-degree, 9-degree and 10.5-degree heads. With the heavier weight forward, it has the most forward center of gravity in the A.I. Smoke family, resulting in shots with the lowest spin and launch angle. This likely will be the most popular Paradym A.I. Smoke driver on the PGA Tour.
Finally, the Paradym Ai Smoke Max Fast, which replaces the Paradym Star driver, only comes in 10.5-degree and 12-degree versions. It has been made for slower-swinging golfers who need to maximize carry distance and spin to increase overall distance. It comes standard with lighter components, such as a 40-gram Mitsubishi Tensei Silver shaft and Winn Dri-Tac Lite grip. To save weight from the upper portion of the head, Callaway opted to design the Paradym Ai Smoke Max Fast driver with a bonded hosel instead of an adjustable hosel.
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Check out the following images of the Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke drivers.