BOSTON, Mass – Tour Edge Founder/Club Designer David Glod has long been known for creating low spinning Exotics drivers and fairway woods clubs that produce piercing shots off the tee and from the fairway. In short, Exotics are some of the best drivers and metals on the market, particularly for their lower price points.
I recently tested the new Tour Edge EXS 220 Pro “Straight From The Tour Van,’’ fairway woods that carry a retail price of $250.00 per club.
I focused on the EXS 220 Pro 3 and 5 woods in 15 degrees and 18 degrees respectively. Each club had the stock Mitsubishi Tensei Orange 70-gram stiff flex. The fairway woods are also available in a strong 13.5 degree and weaker 16.5 degree 3 woods. The entire Tour Edge EXS 220 Pro line is considered “Limited Edition”, as the company is planning on only releasing 1000 units of the EXS 20 Pro driver, fairway woods and hybrids that encompass the Pro models.
Look
The new EXS 220 Pro line is exactly what I would have expected from a “Straight From The Tour Van” designed golf club. The 3 and 5 woods each have a sleek black gloss crown, with a smaller compact, rounded head design which is a departure from previous CB models of the company’s fairway woods, which had more distinct sharper features at address. I did not find that the heads were too low-profile, which tend to be preferred for players looking to hit the ball off the fairway; nor were the heads too deep, which is typically preferred by players who use their fairway woods as driver replacements.
The EXS 220 Pro head designs sit somewhere in the middle, creating a nice blend that helps to provide confidence while standing over the ball on the tee box or in the fairway.
Sound/Feel
I am probably not alone in being a golfer who is sensitive to the sound and feel of a golf club. For many, myself included, the sound and feel are essential aspects that need to be fulfilled in order for a club to go into my bag. I consider myself fairly traditional when it comes to fairway woods. That is, I prefer the traditional, “crack” sound that was produced by the older steel head/faced clubs.
I was pleased that the beta cup faced titanium faces had excellent acoustics, and very good feel. Aside from excellent sound, the feel is vastly improved from previous models. The ball jumps off the face, but can still be felt through impact. The ball seems to stay on the club face slightly longer, which was not expected, but very much welcomed.
Performance
The trajectory was not quite as boring as I had anticipated, but the ball gets up in the air easily, perhaps due to the placement of the CG being further away from the face compared to other models. The rails on the sole also produced smooth turf interaction.
The 3-wood performed beautifully during my round on the course. I hit it several times off the tee on short par fours and hit the 5 wood into a couple of par fives. Based on the stats that I kept from the round, I was able to carry the 3 wood off the tee on average of 270 yards, with one tee shot on a short par 4 landing on the green from 283 yards. The 5-wood produced similar results, as I was able to carry it in the 245-250 yard range.
Overall
Finding the perfect fairway wood is difficult, but with the EXS 220 Pro models, Tour Edge has hit another home run and delivered excellent, playable fairway woods.
The Author
Brian Sommer, an occasional contributor to New England dot Golf, is a former golf teaching professional and former Division II College Men’s and Women’s golf coach who has competed at the amateur and professional levels.
A scratch player, Sommer holds a holds Ph.D. with dissertation on methods of teaching and learning golf. He has created online groups/blogs that dive into the game of golf entitled “Uncommon Golf Conversations” and “Blind Spots.’’ Each is geared to discussing and exploring the nature of golf, learning, and coaching.
https://www.touredge.com/https://www.touredge.com/
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