REVIEWING 2024 GOLF CLUBS | 2nd Swing Thoughts Episode 31

This 2024 golf clubs review episode of the 2nd Swing Thoughts podcast features Drew Mahowald and 2nd Swing master fitter Tyler Fitzel discussing some of the newest 2024 golf clubs, including the PING G430 Max 10K Driver, PING Blueprint irons, Mizuno Pro irons, TaylorMade Qi10, Callaway Paradym AI Smoke, Cobra DARKSPEED, and more.

0:00 Intro
3:27 PING G430 Max 10K Driver
10:28 PING Blueprint Irons (Blueprint S & Blueprint T)
19:30 Mizuno Pro Irons
26:13 TaylorMade Qi10
36:43 Callaway Paradym AI Smoke
42:30 Cobra DARKSPEED
48:00 Importance of Fitting

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The 2nd Swing Thoughts podcast, presented by 2nd Swing Golf, covers anything and everything in golf equipment and club fitting. The 2nd Swing Thoughts will feature experts in the golf industry sharing insights and latest trends in golf clubs and club fittings. 2nd Swing Thoughts will also cover the latest in professional golf.

Hey golf first and welcome back to another episode of the second swing thoughts podcast and uh it’s an exciting time because there are new products here in 2024 so I’m joining today is Tyler fitzell Master Club fitter here at second swing um one of the you know

Biggest Club junkies here in the company so I would say so yeah I would agree um but we had we had to get your thoughts on the new products today so um you know we’re going to we’re going to kind of run through each you know of the big big

Brands kind of go through what they’ve what they’ve released so far in 2024 and there’s more to come as well um throughout early this year but also later in the year um obviously always in the summer we get something from Titleist at some point so there’s something there’s that to look forward

To as well but um Tyler first of all First Impressions on everything new 2024 what um is there anything immediately that jumps out at you before we dive in yeah I think when we talk about technology what we’ve seen from a lot of the companies is they’re they’re really

Talking a lot about what they’re going to be able to do differently than before because you think about like in the driver world right now everyone’s always talking about getting a longer and straighter the thing is like there’s a certain amount of technology that you have to work around in order for the

Club to be legal right so if you think about a driver in terms of forgiveness it’s not it’s not just side to side forgiveness it’s also up and down down forgiveness so there’s this this word called 10K we see 10,000 we see uh Taylor maid’s got the new Qi 10 Max

Which stands for uh quest for inertia 10,000 we see uh ping has got a new g430 Max version in the 10K or 10,000 um what they’re looking at is trying to make the driver as straight but also as far as they can um get it and You’ think that

That combination is like should be super easy to get why can’t you get something to go straighter and farther part of it has to do with the legalities in it but the other thing has to do with like those two forces are kind of opposing to

It like you can make something go a lot straighter or you can make something go a lot farther but it’s hard to get them to do both and so you kind of still have by all of these companies a lot of the Technologies you’re seeing different models again going after different

Players some players are going to need a lot more low spin some players are going to need more spin some players just kind of want this combination of going a lot straighter so the technology and I’ve always said technology is based on materials and application and it just it never um it

Never stops for the engineering departments they’re they’re constantly working on new ways of improving what they’ve got yeah I think there’s always it’s always fascinating to hear what the different you know engineering teams or companies are doing there’s different strategies like the way the ways they go about it there’s different chassis we

See every year um you know they might be moving some weight around um I know like for the longest time I think back to Callaway’s jailbreak internal structure that was a huge you know that was very successful for them for a while so um we hear all of these different ways and

They’re and these teams are always trying to come up with whatever that next step is to improving their product um so I wanted to start with ping and I mostly wanted to do that because we actually got a chance to go down there

Um I got to get uh get a session in with James Lee um a fitter down there at ping uh to test out the new blueprint irons and the 10K and so um first of all the the g430 max 10K um it kind of lives up to what you were talking about straight

T- shots and I I what I was impressed by is it doesn’t sacrifice any of the ball speed that n you would maybe think initially of that you might give up in a quote unquote 10K driver that’s typically you hear that you you think forgiveness High launch maybe not the

Low spin but this the speed is still very much there with the 10K yeah and that’s one of the things that uh like I mentioned the idea of trying to combine this forgiveness with um some of the distance to it you have to maintain that

Ball speed a lot of that ball speed gets maintained in its face structure the materials you’re using the overall structure making it um bigger so for instance the the new G40 uh g430 uh uh 10K the max 10K is it’s longer yeah to accommodate that that um uh inertia in

Terms of rotation but it is also much thinner in the face line so it doesn’t have as tall a face and if you think about it in that regard the aerodynamics Works in a couple of different ways so not only is it longer but it’s also you

Know a little bit thinner or the face is a little bit more streamlined um so you’re moving the air around it differently even though the size is still 460 cubic cenm right um but what it allows what it allows the uh the manufacturers like paying to do is to

Maintain that ball speed but then also add the level of forgiveness and so uh that’s the one thing that that if we talk about numbers from a fitting perspective ball speed launch and spin are the three most important numbers right right the next thing that happens

To a golf ball when we play is Direction so we’re always looking for the the amount of ball speed we can get and that’s not necessarily on The Sweet Spot so every driver has a sweet spot but you’re seeing more ball speed Around The Sweet Spot and that’s really the trick

To the the um uh gaining both in distance and forgiveness right yeah that’s the that’s the I think that’s almost in in terms of where my world is and and sort of the marketing aspect of these new releases is that has shifted it’s now it’s not all about the ball

Speed which has been the conversation it seems like the Last 5 Years almost and with new drivers is yeah we have more ball speed we have more ball speed this driver has the most ball speed um I think now thanks to in some part the limit on you know Co and and actually

How fast you know the smash factor and things like that but now it’s about the performance outside of the center of the face um and I think I like the 10K because I think it’s going to fit in well because I think ping also maybe recognized that a lot of golfers are

Maybe not taking advantage of a sliding weight in the back and so they said all right we’re going to make a mile lot just here’s all the Forgiveness you want put the stationary weight in the back because you might not be messing with it anyway there’s still some adjustability

There with the hosle but we’re going to give you a stable driver hits high straight drives and there’s a lot of golfers out there that might want something like that yeah and the the other thing that they did structurally with that is they took and they put a

Carbon fiber top yep there’s a carbon fiber piece that’s what saved the amount of weight that allowed them to put um a heavier weight in the back back as a fixed weight um that also changes the um when you have weights that are movable that changes aerodynamics and so that slipstream

That’s coming off the back of the skirt or around the sides or whether it’s underneath those are all places that that turbulence can be created and so they also wanted to make something that swings fast or faster through the air right so the one thing about we look at

Technology in terms of legal limits there’s no legal limit to aerodynamics on a club it’s the one thing that if you really dig into the marketing Beyond everyone talking about weight face and then aerodynamics and there’s not just in paying but we’ll see that as we discussed another company that is also

Changed a little bit in aerodynamics sure sure and then I did also want to ask you about um like where the 10K might fit in in comparison to g430 Max sft like when you’re in the fitting Bay and someone’s like I got to get a a ping driver I’ve Loved ping drivers they’re

Always best performing for me how are you going to then introduce the 10K into that conversation with the entire g430 series knowing what you know about it yeah I and I’ve already been able that’s the the really neat part is like we’ve got the equipment we’re fitting the

Equipment we haven’t even hit the PGA show yet that that’s a little bit of a a a difference in the way that things have worked with the major companies now but I’ve I’ve already had uh customers come in hit it the conversation kind of first starts with what are we doing and what

Would we like to do and so if we’re talking about trying to get something that is a little bit straighter we can look at like the 10K versus do we really need a lot of shot correction or shape correction do we talk about an sfte mhm

Or do we really need to reduce a lot of spin um it really is dependent upon the person in the swing right yeah and what where where I think the companies have all gone to having models that uh are gonna allow us as Fitters and allow the

Customers to really hone in on what they need for their game y ping has done a great job not only they have four models between low spin um straight flight the Max and now the 10K Max they also have a high launch series mhm which is uh

Lighter weight shafts grips and and a lighter weight so they’re taking the same exact head but they can reduce some of that weight and so all of a sudden now there’s eight different drivers on the market and we’ve started to see some of that lighter weight really pay off in

In both distance and forgiveness options for people um that that it fits a segment and so uh that’s where I think it’s a huge Advantage being able to to to look at four different models that are really um two different models for each one yeah you know for sure yeah I

Will vouch for the g430 HL driver my wife got fit to that last year and huge huge difference off the now granted she was playing a really old like Nike box set driver but still it’s like it’s night and day difference so um there’s really big differences made there so um

I think the 10K is going to be a great addition to the Ping driver series yeah um got to talk about the irons now so this you know different conversation for because you know again not that the 10K can’t be played by sort of these skilled

Players I even saw I think they were saying cam champ was going to be playing that but the blueprint irons the S and the T definitely geared towards more of a skilled um maybe like a lower handicap player um but my first impressions were

Just were I mean I loved both of them um really really good feel on both of them I think they improved that on maybe past blade style or or players cavity irons granted they’re the both irons are forged um in the construction but I I

Love that also when you at least for in my experience when I was hitting both of them I didn’t see I saw barely a difference in how they looked at a dress yeah and I think that’s going to be huge for the combo set possibilities because they are both the same Lofts standard

Across the board um so I think there’s you know they’re they’re kind of jumping in sort of head first into the combo set um sort of trend that’s taking over Golf and I think those two irons are going to be really good for that yeah the and and

It’s really that idea of the combo set or I call it Progressive right so um an elite level player a tour player um a very um a lwh handicap maybe just recreational player uh down to someone who’s just getting into the game can always benefit by having each Club more

Specifically tuned to what they’re doing yeah so what Ping has really done and they’ve done done this slightly before but they’ve done it within a model so for instance they may have said well our our blade lengths are going to get a little bit longer as we go from the five

The six the four um or if we’re talking about offsets or we’re talking about um in individually kind of making an iron within a set well now we’re basically saying what’s the benefit in the scoring irons something like a a blueprint T would be a lot easier to maneuver

Through the turf all right so it’s it it might have um really good spin it might have a little bit higher launch but that’s what we need as we talk about scoring irons getting into the middle side of it we we talk about the blueprint s and so we get the weight put

More around perimeter and what it allows us to do is maybe get a little bit more forgiveness in in some of the middle irons and then you go into the longer irons and you’re going into the I 230s where there’s a much deeper cavity or pocket to it and again the weight has

Been put much more around the and so you you take three separate lineups you can have all blueprint T’s s’s or I 230s and or you can mix and match between them because the design style has remained the same through the sets so the lofting remains consistent

With it the look remains consistent the blade lengths um the material they’re using in in the the T and the S is forged kind of a departure there’s not a lot of forged material that comes from ping right it’s not that they don’t want

To do it it’s that it needs to be done with a purpose and so that’s Ping’s engineering on it they’re not just going to put something out over and over and over again and we’ve seen that recently the classic true blade there are very very few Classic

Blades that are that are just nice and smooth all the way around we got the blueprint a few years ago even the IE blade quote unquote with the blade in the name was a cavity bag right yeah and and so this also kind of embarks ping into the the more traditional blade look

MH so that now they’re having clubs that are one they’re forged two they’re also very slim um and Progressive sets are huge we see it with every company that they’re they’re specifically trying to make a set Progressive to give you the benefits in the scoring clubs all the

Way through the longer irons for more forgiveness yeah I think and you’re see I mean you go on you watch golf on the weekends on on tour whatever tour might be and a vast majority of those players are going to have one or excuse me more than one two three maybe even four

Different irons in their bag and that’s not yet the case yet for Amer players most players just have one set um which isn’t which is the popular thing it has been for a while but I think you’re seeing in fittings the the the benefits of having multiple types and like you

Said and when you have a long iron in your bag or in your hand for a shot you’re looking for forgiveness you want to make sure that ball gets up near the green somewhere potentially on it you’re not trying to work the ball very often

With that club you just want to hit the ball near the target foras with a nine iron maybe even an eight iron you know you’re you might be trying to be more precise more accurate control that flight a little bit more um and to see ping come out with the blueprint s

Blueprint T I think uh a lot of the really skilled players are going to be very interested in in that as a potential combo set I think yeah one of the major companies that we get to work with or we get to do testing with as as

Well said that 80% of their PGA Tour players have in their iron 80% of them have a mixed bag of irons so there’s more than one model that makes sense in between B on what I see on TV you know yeah and so I I think that holds true

For almost every uh Tour player out there there’s a small percentage still where they may just have blades and that’s all they have or they may have just a model line to that but uh that’s where we just try to even in our fittings we try to get more specific

It’s not just all right well we’ve got your pitching wedge and your seven iron and we’ll go to you know wait a minute what about this five do we need to do something different right and um I think that’s where ping has got a really really robust lineup because now we’re

Talking about a lot of different individual clubs that could be used in different different places there too not just what they kind of have as these three clubs that blend well but they blend very well the look is amazing if you’re someone that does like a classic

Look it is a very thin thin look unlike the tea iron the S iron has got a very thin look but it’s just it’s beefy behind it yet too they’re really super soft we saw the i230 as one of the most popular irons in our fittings um also

Absolutely kind of started to change a little bit of the game for people because of the spin the launch and spin and if you’re going to play and you’re going to have success you not only need to get that ball up but you also have to

Have it come down and stop yep and that combination is one across the market spin is a very tricky uh situation yeah usually usually but not always what we are uh working on in the fitting Bay do I need more do I need less have you got

What you need yep and and now we can work with that too that’s always it’s I think there’s you know depending on the player a lot of them might be looking for distance and distance only but I know the if you’re trying to hit good

Shots that land on the green and stay on the green spin is going to be the important part there um and I think it’s also worth noting I’ll say this on PING before we move on is when they release a players type iron model it’s typically a

Big deal because over the years those irons in that category from pinging they have lasted a really long time in that category they don’t make that update unless they feel like they can and feel unless they know that this next product is going to be that much better i210 was

The go-to for them for how long in that kind of players cavity category and it was you know it was awesome for a long time and people still love it they didn’t go to i230 until they knew they could make it that much better that’s what’s happened and so with blueprint s

And blueprint T I have a very good feeling that people are going to love it uh 2015 was the last time that ping had made uh a Ford club that was a cavity back it’s called the answer mhm so it was the forged Club all right so that’s

That’s a while ago yep they also I believe in 16 2016 came out with the iblade and that was we could call maybe semi- replace with the i230 last year yeah we’re we’re so we’re talking about four five six year stretches right which is rare for these equipment companies it

Is you know two two years for most companies is about what you see Y in some of these where there’s refinement with model um but it also speaks to longevity these oh totally yeah they don’t engineer clubs for a year-by-year basis they engineer for a longer period

Of time they want their product to last and yeah and they do yeah and I mean if there’s you know if there’s another release in in a couple years from pinging in this category I’d be very surprised I would too they there’s a reason that they go years and years you

Know between so um all right more iron talk here we got Muno so the Muno Pro Series 2024 um I think there’s this reputation out there from Muno with their grain flow forging process you know they got the softest irons feeling wise in in golf um obviously that’s subjective to

Some degree but um people love the Muno feel of irons and so we get more of that this year with the the Muno Pro 241 is the muscle back uh the Muno pro 243 is sort of their shallow cavity players iron and then the Muno Pro 245 body um

But still has a really good look to it so uh First Impressions on the Muno Pro 2024 Series yeah um mauno has done what they’ve always done and that is create something that looks amazing feels out of this world soft and is high performance and the the thing about

Mauno is for a long time they’ve tried to create some of that Progressive set we talked about where they yes you can you can blend some of this you could blend a blade and a little bit of a cavity back or something a bit more beefy and bulky what they’ve done now is

Basically made all of them Progressive sets now the the blades the 241s are blades they’re just a classic and purist yet high functioning blade uh but the 243s they’ve refined they’ve made a little smaller than the PRI prior model they’ve made that progress uh progression a little bit different

They’ve got they they figured out that one they got to make the face even thinner with so this is the thinnest forged face on the market um they what they do is is in the heating process when they get it heated they immediately quench the face with uh

Water what that does is it hardens that face so it’s still the forged material we talk about grain flow forging but when it hardens that face and makes it even harder that that allows for more ball speed MH and so you’ve seen what they’ve done is actually had to take the

Solid forgings um out of 1025e carbon steel the gap wedge the pitch the nine and the eight they’ve actually had to make those slightly lower lofted so they’ve taken a little bit of Loft to kind of catch them up with the 7654 that that they have in the set

Because they were that hot yeah so we do see a little bit of a lofting difference um from the traditional blade so you go from like a 34° and a seven iron 32 but um they’ve also moved some of the the lower irons to account for that

We’ve also seen a little bit more spin so one thing I was comment on that too in our testing saw the two 2024 series spun I think it was noticeably more than the previous series which I think is a good thing I think there’s enough golfers out there that need more spin

With their items and you mentioned the The Loft part might be in in some models May a little stronger lofted compared maybe the previous generation but if they’re spinning enough or spinning more then there’s that doesn’t really matter about the Loft if you get enough spin that’s exactly what you need um then

These irons are going to give that for you so um I I think it’s really good job by mauno with irons and the the two um the 245s yeah is also been they they have also been redesigned slightly but they’re they’re giving us kind of that that would say bulked up package mhm

That doesn’t look bulked up right they’re a little thicker they have a little thicker Top Line but they’re still using um forgings um in body in the body and some of the faces they’re still using tungsten weighting they’re really individualizing the trajectories that they’re trying to get off of each

Of their irons and so for someone that may lack a little bit in the distance side still wants to play something that looks that way feels that way the uh 245s are amazing and that’s the one introduction that Muno made years ago um I think three models ago now that they

They wanted kind of this hollow blade design yeah it’s like the hmb I think mp20 yep exactly and so that that really kind of kicked them into another Gear with that type of iron and we’ve seen that iron also out of a lot of other manufacturers right so we see it out of

Paying and titlist and Taylor Maiden Callaway so we we have those on the market but the the unique thing about Muno first and foremost is that their their Precision to engineering these clubs is second to none with their forgings yep like so the way they make

These clubs are so high level um but they’ve given us now a look if you go to their website you can look at some of the videos they’ve given us a peak inside how they do it kind of that first of inside the factories inside the forging houses individual pieces but

They they many many years ago they had a copper layer that was underneath the Chrome layer and that went away in the mid teens so about 200 say maybe 13 14 15 16 somewhere in there they went away from that and I don’t know why but they

Did and they they brought it back but they brought it back and as soon as they brought it back it absolutely felt like the mauno again one of their taglines of course nothing feels like a Muno yep that has a huge um a huge impact on the

Sound and then in the feel I know know in discussing this with with Mizuno officials like they were talking is like they go to the range with blank clubs and say would you hit these two clubs and um they’re on the PGA tour and they they will anyone who don’t care what you

Hit just would you please just hit these two which would you prefer a 100% with a copper underlay they don’t know what’s underneath they have no idea it’s blind testing it is just absolute blind testing and so that feel also translates to feedback and one of the things about

Those types of clubs is feedback you’re you you play a blade because you like the look yes but you also have a feedback like up that was on the toe the heel what you kind of lose a little bit as the club gets bigger and more perimeter waiting is you lose a little

Bit of that feedback um that’s not a good or a bad thing unless you really really desire the feedback y so yeah that’s a that’s a great point that I think and it it does play to the the demographic that the irons are designed for you know I think uh you know someone

That’s a 20 handicap is relatively new or might be just kind of a weekend warrior so to speak isn’t maybe needing that that feedback from an iron but someone that’s really on a journey to get better or the handicap you know these things um that part could be very

Valuable so um all right let’s move on here back we’re going to go to kind of back to the dry well the metals Department here a little bit um we’ll go to tailor made and uh we talked a little bit about 10K Moi earlier um you know I I’d be fascinated to know

The the conversations that might have been had by one you know marketing department or the other when they saw you know the other company come out with put a 10 on it this 10 yeah this 10K you know uh marketing Ploy so to speak but

So tailor made qi1 um I guess you know their their sort of tagline is you know see your shots or see your t- shots in 10k um yeah and so uh I guess what are your first impressions on the Tailor Made qi1 series well the the first

Impression is is really the look yeah which I think is way better than in the past couple years they’ve they’ve changed that there’s some awesome technology let’s call it under the hood or let’s call it under the crown yeah um but let’s start with the crown tailor

Made has three different lineup or three distinct models in their lineup um the qi1 max is the 10K as you were talking about it was referred to like the Ping yep all right so they were again on the Quest for inertia over 10,000k to produce something that was longer and

Straighter um I was also going to mention this we talk about ping real quick but when we talk about tour adoption these drivers are on tour yeah the these drivers although yes we’re targeting the call it the commercial base we’re targeting the golfers that would like to go out and play whether

It’s recreational some competitiveness but not tour level right you’re not on the tour these drivers are still being used out there too because the tour players are seeing the benefit and so as an example like morawa is already using this uh Max driver the qi1 Max uh we saw

Um recent wins right uh we saw Rory has already won with it we saw um Tommy Fleetwood just win with it um it wouldn’t even by the time we hit three weeks out um and there the uh PGA Tours back on um on the mainland yeah right we

We we might even see another win or two out of this thing oh yeah and what they’ve done is is with all of the models they’ve kind of differentiated by starting with the crown the crown is a complete cover Crown so it’s actually kind of a wrap around it it Dives down

Over the front edge around the sides like um what that allowed them to do is it saved a lot of weight and that’s where the weight gets redistributed and so now you can start talking about more more mass in the back back lower that that’s yeahi um so that was a huge piece

Of the puzzle for them right they’re the max 10 is uh or the uh um qi1 max is a very big footprint yeah and they’re trying to maximize that size because the bigger it gets right the farther away you can get the weight for stability and that that remember that stability is

Both up and down as well as side to side so that’s a huge part of what they’re doing also it it goes into what I talk about aerodynamics so the as the the wind or the turbulence is kind of hitting that face it’s not catching up

On something it doesn’t have to go over things it can it can wrap right over the top of this skirt all the way around it when we take a look at we say movable weight um I mentioned that a little bit with ping and this also comes up with

The new qi1 Mac or um LS so they have a movable weight up front but you’ll notice we can only see about half the weight Y and the idea there is that if we’ve had these tracks and a lot of these companies have these tracks those tracks take a lot of the uh

Resistance they they’re aerodynamically that’s not great whether it’s on the back or you know up in the front or in the middle so what they’ve done is kind of covered half of it up and allowed you to slide the weight in if you needed the the weight changing for uh uh shot

Shaping they they’ve allowed you to move the weight underneath and kind of conceal it yep um I think there will be a point soon enough where the whole thing is concealed and you might have the smallest of tracks that that just slides back and it’s actually a large

Weight that is just concealed under the the surface of the club I guess yeah it seems like they almost kind of started some of that because the the stealth 2 plus fairywood last year um it’s got that giant 50 gram weight but there was there’s something you slided almost

Underneath part of the club there if you wanted it for right you could you could barely almost see the weight itself correct seems like they maybe picked something up from that and the weight is still there in the qi1 uh tour fawood yeah you still have that sliding weight

Um but to your point I think there’s some aerodynamics going on there where they’re trying to you know mitigate the I guess the the Canyons that are on the sole of the club because tailor maid’s had some pretty big you know sliding weight tracks in the past with some of

Their their models you know you go back to M3 and M5 you had those things all over the place move those weights all over there and so um there something yeah clearly I mean you look at that qi1 the ls and it’s like you know it’s a

Very small track now um so that’s probably a good point to make for those tinkerers out there that might be listening or watching this is there’s the movable weights work but it really work the best if that’s the aerodynamics of the driver header stayed corre so the

Other thing um what they’ve done and they had they had uh durability issues the stealth and the stealth to had had issues and they basically have created kind of a cup on the face that is more of a a ring that allows and it’s also a little bit softer that allows for a

Little bit more of the face to flex and so what they had prior to that was a very rigid and hard matal firm at the outside of it yeah and and the impact on that created the vibrations that would even just kind of break down the the

Glue and the adhesives that they were trying to keep the face on with yeah and so you didn’t see a lot of faces actually crack you just see them pop off um so they are continuing with the carbon the 60 time um carbon layer yep

As a face again they’ve gone to that to to help reduce weight savings but also to make very specific uh face uh formations mhm right they they want to be very uh specific in what’s thicker what’s thinner where it is how it it it’s shaped and curved um they’re

Continuing on with twist face which they engineered many years ago um so I think what we’re seeing in terms of the durability I don’t think we’ll have an issue with the durability as like they had uh we have three different models if we’re looking for something spin wise if

We’re looking some Maximum wise or if we’re talk talking about someone in between um I believe I believe Rory won with the qi1 I think it was a standard yeah it was just the QI 10 I I could be wrong on that one but I I know Tommy

Fleetwood won with at least at least the ferwood for sure Rory was was a standard um I’m not sure about the driver but um yeah so that’s interesting though to your point about the I guess the max drivers you know you’ve seen a lot more of those in play on tour because the

Benefits are there for everybody you know so um one thing I wanted to add Taylor Made Qi irons I thought it was it’s interesting I saw in sort of the the materials we got from tailor made on the iron the they are designed with um sort of a

Face you know the face design is eliminating cut spin I thought that was interesting I haven’t done enough testing on it myself I don’t know if you’ve seen anything in fittings that you know uh I guess supports that or is um you know uh kind of signifies that

But well I C certainly inting in fittings we do notice that the longer the iron gets the tendency is for the shot shape to be more right yeah so that they are addressing what everyone has to address um from a longer iron perspective right is if you take seven

Iron on down generally speaking even a toe shot will remain somewhat straight MH um it does have to do with the dynamic dynamics of the club so how long the club gets how high the toe is um and then where if the face is a lot thinner

Out on the toe what that actually does to the spin and so they are there’s two things that are really unique about the QI um iron the qi1 iron one is that this is not a a oneyear life cycle for them we found that they had had stealth for

Two years Y and it was extremely successful and still one of the best irons that they’ve made in a long time and it’s also in the qi1 a reformulated individual iron faces as well as individual iron weights so that specific lofs and weight is is uh styled so it’s like more of a

In individual we’re going to build each of the irons that that they work collectively yeah um we see that out of a lot of companies but this is a an even more fine-tune version with the face thicknesses and we’re going to start to see I think we’ll still also see this as

A really huge iron on the market for game improvement because they are they they launch High soft um that’s also another version that they have they actually have an HL yeah for high and light m not necessarily High launch but it’s just a um the head is a lighter

Weight head the shafts are lighter weight shafts to create uh they have um a couple more degrees of Loft to create the launch that we’re seeking because a lot of the stuff today in game improvement has really reduced a lot of L it’s kind of low and piercing

Roll out type of thing but you need that launch you need that spin there too yeah and so we’re going to see that I think that will be a u a huge Plus in the fitting World um I think Taylor Made had with the stealth had made a great iron that’s very successful

On the market and has worked well really well for a lot of people I think we’re going to continue to see that too sure in that market sure um all right Callaway AI smoke yeah um interesting uh I guess naming convention there um I guess I should say sticking with

Paradigm car cway Paradigm AI smoke um you know you know my first impression there was you know they they have this very clear message on um the way that AI has helped them design the face structures right there’s a new it’s kind of the smart face with with each model

In the series go from driver down to irons um in the initial testing we did you know we we noticed it for sure we especially noticed it with the irons like if it was a a low face Mish hit I mean you barely lost any distance at all

Right um with those two iron models so um your first impression on Callaway Paradigm a smoke luckily enough I had gotten to hit and play um with the driver I I got to play the triple diamond and I found the faster I swing the straighter it would go that is uh

Not typically How it Go least not for me no and it was it was interesting it’s like they they they’ve really worked well Callaway has done a great job over the years about creating ball speed on M hits and so this isn’t um this isn’t groundbreaking information you swing faster you can get

The ball to go faster right but the but the trick to this as I mentioned very early on is there’s a difference between getting the ball to go farther and the ball to go straighter and that that’s where all of the companies are trying to combine these things they’ve come out

With called um face deflections or they’ve the AI has computer generated a face with small spots on that face that alled even on AIT right I think and it’s Unique for each CL so each driver model has a different face structure yep each fairywood has a different one and so

Forth between each model in the set because those clubs are engineered for different types of players exactly so and that’s you know that was the big thing for them is in the past they’ve kind of done robot testing to find this out you know the robot testing consists

Typically you know you you set up the robot to hit shots off of this this far off the high toe or this far towards the toe down in the heel and then the same robot just hits the same swing yeah now they’ve got a bunch of Real Player data

As well and so that helped them and AI use all that data to come up with these designs um it’s a cool story that I think you know and and at least in our testing we saw it right away I was very impressed with the irons I mean that was

The big one that uh myself and and Kevin on our in our testing when he was in town the irons were the B obviously it it showed up in all the models but for sure the irons it was kind of crazy actually I mean he was Kevin was

Carrying his best shots the uh uh the as smoke iron you know 178 179 I think he got a couple out 180 and then he hit one and he’s got H it’s way thin you know go up there 175 yards carry and it was like

Oh okay I M hit this iron you’re gonna lose a couple yards yep exactly well and I think the when it comes to the woods we have to look at this in a long line right so if you look at it in tailor made what did they have um a few years

Ago they created the stealth with a carbon face still have carbon face they’re they’re continuing on that line we saw with uh Callaway is the same sort of idea right is they had come out with way back when the Epic and that was the jailbreak and they had Advanced the

Jailbreak as they’re creating new iterations and they’re finding new things along the way and so that the same is true in this new version of the Paradigm the AI smoke um they’re they’re fine-tuning what they found out in the last one which was great you know the paradig probably was

Oh it was awesome probably the the best in maybe three years two or three years for sure and so it got complete adoption and into the bags of every single Callaway player immediately yep and so I but I I don’t think that the smoke is in any way shape or form worse

Uh the question becomes like how much better can you get you know I think the the woods are going to be great because they’ve got a refinement if you had if you got a Callaway from a couple years ago it’s time to get into a new Callaway

MH absolutely without a doubt yeah and when it comes to the irons one of the things that that Callaway kind of missed on last year was they had the Paradigm iron which was a seven iron at what 27° it’s pretty strong maybe 27 and a half

Degrees it’s like that really only fit a very small section of people and so what they decided is to come back on that and all right let’s make a couple different versions of this so yes there’s a similar version in the AI smoke um Paradigm iron but there’s also now the

High launch yep there’s also the max fast yep which is a much lighter weight version as well so I think they they made a a great effort in kind of getting back to doing what they do Callaway has traditionally been in the long in the long hul one of the best irons ever

They’ve they’ve almost always produced a lot of great irons and I don’t know that last year was their best ever it certainly wasn’t bad in any way shape or form they were great they just fit a lot smaller Niche sure so sure yeah and I think I mean again I was wildly

Impressed with the irons right away so I’m I think that’s going to be a big one for for callway um in 2024 yeah um all right well we’ll wrap things up here we got Cobra to talk about um so Cobra dark speed series um this is my favorite

Driver of the year and I say that as someone who really prefers a clean matte black driver crown and so that’s pretty much the main reason why I like the dark speed series um but your first impressions on COBRA dark speed they went so they have the X which is sort of

The standard model yes and the Max and the ls and the driv and Fairways well let’s start with the ls one thing that Cobra has done um over many number of years now is generally produced a driver that has very low spin they got on to figuring out about where they want to

Put that weight to kind of create a a a zero drop effect and and get that ball to launch higher without spin um they have continued on with that and one of the neat features is like they instead of having kind of two weights they now

Have three that are movable so there’s a little bit more positioning you can move a weight all the way to the back to create a little bit more forgiveness you can also move it inside up up in the front maybe more toe more heel so you

Could maybe produce a little bit more um directional help for that so if you’re someone that really needs to reduce spin that’s a super great option also looks a little smaller they’re all 460 CC’s but the footprint is a taller face and a little bit more of a rounded and

Smaller shape so when you look at it it’s it’s not it’s their smallest looking shape but they’re all the same size the X the X kind of takes that and expands that shape draws that out you now have a weight that you can put up

Forward or back so now you can take that kind of middle of the road if you will in in um in where you’re you’re hitting it generally straight already now we can really work a little bit more on your launch conditions with that weight moving forward versus back

And still get a fair amount of Spin and then the X where you can put the weight into the heel or into the back and you can really help do some shot like we we talk about it as just anytime we reduce the the dispersion anytime we bring it

Closer whether it’s a little off to the right or a little off to the left as we bring it closer we’re we’re we’re defining um our shots better and that’s what we’re trying to do with it the look is really Sleek the feel is soft it’s muted it’s not not generally tinny um

They continue to use the carbon fiber like a lot of these companies have to redefine where they put weight how they do it they have this new power Bridge or I think it’s called the speed Bridge um where they’re really looking at trying to kind of harness the the casing y

Around the outside but do that with um like a connection piece from the face it’s a little bit like like J break initially and how it kind of it connects to various parts of the club head right and sort of in a stabilizing manner while also making sure there’s the

Energy delivered to the golf ball it’s it’s similar not the same but it’s yeah the it it definitely has that effect because it’s on the bottom of the club or it’s in the inside and it’s kind of suspended a little is they used to have

It on the on the sole in the prior model to this the AER Jet and now it’s up and it’s suspended a bit and that that kind of creates um a lighter structure but it also creates a more stabilizing structure to it I think Cobra tends to

Be one that’s left out because we we don’t see a lot of Cobra um in um on the PGA tour we don’t see a whole lot of it when we get into maybe or even the LPGA Tour the European um there’s not a lot of it out there right um but there that

Could be said of a lot of these other companies that win Majors every year there’s there are plenty of companies out there that are making phenomenal equipment yeah and we don’t you know we just don’t see them yeah I think where you with the with I think it’s just

Important to pay attention to the the clubs in play for players not under contract um I know there’s it seems like there’s not that many of them out there but that always tells a story to me I remember last year like Justin Rose was an example um where he not under

Contract he switched to a bunch of different things he switched irons yep what Wednesday at Pebble Beach yep I think it was Pebble Beach I think he yeah he won and it was he had the cobras right it was the uh W he went to a whole he he

Had he he goes to a whole new company puts puts irons into his bag on Wednesday and then plays Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday and wins the tournament wins the tournament and now yeah and so and he and he TW I mean he tinkered with different drivers I think he played the

Cobra driver a little bit last year y um so like that’s where I always pay attention to in terms of trying to evaluate maybe which ones are which products out there are making their Mark so to speak um so I’m excited for dark speed I I saw I thought it was funny I

Saw a comment on one of our YouTube videos for these um Cobra has historically been pretty colorful in their uh Club designs over the years and someone said uh they said I think Cobra ran out of color because it’s true like they’ve they’ve used every color in the

Color wheel at some point you know they have and so now that now they’re just going to go straight dark speed well yeah and even the irons are just a kind of like a charcoal color yeah it is they kind kind of it’s a different finish but

I like it it’s it’s kind of it’s Unique it’s good I think it’s it’s not that shiny Chrome it’s not that even satin Chrome it’s like a different um I don’t even know what what they called it but it’s it’s Unique and I think it calls

Attention to it which is one one of the things we have to realize is where is the benefit in a fitting lie and the benefit of a fitting is to be able to sit down with one of our custom Fitters and go through these options right it’s

Not just the club head because that could be part of it right it might be the shaft it might be the length it might be the weights um I as a fitter I put clubs in people’s hands they said never would have thought of it didn’t think of it and they walk out

Purchasing that club because it it hits the mark as to what we want out of a club and if you’re a tailor made guy great tailor Ma’s got some super product for you if you’re a a ping guy or gal they they’ve got great product for you

Um I had I did have a customer who was a very one manufacturer only I’ll let that go but to tell you we got into another manufacturer in the irons and it wasn’t even close yeah and never even thought of it didn’t it came in said well I

Really don’t know because I’ve always just played this company and I’m kind of thinking the new stuff in this company we hit it and then we hit something else and it’s one of the new ones on the market and it absolutely was in the bag immediately we ordered them pre-ordered

Them that’s that’s the kind of cool thing about us being you know brag agnostic Fitters is yeah we have all the options in the tour van we have all the club heads all the you know shafts we have the the means of putting together thousands of different combinations for

You and um you get to test them and ultimately it’s your choice as to what you think is best whether you’re a field person whether you’re a yeah data and performance person um that’s the cool thing and now we have all these new toys in there to play with yep it’s uh

January February is always a very exciting time for us in the fitting Bays it is we right now we haven’t gotten to the PGA show we’re just coming up on it yep and we have all this this equipment that’s already in our Bays being hit Being Fit and what’s really interesting

Is like I think Co kind of changed that whole dynamic we’d see maybe in December we’d see a a small tiny little teaser picture of the bottom of a club yep and then all of a sudden we get into January and we might see one other piece we

Didn’t get to see any of this stuff until we got to the PGA show which is is near the end of January down in in Orlando now it’s all out there’s still there’s still going to be a bunch of stuff that we’re going to be talking about we haven’t talked Putters yet so

There’s a whole host of Putters we are normal um normally we see something out of Scotty Cameron it’s a huge thing Callaway has already introduced their their lineups we we’ve already seen some of them um the ai1 is out on the market um the AI m is all on the market those

Are all out we’re going to see some new stuff uh we talk about uh the popularity of the jailbird last year y um by by Odyssey they’ve got a new version of that coming out they have some broomstick they have a a bunch of different stuff that they still haven’t

Released um we are starting to see uh what I saw even Roll Just leak some of their new stuff uh for today um the the big thing with Putters is again we’re going to go into what makes it different from what you’ve already got right great conversation um we we obviously have a

Couple of experts leading experts in the field between Mike biviano and Larry bobka oh yeah right uh we haven’t seen or really talked much about golf ball I’ve gotten a chance to play the new Callaway golf ball it is out rageous good I mean it is above and beyond some

Of the golf balls I’ve ever played bridgestone’s got a whole new lineup we’re going to see a couple more from Titleist um we we’ve got tailor made uh I had it in my hand I didn’t get to to hit it yet the the new tailor made lineup is again way better than what

They’ve had in the past so golf balls is a huge Conversation Piece and we don’t really know yet what’s going to be there in terms of shafts people love to talk about shafts um there’s nothing new per se that’s come out with any of these drivers of these Woods just yet so is

There something waiting in the wings I don’t know like we haven’t heard that that’s one we haven’t heard anything about yeah yeah it’s uh it’s fascinating though I mean there’s so many different I guess uh you know sections areas of this golf equipment thing and every year there’s there’s improvements

Advancements um that I know you have a lot of fun with in the fitting Bays working with golfers and um it’s got to be cool to see those results happen and how things can improve year I mean I’m sure you got customers that you’ve worked with for years and they get fit

For driver in 2021 and now 2024 they’re probably going to come back and they’re going to see the improvements right away with whatever model they end up choosing so um Tyler thank you for joining uh this was uh you know this was a fun conversation to have looking at all of

The advancements and technology and stuff um I’m very excited to see what happens all the rest of 2024 I know you are too oh very much thanks thanks for having Me