For Callaway Golf, the letter X means stands for distance and speed. X-17. X Hot. On and on.
That pursuit of power through equipment has evolved into the company's broad 2015 X family of products, which the company announced Wednesday under a moniker of XR. The line includes nine models: two drivers, three fairway woods, two hybrids and two iron sets.
The bottom line is that these clubs are designed to increase speed -- ball and clubhead -- for players of all skill levels.
Let's take a look at each of the products, which will hit stores Feb. 20.
XR Drivers (MSRP: $350 XR/$400 Pro): The One Big Thing with the XR and XR pro models is aerodynamics to improve clubhead speed through reduced drag. And, yes, that means Callaway's take on the turbulators that made Ping Golf's G30 driver look so unique. Callaway's version is more like a stepped-slope from where the crown meets the face, back along the crown. The drivers are also slightly lighter, including a 10 percent lighter face, which can help with swing speeds and squaring the club face at impact.
The center of gravity is lower than the X2 Hot model, all aimed to optimize launch conditions. The Pro model sports a forged-composite crown for what the company calls its lowest-ever center of gravity.
The club has an adjustable hosel with eight settings, allowing four, one-degree loft increments and lie-angle adjustments.
XR Fairway Woods and Hybrids (MSRP: $230 XR, $240 XR Pro and XR 3Deep): It's in this area that the XR family really makes its hay. There are five different products in this category, including two pro models (one fairway wood, one hybrid) -- all designed differently than most fairways and utilities you'll see.
The three XR fairway woods and two XR hybrids share common characteristics, including a resdesigned head shape that repositions weight lower and around the club's perimeter for more forgiveness. There's also a lighter and thinner cup face for improved ballspeed throughout the face.
The company's wave-like weighting inside the fairway wood head has also been moved forward to lower spin and the center of gravity.
There's a standard fairway wood (which has an 11-wood model), a pro model and a 3Deep club, designed specifically to be hit off the tee.
XR Irons (MSRP: $800 XR, $900 XR Pro): The idea behind these irons is simple: leverage the face-cup technology found in the XR family's woods and create a distance iron...that still looks and feels like an iron.
Callaway has improved its face-cup wraps over the full face, welded to the body in the sole and back of the club. The standing-wave design inside the club has also been refined to increas moment-of-inertia for forgiveness and better distance on off-center hits.
