Callaway’s New XR Fairway Woods Have Been Rebuilt to Defy the Limits of Speed, Distance, and Forgiveness
Driver like performance in the fairway woods has been an ever elusive search for manufacturers alike in the golf industry. I have worked with and know many golfers that still struggle with the length and size of the driver heads or hitting from a raised tee nowadays and are more comfortable going with the shorter, more consistent fairway wood option from the tee box.
Although my personal game has always led me to favoring the big stick off the tee as I consider myself a great driver of the golf ball, I have long been a proponent of finding what suits your game best off the tee. If that comes from hitting a fairway wood, then take the 200 – 240 yards off the tee in the middle of fairway than the 250 – 275 yards shot that finds the hay or hazard more often than not. It may be time for you to reevaluate your long game, adopt a new tee-shot strategy, and take advantage of the entirely new and re-designed Callaway XR fairway wood. Specifically engineered for powerful distance and ball speed and maximum forgiveness, these babies are sure to only strengthen their grip on the super competitive fairway and hybrid market.
This gang of clubs is so good that we may have to introduce them as if they were an all-star team (they were the only fairway wood to receive 5/5 stars for performance on the 2015 GolfDigest Hot List):
“Now starrrrrrrrrrr-ting, aaaa-t fairway wood, from Carlsbad, California, the X-Rrrrrrrrrr fairway wood (crowd goes wild)!!!”
Over the past couple of years, Callaway has brought a whole new level of technology and performance to their fairway woods. Just when you thought the “Wow’s” would stop with the market shattering X2 Hot fairway wood last year, they decided to re-evaluate everything they did with that model, start from the ground-up, and pack the new XR only with generation-advancing elements they thought would best match what we are all looking for in our fairway woods, from tour players to ‘Joe Average’ golfer alike.
The first piece of new technology in the Callaway XR fairway wood is the brand new Forged Hyper Speed Face Cup. This innovative advancement in face technology begins with a new manufacturing process that produces a lighter and upwards of 36% thinner face cup than the predecessor. As a result, the sweet spot has been enlarged by 16% and yields us a faster, more flexible face that makes it longer from everywhere. Next up on the docket was a new head shape.
This year’s Callaway XR fairway wood has a more shallow face, slightly larger overall body, and flatter leading edge which allowed Callaway’s engineers to lower their patented internal standing wave, a molded weight port located behind the face inside the club’s body. The face also features a taller toe face height, which is beneficial for amateur golfers as studies have shown that a majority of golfers have a strike pattern that reflects high and towards the toe of the club, especially in woods. The marrying of all these technologies gives the XR fairway wood a 20% lower center-of-gravity (higher launch but lower spin), higher moment-of-inertia (more forgiveness), and more ball speed for maximum distance and wide-ranging effectiveness from all types of shot situations and face impact location.
Callaway’s offerings in the XR fairway wood will include the standard for men and women , XR Pro fairway wood , and XR Deep fairway wood. Just like the Callaway XR driver, the standard XR fairway wood will be highlighted with the heralded Project X LZ shaft in everything from a 47-gram (Project X 4.0) women’s flex to a 58-gram X-flex (Project X 6.5) to accentuate the need for more speed. In terms of clubheads, there will be 3, 4, 5, 7, 9 and 11 woods to choose from for each gender of player.
In comparison, the Callaway XR Pro fairway wood will be available in 14, 16, and 18 degree lofts only, include the same Project LZ shaft (about 8-10 grams heavier than the LZ in the XR) and will feature a deeper face and sloping crown for a more penetrating, controlled trajectory and improved workability off the tee that stronger, more consistent players desire.
The final piece to the puzzle will be the Callaway XR Deep fairway wood, an increasingly common choice for players looking for a driver-type replacement from the tee that has the deepest face height within the XR assortment. Phil Mickelson has been responsible for the rise of popularity in this club as he primarily used it to win his first British Open in 2013. The 3-Deep will only be available in a 14-degree loft and also feature a slightly heavier Project LZ shaft than the LZ in the standard XR head.
If you have any technical questions about the Callaway XR fairway wood or any other club, feel free to contact a PGA Professional at GlobalGolf!
Want to learn more about Callaway? Check out what we say about the Callaway XR Driver.
Chris Wadwick
Chris Wadwick has been a Class “A” member of the PGA of America since 2011. He is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill with a degree in Business Administration. He brings a deep understanding of the inner workings of the golf business, especially club fittings, product knowledge, and visual merchandising, working for Dick’s Sporting Goods for over 7 years and Occoneechee Golf Club for more than three years, prior to that. When he is not in the office, you can always find him at a nearby golf course, attending games at his alma mater, or spending time with his wife and four dogs.