Perhaps it’s little surprise that there seems to be one constant theme (stream?) running through the long, noisy, crowded and colorful aisles at Orange County Convention Center as the PGA Merchandise Show wraps up its third full day: High-tech golf geek gadgetry rules. We kept that, among other things, in mind when choosing our top five golf products for the day.
TOUR EDGE CBX 119 HYBRIDS AND METALS
OK, this isn’t a pure “tecchie” choice, but there’s plenty of high-minded data behind the creation the latest in Tour Edge’s popular CBX line of fairway metals and hybrids: The CBX 119. By creating what company president and chief designer David Glod calls the “Speed Ramp Sole’’ that was widened by 15 percent to create higher MOI and an even higher CG. The higher CG, Glod said, helped to reduce spin even more than in the previous iteration and created more wind-defying distance. “Reducing spin is the number one key to adding distance to a lofted club like a fairway or a hybrid,” Glod says. “If we will lower the spin significantly, we will win the distance battle. This is not as easy as it sounds. It’s tough to lower spin in combination with loft. We knew we had to concentrate on CG manipulation and the only way to do this was to make the only fairway wood and hybrid ever made with titanium face, combo brazed on to stainless steel and with carbon fiber on the sole have even lower spin rates than what we had accomplished before.” Tour Edge Exotics staff player Tom Lehman earlier this month won the PGA Tour Champions’ season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, with an 18-degree Exotics CBX hybrid and a #2 Exotics CBX Iron-Wood in play. The CBX 119 will in players’ bags for the first time at next month’s Champions’ Oasis Championship in Boca Raton, Fla. The clubs go on sale to the public on Feb. 1.
