Callaway's new XR driver?! Yup, here's another one.

[markb]

And you thought the 2014 Callaway driver litter was going to stop spitting out pups at just the BB, BBA, X2Hot, BBV, BB 815, BB 815 DD!

 

 

 

Rumored to be priced around $350 and with upgraded stock shafts.   Comes in a normal and Pro version.   Crown is supposed to be unusual, I dunno.   I rather like the looks and I still play the old Optiforce, so I'll probably give it a tumble.

 

More pics and info when I get it.   Feel free to pile on.

 

Watermarked pics of the Xr irons are up on another blog which doesn't respect embargoes.   Seek and ye shall find.

[furu]

It replaces X2 Hot. Doesn't it? 2015 lineup should be;

 

XR and XR Pro

V Series (not going to live much longer....)

815 and 815 DD

[jbil8802]

I'm a club ho through and through and I don't have a desire to even demo Callaway clubs anymore. I'm sure it will perform fine and I'm sure I could get fitted for it and bag it with no problems but I just find myself not caring about anything they come out with anymore.

[SPY ZINGER]

It's the second coming of Adams Golf.

[markb]

It replaces X2 Hot. Doesn't it? 2015 lineup should be;

 

XR and XR Pro

V Series (not going to live much longer....)

815 and 815 DD

 

Yes, that will be the line-up for JANUARY AND MAYBE FEBRUARY of 2015.   All bets are off after that.   If these actually sell in decent numbers, maybe they'll last longer.   If they don't, expect rapid replacement.

[mbrodeur86]

meh, nothing here I see that is very appealing. I guess we will wait til the numbers come out on it. Any chance it gets thrown into the most wanted 2015?

[Undershooter]

It's the second coming of Adams Golf.

Obviously I'm not bright enough to get the joke. Could you help me out?

[smitty]

The crown is actually a little weird, its matte black but has this arrow thing that protrudes on the crown. Not a bad looking driver basically same foot print of the x2hot but with the rmoto face and a new paint job 

[SPY ZINGER]

Obviously I'm not bright enough to get the joke. Could you help me out?

Not really meant to be a joke, just a lot of drivers released while being difficult to distinguish technology differences as well as advancement of technology.

 

Oh and the old CEO.

[markb]

The crown is actually a little weird, its matte black but has this arrow thing that protrudes on the crown. Not a bad looking driver basically same foot print of the x2hot but with the rmoto face and a new paint job 

 

Is it cosmetic or meant to be functional.   You mean like a little fin or an air deflector?

 

Are we moving into the realm of 1950's car design with drivers these days?   With fins and turbulators and protrusions and channels and slots and knobs?

[furu]

Callaway has replaced there X-series every year. Two models, standard and Pro. Nothing new there.

 

The trend of a driver only (maybe with fw) started a few years ago. We've had Razrt Fit, Razr Fit Xtreme, Big Bertha/Alpha. And in 2015 - two new BB drivers.

 

The only new model in this lineup is V. 

 

They have five drivers. Four from their regular collection and one from the Asian market that everyone always wants to see in Europe/USA.

 

Three is a minimum to cover what customers want (look at Nike Vapor). Titleist - two drivers, minimal sales compared to competition. Mizuno - one driver, not a factor i woods at all.

 

New clubs is what golfers want. It's that simple.

[smitty]

Is it cosmetic or meant to be functional.   You mean like a little fin or an air deflector?

 

Are we moving into the realm of 1950's car design with drivers these days?   With fins and turbulators and protrusions and channels and slots and knobs?

 

Its more cosmetic like the lines on the R1 or Ping I25 its an aiming Arrow but it protrudes from the crown, It's not horrible in that they kept it the same matte black as the crown so it its not as in your face as the others but still weird. I defiantly think for the amateur that has problems lining up their drives but doesn't want something as in your face it'll be great.

[Tony Covey MGS]

Sources are telling me $349/$399 for this, which borders on comedy for all titanium construction from Callaway. Taking R&D out of the equation for a moment, Callaway's business strategy is to raise the average selling price of their products. As a business that's a great way to continue your climb out of the red, but it's much less than consumer friendly.

 

I can all but promise you that at $349 there will be ZERO performance reasons to consider this driver over a Cobra FLY-Z or PING G30. 

 

XR completes the exercise in Marketing 101. You have a premium product (DBD) and entry/budget product (XR) that basically exist to help steer the consumer to what you actually want him to buy (Bertha 815). 

 

Obviously this puts us over the metric s***-ton limit as far as # of drivers in an 18 month (give or take) span goes, but frankly, I don't think it's the long-term trend. Callaway is now on schedule (V series early fall, Premium BB/DBD line late fall (start of tour season), and XR (the afterthought line) to compete with TaylorMade, Nike, and Cobra in the Spring. I believe this is how they want it.

 

Of course, given Chip Brewer's history at Adams, there could be some surprises before the season is over.

 

It will be interesting to see how this performs given that X2 Hot was clearly a step backwards from a performance standpoint. That's how it tested out for us, and as far as CG is concerned, X2 was higher and more forward (spinnier and less forgiving).

 

With the others mostly sticking to traditional game plans (PING is mixing it up a bit), and TaylorMade talking about being more restrained it's going to be fun to watch.

[lmh3]

There will be fairways and hybrids for the 815 line coming in late January.

[silver & black]

I'll just use my 913 D3 for the third year in a row. It works just fine.

[wbealsd]

I'll just use my 913 D3 for the third year in a row. It works just fine.

Likewise with my 913 D2, probably for a long, long time.  It will take something really special to move it out of my bag!

[Kor.A.Door]

I have been using the x2hot pro driver all season, it is hands down the best driver I have used, it is not the longest by any means, but for me it is way more accurate than any other driver I have played, you guys can bash cally all you want, but for me it works, if you don't like them, don't try them.

[markb]

I've been a Cally driver guy since 2012.  Played the Raxr Fit, then the Razr Xtreme, and was quite a fan of the Xhot.  Arrived at the Optiforce in late 2013 and nothing has kicked it out of the bag yet  -- least of all any of the 7 Callaway offerings released in the past year.   I've tried them all and been quite unimpressed so I'd have to agree with T about the step back.   In fairness, I was the least unimpressed with the X2Hot compared to the Xhot.   That was basically a push for me.   I'd really like to feel the thrill again with this Xr and if it uses the same hosel adapter, odds are better that it'll get a fair shake from me come Spring.   But black face on black crown makes alignment so much more difficult, don't you think?

 

[silver & black]

Stealth Driver?

[markb]

here's another new pic

 

 

By the way, it appears that the original source of the earliest leaked photos of the XR were the inept Guangdong counterfeiters at GolfMaster -- they who also leaked the first photos of the RSI irons before they dropped.  http://www.diytrade.com/china/pd/12891492/100_genuine_callaway_XR_golf_driver_heads.html

 

Makes me wonder if Golfmaster is merely stealing real pics and pre-sellng in order to see what goods will be hot.   I can't believe they have their fakes up and in stock before the real clubs drop.   If you look at their product line they have many of the sorts of usual fakes you'd expect.   Piles of disassembled Scotty Newports and tons of Cameron limited headcovers, but they also offer odd things like Jetspeed drivers.   Who the hell would bother to fake a driver that no one wants to buy real?