Tour Edge and HiPPO offer more MOI for the money

Once upon a time, drivers were all about materials, mainly titanium and various alloys thereof. Then the Soviet Union collapsed, and titanium flooded the market.

(OK, I don’t know for sure if the two events were related, but the first titanium used in clubs was billed as coming from Soviet tanks. I don’t know whether that was true or not either, but it makes a good story.)

Next, the world teetered on the brink of war over the so-called “spring-like effect” of a driver. Remember when Arnold Palmer played Callaway’s ERC II in Europe, even though the club was deemed nonconforming by the USGA? If not, you’re lucky. ‘Twas a dark time in our history.

Then, happily, the USGA and R&A negotiated a joint limit on the spring-like effect, and, finally, the golf world appeared to be o the verge of a pax techno.

Then came the size wars, and it was all about the “cc"s – until the USGA and R&A settled on 460cc as the limit for big-headed drivers.

Again, peace and quiet seemed to be at hand.

That is, until Moment of Inertia – MOI – hit the radar screens of club designers and golfers alike. MOI is essentially the resistance to rotation around an axis. As driver heads got bigger, the center of gravity moved farther away from the shaft – the axis. Thus, off-center hits resulted in twisting, which decreased the amount of energy transferred to the ball.

In short, the higher the MOI, the better energy transfer on off-center hits. The USGA and R&A have set a limit of 5,900 g-cm2, with a tolerance of + or – 100 g-cm2.

Now it’s all about the MOI, baby. And the race is on.

Over the next several months, I’ll be testing and reviewing a passel of big-headed, high-MOI drivers, some of which retail for close to $500.

But for now, I wanted to point out a couple of those soon-to-be-reviewed sticks that offer MOI over 5,000 for less than $200.

The first is the Bazooka GeoMax by Tour Edge. This is one of the few high-MOI drivers on the market that features a traditional clubhead shape. In fact, it’s almost pear-shaped, like an old persimmon driver.

The second, the HiPPO Hex2, which is the polar opposite of the Tour edge offering. The Hex is six-sided and funkier looking than Jesper Parnevik’s wardrobe.

That’s right: MOI distance, MOI power, and MOI eye-catching clubs, without MOI money.

Tour Edge’s GeoMax has a more traditional shape.

HiPPO’s Hex2 boasts perhaps the funkiest profile of all the high-MOI drivers today.