 Product
Review:
Tour Edge Wood-Iron
By Kiel Christianson,
Senior Writer
First we had metal woods. Now we have wood-irons. If the blurring
of categories and the bending of tradition send you into sputtering
fits and rambling stories of how things were when you were young,
read no further. If innovation intrigues you, however, we've tested
out one of the newest non-classifiable clubs, the Any Lie Wood-Iron
by Tour Edge, and what we found just might tempt you to take a
walk on the hybrid side.
The intuition behind hybrid clubs in general, and the Tour Edge
Any Lie Wood-Iron in particular, is sound: Higher handicappers
can't hit long irons consistently. At the same time, traditional
fairway woods are hard to control, due to their long shafts, oblique
lie angles, and larger clubheads, which tend to get hung up in
the rough (where most higher-handicappers spend much of their
time).
Therefore, what most golfers need (since most golfers are higher-handicappers)
is a club that offers the control and flexibility of an iron,
with the launching power of a wood. Hence, the Wood-Iron.
The Any Lie Wood-Iron promotes a more upright swing and descending
blow, thanks to its somewhat shorter overall length and more upright
lie angle. It's head is stainless steel, with a maraging steel
clubface. We tested a. R-flex 19-degree version, made to take
the place of your 2-iron, but the model comes in 13, 16, 19, 25,
and 27 degree lofts to replace 5-wood through 5 iron.
Responses from various golfers of varying skill-levels were,
well, varied. A couple of guys couldn't get past the look of the
club: The silvery head doesn't look like a wood, but the whole
club sets up like an iron. These players just didn't know what
to do with it, and usually tried to swing too easy, as they do
with a fairway wood.
The best strategy with the Wood-Iron, though, is to power through
the ball, hitting down on it as you would with an iron. Players
who did this found it to have an incredibly solid feel and serious
length.
Personally, I hit it anywhere between 190 and 220 yards, depending
on the lie. As such, it could have replaced either my 2-iron or
5-wood. The optimal conditions for the Wood-Iron for me were: (1)
Long par 3s, where you need the ball to go far, go high, and land
soft; and (2) Those irritating second shots on long par 4s, where
you've hit a short slice/hook tee ball into the rough, and you have
to both dig it out and send it 180+ yards to the green.
One unique design feature of the Wood-Iron is the clubhead sole.
Most fairway wood soles (and other hybrid clubs) have one or two
contours or rails running parallel to the target line to promote
an easy path through long grass. In contrast, the Wood-Iron has
a multi-bounce sole, with two ridges running from toe to heel,
and a super-heavy tungsten sole weight. The ridges supposedly
reduce drag while keeping the club from digging in. And the weight
definitely gets the ball airborne fast.
Those whom we surveyed who used the club in the circumstances
noted above - and who weren't too jarred by the club's nontraditional
look - agreed that the Wood-Iron would be a valuable weapon in
the fight against high scores. Those who didn't care for the club
went back to "working" their long irons (the big show-offs).
So, were you one of the first to dump your persimmon woods?
If so, then you shouldn't have any trouble getting your mind around
a hybrid club. And word on the street is, once you've had hybrid,
you never go back.
Club Specifications
Manufacturer: Tour Edge
Suggested retail price: $250
Clubhead: Stainless steel Clubface: Maraging steel
Lofts: 13, 16, 19, 25, and 27 degrees (to replace 5-wood through
5 iron)
Length: 40" - 42.5"
Shafts: steel, graphite (X, S, R, A, L)
Lefty: Yes
Info.: 800-515-3343
Web: www.touredge.com |
