Adams Golf returning to game-improvement roots

"Barney Adams started this company with the idea of helping the average golfer get the ball up and forward," says John Ward, president of Adams. "As I heard from all the employees, he used to walk around the office and keep saying over and over again, Up and out, up and out."

The emphasis of the company's new line, called Blue, is heavy on game improvement. How vital to the company is the idea of helping more average golfers get shots up in the air? It's so fundamental that designers developed three distinct technologies to produce that single result. The Adams Blue line will include a driver ($300), fairway woods ($200), hybrids ($180) and irons ($700 in steel, $800 in graphite). Each features a slot in the sole to provide more face flexibility and each features a center of gravity moved away from the face for high launch and extra spin to maintain that flight on both on-center and off-center impacts. That's a departure from Adams' big brother TaylorMade, which emphasizes a low-forward center of gravity.

The goal, Ward says, is to create more opportunities for playable results off the tee, to create more fun. Moving the CG back helps increase dynamic loft at impact for higher launch, while creating more off-center hit stability. Both results are the focus of Adams Blue. The Blue line also creates a little more spin, another element to help average players, Ward says. "If you can hit the ball up and forward more often out of 10 shots, albeit maybe not the furthest on your longest hit, that's what we're after," he says. "The aggregate distance would be longer. The fact is you'll smile more if out of 10 shots, you hit eight of them within 80 percent of your best as opposed to maybe hitting only two of them that way. But then nobody talks about that. They always talk about their one perfect shot. Nobody talks about the other eight that were cold tops. If you can eliminate the cold tops, you would have more fun, and that's what we're talking about."

The most interesting aspect of the line might be an element that usually gets lost in technology discussions: the shaft. Whether it's the woods or the irons, the tip sections all have been slimmed from traditional diameters. The driver and fairway woods feature a .320-inch tip compared to .350 in most standard shafts. The hybrids and irons use a .350-inch tip compared to the usual .370. The company is touting "more kick for easy launch" based on the narrower shaft profile.

The driver will be available in three lofts (9.5, 10.5 and 12 degrees). The fairway woods also are offered in three lofts (15, 19 and 22 degrees). The hybrid is available in four lofts (19, 21, 23 & 25 degrees). The iron set includes a 3- and 4-hybrid. The entire line will be in stores Friday.