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New TaylorMade, Callaway, Cleveland drivers on conforming list

January 02, 2013

It's the turn of the new year and the changes are everywhere in the equipment game. One of the first places to find out what's new is the U.S. Golf Association's most recently updated lists for conforming drivers and golf balls.

Among the new names that I see on the current list are new drivers from Callaway, Cleveland and TaylorMade. From TaylorMade, there's the R1 driver and the RBZ Stage 2 driver, while Callaway has recently added an X Hot driver to the USGA list and Cleveland has the Classic XL Custom now on the list. According to the USGA list, each of these drivers appears to be adjustable. The Callaway X Hot's hosel features "orientation indicators," the Classic XL Custom's hosel features "orientation indicators," the R1's hosel features "loft indicators with lines," and the RBZ Stage 2's hosel features "loft indicators."

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There's also some new names on the January 2 list of conforming golf balls. One noteworthy example: TaylorMade has five versions of a ball called "Lethal" that in the USGA's coding is described as "Other," "Solid Center," and "Double Cover," a similar description to TaylorMade's Penta TP5 ball.

Although a product being added to the conforming list doesn't necessarily mean it will come to market, companies often get products on the list for the purpose of them being legal for play on tour. As such it would not be surprising to see some of these products in play at this week's Hyundai Tournament of Champions.