Equipment
XXIO 13 irons: What you need to know
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The XXIO 13 irons are designed to be lightweight so players can swing them faster, but a weight in the butt end of the club also allows them to be swung more efficiently and on a better path. The titanium face—the same alloy used in XXIO and Srixon drivers—provides more than enough face bend to generate significant rebound at impact, even at lower swing speeds.
PRICING/AVAILABILITY: The XXIO 13 irons sell for $220 each in graphite shafts. Available in stores Jan. 26.
3 Cool Things
1. Speed for slower swingers. Rather than trying to design clubs that attempt to fit all players, the new XXIO 13 irons don’t compromise on ways to attack the specific needs of slower swings. In these irons that means the use of a fast-flexing titanium face insert, lightweight shafts and other technologies and design features beneficial to those who need their clubs to help supply most of the power.
One of the issues facing titanium-face irons is they can become rigid. To address this, the company uses a fast-flexing low-face L-groove where part of the face wraps around the lip of the sole. That, combined with toe twin grooves, enhances face flex.
2. Material difference. Creating speed, however, is just one ingredient in the recipe for more yards. Getting the right launch angle is key, too.
XXIO 13 is designed to help players launch iron shots higher through a lowered center of gravity. Helping to achieve that is the use of high-density tungsten-nickel weights (as much as 30 grams of tungsten or 50 percent more than the XXIO 12 iron) in the toe area of the 5- through 7-irons. In addition to lowering the center of gravity to assist launch, the added heft ups the forgiveness to mitigate the loss of ball speed on off-center strikes.
There are other more subtle, but helpful aspects to the irons. Like a shorter hosel that contributes to a lower CG or the wide soles that help get more out of fatted shots than you should. There’s also the loft specific grooves. As lofts increase, the grooves are deeper and closer together, enhancing spin for more control on approach shots.
3. More weight, better swing. Perhaps most helpful of all is the company continuing its “Weight Plus” technology in which, thin, lightweight graphite shafts—just 47 grams in regular and 50 grams in stiff—take saved weight and move it to the butt end of the club. Doing so brings the balance point closer to the hands, making the club easier to swing and get in the proper position at the top of the backswing.
