Tour Edge Exotics CB1 3 and 5 wood Review!

johowdy123

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Tour Edge Exotics CB1 3 & 5 wood Review

Hello All!

For those of you who read my G10 review (http://www.thehackersparadise.com/forum/showthread.php?30894-G10-Driver-Review), you now know a little more about this sucker of a reviewer, and you know why I’m doing these reviews. Lol For those of you who haven’t at least read the first paragraph, please check that out so you know what kind of reviewer I am and a little of my personal evolution in golf. I want to take a second to thank everyone who messaged/emailed/posted about my last review! Your insight will be taken into great consideration! And will definitely help improve my further/future reviews!
So, I had a few PM’s from the last review to try to do a little more standardization within my reviews like many of the big reviews since my last G10 review racked up over 1000 words. Lol So before I enter deep into this review, let me lay a few points about how this review and most further reviews will be laid out. My least favorite part of any review is the subjective, ie. Looks, sound, and feel. Those are indigenous to each golfer, and though many may share those opinions, they are just my opinion. So I’ll try to shorten the “Appearances” section. I will try to beef up the actual play section “Performance” because, well a few people wanted to know a little more about on course performance. Lol (I can appreciate that!) Everyone who PM’ed/talked to me about the previous review, loved the “Evolution” section. Because I am such a club hoe, people seems to appreciate the fact that I had many different angles to one club. So, I’ll expand a little more on Evolution if I can. Lastly, comparisons with new and older equipment I have played or swung will be increased; everyone again gave nothing but positive insight in that section.

SO! Moving forward with this review!
I know I said I would try to get a Ping I3+ Iron review, but this one just felt so right after posting about my G10. This club is the second oldest club in my bag. Back when, I think it was 2008, I set out to replace my hard to hit, awkwardly shaped, scared up Ping G2 3wood. As nice as a club it was, it just didn’t fit my game any further, and the hosel was proving to be a pain to reshaft. (back when I had much less experience reshafting) So the search started. At the time (if my memory serves me correctly) cleveland had released the hibore fairway woods, Callaway had the Xhot line out, Ping had the G5 out (soon the G10) and Taylormade was still on the R7 line. Testing nearly all of these woods at demos and monitor sessions, the Tour Edge Won out!

Appearance:
IMO, this is how every fairway wood should look. 100% un-adulterd black on the top, no alignment aid, no emblem, no nothing! Just the absence of color (black) Its amazing what the color black will do. This club just inspires confidence. From its matt chrome face finish to the short hosel, everything screams hit me. I can remember first seeing this club and thinking to myself, “I am going to crush this 3 wood.” When face met the ball, the sound did not disappoint either. What a pleasant sound, nearly driver’ish. It has such a resounding thwack, it sounds nearly like golf pleasure. (if such a thing exists) To best quanitify the sound, it is a blend between a Titleist 905R driver, and a Ping G5 driver. Beauty… The shape is less of a pear “players” shape and more of a modern round shaped wood. It bears no resemblance to a persimmon wood. Lol

Performance:
The 3 wood has been around much longer than the 5 wood, ~2 years. It was only later that I realized that I loved this lineup of woods so much that I would need to have a 5 wood also. That being said, their performance is both stellar! The 3 wood has a nice penetrating launch off the deck, that is workable both high/low and left/right. Feed back is wonderful with the combo brazing technology employed in these woods, the feel is magnificent. The heavy body provides just enough damping to avoid that harsh feel that can be associated with titanium fairway woods. This heavy body also provides these fairway woods for exceptional forgiveness of their age. Not as forgiving as many of the geometry fairway woods or the super large fairway woods, these provide just enough to get away with mis-hits, and as long as I do my part, the woods do their part. As for distance, these clubs flat out perform. There is a reason they have a legacy and a cult following that only grows with each CB generation/iteration. The CB1’s for their time, and even currently, are some of the longest fairway woods period. I drive the ball a good ways out there, and the 3 wood can sometimes creep up on my drives. Earlier in my golfing career, when I wasn’t driving the ball as well, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see my 3 wood often as far out as my driver. I can remember on a 540yrd par 5, hitting 3 wood, 3 wood and putting from being slightly into the wind… That is scary long in my book. There have been times when people ask how easy are they to hit off the deck. Well many people consider the CB2 line the holy grail of the Exotics line up. I beg to differ, the CB2’s were made with a deeper face, and thus, I felt, harder to get up off the deck. The CB1’s are much easier to get elevated off the deck because of their smaller overall head design and shallower face. Not Adams Tight Lies shallow, but a good balance between tee ball tall, and fairway shallow.

Evolution:
As I mentioned earlier, the 3 wood has been around much longer than my 5 wood. It even plays the roll with a few popup marks from earlier in my career. (Sad to say, I once marked up everything I owned. Lol) But they both have had storied lives. The 3 wood started off stock with regular flex, and boy was that shaft not a good fit. First thing happened was a drop in to a Grafalloy Prolite stiff, and what a difference that made! Great control and dispersion with that Exotics distance. The very next season, I felt as if I need something different and in went the strangest move I’ve made in a while. I dropped in a Dynamic Gold SL X100 wood shaft… And it was an interesting experience. My tee box launch angle was decreased, but my deck launch was actually increased by about a degree. My overall control was better, but I didn’t have any distance gains I thought I would receive. Around this point was when I procured my 5 wood, and in went the same shaft. In the 5 wood though, it was a different set of affair. I knew I would be hitting from a greater varance of lies and rough height, so the steel turned out to be a great fit! In fact, I still have that very shaft in my 5 wood. It produces a nice tee box flight, and what a nice feel it had with steel. Off the deck I call the 5 wood my “automatic” it doesn’t have a bad shot in it. But back to the 3 wood. After that season, and the start of 2011, I decided to jump back to graphite, and purchased a UST V2 X 75g driver shaft, tipped 1 ½” inches. Wonderful! What a difference, all the control I had with my steel shaft, in addition to gaining the yardage I felt I deserved! (Golf doesn’t owe me anything in reality. Lol) I still have this combination in my bag to this very day. Nothing seems to be able to knock it out.

Comparisons:
I don’t have a great play comparison for these clubs because, they never have left my bag. Lol All I can speak from is from demo days and various fitting sessions of swing competition. I’ve been very close to moving to the CB4 line because it is so similar but with more forgiveness and honestly, it’s a little longer… if possible. Lol
I remember back in the way swing the Xhot 3 wood, and that too was a nice wood, if a little sparatic. And the shape left something to be desired. Also the Ping G10 3 wood. Great club off the deck because of its shallow face, but I hated it off the tee box. Just too shallow for any real tee shots.
Sorry for letting you down again in the comparisons… lol

Conclusion:
Purchase these… If you value your woods, these are amazing. There hasn’t been a CB line that wasn’t wonderfully received by the golfing community and it all started with the CB1’s. Distance, accuracy, workability, with enough forgiveness… Hard to go wrong. And to top it all off, they are fairly in expensive now. Can often be had for under $75, that is a steal of kings… If nothing else, you owe it to your game to give these a try if your buddy has one, or you see one used at Golfsmith/Local store! Try it, buy it, love it. Lol
Rob
 
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