Going back to its creation in 2000, but even more so since its parent company’s consolidation with Srixon and Cleveland Golf, XXIO has had a luxury not often seen in the golf equipment industry. They’ve been able to focus solely on one type of customer: The “moderate” swing speed player. The advantage this provides is palpable. With a single point of focus, the company’s engineers and marketing teams can narrowly devote all their resources in one direction. In addition, with each successive release they can learn what is working and what isn’t, refining their products in even greater detail. THP did a brand story on XXIO in 2022, and it did a great job at shedding light on this sometimes-mysterious company.
XXIO 13 is the result of all this focus and work devoted to moderate swing speeds, specifically those under 90mph. This complete line of woods and irons is absolutely loaded with technology to make the game more enjoyable for the company’s target demographic. In addition, while sometimes women’s equipment seems to be an afterthought at some companies, XXIO clearly shows their devotion to servicing this important market segment. We’ll look at all four major components of the XXIO 13 line today: Drivers, fairways woods, hybrids, and irons.
XXIO 13 Drivers
As we noted earlier, both the men’s and ladies’ XXIO drivers are packed with technology, and the company provided an almost overwhelming amount of information about it all. Their most visible marketing push will center on BiFlex Face and Dual ActivWing.
BiFlex Face
We admit that it took us a little while to figure out what BiFlex Face was doing. The end-result, a 25% larger high-COR (COR value over 0.80) area makes sense, but we wanted to understand how XXIO accomplished this. A small snippet in their product manual clarified it for us nicely.
BiFlex Face is a system where the outer edges of the high toe and heel area of the driver face are built more rigid. They liken it to the outer frame of a trampoline, and then the rest of the face is like the part of the trampoline you jump on. By providing an extremely rigid frame, BiFlex allows more of the club face to efficiently impart its rebound-effect at impact.
New Dual ActivWing
ActivWing is an extremely interesting bit of technology. This is an aerodynamic feature, but unlike most club-specific aero stories, it’s not about generating more speed. Rather, Dual ActivWing is utilizing aerodynamics to stabilize the club face, leading to a higher rate of center impacts. Is that not the craziest thing you’ve heard all day?
ActiveWing can be visualized at the rear of the crown, closer to the hosel. XXIO points our eyes in its direction with some subtle graphics. We purposely over-processed the photo above to show it as clearly as possible, as the glossy crown makes it difficult to capture with a camera. In reality, it’s much more subtle than it looks. In fact, we didn’t even realize it was there until well into the review process.
ActivWing increases the surface area in that location, and by increasing both the drag and lift forces, provides both 11% tighter face angle variances and an 11% tighter impact location matrix on the face, according to XXIO’s in house testing.
Rebound Frame, Flat Cup Face and Six Section Bulge and Roll
Both the Flat Cup Face and Rebound Frame are well-established XXIO technologies designed to impart maximum ball speed. By now, most of us should have a solid idea of what a cup face can do for ball speed. In the case of the XXIO 13, the cup face is thinnest in its center section, an area the company enlarged. Rebound Frame is another play on the concept of utilizing the combination of flexibility and rigidity to increase energy transfer from the driver into the golf ball. Unlike BiFlex, which is a face technology, Rebound Frame stretches well back into the body of the head. The total effect, if we are getting really conceptual, is a trampoline upon a trampoline upon yet another trampoline.
Rounding out the face and frame technology, Six Section Bulge and Roll is all about providing directional help for sub-optimal contact. Bulge and roll, of course, are ubiquitous on metalwoods, but XXIO has taken that deeper, dividing the face into six distinct sections, each with its own unique design. This allows a refinement of how the bulge and roll works for a broader range of potential impact positions, making it much more personalized and less of a catch-all solution. Testing did show an impressive tendency for the driver to stay in play on a variety of impacts.
XXIO invests a great deal of time into perfecting how their drivers sound, and they’ve been quick to highlight the effort put into the 13’s acoustic properties. After a combination of digital simulation and human analysis, they placed internal sound ribs inside the head in precise locations. Now, perfect sound is an immensely subjective thing, and it’s impossible to please everybody. Our testing showed the XXIO 13 was loud and powerful sounding, with a more traditional, high-pitched metallic tone. It doesn’t quite approach the aluminum bat sounds seen in something like Tour Edge’s E723, but it’s going to stand out.
Performance and Design Considerations
There’s a definite player type XXIO had in mind when designing the series 13 driver. While we are accustomed to seeing some companies deliver a line with multiple drivers, often with the ability to adjust loft, weight, and directional bias, XXIO 13 is a bonded head offered in lofts ranging from 9.5 to 11.5 degrees for men and from 10.5 to 13.5 degrees for women.
At the address position, it’s clear from the closed face angle that XXIO 13 is built to mitigate a slice miss. At the same time, the head itself retains a very conventional, rounded shape, and the script around the trailing edge naturally leads the eyes towards the center of the face.
The extremely lightweight nature of the 13 is as noticeable as you’d expect. How could it not be? The total weight, at around 286g for the men’s version, is around 30g lighter than the most recent lineup from XXIO’s sister brand Srixon, even with the counterweighted Weight Plus Technology under the grip. The MP-1300 graphite shaft ranges from 35-40g, depending on flex. It goes without saying that this is a nimble, easy to swing driver that generates speed with minimal effort. It also goes without saying that the target player is very narrowly defined here, so if you’re swinging at sub-90mph speeds, you may have a lot to gain, especially if you battle a fade or slice. All of the features translated to higher-than-average ball flight, a definite draw tendency, and slightly higher than average swing speeds on the golf course.
Hybrid and Fairway Wood Technology and Performance
XXIO 13’s hybrid and fairway wood share some technology with the driver; the BiFlex face, Flat Cup Face, and Rebound Frame being the most notable. In addition, they have a couple unique features designed to get the ball up in the air quickly, which becomes vital for long clubs at lower speeds.
Cannon Sole, aside from sounding incredibly cool, is probably the most impactful bit of technology in these two clubs. The graphic above shows us exactly what is going on here, with a slug of metal placed low in the head, spanning from the hosel to the toe. What’s most unique about this is that a gap remains between the Cannon Sole and the Flat Cup Face, allowing the face to flex unabated. The net result is a ton of mass low and behind the hitting area that still allows the face to produce the maximum possible ball speed and launch angle, especially with impacts low on the face. For the fairway woods, that translates to a 7% larger “High COR” area (sweet zone) compared to previous versions, while the hybrid enjoys a 20% bump.
Like many metalwoods in the Dunlop family (XXIO, Srixon, and Cleveland), XXIO 13 hybrids and fairway woods have a stepped crown, which works in conjunction with the Rebound Frame to increase ball speed. In addition, this literal lowering of mass drives weight downward for more optimal launch conditions. A pleasant side effect of the stepped crown is its ability to push the eyes’ point of focus towards the sweet spot. This is a look that people tend to have strong feelings about, though the glossy finish on the crown tends to make it less noticeable than a matte finish does.
Testing showed very impressive ball speeds, especially from the hybrid. Overall, the fairway woods wanted to launch the ball higher than the hybrid, which is typical of how these two different types of metalwoods behave. At 18 degrees of loft, the 3 hybrid we tested wasn’t exactly putting moonshots up in the air, but it launched the ball on the upper end of the spectrum when compared to other brand’s hybrids. A combination of higher ball speeds, higher launch, and mid-to-low spin resulted in impressive distance, even with the sub-optimal swings that are common in the off season.
While both the hybrid and fairway wood have a very evident “draw” look at address, we were pleasantly surprised to see an absence of overcooked left misses, especially with the hybrid. It was a bit of a head-scratcher to be honest, as setting the club behind the ball reveals a noticeably closed face. The most common tendency on good swings was a gentle leftward shot shape that settled near the center of the target area, a most welcome surprise.
XXIO 13 Irons
Completing the line, the XXIO 13 irons (again) are loaded with technology to boost distance and height for lower speed players, while at the same time improving dispersion, especially for players that miss with a slice. Though irons are inherently different than woods, many of the same concepts are incorporated here. Each head consists of 4-pieces and is designed by loft to provide maximum performance.
Starting at the point of impact, XXIO 13 irons have a very unique face design. They utilize titanium instead of steel, which allows a much higher strength to thickness ratio, meaning the irons can perform like metalwoods in many ways. Still, this is a standard cavity back design rather than a hollow body iron. This does have some impact on how the irons feel, especially with off center contact. There is certainly a bit more click then we may be used to with a steel face towards the toe, but shots in the center are surprisingly soft with the right ball.
Behind the titanium face, XXIO has given the 13 series irons their own version of the Rebound Frame, which is explained in the graphic above. The same general concept applies, but it’s executed in a way that makes it useful in an iron head. By inserting grooves close to the face, buttressed by rigid framework, the titanium face can operate with the most efficiency, imparting the most possible speed into the golf ball. This is really a cool design and XXIO deserves a ton of recognition for figuring out a way to bring speed to the speed challenged.
Another benefit of the titanium face, and open areas behind it for that matter, is it frees up weight for distribution elsewhere. This is a standard practice in game improvement irons, and the concept is taken to the extreme with XXIO 13, while still allowing the irons to look like irons (rather than hybrids). The sole, with its slight trailing and leading-edge relief, isn’t overly wide. The company placed a slug of tungsten nickel in the low toe area of the long and mid irons’ heads (visible in red above), which not only provides benefits when it comes to launch angle, but also helps stabilize the club face for straighter shots.
At times we see irons like this provide higher than average ball speed and launch angles while sacrificing spin rates. This often looks good on paper, since it usually increases total distance, but it can have negative effects on holding greens and keeping the ball in the air. Testing didn’t show that to be the case with the XXIO 13 irons. Rather, they provided a great balance of speed, launch, and spin that resulted in maximum carry, optimal landing angles, and surprisingly tight dispersion. Much of this is due to the progressive variable face thickness and optimized (by loft) CG. This means that the longer irons will launch higher and faster, while a slightly higher CG in the scoring irons encourages control and better high-low forgiveness.
XXIO makes quite an effort to share that these irons are designed to help golfers that struggle closing the face. While the face itself is not closed, ample offset and a rounded topline frame the ball in a way that helps you visualize a square face at impact. The oversize head, more elongated in the long irons and tall in the scoring clubs, should be a solid confidence booster for those players that struggle to make consistent contact.
Again, we are looking at an extremely lightweight package here, with the shaft weighing around 50g and the total weight ranging between 360 to 390g. Also present is the same counterweight system under the grip, which XXIO believes will improve takeaway conditions and make it easier to release the golf club. For such a lightweight iron, we were pleasantly surprised at just how playable the XXIO 13 is. It certainly won’t be for everybody, but there is a huge cross section of players that could benefit from all this technology. Most exciting, they can benefit from it while still playing an iron that is conventionally shaped and sized.
Specification and Details
- Available January 26, 2024
- Price:
- Driver: $699.99
- Fairway Woods: $399.99
- Hybrids: $299.99
- Single Iron Graphite: $219.99
- 5-piece Graphite set: $1,099.99
- More information available at us.dunlopsports.com/xxio
