Tour Edge Exotics EXS Driver Review

[hartman29]

It's really a great driver. Looking forward to your long term thoughts.

I moved the heavy weight to the back last week and it came alive for me a little bit. When you catch it right it does want to go. Still haven't gotten outside with it yet due to rain and other commitments.

Like other TEE clubs I own, the stock Lamkin grip doesn't work for me. Just feels super thin like I'm not holding anything and the club will fly out of my hand. That will be changed soon.

 

[v.man]

I've gotten a few rounds in with the EXS now and have a few observations:

1. Love the looks, feel and sound.
2. The EXS is longer than anything I've hit in the last 5 years or so on good and bad hits.
3. The driver wants to go straight or to the right for me. My miss with my G400 was left, so, I naturally gravitated to lining up down the right side off the tee. When I took that set up with the EXS, I hit the drive down the right hand side exactly where I lined up. I know it should be simple to just change my set up, but, habits are hard to break and I still miss to the right a lot with this driver.
4. I cannot hit a draw with the EXS no matter how hard I try. This is very confusing since all the described tech at neutral settings would imply it should be draw biased. @Sox_Fan has commented on this several times.
5. My miss with the EXS has been predominately right, and sometimes with a fade even further right. I HATE this and need to fix it. I rarely hit a fade, and never a slice. A lot of holes on my primary course have fairway bunkers on the right side. I've been wearing those traps out with the EXS. The good news is, I couldn't reach those traps before.
6. I'm a little confused on how to tweak this thing. I have a 9.5* and was hitting the drives very high (not unusual, my G400 is 9.0* dialed down to 8.0*). Today I dialed the EXS down to 8.5* and was really concerned that I'd fade the ball even more since I believe that opens the face a bit. Instead, I hit the rest of the drives straight. My logical brain is having difficulty processing this.

Some questions for the group:

Am I correct that the driver comes preset to the FTS1 Setting--9 grams in the heel, 3 grams in the rear? This should yield a slight draw bias, and they describe that set up as low spin, medium launch, slice reducing flight. I almost swapped those when I first got the driver, since I don't normally fade the ball. But, I'm glad I didn't since I have hit some fades and push fades with the current set up.

Is there any way to tweak the settings to get a little more draw bias? I know I could probably do it with the weight kit, and maybe with different shafts, but, I'd rather exhaust all options with the current set up before that.

I'd appreciate any thoughts from y'all on this. I think the EXS has a lot of potential for my game, but, am a little frustrated with the level of control I have with it so far.

 

[Sox_Fan]

I've gotten a few rounds in with the EXS now and have a few observations:

1. Love the looks, feel and sound.
2. The EXS is longer than anything I've hit in the last 5 years or so on good and bad hits.
3. The driver wants to go straight or to the right for me. My miss with my G400 was left, so, I naturally gravitated to lining up down the right side off the tee. When I took that set up with the EXS, I hit the drive down the right hand side exactly where I lined up. I know it should be simple to just change my set up, but, habits are hard to break and I still miss to the right a lot with this driver.
4. I cannot hit a draw with the EXS no matter how hard I try. This is very confusing since all the described tech at neutral settings would imply it should be draw biased. @Sox_Fan has commented on this several times.
5. My miss with the EXS has been predominately right, and sometimes with a fade even further right. I HATE this and need to fix it. I rarely hit a fade, and never a slice. A lot of holes on my primary course have fairway bunkers on the right side. I've been wearing those traps out with the EXS. The good news is, I couldn't reach those traps before.
6. I'm a little confused on how to tweak this thing. I have a 9.5* and was hitting the drives very high (not unusual, my G400 is 9.0* dialed down to 8.0*). Today I dialed the EXS down to 8.5* and was really concerned that I'd fade the ball even more since I believe that opens the face a bit. Instead, I hit the rest of the drives straight. My logical brain is having difficulty processing this.

Some questions for the group:

Am I correct that the driver comes preset to the FTS1 Setting--9 grams in the heel, 3 grams in the rear? This should yield a slight draw bias, and they describe that set up as low spin, medium launch, slice reducing flight. I almost swapped those when I first got the driver, since I don't normally fade the ball. But, I'm glad I didn't since I have hit some fades and push fades with the current set up.

Is there any way to tweak the settings to get a little more draw bias? I know I could probably do it with the weight kit, and maybe with different shafts, but, I'd rather exhaust all options with the current set up before that.

I'd appreciate any thoughts from y'all on this. I think the EXS has a lot of potential for my game, but, am a little frustrated with the level of control I have with it so far.

Great write-up Ken. Glad someone else concurs with my puzzling assessments. It wasn't until I lofted up to 10.5 and had the heavier weight in the heel that I was able to realize some draw with a really good swing. You are correct that the 9 in heel and 3 in back is the stock setting. If you do decide to get a weight kit to go heavier in the heel to try to get more draw bias, you are going to be adding swing weight. The kit comes with 6, 11 and 14 gram weights. I'm not sure what length you are playing it at, but I have 2 shafts (one at 45" and one at 45.25") and can only draw it with the slightly shorter one in. I have the 9 gram in heel and 6 gram in back to get the swing weight I wanted. Tried 11 and 3 and just didn't work for me.

 

[Jman]

Great write-up Ken. Glad someone else concurs with my puzzling assessments. It wasn't until I lofted up to 10.5 and had the heavier weight in the heel that I was able to realize some draw with a really good swing. You are correct that the 9 in heel and 3 in back is the stock setting. If you do decide to get a weight kit to go heavier in the heel to try to get more draw bias, you are going to be adding swing weight. The kit comes with 6, 11 and 14 gram weights. I'm not sure what length you are playing it at, but I have 2 shafts (one at 45" and one at 45.25") and can only draw it with the slightly shorter one in. I have the 9 gram in heel and 6 gram in back to get the swing weight I wanted. Tried 11 and 3 and just didn't work for me.

Honestly, I love that you two are seeing what you are. I talked about that when I was working on the review, despite everything telling you it should be draw biased, that head simply is not. Nope nope nope.

 

[v.man]

Great write-up Ken. Glad someone else concurs with my puzzling assessments. It wasn't until I lofted up to 10.5 and had the heavier weight in the heel that I was able to realize some draw with a really good swing. You are correct that the 9 in heel and 3 in back is the stock setting. If you do decide to get a weight kit to go heavier in the heel to try to get more draw bias, you are going to be adding swing weight. The kit comes with 6, 11 and 14 gram weights. I'm not sure what length you are playing it at, but I have 2 shafts (one at 45" and one at 45.25") and can only draw it with the slightly shorter one in. I have the 9 gram in heel and 6 gram in back to get the swing weight I wanted. Tried 11 and 3 and just didn't work for me.

I'm playing it with the stock Tensei Blue and would assume that is 45.25". They don't show the length in their specs. If I moved up to the N+ setting 10.5* the lie would go up .5*. I thought lofting up closed the face some and lofting down opens it. I'm not sure how the lie angle plays into this. The U+ get it to 10.5* with the lie going up 2.5*. My concern with going up is that I hit all drivers very high and really like a mid flight. I may try going up to N+ tomorrow just to see what happens.

 

[Sox_Fan]

I'm playing it with the stock Tensei Blue and would assume that is 45.25". They don't show the length in their specs. If I moved up to the N+ setting 10.5* the lie would go up .5*. I thought lofting up closed the face some and lofting down opens it. I'm not sure how the lie angle plays into this. The U+ get it to 10.5* with the lie going up 2.5*. My concern with going up is that I hit all drivers very high and really like a mid flight. I may try going up to N+ tomorrow just to see what happens.

In theory, lofting up should close it slightly. Visually, I don't really see it but by virtue of me being able to draw it with a good swing when I really can't at 9.5 tells me there must be a little something to it. I have it at N+ which only sets it upright by .5 degrees. A more upright lie is supposed to aid in drawing the ball as well.

 

[OldeDude]

When I had my Tour Edge fitting a few weeks ago, the fitter said putting it in the Upright position would close the face just a bit. I was hitting it either straight, or just a bit right, which is normal for me, and we tried the 10.5* head at upright 10.5*, and the 9* head lofted up to upright 10.5*, which should have closed the face even more, but I still hit the 10.5* head best (upright) with the Tensei Blue 60R shaft. So going upright should help, and lofting up should also, but as others have stated, this driver does defy logic on occasion.

I haven't had a chance to get it out yet, been either too busy with work, or raining, since it showed up. Maybe get a chance later this week, although there is more rain in the forecast. Going to start with what the fitter recommended, but I'm sure I'll end up messing around with it after a while. Probably get a couple of adapters and play with a couple of shaft options, and likely get the weight kit too.

 

[Thrillbilly Jim]

A preview of things to come!

 

[Thrillbilly Jim]

So, I found this bag on Facebook marketplace. A golf course in Racine, Wisconsin had it. Paid $100 including shipping! It was too good of a deal to pass up!

 

[v.man]

Made some real progress dialing in the EXS driver today. I changed the setting to the UN, Upright Neutral setting from the N- setting I played yesterday. This put the loft back to 9.5 from the 8.5 I had dropped it to and raised the lie from 57.5* up to 60.0*. This closes the face a tad if I'm reading things right. On the first tee, I set up as square as I could to the 150 yard marker in the middle of the fairway, and BOOM, the ball goes dead straight right over the top of that marker. Now we're talking! No push to the right; no fade. Just dead straight. Now, had I not hit that great first drive, the story of my day might have been a lot less promising. But, I can't tell you how much that did for my confidence.

I'll sum up the EXS performance today succinctly. I did not miss a fairway until hole number 9. My ball flight was mostly straight, perhaps a tad high, but, with very good distance. I hit a few that had a very slight fade to them, but, it was a very windy day and that had something to do with it, so, I'm not concerned. The fairway I missed on 9 was because, into the wind, I just swung too hard and I think my hands got through the shot before the club face squared up and, with the face open, it went way right. As an aside, that gave me the chance to hit the EXS off the deck for the first time. I ended up behind and between two giant live oak trees with no choice but to hit a low screamer that couldn't get higher than 10 or 12 feet to miss the overhanging branches. It felt like I didn't hit that shot all that well, but, the trajectory was perfectly under the trees and the ball ran out so far that I was inside the 150 on the par 5 and was able to knock it on and par the hole.

To get back on track, the only other fairway I missed was on hole 13 where some of our Darwin-candidate golf maintenance guys had a pickup truck and a back hoe and themselves taking up half the fairway right in the landing zone. Trying to miss them we all ended up in the right rough. The EXS was pretty accurate though because another ten yards to the right was a water hazard. I should have missed the fairway on 18 (again into the wind) because it was my worst swing of the day, necking it badly. Somehow that ball got to the fairway though with more distance than I deserved

So, color me very encouraged. I'm going to try going to the U- setting next which will get the loft back down to 8.5* while only giving up 1* on the lie angle. But, I may wait and play another round or two with the current set up, hopefully on a little less windy day.


Edit: Yes, I should retract the word "succinctly"! :act-up:

 

[Mach2]

Received my EXS 10.5 Tensei Blue 50 reg shaft today. Checked swing weight and came in at D3, great. I'll play it tomorrow at the stock length, 45.25", and choke up 1". At address the head is slightly bigger than my gamer Cleveland Launcher HB, but am so looking forward to hitting it tomorrow.

 

[Thrillbilly Jim]

Loving this driver to the point I want a blue EXS hat. I have been checking the Tour Edge site along with ebay and amazon and cannot find one available. Can someone tell me where I can buy one?

The blue hat is still sold out but they have some white EXS hats still available in S/M and L/XL. Just bought a white one.

 

[Mach2]

After 2 rounds with this driver, I'm sending it back. At address, the head behind the ball looked too triangular. I choked 1" and put some good swings with it but didn't like the impact sound. Saw no dispersion improvement, or length improvement either. Doesn't favorably compare to the gamer Cleveland Launcher HB driver.

 

[OITW]

After 2 rounds with this driver, I'm sending it back. At address, the head behind the ball looked too triangular. I choked 1" and put some good swings with it but didn't like the impact sound. Saw no dispersion improvement, or length improvement either. Doesn't favorably compare to the gamer Cleveland Launcher HB driver.

Did you adjust the hosel/setup?

Sorry for the lack of feedback - course and range has been minimal - should change after this week

 

[Mach2]

Did you adjust the hosel/setup?

Sorry for the lack of feedback - course and range has been minimal - should change after this week

No I didn't. Just couldn't get past the dislike of the head shape. If it doesn't look good to your eye at address, it ain't gonna work.

 

[OldeDude]

Got my EXS driver out for the first time yesterday, a little at the range, then a round of 18. As I've mentioned before, had a fitting by Tour Edge which put me in a 10.5* head, set to Neutral/Upright, Tensei Blue 60R shaft, and mid-size UTx grip. First impression at the range was "Wow, I didn't remember this thing being so loud!" It wasn't a bad sound, but an explosive crack that had people looking. Hit it pretty well, dead straight or slight fade, mid/mid-low ball flight, and distance about normal for me. Got to the first tee, and hit a pretty good drive, and the sound was much more what I would expect. Evidently it was just the range rocks creating that explosively loud crack on the range, my gamers (Bridgestone E6) gave a much more normal sound, like I originally expected, and as many have described earlier in this thread.

Pretty good results on the course. Technically only hit 7 of 14 fairways, but 4 others were within about 2' - 3', but just into the rough (one literally 2" off the fairway). The other 3 were just bad swings, one push, one pull, and one duck-hook. Distance was pretty much on par for me, I'm a low ball hitter, and the course was pretty soft from recent rains, and the fairways won't get mowed too tight until things dry out more, so virtually no roll out. I'm pretty sure I'll be seeing some distance gains when playing courses where I get my normal roll in the fairways.

So far I'm really impressed. I'll get some more time with it before doing any tinkering, but I'll likely get the weight kit, and also try a couple of other shaft options, just because I like to tinker.

 

[v.man]

Got a few more rounds in with the EXS Driver. Time to tinker a little more with the settings. I'm having reasonable success--last 3 rounds were all 12/14 fairways hit. I should point out that that is closer to the norm for me. The last 179 rounds recorded in SkyCaddie/SkyGolf360 show 81% fairways hit. I'm old and don't hit the ball far, but I'm pretty accurate. But, on the current UN setting my ball flight is still a little too high and costing me some distance. I'm still getting the occasional fade, and my miss is mostly right, even on some straight shots. I'm going to set it at U- for tomorrow's round to try and bring the launch down a little. It drops the loft from 9.5 to 8.5, but opens up the face 1 degree. I hope it doesn't lead to more fades or misses to the right.

Playing a new course tomorrow at the Naval Air Station (A.C. Reed G.C.). This should be fun and very interesting. I'm told it's a pretty tricky course with lots of water and other hazards. :bulgy-eyes:

 

[Mach2]

Didn't want to give up on the EXS driver. Shortened the shaft to 44.5", installed a GP Tour Velvet 360 grip and lead taped it on the heel to D3. Played it today and it was a totally different feel and performance. Hasn't knocked the Cleveland Launcher HB driver out of the bag, but will continue play the EXS for a while.

 

[jjfcpa]

I played 9 holes with my Rogue Draw, 10.5, senior shaft to see it could get back in the bag after playing the TE EXS for the last month and half. The Rogue felt foreign and I had a really hard time just trying to connect with the sweet spot even though the specs are almost identical to the EXS except for the shaft brand. I did manage to hit 3 fairways today but didn't feel like I was making a solid swing on any of them and actually felt lucky to hit any fairways at all. Worse yet, I didn't feel like I had any control over "where" the ball was going.

Yesterday, I played 9 holes and hit every fairway except one, and only missed the 9th holes fairway by about a yard. More impressive, I feel like I can hit the EXS exactly where I want it to. So if the approach shot should be on the left side of the fairway, I feel (and do) hit it to that side of the fairway. It may not be as long as the Rogue, but with the control I get with it, I'll give up a few yards to find more fairways and better dispersion. Totally impressed! EXS is back in the bag for good.

 

[v.man]

Today's round at N.A.S. Pensacola was a lot of fun. I expected a tight course with a good bit of water and sand, but, no one told me about the 1,500 very old and very large Live Oak trees that are all over the A.C. Reed golf course. They do tend to tighten the fairways a good bit, and if you're right or left even IN the fairway you often have to work your ball around them. This didn't come into play much for me on the front nine as I was piping the EXS down the middle. Dropped the setting to Upright/Minus (U-) and got the trajectory about where I wanted it, and I had a pretty nice tempo on the swing on the front. The fairways were very good considering we haven't had rain in over a week. They were a little dry and tight, but, still pretty green. I got a good bit of roll out with this lower trajectory and the conditions. A lot of the course is near the bay, so we had a good breeze going to help offset the 95*+ temp. Didn't miss a fairway on the front and loved the distance and control I had with the EXS. I think this old man was tiring a little after we made the turn, because that nice tempo I had gave way to a too quick transition from the top and I missed the first four fairways before I figured out what was happening. On those holes I ended up under or behind said Oak trees and bogeyed them all. Got the EXS back on track, but the rest of the bag didn't come with it and had to scramble for bogeys and a couple of pars the rest of the way in. Only missed one more fairway and that happened when I hit the very first DRAW I've hit with this club. I wasn't trying to, of course, and actually lined up down the left side of the fairway, so, imagine my surprise! It really was just off the fairway, but, when there are 100+ year old Live Oaks everywhere, being a little off may as well be a lot.

Anyway, I learned a lot today. Most importantly, the EXS is money for me when my tempo is right. It does not respond well when I get too quick or over swing. I suspect that this may be due to the Senior shaft I'm gaming. It may be a little less stable--a little softer flex-- than my G400 A-flex. That's something I will be keeping an eye on, but, it may take getting another shaft/tip to compare. The EXS has been a lot of fun while getting it dialed in. It has already shown me that it deserves to stay in the bag for awhile, and I think I can still get even better with it.

 

[Thrillbilly Jim]

My Tour Edge EXS driver, 3 wood, and 19/22 hybrids came in yesterday. They sent the wrong driver though. They sent one with a Tensei shaft, not HZRDUS. Even though the shipping label was correct!

 

[badolds]

Had a great day with the EXS yesterday and I was long overdue. I hit two buckets of balls Sunday morning mainly with driver. About the end of the first bucket I found something that finally got rid of the pull hook. I now hit the ball very high with a straight flight but a terrifying slice as the miss. I switched the weights around to the lower launch setting but still hit it quite high. I have the 10.5 head so I will tinker with lofting it down a bit.

I hit every fairway on the front nine and measured the long ones with my GPS. They were 284, 281 and 303 yards. I only hit one pull with the driver and it was not that severe although it found the water. I am pleased with my progress trying to improve my tee game and the EXS is the perfect club to get me where I want to go.

 

[OITW]

Tour Edge Exotics EXS Driver Review

Playing another Round tomorrow with this one - but woooooooooowwwwwwiiieeeeee

This is one heckuva stock driver - was absolutely destroying drives with this and the TP5x on Sunday and keeping it in play - which is key

 

[Thrillbilly Jim]

Well it's official! I am now a member of Team Tour Edge! Drove to Ocean Isle to pick up my custom built EXS driver, 3 wood, 19* hybrid, and 22* hybrid! The driver is a 9.5* with a 6.0 75 gram HZRDUS Black shaft playing 44.5" long and a D3 weight. Right now it has 2 11 gram weights in it. Blue golf pride MCC+4 grips with 2 wraps on everything. The 3 wood is 15* with a 6.0 75 gram HZRDUS Black shaft playing 42.5" long D3. It has a 14 & 11 gram weight in it. Which, by the way, the driver and fw uses the same size weight, so they are interchangeable. The 3 hybrid which is 19* has a black ProForce V2 F5 90 gram hybrid shaft playing 40" long D3. The 4 hybrid is 22* with the same shaft playing 39.25". The club builder installed custom BB&F ferrules on the hybrids to get swing weight right and they look super awesome too!

 

[OITW]

Well it's official! I am now a member of Team Tour Edge! Drove to Ocean Isle to pick up my custom built EXS driver, 3 wood, 19* hybrid, and 22* hybrid! The driver is a 9.5* with a 6.0 75 gram HZRDUS Black shaft playing 44.5" long and a D3 weight. Right now it has 2 11 gram weights in it. Blue golf pride MCC+4 grips with 2 wraps on everything. The 3 wood is 15* with a 6.0 75 gram HZRDUS Black shaft playing 42.5" long D3. It has a 14 & 11 gram weight in it. Which, by the way, the driver and fw uses the same size weight, so they are interchangeable. The 3 hybrid which is 19* has a black ProForce V2 F5 90 gram hybrid shaft playing 40" long D3. The 4 hybrid is 22* with the same shaft playing 39.25". The club builder installed custom BB&F ferrules on the hybrids to get swing weight right and they look super awesome too!

Why didn’t you tell me you drove to Ocean Isle - we played Ocean Ridge today...