Yonex Ezone XPG Fairway Wood Review

Thanks to THP and Yonex, I was lucky enough to win the PGA show contest and my choice of a new fairway wood. I opted for the 15* 3 wood with a stiff shaft.

While the weather around here is still a bit winter-ish, I wanted to get a thread started with my thoughts. I'll have actual numbers after spending some time with the club in my local simulator this weekend.

From Yonex

When you swing an EZONE XPG club, with its ball-cracking Carbon Graphite crown and YONEX Dual Tungsten Power (DTP) System, you’re gonna need more balls. Now with expanded carbon graphite on the crown for an ultra-low and deep center-of-gravity, the EZONE XPG produces higher trajectory with reduced spin. The newly evolved DTP System dramatically increases head speed while improving balance. Add in the newly designed light-weight, counter-balanced Tungsten Balance Grip, and you have a line of YONEX clubs that absolutely destroys golf balls.

• http://yonex.com/golf/ezone-xpg/home.html
• http://www.yonex.com/sports/golf/pr...lubs-1/fairway-woods/ezone-xpg-fairway-woods/

Dual Tungsten Power System

The composite 20g Tungsten Powder at the grip end works in conjunction with the Tungsten screw in the club head to produce an explosive power breakthrough. The Dual Tungsten Power [DTP] System and Lightweight Shaft counterbalances to retain a D2 swing balance, making it just as easy to hit as a conventional driver but with more power.



Quick Adjust System

Custom tune your EZONE XPG clubs using the Yonex Quick Adjust System. The Quick Adjust System allows you to refine the loft angle from ±1.5° and club face angle through 8 settings for the ideal launch trajectory. Available on EZONE XPG Drivers, Fairway Woods and Hybrids, you now have the adjustability to conquer even the most demanding holes on the course.





Carbon Composite Crown

The Carbon Composite Crown is ultra-light to enable both an 8g Tungsten screw and additional 8g weight to be positioned deeper in the club head. The centre of gravity has been suitably altered to promote a high launch trajectory and extra forgiveness for greater driving distance.



In hand pictures








About me

I've been playing golf since I was 7. I fluctuate between a 6-10 handicap, mostly depending on current frustration and blood alcohol levels. I live in Wisconsin, so I'm not lucky enough to play year round but 3 seasons a year I play at least three times a week. During the winter I have access to a hitting net and try and visit a simulator at least once a month. My last round of golf was in mid-December, at which time the top of my bag consisted of a 10.5* SLDR and a 17* R9 TP. I opted for the Yonex 3 wood hoping to gain a bit of distance off both the tee and the ground when compared to my R9 4 wood. I'm long enough off the tee that I don't need to hit driver on most of the par 4s on my home course. I'm hoping this club will be a better choice than my 4 wood (which is great off the deck but less great off the tee).

Okay, on with the review blabber mouth

Because of our snow situation, I've spent about a week putting and chipping with this 3 wood on the living room carpet. (Yes, we get really desperate this far north.) At these super low swing speeds the ball really seems to jump off the face and has a really pleasant and powerful metallic sound.

As you can see in the pics above, the clubhead frames the ball nicely, and looks quite easy to hit.

I have simulator reservations on Saturday, and will be back in this thread with some more impressions and numbers once I've seen more than the 3 feet of ball flight into my net.

I'm looking forward to your thoughts on it. I know Will from Yonex was extremely high on this product.

Awesome post. I'm excited to hear how it plays for you.

Great start. I look forward to reading your thoughts.

I'm most definitely looking forward to your thoughts, I'm a big Yonex fan.

I like the looks of Yonex clubs. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on this

That club looks really nice. I'm really looking forward to your feedback. Nice job so far!

Some really interesting technology in this club.

Nice pics and initial thoughts, looking forward to your reviews when you "thaw" out.

great start! love the pics and looking forward to your feedback.

Nice unveiling here, looking forward to the thoughts once the weather cooperates a bit. Really curious to hear the thoughts on the counterbalanced grip.

#Cookie said:

Nice unveiling here, looking forward to the thoughts once the weather cooperates a bit. Really curious to hear the thoughts on the counterbalanced grip.

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The grip was one of the things that really intrigued me when I first read about the club.

In hand, and when addressing the ball I don't really notice it too much. My "normal" grips have a few extra wraps, walking the line towards midsize, so this one feels a bit small. Depending on how initial testing goes I may try to find an air compressor to remove it intact in order to add a bit of tape.

When I take the head off, I can definitely tell the grip must have some effect on swing weight. The head feels quite heavy (215.5g), when compared side by side to my R9 (??g). At address, though, the heads don't feel much different. (This could also be due to my decreased sensitivity with the long layoff -- we'll see.)

Sets up to the ball great, love that matte finish, can't wait to hear how it performs for you!

Well, I didn't get to hit this as often as I hoped yesterday.

I blame a combination of having 3 new clubs, and being too eager to try out the new driver. I also wasn't having an "on" swing day, which isn't surprising given how infrequently I've been able to practice lately.

That said, off the tee this felt really solid. It looks like it will probably fill the gap I was hoping it would fill (~250 carry), and I could work the ball both directions relatively easily. Off the ground it was a bit more of a struggle, but I think that was mostly a swing issue than anything particular with the Yonex. (I was having similar issues with my 4 wood, when I tried a few mulligans to get side by side comparisons).

With the forecast in the upper 50s this week, I'm hopeful we'll have a course or two open in the next couple of weeks. I'll revisit this again once I can put in some more course / range time.

blakehall said:

Well, I didn't get to hit this as often as I hoped yesterday.

I blame a combination of having 3 new clubs, and being too eager to try out the new driver. I also wasn't having an "on" swing day, which isn't surprising given how infrequently I've been able to practice lately.

That said, off the tee this felt really solid. It looks like it will probably fill the gap I was hoping it would fill (~250 carry), and I could work the ball both directions relatively easily. Off the ground it was a bit more of a struggle, but I think that was mostly a swing issue than anything particular with the Yonex. (I was having similar issues with my 4 wood, when I tried a few mulligans to get side by side comparisons).

With the forecast in the upper 50s this week, I'm hopeful we'll have a course or two open in the next couple of weeks. I'll revisit this again once I can put in some more course / range time.

Click to expand...

I think you might have to have another THPer in attendance to verify these distance claims....:call-me:

More simulator time today. First 3 wood swing:



Just missed the fairway right on Bay Hill #1 (champ tees)


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Well damn 260 carry with a 3wood and 154 mph ball speed seems like your swing and this club match up pretty well.

Time to update this review with a few thoughts now that I've been able to hit this club outside for a bit.

Long story short, this club is having a hard time finding it's way into my bag. If I wasn't a complete knucklehead, I'd probably be content just hitting this off the tee. It's certainly a hot enough face to do so. (In fact, now that I type this I may use it on a league night when we're on one of the shorter 9's).

In a nutshell, the gapping in my bag is set up around my 17* 4 wood which goes 235-260. So far I haven't been able to hit this as consistently high (or straight) as my 4 wood so it's had a hard time working it's way in. The trajectory is a bit low, although compared to a 17* this shouldn't be a surprise. The counterbalanced grip, while an interesting feature, feels a bit too small and is missing the cord/half cord from the rest of the grips in my set. The stiff shaft feels a bit whippy, and sometimes I can't tell if it's the shaft or just a bad swing I put on the ball.

As far as 15* 3 woods go, I'd have no hesitation recommending folks at least give this Yonex a try (if you can find it). I'm not completely convinced the factory shaft is the best fit for my game, but overall this is a relatively forgiving club for smooth swingers with a very hot, springy, face.

I need to find a bit more range time to try out the adjustability options, and to blow off the grip to add a few wraps of tape before I can ultimately turn it into a gamer though.

Finally got around to spending some time at the driving range last night, and put in a good amount of work with this club. It has such a satisfying feel & sound that I really want to find a way to get it in the bag. My R9 4 wood is a trusty old favorite though, so it's definitely an uphill battle.

In tinkering around on the range I decided to try out the various adjustability settings to see if any of them led to greater consistency.

With the loft turned down (1.5* to 13.5) I was smoking this off a tee. Off the deck left something to be desired. This could be to the uneven / low quality hitting area, or, more likely, my swing just doesn't get along with such low loft.

When I cranked the adjustments all the way up (to 16.5*) the club really started to shine. Both off the tee and off the ground I was hitting high slight draws that were carrying a bit farther than my normal 4 wood. The shaft feels a bit soft for my liking, but it seems like that also makes it a bit easier for me to turn over. Overall the look of this club behind the ball, the consistency off a tee, and the sound / feel of solid swings are great. If it wasn't competing against my favorite and most reliable club it would've been in the bag right away.

Since my partner and I have already clinched a playoff berth in my league tonight this is going to find it's way into the bag tonight. I'll probably need to rely on it for 2 tee shots, which feels like a good first test. More than likely it'll be in the bag on Thursday too, where I'll need it for at least 3 tee shots. Hopefully the results from the range last night carry over to the course.