Yay! More Drivers from TaylorMade, Callaway, and Cobra Too

Every now again…ok, every week (sometimes 3 times a week just to be sure I didn’t miss anything), I look in on the USGA’s conforming driver list. Occasionally I get lucky and find something that hasn’t been announced (golf companies don’t always coordinate releases well, so the USGA has accidentally blown an embargo or two). Sometimes I find a prototype, or a one-off creation designed for a specific golfer, and sometimes, well, sometimes I don’t know what the hell I’m looking at.

What I know with absolute certainty is, that between TaylorMade and Callaway, I’m looking at a heaping shitload of drivers (I’m allowed to shit…it’s Friday).

If we can call SLDR a 2014 model (and I think we should), and we can count “Pro” versions as different models too (I also think we should), between TaylorMade(5) and Callaway(6), 11 different 2014 models have already cleared the USGA, and we’re still in 2013. And unlike most of the 8 versions of Nike’s VRS Covert 2.0 that are also already on the list, odds are that every last damn one of the TaylorMade and Callaway creations will eventually find its way to a retail shelf near you.

Let’s cut right to the mandatory (over) reaction.

Oh my god!

I’m so sick of this crap!

Can you believe the nerve of these clowns?

Do they think we’re stupid?

Add something about the two companies conspiring to ruin the golf industry and I think we’ve covered all the bases.

I’ve said it countless times before, but for the sake of clarity, I’ll say it again:

I don’t give a damn how many drivers TaylorMade, or Callaway, or anybody else, designs and releases in  given year. If TaylorMade, as some you actually believe they do, wants to release a new driver every 3 weeks, I’m good with that. If Callaway wants to raise the stakes; cool. If Titleist wants to wait two years between releases, hey, I’m good with that too.

Bring it on TaylorMade. Bring it Callaway, and Nike, and Cobra too. Give me all the gear you got. I love it.

TaylorMade SLDR 430

Unfortunately the USGA stopped listing head volume, so we’re going to have to go ahead and assume that this one is 430cc (I know, it’s a real leap). It’s a virtual certainty at this point that this head is coming to retail, so no real surprises here.

The USGA has approved 9°, 10.5°, and 12° models in RH, and 10.5° and 12° models in LH. You should probably take the absence of a 9° model to mean that this LoftUp thing is real and TaylorMade doesn’t expect the 9° version to be particularly popular.

TaylorMade SLDR 430 Tour Preferred

I’m not sure how I missed this one last week. Initially I had no idea whatsoever how TaylorMade planned to differentiate the 430 from the 430 Tour Preferred. While it’s totally less exciting than two somehow unique 430cc SLDR drivers, the info I have suggests this second one is little more than the Japanese version.

Damn. I really wanted the black one (and a good story to go along with it).

By mid-February Callaway is going to have 3 new models (X2 Hot, Big Bertha, and Big Bertha Alpha) sitting on store shelves next to the 6 month old SLDR (it’s practically obsolete) and the newish JetSpeed. TaylorMade has to have something fresh, and while these 430 models can’t possibly be for everyone, they’ll be for someone, and that’s enough to qualify as new.

Interestingly enough, the USGA has approved SLDR 430 Tour Preferred (the Japanese version) in lofts of 10° and 11°.

Callaway Big Bertha Pro

Given that we expect Bertha and Bertha Alpha to get more play on Tour than X2 Hot, it was a little surprising to see that the initial release of each respective model didn’t include a smaller, Pro version. Just because they didn’t make it into the press release doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

Once again, we’re tripped up by the lack of a volume specification, but based on past history, and the pics themselves, 430-440cc sounds about right.

Noteworthy, I suppose, about the Big Bertha Pro is that, according to the USGA anyway, the Chev alignment mark is retained from the standard version. Callaway generally keeps their pro crowns clean, so perhaps this is the exception.

The USGA has approved Big Bertha Pro in 8.5° only.

Big Bertha Alpha Pro

Given that Callaway already posted a picture of Phil Mickelson’s lefty version, it’s no real surprise to see an apparently smaller version of the Alpha show up on the USGA’s list.

Here’s what I think is going to happen:

Bertha and Bertha Alpha are going to hit retail without their smaller pro counterparts. Some time will pass. Maybe we’ll get to the Waste Management Open, maybe we’ll get all the way to The Masters. Eventually Callaway is going to tell us about the success their Tour pros are having with the smaller models, and so given how well they’ve done on tour, the decision was made to make these Pro versions available to the consumer.

Callaway will point out that the Pro models aren’t for everyone, but for Mickelson, and the right guy (maybe that right guy is a guy just like you), #Boom. When all is said and done, the Bertha/Bertha Alpha Pro story isn’t going to sound much different than the story we heard last year when X Hot 3Deep was announced.

The USGA has approved Big Bertha Alpha Pro in 8.5° only.

Cobra BiO Cell (Tour) Version 2

Version 2 of the BiO cell is a bit of a curiosity. Thus far I haven’t been able to get anyone at Cobra to tell me any more about it, but there are a couple of legitimate possibilities.

Given that Cobra’s Tour Staff is smaller than some others, it’s entirely possible that Version 2 is a one-off (my guess would be for Rickie Fowler). Maybe it’s a face angle thing, maybe it’s a relatively small change in CG location, maybe – and this would be my bet – it’s a smaller head.

That last bit is an interesting possibility. Like Callaway, and TaylorMade before them, when Cobra announced the 2014 models (BiO Cell and BiO Cell+) they didn’t announce any pro versions. As far as where each fits in the Cobra lineup, BiO Cell is much the evolution of Amp Cell, whereas BiO Cell+ is more ZL in nature. So basically, unlike last year, there’s no 430/440cc Pro version of either model.

I loved Amp Cell Pro. Other guys did too, so there are legitimate reasons to think it could be (or want it to be) a smaller head.

For now, let’s call this one a curiosity while we wait to see what if anything happens.

The USGA approved BiO Cell (Tour) Version 2 is adjustable from 7° to 10°. The USGA gives no indication if the multiple settings at 7.5°, 8.5°, and 8.5° maintain the standard version’s draw bias, or whether they introduce fade biased settings as found in the Amp Cell Pro.

This is Only the Beginning

I’d be shocked if we didn’t see more gear released in 2014 than we have in any previous year. We’re going to see Pro/Tour models, limited editions, and plenty of products to fit niches within niches within niches.

If you hate new gear, if you think it’s ruining golf, now would probably be a good time to turn off your computer, avoid big box, green grass, and everywhere in between. We’re only just getting started, and it sounds like the journey is going to make you absolutely miserable.

The rest of you…guys who love new gear, guys who greet each new release with equal parts excitement and skepticism, hold on, we’re going to be moving extremely fast.