Which club releases were the trendsetters and which were big fails

[sonnygolf]

Wonder which clubs were gorund breaking and trendsetting during their reselase. I know its common to see movebale weights on the driver, adjustable driver lofts, cavity backed irons , bold bright colours etc Which OEM first launched these?

 

As for fails that never caught on I assume were Nike Square driver lol 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tannyhoban]

Adams XTD forged with forged floating face and tungsten weighting.

[PhilWhitUK]

Have to nominate the two ball putter and Odyssey here.  
 

Also TM and moveable weights with the R7.

[Hougz79]

The first Ping cavity putter was kinda a big deal.

Edited January 9, 2021 by Hougz79

[MtlJeff]

Modern era all of the "first" adjustable ones. 

 

The Taylormade R7 was probably in like 60-70% of golf bags at one point around here. It was a monster. That was the first move-able weight driver

 

The Callaway Imix probably doesn't get enough credit. I think it was actually a little ahead of it's time. Wasn't an adjustable head but made shaft swapping so easy. The infrastructure just wasn't there yet (Like, buying shafts off ebay with the tips in them) so shafts with Imix tips were too expensive. I think that's why it never took off

 

 

[pwgj1478]

Adjustable hosel is the norm now, I think R9 was the first with this feature.

[cgasucks]

Off the top of my head, Taylormade made the first hybrid which was called the rescue club.  It didn't catch on at first until other OEM popularized it which persists till this day.

 

I do remember Callaway was the first that put Carbon Fibre in its driver with their C4 in the early 2000s.  It was a huge dud at first but years later they got it right with their Fusion driver and now other OEMs incorporate it in their drivers, especially TM.

Edited January 9, 2021 by cgasucks

[Sparty4202]

I would say the Ping Eye 2 irons...I think they changed the iron market more than any other club.

[tannyhoban]

2 minutes ago, tbccgolfer said:

I would say the Ping Eye 2 irons...I think they changed the iron market more than any other club.

If you're going that route TA 845s are right there with them.

Edited January 9, 2021 by tannyhoban
Oops

[Sparty4202]

2 minutes ago, tannyhoban said:

If you're going that route TA 845s are right there with them.

Except they were basically a copy of the Pings....much like the Scotty Cameron Newport...they were not original designs.

[zeke013]

PXG stuffing polymer into 0311 iron heads seems to have  touched off a significant trend.  

Edited January 9, 2021 by zeke013

[cgasucks]

7 minutes ago, tbccgolfer said:

I would say the Ping Eye 2 irons...I think they changed the iron market more than any other club.

Yeah.  I've a lot of clones from other OEMs tried to copy that model back then.  Their wedges still have an influence till this day, like the Taylormade Hi-Toe and Callaway's PM Grind are based on their SW & LW.  

 

Even Ping reissued their wedges some years ago.  

Edited January 9, 2021 by cgasucks

[tannyhoban]

2 minutes ago, tbccgolfer said:

Except they were basically a copy of the Pings....much like the Scotty Cameron Newport...they were not original designs.

I disagree. I purchased the TA 845 over the Eye 2 bitd because they set up as a more rounded traditional look.

 

 

 

Edited January 9, 2021 by tannyhoban
Oops again

[aenemated]

My answer to questions like this is always the same - the original Big Bertha. 

 

I played in junior tournaments and all 4 years of high school as well as untold rounds with my dad and his buddies back in them days ... and EVERYONE had a Bertha back then. 

[Sparty4202]

13 minutes ago, cgasucks said:

Off the top of my head, Taylormade made the first hybrid which was called the rescue club.  It didn't catch on at first until other OEM popularized it which persists till this day.

 

I do remember Callaway was the first that put Carbon Fibre in its driver with their C4 in the early 2000s.  It was a huge dud at first but years later they got it right with their Fusion driver and now other OEMs incorporate it in their drivers, especially TM.

How about the first Metal woods...the Taylormade Originals!!

[tannyhoban]

3 minutes ago, zeke013 said:

PXG stuffing polymer into 0311 iron heads seems to have  touched off a significant trend.  

Umm no. See Adams XTD forged.

[jjgott]

Taylormade gave up on the JetSpeed line about 30 minutes after the release.  Whatever happened to the Speed Police lol?

 

[zeke013]

7 minutes ago, tannyhoban said:

Umm no. See Adams XTD forged.

There is literally no polymer in those.  

 

ETA - Although I do see the first polymer filled golf club patent was filed by Flagler.  And the Nike VR Forged Pro beat PXG to market.  Who knows. 

Edited January 9, 2021 by zeke013

[aenemated]

9 minutes ago, jjgott said:

Taylormade gave up on the JetSpeed line about 30 minutes after the release.  Whatever happened to the Speed Police lol?

 

 

Oh wow.

 

How did I somehow miss ... this ... thing? 

[cgasucks]

14 minutes ago, tbccgolfer said:

How about the first Metal woods...the Taylormade Originals!!

True that..

[getitdaily]

Trendsetter - R7 or the Big Bertha Warbird

Big fail - Wilson invex 

Edited January 9, 2021 by getitdaily

[tannyhoban]

38 minutes ago, zeke013 said:

There is literally no polymer in those.  

 

ETA - Although I do see the first polymer filled golf club patent was filed by Flagler.  And the Nike VR Forged Pro beat PXG to market.  Who knows. 

There's polymer in the sole slot.  It was a big reason TM purchased Adams to avoid IP lawsuit.

Added pic of Adams floating face construction from WRX review in May '14. Definitely before PXG.

Edited January 9, 2021 by tannyhoban
Add pic

[SugarLandGolfer]

While there may have been similar hollow irons before, the p790s seemed to create the players distance category that’s so popular today. 

[stingerfade]

50 minutes ago, tannyhoban said:

I disagree. I purchased the TA 845 over the Eye 2 bitd because they set up as a more rounded traditional look.

 

 

 

Yes but the pings were the first perimeter weighted irons so the TA was still a copy 

[tannyhoban]

2 minutes ago, stingerfade said:

Yes but the pings were the first perimeter weighted irons so the TA was still a copy 

So many things in golf equipment are iterative.

 

 

[stingerfade]

11 minutes ago, tannyhoban said:

So many things in golf equipment are iterative.

 

 

Yes but the very first perimeter weighted iron is a sea change and a new idea, not iterative. The TA existed because of the eye 2 innovation, otherwise prob wouldn’t have even existed. 

obviously the components head, shaft, grip are one thing but when the design takes it to a different level with either design or material it’s different. 

 

Edited January 9, 2021 by stingerfade

[sonnygolf]

Who released the first titanium driver? 

[Mitchell]

Tad Moore with milled,carbon steel putter, Tour Edge with combo brazing of dissimilar materials with a titanium cup face in Exotics  cb1, Cleveland with successful incorporation of titanium and carbon fiber in Launcher Comp (led to founding of a certain forum😃)

[Tim Sherwood]

Taylor made R9 irons - hollow head and foam filled?

[Bye]

Ping Answer, one of my younger friends said to me about a year ago, have you seen the new Ping putters, they look just like Scotty Cameron’s. Bless.

 

Cleveland  VAS irons - I have no words

 

The Maxfli Tad-more Yipstick - maybe the worst named club of all time.