TaylorMade Golf has announced the introduction of two new drivers, the R540XD and R580XD, to be available at retail in October 2003.
“XD stands for ‘extra distance,‘ but it’s actually much more than that,” says Sean Toulon, senior vice-president of brand management and creation, TaylorMade. “XD is also a procedure, a process and a formula wherein the performance elements of a metalwood are tweaked and tuned up, transforming the club into a more muscular, more forgiving, more powerful version of its former self. Our engineers took our original R540 and R580 back to the lab, closed the door and executed the XD treatment, emerging with drivers that are bigger, better and longer.”
Compared to the R540 and R580, the new R540XD and R580XD both feature:
Bigger head size and a longer, deeper clubface, resulting in large MOI for greater forgiveness
New soleplate design for deeper CG, resulting in improved launch conditions, a larger sweetspot and larger hitting area above the CG
Improved Inverted Cone Technology for an even larger COR Zone than before, increasing average ball speed
“These clubs are engineered to be longer,” says Toulon, “and with their combination of larger size, increased MOI and enhanced Inverted Cone Technology, they‘re longer more often.”
“Because the R540XD and R580XD offer such a large hitting area above the CG, the player will hit more shots that achieve a high launch angle and low spin-rate,” says Benoit Vincent, chief technical officer for TaylorMade, “which is the optimum combination for achieving maximum distance.”
Though manufacturing a large-sized clubhead that performs at a high level is a challenge, TaylorMade has succeeded with the R540XD and R580XD, in part because of these clubs‘ Inverted Cone Technology. “Making a large-headed driver isn‘t difficult,” says Vincent, “but making a large-headed driver that performs well is. A key problem inherent to a large metalwood head is that the CG is too far forward, because it’s difficult to achieve the kind of low, deep CG needed. TaylorMade’s Inverted Cone Technology, besides expanding the size of the COR Zone, is also more weight-efficient, allowing for a low, deep CG and contributing tremendously to the overall performance of the R540XD and R580XD.”
TaylorMade’s Inverted Cone Technology is a proprietary innovation developed to expand the COR Zone – the area of the clubface that delivers the club’s maximum COR when it makes impact with a ball. (Generally, when impact is made outside the COR Zone, initial ball velocity decreases, and distance is lost.) The Inverted Cone is CNC-milled directly into the inner side of the clubface to exacting dimensions and results in a drastic variation in face thickness. Inverted Cone Technology radically changes the way the clubface behaves at impact, resulting in a dramatically expanded COR Zone.
Both the R540XD and R580XD will be available in M, R, S and TS shaft flexes, and in right-handed lofts of 8.5, 9.5 and 10.5, and left-handed lofts of 9.5 and 10.5. They will be available to retail from 1st October 2003, and manufacturer’s suggested retail price is £349 (€499).
TaylorMade-adidas Golf www.tmag.com