I’ve always been a big fan of Tour Edge Golf’s Exotics lines of metal woods. The Exotics line of fairway woods, in fact, might be the best on the market – long and easy to hit. So much so that you’ll have to pry the Exotics CB5 4-wood from the cold, dead hand.
Tour Edge’s Hot Launch driver
Now comes the Tour Edge Hot Launch adjustable titanium driver. It’s got a good look (although others disagree), feel and length of a high-price driver, but only carries a street price of $199, meaning that if you’re looking for a quality driver at a good price, don’t look past the Hot Launch.
The driver sets up well at address and has a deep face with the weight positioned in the rear center of the sole of creates a deep center of gravity for easy launch and greater forgiveness. It was almost impossible for me to get a poor result with a miss-hit on the toe; the only time I got a poor result (thanks mostly to a poor swing) was when I miss-hit a shot closer to the hosel, which resulted in an ugly low hook.
Miss-hits on the toe on the higher loft settings (11.5 and 12.5 degrees) resulted in better forgiveness than toe-shots at 10.5 degrees.
The ball comes off the club face well – although seemingly not as fast as off an Exotics driver – and unlike previous Tour Edge drivers, has a firm (not tinny) sound.
Getting the ball airborne is not a problem regardless of the setting. The Hot Launch is adjustable in lofts between 8.5 to 12.5 degrees in one-degree increments. I started out at 12.5 degrees (Grafalloy Pro Launch 55 R flex shaft), hit ball a bit higher than I wanted and went down to 11.5 degrees and then 10.5 degrees. It’s interesting that 10.5 degrees works best for me in the Hot Launch because most of my other drivers perform better at 12 or 12.5 degrees.
No complaints, though. The Tour Edge Hot Launch is a solid driver at a reasonable price. You can’t ask for more.
