The Callaway Epic driver has enjoyed tremendous success in the golf marketplace since its release last year, and now Callaway is trying to capitalize on that success by entering the premium golf club market alongside the likes of PXG, Miura and the Titleist C16 line.
Callaway announced that Epic irons and hybrids would be available beginning on Friday of U.S. Open week and would be retailing for $250 per club, making an eight-iron set cost north of $2,000 when grips, shafts and taxes are taken into account.
So what makes these irons so great that Callaway deemed them worthy of their eye-popping price tag? Golfweek.com’s David Dusek breaks down the technology that make the Epic irons, well, epic.
On the heels of the successful launch of the GBB Callaway Epic and GBB Epic Sub Zero drivers, Callaway has announced the release of the new Epic and Epic Pro irons.
In many cases, manufacturers create a standard version of an iron, then make a better-player version of it by thinning the topline and sole, reducing the offset and taking out distance-enhancing technologies. But Callaway began this project by designing the Epic Pro first. The irons will cost $2,000 for a set of eight with steel shafts, offering what Callaway calls several new technologies to greatly enhance performance.
At its heart are three key design features, the first being a milled, variable-thickness cup-face hitting area. Instead of being a flat piece of metal, the edges of the face extend back so the hitting area can bend and flex more efficiently at impact. That helps create more ball speed and distance. Callaway used cup faces before, most recently in the Steelhead XR and the Big Bertha OS irons.
Callaway said that to make the face perform even better, the chassis has internal support beams that link the sole and the topline. Callaway calls the design an Exo-Cage, and it is extremely light. Even the transition area where the hosel blends into the face is hollow to save weight.
“That’s a first for us,” said Alan Hocknell, senior vice president of research and development for Callaway. “It has something to do with the way that we build this iron in two pieces. That allows us to gain access to that part of the head that is normally solid steel. We can hollow that out because we build the iron in two pieces.”
After the powders are mixed and baked in an oven at 2,500 degrees for 51 hours, they are formed into the exact shape required for each iron using a technique called metal-injection molding.
In the long irons the weights are lower in the heads to lower the center of gravity and make hitting high shots easier. Gradually the weight rises through the set, which raises the center of gravity progressively in the short irons to promote spin and control.
The Epic Pro and Epic irons will be available June 16 and come standard with Project X LZ steel shafts and New Decade Platinum grips for $250 each or with UST Mamiya Recoil graphite shafts $280 each.
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