First Look – Tour Edge’s $600 Exotics XJ1 Driver

Tour Edge’s upcoming Exotics XJ1 Driver was on display recently at the PGA Fashion and Demo Experience in Las Vegas. While the company isn’t releasing specifics in any official capacity, we were able to track down some details about the upcoming release.

For the sake of making this really fun, let’s lead with the gut-punch. The listed price for the Tour Edge Exotics XJ1 Driver is $600.

$600.

Whether that’s MSRP or street remains to be seen, but either way, we’re a long way away from entry level.

Now certainly there’s nothing inherently wrong with premium pricing, but given that this offering is designed for moderate swing speed players it seems a bit odd. That’s basically the bulk of the golfing population, and there’s already a cornucopia of products available for that audience.

How the XJ1 will be received…we’ll have to wait and see.

XJ1 Features

Tour Edge will use the phrase Super Metal to describe the XJ1, and while that alone may elicit some eye rolls, the feature list suggests Tour Edge has invested heavily in materials. And those materials could have legitimate performance implications.

Ti 9-1-1 Body – Tour Edge will make the claim that it’s the first US company to use the material in a driver body. There’s some nuance to that as TaylorMade has used 9-1-1 in its Japanese Gloire driver. While that wasn’t explicitly marketed for the USA, they very often ended up on Dick’s shelves.

As for the material itself, as with most everything else, the benefit is weight savings, specifically 10 grams over the 6AV4 material it used previously.

Amorphous Kevlar-Carbon Crown – Tour Edge is listing the weight at 12 grams which, in addition to offering significant savings over titanium, the would also put the XJ1’s crown among the lightest in golf.

Tour Edge also says that the material is firmer than what it’s used in the past, which helps preserve ball speed on high face contact.

SP700 Beta Ti Face – A thinner, more responsive allow, SP 700 allows for a larger face plate with thinner edges, which helps to maximize COR across a greater percentage of the face.

Stability Bars – Tour Edge took all the weight it saved with the body and crown and put it into a pair of tungsten weights, positioned to increase heel/toe stability.

Fujikura AirSpeeder Shaft – Tour Edge will be the first to offer Fujikura’s ultra-lightweight (45g) Air Speeder shaft as a…actually the stock option.

Specs, Pricing, and Availability

The Tour Edge XJ1 will be available in discrete lofts of 9.5°, 10.5°, and 12°. The stock length is 45.5”. We’re being told to expect a $600 price tag.

As you would expect, a similarly designed fairway will also be released. It will be available in 15°, 16.5°, 18°, and 21° lofts. Suggested retail price for the fairway is $399.99.