TaylorMade has launched a new Raylor rescue club it says is the “ultimate secret weapon for getting out of the rough.”
The new golf club is named after a highly popular utility club released by TaylorMade in 1988 designed to get wayward tee shots out of the rough and onto the green.
If your home course or one you play regularly has lots of rough or is exceptionally undulating, it could be the perfect club to add to your bag.
“Twenty-one years of making metalwoods has allowed us to engineer the new Raylor to hit the ball higher, longer and straighter from tall grass,” said Tom Olsavsky, TaylorMade senior director of metalwood creation. “It’s the ultimate weapon for getting out of the rough.”
The Raylor, which is available in lofts of 19° and 21°, is designed with a slightly sharp, slightly pointed leading edge that TaylorMade says allows golfers to slide the face through the grass and onto the back of the ball more effectively.
Also, the sole of the clubs is shaped like a ship’s hull, sloping upward at the sides and this also helps to guide the club glide more easily through rough.
According to the TaylorMade, these two features reduce the area that would normally hinder the club in the rough by 23%.
They say the Raylor sole also helps golfers hit the ball solidly from sidehill lies because of its sole radius.
Whereas the sole radius of a Burner Rescue hybrid presents an angle of about 10 degrees up from horizontal, the Raylor’s angle is 17 degrees.
That means that the Raylor hybrid boasts 70% more sole relief on the heel and toe side compared to a typical Rescue club, which makes it dramatically easier to make solid contact with the ball when the ball is above or below your feet.
The Raylor is equipped with a RE*AX 65-gram shaft that’s one inch longer than typical for TaylorMade Rescue clubs of equal lofts, to promote the added clubhead speed and leverage to help get the ball out of thick lies.
Both Kenny Perry and Fred Funk tried out the then prototype TaylorMade Raylor clubs at this year’s US Open and found it effective in battling Bethpage’s deep wet rough.
TaylorMade says the Raylor is beneficial to golfers of all levels and is the sort of club to add to the bag when conditions warrant.
“It should be kept on hand to replace a long-iron, hybrid or fairway wood when you play a course with significant rough, or maybe an exceptionally undulating track where severe sidehill lies are frequent,” Olsavsky said. “Point being that the Raylor isn’t necessarily an everyday club, but rather is a great weapon to have on hand when conditions call for it.”
The Raylor hybrid golf club becomes is now available at the manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $229.
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