Australian Senior Golfer

THE combination of distance and ease of use have made TaylorMade’s Burner irons very popular, especially with mid and higher handicap players, since their release some 18 moths ago.

The Burner irons have been amongst the overall best selling in golf and TaylorMade say they became the most successful irons in the company’s history.

Now TaylorMade have announced an upgrade, the Burner 2.0 irons, which the company says, are engineered to combine the celebrated distance with more feel and playability.

“We’ve succeeded at creating a better-performing iron with the Burner 2.0, which is just as long, easier to play and more refined in its feel and sound,” said Bret Wahl, senior director of research and development for irons, wedges and putters.

“Every Burner 2.0 iron is better than its predecessor and, when compared against the longest, best-selling iron we’ve ever made, that says something truly significant.”

The difference starts with the look with the Burner 2.0′s two-toned “Burner Black” PVD finish, which is more durable and resists glare.

But the stated improvements are more than skin deep, with multiple club properties in the Burner 2.0 irons enhanced to promote distance, uniform distance-gaps, improved playability and more satisfying feel and sound.

The result, TaylorMade claims, is that each Burner 2.0 iron outperforms the first-generation Burner.

“We applied innovative thinking and concepts to irons when we introduced the original Burner and created a club revolutionary in its performance,” said Brian Bazzel, TaylorMade manager of iron development.

“Now we’ve taken the best high-performance iron in golf and made it better with the Burner 2.0.”

Improved Weight Distribution to Optimize Ball Flight in Short-, Middle- and Long-Irons
Weight distribution varies in every Burner 2.0 clubhead to improve long-, middle- and short-iron ball flight.

In the long-irons, weight has been shifted toward the back of the head, to promote easy launch, and toward the toe and heel, to promote greater stability and forgiveness.

In the middle-irons, weight is distributed more evenly and slightly higher to promote workability while still providing forgiveness.

In the short-irons, weight is positioned even higher, to promote a lower, more controllable ball flight, and centered, to promote increased clubhead control.

Other features include:

• Differing face thickness in every iron to promote more speed and distance in the long-irons, more feel and control in the short-irons.
• Progressive topline thickness, improved multi-functional sole and taylormade’s renowned inverted cone technology
• Longer, easier to hit long-irons
• Improved Vibration-Management System
• New Flight-Control Shaft Design and “Burner Black” Finish
  
  

Set Makeup, Pricing and Availability
Burner 2.0 irons are offered in four shaft flexes – S, R, M, L. Ladies’ flex shafts will be offered in the 5-iron through pitching wedge, attack wedge and sand wedge.

The standard Burner 2.0 set includes eight irons offered at a street price of US$699 with steel shafts in the irons and US$899 with graphite shaft in the irons.

Availability begins at retail on Friday, October 8.

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.