Welcome to the 2009 TourStage X-Drive Official Launch Thread!

Tourstage has been working on a variety of new prototype drivers to update the long lasting X-Drive series geared toward the better player and ball striker. They started with 5-6 prototypes working it down to 4 and now a playoff seems to be occurring in plain view of their top 3 candidates:

(IMG:http://www.tourspecgolf.com/gallery/main.php/d/26161-1/VS.jpg)

TSG has not received test samples yet but we have had our hounds sniff out some decent comparison scans to help give you a better idea of whats to come in early 2009.

(IMG:http://www.tourspecgolf.com/gallery/main.php/d/26147-1/455-vs-81405.jpg)

As you can see in the scan above Tourstage is moving away from that playeresque face shape and design to a more conventional longer heel to toe with less depth type of attributes. IMO this is a good move as those characteristics promote more forgiveness and that has been a gripe of mine with the X-Drive for many years, not the most friendly club for an average golfer.

Stay tuned and keep your eyes glued to this topic we will be having our very own gocchin and some of our new testers insert their 2 cents and images into this topic.

Great work, Chris, in giving us'en Club Ho's a sneak peak at X-Drive 2009 Proto. You are spot on in describing the face which has moved away, slightly, from the traditional cup face to more of a saucer shape (shallower). Much more fun to hit, even for the Athletic golfer. Also, I'm glad to see that TourStage has eliminated the grooves in the Sweet Spot. Longer launches with less spin will surely be the order of the day without those grooves.

I'm sure TourStage will use the new TI811 Titanium in this head or they should as it worked well in the 2008 Black X-Drive GR head. Even tho' the GR launched a bit higher than the Loft, those grooves added to that, the Titanium had a good crisp feel and ball left the face in a hurry.

I await the Test Drive on this bazooka.

Goodsie

wow,
imo, that thing is fugly. looks like someone wrapped electrical tape around a driver because it was falling to pieces.
hope it performs better than it looks.
it's tough to beat the 445, it has a classy look to it.

Be sure though that Tourstage will thoroughly test the new X-Drive as they have a stable of pros who always use the prototypes and have an intensive R&D budget. The face is indeed more shallow where more and more drivers seem to be headed.

(IMG:http://www.tourspecgolf.com/gallery/main.php/d/26149-1/all-XD_s.jpg)

Any word on whether any of these will be available in LH in the future?

I like the looks of 08-14-05, shallow heads and non pear-shped heads. However, I have noticed that the deep faced X-Drive 460 has save my behind many times.

(IMG:http://www.tourspecgolf.com/gallery/main.php/d/26258-1/IMG_0011.jpg)

Debut of 09’ Tour Stage X-Drive

The new X-Drive prototype drivers are already becoming very popular on the Japan Tour. The Tour Stage X-Drive by Bridgestone was scheduled to make its debut in October, but the company decided to put it in the bags of some professionals a few months early. This decision is thought to be influenced by the fact that rival company Dunlop has released their Srixon ZR model drivers earlier than they had planned.

The word from Bridgestone is that they have 4 different types of heads available for the new driver. There were only 3 models of heads seen in the bags of tour players so far. The 4th type of driver head is rumored to still be in the testing process with the R&A committee. The company has not publicly released full details about their new products yet.

All of the prototypes that were released have all been painted over completely black. Bridgestone did not want to disclose the full design of the club head until it is released to the public market. The X-Drive will come in 4 different head shapes, but they will all be 460cc heads. Its main rival Srixon ZR will be available to the public in two different sizes, a 410cc and a 460cc. Bridgestone does not have an official public release date for this driver as of yet.

Thats good input Pro, I was wondering why no one was using the 4th head.

Do you have any input on what the JPGA players thought of these new black beauties?

Tour Stage Prototype Driver (Reviews from 3 Pros in Japan)

Pro1
I was very comfortable setting up to this very shallow face design. I did not see a whole lot of difference in carry from any other drivers I have tested, but it did produce a lot of roll. This driver would be ideal for relatively dry conditions. The extra ground time it produces will definitely contribute in adding some extra yards off the tee.

Pro2
The shallow face design made it very easy to get the ball in the air. The club head produces a very light, metallic sound which gave me the feeling of a lot of ball speed being produced. I don’t know if I saw any significant gain in yardage, but it did make me feel like I really “hit” something hard.

Pro3
This driver produced a very strong ball flight with very minimal spin. The clubface sat very square at address making it easy to aim. The club is very easy to make solid contact with, so it would be an easy transition switching from any other driver.