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Whether golfers can really feel the difference between, say, a cast Mizuno JPX 921 Hot Metal and a forged body/steel face Callaway Apex DCB is an open debate. Forged body/steel face GI irons are in the $1,300 to $1,400 range. We’re sort of in our own little sandbox.”Ĭast game improvement irons are typically in the $799 to $899 price range. “We do get a feel for pricing but we don’t do a lot of testing against competitive clubs. “We don’t pay a lot of attention to our competitors’ club lines,” says White. For better or worse, Hogan isn’t giving you any of that. OEMs spend a lot of money making sure you know how innovative, how groundbreaking and how freaking long their game-improvement irons are. But we know there are a lot of lefties who’d love an iron like this.” The $800 Hook Left-handed versions, however, are on the clock. White, however, says it’s unlikely for the Edge EX due to the two-piece construction. Hogan traditionally offers its irons in a Diamond Black Metal finish.
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“We’ll figure out how to make it work, though. “We’ll have a loft issue somewhere in the transition,” says White. For a company dedicated to four-degree loft gaps, that creates a math problem.
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The Hogan Edge EX lofts are two degrees stronger throughout the set compared to PTx and ICON. The new Edge EX visuals and slightly larger heads should make a progressive set flow nicely. “It’s game improvement but it doesn’t look like a piece of plumbing equipment on the end of a shaft.”Ī PTx Pro/Edge EX progressive set remains a distinct possibility although White isn’t committing to it just yet.
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There’s also that growing demographic of players who still have some game but for whom the sweet bird of youth is beginning to flutter. “They may aspire to play Hogans but the legacy, the history, was that Hogan was for the better player.” “This is meant to be a club for players who just felt Hogan wasn’t for them,” says White. For its part, Hogan is hoping the Edge EX will open up Hogan to people who thought the brand was for better players only. With no tech or distance stories to tell, it’s fair to ask why you should pay attention to the Edge EX. The 32-degree Edge EX 7-iron is going to get its ass kicked in the demo bay all day long. Given a weaker loft structure and Hogan’s signature four-degree loft gap between clubs, it’s probably a good thing the Hogan Edge EX isn’t in retail stores. Also, compared to virtually every other game improvement iron, the Edge EX loft structure is relatively traditional. If you want ball speed, thin is good while thick is a serious buzz kill. There’s one huge drawback to a 1025 forged face-it can’t be made as thin as, say, HT1770 and still maintain tensile strength. The reason? The never-ending quest for ball speed and launch monitor supremacy. And as mentioned, we’re seeing premium entries with forged bodies and ultra-thin, high-strength steel faces. The game improvement category is where OEMs pack in all their distance technology. “So why add tungsten if it only adds cost? Given our direct-to-consumer business model, it’s a pretty good deal for someone who wants forged game improvement irons for 800 bucks.” “Some prototypes had some low tungsten but we found it didn’t dramatically increase spin rates or anything like that,” says White. Or you could say the new Edge EX is quintessentially Hogan. You could just yawn and file it all under “remarkably uninspired” or you could call it refreshingly candid. In fact, White admits the EX doesn’t really mean anything. Hogan isn’t touting any technological breakthroughs with the new Edge EX nor is it making any distance claims (more on that later, too). Mid-handicap players tell us they don’t have to work to get the ball up in the air.” “The ball really feels like it springs off the face. “There’s so much perimeter weighting with nothing behind the face, it almost looks like the face is floating,” says White. That’s essential for good game improvement design. While not particularly innovative or unique, an open cavity effectively frees up mass for extreme perimeter weighting. That open cavity is the defining feature of the Hogan Edge EX and is the biggest change from the 2018 Edge. “We looked at those and the Edge EX irons are an optimized version of those. “There were some Hogan irons back in the Spalding days that had this open-cavity look,” says Hogan CEO Scott White. Either way, it brings back memories of Hogan’s Spalding era. Ben Hogan Edge EX Irons – Facts and Figuresįor any hardcore Hoganista, the new Edge EX branding, open cavity and iconic sunburst logo will make you want to party like it’s 1999.
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