Weighting game: Callaway's new X-16 iron; putters from Ping, De La Cruz

Golf Digest, Jan, 2003

X-factor: CALLAWAY's products have long been designed to achieve what the company calls "friendliness," aka perimeter weighting. But it comes in degrees. For example, although the undercut channel in Callaway's new Steelhead X-16 irons appears similar to its 2002 Big Bertha irons, the wider sole of the Big Bertha is designed to move more easily through grass and turf, and the center of gravity is slightly lower and farther back than in the X-16. However, the X-16 is intended to produce a lower ball flight than the Big Bertha without sacrificing forgiveness. The notch in the back of the club frees up weight for distribution in the heel and toe, and a shorter blade promotes playability ($880 steel; $1,120 graphite; 800-228-2767; www.callawaygolf.com).

Weigh out there: If there's a universal constant in putter design, it's weight distribution. Today, it's all about maximizing heel-toe weighting. At PING, where Karsten Solheim began tinkering with this concept in the 1960s, they're calling the JAS putter "the most extreme putter we could build." The JAS putter's lightweight forged-titanium head features tungsten brazed into machined-out cavities. According to the designers, the putter has a moment of inertia that is 40 percent more than the original Ping Anser ($425; 800-474-6434; www.pinggolf.com).

The Bolero putter from DE LA CRUZ GOLF is another take on a putter playing with weight. Veteran designer Dick De La Cruz uses a lightweight black anodized-aluminum insert, which is milled into the middle of the stainless-steel face. It's then balanced with heavy inserts of wolfram (the principle ore in tungsten) on both the heel and toe ($139; 877-430-4653; www.delacruzgolf.net).

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