Equipment
Latest patents from TMag, Callaway, Ping and Titleist
It’s been a month since we last looked at what the major OEMs have been up to in the world of patent filings. So it seems like a good time to see what the best and brightest (or at least best paid) in golf’s R&D have been up to.
This month: A sampling of recent filings from Callaway, TaylorMade, Ping, and Titleist along with traditional patent drawings, which a comment on a previous edition in this series referred to as “napkin sketches.”
Without further ado, brief descriptions and corresponding napkin drawings.
Callaway/Odyssey putter
On behalf of subsidiary Odyssey, Callaway applied for a putter with a “low head center of gravity and a high MOI.” According to the filing, the putter features both low-density and high-density layers. In addition, the layers appear to be joined by a urethane dampening layer, and the heel and toe of the putter are outfitted with tungsten weights.
It appears that this putter will also include the white/black components the company has been including in their designs in recent years.
Overall, the putter appears similar to the flatsticks in the White Damascus family in terms of design and weighting, but presents elements of the Versa family of putters as well.
View the full patent filing on FreshPatents.
TaylorMade iron
TMag has filed a patent “coated golf club head/component,” which features an “outer layer of titanium carbide, typically comprising at least forty percent…carbon content.” One would assume that the outer layer is designed to enhance distance, and indeed the multi-layer structure is engineered toward this end.
The filing indicates that the club will possess multiple layers. Further, it states, the “titanium carbide layer is durable and can provide the golf club component with a desired aesthetic appearance, such as a black color.”
Certainly, this could be a red herring. However, the document seems to suggest that TaylorMade, with its penchant for pushing boundaries, could be working on a (at least partially) black iron.
TaylorMade fairway wood
California-based TaylorMade has also been granted a patent for a “fairway wood center of gravity projection.” The club will look something like the above, with three weights near the front of the sole of the club.
Not surprisingly, with the design the company is pursuing “club heads for a fairway wood that at least one of a high moment of inertia, a low center-of-gravity, a thin crown and a high coefficient of restitution.”
Yes. That ought to do it.
Ping hybrid
Here’s a hybrid club Ping is working on referred to as a “club head with deflection mechanism and related methods.” The intention of the mechanism seems to be to make it easier to hit the ball on the center of the club face (reportedly, that’s not a bad place to consistently make contact).
The filing also features sketches of a fairway wood with similar characteristics.
Founder Karsten Solheim’s company is also working on an iron that looks like this, which looks to be part of a complete set of clubs with variable constructions.
Titleist fairway wood
Fairhaven, Mass-based Titleist filed a patent for a “golf club head with flexure.” According to the filing, “the flexure provides compliance during an impact between the golf club head and a golf ball, and is tuned to vibrate, immediately after impact, at a predetermined frequency.”
Thus, the design, which looks rather progressive compared the Titleist’s more traditional offerings, seems also to be at the fore of the trend toward enhanced feedback. And it doesn’t take an R&D whiz to realize that the face is likely hotter because of the flexure/increased face flex.
Cameron Young’s WITB from his win at the 2025 Wyndham Championship. Cameron is a Titleist staff player but his bag is definitely filled with some unique clubs. Here are the clubs he used to secure his first PGA Tour win!
Driver: Titleist GT2 (9 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro Orange 70 TX
3-wood: Titleist GT3 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 80 TX
Hybrid: Titleist GT2 (21 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus HB Black VeloCore+ 10 X
Irons: Titleist T200 (4), Titleist T100 (5), Titleist 631.CY Prototype (6-9)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold X7 (4-9)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F, 52-12F, 56-14F @57), WedgeWorks (60-K* @62)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold X7
Putter: Scotty Cameron Phantom 9.5 Tour Prototype
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Prototype
- Peter Malnati what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Titleist GT3 (10 degrees, C2 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Project X Denali Blue 60 TX
3-wood: Titleist GT3 (15 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 7 X
7-wood: Titleist GT2 (21 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 8 X
Irons: Titleist T150 (4, 5), Titleist T100 (6-9)
Shafts: True Temper AMT Tour White X100
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 52-12F, 56-08M @57, 60-04T @62)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Scotty Cameron Studio Style Fastback 1.5 Tour Prototype
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Yellow
We’re proud to once again partner with 2nd Swing Golf to bring you GolfWRX Members Choice 2025! 2nd Swing has more than 150,000 new and pre-swung golf clubs available in six store locations and online. Check them out here.
What is the best driver in 2025? At GolfWRX, we take great pride in our online community and the cumulative knowledge and experience of our members. When it comes to the best driver of 2025, we want to know what our forum faithful think.
Since our founding in 2005, the bedrock of GolfWRX.com has been the community of passionate and knowledgeable golfers in our forums, and we put endless trust in the opinions of our GolfWRX members — the most knowledgeable community of golfers on the internet. No other group of golfers in the world tests golf clubs as frequently or as extensively, nor is armed with such in-depth information about the latest technology.
Below are the results of GolfWRX member voting for the 2025 best driver, along with the vote percentage for each club.
Best driver of 2025: The top 5
5. Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond: 6.02%
Callaway’s pitch: “For golfers looking for a fast, forgiving, yet workable driver, the Elyte Triple Diamond features a tour-inspired shape and is the preferred model by most Callaway tour players.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond here.
4. Ping G440 Max: 6.86%
Ping’s pitch: “The most forgiving G440 model, MAX has a hotter face to generate speed and distance, and a lighter overall system weight with a longer shaft (46″) for faster clubhead speed, higher launch and longer carries. The Free Hosel and Carbonfly Wrap crown save weight to create our lowest CG ever and increase forgiveness while contributing to a more muted, pleasing sound.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Ping G440 Max here.
3. Ping G440 LST: 9.53%
Ping’s pitch: “LST is an especially good fit for faster swings, offering less spin and more control with a penetrating trajectory. A hotter face, lighter overall system weight and longer shaft (46″) deliver more speed and distance while maintaining tight dispersion.”
@phizzy30: “Not a fan of Ping drivers in general, but 440 LST takes the cake. It’s super forgiving across the face for a low spin head, looks and sounds good and the ability to make it play neutral or slightly fade biased through the hosel settings is very appealing.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Ping G440 LST here.
2. Titleist GT3: 16.55%
Titleist’s pitch: “The GT3 Driver offers Titleist’s boldest combination of power and personalization through adjustable performance. Dial in the CG Track to your frequent contact location to make your biggest drives even bigger while taking total control over flight and shaping.”
@mrmikeac: “I’ve been Anti-Titleist for years and years and years (outside of Vokey, of course). With that being said, HOLY BEGEEZUS the GT3 driver is an absolute NUCLEAR MONSTER! This thing blew my G430 10K Max out of the water in every single category. Forgiveness is the biggest thing that stands out of me, the 3 model has always been one of the less forgiving models in the past but this GT3 can take bad shot after bad shot and still end up in the fairway, I think a ton of that has to do with the adjustability, it’s actually effective. Feel and sound is perfect, that solid crack is so addicting to hear and when you hit it out the screws this thing can absolutely bomb it. Titleist, I’m sorry for doubting you. You have converted me.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Titleist GT3 here.
1. Titleist GT2: 22.91%
Titleist’s pitch: “Delivering impressive distance from any impact point, the Titleist GT2 Driver extracts maximum performance through a forgiving design. Get the stability and added confidence of a high-MOI driver without sacrificing speed.”
@DTorres: “The Titleist GT2 has proven to be the best driver of the year. Packaged in a classic profile, GT2 perfectly balances performance and forgiveness while consistently being a high performer across all categories.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Titleist GT2 here.
Other drivers receiving >2% of the vote
| Driver | Vote percentage (%) |
|---|---|
| Cobra DS Adapt Max K | 4.85% |
| Ping G430 Max 10K | 3.85% |
| Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond | 3.68% |
| TaylorMade Qi35 | 3.51% |
| Callaway Elyte | 3.18% |
| Cobra DS Adapt X | 2.34% |
| Cobra DS Adapt LS | 2.17% |
| TaylorMade Qi35 LS | 2.17% |
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Peter Malnati WITB 2025 (August)
Peter Malnati what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. More photos from the event here. Driver: Titleist...
Cameron Young’s winning WITB: 2025 Wyndham Championship
Driver: Titleist GT2 (9 degrees, A1 SureFit setting) Buy here. Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro Orange 70 TX 3-wood: Titleist...
Camilo Villegas WITB 2025 (July)
Camilo Villegas WITB accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. Villegas was undecided on a 3-wood when we shot his bag. ...
WITB Time Machine: Brandt Snedeker’s winning WITB, 2018 Wyndham Championship
Brandt Snedeker fired a final-round 65 at the 2018 Wyndham Championship to outlast Webb Simpson and C.T. Pan. His 5-under...
jc
Apr 23, 2014 at 12:05 pm
taylor made will announce that they are building a solid metal head with no slots and it will come in only black and the sheep will run and buy it because the ad will talk about pure mass being better than flex.
Jim
Apr 25, 2014 at 6:28 pm
Introducing the taylormade SCREW”R” fairway wood its got to be atleast 34 yards longer by now . The titleist and ping club looks like every adams club and the rbzs the slots in the woods and hybrids do help with consistency i feel if nothing else , but if every one is doing it there must be something in it.
SA golfer
Apr 23, 2014 at 4:13 am
Whaha titleist rbz 3 wood.
markb
Apr 22, 2014 at 11:50 pm
If a “gimmick” introduced by Taylormade (meaning slot technology) is then copied by the arch-conservative Titleist, does it not cease to be a gimmick and become an innovation?
78Staff
Apr 23, 2014 at 11:51 am
Introduced by Adams, not TaylorMade – at least in recent metalwood history. In reality there have been slots in woods for years, see Hogan, Wilson, etc going way back in the day. :).
leftright
Apr 23, 2014 at 8:22 pm
Correct, Wilson made an iron in the 70’s called the “Reflex” iron. It was the forerunner to everything made today by Taylor, Callaway, Adams, etc. It was probably crude at that time but it was the first iron with that technology. It was a cast club, not forged and I am not sure what became of it’s legacy.
BlkNGld
Apr 25, 2014 at 8:40 pm
Looks more like a Nike compression channel to me.
MHendon
Apr 22, 2014 at 5:26 pm
I hate to see Titleist go down the path of gimmicky crap, but I guess to keep up with their competitors they have to. It’s a shame so many people buy into it. I’ve put my old (by today’s standards) 904f up against many of the newest fairway woods on the market and it still outperforms them all. No adjustability, no moveable weights, no velocity slots, just a nice traditional pear shaped head that’s well balanced and gives me great distance and the perfect trajectory.
enrique
Apr 22, 2014 at 6:44 pm
I don’t care how gimmicky/techie it is as long as I can’t see those bits. And it looks like I can see all that on this Titleist. Boo!
BeTheBall
Apr 22, 2014 at 4:04 pm
I am a betting man and I bet that TaylorMade is finally going to bring the technology that they have in the face of the Gloire driver to an iron and bring it to the states sometime in the future.
chris k
Apr 22, 2014 at 2:59 pm
The iron from taylormade i believe will be the SLDR irons. More forgiving and a hotter face.
K
Apr 24, 2014 at 11:45 am
Yup, they’re coming out with SLDR and SLDR S next. Irons will be called SLDR