Gear: Srixon ZXi RKT fairway woods
Price: $379.99 each with Mitsubishi Kai'li shaft and Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 grip
Specs: Stainless steel chassis with carbon-fiber crown, adjustable sole weights and adjustable hosel sleeve carbon fiber crown in the 3- and 3+-woods.
Who it’s for:
Golfers who want a fast, compact fairway wood with enough adjustability to fine-tune launch, swing weight and distance gaps.What you should know: The ZXi RKT fairway woods bring Srixon’s new RKT Face technology to the category while combining adjustable sole weights and hosel sleeves for the first time in a Srixon fairway-wood family.
The Deep Dive: The fairway wood category is segmenting, and Srixon has not only recognized the trend, but the Japanese brand is leaning
into it with the new Zxi RKT family.Elite golfers and recreational players alike are now seeing 3-woods as driver alternatives, with 5-woods, 7-woods being clubs designed to handle long par 3s, shots from the fairway and even clubs that can get golfers out of awkward spots on nearly any hole. So, while the ZXi RKT fairways share several key technologies, the 13.5-degree 3+ and 15-degree 3-wood are built slightly differently.
Each ZXi RKT fairways has been made with Srixon’s news RKT Face architecture. It’s variable thickness design is thicker in the center and thinner around the perimeter to expend the sweet spot and help to protect ball speed on mis-hits.
Rebound Frame supplements that construction by creating flexing zones in the chassis instead of relying solely on the face to bend as the ball makes contact. As the strike is made, the hitting area bends while an adjoining portion of the head also flexes. Srixon says the coordinated movement increases energy transfer, ball speed and distance.
Variable Roll Design changes the curvature of the face to improve accuracy on mishits. The system reduces the severity of a hook that can result from contact high on the toe, a useful feature in a club frequently hit from uneven lies.
Adjustability is another significant change from previous Srixon fairway offerings. Each club comes standard with an 10-gram sole weight that is designed to work with an adjustable 12-position hosel sleeve and allow fitters to alter loft, launch, swing weight and distance gapping. Fitters can swap the weight out (weights range from 2 grams to 16 grams) and use different weights as part of the fitting process, and the adjustable hosel allows the loft to be increased or decreased by up to 1.5 degrees. That should make it easier to prevent a fairway wood from flying too close to a driver or leaving an oversized gap to the longest iron or hybrid.
The 3-wood and 3+-wood have lightweight carbon-fiber crowns. Removing mass from the top of the head allows Srixon to reposition it lower, helping the company manage launch and maximize face performance.
Srixon also worked with its Tour staff to refine the face depth, crown height, face angle and address profile. The resulting compact shape is intended to satisfy accomplished players while the face technologies provide speed and accuracy that can benefit a broader range of golfers.
David Dusek is a Golfweek senior writer covering golf equipment and technology.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Srixon ZXi RKT fairway woods add speed and new adjustability
