In normal times, October represents the kickoff to one of the best times of the year: launch season!

OEMs will start to tease, release, seed, and ultimately get the golf heads of the world all jacked up on what’s coming.

Golf is bigger than ever, and from the rumblings I hear from marketing, engineers, and tour reps, the excitement around what’s coming is a few ticks short of total pandemonium. We always talk about “best ever,” and I have heard that term thrown around more than normal.

I guess we will only know when we know, but from where I sit, I’m fired up. I know these people well, and I can tell when something special is coming. Even late last year, the whispers about TaylorMade’s new “P790B” and Titleist’s “new idea” driver was something that brought smiles to the folks that were dying to discuss but just couldn’t yet. In those cases, the excitement was real as both products are top of the class.

So, what else is coming?

Here are my top 4 things to get excited about and why

New TaylorMade Driver

I’ve heard very little, but what I have heard is TaylorMade has something serious coming to market. In my opinion, SIM was TM’s best driver to date, so to hear that something is coming that makes SIM a potential afterthought is certainly newsworthy.

I’m not sure what direction they will go after the leap they took with SIM, but I guess we shall see. The point is, when I hear whispers like this (and it’s not very often) history has shown me something special is coming. The last time I heard anything like this was in the summer of 2018 and the buzz was about some new Cobra driver…

The Ping I210 and IBlade Replacement…or a new idea

The driver cat is out of the bag with the USGA posting pics of the soon to be released G425, so no need to dive into that quite yet.

Ping is Fort Knox when it comes to early info. So much so to the point that I personally don’t even chase it down—it’s a fool’s errand.

Personally, all my info on what Ping has coming is pure speculation and personal opinion. That’s it. What I do know is, based on launch cycles, Ping is due for a new players cavity back and something to fit in between that and the Blueprint.

However, If I was to guess, I’d bet they blend the two ideas and make a players type version of the I210 and give players a chance to either blend or for the traditionalists get into the Blueprint.

That leaves room for Ping to focus on its hollow body category and make that more appealing to better players. In that scenario, the lineup would have all boxes checked off and options that can be mixed and matched to fit any player’s needs. Just a thought. It’s kind of the way to go these days.

Callaway’s New Apex MB/CB Line

I got my first glimpse of the idea back at RSM late last year. Aaron Price was testing the new MBs with the screw in the muscle, and up close, the profile looks pretty amazing. The idea of putting more mass behind the hitting area is not a new one, but it’s one that has proven to work. Callaway has always done a great job in the MB category, like Titleist, engineers keep things fairly simple and try to make something that satisfies the tour staff.

The official version can be seen in our tour photos, and it’s almost identical to the prototype—beyond the raw finish.

Spy pics of the CB are floating around on different platforms, but any info on them is nil. The Apex Pro is still an iron the tour staff adores, and my hunch is Callaway had to really dig deep to find its replacement.

New Srixon Irons

Ask any fitter across North America, and I’d bet a good majority would say Srixon more or less rules the conversation in the players iron category. Not to say that other OEMs aren’t competitive, but for the last four or five years, Z series irons have been the darlings for fitters and builders. Feel, quality and consistency are the keywords used and now finally the popular Z785 has its new iteration. The ZX7.

No details as to when they will hit the market or the story behind them, but what I’ve heard is, they took the cult classic Z745 and last year’s Z785 and blended them together to make an iron that finally converts the die-hard Z745 user into the ZX7. The 745 has been an iron that even Tour staff have had a hard time getting out of. Keegan Bradley, Graeme McDowell. Jerry Kelly, Brian Gay, and a few others still have them in play—and keep in mind Srixon has launched two new irons since that time. That’s why the ZX7 needed to be a game-changer.