At the end of the 2016 golf season here in northern Utah I received the Tour Edge Exotics CB Pro U Hybrid Limited Edition for a review. I was excited to match it up with the 2014 HOG Product of the Year, the Exotics XCG7 Beta Fairway 3-metalwood, my current and awesome gamer 3-metal. I posted a quick first look article for the CB PRO U right away. Unfortunately I suffered a severe back injury shortly after receiving this beauty. Then as I was recovering and feeling better, winter snows hit here. A six month “frost delay” kept me off the course. Looking at this club in my office for six months was almost as painful as the back spasms.
Tour Edge Exotics CB Pro U Hybrid Limited Edition – click for more photos
Let’s take a look at the specs and features of the CB PRO U Hybrid. The unit in this review is a 19 degree.
Specifications/Features
The most noticeable feature of this hybrid is the strange looking sole (bottom) of the club head pictured below. This shiny section of “metallic waves” is called a Slip Stream Sole (SSS). Unlike other golf clubs which have non functional features which look cool but do nothing, the SSS reduces friction and interaction with the ground, regardless of what that ground is. The SSS helps the golfer keep club head speed at its maximum for more consistency and distance.
Tour Edge CB Pro U Hybrid Limited Edition – click for more photos
The forged face of the club is welded to the steel body of the head. Forged metals provide the best feel and performance, along with maximum distance.
The heel and toe are “cut out” to provide forgiveness and playability.
Finally the shaft of the club is the very popular Second Generation KURO KAGE Silver series.
Kuro Kage Shaft
Tour Edge CB PRO U Hybrid Video
On The Course
Prior to receiving this hybrid for review I was very happy with my previous gamer hybrid, a 19 degree Cobra Baffler. For any hybrid to dethrone that hybrid would be a tall task. When I first starting testing the CB PRO U, I A/B’d back and forth between the two. Both were fantastic. Knowing both clubs were solid, I put the Exotics in the gamer bag for about a two month testing period. If it didn’t work out, no big deal.
See the waves?
Over the course of now dozens of rounds I’ve completely fallen for the CB PRO U. The slightly smaller head and sole design shines in all sorts of situations. I can hit amazing shots with this hybrid even from rough which looks like it calls for an iron bail-out shot. From lies in the rough to tight lies on hard ground, I have 100% confidence when I address the ball with the CP PRO U. I have numerous heroic shots I could recount, most resulting in eagle putts on par-5’s.
CB PRO U Hybrid Topline – No strange patterns or graphics. No distractions.
On short par-4’s or long par-3’s the CB PRO U is fantastic off the tee. I can’t wait to take this baby to Scotland in a few weeks. I know it will shine on some of those shorter holes where driver isn’t the club.
Conclusion
Tour Edge could be in the running to be the first golf club manufacturer to win the coveted Hooked on Golf Blog Product of the Year twice. The CP PRO U is fantastic.
Every year since I can remember back in my golf memory, my dad and I have teamed up at his club in their Father’s Day tournament. The tournament is a Father/Son (or daughter, or I suppose transgender or whatever the flavor of the month is) scramble, mainly aimed at being fun. To hell with fun! We want to win at all costs! I kid, sort of.
We have won this event many times, including last year when when racked up 10 birdies and won by four shots. We had hoped to defend our title this year, but both of us were a little off in our games. We started off very shaky and made some bogeys. Midway through the round we got it together and erased a all but one of those bogeys with some birdies.
A photo posted by Hooked on Golf Blog (@hookedongolfblog) on
We ended up with the 2nd best score in our flight and a 3rd place finish. We were only one shot behind first place. That will drive you nuts, thinking about all the places you could have made up one or two shots.
Anyway, it was still fun and I look forward to the Father’s Day tournament every year. As I’ve said many times before, I’ll never forgive my dad for introducing me to the wonderful game of golf.
The new Bridgestone Golf B330 series for 2016 is amazing. In the interest of time, you should be able to find these at any local golf store, or golf course pro shop.
The U.S. Open is this week at Oakmont. The course is setup to be the toughest course in the history of professional golf. According to many it is going to be a bloodbath. Watch for the pampered tour pros to be whining and sniveling about how hard it is. Poor babies.
As is customary during major golf championships, and a few other bigger golf tournaments, the golf apparel manufacturers release their “apparels scripts” to journalists and bloggers around the globe. Those journalists eat it up because it is easy content their lazy asses can just repost, and because they think they might get a free shirt out of the deal. Here’s Jason Day’s apparel script from adidas. It’s so cute.
For years now I’ve come up with my own “scripting” for these events, from g-strings to dirty laundry to beer scripting. Since this year’s U.S. Open is going to be so brutally hard, I thought my apparel scripting should reflect what it will really take to survive: body armor.
Golf GPS rangefinder watch technology is improving. No longer does the golfer have to wear a ridiculously large device to have GPS yardages and other great features on his or her wrist. Case in point is the new Bushnell neo iON GPS rangefinder watch. Let’s take a look.
Bushnell Neo iON GPS Rangefinder Watch
In the photo above I’m either playing a really short par-5 and I’m on the tee, or I just duffed my drive and did the walk of shame 50 yards forward from the tee. Take your pick. But the display does give a good example of the core information I need when approaching a green, the front yardage, middle yardage, and back yardage. Here’s a list of all the basic features of the Bushnell neo iON GPS Rangefinder Watch:
One button operation
Auto course recognition
Auto hole advance
Calculates shot distances
Up to four hazard or layup distances per hole
Pedometer
Odometer
Extended battery life
Over 35,000 preloaded courses
On The Course
One of the most irritating things about many golf GPS devices, watch or others, is the amount of time it takes them to recognize what course they are on. In fact, some of the GPS units I use never find the course. This unit finds the course very quickly and does not lose it.
During the round the yardages are solid and quick. I’ve confirmed them with markers on the ground and via laser. Rock solid. Sometimes it’s better to think about the front or back yardages of the green. Say you have a green with a false front which repels shots. Knowing the right number to avoid that spot is a great advantage. The same goes with pins that are long. If the green has a bad drop behind it or deep rough, long is dead. Knowing these yardages arms the player with great information for a better approach strategy.
The pedometer is a very cool feature. My phone has one, but it isn’t as accurate, and it drains the battery badly. Knowing how many miles I’ve walked is also great. A 7,000 yard course may calculate out to four miles, but the walk can be double that or more. After all, the golfer doesn’t hit straight shots. Left. Right. Left. Right. You get the drill.
Another great bit of information the unit provides is shot distances. One may “think” their 9-iron goes 140 yards when in reality it goes 132. Knowing exact yardages, and accepting what they really are, will save strokes. If only I could teach myself to accept them… That’s another discussion.
The battery life of the iON is great. I’ve squeezed two full rounds out of a unit before charging. I think I could have gotten more out of it but wanted to be sure I had a full 18 for my next round.
Critiques
I have the same critique for this unit which I have for 99% of the golf GPS watches I’ve reviewed, the proprietary charging cable. Why is it so hard for companies to put a standard micro USB plug on these units? That way one could charge it with a standard cable should he/she forget to bring the proprietary one.
The other issue I have with GPS watches is the fact that they are watches. I’m not a watch wearer and I find them especially uncomfortable in the golf swing. So I usually attach them to my golf bag. It would be nice if the unit could be stand alone, without the band.
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