PXG’s Latest Generation of Clubs Are on Point When Strikes Are Off-Center
Seven and a half years ago, Bob Parsons disrupted the golf equipment market with the launch of his eponymous brand, Parsons Extreme Golf (PXG). At the time, the irons set a new high watermark for price, but Parsons was confident that their performance, combined with the brand’s target demographic—avid golfers with high levels of disposable income—would render their retail cost a moot point. “Golf clubs that are revolutionary and outperform anything on the market are an easy sell, provided you have a customer who can stroke the check and is a golf enthusiast,” he said. “If you’re selling Ferraris, and a guy walks through your showroom door who loves Ferrari, selling a Ferrari is not going to be too difficult.”
PXG's new Gen6 lineup of clubs.
Courtesy PXG
During PXG’s initial equipment launch, Parsons said that the brand had no intentions of offering new model releases in back-to-back years just to have a new product on the market each season. Instead, he said that PXG would only unveil a new lineup of clubs “when we have something truly exceptional.”
Early on, the brand’s release of new irons aligned with Parsons’s prediction. It was almost three years before a second generation of irons came to market and another year and seven months before the brand introduced its Gen3 offerings in October 2019.
This spring, PXG launches its Gen6 lineup of clubs, which comes to market almost exactly one year after the brand unveiled the previous generation. This new lineup includes drivers outfitted with carbon-fiber crowns and extreme perimeter weighting; fairway woods and hybrids with squared face designs that boost MOI; and irons with club faces that are 15 percent thinner than previous models. Do these advancements make PXG’s Gen6 clubs notably better than their predecessors? In some instances, yes; and there’s quantifiable data to prove it.
Performance by the Numbers
When analyzing all club types within PXG’s new lineup—focusing on the standard 0311 models for drivers, fairway woods, and hybrids, as well as the Player (P) irons—these new models offer modest gains over their predecessors on center-face strikes. Ball speeds are around 1 mph faster (almost 1.5 mph for the 3-wood) and carry distances improve, especially with the driver, which outperforms the Gen5 model by more than six yards. The same is true for total distance, where the driver produces shots that are slightly more than 11 yards beyond the Gen5 driver’s capability. Spin rates also improve, especially with the driver, which delivers almost 500 rpm less backspin.
The Gen6 PXG irons are most forgiving high on the face.
Courtesy PXG
Where these clubs truly shine, however, is when balls are hit away from the sweet spot. The biggest gains with the driver are found on low-face strikes, where ball speeds are more than 1.5 mph faster than the Gen5 model and carry distances improve by 8.5 yards. Heel and toe strikes are neutralized with the 3-wood, where increased ball speeds fluctuate between 1 and almost 2 mph and carry distances are bolstered by as much as 3.5 yards. The irons boast major gains in three strike locations: near the heel, out on the toe, and high on the face—the latter of which delivers the most forgiveness with almost 3 mph faster ball speeds and carry distances that improve by almost seven yards compared to Gen5.
Visceral Reactions
While the numbers suggest that PXG’s Gen6 lineup is more capable than what came before it, launch monitor data is only one element to consider. Ultimately, golf clubs are bought and sold based on three criteria—how they look, how they feel and how they perform. Those first two elements are more subjective, but they’re influential factors in how golfers tailor opinions about their equipment.
PXG’s latest drivers, fairway woods, and hybrids are all striking in their stealth black color schemes. Visually, the hybrids inspire confidence for how they sit, appearing slightly open at address; however, it takes a bit of time to adjust to the look of the 3-wood when it’s set up behind the ball, only because the fairway metal appears to rest slightly closed. (In both instances, these observations are merely optical illusions.) As for the irons, PXG’s Gen6s are sleeker than the Gen5s largely due to the black tungsten weighting on the back of the club head that now runs from toe to heel without disruption. While not off-putting, the club’s top line is a little thicker than we’d like, but that’s nitpicking. The top line also hasn’t changed from any of the brand’s previous generations of irons.
To truly gauge the effectiveness of these clubs, you have to put them through their paces on the range. It’s been said that when the purest ballstrikers on the PGA Tour hit shots, the impact sounds different. With these new PXG clubs, the initial trajectory and ball flight off the face looks different. When compared against solidly struck shots hit with PXG’s Gen3 models, well-hit shots with Gen6 equipment seem to rifle off the club face. Ball flights are more piercing, so much so you might think you can actually see the faster ball speeds.
Similarly, the feedback that a player gets in their hands after a center-face strike also feels different. Whereas past PXG models deliver a satisfying softness—so much so that the impact almost disappears—the brand’s Gen6 irons are a pleasing blend of that soft feel but with an initial staccato-like reverb that might make you think you’re actually feeling the clubface flex at impact.
Final Takeaways
If we’re to believe the hype of every golf club manufacturer cranking out irons, hybrids, metal woods and wedges, we’d be replacing the clubs in our bags every year or 18 months. Unless you’ve got deep pockets and an obsession to always have the latest equipment in your bag, such a turnover rate isn’t practical. So, who should consider a golf bag makeover with PXG Gen6 clubs?
If you’re a brand loyalist—a member of the PXG troop, so to speak—and you’re finding the center of the clubface most of the time with the brand’s Gen5 equipment, the performance perks to be gained by this newest lineup of clubs might not be substantial enough to warrant an upgrade. If, however, you’re more inconsistent with how and where you’re delivering the clubface to the ball, Gen6 could offer you game-changing forgiveness.
If you’re playing equipment that’s at least three years old, a guided fitting will show the disparity between what you’ve currently got and what Gen6 can offer. And if the clubs in your bag made their debut back when Brooks Koepka was dominating the majors, well … you really need to see what PXG’s latest lineup can do. The clubs might end up convincing you that the luckiest number isn’t seven after all. It’s six.