Callaway Golf Introduces The New Steelhead PlusTM Stainless Steel Woods And SteelheadTM X-14TM Irons

January 3, 2000 at 12:00 AM EST
CONTACT(S): Larry Dorman, Krista Mallory (760) 931-1771
CARLSBAD, CALIF., January 3, 2000 – Callaway Golf Company (NYSE:ELY) is taking steel farther with the introduction of the new Big Bertha® Steelhead family of stainless steel golf clubs – the Big Bertha Steelhead Plus Drivers and Fairway Woods and the Big Bertha Steelhead X-14 Irons. These exciting new clubs are loaded with innovative features, including Callaway Golf’s Variable Face Thickness Technology, a key design breakthrough that has given engineers at Callaway Golf more ways to improve stainless steel golf clubs.

Created as the replacement to the tour-proven, best-selling Big Bertha Steelhead Woods and Big Bertha X-12® Irons, the new Steelhead Plus family of woods and Steelhead X-14 Irons are designed to please golfers of all skill levels. For the more skilled golfer, they offer enhanced versatility and shotmaking opportunities. The average golfer will experience increased forgiveness and improved playability. The new Steelhead Plus Drivers and Fairway Woods and Steelhead X-14 Irons are now available in select golf shops across the country.

Callaway Golf’s Senior Executive Vice President and Chief of New Golf Club Products Richard C. Helmstetter and his team have built significant new design features into the Steelhead Plus Drivers and Fairway Woods and Steelhead X-14 Irons. First and foremost is the new Variable Face Thickness Technology, a process that enables Callaway Golf to precisely control the thickness of the clubface area to optimize performance in both woods and irons.

“Each club in the new Steelhead family is designed to achieve specific performance goals in distance, control, trajectory and sound,” Mr. Helmstetter said. “With those goals in mind – and through the use of computer modeling and extensive player testing – we developed our exclusive Variable Face Thickness Technology.

“In the Steelhead Plus Woods and Steelhead X-14 Irons, this new technology allows us to vary the amount of steel we use on different parts of the clubface. In the woods, we are able to make the face area thickest in an elliptical area near the center of the clubface, thinner toward the perimeter. In the irons, we can control the thickness of the face on each individual club – from top to bottom and from heel to toe. The results have been remarkable. The Steelhead Plus Drivers deliver a consistently high, but flat and penetrating ball flight and the fairway woods produce increased accuracy and enhanced workability. In the Steelhead X-14 Irons, we located the ideal position for the center of gravity. The center of gravity in long irons is low and toward the heel for greater forgiveness, and it is higher in the short irons for increased control and accuracy.”

The consensus among Callaway Golf’s panel of club testers is that golfers of all skill levels will find that the Steelhead Plus Woods and the Steelhead X-14 Irons are the best performing and most forgiving stainless steel golf clubs the Company has ever produced. And the reaction among many of Callaway Golf’s Staff Professionals has been equally enthusiastic.

“These clubs are going in my golf bag right now,” said Callaway Golf Staff Professional and PGA Tour winner Rocco Mediate. “I like everything about them – the sound, the feel, the look and the performance. I can’t wait to start the season with the Steelhead Plus Metal Woods and the X-14 Irons.”

Staff professionals Jesper Parnevik, Annika Sorenstam and Jim Colbert also are among the Callaway Staff pros who plan to begin their Year 2000 competitive season with the new Steelhead Plus Metal Woods and Steelhead X-14 Irons. Alluding to the new looks of both the woods and irons – the deep blue-colored body on the woods and the sleek, classic cut of the irons – Parnevik said, “Not only are these great feeling clubs, they are the best-looking golf clubs I have ever seen.”

As with every new Callaway Golf product introduced since the Company first revolutionized the industry with the original Big Bertha Driver, Steelhead Plus Woods and Steelhead X-14 Irons have been designed to be demonstrably superior to, and pleasingly different from, any comparable golf club on the market. The entire Steelhead family of clubs conforms to United States Golf Association Rules.

The new Steelhead family of woods and irons utilizes proven Callaway Golf design hallmarks such as S2H2® (Short Straight Hollow Hosel) and Tru-Bore® Technology for unmatched perimeter weighting and feel. As with their predecessors, the Steelhead Plus Woods feature a precision-cast steel weight chip to lower the center of gravity. And the Steelhead X-14 Irons are designed with Callaway Golf’s patented 360-degree variable undercut channel to help move weight toward the perimeter of the clubhead for solid feel on every shot.

Steelhead Plus Drivers are available in lofts from 6 to 12 degrees, while Steelhead Plus Fairway Woods are available in 2-wood (The Deuce®), Strong 3-wood, 3-wood, Strong 4-wood, 4-wood, 5-wood, 7-wood (HeavenWood®), 9-wood (Divine Nine®) and 11-wood (Ely Would®). Steelhead X-14 Irons are available in 1-iron through 9-iron with pitching, approach, sand and lob wedges. The Steelhead family of woods and irons will be available in both right- and left-handed models, as well as Ladies’ Gems®. Shaft options include the new Steelhead Plus and Steelhead X-14 graphite shafts in light, regular, firm and strong flexes, Ladies’ Gems Graphite, as well as the Steelhead Plus and Steelhead X-14 steel uniflex shafts. The suggested retail price for the new Steelhead Plus Woods is $295 per individual wood with graphite shaft, $195 per individual wood with steel shaft. Steelhead X-14 Irons with graphite shafts carry a suggested retail price of $1,040 for a set of eight with graphite shafts, $840 for a set of eight with steel shafts.
Hawk Eye® Tungsten Injected™ Titanium Irons are available in selected retail shops across the country. For more information and for photographs, visit the company’s Web site at www.callawaygolf.com.
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