CARLSBAD, Calif. (March 1, 2008) ? TaylorMade Golf, the No. 1 driver brand on every major professional golf tour in the world, has introduced a new driver called Tour Burner, targeted at all players who want longer, tour-like distance.

 

"Tour pros hit the ball long because their launch conditions are comprised of fast ball speed with a high launch angle and low spin-rate," said Sean Toulon, TaylorMade's executive vice president of innovation and product creation. "The Tour Burner driver is engineered to help the average golfer generate tour-caliber launch conditions in order to promote tour-caliber distance."

 

Crucial to the Tour Burner driver's performance is TaylorMade's new Dual Crown technology, wherein the size of the crown is noticeably smaller than the large. A clearly delineated groove encircles the extra large clubhead, separating the crown and sole. The smaller crown is 12% lighter than the crown of TaylorMade's Burner driver. Also crucial is TaylorMade's Ultra-Thin Wall casting technology, which allows the clubhead walls to measure as little as .55 millimeters thick.

 

The weight saved by the Tour Burner driver's Dual Crown and Ultra-Thin Wall technologies is redistributed to create an exceptionally low CG location ? among the lowest ever in a TaylorMade driver. On a vertical axis, the Tour Burner's CG is positioned 40% lower in relation to the center of the clubface than the Burner TP.

 

The Tour Burner driver head's exceptionally high MOI makes it extremely stable and forgiving on off-center hits. That benefit, combined with the advantage provided by TaylorMade's renowned Inverted Cone clubface technology, results in even higher ball speed on off-center hits. Inverted Cone Technology, characterized by a shallow cone milled directly onto the inner side of the clubface, changes the way the face behaves at impact so that a larger area of the face delivers higher ball speed. The combined benefits of the Tour Burner driver's high MOI and Inverted Cone Technology result in what TaylorMade calls "effective MOI," or "eMOI," that exceeds 5800 (the USGA's limit on MOI is 5900).

 

TaylorMade's definition of eMOI is the positive influence on ball speed on off-center hits that's exerted by the combined effects of a driver's MOI and clubface technology (versus constant-thickness clubfaces). eMOI in TaylorMade drivers is dramatically higher, and more valuable in terms of its affect on ball speed, than MOI alone, owing to the benefits of TaylorMade's patented Inverted Cone Technology.

 

The Tour Burner's large sole serves a second valuable purpose by creating an expansive address footprint that promotes increased confidence, and the advanced clubhead geometry delivers the kind of great impact sound and feel for which TaylorMade drivers are famous.

 

The Tour Burner also features TaylorMade's SuperFast technology, embodied by the combination of a SuperFast 60-gram shaft that combines low torque (2.8) with a stiff .350" tip, an extra-light grip and a club-length of 45.5". Together these components promote faster swing speed for increased distance.

 

 

TaylorMade's new Tour Burner TP (Tour Preferred) driver is already tour-proven, having been played in competition by Justin Rose, Sergio Garcia, Sean O'Hair, David Toms, Jason Day, Kenny Perry, Peter Lonard and Dean Wilson. The Tour Burner TP driver differs from the Tour Burner in three ways:

 

1) The Tour Burner TP's clubface is engineered 2° open, while the standard Tour Burner's face is square.
2) The Tour Burner TP is available in a choice of three shafts: Matrix Ozik Xcon-5 (55-grams), Mitsubishi? Diamana? Whiteboard 65 (65-grams) and Fujikura? Rombax? Z 75 (75-grams).
3) The grip is standard weight, not lightweight.

 

The Tour Burner TP's open face angle works in conjunction with the characteristics of the three selected shafts to help prevent skilled players from losing the ball to the left.