Tour Edge Exotics EXS Driver

The Tour Edge Exotics EXS driver is one of the most advanced drivers in the company’s history.  Furthermore, finding a better driver at this value is going to be quite difficult.  There are a lot of good things going on in this driver to help help you off the tee and we’ll cover as many as we can in this review!

The Looks

At address, the Tour Edge Exotics EXS driver has a fairly traditional shape with the point of the crown toward the center of trailing edge.  If you prefer pear shaped heads, the EXS driver is close, but just shifted a little.  Standing over the ball, you immediately notice the carbon fiber crown.  Though the carbon fiber look seems to be the flavor of the day for everyone in the biz right now, I love it.  Tour Edge’s EXS crown is a simple black carbon fiber with the Exotics “E” logo for the alignment aid.

Flip the club over and there’s a touch more character while maintaining a classy look.  The signature SlipStream Sole stands out with new wider channels to improve the aerodynamics, resulting in more speed.  There’s also more carbon fiber and your first glimpse at the Flight Tuning System (FTS).  The FTS is a pair of adjustable weights that can be swapped to influence your ball flight.

How Does it Feel?

Don’t be fooled by all the carbon fiber on the Tour Edge Exotics EXS driver.  The feel is very solid and metallic with a lot of punch.  Tour Edge utilized a TSP 910 Beta Titanium face plate featuring Variable Face Thickness.  Pair that with a 8-1-1 Titanium chassis and you get a firm driver face that puts a solid response in your hands.  Through the use of these strong materials, Tour Edge is able to make their face lighter and thinner while maintaining a solid feel.  That lighter, thinner face helps in a lot of ways such as controlling the CG and creating more ball speed.  What does that mean?  More distance of course!

How Does it Sound?

When you’re hitting the Tour Edge Exotics EXS driver on the range, you’ll be fairly hard to miss.  I expected the EXS driver to have a similar muted “whack” to it like many of the other carbon fiber drivers on the market.  Instead, the sound is a booming metallic “crack.”  The sound provides all of the necessary feedback, but is definitely on the louder end of the spectrum.  That said, when you absolutely rope one, it’s an impressive statement.  It sounds like the ball just rocketed off your driver.  Shots more toward the heel and toe tend to sound a little more solid with a little less punctuation.  While the sound is perfectly fine, I would prefer a more muted tone.

On-Course Performance

One of the key traits of the Tour Edge Exotics EXS driver is its aerodynamics.  Tour Edge addressed this by utilizing a sloping crown, a thinner head profile for less drag, and widening the channels of the SlipStream Sole.  Now, I don’t have any high-speed camera footage from a wind tunnel during my testing, but I was seeing faster average club speed with the EXS driver than I was with anything else that day.

Another feature of the Tour Edge Exotics EXS driver is the Roll Face.  This Roll Face “incorporates modified bulge and roll on the toe to create straighter shots for shots hit off the toe.”  Tour Edge says most driver misses come off the toe so this drastically improves forgiveness.  I won’t tell you that a terrible shot is miraculously saved, but you will find you experience leniency on those toe shots you normally know are dead.

Last, but not least, is the FTS system and the adjustable hosel for loft changes.  The FTS system consists of interchangeable 9 and 3 gram weights.  By swapping these weights, you alter the CG of the driver head.  Doing so will typically result in some change in ball flight.  In the case of the Exotics EXS driver, moving these weights will focus more on shot shape rather than trajectory or spin.  Note: the FTS really works.  Getting a little too much leak to the right?  Throw the 9-gram weight in the heel position and watch it straighten back out.

Final Thoughts – Tour Edge Exotics EXS Driver

There’s no argument from me that the Tour Edge Exotics EXS is a really good driver and is very tough to beat at its $299 price point.  The performance is there with a lot of technology designed to give you premium performance.  The one area I would like to see Tour Edge evolve in for future models is the sound.  While a powerful and affirming sound, it’s very loud for the modern market.  That said, it shouldn’t be a deal breaker at all given the price point and the performance of the Exotics EXS driver.  The Tour Edge Exotics EXS is a forgiving driver with performance levels that will compete with anyone in the market.

Stock Tour Edge Exotics EXS Driver Specs

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