I'm not altogether shocked by this fact, but I think it is worth mentioning. The other thing I've noticed that this club struggles with is the rough. I'm sure that this is a result of a lifetime of playing "draw" and other closed face fairway woods. Since the XCG line began, Tour Edge has always listed the face angle on their fairway woods as "square" and I have always looked at them and seen 1 to 2 degrees open. This isn't to say that this is an unforgiving or a difficult to hit club, but it isn't here to fix or cover up a swing flaw. If you are counting on this club to help with or cure a slice, you are looking at the wrong club. These clubs have always been geared more towards the low and mid handicap players. While Tour Edge has been working diligently to add forgiveness into their designs, these clubs are not for beginners. I mention the 3rd point only to stress something that I've always found with the Tour Edge Exotics fairway woods. Third, I was fading the ball a good 10-20 yards. There is something very satisfying about the titanium sound. Second, this is the best sounding wood I've hit yet. The heavy sole can definitely be felt, but the head feels alive when you impact the ball, not heavy. First, the balance on the wood is very good. With range balls, on mats that were fairly wet, and in about 60* temps, I was dropping most of my shots right in-between the 200 and 225 flags, which is good distance for me at this particular driving range. After warming up with my hybrids, I took the XCG4 out of the bag and hit about 15 balls with it. The first course of business, as with all new clubs, was to take this club out to my neighborhood range. It's a premium grip that, while I don't personally care for its feel, is a solid choice for a club at this price point that will appeal to the masses. To round out the club, the men's grip is a Golf Pride New Decade Multicompound with Exotics branding. It also feels very similar to the Motore 70 that my R9 fairway wood had. It is active enough to help you shoot far, but still allows for plenty of consistency. After testing for a few weeks, I'm convinced that the stock Motore shaft in the XCG4 is a very good pairing to the head. While there is definitely a camp of people that detest Exotics' stock shafts, I'm generally not one of them (except for the X-Quad. I am a moderately fast swinger at about 95 MPH driver swing speed and I found this shaft to be true to flex compared to other stiff flex shafts I own. The paint job on this shaft is a little flashy, but not offensive. The shaft on my 4 wood is the stock Fujikura Motore Exotics 65 gram, stiff flex. There is more of a slope up on the sole, which should help with swing speed as well as turf interaction. The second thing I notice on the sole, and really more from the profile shot, is the aerodynamic difference between this and previous models. It looks refined, yet displays its nod towards the technology in the club head. To me, the XCG4 sole is probably the second best in the XCG line. It exuded a look of class that justified the price being paid. I personally thought that the XCG-V was hands down the best looking sole in the XCG line and maybe ever. The weight ports are apparent and the badging stands out. On the sole, the XCG4 is fairly similar to the XCG3. To compare it to something more common, it looks like a slightly larger PING G10 fairway wood. The head is very wide and very deep, but the face appears to be a lower profile than previous models, which I personally like. Much like the XCG3 before it, the XCG4 gave me an initial shock to the eye. Enlarging the head generally increases the surface area of the face, enhancing the sweet trampoline effect that titanium gives you. Starting with the XCG3, Exotics clearly wanted to add distance and forgiveness by enlarging the head. Going all the way back in time, the original CB1 nearly looks like a hybrid in comparison. In comparison to previous Tour Edge Exotics fairway woods, the XCG4 is about the same overall size as the XCG3 and is noticeably bigger than the XCG-V. The 4 wood, which I tested, is the same size. If you just look at the specs on the website, you may be intimidated at first. I know this isn't always possible or desired, but I personally feel like these clubs are worth the price if you can get them at a price you are comfortable with. I got my 4 wood brand new, but for an absolute steal. As with all Tour Edge Exotics fairway woods, price is always the detriment. I hadn't seen anyone else talking about it, so I wrote up a review from my perspective on it. So I've had my XCG4 fairway wood for a month or so now and I'm just blown away by it.
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