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9-3-09
EQUIPMENT
Mention the name Raylor to golfers of a certain age and you'll receive a smile and a nod of the head in return.
Introduced in 1988, the TaylorMade Raylor club was one of the most popular and useful utility woods of all time, and especially proficient at getting wayward tee shots out of rough and close to, if not onto, the green. The Raylor club boasted a small, rounded steel head with an extremely low center of gravity and two distinct rails on its sole, which were designed to help the head glide smoothly through tall grass while resisting twisting or stalling. Twenty-one years after the original was introduced, TaylorMade has launched a hybrid called Raylor, and this one is far superior to the first.
"Twenty-one years of making metalwoods has allowed us to engineer the new Raylor to hit the ball higher, longer and straighter from tall grass," said Tom Olsavsky, TaylorMade senior director of metalwood creation. "It's the ultimate weapon for getting out of the rough."
The new Raylor comes in two lofts, 19-degree and 22-degree, and incorporates two key features that work in conjunction to make the new Raylor so effective from the rough: A slightly sharp, slightly pointed leading edge that allows you to slide the face down through the grass and onto the back of the ball, and a "Raylor sole" shaped like a ship's hull, sloping upward at the sides. The Raylor sole separates the blades of grass to allow the clubhead to glide cleanly through instead of slowing down or getting stuck.
The Raylor is equipped with a RE*AX 65-gram shaft that's one inch longer than typical for TaylorMade rescue clubs of equal lofts, to promote the added clubhead speed and leverage to help get the ball out of thick lies.
Combine the Raylor's pointed leading edge, Raylor sole, exceptionally low center of gravity, compact size from heel to toe and longer shaft, and you've got a hybrid born to get the ball out of the rough with extreme ease.
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