Knuth Golf Brings the Heat—Again

February 1, 2016

A year after its driver wowed the PGA Merchandise Show, Knuth’s follow-up Fairway Wood and Hybrid receive similar raves.

Tony Dear

I did it again. Another comically off-center strike, and another perfectly satisfying result.

Regular readers may recall at this exact same time last year, I posted a less-than-professional-grade photograph showing the face of a driver on which you could just about make out a ball mark located extremely low and close to the heel. Anyone seeing the picture would have assumed the shot that resulted from a strike this bad would have sounded awful, felt worse, barely gotten off the ground and squirted to a halt 100 yards from the tee.

I then explained that actually none of this had happened. The shot felt and sounded just fine, the ball flew on a pleasing trajectory about 225 yards.

Dean Knuth’s highly-acclaimed High Heat driver was the find of the 2015 PGA Merchandise Show, and it has since helped thousands of mid/high-handicap golfers hit the sort of drives they hadn’t hit in years.

Naturally, many were eager for Knuth to add to the product list.

Last week they got their wish as the former US Navy and USGA engineer introduced the High Heat Fairway Woods and Hybrids at the PGA Merchandise Show.

I wasn’t trying to make poor contact when hitting my first shot with the 3-wood but, as the new photograph shows, it really wasn’t good. The ball mark is a little fainter than in last year’s image, but its location is unmistakable – well away from the middle of the clubface, and surely the mother of a terrible shot.

But it wasn’t.

Yet again, the High Heat produced a shot the strike hadn’t merited.

Yet again, I was able to stand and sort of admire a decent-looking effort despite technically being closer to a whiff than the sweetspot.

And yet again, I was left wondering what Knuth knew that other manufacturers didn’t.

Knuth’s club has a steel body and beta-titanium face—15-3-3-3 Titanium to be precise (15% Titanium, 3% Vanadium, 3% Chromium, 3% Aluminum, and 3% Tin to be even more precise).

Using titanium saved Knuth roughly 35g of weight allowing him to position the clubhead’s Center of Gravity (CG) significantly lower and deeper than on other manufacturers’ fairway woods – something he believes is essential for the average amateur as it facilitates him/her making contact above the CG which helps the golfer improve launch conditions and maximize distance.

“Titanium also provides for much higher CT (Characteristic Time – similar to a measure of the club’s Co-efficient of Restitution) across the entire face compared to steel faces which cannot come close to USGA CT limits on toe or heel hits,” says Stephen Trattner, Knuth’s business partner.

Knuth bonded the titanium face to the steel body with a silver adhesive paste, using a process Knuth Golf’s foundry has patented, and which helps prevent contact being made on welding lines that can cause inconsistent strikes.”

“Dean believes this feature is very important in fairway woods and hybrids as they are much smaller than driver heads, which increases the possibility of contacting a welding joint,” Trattner says.

The High Heat Fairway Wood has a low profile, and is noticeably longer from heel to toe than many other fairway woods, helping to increase the clubhead’s Moment of Inertia (MoI) and make it incredibly forgiving.

It will be available in two color schemes. Originally the Fairway Wood was going to be offered only in High Heat cobalt blue, but there wasn’t time to paint samples in time for Demo Day at the PGA Show, so Knuth and Trattner brought only a few unpainted clubs.

“Interestingly, several golfers stated their strong preference for the unpainted look,” says Trattner. “So we are going to offer the 3-wood in both blue and unpainted silver. The unpainted version will be finely sandblasted to prevent glare.”

The Fairway Wood will be available in 3-wood (14° ), 5-wood (18°), and 7-wood (21°) models, while the Hybrid comes in lofts of 18°, 21°, 24°, and 27°.

Fairway Wood – $299
Hybrid -$249

knuthgolf.com