At some point in their life, every golfer is going to face the same existential question:
“What happens when I can’t play anymore?”
That’s a jolly way to start your day, isn’t it?
I don’t know about you but I, for one, do not plan to go gently into that good night. If Dylan Thomas were a golfer, my guess is that he’d probably game XXIO.
XXIO is purpose-built from grip to tip to be lightweight weapons for golfers at different stages in their battle with Father Time. We all know that rat bastard is undefeated. XXIO is designed to make Father Time work for it, at least a little bit.
And maybe flip the sonuvabitch the bird while you’re raging against him.
2025 XXIO Prime: What is a XXIO, anyway?
XXIO is the third member of the Srixon-Cleveland-XXIO triumvirate. The trio operates under the Dunlop Sports America banner and is owned by Japan’s Sumitomo Rubber Industries (the SRI in Srixon).
XXIO itself was launched in Japan in 2000 as a premium lightweight offering for the Japanese market. You’d like to think XXIO represents some legendary samurai warrior but it’s just a sort of acronym. XXI is the Roman numeral for 21 while the “O” sound in Japanese stands for king or leader. Put them together and XXIO means “king or leader of the 21st Century.”
It would have been better with a samurai.
The XXIO lineups can be a bit confusing. XXIO 13, which launched last year, is what you might call a “standard” lightweight luxury offering for “maturing” golfers who don’t quite swing it like they used to. XXIO Prime is even lighter in weight and even more luxurious (read: expensive). It’s designed for what XXIO calls “seasoned” players. That would mean senior men and women or any golfer who needs something even lighter.
You could say XXIO Prime is XXIO’s XXIO.
Write that down. There’ll be a quiz later.
The XXIO Prime line
The XXIO Prime line can outfit a slower swing speed player with everything from an ultra-lightweight driver to an ultra-lightweight sand wedge. As is its custom, the 2025 XXIO Prime line carries a distinct Japanese vibe and what XXIO calls a “luxurious” look and feel. As you’d guess, it ain’t exactly Takomo-level cheap.
The XXIO Prime driver sells for $899.99. Before you choke, understand that if you swing much over 85 mph, the driver will probably do you more harm than good. The whole thing weighs 257 grams. With any kind of swing speed, you’d hit it a mile high and dead left with a crazy amount of spin.
For the target golfer, however, it might be just the ticket. As swing speeds slow down with time, it gets harder to square the clubface at impact. XXIO says its anti-slice drivers feature a left-biased (sorry, no left-handed models) bulge and roll. The head has a flatter bulge toward the toe and a more rounded bulge toward the heel to keep the ball relatively straight on open-face or off-center hits.
The BiFLEX face is made from Super-TIX® 51AF premium titanium which is designed to be very light, strong and flexible. It has different deflection profiles on the toe and heel designed to expand the sweet spot and squeeze out whatever distance it can.
The 35-gram SP-1300 shaft is proprietary. Srixon-Cleveland-XXIO owns its own shaft manufacturing facility in Japan and the company packs all of its lightweight tech into the XXIO products. Beyond the Torayca® T1100G carbon fiber and advanced Nanoalloy resin, the 2025 shaft features a more flexible butt end than previous models. That increases flexibility and, for the target golfer, clubhead speed.
Fairways and hybrids
XXIO follows the same recipe with the 2025 XXIO Prime fairways and hybrids. They’re lightweight and left-biased, made from premium materials with a luxurious Japanese vibe. Like the driver, both feature a BiFLEX face (made from high-strength HT1770M stainless steel instead of titanium), the lightweight SP-1300 shaft and something called Activwing.
We’ve seen Activwing before, on the new Cleveland HiBore XL driver. It’s also been a staple of the last several XXIO Prime drivers. Activwing is a kind of airfoil built into the heel side of the crown. According to XXIO, it uses aerodynamic forces to stabilize the clubhead positioning during the downswing so the golfer can achieve a more consistent clubhead delivery at impact.
Even though it uses the term “aerodynamic,” the folks at Srixon-Cleveland-XXIO will tell you Activwing isn’t intended for swing speed. It’s simply there for stabilization and consistency.
The fairways and hybrids also feature a XXIO staple called “Cannon Sole.” It’s a cannon-shaped weight pad on the sole of each club to get the CG so low that it’s almost outside the club. Like any low CG feature, Cannon Sole is designed to promote a higher launch and lower spin to get the ball up in the air.
2025 XXIO Prime Irons
If you guessed that I was going to write that the 2025 XXIO Prime irons are ultra-lightweight and left-biased, you should probably win a prize or something. The Prime irons are a four-piece construction with a thin, strong and flexible titanium face made from the same material as the driver.
The irons also feature Rebound Frame, another signature Srixon-Cleveland-XXIO technology designed to create as much face flex as possible for the target golfer’s swing speed range.
Additionally, the 2025 models include a hefty 50 grams’ worth of nickel-tungsten weighting in the 5- through 7-irons. Once again, that’s to get the CG as low as possible to help slower swing speed players get the ball in the air with just enough spin to keep it there but not so much that it veers left or right and doesn’t roll.
Who buys this stuff?
“Moderate” swing speed is code for anyone whose swing speed has dropped below the Mendoza line. In XXIO’s case, it also includes golfers who can pay the freight because, as we mentioned, the 2025 XXIO Prime line ain’t cheap. It’s a market that’s larger than you’d think: aging golfers with money who are facing that existential question. They want to make the most of whatever golf-playing years they have left and they have the cash to do it. For them, price is but a number.
We can argue the XXIO’s efficacy and value all you want. It’s clear there is a market for ultra-lightweight (not to mention ultra-premium) solutions. XXIO may not quite be the Fountain of Youth but it can help golfers find a few lost yards.
Not to mention flipping off Father Time.
2025 XXIO Prime: Specs, price and availability
We’ve said several times already that XXIO Prime ain’t cheap. You already know the driver goes for $899.99. The fairways retail for $599.99 each and the hybrids are $419.99. The irons come in four-piece sets (7-PW) for $1,199.99 and additional irons (5-, 6-irons, GW, SW) run $299.99.
2025 XXIO Prime iron specs
XXIO is unapologetically courting the luxury market. The brand has been extremely successful in Asia. Over the past 10 years, it has established a solid foothold in North America as well. Seriously, the market is larger than you might think.
The XXIO Prime driver is available in 10.5- and 11.5-degree lofts. The shaft is the proprietary 35-gram XXIO SP-1300 in SR-, R- and something called R2-flex. Four fairways are available: a 15-degree 3-wood, 18-degree 5-wood, 21-degree 7-wood and 25-degree 9-wood. The shafts are the same but just a tick heavier.
There are five hybrids, ranging in loft from a 19-degree 4-hybrid to a 31-degree 8-hybrid.
The 2025 XXIO Prime lineup will hit the stores on March 14.
For more information, visit the XXIO website.
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