GET READY FOR THE NEW 500 SET!

New 500 set: Chapter 1

By Inesis

January 16^th, 2023

2019 : THE REVIVAL SET

In 2019, we came out with the 500 Set for intermediate players (handicap between 30 and 15). It introduced the principle of mixed clubs, two sizes and three speeds so that you can quickly find the right version for your body type and physical abilities.

The 500 iron heads have been designed with two objectives in mind:

Power: because intermediate players want clubs that offer good distance.
Forgiveness: because intermediate players need clubs that limit the consequences of hits that are still sometimes off-centre.

WE HAMMERED AWAY AT IT

We very quickly decided to use "hollow body" technology, as with a wood or a hybrid. It made it possible to design a powerful iron by refining the club face, maximising the trampoline effect while remaining forgiving, as we could enlarge the hitting surface and adjust the weight distribution accordingly. The icing on the cake is that we could give it them the look of advanced player clubs as they are hollow.

DESIGNED TO LAST

At Inesis, the pace of product renewal is determined several years in advance. As you'll have noticed, we don't update all our clubs every year like other brands do. We believe that a well-made set can last a long time. What's more, the performance of golf clubs is strictly regulated by the Royal & Ancient, meaning technical innovations have only a very moderate impact on the accuracy of the simulator and are almost imperceptible on the course.

When it was released in 2019, we knew the 500 set would be renewed in 2024.

TIME FOR A REVIEW

The first finding is that the 500 set is a big success. The response from the press and golf influencers has been very good. The global average score is excellent at 4.65/5. Our choice to offer unisex clubs in 2 sizes and 3 speeds works very well. The selected shafts work perfectly.

Nevertheless, it's in our nature to always strive to do better. The early years of the set allowed us to collect a lot of data and to know exactly what could be improved in the new version. One of the things we did was to meet with golfers who use the 500 set and ask them what they thought.

The first observation was that the 500 set has not always been positioned well within the market. It has often been placed among the "SGI / Super Game Improvement" clubs, which is the category of beginner clubs, though they were designed as clubs for intermediate players. Why? Probably because it's the first complete set in the Inesis range (the 100 clubs were only available as a kit) and the technical and stylistic choices (large offset for example) may have led to confusion.

DID YOU KNOW?

There are 4 main categories of clubs in the golf market. There is no consensus on the exact breakdown by handicap, but here is a rough guide:

Super Game Improvement (SGI): handicap over 30
Game Improvement (GI): handicap between 30 and 15
Players' distance: handicap between 5 and 15
Player: handicap under 5

At Inesis, we've chosen to organise our range of clubs into 3 categories:

Beginner / 100 Range: handicap over 30
Intermediate / 500 Range: handicap between 30 and 15
Advanced / 900 Range: handicap under 15

BRIEF.

Based on all this data, Nicolas, product manager for clubs, was able to write the brief for the future 500 set.

WHAT WE’RE KEEPING

We're keeping the concept of mixed clubs and two sizes and three speeds. It has proven to meet the needs of intermediate golfers in a quick and efficient way.

We're keeping the product advantages of the 500 irons: power and forgiveness

We're keeping the hollow body technology, which allows us to reach our goals in terms of design, power and forgiveness.

WHAT WE’RE IMPROVING

- THE LOOK

We will work on the look of the 500 irons to make them sleeker, thinner and closer to the design favoured by more advanced players.

The art direction at Inesis has also evolved quite a bit since 2018. The "Athletic & Elegant" philosophy has been replaced by "Elegant simplicity", which can be found in the 900 irons and the putter range.

- POWER

We'll be improving the power of the 500 irons by optimising the technical characteristics of the head to increase ball speed as well as reducing the lofts in order to remain consistent with what is being done on the market for this club segment.

We will work to keep a progressive staggering of distances so as not to have a gap, even if it means eventually adding a gap wedge to the set. This means that the 500 wedges will be reworked at the same time.

Hollow Body technology will also allow us to reposition the weight to maintain good ball height.

- THE SHAFTS

The UST Mamiya Recoil and NS PRO shafts are already a strength of the 500 set. We're going back to the drawing board to test the best shafts from our partners to see which ones work best with the new faces.