Toulon Golf launches their 2024 First Run Assortment of manufacturing putters.
4 blades and 4 mallets.
Produced in comparatively restricted numbers.
All putters are milled from 303 chrome steel and have a Chocolate PVD end.
MSRP $600 and obtainable for order now at ToulonGolf.com
Toulon Golf was conceived final summer time when Sean Toulon retired from Odyssey golf. Since we at the moment are about 9 months post-conception, Toulon Golf is correct on time for giving delivery to their first official putter line. This new First Run Assortment is the primary retail putter line from Toulon Golf.
(There are such a lot of half-truths in that final sentence.)
Initially, the First Run Assortment is certainly not the primary line of Toulon putters. Sean Toulon and his sons began Toulon Golf as soon as earlier than, again in 2015 when Sean initially retired from a really productive tenure at TaylorMade.
These of you who play a TaylorMade Spider putter have Sean Toulon to thank for it.
Anyway, Sean retired from TaylorMade and began up his household putter firm. Toulon Golf produced milled putters as an impartial entity for a brief interval earlier than Sean was wooed again into golf gear’s massive leagues by Odyssey/Callaway.
It was at this level that Toulon putters grew to become the high-end milled model of putters for Odyssey.
Then, in the summertime of 2023, Sean retired (once more) and began the Toulon Golf putter firm along with his sons (once more). Since then, Toulon Golf has launched a handful of very restricted run, and really costly, Small Batch putters, however nothing actually focused towards {the golfing} lots.
That adjustments at present. Properly, kind of.
With a price ticket of $600 and comparatively restricted manufacturing runs, Toulon doesn’t count on the First Run Assortment to be discovered within the luggage of {the golfing} lots. These are nonetheless boutique luxurious putters, however to not the extent of Small Batch. Nonetheless very fancy however simply not as fancy.
The brand new Small Batch putters are like a pleasant BMW 3-Sequence whereas the Small Batch putters are M3 Competitors fashions.
Seems like it’s time for a Toulon take a look at drive.
2024 Toulon First Run Assortment: 100% Milled
All eight fashions within the 2023 Toulon First Run Assortment are 100% milled from 303 chrome steel. That chrome steel is the industry-standard putter materials lately, delivering the machinability the businesses like and the texture we golfers like.
The faces have a brand new mid-depth Double Fly Lower milling sample. If you run a finger throughout the face, you may really feel how the feel varies from prime to backside. Although the impression really feel varies from mannequin to mannequin, I’d describe it as tender. The face milling additionally influences the sound at impression although, as soon as once more, the form of the top causes tonal variation as nicely.
The entire mallets and one of many blades characteristic milled aluminum sole plates as nicely.
2024 Toulon First Run Assortment: New Milled Geometries
You might acknowledge a couple of of the mannequin names. I hope so, since six of eight are beforehand launched designs. A “beforehand launched design” doesn’t imply Toulon simply rolled out the previous CAD information and slapped on new paint. The older designs have additionally been retooled and two of the heads are utterly new designs.
The milling on the 2024 Toulon First Run Assortment is excellent. The unique batch of Toulon Design putters launched in 2015 had been first rate milled putters however not fairly as much as the extent of their opponents. Throughout his tenure at Odyssey, Sean Toulon was capable of persistently enhance on the Toulon milled putter design.
By the point the final batch of Odyssey/Toulon putters was launched in 2022, Toulon milled putters had been on par with the opposite main milled makers.
The Toulon First Run Assortment continues this enchancment development. The milling is clear and fascinating. I might spend the remainder of this text declaring little edges and angles the place Toulon has added a little bit of flare to the geometries.
Do these components add to efficiency? After all not, however they do add to the desirability for milled putter shoppers. The little sides catch the sunshine and make the putter intriguing. Perhaps these nuances are misplaced on the informal shopper, however they examine off bins for the detail-oriented milled putter buyer.
2024 Toulon First Run Assortment: Adjustable Weighting
The entire Toulon First Run Assortment putters characteristic adjustable sole weights. Altering the weights permits the golfer to make the varied heads 10 grams lighter or 30 grams heavier.
The entire sole weights are towards the entrance fringe of the putters, even the mallets. This was a design component that Toulon integrated into their final line of manufacturing putters at Odyssey. Ahead weight place improved MOI and heart of gravity place.
For the heavy-handed, Toulon will even offer the entire heads in a Heavy-Spec configuration. For an additional $50, you will get a heavier head, longer shaft and bigger grip. This basically lets you flip any of the First Run Assortment fashions right into a counterbalanced putter.
2024 Toulon First Run Assortment: Neck Choices
Three of the First Run Assortment mallets will probably be provided with two neck choices. You should buy the Memphis with a double-bend neck if you’d like it face-balanced or a move neck so as to add blade-like toe cling to the Memphis.
The Las Vegas and the brand new Alcatraz mallet could be ordered with both a H1 crank hosel (plumber’s neck) or a double-bend neck. Once more, the distinction will probably be one in all toe cling. If you would like extra of a blade-like really feel along with your mallet, go together with the H1.
2024 Toulon First Run Assortment: Chocolate PVD End
The entire Toulon First Run Assortment putters are completed with a Chocolate PVD end. You might assume that “chocolate” equates to “brown.” It does to an extent however this end is a lot greater than only a brown coating.
As you look by way of the photographs on this article, you’ll see how the end adjustments relying upon the quantity of accessible gentle. Many of those photographs had been shot on an overcast day and the end appears very chocolatey.
Add somewhat extra solar, although, and the darkish chocolate melts into bronze and rose gold hues. You’ll discover how the angles of the putters additionally affect how gentle or darkish the end seems. Basically, the blades appear a bit darker than the mallets however even throughout the blades there’s variation. The San Diego blade appears darker than the Madison blade.
I applaud Toulon for going with an atypical Chocolate PVD end however it does appear a bit dangerous. Variations could be scary. Will the general public gravitate in direction of it or away from it? There’s a cause why so many putters on the market are black or silver.
This end completely separates the Toulon First Run Assortment from its opponents. The gross sales numbers will inform if that may be a good factor.
2024 Toulon First Run Assortment Blade Putters
The Toulon First Run Assortment contains 4 blades. Three of them—the Austin, Madison and San Diego—are primarily based on earlier Toulon shapes. The fourth, the New York Metropolis, is a brand new wide-body long-neck mannequin.
In case you are a lefty, Toulon does have a metropolis for you—so long as you want San Diego.
Although solely 4 fashions, the First Run Assortment blades ship some numerous visible and play choices. You’ll not discover a move neck or a center-shaft, however the variations between the fashions make them really feel and roll like distinct people.
2024 Toulon First Run Assortment Madison
The Toulon First Run Madison is the very best putter within the batch—a minimum of for me. I recognize the comparatively compact profile at tackle and the way the putter sits very naturally behind the ball. The traces of the cavity and the one sight line are excellent alignment instruments. This putter is so pure.
Once more, I’m not saying the Madison is the very best putter for everybody, only for me. You might have a distinct favourite. That’s OK. You’re flawed, however that’s OK.
The texture is tender and responsive. Merely put, the whole lot feels proper. I suppose this could come as no shock because the 2022 Toulon Madison made an identical impression. On the time, I’d have mentioned that Toulon had produced their very best Madison.
In some way, this one is best trying and higher feeling. After rolling it, I totally assist the change from the earlier Double Diamond face milling to the brand new Double Fly Lower sample. The suggestions and roll are noticeably higher with the brand new face milling.
2024 Toulon First Run Assortment Austin
The Toulon First Run Austin is a superb instance of how Toulon has tweaked and turned the blade designs to make them different-looking and -playing. At first look, the Austin appears fairly a bit just like the Madison.
Each have a rounded profile, much like a basic PING Dale Head Anser. After that, the Madison and Austin designs diverge. The obvious distinction is that the sight line on the Madison is changed with a prime line dot on the Austin.
At tackle, you’ll discover that the cavity of the Austin is wider than the Madison’s cavity. To maintain the general weight much like the Madison, this expanded cavity required that the bumpers be a bit steeper on the Austin.
The general head weight is similar however the weight is positioned otherwise within the two blades. This makes the blades really feel a bit completely different within the swing and at impression. It’s delicate. In case you are not swinging them one instantly after the opposite, chances are you’ll not discover. Consider them as fraternal twins that look very related.
Protecting with the theme of delicate adjustments, the Austin’s plumber’s neck connects to the top a bit again from the face. This creates solely three-quarters of a shaft of offset at tackle in comparison with the Madison’s full-shaft offset. This makes the view behind the ball somewhat completely different at tackle and tweaks the swinging of the putter a bit as nicely.
2024 Toulon First Run Assortment San Diego
The San Diego is Toulon’s hottest blade putter. Extra individuals have bought a San Diego than every other putter since Toulon Golf was began seven years in the past.
That is smart to me because the San Diego is Toulon’s interpretation of PING’s monumentally standard Anser 2 design. The San Diego is barely longer heel-to-toe than the Madison or Austin. The general profile of the San Diego is much extra squared-off than these blades as nicely.
Basically, in case you are an Anser 2 or Newport 2 participant, the San Diego could be your Toulon putter of selection.
One fascinating characteristic in regards to the San Diego is that the extra squared-off angles make the Chocolate PVD end seem darker on this head. Identical goes for the squared-off New York Metropolis. I suppose the physics of sunshine reflecting at completely different angles from the putters’ completely different angles might clarify why that is the case, however that sounds prefer it requires math and I’m recent out of protractors and calculators.
2024 Toulon First Run Assortment New York Metropolis
Has a putter ever made you mad? I’m not speaking about getting mad at it when it misses a putt for you. That type of fury occurs to all of us. Do you know that particular offended conditions are the No. 1 causes of latest putter purchases and spontaneous putter scuba-diving expeditions?
It was the expectation versus the fact of the New York Metropolis mannequin that acquired me somewhat sizzling. Within the launch info, I learn “long-neck blade” and had visions of a face-balanced long-neck Madison. One thing within the extra delicate path.
Pulling off the headcover, I found a New York Large!
The Toulon First Run New York Metropolis is a giant, sq. blade. On the threat of oversimplification, take a Toulon Chicago and add a longer-than-usual plumber’s neck, and you should have the Toulon New York Metropolis putter. A “performance-enhanced” Madison could be one other approach I’d describe the NYC.
In the end, the New York Metropolis is a brand new design for Toulon. On account of its enhanced measurement, among the chrome steel materials on the only was eliminated and changed with an aluminum sole plate. On this approach, the NYC is extra much like the opposite Toulon mallets than the blades which simply have sole weights.
The H1.5 neck is longer than the standard H1 plumber’s neck, however it doesn’t make the NYC face-balanced. Toe cling is at about 4:00, the identical because the San Diego.
The NYC is a mallet and a blade and must be a primary candidate for the Heavy-Spec therapy.
2024 Toulon First Run Assortment Mallet Putters
The Toulon First Run Assortment contains 4 mallets, arguably seven in the event you embody the obtainable neck choices. As with the blades, three are revisions of earlier Toulon mallet designs, and one is new.
Left-handed gamers have two mallets to select from. Each the Las Vegas with the H1 neck and the Alcatraz double-bend have been constructed to level within the “flawed” path.
Of the 4 mallets, the Las Vegas and the Alcatraz are giant mallets and the Memphis and the Atlanta are extra mid-mallets. The 2 pairs of mallets are completely different sufficient that they arrive with different-sized headcovers.
All of the mallets characteristic aluminum sole plates and adjustable sole weights towards the entrance edge. This weight scheme influences the middle of gravity and the second of inertia values for the mallets. In the end, the load place is meant to enhance efficiency.
2024 Toulon First Run Assortment Memphis
The Toulon First Run Memphis has undergone fairly a little bit of nip and tuck for the reason that 2022 model. Whereas the earlier Memphis fashions had been massive spherical mallets, this new Memphis appears to have spent the final two years taking Ozempic. Gone are the earlier Memphis’s love-handle bumper bumps and prolonged bottom bulges.
The brand new Memphis is a extra compact model of the earlier designs. Whereas the previous model was a big spherical mallet, the First Run Memphis has moved into mid-mallet territory.
With the slant neck and the now unbalanced heel and toe areas, the Memphis is beginning to resemble the Odyssey #9. To not that excessive however it’s heading in that path.
Toulon mentioned that they had produced new takes on their basic designs. The adjustments that they made to the Memphis reveals they weren’t kidding round.
2024 Toulon First Run Assortment Atlanta
Did you will have that one woman or man in highschool you knew wasn’t good for you however you simply couldn’t transfer on from? If highschool classmates had been putters, that poisonous crush could be the Toulon Atlanta.
The Atlanta and I had a factor when it was launched. So sizzling on the apply vary, then icy when it counted on the course.
Once I was play-testing these, the Atlanta was making the whole lot, telling me that we had been made to be collectively and that it might by no means crush my spirit once more by leaving me for that wealthy man on the soccer crew with the badass Mustang GT convertible.
Sorry, I acquired distracted.
Anyway, the temptress named Atlanta is a compact spherical mallet the place that annoying spherical rear part has been sawed off. The sq. bumpers and rectangular center area sq. up fantastically behind the ball, making focusing on your future collectively a dream.
2024 Toulon First Run Assortment Las Vegas
It’s a protected guess that the Toulon First Run Assortment Las Vegas would be the hottest mallet within the line. Cringe-inducing “protected guess” with Las Vegas pairing apart, the Las Vegas goes to search out its approach into numerous golf luggage, skilled and novice.
The model of the Las Vegas proven within the photographs with the H1 neck is the one that can generate essentially the most curiosity. The Las Vegas with the double-bend neck is a basic fang/#7 mallet design. There’s nothing flawed with it and mallet gamers will gravitate in direction of it as nicely. It simply doesn’t match the mallet zeitgeist just like the Las Vegas – H1.
The Las Vegas with the H1 neck represents the present state of mallet play—individuals utilizing mallets that play like blades. The fang-shaped mallet has been standard with mallet gamers for many years however the addition of the plumber’s neck introduced blade gamers into the mallet fold as nicely.
Merely acknowledged, this mallet performs like a blade. The toe cling offered by the plumber’s neck permits the Las Vegas to gate open and closed like a blade. This makes the blade participant snug enjoying the mallet.
Why not simply play a blade putter then?
Mallet putters supply further alignment options and MOI values which are simply not attainable with a blade. For instance, I’m undecided how one might add these lengthy cavity alignment traces on the Las Vegas to a Madison. It’s robust to color air.
The H1 Las Vegas has the very best components of each designs.
2024 Toulon First Run Assortment Alcatraz
The Toulon First Run Alcatraz is a brand new mallet design. I guess you will have some questions on this new mallet. I do know I did once I first noticed it.
Initially, why is it named Alcatraz? The entire different putters are named after cities. Alcatraz isn’t a metropolis. Alcatraz is a jail in San Francisco Bay. I do know it’s not a metropolis as a result of I’ve been there. I didn’t see a single Starbucks or In-N-Out Burger on the island. Subsequently, Alcatraz isn’t a metropolis.
You might be pondering the Alcatraz appears just like the Odyssey Jailbird and that’s the reason they named it Alcatraz. That could possibly be true however it nonetheless doesn’t make Alcatraz a metropolis. After a short session, Mr. Money says the mallet must be named The Folsom …
Attending to the primary level, the Toulon Alcatraz is a completely milled model of the Odyssey Jailbird. As you may see within the picture above, it isn’t an actual reproduction of the Jailbird Cruiser or Jailbird Mini however the three putters undoubtedly share a cellblock.
Can the Alcatraz actually be a Jailbird if it lacks the stripes?
In some methods, the Alcatraz is a fang-shaped putter the place the fangs join on the rear finish. The empty heart offers you peripheral weighting like having fangs would however the putter maintains a whole perimeter of steel.
Kidding in regards to the title apart, I used to be fairly impressed with the Alcatraz. It is rather simple to intention and produces a satisfying thud at impression. Had I had the H1 model in hand for testing, the Alcatraz might have given the Madison a run for the Dave’s Prime of Class spot.
By the way in which, if you wish to know extra in regards to the play comparability between the Ai-One Jailbird Mini and the Ai-One Jailbird Cruiser variations, keep tuned.
Remaining Ideas on the 2024 Toulon First Run Assortment Putter Line
For a “first” line of putters, the Toulon 2024 First Run Assortment could be very numerous. As I rolled balls with the cohort, there have been some “yeps” and a few “nopes” for me. That’s precisely what a line of putters ought to ship. A putter that doesn’t work for me could also be simply the factor for another person. The fashions within the Toulon First Run Assortment ought to meet the play wants of the vast majority of golfers.
Earlier than you say it within the feedback, maybe there will probably be a center-shafted mannequin within the 2025 Second Run.
For somebody who has “retired” from golf, it positive looks as if Sean Toulon has put a substantial amount of effort into creating the Toulon First Run Assortment. This can be a massive launch from a small putter firm. I’m not kidding in regards to the “small”, both.
If you happen to order a putter from Toulon Golf, it is going to seemingly be constructed by Sean, Tony, or Preston Toulon.
The dimensions of their operation seemingly explains why there will probably be solely a whole lot of the First Run Assortment putters obtainable, not 1000’s or tens of 1000’s like when Odyssey was producing Toulon putters. This discount in manufacturing additionally explains how Toulon was capable of change into a direct-to-consumer firm.
Total, this batch of putters from the second incarnation of Toulon Golf is vastly improved over the primary batch from 9 or so years in the past. It’s like if you re-roll a putt after your first try missed. The second time usually produces a greater outcome.
Discover out extra in regards to the 2024 Toulon First Run Assortment putter line at ToulonGolf.com
FAQ: 2024 Toulon First Run Assortment Putter Line
Are these the identical fashions because the Toulon Small Batch putters?
Some are related however they don’t seem to be the identical. Sometimes, the Small Batch putters have distinctive takes on the designs which are completely different from the manufacturing choices. Check out the Small Batch Monaco in comparison with the Las Vegas and you will notice what I imply. Plus, Small Batch putters are often constructed from 904L “Rolex” chrome steel.
Are Toulon putters performed on the PGA Tour?
Because the authentic founding of Toulon golf in 2015, Toulon putters are the second-most performed milled putters on Tour and have recorded 63 match wins. Test right here for a full rundown of the Toulon putter wins.
Why are these putters 303 chrome steel and never 904L chrome steel just like the Small Batch putters?
I’d say there are two predominant causes. First, solely utilizing the 904L for the Small Batch putters provides to their mystique. The second, and more than likely, cause is that the 904L metal is dear and would enhance the worth of the First Run Assortment past that of a marketable retail line.
Is Toulon completed with Small Batch putters now that the First Run Assortment has launched?
Under no circumstances, We must always count on to see new Small Batch putters from Toulon about as soon as a month. Rumor has it that there are different particular initiatives within the works on the Toulon workshop as nicely.
