Welcome to the Toy Box, where we’ll do more than just tell you about
the newest equipment. We’ll show you what the Tour pros are using and
interview experts and designers to take you behind the scenes in the
development of the latest products.
•
Winner's Circle: June 22-28, 2009•
Toy Box: Fairway Woods>>
Kenny Perry, a 14-time PGA Tour winner, had Fujikura shafts in his
driver (TaylorMade R9 460, 9.5 degree) and 3-wood (TaylorMade Burner,
14.5 degree). His driver shaft was a Fujikura Motore F1, and his 3-wood
shaft was a Fujikura 3 Reax TP 75.
Perry used KBS Tour steel shafts in his TaylorMade r7 irons (4-PW).
He
used TaylorMade’s yet-to-be-released Raylor hybrid (17.5 degree). The
Raylor name first appeared in the early 1980s as a TaylorMade fairway
wood and now is being resurrected as a hybrid (Toy Box, June 27).
>> After 13 LPGA events, Ping is riding high.
When
Jiyai Shin cruised to a seven-stroke victory in the Wegmans LPGA, it marked the ninth time this year that the winner used a Ping driver. Furthermore, it was the eighth victory for a Ping putter.
Shin played a Ping G10 driver (7.5 degree) and a Ping Redwood Piper S putter.
On the PGA Tour, Perry used a Ping G2i Craz-E putter while winning the Travelers Championship.
>> Perry mixed and matched his wedge configuration, adding two TaylorMade Z TP wedges (54 and 64 degree) and a Cleveland CG14 (60 degrees). Technically, including the pitching wedge (48-degree TaylorMade r7), he became the latest player to win on the PGA Tour with a four-wedge setup.
Long-hitting
Dustin Johnson (third on the PGA Tour with a 307.2-yard average) also has converted to four wedges. At the Travelers, he carried three TaylorMade RAC prototype wedges (48, 52 and 56 degree) and a Titleist Vokey Spin Milled lob wedges (60 degree).
>> On the Champions Tour, Rife achieved a hat trick with the top-3 finishers at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open used Rife putters. Winner
Lonnie Nielsen used an Aussie model followed by
Ronnie Black (IMO model) and
Fred Funk (Barbados model).
>> Nationwide Tour winner
Tom Gillis averaged 299.9 yards with a Nickent 4DX driver (9 degree) and Aldila VooDoo XPPS shaft.
Gillis is a member of the growing two-hybrid fraternity. He carried hybrids of 16 degrees (Adams Idea Pro Gold) and 20 degrees (Adams Idea Pro).
Shaft corner:
>> Travelers Championship, overall wood shaft count: Aldila 113, Fujikura 95, Mitsubishi Rayon 58, True Temper 56, Matrix 52, UST Mamiya 46, Graphite Design 37.
>> Travelers Championship, driver shaft count: Fujikura 29, Mitsubishi Rayon 26, Aldila 25, Matrix 20, True Temper 16, UST Mamiya 15, Graphite Design 10.
>> Wegmans LPGA, overall wood shaft count: Fujikura 156, Mitsubishi Rayon 114, Graphite Design 88, Aldila 75, True Temper 31, Nippon 27, Ping 23, UST Mamiya 21.
>> Wegmans LPGA, driver shaft count: Fujikura 52, Mitsubishi Rayon 37, Graphite Design 21, True Temper 8, Aldila 7, UST Mamiya 6, Matrix 4.
Short shots: Titleist golf balls were used by winners on the PGA Tour, LPGA and Nationwide Tour.
Kenny Perry played the Titleist Pro V1x, while
Jiyai Shin and
Tom Gillis played the Pro V1. . . . On the Champions Tour, winner
Lonnie Nielsen used a TaylorMade LDP TP Black ball. . . .
Ryan Moore played the same KBS Tour shafts as Kenny Perry, although 146 of 156 iron sets at the Travelers had True Temper steel shafts. . . .
Morgan Pressel carried a “new” old putter at the Wegmans LPGA. It was an Odyssey White Hot Tour No. 2, a putter she had used in the past and then abandoned. . . .
Ryo Ishikawa, 17, who won his second title on the Japan Golf Tour and qualified for the British Open, used Graphite Design’s Tour AD EV 8 shaft in his Yonex driver and 3-wood. . . . Nielsen, the Champions Tour winner, used the same TaylorMade R9 460 driver (9.5 degree) and shaft (Fujikura Motore F1) as Perry.
– James Achenbach
Posted June 30
•
Winner’s circle: June 15-22, 2009•
Toy box: Big putter grips>>
Hybrids were in the equipment spotlight at the U.S. Open. Players added hybrids to deal with the thick rough at Bethpage.
Vijay Singh, for example, decided to challenge Bethpage Black with three hybrids, four wedges and no iron longer than a 6-iron.
The day before the start of the Open, Singh asked clubmakers in the Adams tour van to make 22- and 25-degree Idea A3 hybrids to go with the 19-degree A3 hybrid already in his bag. The 19 had an Aldila VS Proto X graphite shaft, but Singh went with True Temper Rifle 7.5 steel shafts in the others.
Phil Mickelson used a 23-degree Callaway prototype hybrid that he helped design.
“This is a special club I actually made, taking the back part of the hybrid out so that I can open it way up and get through that thick rough,” Mickelson said.
Meanwhile, TaylorMade took the wraps off a hybrid with a famous name – the Raylor. In the early days of TaylorMade, the Raylor was an extremely popular fairway wood. Now, it’s coming back as a hybrid.
Kenny Perry and
Fred Funk played practice rounds with the prototype club, Perry hitting 19- and 22-degree hybrids and Funk experimenting with the 22.
Neither player used the Raylor in the tournament. There was no word of when these clubs will be available to consumers.
>> The Darrell Survey, the official equipment tracker on professional tours in the United States, revealed substantial hybrid use at this U.S. Open.
In the 2002 Open at Bethpage, players carried an average of 2.63 drivers/woods/hybrids (
410 total). This year, the average was up to 3.27 (
510 total).
The total number of hybrids in play in this year’s Open was 130 (the category was not tallied in 2002).
Statistics that indicate the disappearance of long irons: In 2002, 37 players used 2-iron through 9-iron and 91 used 3 through 9. This year, the corresponding totals were 2 and 69.
More iron stats for the 2009 Open: 59 players carried 4- through 9-irons and 15 carried 5- through 9.
In 2002, only five players carried four wedges. This year, 20 players (including Singh) had four wedges.
>>
Todd Hamilton’s strategy for any golf course is to play his first practice round from the tips. He did at Bethpage Black and immediately changed his driver and golf ball to combat the extraordinary length of the course.
Hamilton replaced his TaylorMade R7 driver with an R9 460 (10.5 degree) with an Aldila VooDoo shaft.
He normally plays the Titleist Pro V1 ball, but decided to seek “a few extra yards off the tee” with the Pro V1x. The tradeoff was sacrificing the slightly softer feel of the Pro V1.
>> The rain at Bethpage brought requests for extra gloves. TaylorMade normally provides each of its staff players with four gloves per tournament. At the Open, players got eight gloves apiece.
>> Here’s a look at the bag of winner
Lucas Glover: SQ Sumo Squared Tour driver (9.5 degree), Nike SQ Squared fairway woods (13 and 19 degree), Nike CCi Forged irons (3-PW), Nike SV wedges (54 and 59 degree), Nike prototype putter and Nike One Tour D ball.
>> Here’s runner-up
David Duval’s bag: Nike SQ Dymo Driver, Tour Edge Exotics fairway wood (15 degree), Nike SQ Dymo fairway wood (17 degree), Nike Victory Red Forged Blades (3-PW), Nike Prototype wedges (53 and 58 degree), Titleist Scotty Cameron Newport 2 putter and Nike One Tour D ball.
>> Here’s runner-up
Phil Mickelson’s bag: Callaway FT-9 Tour Authentic Draw driver (7.5 degree), Callaway Big Bertha Diablo 3-wood (15-degree Neutral), Callaway prototype hybrid (18 degree), Callaway X-Prototype irons (5-PW), Callaway X-Forged wedges (52, 56, 60, 64 degree), Odyssey White Hot XG No. 9 putter and Callaway Tour iX ball.
>> Here’s runner-up
Ricky Barnes’ bag: Callaway FT-9 driver (8.5 degree), Callaway X fairway woods (3 and 5 wood), Wilson FG Prototype forged cavity back irons (3-PW), Callaway X-Forged wedges (56 and 60 degree), Odyssey White Hot XG No. 9 putter and Callaway Tour i ball.
>> In November 2008, after finishing 25th on the Nationwide Tour money list and earning his PGA Tour card, Ricky Barnes signed a two-year contract with Wilson.
He is Wilson’s No. 2 staff member, behind three-time major champion
Padraig Harrington, who has been with Wilson for 12 years.
Barnes replaced
D.J. Trahan on the Wilson staff. Trahan, who has two victories on the PGA Tour, switched to Titleist for 2009.
The Wilson FG Prototype forged cavity back irons played by Barnes will be launched in Europe in July and the United States in the fall.
>> TaylorMade once again made U.S. Open commemorative bags for its staff players. The bags have become popular with TaylorMade players.
Rod Pampling, for example, confirmed he had inquired if the “cool bags” would be made because of the economic climate. No problem.
>>
Hunter Mahan, a Ping staff player, uses a Ping Eye2 LW wedge (lob wedge) that was invented 25 years ago when he was 2 years old.
Shaft corner:>> Aldila won the wood and hybrid shaft counts at the U.S. Open, giving the company back-to-back majors in which it has won both counts.
The wood count was close. Aldila totaled 112 to Fujikura’s 97, Mitsubishi Rayon’s 90 and True Temper’s 81. UST Mamiya was fifth with 62.
>> In driver shafts, Mitsubishi Rayon was No. 1 with 37. Aldila had 27, Fujikura 26, UST Mamiya 22 and True Temper 20.
– James Achenbach
Posted June 23
•
Winner’s circle: June 8-14, 2009
•
Toy box: Steel shafts
•
Ask the expert: Mark Timms
>>
Sergio Garcia and
Retief Goosen were testing a new TaylorMade golf ball before the St. Jude Classic.
The ball, which is not yet on the U.S. Golf Association’s conforming ball list, apparently is a five-piece ball. Garcia said it is called the Penta TP. He said it has similar flight characteristics to the TP Red LDP, although it offers more spin on short wedge shots.
The TP Red LDP is a four-piece ball, while the TP Black LDP is a three-piece ball. This refers to the number of individual components, or pieces, in the core, mantle layer (inner cover) and outer cover.
Goosen said the new ball is softer with more spin, alluding to the fact that ball manufacturers probably will be forced to introduce softer balls because of less aggressive grooves that have been mandated for the PGA Tour in 2010.
>> Goosen switched from the TP Black to the TP Red at St. Jude and said he was getting 5 to 10 additional yards off the tee. The Red ball is designed primarily for high-swing speed players.
>> Garcia played for the first time with TaylorMade’s R9 460 driver (9.5 degree). He also got a set of new wedges TaylorMade Z TP (54 and 58 degrees) for the U.S. Open.
>> LPGA Championship winner
Anna Nordqvist used a Ping iWi Anser putter that she added to her bag at the Corona Championship in April. This is a stock putter that can be purchased by any golfer.
On the other hand,
Brian Gay won the St. Jude Classic with a custom Bettinardi putter from Mizuno that essentially is a one-of-a-kind model. Consumers wanting something similar should look at Mizuno’s Black Carbon Series. Gay’s putter is a first cousin to the Black Carbon, albeit without the black finish.
>> Mizuno’s
Jeff Cook, who works closely with Gay on his equipment, said all golfers can mix and match Mizuno clubs just as Gay does it.
Gay’s 3-iron and 4-iron are Mizuno MX-900s, classified as a game-improvement club. His 5-iron through 8-iron are MP-60, and his 9-iron and pitching wedge are MP-32. His 17-degree CLK Fli-Hi is a Mizuno hybrid.
Gay also carried a TaylorMade R9 driver (9.5 degree) and Tour Edge Exotics CB2 3-wood (13 degree).
>> Nordqvist and Gay used the same ball in their victories – the Titleist Pro V1.
>>
Lindsey Wright, who finished second to Nordqvist, was using an Adams 3-wood (14.5 degree) that is scheduled to be in golf shops by July 1.
Adams, touting the new Speedline 9032Ti fairway woods as “the longest-hitting fairway woods we’ve ever developed,” revealed that the fairway woods (strong 3, 3 and 5) have a titanium body along with two 40-gram tungsten sole inserts.
The Speedline 9032Ti woods are being launched in conjunction with shaft manufacturer Aldila. All the clubs include the Aldila VooDoo NV graphite shaft. The family also includes a driver, which is said to have 10 percent less spin than the original Speedline driver. Aaron Baddeley and long-hitting Gary Woodland already are using the new driver.
The fairway woods are expected to sell for $329.99; the driver for $369.99.
– James Achenbach
Posted June 16
•
Winner's Circle: June 1-7, 2009
•
Toy Box: Quick adjustments•
Ask the expert: Joe Hoeflich>> Thanks mostly to
Tiger Woods, driver loft once again is becoming a hot topic. Woods switched to a 10.5-degree Nike SQ Dymo driver at the Memorial and hit 49 of 54 fairways.
On some holes, Woods hit 3-wood or even 5-wood off the tee, although primarily he hit the Dymo driver.
Woods and his instructor Hank Haney have been experimenting with higher-lofted drivers for several months. At The Players Championship in May, Woods went from the 8.5-degree driver he had used at the Masters to 9.5 degrees.
At the Memorial, Woods, talking about the new driver, kept referring to its loft as 10. Why?
Because, according to Gidge Moody, Nike product line manager, 10 degrees is the effective loft of the driver. After consulting with Woods and Haney, Nike technicians bent the 10.5-degree driver “slightly open” from its original square-faced alignment.
By opening the face, the 10.5-degree loft was effectively lowered to about 10 degrees. Conversely, if the face had been closed by bending, the loft effectively would have been raised.
“I’ve been trying to explain this concept to people for five years,” Moody said. “If the face is opened, then the player will have to deloft it (during the swing) in order to make square contact. So effectively the loft is lowered.”
Higher-lofted drivers, according to golf instructor Randy Henry, co-founder of Henry-Griffitts Golf, fit perfectly with the swing concept of “getting on top of the ball” or positioning more weight on the forward leg during the swing.
Henry-Griffitts sells 460cc drivers with as much loft as 16 and 19 degrees.
Angela Stanford turned a few heads on the LPGA by switching to a 12-degree driver this year. Ping, Stanford’s equipment sponsor, sells a 13.5-degree Rapture V2 driver.
>> Somewhat lost in the driver conversation was the fact that Woods also switched his irons for the Memorial. Although he had won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March with Nike Victory Red TW Blades, Woods went back to an older design, Nike Blades, for Memorial.
Woods used Nike Blades last summer in winning the U.S. Open. His irons at the Memorial were a new set of the older Nike Blades.
Woods had done more switching this year – new driver, new irons, new ball (Nike One Tour) – than ever before at the start of the season.
The Nike Blades are no longer in the Nike consumer lineup, although a few sets still might remain in golf shops.
>> Conventional wisdom tells us that skilled players should use heavier shafts in their fairway woods than they do in their drivers.
Woods fits that observation. His Nike SQ2 3-wood and 5-wood have 103-gram Diamana Blue Board shafts. His driver has an 83-gram Diamana White Board.
The Blue Board is softer than the White Board. Both shafts are from Mitsubishi Rayon.
>> Hot topic of conversation: Will Woods use the 5-wood at Bethpage Black during the U.S. Open?
Many observers think he will take out the 5-wood and replace it with a 2-iron to cope with narrow U.S. Open fairways.
>> How’s this for a catchy name? Aldila has a new shaft called the RIP.
RIP stands for reverse interlaminar positioning, which means the graphite shaft’s angle plies are on the outside.
At the Memorial,
Geoff Ogilvy used the RIP 80 in his Cobra S9-1 Pro D driver (10.5 degrees), and Steve Stricker was experimenting with a new Titleist driver with the same RIP shaft (although Stricker ended up playing the 8.5-degree Titleist 909D3 driver, with a UST Mamiya Proforce V2 86-gram shaft, that helped him win the Crowne Plaza Invitational the week before).
>> After years of placing little emphasis on wedges, TaylorMade is taking aim at wedge makers Titleist and Cleveland on the PGA Tour.
“We always intended to focus on wedges,” said Sean Toulon, TaylorMade vice president. “We knew it would take some time, because we had other projects.”
At the Memorial, Titleist ran away with the wedge count, with 133 in play. Cleveland finished second with 48, and TaylorMade had47.
Furthermore, LPGA winner
In-Kyung Kim used three TaylorMade rac wedges (48, 52 and 58 degrees).
>> Tiger Shark seems to be creating an identity as a jumbo putter-grip company.
K.J. Choi, who uses Tiger Shark’s SuperStroke grip, is the company’s most visible player. At the Memorial,
Matt Bettencourt contended while using a prototype white SuperStroke grip.
Bettencourt’s grip is a pure slip-on model. It weighs 85 grams and is expected to be available to consumers soon.
Rory Sabbatini used the mid-sized Tiger Shark putter grip in winning the HP Byron Nelson Championship in May.
>>
Ernie Els, who tied for eighth at Memorial, continues to show positive signs.
Els has been plagued by the putting demons, although he is a beneficiary of master puttermaker Dennis Wagner at Callaway Golf, who produced several custom Odyssey putters for the South African.
Still, Els finished first in greens in regulationcq at Memorial, but tied for 59th in total puttsgreens and was 52nd in putts per GIR.
Back in the 1990s, when Els says he was putting his best, he putted primarily with a Ping Anser.
– James Achenbach
Posted June 10
>> Need a testament for the new generation of adjustable drivers?
Kenny Perry switched into a TaylorMade R9 460 at the Crowne
Plaza Invitational at Colonial, and he managed to hit Colonial Country
Club’s 635-yard 11th hole in two.
“The first time I’ve been able to do that in 20 years,” Perry said.
On Monday of Colonial week, Perry spent two hours on a launch
monitor. TaylorMade clubmakers gave him two heads and four shafts (two
Fujikura, two Matrix). He settled on a 9.5-degree R9 460 head with an
X-flex Matrix Ozik XCon F7 M2 shaft.
Word from the TaylorMade trailer was that Perry’s ball speed picked up 4 mph with the new driver.
>> Using a Titleist 909D3 driver,
Steve Stricker tied for 15th in driving accuracy by hitting 64.3 percent of the fairways over 72 holes at Colonial.
The
Titleist 909D3 has developed a reputation as an anti-spin driver and is
ideal for players such as Stricker who normally produce more spin than
desired on their tee shots.
>> Stricker’s wedge lineup
reflects a configuration that is seen frequently on the PGA Tour. He
carries a 54-degree sand wedge and 60-degree lob wedge. Both are Vokey
Design wedges from Titleist.
The 54/60 combination makes sense. Among many skilled players, the
60-degree wedge has become the primary sand club for greenside bunkers.
The 54-degree wedge often is chosen for long bunker shots, although its
primary use is for three-quarter to full shots from the 95- to 115-yard
range. The 54, because it normally contains a generous amount of sole
bounce, is equally effective from the rough or fairway.
Stricker’s pitching wedge, from his set of Titleist 755 irons, has
48 degrees of loft, creating a 6-degree progression of 60/54/48. With
an emphasis on the short game, today’s golfers are paying close
attention to wedge progression.
>>
Jay Haas, who tied for 17th at the Principal Charity Classic, used three different drivers in three rounds.
Why? Because he is struggling to replace his favorite old Titleist
905R driver, which suffered a cracked head in April at the Liberty
Mutual Legends of Golf.
“Probably my favorite club in the bag,” Haas told the
Des Moines Register.
He began the Principal event with a Titleist 909D2 but missed six of 14 fairways. So he switched. And then he switched again.
“I’ve got four drivers in my trunk and another in my locker,” he
said. “Part of it is, I’m trying to compensate a little. I just don’t
know which way the driver is going. It’s not automatic yet.”
>>
Stewart Cink,
widely known as a devoted user of the belly putter, switched to a
conventional-length Nike prototype putter at the Crowne Plaza. He tied
for 22nd, averaging 28.5 putts per round.
>>
Rory Sabbatini,
who averaged 25.8 putts per round in winning the HP Byron Nelson
tournament, was using Tiger Shark’s UltraTac grip for only the fourth
week. For 72 holes at the Nelson, Sabbatini recorded 26 birdies. . . .
The three players in the Colonial playoff represented three companies
and played three different shafts: Stricker (Titleist) played Project
X,
Tim Clark (Srixon) had Rifle, and
Steve Marino (Cleveland) went with Dynamic Golf. All three shafts are products of True Temper. . . .
>> In winning the BMW PGA Championship on the PGA European Tour,
Paul Casey
found himself in a Project X dilemma. In the second round, while
hitting a shot on the 17th hole, he bent his 4-iron shaft around a tree.
The
shaft was an older version of the Project X shaft and is no longer
manufactured. Clubmakers in the Nike tour van were able to come up with
a replacement shaft . . . .
Kevin Johnson, winner of the
Nationwide Tour’s Rex Hospital Open, installed an Aldila VooDoo shaft
in his TaylorMade R7 Super Quad driver (8.5 degree) early in the week
and won for the first time since 2000. For the week, Aldila was No. 1
in total wood and hybrid counts on the PGA Tour and Nationwide Tour. .
. . There was little doubt about golf ball preference in the NCAA
Division I Golf Championships. Among the men, Titleist had 126 users
while no other ball totaled more than 16. Among the women, the margin
was even more convincing in favor of Titleist: 118-4.
– James Achenbach
Posted June 3
Toy Box Archive:• May 2009•
January-April 2009
Posted: 6/24/2009
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