Golfweek

PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Bobby Grace waved a putter shaft in front of a few interested observers on the putting green at The Transitions Championship on March 17.

“You know, this here putter, second place last week,” he said, beaming with pride.

Except Grace, who is selling putters independently after stints with both Cobra and MacGregor, wasn’t bragging about his latest and greatest invention. He held the Fat Lady Swings, the same mallet-head model that Zimbabwe’s Nick Price won a bunch of majors with in the early 1990s.

It’s another Southern hemisphere golfer wielding Grace’s flatstick to great effect. Grace was speaking of South African Charl Schwartzel, who finished second at the WGC-CA Championship at Doral. Schwartzel’s done even better than that with the Fat Lady. As the story goes, Schwartzel borrowed the putter from his father’s bag and immediately won consecutive European Tour events in his homeland in January.

In a day and age where it seems you’re told your clubs are obsolete within six months, I found it refreshing to see a clubmaker take such pride in the success of an oldie but a goodie.

Ernie Els is a big guy, and big guys often have trouble getting comfortable when they putt. So what changes has The Big Easy made to again look so relaxed over his putts? In winning at Doral, he averaged only 26.8 putts per round.

First, Els shortened his putter 1 1/2 inches. The Odyssey White Ice No. 5 he used at Doral was 35 inches, considerably less than the 36 1/2-inch putters he has used in the past.

Els is being tutored by South African golf professional Marius Filmalter, whose research was instrumental in the development of two widely used electronic putting analyzers – the SAM (Science and Motion) and the TOMI (The Optical Motion Instructor).

“We changed his posture quite a bit,” said Filmalter, reached by phone after his pupil romped at Doral. “All the tall guys need to putt a little bit different from the short guys. They tend to lose connection.”

Els bends at the waist more than in the past. The putter shaft and his arms are in a straight line. And his putter is lighter.

“Longer putters tend to be really heavy,” Filmalter said, “and then it’s not the easiest thing to ...

INDIO, Calif. – I just played an 18-hole round of golf on a fabulous golf course, but I can’t post the score.

Why? Because on every green I aimed at an enlarged cup – a large, eye-catching, rubber target called the Big Cup.

So what’s up here? The Big Cup is placed on top of a regulation cup and essentially doubles the size of the hole. It conclusively demonstrates the influence of putting on the final score, and it also serves as a wonderful practice aid for lag putting.

I played at The Plantation Golf Club here in Indio with Rob O’Loughlin, inventor of the Big Cup. Also joining us was my good friend Chuck Carroll, who works at PGA Tour events for the Darrell Survey as a golf equipment surveyor.

O’Loughlin flew to the desert after a winter in Madison, Wisc., so he couldn’t hit the side of a barn with a 20-foot putt. Meanwhile, Carroll plays right-handed and hits 300-yard drives, but he putts left-handed and can’t make a six-foot putt.

So I emerged as the champion putter of the day. Where was the R & A’s Peter Dawson with my Claret Jug, anyway ...

Odyssey Backstryke 2-Ball

The skinny: The Backstryke alignment system exposes the entire putter face with no visual interference from the shaft. Furthermore, the shaft has a forward lean that allows a player to use a hands-forward position without delofting the putter. Padraig Harrington already is using this putter.

Cost: $199

Available: April 15

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Frankly Frog Blade

The skinny: The Frankly Frog Blade is the newest putter from Frank Thomas, former longtime technical director of the U.S. Golf Association. The Blade, with a much smaller head than the Original Frog or the Mid Mallet Frog, is designed to appeal to skilled players.

Cost: $199

Available: Immediate

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Bettinardi BB32

The skinny: Bob Bettinardi has a reputation for starting with classic designs and ending up with stylish modern putters. The BB32 is no exception. It is a pear-shaped mallet with a generous flange for maximum perimeter weighting. The putter is made with a “spud” neck and double-bend shaft.

Cost: MSRP $265

Available: March 15

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Yar GX1

The skinny: The GX1 was designed in Tempe, Ariz., by physicist Essay Anne Vanderbilt. The putter head is neither face-balanced nor toe-down, but hangs with a heel-down orientation. Says Ed Gowan, executive director of the Arizona ...

The knock on Sergio Garcia the past few seasons has been his putting, and he put another new putter in play at the Honda Classic: a TaylorMade Rossa Daytona by Kia Ma with an all-milled face and no insert.

TaylorMade technicians filled the weight ports with their heaviest weights and created 3 degrees of loft. Garcia averaged 29.3 putts per round at the Honda Classic, good for a T-29 rank in putting average. He tied for 50th at 5-over 285.

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All in the family: Sam Saunders used a new Callaway FT Tour driver (8.5 degree) at the Honda. Callaway tour reps said he picked up 4 mph of ball speed on the range. On the course, he backed that up with a 302.1-yard driving average, fifth-longest in the field.

Saunders is the grandson of Arnold Palmer, who has been a Callaway staffer since 2000. Saunders tied for second in putting average with his Odyssey White Hot 2-Ball putter. He also used three new Callaway X-Forged wedges (52, 56 and 60 degrees) on his way to a T-17 finish, his best on the PGA Tour.

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Developing talent: Unknown to many golf fans is the existence of TaylorMade’s ...

DORAL, Fla. – While the USGA, PGA Tour and Ping were distributing news releases claiming the grooves issue as settled after Ping agreed to a waiver of the pre-March 31, 1990 rule, it turns out that may not be the case across all of golf.

According to the U.S. Golf Association, Ping Eye2 irons manufactured before March 31, 1990, may be used in these USGA events in 2010:

• Local (1st stage) qualifying for the U.S. Open;

• U.S. Women’s Open and U.S. Senior Open, including their qualifiers;

• All USGA amateur championships;

• Curtis Cup match.

For future amateur events, the USGA intends to implement the new grooves condition no later than 2014.

It is unclear whether Ping will grant a waiver to the USGA to modify (such as the U.S. Open) the condition of competition prohibiting the use of Ping Eye2 irons manufactured before March 31, 1990.

Clearly, there are still some issues left to sort out.

Modern materials and designs have made golf bags more durable and stylish than ever.

Whether they are cart bags or carry bags, today’s innovative bags have a multitude of personalities to match the dispositions and needs of the golfers who buy them.

Here are some of the most interesting bags for 2010:

Titleist s82 Staff Bag

The skinny: This large, eye-catching product is a genuine staff bag. It is a so-called “billboard bag,” with the Titleist name prominently displayed. The bag’s durability is enhanced by its ballistic polypropylene material.

Cost: MSRP $310

Available: Immediate

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TaylorMade TMX carry bag

The skinny: This is a carry version of TaylorMade’s staff bag. Its most exciting feature is a pivot shoulderstrap setup that adapts for different size shoulders. The bag is made of synthetic leather, with molded side pieces. Features the TaylorMade logo and a handy external snap-on system for items such as cell phones or rangefinders.

Cost: MSRP $289

Available: April 1

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Sun Mountain C-130 cart bag

The skinny: This sturdy bag is available in a multitude of collegiate team colors. It has two full-length clothing pockets among its nine total pockets. Three lift-assist handles make it easy to transport ...

Hunter Mahan, a Ping staff player, did not use an original Eye2 wedge in winning the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

He carried a 59-degree Eye2 “Dot” wedge with new 2010 grooves.

The “Dot” wedge was manufactured between April 1, 1990, and September 1990, when the Eye2+ was introduced.

All original Eye2 irons and wedges manufactured before April 1, 1990, have been grandfathered for play by the USGA (but not the R&A). The Eye2 “Dot” clubs, which followed the Eye2 model, were not grandfathered and must contain new grooves if used on the professional tours.

So Ping technicians constructed Mahan’s wedge by taking a blank Eye2 “Dot” lob wedge head and cutting new grooves in it. Furthermore, master craftsman Lou Beebe welded a hunk of metal to the sole of the wedge and then ground the sole for Mahan.

The object was to add 3 degrees of bounce, to 15 degrees total. This increased bounce helped offset the tendency of the ball to slide up the clubface because of the new grooves, which don’t grip the ball as much as the old grooves.

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Winning week for Aldila: Aldila won the wood and hybrid shaft manufacturer counts at Phoenix ...

Each year the PGA Merchandise Show is full of little surprises, and invariably several are in the category of putting aids.

Here are three putting aids that appeared to captivate attendees at the expo held last month in Orlando, Fla.

Of the three, only one, RoboCup (www.finetunegolf.com), hit the retail market before the PGA Show. The other two, Big Cup (www.bigcupgolf.net) and Ball of Steel (www.eyelinegolf.com), received no advance publicity and were complete surprises.

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Big Cup

The skinny: This is the newest creation of Rob O’Loughlin, former CEO of SoftSpikes and current president of rangefinder manufacturer Laser Link. Big Cup essentially doubles the size of the cup. Big Cup has a raised ridge around its circumference, forcing a golfer to generate enough speed to propel a ball up and over the ridge.

This optimum speed, according to inventor O’Loughlin, is equal to a putt that would roll 15 inches past the hole.

Cost: $27.95

Available: March 1

Ball of Steel

The skinny: This ball weighs a half-pound, or five times the weight of an ordinary golf ball. It is designed to help develop a compact, accelerating, authoritative putting stroke. Hit the ...

Hunter Mahan (PGA Tour – Waste Management Phoenix Open)

Driver: Ping Rapture V2 (10.5 degree with a Ping TFC700D X-flex proprietary shaft made by UST Mamiya)

Fairway wood: Ping i15 3-wood (15.5 degree with an UST Mamiya ATTAS International Series 8X shaft)

Hybrid: Ping i15 (17 degree with a UST Mamiya V2 89 hybrid shaft)

Irons: Ping S-57 (3-PW with True Temper Dynamic Gold shafts)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design Spin Milled (54 degree), Ping Eye2 “Dot” (59 degree)

Putter: Ping iWi D66

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

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Ai Miyazato (LPGA – HSBC Champions)

Driver: Bridgestone Tour Stage X-Drive prototype (9.5 degree with Graphite Design Tour AD shaft)

Fairway wood: Bridgestone Tour Stage X-Drive 701 3-wood (15 degree with Graphite Design Tour AD shaft)

Hybrids: Bridgestone Tour Stage F-UT #3 and Tour Stage X-UT 101w #3 and #4

Irons: Bridgestone Tour Stage X-Blade GR C-1 (5-PW)

Wedges: Bridgestone Tour Stage X-Wedge 101lb (52 and 58 degree)

Putter: Odyssey White Hot XG Teron

Ball: Bridgestone Tour Stage X-01G+

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Fran Quinn (Nationwide Tour – Panama Championship)

Driver: TaylorMade R9 460 (9.5 degree with Aldila VooDoo XVS7 shaft)

Fairway wood: TaylorMade Burner 3-wood (14.5 degree with Aldila NV Proto 75 shaft)

Hybrid: TaylorMade ...

Pat Perez changed the shafts on his irons, returned to an old putter and changed back to a conventional putting grip this week.

Is that all?

“Just those (three) things,” he said with a laugh.

The results, so far, have been impressive.

Perez shares the early clubhouse lead at 9 under during the second round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

Looking to shake things up this week, Perez switched to KBS shafts in his TaylorMade TP irons.

“They keep the ball down a little bit lower, which I like,” he said.

That was a minor change compared to his putting game. Fed up with his inconsistency on the green, Perez benched an Odyssey putter and grabbed an 8-year-old Scotty Cameron Del Mar putter he used in his early days on Tour.

The most drastic change of all? Perez abandoned the cross-handed grip he typically uses and tried putting with a conventional grip for the first time in four years at the suggestion of his coach, Mike Abbott.

“(Abbott) said, ‘You need to get your head behind the ball and you need to get squared up,’ “ said Perez, explaining that his head was too far forward with a cross-handed grip ...

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Pistol Pete won’t be firing on all cylinders this week at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

That’s because Rickie Fowler damaged his “gamer” driver with the flashy Oklahoma State-orange and black shaft and school mascot.

Fowler said he recently backed up his car and drove over his golf travel case. The Mitsubishi Rayon shaft of his Titleist 909 D2 driver was the only club injured in the accident, he said.

Fowler is a long time user of the Mitsubishi Diamana Whiteboard shaft (he uses the 73x). After going through the process of getting NCAA permission to use the school mark and mascot emblem and manufacturing the shaft in Japan, the company surprised Fowler with the driver last month. He started using it at the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego. Fowler said he would go back to his old driver (same specs) without Pistol Pete this week.

The good news: Mitsubishi made “a dozen or so,” according to Stacey Benvenuto, Mitsubishi’s brand marketing manager, and said Fowler will have a new one in no time.

It looks like Pistol Pete will ride again.

Finding the perfect putter takes time. Just ask Ian Poulter, who used a Rife putter to win the Accenture Match Play Championship.

Poulter first picked up a Rife putter on Monday of the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. He asked for several modifications, and Rife produced a Poulter-ized putter at a shop in San Diego. The putter had a Rife Antigua head with a custom plumber’s neck hosel.

Poulter tried the new putter at Torrey. The next month, though, it was out of his bag. He wanted a clickier sound and harder feel.

So Rife technicians changed the spacing of the grooves on the Antigua face; they also altered one of the alignment lines because Poulter likes to address the ball closer to the heel. In addition, they added tungsten plugs for more weight. He put it back in his bag at New Orleans in April 2009.

Rife will introduce a faithful reproduction of Poulter’s putter called the Aruba ($149.95) within three months.

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The rest of Poulter’s bag: Cobra ZL driver (9.5 degree, Fujikura 6.0 Motore Speeder X shaft), Titleist 909F2 3-wood (13.5 degree with Fujikura Rombax 7X07 shaft), 906F2 5-wood ...

There are no steel driver shafts on the PGA Tour, yet almost every player on the Tour uses steel shafts in his irons.

Graphite shafts own the driver, fairway wood and hybrid markets – where lightweight graphite can provide additional distance – but heavier steel iron shafts provide balance, feel, consistency, distance control, durability and cost effectiveness.

Imagine the loneliness of Matt Kuchar, who is leading a one-man graphite shaft parade among top PGA Tour players. Kuchar uses Aerotech SteelFiber graphite shafts in his irons.

Traditional steel shafts such as Dynamic Gold weigh about 125 grams after trimming. Nippon recently introduced a new extra-heavy steel shaft with raw weights in the 132- to 139-gram range, although it will dip into the high 120s after trimming.

Graphite iron shafts can be beefed up with an overall weight equal to steel, but consistency from shaft to shaft has long been a question mark. Graphite shaft manufacturers say their iron shafts are the equal of steel, but most PGA Tour players show no indication of switching.

And when they do change shafts, they tend to stick with steel. Ernie Els and Robert Allenby switched to KBS steel shafts, designed by Kim Braly, who also created ...

Coming out of the PGA Merchandise Show, I had wedges on my mind.

I heard Cleveland Golf declare 2010 to be “The Year of the Wedge.”

I heard Bob Vokey say Titleist had sold six million wedges with his name on them.

I heard Lee Miller, CEO of Feel Golf, talk about wedges as if they were his children.

In regard to the new wedges and new grooves being used on the professional tours in 2010, consider this: We the amateurs of the world might actually become better wedge players with these smaller grooves.

Forget the loss of backspin. Reduced spin can be a good thing. Wedge shots might be more consistent – no more coming up short because of too much spin.

From the fairway, smaller grooves tend to produce a shot that sits down rather than spins. From the rough, the ball simply won’t stop, although judging runout is something most golfers can accomplish reasonably well.

However, most of us don’t have to worry about this until 2024. Touring pros are affected this year, and elite amateurs will convert in 2014 for their biggest and most important competitions. The switchover for the entire world of golf won ...