Nike Golf staff players have had the company's VR irons for just a few weeks, but they have already totaled two international wins for the clubs. Charl Schwartzel earned the second at the Madrid Masters on Sunday.
"I switched to the new VR Forged TW Blades only three weeks ago and the results speak for themselves," said Schwartzel after his victory. "The irons offer me extra distance, excellent control and they feel consistent throughout the bag."
The first win for the VR line came on the Japan Tour when Toyokazu Fujishima won with the VR Forged Split Cavity irons.
Schwartzel's muscleback blades are made from 1025 forged carbon steel with a CNC milled face. Set to be released to the public on Nov. 1, the clubs have a thicker backpad and toe than Nike's original blades.
PING PUTTERS PLAY TOPS ON LPGA: In addition to having three staff pros place in the top four at the Longs Drugs Challenge, Ping also saw its putters take all four top spots at the event.
Winner In-Kyung Kim played a new iWi B60, earning the first Tour win for an iWi putter. Angela Stanford used a Karsten Series B60, Yani Tseng had a Redwood D66 and LPGA No. 1 Lorena Ochoa used her trusty Redwood ZB putter.
TAYLORMADE UPDATES: From TaylorMade's Tour Van there were the following reports this week: Eric Axley switched from Titleist wedges to rac Z TP wedges in 56 and 60 degrees, with Lego grind … Five players put the new Tour Preferred irons in the bag at the Valero Texas Open - Carlos Franco, Nathan Green, Dustin Johnson, Sean O'Hair and Bob Sowards … John Senden and Rod Pampling were fitted for the new clubs and plan to test them in Australia ... Peter Lonard used a new, shorter Rossa Daytona KiaMa putter ... Brandt Jobe was fitted for a new r7 SuperQuad ... David Toms continues to try new equipment, as he was fit for a new Burner 3-wood with more loft.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Prototype driver gets Sabbatini back in contention
This has been a tough year for Rory Sabbatini, who until last week's Valero Texas Open had not seen a top-10 finish since January. In San Antonio, Sabbatini finished tied for eighth - only after a disappointing final-round 72 that knocked him down from his Saturday 54-hole lead.
Sabbatini credited new equipment from Adams Golf for his good week.
"I've got a new Adams driver in the bag, new Adams 3-wood and we built them on Tuesday and each round I played with them and they're just performing better and better. I'm actually having fun being on the golf course," he said Saturday after shooting 63.
The clubs from Adams are prototypes of a new line that won't be released until next year. The Speedline series, currently known as prototype 3458-D, features an aerodynamic head shape, but the company isn't ready to release specifications yet.
Sabbatini had a 9.5-degree Speedline driver and a 16-degree fairway wood in addition to Adams Idea Pro Gold hybrids (18 and 20 degrees) and irons.
The South Africa native finished 16th in driving distance with an average 313.9 yards off the tee, and tied for 19th in driving accuracy, hitting 69.6 percent of fairways for the week.
"If you're hitting the driver and putting the drives in play you can actually make this course play pretty simply and I've been successful at doing that so far this week," he said of playing La Cantera.
Since January, Sabbatini has been an Adams staff player, but even before contracting with Adams, he played the company's hybrids in competition.
Sabbatini credited new equipment from Adams Golf for his good week.
"I've got a new Adams driver in the bag, new Adams 3-wood and we built them on Tuesday and each round I played with them and they're just performing better and better. I'm actually having fun being on the golf course," he said Saturday after shooting 63.
The clubs from Adams are prototypes of a new line that won't be released until next year. The Speedline series, currently known as prototype 3458-D, features an aerodynamic head shape, but the company isn't ready to release specifications yet.
Sabbatini had a 9.5-degree Speedline driver and a 16-degree fairway wood in addition to Adams Idea Pro Gold hybrids (18 and 20 degrees) and irons.
The South Africa native finished 16th in driving distance with an average 313.9 yards off the tee, and tied for 19th in driving accuracy, hitting 69.6 percent of fairways for the week.
"If you're hitting the driver and putting the drives in play you can actually make this course play pretty simply and I've been successful at doing that so far this week," he said of playing La Cantera.
Since January, Sabbatini has been an Adams staff player, but even before contracting with Adams, he played the company's hybrids in competition.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Notebook: Harrington switches drivers
Instead of using his usual Wilson Staff driver, Padraig Harrington had a Titleist 909 big stick in the bag at the Dunhill Links Championship.
It wasn't clear whether two-time British Open champ was trying the Titleist driver to fit the windy Scottish conditions or whether he is thinking of playing it regularly. He said that the driver had more loft than he usually plays - interesting because he noted he was striving to keep the ball down.
"With the driver, I've had a problem the last couple of years, but what I'm actually working on in my swing is bringing the ball back down," Harrington said. "I've gone to a 9 and a half-degree lofted driver where I won the two Opens with an 8 degree. So I've actually gone up in loft for what I'm working on.
"If you asked me to hit a normal swing, it would be up in the air.What I'm working more on the golf swing now is actually neutralising that flight and hitting more of a medium height and a little more spinning. That's why I have more loft than the driver, so instead of adding and trying to get a situation where I'm taking loft off the driver."
TOUR PREFERRED FINDING FANS: Several players in recent weeks have tried TaylorMade's newest Tour Preferred irons, including Turning Stone Resort Championship winner Dustin Johnson.
According to sources at TaylorMade, Johnson put the new Tour Preferred set - 3 through pitching wedge - into the bag for the first time last week after testing the clubs at a TaylorMade promotional shoot. He also liked, and used, the new Burner driver.
"Dustin was taken with them right away," said Keith Sbarbaro, TMaG's vice president of tour operations. "He loved the clean look of the Tour Preferred irons and their soft feel, and how they combine workability with great forgiveness. He left directly from our shoot to Turning Stone, and insisted on taking all the new clubs with him."
Sean O'Hair also gave the irons a try last week. Sergio Garcia is another big name to use the irons - he switched the week of the Tour Championship.
5-WOOD FITS CONDITIONS: Davis Love III put a Titleist 906F3 5-wood in the bag at Turning Stone instead of the new Titleist 585.H utility wood he has used recently.
"(I was) thinking after the practice round that we might get to hit a 5-wood at the par-5s. That's what I had it in for," Love said. "Turns out I only got hit it maybe once at a Par 5. The ball is not going -- I killed it off of 8 today and still had 270 front. It's just hard to get it there."
According to Love's website, the 5-wood has 18 degrees of loft and uses a UST Proforce V2 86-gram graphite shaft in X-flex.
Love also had a new Titleist 909D3 driver in the bag for the week, and averaged 291.3 yards off the tee for the week. That was fourth best in the field.
TAYLORMADE PUTTER NEWS: Last week a TaylorMade spokesman told Tour Van that Sergio Garcia was using a new Daytona putter by Kia Ma. Close, but not quite: Garcia actually had a Daytona No. 1 '07 Shot Pin with a solid face. Kia Ma made it special for Garcia, and it won't be available at retail.
In other putter news for the week, Jason Day used the company's Itsy Bitsy Monza Spider, Eric Axley and Jay Williamson switched to Rossa Monaco putter models and Sean O'Hair played a new Rossa Monza Corza.
It wasn't clear whether two-time British Open champ was trying the Titleist driver to fit the windy Scottish conditions or whether he is thinking of playing it regularly. He said that the driver had more loft than he usually plays - interesting because he noted he was striving to keep the ball down.
"With the driver, I've had a problem the last couple of years, but what I'm actually working on in my swing is bringing the ball back down," Harrington said. "I've gone to a 9 and a half-degree lofted driver where I won the two Opens with an 8 degree. So I've actually gone up in loft for what I'm working on.
"If you asked me to hit a normal swing, it would be up in the air.What I'm working more on the golf swing now is actually neutralising that flight and hitting more of a medium height and a little more spinning. That's why I have more loft than the driver, so instead of adding and trying to get a situation where I'm taking loft off the driver."
TOUR PREFERRED FINDING FANS: Several players in recent weeks have tried TaylorMade's newest Tour Preferred irons, including Turning Stone Resort Championship winner Dustin Johnson.
According to sources at TaylorMade, Johnson put the new Tour Preferred set - 3 through pitching wedge - into the bag for the first time last week after testing the clubs at a TaylorMade promotional shoot. He also liked, and used, the new Burner driver.
"Dustin was taken with them right away," said Keith Sbarbaro, TMaG's vice president of tour operations. "He loved the clean look of the Tour Preferred irons and their soft feel, and how they combine workability with great forgiveness. He left directly from our shoot to Turning Stone, and insisted on taking all the new clubs with him."
Sean O'Hair also gave the irons a try last week. Sergio Garcia is another big name to use the irons - he switched the week of the Tour Championship.
5-WOOD FITS CONDITIONS: Davis Love III put a Titleist 906F3 5-wood in the bag at Turning Stone instead of the new Titleist 585.H utility wood he has used recently.
"(I was) thinking after the practice round that we might get to hit a 5-wood at the par-5s. That's what I had it in for," Love said. "Turns out I only got hit it maybe once at a Par 5. The ball is not going -- I killed it off of 8 today and still had 270 front. It's just hard to get it there."
According to Love's website, the 5-wood has 18 degrees of loft and uses a UST Proforce V2 86-gram graphite shaft in X-flex.
Love also had a new Titleist 909D3 driver in the bag for the week, and averaged 291.3 yards off the tee for the week. That was fourth best in the field.
TAYLORMADE PUTTER NEWS: Last week a TaylorMade spokesman told Tour Van that Sergio Garcia was using a new Daytona putter by Kia Ma. Close, but not quite: Garcia actually had a Daytona No. 1 '07 Shot Pin with a solid face. Kia Ma made it special for Garcia, and it won't be available at retail.
In other putter news for the week, Jason Day used the company's Itsy Bitsy Monza Spider, Eric Axley and Jay Williamson switched to Rossa Monaco putter models and Sean O'Hair played a new Rossa Monza Corza.
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