The biggest club in your bag doesn’t have to be the heaviest weapon in your arsenal.
The driver, the big dog of the golf cues, is losing weight without sacrificing power. At least that’s the story with the latest versions offered by Cleveland and TaylorMade.
“The DTS driver from Cleveland is 25 grams lighter than most drivers. It’s under 300 grams in total weight, including the shaft,” says Red Deer Discount Golf Centre manager/owner Dave Hoppe. “For the average guy that’s going to lead to more clubhead speed, which equals more distance.”
As for the TaylorMade SuperFast . . .
“Same thing,” Hoppe adds. “Actually the SuperFast is the lightest one out there. And by going to a longer shaft you can get more clubhead speed and more potential distance.”
Meanwhile, the Nike VR driver has a new twist, with the focus again on helping the common swinger — as well as the scratch player — propel the ball further down the fairway.
“The VR has added a compression channel so the clubhead literally compresses to give you a little more reaction with the ball,” says Hoppe. “Again, it’s built for distance.
“And Nike is again using the straight-fit technology in the VR, where you can open and close the clubhead at will with a wrench (from the bottom of the shaft). You set it up how you want.”
Meanwhile, Callaway has introduced a driver — the FT Tour — aimed at the low-handicap player.
“There is that better player who looks for that club that is more traditional and is actually less forgiving and has more workability,” said Golf Town manager Randy Brown. “The FT Tour has a longer hozzle and the clubhead is actually smaller — 440cc instead of 460 — and the shaft is a little heavier, which gets the launch angle down and gives the club more workability. It’s good to see some better technology for the low-handicap player.”
Irons
• The Callaway Diablo Edge is a forgiving, high-distance club with the sets including three and four hybrids, while the Diablo Edge Forge, according to Brown, is “the first forged club that’s a game-improvement club.”
The Diablo Edge Forge is best suited to the five- to 20-handicap player, whereas forged clubs are usually built for the single-digit handicapper.
• The TaylorMade SuperLaunch is designed to be more forgiving while offering extra distance.
“It’s a lighter-weight, thin-faced distance club . . . high launching with a light shaft. Even though it’s steel it’s no more than 85 grams in weight,” says Hoppe.
• The Ping G15 has wide sole with a thin face.
“It’s kind of like the Diablo, but it does offer little more workability. The short irons are easier to work the ball and the set progresses into more game improvement in the longer irons. It’s kind of a transitional set,” says Brown.
• The Titleist MB is a muscle-back forged club, while the CB is a full set of cavity-back forgings.
“These are beautiful slim-line clubs with the old blade face,” says Brown.
• The Nike Machspeed is a thin-faced club that gets the ball airborne in a hurry and gives plenty of length.
• Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but few would disagree with the notion that Cleveland’s CG7 Black Pearl and CG7 Tour Black Pearl clubs are extremely picturesque.
“These irons have lasered middle grooves — grooves between the grooves — which really grab the ball and create more spin,” says Brown. “And with the attractive black pearl finish, they look very sharp.”
• And now for something completely different . . . the Wilson D-FY irons feature shafts that are half graphite, half steel.
“The design gives you stability down low and takes weight out of the top half of the shaft, giving you more distance,” said Brown.
The set comes with hybrids.
• The Adams A7 OS Max clubs are also unique.
“It’s almost like a whole set of hybrids,” says Brown. “Even the short irons are wide. They’re wide, but they’re hollow inside so they’re not heavy. With the wide sole, the sweet spot of the club face is expanded.”
The A7 set has three and four hybrids, with the six-iron to pitching wedge designed with a standard cavity back.
“The five-iron is kind of a transition club,” says Brown. “The club is hollow so you’re transitioning from a cavity back to a hybrid. Again, it’s more game improvement.”
• The Mizuno MP series feature titanium insets and the clubs are lighter than ever.
“Basically, it’s a full cavity club without looking like a full cavity,”” says Brown.
Putters
• The Odyssey White Ice, with a multi-layer insert, is 20 per cent firmer than the previous edition and 92 per cent stiffer for better resiliency.
“Because it’s firmer, you get more feel and that’s going to allow you to probably have more distance control,” says Hoppe. “Also, they’ve made the face rougher. By doing that there’s little more friction between the clubhead and the ball. That gives you more topspin.”
• The Nike Method Milled has new groove technology on the fact, helping the ball to propel without any backspin or skip.
“When you putt the ball it actually skips and backspins at first. These grooves help to rectify that and get the ball rolling,” says Brown.
• The TaylorMade Spyder has a similar design — a composite face with grooves.
• The Callaway Backstryke has a unique design, with the shaft at the back of the club face.
“It looks pretty bizarre, but it’s effective. The club face in the back gets the ball rolling right away with less skipping,” says Brown.
Balls
• The TaylorMade Penta features unique technology.
“When people are chipping or just trying to put spin on the ball — pretty much to generate more speed — they have to put more clubhead speed on it,” says Hoppe. “However, with this five-piece ball — the first five-piece ball ever made — you in fact get more spin from swinging slower.
“So if you’re chipping and you want to get that little extra spin on the ball, you can still do a nice, realistic chipping stroke, a normal stroke, as opposed to having to add that little extra to it that can often turn into disaster. It’s a great ball.”
• The Callaway Tour ix and is series features hexagon dimples.
“It’s a really straight ball even though it spins,” says Brown.
• The new Bridgestone RX has a softer core for the slower swinger, but still has the spin that good players generate.
gmeachem@www.reddeeradvocate.com