New Info on the Titleist 910D2 and 910D3 Drivers

Two models of driver launch Nov 15 - Titleist 910 D2 and 910 D3 

• Both deliver total performance with improvements in flight, fit, looks, feel and sound 
• Longer with more control featuring a fast face design and high performance weight distribution for increased stability 
• Innovative SureFit Tour dual-angle hosel allows loft and lie to be independently adjusted and set for increased distance and improved shot control 
• 910 D2 - 460cc, classic pear-shaped driver that produces mid / high launch with medium / low spin 
• 910 D3 - 445cc, classic pear-shaped driver that produces mid launch with medium / low spin 
• SureFit Tour enables ball flight optimisation - new hosel technology delivers optimal ball flight through adjustability for higher or lower launch and for more draw or fade 
• The patented SureFit Tour hosel features a sleeve and ring design which rotates quickly and easily to provide 16 unique loft and lie combinations to achieve a more precise fit 
• Multiple stock and custom shaft options allow the shaft to be fit for maximum ball speed and preferred feel 
• Both drivers, and the rest of the 910 family, feature a precision sole weight, directly in line with the club's CG, to provide superior stability and adjustability

• Fairways and hybrids launch Jan 3

• 910 fairway metals use two distinctly different head designs in the two models - 910F and 910 FD 
• 910F is a versatile, high performance fairway metal that delivers from the turf or the tee 
• 910Fd is a larger volume, deep face fairway metal that provides enhanced performance and confidence off the tee 
• Both feature a redesigned trapezoidal face insert developed specifically for fairway metals to generate longer distance 
• Again, both feature the patented SureFit Tour hosel technology

• 910H (Hybrid) generates higher launch with less spin for greater control and consistency 
• 910H is a versatile, progressive family of hybrids designed to perform in a wide range of turf conditions 
• Sloped, ultra-thin crown design and on-axis rear weight screw create a low and deep CG for increased stability and speed through the turf 
• Full profile with a more square-shaped toe aids alignment

• Titleist 910 drivers already successful on the world's major tours - Ross Fisher wins the 3 Irish Open with a 910 driver in the bag and Charley Hoffman secures the Deutsche Bank Championship using a 910 driver 
• Three other victories in Canada and South Africa confirm the credentials of the new driver 
• 910 drivers are now in play by close to 100 worldwide tour players

New Ping Wedges

Ping Tour-S Wedge Review By Julia Norman Golf Professional

The Ping Tour-S wedge is the new wedge for Ping. It is a traditional teardrop shaped head which sits nicely behind the ball. As manufacturers will not be able to sell non-conforming groove wedges after 2010, the Ping Tour-S wedge does have conforming grooves. 

There are two colour options, either brushed chrome or a rustic head. The rustic head comes in 52, 56 and 60 degree and the chrome comes in 47, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 58 /TS, 60, 60/TS and 64 degree. All options come in varying degrees of bounce to accommodate all types of players and courses.

The benefits of the Tour-S wedge is that it is a forgiving wedge, this is due to more weight around the edge of the club. This means if a player hits a ‘fat’ there will be more give in the shot. 

I tried the 56 degree and found a nice weight and feel to the wedge. I use the old Ping MB wedges which I love but the strike on the new Tour-S wedge felt more solid and consistent. 

Mizuno Waterproof Review

Mizuno Golf Waterproofs Review

If you re looking for a waterproof suit this winter, the Mizuno Impermalite may be the one for you.

Having worn this suit for the last two years myself, I have found it extremely comfortable and, most importantly, dry.

With the jacket s 10,000 mm waterproofing and great breathability it performs well on cold or warm days - ideal for unpredictable weather - and its detachablesleeves make for a great jacket in Spring or Autumn. It has a very soft collar which is comfortable when zipped to the top and the adjustable velcro cuffs andvelcro waist-tabs make it suitable to be fitted to your own personal shape.

The jackets four colours are white/charcoal, sky/black, black/white and the famous Tour colour of blue/white.

The Impermalite trouser has the same qualities as the jacket and it s fly-zip, poppers and tie waist make it easy to put on. It also benefits from a zipped lower leg opening making it easy to slip your golf shoes through.

The suits range from small to XXL

Ross Troake, PGA Golf Professional

September 2010

Greg Normans House For Sale

Greg Norman's house Tranquility, see picture is on the market for $65 million. The house is on 8.04 acres on Jupiter Island, FL, has 172 feet of ocean front and 370 feet on the Intracoastal Waterway. The property includes six buildings, which includes garage space for 17 cars.

I'll go to the building society tomorrow and see what sort of mortgage I can get.

Is anyone bothered?

It seems incredible that a sporting event with $10 Million prize fund is seemingly going to air unnoticed?That seems to be the case with the FedEx Cup final that is coming to a climax this evening

I know the "Playoffs" were created as a means to create interest in the Tour after the PGA Championship, but it isn't working at least not for me. Seeing golf pros play for an obscene amount of money while the last of the 4 majors was held about a month ago seems contrived and forced. 

Even NBC doesn't seem to care about the event. Saturday's third round tee times were moved up so NBC could televise Notre Dame football.  I'd probably show Notre Dame vs Stanford instead if I were them too. The golf equipment manufactures must be pulling there hair out when they announce the move in the time slot effecting the adverts that they would have planned for prime time

When Tiger Woods did not qualify it seemed like the whole golf world turned off. Phil Mickelson has yet another chance to become world number one however thsi will be his 12th attempt and you have to say that the golfing world does not have a stand out number one golfer at the moment as nobody wants to take this role.

I'll see who wins, but I think I'll stick to watching football this weekend. MI'm sure the Ryder Cup will be a more exciting event to watch.

US Ryder Cup Outfit

Is this real?

I read in a recent blog that Corey Pavin has selected his Ryder Cup team uniform and this can be seen in the picture. If this picture is the real team outfit I actually really like it.

When you look back at the bright and flashy outfits that the team have worn in the past it is quite refreshing to see a slightly classy look and quite retro.

All will be revealed in a couple of weeks time and it will be good to see both teams outfits. I do hope the European team wear the new Galvin Green waterproofs

Lara Get's a Blonde Sandwich

Lara wins the Austrian Open

That's Spain's Jose Manuel Lara getting congratulatory kisses from the lovely hostesses of the European Tour's Austrian Open, which Lara won in a playoff.

He looks slightly embarrassed by the posse at his side and I expect he will have to answer to his wife when he get's home.

Well done to Lara who has struggled with his form recently and it was great to see him in the winners circle. Lara plays Wilson Golf Equipment

A Good Weekend For TaylorMade

A Good Weekend For TaylorMade

It's a proud moment for any company when they get a "W" at the weekend however it was a double "W" last weekend for taylor made as Tour players Martin Kaymer (KLM) and Dustin Johnson (FedEx) both won using taylorMade last Sunday and the great thing for TM is that the players had a virtual full house of the TaylorMade range in the bag. The new TaylorMade Penta ball seems to be getting a few wins and it is certainly catching up with the Titleist Pro V1

In Dustin Johnson’s bag

Driver: TaylorMadeR9 Driver (10.5°) 
Fairway Woods: TaylorMade R9 fairway (15°) and TaylorMade R9 fairway (19°)

Irons: TaylorMade R9 TP (3-9)

Wedges: TaylorMade xFT ZTP (48°), TP xFT ZTP (54°) and TP xFT ZTP (60°)

Putter: Scotty Cameron by Titleist
Golf Balls: TaylorMade Penta TP

Shoes: adidas Golf adiPURE

In Martin Kaymer’s bag

Driver: TaylorMade R9 SuperTri (8.5°)

Fairway Woods: TaylorMade R9 3-wood (13°) and TaylorMade Burner 5-wood (17.5°)

Irons: TaylorMade rac MB (3-PW)

Wedges: TaylorMade rac SW (54°) and TaylorMade TP xFT LW (58°)

Putter: PING Karsten Anser 2
Golf Balls: TaylorMade Penta TP

Titleist Pro V1 v TaylorMade Penta

Titleist Pro V1 v TaylorMade Penta

PENTA v PRO V

I have been a Pro V man for as long as i can remember, I found it had great feel around the greens and good length of the tee.Well I'm now on the verge of switching! why?. well Taylor made have bought out the The TaylorMade Penta TP.

I have been playing with this ball for a bout 2 weeks now and what a ball it is, it has great feel of the clubface from tee to green and durable well im still playing with the same ball, which if i am being truefull would not probably happen with the Pro V. 

So what has  turned this Pro V lover to what can be described as the dark side!!.

 1.The cover (layer 1) of the Penta promotes a higher than average spin rate for those shots around the 100 yard mark and this gives the launch a slightly lower and more controllable ball flight which allows the ball to stop pretty quick (after 1 or 2 bouces)

2. slower swingers of the club can benefit from the under cover of the ball (layer 2), this means greater ball speed can be generated and greater distance achieved.

3.The middle mantle (layer 3) helps the ball from ballooning of the clubface in those middle irons so again gaining distance and not loosing it.

4.The inner mantle (layer 4) this layer surrounds the core of the ball and promotes a high launch and soft feel for those long irons, which is always a good thing if you ask me.if we can hit higher and more controlled long irons you can make the game a little easier.

5.The core (layer 5) plays a huge part in higher launch and lower spin rate of the driver, so for those golfers who do swing at 100mph or more and lets be honest there aren't many of us out there this will increase your distance of the tee. I personally have seen an improvement of about 10 to 12 yards which in club  use means I was hitting one less club into the green and I'm loving that.

If I was giving the Penta a grade I would say it is definatly B+ going on A. I'm sorry to say it but I think the Titleist Pro V1 has some serious competition. If you don't belive me try it, you will be very surprised..

Review by

Jason Fullard

PGA Golf Professional.

More Spy News

KEEPING YOU UP TO DATE AND CURRENT 

Followers of the Callaway Golf Company will have plenty of items to look at  in the year ahead as the company has several new product offerings yet to come. Golfwrx.com has pictures of the new Odyssey putter line up coming. to see. Also on the club side of the ledger, the company has Callaway RAZRHAWK Driver and the Octane / Octane Tour metal woods to consider as well as two new irons - the Forged RAZR X Irons and the RAZR X-Tour Irons. In the wedge department there is the Callaway Jaws X-Series wedges.

I have seen quite a few pictures of these clubs however I have yet to see one in the flesh however in the next month or so we will be viewing the whole new Callaway Golf line up. The New TaylorMade Burner 2.0 Irons have now been fully released and they certainly look good and I think they could be one of the strong sellers for next year.

Hoffman and Kaymer Make it a double for Taylor Made

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

It was a great week for TaylorMade as Dustin Johnson and Martin Kaymer both won using TaylorMade golf equipment. Dustin, who has quickly become the feel good story of the year after turning heartbreak into triumph, used the R9 driver (10.5 degrees of loft), two fairway woods (15 and 19 degrees of loft) along with the R9 TP irons. Johnson carried three TaylorMade TP xFT ZTP wedges (48, 54 and 60 degrees) along with the Penta TP ball for his win.

Martin Kaymer went with the R9 SuperTri driver (8.5 degrees of loft), R9 3-wood (13 degrees), Burner 5-wood (17.5 degrees), rac MB (3-iron through PW), rac SW (54 degrees), TP xFT lob wedge (58 degrees) as well as the Penta TP ball.

TaylorMade  have now been played in 42 victories on worldwide tours in 2010, more than any other brand. The two victories over the weekend marked the 16th and 17th worldwide for TaylorMade Penta TP.

May, Should, Must, A Ball, and the Ball

One of the golf equipment and rules blogs that I subscribe to is by Barry Rhodes and he wrote a nice piece recently about the rules of golf and some great points for you to be aware of and I thought I would share with you.

There is a very useful warning in the opening pages of the Rule book;
The Rule book is written in a very precise and deliberate fashion.

You should be aware of and understand the following differences in word use:
• “may” (e.g. the player may cancel the stroke) means the action is optional
• “should” (e.g. the marker should check the score) means the action is recommended but is not mandatory
• “must” (e.g. the player’s clubs must conform) means it is an instruction and there is a penalty if it is not carried out
• “a ball” (e.g. drop a ball behind the point) means you may substitute another ball (e.g. Rules 26, 27 and 28)
• “the ball” (e.g. the player must lift the ball and drop it) means you must not substitute another ball (e.g. Rules 24-2 and 25-1)

The more that you get to understand the Rules the more you will appreciate the relevance of the above advice. Here are some more instances of where some of the above words are relevant;

May – Except when their ball is in a water hazard or a lateral water hazard, a player may take relief from interference by an abnormal ground condition, such as casual water or ground under repair, without penalty (Rule 25-1b). However, unless there is a Local Rule specifying otherwise, the player may also play the ball as it lies.

Should - The responsibility for playing the proper ball rests with the player. Each player should put an identification mark on his ball (Rule 12-2). So, it is not mandatory to put a mark on your Titleist Pro V1s, but please take my advice and never play a ball that you have not put your personalized identification mark on; you will undoubtedly save many strokes over a season by not playing ‘wrong balls’.

Must – be careful if a Local Rule says that you must take relief from staked trees. If you think that your ball is in a good lie under the staked tree and then touch any part of the tree with your next stroke you incur the general penalty of two strokes in stroke play or loss of hole in match play, because you have not taken full relief from it as required by the Local Rule.

A Ball – You may deem your ball unplayable anywhere on the course, except in a water hazard, and it is solely your judgment, no-one can challenge you that your ball is playable. Rule 28 provides three options for relief, all of them under penalty of one stroke. Each of these options refers to the fact that a ball is to be dropped. In other words the player may continue play with a different ball from the one that they deem unplayable. The obvious reason for this is that although the player may be able to identify their ball in its unplayable situation (e.g. in a cactus bush or out of reach up a tree), it might not be reasonable for them to retrieve it without difficulty or delay. However, a player may substitute their ball under this Rule even if their original ball is available to them.

The ball – Conversely, when the Rule specifies the ball, the player must continue with the original ball. An excellent example of this was in 2008 when Ian Poulter, having marked his ball on the putting green after a poor putt, attempted to whisk it up. Unfortunately, he didn’t hold on to it and it ended up in the adjacent water hazard. Even though his ball had been marked on the putting green the Rules require the player to replace the same ball. If Poulter was not able to retrieve his ball he would have been forced to take a penalty for an incorrect substitution. Fortunately, his personal physio was following his round, waded into the water and located the ball within a couple of minutes.

New Mizuno Irons for 2011

New Mizuno Irons for 2011

It seems like it was only yesterday when Mizuno released the MX100,200 and 300 series however these have now been replaced by some newer models. We talked to Mizuno and asked why the models had changed so quickly and they told us that technology has moved forward so quickly that they just had to bring these new models to market.

The new models that Mizuno have introduced are the Mizuno JPX800 Irons which is a serious looking iron which has the JPX technology. These also have a pro model the Mizuno JPX Pro irons The MP range is as good as ever and this year it is the Mizuno MP53 irons and the Mizuno MP63 irons both of these sets look really good and although I have not had the chance to trial one yet I can just tell that they are going to be awesome. The look is clean and non flashy and the profile on both of these clubs and they are just waiting to be hit.

You may well ask is it worth upgrading to these models. Absolutely Yes.

Ping K15 Review

Ping K15 Product Review by Jason Fullard PGA Golf Professional

"The eagerly awaited launch of the K15 is up on us,in true ping style we have not yet seen all of the equipment with in the range but thay have launched the driver and irons.

So what is different from the Ping K15 to its brother the Ping G15.The engineering of the K15 is different due its lite weight titanium clubface,this is 27 grams lighter than the G15, this allows the designers to place more weight in the heel,toe and sole areas of the club which will improve the launch angle of the shot and forgiveness on miss hits.

The iron’s extra-wide sole features a low and deep center of gravity to promote high trajectories and low spin.What is quiet unique with the K15 is that ping has designed a hybrid club in the 3,4,5,6 which for those golfers that struggle a little to get that longer iron into the air, they now have a great chance, you still can buy the 5 and 6 in a traditional head so don't despair all you traditionalists out there.

With it's colour coding lie system and shaft and grip options your set of irons will suit you of to a tee.

There are very few things that can be found wrong with the K15 my only dislike is its chunky top edge, but then you should not be looking at  the top edge anyway.

Galvin Green Autumn Collection

Galvin Green Autumn Collection

Galvin Green is one of the fastest growing waterproof companies in Europe and last year it accounted for 23% of the total value of the golf waterproof sector and it is not just the men that like Galvin Green as a recent survey in the Lady Golfer magazine stated that 48% of lady golfers intend to buy Galvin Green waterproofs next year so the Galvin Green ladies market should be strong next season.

The new Autumn collection is a combination of fashionable tailoring and exceptional performance as more and more golfers are now thinking about layering and are also prepared to invest in the most effective products and by using a new generation of high tech lightweight materials, Galvin Green has overcome previous concerns about the extra layers restricting the golf swing (The new Galvin Green Elton looks like a winner this year)

The Golf Rumour Mill

The Golf Rumour Mill

At this time of the year we get a lot of rumours about what will be the next big product and we have heard of a few possibilities.

Cobra have recently been taken over by the corporate giant Cobra however if all seems true the marketing gurus did not have to do much when thinking of a new name as it appears that the new Cobra Driver will be called the Cobra S3 Driver I have seen a picture of this club and it looks good however nothing has been confirmed that this will be released.

I can confirm that Titleist will be bringing out a new range called the 910 series. They will have a Titleist 910 Driver and similar fairways and rescue clubs. I have also heard that they may have another ProV1 golf ball however this is not confirmed.

Thhe initial pictures of the new Nike range look good. Nike introduced the Nike Victory red (VR) irons last year and they look like they are expanding on this as they are having a new range called the Nike VR Pro II range. This will include the Nike VR Pro Blade Irons, Nike VR Pro Combo Irons and the Nike VR Pro Driver. It seems that these new lines are very traditional and the irons have a very clean look and I think these should be a real winner.

Callaway will certainly have a new range for 2011 and the only news I have so far is that they may have a new iron called the Callaway RAZR Hawk and a new driver called the Callaway Diablo Octane

Anyway it will be exciting times over the next few months to see whats new and i will keep you informed