Drivers

Ahh – the fall. It’s probably the best time of year to play golf. Summer’s heat and humidity are replaced by cool, crisp mornings and warm afternoons. Golf courses are in great condition after a year of being manicured, watered, aerated, and cared for. Even the crowds lighten up as the casual golfers hang it up and even fairly avid golfers find themselves splitting time with football games, both college and professional. As the fall colors emerge and golf courses become a palette of brilliant color, perhaps the icing on the cake is all the buzz around new golf equipment. Every year about this time all the big manufacturers start introducing their new lineups and this year is no different. While those lineups always include irons, wedges, and putters, it’s always the drivers that are tops on most golfer’s list as the hope for more distance and more fairways never wanes.

So – while the season remains, go play golf and what better way to kick into the fall season than with a new driver. So let me help you get started on your new driver research. All the big guys have something new out now or will very soon and a lot of it is pretty intriguing.

Titleist recently announced a new trio of drivers designed to fit the needs of any golfer. They are the 909 series and come in the 909D2, 909D3, and 909DComp. The DComp is what most of us amateurs should be checking out first. It has a deeper, lower center of gravity than the other two and provides the highest MOI for the most forgiveness, highest ball flight and better length on off-center hits. It has a titanium face and body with a composite crown that gave their engineers the ability to put weight where they wanted it to make it as forgiving as it is. Titleist is claiming too, that it has a great sound at impact – something that other manufacturers have struggled with and corrected on their composite clubs.

The 909D2 has already been put into play by 2008 Tour winners Chez Reavie, Parker McLachlan, and Adam Scott. It features what they call a “mid” launch with low to mid spin. It is more workable than the DComp, making it more of a player’s club. Furthermore, the stock shafts are heavier than you’ll find on the DComp to complement their target golfer’s preferences.

The 909D3 has an even lower launch angle with low spin. Tour players Steve Stricker and Zach Johnson are now playing the D3 and both have reported improved performance. It comes with the same shaft options as the D2 and, like the DComp and D3, has a swingweight screw that is fixed into the back of the club to ensure each club has the right swingweight and balance.

So what’s the difference between the D2 and D3? The biggest item is that the D3 imparts less spin and so would probably appeal more to folks with a steep swing. Meanwhile, the D2 has a very slight draw bias to help better players turn the ball over. Outside of that, the two are very similar and all the 909 drivers look cool at address. The DComp won’t be out until around the start of November while the D2 and D3 are expected to hit stores in mid-October. MSRP on all of them isn’t light on the wallet with the DComp hitting $550 and the other two around $450. So maybe start saving now.

Ping has its own new driver out with the new Rapture V2 complementing their G10 line. The updated Rapture V2 should have hit stores by the time this magazine comes out at around their MSRP of $449. So what does your money get you here? The Rapture V2 is an all-titanium clubhead with tungsten weighting along the sole at the heel and toe to push the center of gravity low and away from the clubface and improve its forgiveness. The face of the club has been re-worked a bit as well in an attempt to deliver higher ball speeds than with earlier Ping drivers. The stock shafts are a Ping TFC shaft and the Diamana Blue – both of which are relatively light. For golfers needing a more substantial shaft weight, you’ll need to get a special fitting. That said, if you really want a Ping driver, we still like the G10 and with this introduction, the pricing for it is likely to go down. Before you plunk down your hard-earned cash on the Rapture V2, its worth your time to check out the G10. Both have lively faces that create a lot of ball speed and distance with ample forgiveness and feel.

TaylorMade is still king when it comes to drivers and their recent r7 Limited is an extension of that
extremely popular line and they are calling it their “best moveable weight driver ever” – which seems like a big claim. The r7 Limited looks cool with a clean, classic silver/titanium colored sole and a simple, refined crown. Check it out – there are certainly no distracting graphics and color schemes, which is a nice change of pace. Besides that, the club features three movable weight ports with two 1-gram weights and a 16-gram weight that can be adjusted to change side-to-side trajectory by up to 35 yards.
That claim stands to reason when you consider the one 16-gram weight can be placed on the toe for a fade bias with only a single gram to counter it in the heel (and vice versa for a draw bias).

Additionally, for those of us who tend to hook the ball a bit, the club is set up neutral rather than draw-biased like the SuperQuad and CGB Max that preceded it. This new club has the same stock shaft as the Titleist DComp we mentioned above from the Matrix Ozik XCon line, which are a lightweight shaft built for clubhead speed.

The club came out in the middle of last month, and if you think this new offering is coming cheap then think again. Its MSRP was originally around $500, but it’s showing up in a lot of places for $399.99.

Callaway just announced a new driver. And by “just announced” I mean in the last couple of days as I write this. It isn’t expected out until November 15th and so far, not much has been seen of the new club outside of a few pics here and there. That hasn’t stopped Callaway from calling it the “smartest, most advanced driver in the world.” The FT-iQ was designed with the aerodynamics of race cars and fighter jets, and it looks like it. This club will be another multi-material driver in its Fusion line of clubs. As of press time, there have been little other details than some provocative and mysterious marketing. They have discussed that they implemented a total design technique that looks at the combined effect of various design elements, rather than just one. So instead of just maximizing MOI, they looked at what loft, lie, center of gravity positioning, and face designs work best together for maximum performance.

Callaway is drumming up some good buzz about this product. In fact, you can register to receive email updates about the club’s launch on their website. While we won’t go that far, we’ll certainly be ready for it to come out – or at least more information to come out. The MSRP? If you guessed high, you guessed right: $625.

Well – that about wraps it up for now. As noted, more and more clubs are coming out all the time and I am sure the other manufacturers are busy at the workbench getting their own new introductions ready. As that happens, don’t forget about the likely dropping prices on the clubs that were all the rage of a year ago. They’re still great clubs and there is plenty of inventory available on a lot of top-line models. The time to find a good deal is now – unless you choose to wait and see what Callaway has up their sleeve.

—Tim Carrigan

Fairway Woods

At the start of this year, Tiger Woods put a new 5-wood into his bag and used it off and on throughout the season, until, of course, he hung up all of his clubs after the U.S. Open and knee surgery. Other pros have followed suit as of late. Padraig Harrington routinely carries a 5-wood depending on the course setup, but the 3-wood is always in the bag. Trevor Immelman carried a 4-wood around Augusta for his win at this year’s Masters. All of this adds up to new interest in fairway woods. After the long irons have been taken out by hybrids, focus has returned to the fairway woods and club manufacturers have responded with a lot of new offerings this year. These offerings are more forgiving than ever and help any golfer take aim on par fives and go for the green in two.

A few are mentioned below, along with what our thoughts when our staff tested them out.

Callaway seems to have spent more time and effort in this arena than a lot of other companies. They introduced their FT-i Squareway Woods and the FT Fairway Woods most recently. The FT-i Squareway woods are exactly what they sound like – a takeoff of the square design introduced in their FT-i driver for improved MOI and forgiveness. Callaway calls it their most forgiving fairway wood ever. The woods utilize composite materials to help them create a head shape and put weight where they want it to improve ball flight and forgiveness. The FT series of woods, on the other hand, is more of a player’s wood with a traditional shape, but it does come in draw or neutral weighting allowing golfers to match (or fix) their ball flight. It too utilizes their fusion technology meaning it’s a composite, multi-material design.

In our testing, we certainly felt the FT-i Squareway was forgiving – almost everything went straight even when we tried to shape the ball. The head, however, was a bit large and the face was bigger than some players might want in a fairway wood. Those two features make it feel less desirable from a variety of lies although it was a killer off the tee. Once you get over the square look (just like with the driver), it’s a great club if you need forgiveness. The FT fairway woods felt more traditional, but were still very forgiving. We liked the option of the draw versus neutral weighting bias – one of our testers had previously hung up an earlier model of Callaway fairways woods because he felt it was internally weighted to draw by default. It was the only club in his bag that he couldn’t keep from hooking until he added lead tape to the toe. By making this model have an optional “draw” weighting made him confident that he could keep the neutral model straight. The FT series also has a more compact head and face which appealed to the better player in our group.

TaylorMade has a number of fairway woods on the market but the most recent and the ones receiving the most buzz are the Burner series that come in the Burner High Launch, Burner Tour Launch, and the Burner TP. The High Launch and Tour Launch are built on a similar frame and have slight draw bias-weighting, although the High Launch features a much larger head for more forgiveness and better performance off the tee with weighting that promotes a high ball flight. Meanwhile the Tour Launch is more workable (for some of us that means it’s harder to keep straight) and features a more penetrating ball flight. Finally, the Burner TP has an even smaller head and is a true player’s fairway wood. All feature TaylorMade’s SuperFast technology which saves weight throughout the club with a lightweight shaft and special construction.

Our testing supported the claims of slight draw bias within the High and Tour Launch. Both clubs felt solid and drove the ball down the fairway although they weren’t as long as others tested. They were certainly forgiving and the SuperFast technology made them light and quick through the hitting zone. Definitely a great club for folks with slower swing speeds. The tour-inspired, traditional compact head of the Burner TP was ruined by some tricky graphics on the crown, but remains a good club for better players despite those aesthetics. For anyone in the market, it’s certainly worth checking out the fairway offerings of the game’s leading driver manufacturer.

Cleveland Golf also has a fairway version of their popular HiBore driver. The HiBore XLS fairway wood is their main offering and their sole new introduction. It features a larger head than most in this category
(although nothing is as big as the TM Burner High Launch) and incorporates the shaping familiar on their drivers from the last few years which makes it a forgiving club that promotes a high ball flight.

When hitting this club, we immediately noticed that its long, but that comes as a tradeoff with the high ball flight. Into a headwind, we would be hesitant to pull this club due to the way the ball gets up and into the air. Also, the large footprint takes some getting used to when looking over a shot – with the flattened design, the head just feels huge. From the rough, it was decent although our testers aren’t very good from the rough anyway. Given the high flight and the distance that well-struck shots produce, this would be our favorite for most tee boxes.

Ping and their G10 line have been around for about a year now and their fairway woods are still getting a lot of play. They feature a medium trajectory with a fairly compact head and tons of forgiveness. The face is shallow to improve performance from many different lies, but it’s also elongated to improve and expand the sweet spot. It also comes in a draw-weighted version to help those of us with typical left-to-right ball flights.

Wow! Our testers liked this club. It offers tremendous forgiveness without over-sizing the head and making it cumbersome from the rough. It felt solid and crisp and made us want to keep hitting it. It quickly became our favorite with traditional styling and under-stated graphics. The trajectory bored through the wind but landed softly and was one of the longer-hitting clubs we tried out.

Cobra and their Speed Series fairway woods are another great option. Their speed matching technology means they have created separate lines of clubs designed to match the swing speed of any golfer. The F Speed and M Speed match to higher or slower swing speeds to ensure the best performance possible for any golfer. The M Speed incorporates lightweight features like a super-light shaft and a lightweight head to help slower swingers speed up and grab more distance. The overall head design helps with forgiveness and a high ball flight.

These clubs performed great but at least one tester couldn’t get over the sound. They have a tinny pop at impact that the rest of us quickly got over when we saw the ball flight. These clubs launch the ball a long way and combine good forgiveness. The higher-handicappers in the group really liked the club and the funny sound seemed less annoying with slower swing speeds. Due to their “matching” – these quickly became a favorite of our slower swingers. They could control the clubhead better and contact became more consistent (think about suddenly removing the donut from a baseball bat – you’re going to swing faster and hit farther with more control).

Well – these few obviously aren’t all the clubs available. There are certainly more, but those are the ones we tried out and gave a rip. If you have neglected upgrading your fairway woods for some time, or if you just aren’t confident in what you have, you should check out the new offerings. They are easier than ever to get solid contact and strong distance. Now you can start going after those par fives and quit laying up!

—Tim Carrigan

Choosing the Right Golf Ball

Golf balls – how do you choose? Too often, we end up playing whatever is cool among the pros or whatever has catchy ads (like Titleist NX’s ads starring John Cleese). Or perhaps you forget about ball selection and opt to play whatever turns up during a short walk in the woods. But can the right ball really help your game? I firmly believe it can, but that answer begs the next question – where to start? With Titleist, Callaway, Nike, Srixon, TaylorMade, Bridgestone, Maxfli, Top-Flite, Pinnacle, Precept, Slazenger, and others in the market with at least a few different models each to choose from, it can be overwhelming. So how does a golfer make a selection? In the past, my thinking has gone towards playing what I am familiar with, which means Titleists for the most part and an occasional dabble into Callaways. Outside of that, I will admit to playing the “what I just found” brand of ball more than once. The answer, of course, is to get ball-fitted – to spend time hitting balls to find the one that will perform the best given the characteristics of your swing and your game.

Ball fitting came about from a process developed by some smart guys who tested nearly every ball on the market using robots to hit balls, and air cannons to shoot them and test their aerodynamics. In this way, engineers were able to map the characteristics of a majority of the balls on the market today. With all that testing, they were able to determine the best performing balls in terms of distance and accuracy for any combination of swing speed, launch angle, and spin rate. Armed with this knowledge, the only thing left to do is determine a golfer’s individual stats, plug them in to their software, and out pops recommendations for golf balls. The best part is the recommendations come in two sets. One set is all premium balls – the ones that cost a bit too much and make it a little more painful to see them splash down in a lake. The other set is the second tier and lower (in terms of price) ball recommendations – these are the type of balls you usually don’t mind loaning to your brother-in-law when he comes into town and you are stuck doing the entertaining.

In my session, I hit my driver a handful of times. The fitter was nice enough to clear out a few of my slight miss-hits and let me go again. After each swing, I was able to see my clubhead speed, ball speed, launch angle, backspin, and expected carry distance and roll via a launch monitor and software. While the expected distances (we were hitting into a net) seemed a bit short for my ego, I don’t doubt they were accurate.

With all that done, my fitter hit a couple of buttons and out popped my ball fitting suggestions. In mere minutes from entering the store, I was holding my very own personalized golf ball profile. It listed my name (just in case I forgot), my swing speed, ball speed, launch angle, backspin, the test driver/shaft I play and used to get tested, and my typical ball. Then, it listed golf balls.

The Results Are In

In the premium category, I discovered the top-ranked ball in terms of distance for me would be the new Callaway Tour ix, followed by the Bridgestone Tour B330 and the Nike One Black. My oft-played Titleist NXT Tour came in fourth on the distance ranking. A chart then showed how much of the total distance projected for each ball was carry versus roll. Here, I was interested to see that while the Bridgestone Tour B330 and Nike One Black were just behind the Callaway Tour ix in total distance, they had much less carry and much more roll. In other words, I could get a much lower ball flight with them. So – in terms of raw distance, the Callaway makes a good candidate for normal play but one of the other two would be a good windy day option or on courses where I needed to keep the ball down a bit.

In terms of accuracy, the top-ranked ball was the Nike One Platinum, estimated to vary offline by about 1.1 yards on a normal ball strike. The Callaway Tour ix was a very close second, followed by the Nike One Black. The Bridgestone Tour B330 that came in second in the distance category, showed up all the way down in eighth place on the accuracy ranking at about 2.4 yards offline. What about my NXT Tour? It came in fourteenth at almost 4 yards offline! No wonder I can’t hit the fairway! I thought about all the strokes wasted by a ball that was just off the fairway in gnarly rough or even a foot or two out-of-bounds.

So – what I walked away with was that the Callaway ball was probably the best ball for me – first in distance, a close second in accuracy. Meanwhile, the Nike One Black would be a good windy day alternative with a much lower trajectory while scoring third in total distance and third in accuracy.

Meanwhile, in the standard ball category, the Slazenger Raw Distance Xtreme came in tops in terms of distance, living up to their name (at least for my swing). On the other hand, the Slazenger RD Speed Tour was the top-ranked ball for accuracy. Suddenly, the Slazenger balls I played as a youth and ignored as an adult were starting to look better. Combining both distance and accuracy, the best balls that combined both was the Slazenger RD Speed Distance and the Slazenger RD Speed Tour. Third among all balls in the combined performance ranking was the Top-Flite D2 Distance.

An interesting note was that none of the top three “standard” balls was near the premium balls in either distance or accuracy. In fact, the top standard balls in either category would have come in fourth in distance and eighth in accuracy, respectively, on the premium ball comparison, lending a little credence to the notion you get what you pay for.

To The Course

Everything to this point felt like great information, and I felt confident buying a few of both of the recommended premium balls, but I still wasn’t completely sure what difference they would make. Thus, I headed out to test the balls under fire, under real conditions during a round of golf.

On the front nine, the Callaway Tour ix sure looked like it flew higher and carried well, but was it really longer and straighter? Well, I hit more fairways than normal that nine, but I am always a bit streaky with the driver and who knows how much confidence was really making the difference. A golfer who thinks he suddenly has an edge and feels good about his ball will likely make better swings and perform a little better – right? In all though, more fairways hit and just as much, if not slightly more, distance indicated the ball was a good fit.

One the back nine, the Nike One Black came out of the box (no – I didn’t get any of the silver ones that mean I might get a chance to play with Tiger if/when he gets healthy). This time, I hit just as many fairways and noticed no difference in the length of my drives. Remember my fitting only said there would be a 5 or 6 yard difference in length. The ball flight, though, seemed a bit lower. It wasn’t windy, so I couldn’t compare either ball’s ability to fly well through a head wind or ride a strong tail wind for a few extra yards. Nevertheless, I couldn’t disprove what the fitting told me. Never one to leave anything to chance, I now own a couple dozen of each.

The final analysis is that I think getting ball-fitted is worth it. When you plunk down $40-plus for a dozen balls, you should feel confident they are right for you and the cost is worth it (my fitting ran about half what you would pay for those premium balls). While I cannot prove I got more distance, I am sure I hit more fairways at least in my test round and a few subsequent rounds. If its just due to confidence in the ball and “thinking” I should hit the fairway, then so be it – I’ll take more fairways any day. Go get ball-fit and do the same.

—Tim Carrigan

Get Fit For Clubs: Average Joe

A lot has been written and said about getting clubs fitted to you and your swing. It’s generally accepted wisdom that anyone buying new clubs should be fitted. But what is not so often shared is just what the process involves and what, if any, are the tangible effects of getting fit. So – since I had been swinging the same Pings for about twelve years, I decided to jump in and get fit for new clubs. What follows is what that meant for me and what results I saw after getting my first fitted set.

A quick call to the folks at Golf Discount Superstore netted me an appointment. With significant research over the past year, I had it narrowed down to three – maybe four – different models. My plans to check out those different clubs was all I provided veteran fitter Jim Hayward.

The Process

With a golf glove, my old Ping 6-iron, and my golf shoes on, we got started. After some basic discussion about how far I hit my 6-iron, what my handicap was, what my typical ball flight looked like and so on, we got to work. He began with a static fitting. Static fitting is a technique made popular by Ping back when they introduced their color-coded dots on the back of each iron to indicate if the lie angle (the angle between the shaft and the clubhead) was standard, upright, or flat; and by how many degrees if upright or flat. Static fitting is still used by Ping and just about every other manufacturer or fitter.

“What static fitting gives us is a starting point,” Hayward said. “It tells us if we should start with a certain length or lie of club based on your physical characteristics like your height, the distance of your wrist to the floor, and even the size of your hands.” Basically, if you are tall, you probably need longer clubs. If you have short arms relative to your height, you might need clubs that are more upright, and if you have big hands, you need big grips.

Well, lo and behold, my static fitting said I probably needed clubs that were upright. Based on my divot shapes with my standard (black-dot) Pings, that analysis made sense. If the toe is digging into the ground, more upright clubs would raise the toe (decrease the angle between the shaft and the top of the toe) and allow the club to bottom out better. In other words, if the lie angle of your clubs is right, the middle part of the sole comes through the turf which gives a golfer a larger margin for error since the whole clubface is coming into the ball.

Static fitting was just the first step though. We next had to get the feel of my new club prospects. This was where I finally got to take some cuts at a ball. Hayward taped up about five clubs – all 6-irons – in an effort to do a bit of a blind feel test (recall that I still don’t know what manufacturer or model I want). As I warmed up, he asked me how different clubs felt and how I liked each one. I had a vague idea of when I had a Callaway or a Titleist in my hand, but I played along and tried to see if I could feel a difference. Throughout the experience, he threw in a few others that weren’t on my original list just to see if anything jumped out at me.

With my feedback on feel neatly stored away in his notes, Hayward then took off the concealing blue tape and applied a thin sticker across the sole of each club and another across the face. This was impact tape and would show us where the club was striking the ground as well as where on the face I was hitting the ball. What this exercise did for us was provide another set of data points about the lie angle I needed in my irons. By swinging each club with impact tape at a ball placed on a hard plastic board, I created marks in the tape. A mark out on the toe of the sole meant the club was too flat, while back on the heel indicated the opposite.

We also noted that with some clubs, the mark was up on the leading edge – the part of the sole that transitions to the face. With others, it was more towards the trailing edge of the sole. Hayward explained that we wanted to see the mark near the leading edge, indicating a descending blow down and into the ball. As a golfer who sometimes cups his left wrist through impact resulting in a nasty snap-hook, this was important. If the weighting of the clubhead helped me keep the leading edge coming through the ball, then I would be a better ball-striker. A club that promoted my swing fault (likely one with a lower swing weight) would result in the trailing edge hitting the board.

Throughout this whole process, we had slowly been reducing the number of models that were still in play. With only two models left, we noticed a decided difference in the impact spot on the sole. With the TaylorMade R7 TP, I somehow managed to consistently make a mark on the trailing edge. With the Callaway X-20 Tour, it was on the leading edge. We weighed the two clubs for both dead weight and swing weight. While they were nearly identical, there was a small difference that was making all the difference in how I swung them.

So that is where we ended it. I was swinging the Callaway’s great. I had told Hayward throughout my fitting process that they felt good and responsive. The tape on the sole told the story about what kind of lie angle and shaft weight I needed. My swing speed and typical six-iron distance indicated the flex and my standard height meant standard length clubs. With that information we ordered a set of Callaway X-20 Tour irons with the Project X 6.0 shaft in pitching wedge through three-iron (yes – I still carry a three-iron, but the old two was replaced by a hybrid last year). We could have gone on, but by then I had had a workout hitting balls and everything kept pointing us to that club in that configuration. We were done.

The Test Drive

The order was placed and about a week later, they came in. At my first chance, I took the 3-iron, 7-iron, and pitching wedge to the range. Right away I noticed a difference. My divots were wider. That meant the middle of the sole was bottoming out and the toe wasn’t digging or the heel dragging. One thing I had hoped for was a little more distance, but I didn’t seem to be hitting the ball much farther. Still, I suspended judgment on that front because I was hitting driving range balls (that means they are more durable than high performance) at static distance markers that read the same despite how far forward or back the tees were set up that day. Another thing I noticed was the feel and forgiveness. While still being “player” clubs, the X-20 Tour irons are fairly forgiving and certainly felt a lot better than my older Pings on miss-hits. Another interesting note is that nearly every time I hit them, especially the three-iron, it felt solid. A bad swing would result in a shot left or right, but not by much. So that’s what I took away from my first experience swinging fitted clubs. They don’t cure all but what they do is make it easier for your swing to put the club properly on the ball more often. That, and 20+ year old technology doesn’t hold much of a candle to what you can get now.

To The Course

Time on the range is all fine and good, but how about on the course? Well, another week later and the work load lightened up so I hit the course. My first shot was a six-iron from rough that I caught solid and sent directly at the flag. I was surprised then, when it came up 10 yards short. No worries, I told myself, you didn’t get a chance to warm up and maybe the headwind is a bit stronger than you think. The next hole was a long par-5 that my first swing with the five-iron found the center of the green. A couple of driver-wedge holes later and I got to pull the seven. This time I caught it fat – fitted clubs truly don’t cure all ills. And so it went. A nine iron over the green, a pin-high four iron, a nifty nine-iron to set up a birdie, a pitching wedge caught fat that snuck onto the front of the green, and so on. In the end, I think the short irons were flying a bit longer than my Pings but the long irons were about the same. Regardless, almost everything seemed to be flying straight.

So that’s where I am now. I’ll probably experiment with different balls and try to play as much as I can to get better feel for my yardages, especially in-between distances. As of now, I feel like getting fit was a great move and so while my score was about what it was before, my iron play will most definitely improve as the Callaways and I get used to each other.

—Tim Carrigan

GPS Distance Finders

What does it take to carry that fairway bunker? Booyah – that’s a long drive, I wonder how long? How far is it to the back of the green? Where in the %$@#&**$ is a sprinkler head?

If you have ever uttered any of those queries to yourself, your playing partner or the golfing gods during a round, you might be interested in the latest and greatest GPS distance finders. You might recall we published an article last year comparing GPS to laser finders and reviewed a few of the top manufacturers in each market. This year, we’ll focus in a bit more on the GPS devices because there are a lot of new models and new manufacturers to consider.

All units have various features but the common ones are:

Distance to the green (including front, middle, back for some)
Shot distance (so you know how far your driver goes – which might surprise you!)
Distance to various points on the current hole (like how far it is to the water’s edge or how far to carry that bunker)

And that, my friends, is where most of the similarities end. Some require a subscription while others do not. Some have internal, rechargeable batteries while others take AAs. Some automatically advance to the next hole while others require you to advance it. And some have a limitation on the number of courses it can download and store while at least one comes pre-loaded with more than 20,000 courses and never needs a download unless a new course opens up. So – read on, price compare, figure out what you need and be an informed buyer so you never curse those sneaky, hiding sprinkler heads again.

SkyCaddie has a number of models out this year including the new SG5 that we demo-ed. It’s available in local golf shops, but the online price is $429.95 – at the top of the range for this type of product. But it’s a great product! The display is fantastic in bright, clear color that is perfectly visible whether the sun is shining bright or it’s a dark, cloudy day. Like all current SkyCaddie models, it features Intelligreen, which gives you front, middle and back-of-the-green yardages and allows you to move a little crosshair icon around the green to get even more specific yardages. From the fairway, it has a number of other distances as described above (bunkers, doglegs, water and other hazards). And if you rip that big drive, you can punch a button on the tee box and when you get to your ball the device will tell you just how far you really hit it. Beware – this might take your ego down a notch or two. You’ll have to learn to live with an exact yardage of, say 272 yards, instead of doing some fuzzy math and declaring, “I bet it went at least 300 yards!” Unlike some of their competitors, you can come and go from the shot distance screen all you want – so you can give a yardage to your short-hitting buddy and still get your shot distance after you drive all the way up to your ball. All SkyCaddie models require an annual subscription that runs from $29.95 for state or regional coverage (you can add a second region or state for another $10) to $49.95 for national coverage to $59.95 for worldwide coverage. It’s these plans that were our biggest complaint. If you put down this kind of money for a unit (their cheapest SG2.5 runs $259.95), you shouldn’t get stuck for as much of an annual cost, or at least not have geographical limitations to each plan. The only other issue, although mild, is the storage. You have to manage your list of 10 course maps plus up to five courses you map yourself to make sure you have what you need when you play. That means for those of us who play all over the metro area, you’ll need to check what you have and download courses before you head out to a different track. Add that to the list of things to not forget!

GolfLogix is a product based on a Garmin GPS. (Although based in Scottsdale, Ariz., they use hardware from a local company, so we can almost call them one of our own.) Their only model runs $299.95 online but, again, is available at local golf shops. It has a single annual membership option – $29.95 gets you all the courses you want anywhere. It has all the same features as the SkyCaddie and most others. It gives yardages to the front, middle and back of the green (quick sidenote: for the editor of this magazine – a guy who often finds himself well off the fairway – these distances are sometimes almost the same). It also runs on two AA batteries which, for some, might be good or bad depending on if you can carry spare batteries on a trip or ensure you have a place to plug in your charger. The GolfLogix has capacity to hold up to 20 course maps, perhaps the one benefit over the SkyCaddie. One big item we struggled with was the “distance of last shot” feature. Once you hit the button, you cannot go back until you clear the screen. That means you are stuck there and cannot give any yardages to any playing partners unless you clear the screen and your marked starting location. Which, I guess, might be a benefit if you want an excuse to not give your buddies any help.

iGolf has a couple of units for distinctly different needs. Their full-size unit is called the GPS Caddie II and they also have a great new tiny unit called the NEO. You might recall the article in the April issue of KC Golfer Magazine in which we mentioned the tiny, lightweight NEO as a great new product we found at the PGA Merchandise Show. It’s about the size of a pager. (Again. for the kids who don’t know how big pagers were, think of a stack of credit cards ¾ of an inch thick. The NEO is just as thick but slightly smaller.) It only offers four custom points per hole but still gives front, middle and back yardages to the green. The NEO costs $149.99, making it an affordable little tool. It, too, has a $34.99 annual subscription offering unlimited downloads with a storage capacity of 10 courses on the unit at any point in time. However, once you download a course, it’s yours to keep. Once you have all the courses you want, you can let your subscription lapse and keep using it until you feel the urge to download something new. It has the shot distance feature too, but allows you to see how far you hit it while still getting yardages. The one drawback was that it required you to advance to the next hole – if you forget, it might cause an issue if you are halfway down the next fairway and a plausible distance from the last green. Regardless, for simply getting a distance, this is a great option since it’s cheap and fits comfortably in your pocket.

iGolf’s new full-size product is a bit of a different story. The Caddie II had a few challenges but the price point was better than the GolfLogix and the SkyCaddie. It runs $229.95 online and is also available at most of our great local retail golf stores. While the shortcomings of a tiny device are acceptable, in a full-size device they become annoying. Again, you have to advance to the next hole after you putt out each time. It also took us some reading to finally figure out how to get the shot distance feature to work – although once you get it, it’s pretty easy – just not intuitive, so keep your user guide. It stores up to 40 courses, which is nice. That feature, coupled with the ability to download and let your subscription lapse, means people who only play locally can probably get away with a subscription the first year and/or map courses themselves from there on out. Perhaps the weirdest thing was connecting it to a PC for downloads. You have to follow a very specific procedure. Get one step out of sequence and it won’t work. First, remove the belt clip. Then remove the batteries (don’t know why but batteries have to come out – takes a little patience and dexterity, too). Then connect the cable to the PC and the unit on the port that is under where the belt clip used to be. Login to the software on your PC and power up the device, selecting the Sync Handheld option. Then, with courses already selected and downloaded, you hit the Sync option on your PC and it will work like a charm. Power up the device before taking the batteries out and it won’t. It ends up a bit more funny than annoying, and it’s a good thing it holds 40 courses and you can get a lot on the device in one sitting.

GolfBuddy and their new product, the GolfBuddy Pro, deserve some mention here, although we didn’t get a test unit before print time. If the unit comes as promised, it could truly be a great product. For $349.99, it comes pre-loaded with 20,000 courses. Yes, you read that right: twenty-thousand. And it doesn’t require hardly any work on the part of the user. You don’t even have to select the course you are playing off the menu. Once you power it up, it just figures out since you are standing on the first tee at Bushwood CC that you are playing Bushwood and starting on the front. It automatically advances throughout the round and offers all the same features you find in the other top models – only you get those features about 20,000 times (not just 10 to 40). Imagine being on a golf trip and someone talks you into staying an extra day to play another course down the road. With most other models, you have to hope you have your laptop and can go get a download. With the GolfBuddy – unless the course just opened – you already have it and are all ready! The best part is it doesn’t require a subscription. You buy it and use it .

—Tim Carrigan

The Sunny Side of Golf

Are sunglasses really equipment? Well, the next time you launch a drive into the setting sun and realize you have no idea where it went, I think you’ll say yes. Ask any pilot, downhill skier and a lot of touring golf pros and they will emphatically say yes. This month, we turn from typical equipment to focus on sunglasses – the other equipment that must fit as much as any other equipment you take to the course.

The two main considerations in a pair of sunglasses are the frame style and the lenses. Frames are pretty easy to figure out. If you like the way they look, then you are on the right track. Next, check out how they fit your face. Make sure they sit level, hug the nose, and don’t let too much light in from the top, sides, or below. If they do, sometimes that can add glare to the “inside” of the lens and your vision will be compromised unless you wear a bucket hat or otherwise shade your face. Finally, you want to be sure they have rubber temples and nose pieces to keep them on when you perspire.

Lenses are more difficult. Besides the material of the lens, the tint and light transmission is also important. In the middle of summer or on that desert golf trip, you want maximum protection and a darker lens. On a cloudy day, you want an amber-tinted lens that lets a lot of light through. All other times, something lighter like a brown lens will work. Interchangeable lenses let you to match the lens to the day, but most of us tend to be a little too lazy to change them out (or we forget where we put the other lenses). Regardless of your lens-changing work ethic, interchangeable lenses do give you options to try and see what works for you under most conditions.

Finally, the biggest thing we check out when picking a pair of golf sunglasses is the contrast level of the lens. Lenses labeled “high contrast” filter out certain light spectrums and help illuminate objects like a white golf ball. That means the golf ball can literally “pop” against the sky and grass, making it far easier to track a long drive in almost any set of conditions than with the naked eye. A good way to quickly test glasses is to look at some clouds against a blue sky. If the clouds look brighter and the wispy edges have more definition, then you will likely see the ball better with them on.

With all that said, the last thing to think about, besides lenses and frames, is how much you want to spend. Perhaps you want a high-end pair that provides the best optics or maybe you want a very good, workable pair that you won’t cry when you accidentally sit on them or drop them from a moving cart (I’ve done both).

High-End Glasses typically run around $100 or more, and if you ask any of the players at this end of the market why their sunglasses cost so much, the answer is always because of their superior optics. That might include anything from a lack of distortion to anti-static coatings that keep dust and lint away.

PeakVision is a Kansas City area company making huge waves in the golfing industry. Just tune in to the Golf Channel and you are bound to run into one of their ads. Their answer to the predicament of choosing which lens to use is to give you two levels of filtration in one lens. A grey upper portion filters the sun’s strong rays and protects your eyes against glare. The lens transitions smoothly into an amber, high-contrast lower portion that enhances your ability to see contours and other subtleties. Now the trade off between maximum sun protection and maximum contrast is neutralized in one pair of sunglasses. During testing, the dual zones really kicked into gear on the course and we immediately saw why these glasses are so popular. Look up and the upper lens portion keeps the sun at bay. Look down to read your line, and the green surface is clear and bright, even with flat light. Additionally, PeakVision glasses also have virtually no distortion across the lens or at any contact points, giving you a better view all around. We tested the popular XR4 design, which is a metal frame that was a bit heavier than other models, but was still comfortable with spring-loaded rubber temples. You know how they say to hold the club like a baby bird – firm enough to keep it from getting away, but loose enough to keep it comfortable? Well, that’s what these frames felt like. Visit www.peakvisionsports.com for more.

Bolle is another great Kansas City company (parent Bushnell is in Overland Park) which must make our town the mecca of golfing eyewear. Their EagleVision2 Dark lenses are meant specifically for golf and are a great all-around dark brown lens that enhance contrast. This makes a white golf ball look bigger and brighter as it tracks against the sky while offering the right amount of sun protection. The Warrant style of frame we checked out comes with interchangeable lenses, which gives the wearer options, although we found options were not needed when it came to the EagleVision 2 Dark lens. We tested the Warrant and found it comfortable and light. No golfer could go wrong with the lens we tried out, although you should check out a number of styles to get the right fit. Of all the glasses we tested, the Bolle pair was the best all-around and the first that someone grabbed for a casual round after the testing was completed (www.bolle.com).

Oakley has long been synonymous with sporting sunglasses and golf is no exception. We tried on a couple of their top frame styles in the Flak Jacket XLJ with popular G30 lenses and the Radar Path with Slate lenses. These and most Oakleys tend to have an aggressive look while remaining comfortable and light. The allure of Oakley sunglasses, besides the name, is evident in their distortion-free High Definition Optics and their Hydrophobic lens coating. Hydrophobic doesn’t mean your glasses are scared of water, but that they repel water and other moisture. Oakleys are also anti-static to keep away dust and dirt. Water, smudges, sweat, dust, and dirt are typical in any round of golf – and our testing confirmed Oakley’s claims. The G30 lens was great – we could see the ball well and got medium protection from glare. The Slate lens is darker and better bright days (www.oakley.com).

Maui Jim sunglasses are cool, but the ones we tested were not only cool, but great golf equipment too. Both pairs we tried came with high-contrast bronze lenses. The Makaha sunglasses have a very lightweight plastic frame that is so light you forget you have them on. The other pair, the Moku, was even lighter and featured Maui Jim’s new Evolution lens. The Moku frame is made from Grilamid (no hinges, just very flexible, springy plastic arms that come off the sides of the lenses and spring back to shape no matter how you bend or twist them). Both pairs are more casual-looking than sporty, making them something you can wear to the course, on the course, and then to the beach (or pool) afterwards. One tester previously owned a pair of the sportier Turtle Bay, but in their darker grey lens. He immediately took to the bronze lens and has made it his choice for golfing. Besides what we tested, there are plenty of options – check them all out at www.mauijim.com.

Vedalo sunglasses have been traditionally targeted to pilots, but now their sunglasses are targeted to golfers with their HDL-3C lenses in copper-rose. We tested a pair of their Como and Torino glasses in the copper-rose and green lenses. Both are built with their HDL-3C technology, which uses filters vs. tints or coatings. What that means, they claim, is that they spend far more in manufacturing to deliver enhanced color sensitivity and contrast. We felt the Como, with its metal frame, was a bit heavy for our liking and the green lenses would not be our first choice for golf. The copper-rose lens, though, was excellent. A ball in flight looked huge and we could see green undulations and other details with clarity. Wearing them was like watching your buddies play golf in HD. The Torino frame was much more sporty and lightweight. It seemed to fit our expectation of a golf sunglass much better (www.vedalohd.com).

While all of the above are nice – sometimes what you really need is a great, functional pair of Mid-Level Glasses that run around $40-$65.

Tifosi was one of our favorite mid-level sunglasses. The Slip model we tested comes with a trio of interchangeable lenses. The GT lens is what Tifosi recommends for golf and is what we used most of the time to review the glasses. The AC Red (all conditions, red) lens allows slightly more light transmission and is not explicitly a golf lens, although at least one of our testers preferred it. Finally, the EC (extreme contrast) lens allows a lot of light to pass through but creates extreme contrast for low light or variable light conditions on the golf course. This set of lenses seemed perfect for any day and any set of conditions. The coolest feature of the glasses were the hydrophilic (fancy word for bendable) rubber temples. We could keep them straight and have them wrap and hold our head or curve them around our ears for a tighter fit – whatever we wanted or needed. The best part is you can modify the fit to change contact points or get a different feel if the wind kicks up. For the price, this is one excellent set of eyewear (www.tifosioptics.com).

Live Eyewear’s Polar Eyes line of sunglasses was another top performer in this segment. We tried their Islay model. It was comfortable, and the copper lenses helped us see and track the ball in flight. Islay sunglasses also come with flexible temples, which, as noted, is a major comfort feature allowing you to customize how they fit. Our testers said the Islay was light and comfortable – that the good-looking frames and lightweight polycarbonate lenses would let you forget you even had them on. There isn’t a lot of high tech going on in these glasses, but for the price and their lifetime warranty they are hard to beat (www.polareyes.com).

Sundog has long been a mainstay in golf – just ask Paula Creamer or Hunter Mahan. Targeted to golfers, Sundog has become almost synonymous with golf eyewear. Sundog glasses come with additional hydrophobic treatments to repel water and oil (recall the same with Oakleys above). We tried their Spin glasses with smoke lenses, but we would have liked to try their other lenses for golf. The glasses were comfortable, but they didn’t do much for visual contrast. These were good sunglasses, but you should try some of their other lenses for golf (www.sundogeyewear.com).

We hope that helps you find what you need in sunglasses. Again – think of them as equipment: Make the right kind of investment, and you’ll be much more comfortable on the course.

—Tim Carrigan

Iron It Out This Year

Irons are perhaps the most-used and least-replaced portion of your golf bag. A bad day of putting results in immediate replacement of the flat-stick. When your buddy finds a little more distance, we quickly jump to the newest, coolest driver in the quest for more length. But it’s those irons that stand the test of time. Sure, you might have kicked the 3-iron to the curb in order to get a fancy new hybrid in your bag, but for most golfers, the 4-PW (half our bagful of clubs) have stood the test of time – perhaps for too long.

If you haven’t checked out the new irons on the market in a while, then it’s time. With a lot of new product introductions last year and already a few more this year, there is a lot to see and try out at your favorite local golf shop. With advances in materials and club-making technology, irons coming out today have hotter faces, feature bigger sweet spots and even feel better to hit. As always, I cannot go into every iron out there, but some of the more notable manufacturers, as well as some of the coolest innovations are discussed below. Whatever you do – get fitted. Even if you got fitted for your last set eight years ago, you should do it again. You might be taller, stronger, older, better, thinner and, yes, maybe even wider than you were when you bought the old Pings.

TaylorMade last year came out with their new R7 irons featuring a lot of new innovations like their inverted cone technology and thin-face engineering to provide more distance and forgiveness, along with an innovative shock-absorbing web that is plastered to the back of the club to improve feel. Performance tests have supported the distance and forgiveness claims, and my own testing validates the claims about feel.

R7 irons come in three styles: R7, R7 Draw, R7 TP and the brand new for 2008, R7 CGB Max. The standard R7 is a game-improvement iron that should appeal to the majority of golfers. The Draw version is just that: draw-biased with a generous amount of heel-weighting to help slicers keep the ball online. Finally, the TP version (stands for Tour Preferred) has a slightly smaller clubhead, a thinner sole and a thinner topline to appeal to better players. All that said, the R7 TP is still a long ways from being considered a “player’s blade” with plenty of forgiveness built in. The new R7 CGB Max offers even more forgiveness and reduces overall club weight to help players swing with more speed.

The last iron from TaylorMade worth mentioning is their Burner XD iron. Like R7 CGB irons and the driver carrying the same Burner name, these irons are very light overall to promote speed. They are oversized and incorporate the same inverted cone technology seen throughout the TaylorMade lineup. Need more info? Check out www.taylormadegolf.com.

Callaway continues to bring great products to the market, building on their history of building clubs that combine maximum forgiveness while retaining the playability and shot-making capabilities that better players demand. Their newest introduction is an extension of their FT (Fusion Technology) lineup. The new FT i-brid irons are just what they sound like – a hybrid iron set built with multiple materials that allow Callaway engineers to place weight where they want it in the clubhead. In this case, it’s a lightweight titanium face surrounded by Tunite (a heavier, Tungsten blend they created) to create maximum perimeter weighting for forgiveness and distance. The back cavity is filled in with a polymer material to improve the feel and sound of the club. These hybrid irons complement their existing and slightly improved FT irons, and will be available this month.

The other mainstay in the Callaway line has long been the X-series of irons. Last year, they introduced the X-20 and X-20 Tour, along with a new X-Forged iron. The X-20 and X-20 Tour resemble the great heel-toe and perimeter-weighted irons of years past while the X-Forged is a step into the world of forged irons with a smaller clubhead and thinner lines created from 1020
carbon steel. The X-Forged offers a little less forgiveness, but has incredible feel and maintains great distance off every club. It also has a more solid sound at impact that some players may prefer over the X-20 series of irons. After hitting all of Callaway’s products, I loved the X-Forged because it hit just as easy but felt and sounded great. Don’t just take my word for it; check www.callawaygolf.com for more details on these products.

Mizuno finally stepped into the middle! They traditionally had their set of MP for better golfers that, quite frankly, never deviated from being true blades (read that as really easy to miss-hit). Then they added the MX line, which offered maximum forgiveness, including hybrid sets and other extreme perimeter-weighted models. But where did that leave all of us looking for something in the middle?

Finally, they introduced their new MP-57 irons late last year. These are a true cavity-backed iron crafted using their “grain-flow” forging, but built to combine forgiveness and playability. Plus, they look fantastic with classic nickel chrome plating and no overdone colors or graphics. If you want something that dazzles the eye like Las Vegas on a RedBull, then look elsewhere. All you get from Mizuno is the latest technology and exceptional feel in a classy look. Mizuno’s tend to run a bit pricey, so I’ll warn you not to check out their lineup if you can’t afford them. You are likely to forget your budget and buy them anyway – proceed with caution.

Like I alluded to earlier, Mizuno has plenty of other options for more forgiveness and more playability in their MX and MP lines, respectively. All of their irons are grain-flow forged, a process they highly tout to deliver exceptional feel. Their clubs all certainly look great and deserve a look. For a sneak peek before you head to the golf shop, log on to www.mizunousa.com.

Ping introduced their latest G10 and i10 irons at the end of last golf season. The G10 irons are the most player-friendly and feature their new Custom Tuning Port, which is placed low on the back of the clubface to stabilize it (similar to TaylorMade’s Inverted Cone) while adding weight low and away from the hitting area. The G10’s are thick across the sole and the top-line, while featuring some cool fire-orange graphics for a unique look. The i10 looks similar with its graphics but is much more of a players’ iron. It still features a fairly deep cavity-back on a smaller clubhead with thinner (although not close to blade-thin) top-line and sole. It too has the Customer Tuning Port to provide the same benefits to go with the versatility built into the club.

Ping still has their Rapture line, along with the G5, i5 and the true players’ iron, the S58. All are excellent clubs for different types of golfers. If you’re a Ping player, you should check them all out and pick what works for you. Their website is www.pinggolf.com.

As always, there are many more irons and many more manufacturers than we have space for. Notables include Adams, Cleveland, Cobra, Nike and Titleist, among others. In fact, as of this writing, some of the equipment companies still haven’t released their newest sets for 2008 yet. While they may be available by the time this article prints, right now the word on the street is Titleist is finally releasing two new sets of irons to appeal to those of us who don’t (or can’t) hit blades or clubs that closely resemble blades. Their AP1 and AP2 have a much deeper cavity and include a blend of materials including tungsten nickel to help add perimeter weighting. The AP1 is the more forgiving of the two and is cast stainless steel while the AP2 will be a forged offering, in keeping with the feel and playability expected of Titleist irons. I can hardly wait to check them out. If they turn out like I think they will, don’t be surprised to see them in my bag later this spring.

—Tim Carrigan