News
Morning 9: Sinus, ear infections can’t stop Tway at TOC | More player perspectives on rule changes
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By Ben Alberstadt ([email protected])
January 4, 2019 Good Friday morning, golf fans.
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1. Callaway launch day
We have a full buffet of new Callaway equipment stories for you at WRX. Epic Flash and Flash Sub Zero – and the associated Flash Face technology – are the headline grabbers.
With its Epic Flash Driver, Callaway builds on the very successful 2017 GBB Epic line. The Carlsbad-based company follows up the Epic-complementing Rogue with a driver whose story isn’t immediately visible upon a first glance at the club.
2. Sinus, ear infection no problem for Tway at TOC
PGATour.com’s Ben Everill…”Kevin Tway is listed as a Sentry Tournament of Champions rookie but his preparation at the Plantation Course in Kapalua started 15 years ago as a 15-year-old kid.”
3. Woodland to Wilson
Our Gianni Magliocco…”Alongside Justin Rose’s move to Honma, the worst-kept secret during this season of equipment changes is finally out, as in the last hour, Gary Woodland confirmed his new deal with Wilson Golf.”
4. Petition aims to get Hosung Choi into WMPO
Gianni again…”Hosung Choi may well be the most popular golfer in history who hasn’t yet appeared on the PGA Tour, and a petition demanding that he receives an invite into this year’s Waste Management Phoenix Open is gathering momentum.”
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5. More perspectives on the changes to the Rules of Golf
Golfweek’s Kevin Casey relates Rory McIlroy’s thoughts on the new rule that players must drop from knee height.
“I had one of the (PGA) Tour officials do a printout that I’m going to give to him to study later on today.”
6. How they do it
Every wonder about the specific criteria behind Golf Digest’s vaunted Top 100 ranking? Well, editor Ron Whitten explained…
SHOT VALUES...How well do the holes pose a variety of risks and rewards and equally test length, accuracy and finesse?
RESISTANCE TO SCORING…How difficult, while still being fair, is the course for a scratch player from the back tees?
DESIGN VARIETY...How varied are the holes in differing lengths, configurations, hazard placements, green shapes and green contours?
MEMORABILITY...How well do the design features provide individuality to each hole yet a collective continuity to the entire 18?
AESTHETICS…How well do the scenic values of the course add to the pleasure of a round?
CONDITIONING…How firm, fast and rolling were the fairways, how firm yet receptive were the greens and how true were the roll of putts on the day you played the course?
AMBIENCE…How well does the overall feel and atmosphere of the course reflect or uphold the traditional values of the game?
7. Mike Davis done with U.S. Open setup duties.
Geoff Shackelford commenting on a Jaime Diaz report…
“Diaz’s story comes with an admission from Davis that the USGA erred again at Shinnecock Hills after a detailed post-mortem of the 2018 U.S. Open was compiled.”
“Elevated to the CEO role in 2016, Davis tells Diaz the issue of distraction from organization duties became apparent, leading to today’s news.”
8. Well-mannered Thomas, Thompson
Sections of a press release from the National League of Junior Cotillions…
NLJC NAMES TEN BEST-MANNERED PEOPLE OF 2018
“The selections are made based on each person’s commitment to honor, dignity, and mannerly conduct,” says President Charles Winters. “We feel these ten individuals have distinguished themselves through excellence of character and conduct and applaud them for their contributions to society.”
9. Here’s a different-looking ball
No, it’s not an Easter egg design in progress, it’s Callaway’s new ERC Soft with Triple Track Technology.
“With the ERC Soft, Callaway has also introduced its new Triple Track Technology. The new technology utilizes Vernier Acuity Precision (a visual technology used to land planes on aircraft carriers) and aims to improve alignment compared to a regular side stamp alignment aid.”
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Equipment
Spotted: Tommy Fleetwood’s TaylorMade Spider Tour X Prototype putter
Tommy Fleetwood has been attached to his Odyssey White Hot Pro #3 putter for years now. However, this week at the Wells Fargo Championship, we did spot him testing a new putter that is very different, yet somewhat similar, to his current gamer.
This new putter is a TaylorMade Spider Tour X head but with a brand new neck we haven’t seen on a Spider before. A flow neck is attached to the Spider head and gives the putter about a 1/2 shaft offset. This style neck will usually increase the toe hang of the putter and we can guess it gets the putter close to his White Hot Pro #3.
Another interesting design is that lack of TaylorMade’s True Path alignment on the top of the putter. Instead of the large white center stripe, Tommy’s Spider just has a very short white site line milled into it. As with his Odyssey, Tommy seems to be a fan of soft inserts and this Spider prototype looks to have the TPU Pure Roll insert with 45° grooves for immediate topspin and less hopping and skidding.
The sole is interesting as well in that the rear weights don’t look to be interchangeable and are recessed deep into the ports. This setup could be used to push the CG forward in the putter for a more blade-like feel during the stroke, like TaylorMade did with the Spider X Proto Scottie Scheffler tested out.
Tommy’s putter is finished off with an older Super Stroke Mid Slim 2.0 grip in blue and white. The Mid Slim was designed to fit in between the Ultra Slim 1.0 and the Slim 3.0 that was a popular grip on tour.
- Check out the rest of our photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
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Equipment
Rickie Fowler’s new putter: Standard-length Odyssey Jailbird 380 in custom orange
Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.
…The Jailbird craze hasn’t really slowed down in 2024, either. According to Odyssey rep Joe Toulon, there are about 18-20 Jailbird putter users on the PGA TOUR.
Most recently, Akshay Bhatia won the 2024 Valero Texas Open using a broomstick-style Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter and Webb Simpson is switching into a replica of that putter at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.
Now, Fowler, who essentially started the whole Jailbird craze, is making a significant change to his putter setup.
Fowler, who has had a couple weeks off since the 2024 RBC Heritage, started experimenting with a new, custom-orange Jailbird 380 head that’s equipped with a standard 35-inch putter build, rather than his previous 38-inch counter-balanced setup.
According to Fowler, while he still likes the look and forgiveness of his Jailbird putter head, he’s looking to re-incorporate more feel into his hands during the putting stroke.
He told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Championship that the 38-inch counterbalanced setup “served its purpose” by helping him to neutralize his hands during the stroke, but now it’s time to try the standard-length putter with a standard-size SuperStroke Pistol Tour grip to help with his feel and speed control.
Although Fowler was also spotted testing standard-length mallets from L.A.B. Golf and Axis1 on Tuesday, he confirmed that the custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 is the putter he’ll use this week at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.
Head over to PGATour.com for the full article.
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Equipment
Details on Justin Thomas’ driver switch at the Wells Fargo Championship
Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.
So, with a couple of weeks off following his latest start at the 2024 RBC Heritage, Thomas sought to re-address his driver setup with the remote help of Titleist Tour fitting expert J.J. Van Wezenbeeck. About two weeks ago, Thomas and Van Wezenbeeck reviewed his recent driver stats, and discussed via phone call some possible driver and shaft combinations for him to try.
After receiving Van Wezenbeeck’s personalized shipment of product options while at home, Thomas found significant performance improvements with Titleist’s TSR2 head, equipped with Thomas’ familiar Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60 TX shaft.
Compared to Thomas’ longtime TSR3 model, the TSR2 has a larger footprint and offers slightly higher spin and launch characteristics.
According to Van Wezenbeeck, Thomas has picked up about 2-3 mph of ball speed, to go along with 1.5 degrees higher launch and more predictable mishits.
“I’d say I’d been driving it fine, not driving it great, so I just wanted to, honestly, just test or try some stuff,” Thomas said on Tuesday in an interview with GolfWRX.com at Quail Hollow Club. “I had used that style of head a couple years ago (Thomas used a TSi2 driver around 2021); I know it’s supposed to have a little more spin. Obviously, yeah, I’d love to hit it further, but if I can get a little more spin and have my mishits be a little more consistent, I felt like obviously that’d be better for my driving…
“This (TSR2) has been great. I’ve really, really driven it well the week I’ve used it. Just hitting it more solid, I don’t know if it’s the look of it or what it is, but just a little bit more consistent with the spin numbers. Less knuckle-ball curves. It has been fast. Maybe just a little faster than what I was using. Maybe it could be something with the bigger head, maybe mentally it looks more forgiving.”
Head over to PGATour.com for the full article.
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Robert
Jan 4, 2019 at 12:53 pm
Flex Face. Flash Face. Sound like Batman characters. What’s next?