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The Big Review – Vega 2011 Line Up
Vega are the premium brand from the Japanese forging house Kyoei where Katsuhiro Miura worked before he left to start his own eponymous company. We've been huge fans of their clubs, especially the RAFC-01 irons and RAFW-05 wedges. Made from S25C carbon steel, Vega's renown forging makes every club a joy to hit. Their 2011 line-up includes clubs with new conforming grooves and new finishes and sole grinds and we at Bag Chatter got to try them.
VC-03 Game Improvement Cavity
The VC-03 is the full cavity option for the player looking for high levels of forgiveness without giving up killer looks. The broad sole prevents digging while the peripheral weighting ensures that all but the worst miss hits go arrow straight. Ball flight is high with a fair bit of spin that ensures that slower swingers get maximum distance.
VC-01 Players Cavity
The VC-01 are the conforming versions of the RAFC-01, reviewed earlier here. The VC-01 provide a fantastic balance between forgiveness and playability. The sole grind has a killed leading edge and a toe-heel camber which makes it versatile across a wide range of shot types and from any lie. Standard flight with these clubs is dead medium with no ballooning but you can hit low punch shots or high shots that land softly on the green equally well. You can work the ball either way should you choose to but the peripheral weighting flatters you enough to keep the ball straight without getting in the way.
The VM-02 Muscleback Blade
Serious clubs for serious golfers, they also happen to be one of the most beautiful sets of irons I have ever seen. How a club looks should really only be a minor component but when they are this gorgeous it is difficult to ignore. The ball takes off with a medium/low flight due to the higher COG and the ball is easy to work with this pure muscleback. Given the lack of peripheral weighting, you need to be one your game to get the most out of these but when you are on, they deliver like few other clubs. The short irons are fantastically accurate and the long irons are surprisingly easy to hit given they are pure thoroughbred blades. The sole plays well in any condition but with the grind taking some of the back off it suits pickers slightly more than diggers.
VM-02 left, VC-01 middle, VC-03 right
VW-02 Wedge
The square sole grind like is strongly reminiscent of Chikara wedges. The narrow flat sole is superb for full shots and chipping where it offers great stability as it cuts through the turf and the new grooves are still sharp enough to be able to hit one-hop-and-stop chips. The review model also sported the stunning black chrome finish. Feel is properly spectacular, exactly what you would expect from superior forgings like these.
VW-04 Wedge
The extreme heel toe grind allows this wedge to be opened up for high lob or parachute shots or played with the heel raised for clipping the ball off of hard pan. There is also a 360 grind which thins the top line at address for an even better look. The central portion still allows for great control from the sand as well as from the fairway. It is surprisingly easy to hit full shots with since the lack of sole would make you think that it would dig if you were really aggressive but it that doesn't happen.
VW-02 left, VW-04 right
All in all, another beautiful series of offerings from Vega carrying on their tradition of making some of the most gorgeous clubs
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Morning 9: Scheffler’s 65% top-10 finish rate | Monahan: Constructive Monday PIF meeting | Hal Sutton alive and well
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Morning 9: Scheffler repeats at Players | Monday PIF meeting | McIlroy takes another shot at Norman
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Tour Rundown: Matching luggage for Scheffler
For those of us from another generation, the disruption of the golf world that we knew well is both exciting and unsettling. The two most potent disruptors are rival golf leagues, not unlike the turmoil seen in the NCAA, and the Anchorman-style gangs of golf reporters. Reconciled to a past era are the dominance of the U.S. PGA Tour and the monthly golf magazines. One element that will not change, at any time in the foreseeable future, however, is the sanctity of the grand slam and golf’s four male major championships. While the LPGA and the PGA Tour Champions have seen a light and added fifth and sixth power titles, the men’s game remains staunchly in the 20th century.
This last topic surges in pertinence each March, just before the playing of The Players Championship. Two camps stake tents and run banners up the poll. One cries out for elevation of the PC to major status, while the other digs a trench around its impregnable quadrilateral. My personal take is this: Every four years since 2016, golf is played at the Olympics. Is Olympic Gold the equivalent of a major title? Yes, it is. It comes around every 1,500 days and brings elite golfers together in competition at the most important athletic event and venue. In my mind, Justin Rose and Xander Schauffele earned major titles in Brazil and Japan, as did Inbee Park and Nelly Korda. As for the Players Championship, why not? The field is stronger by ranking than any major event, and the golf course demands every shot that golfers can create.
The Players Championship is so important to the U.S. PGA Tour that all other tours under its umbrella take the week off. No Korn Ferry, no Tour Champions. The LPGA and the DP World Tour follow suit, which shrinks the amount of watchable golf to two events. On that sour note, let’s run down this week’s play, beginning with the Players Championship and ending with the Asian Tour in Macau.
PGA Tour @ Players Championship: matching luggage for Scheffler
Scottie Scheffler is making a bid to be the player of his generation. From the previous one, a fair number have taken leave from traditional competition. The Johnsons, Koepkas, and Reeds from the 1980s no longer play the events that stand the test of time. The born-in-the-90s generation had its first great champion in Jordan Spieth until he took leave of the senses that brought him to golf’s pinnacle. Spieth’s descent ran opposite Scheffler’s rise.
Scottie Scheffler had won nothing on the PGA Tour until February 13th of 2022. He won on that day in Phoenix, then won three more times by the middle of April. One of those wins was the API at Bay Hill. Last week, Scheffler won for a second time at the Orlando course. Last March, Scheffler won his first Players Championship, by five shots over Tyrrell Hatton. On Sunday, Scheffler dived headfirst into a cauldron of fierce competition. Facing challenges from Olympic champion Schauffele, Open champion Brian Harmon, and U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, Scheffler breathed. As the only man to reach 20 under par, he earned a second consecutive title at Sawgrass and reminded us that it has been two years since he won the Masters and that he is on a tear.
It all began at the fourth on Sunday for Scheffler. After pars at the opening three holes, Scheffler’s driving wedge from 92 yards landed 20 feet shy of the hole, took one large bounce, then spun left, trickling into the hole for eagle. He followed that incantation with another birdie, then two pars. The stretch from 8 to 12 was where the champion made a statement. His quartet of birdies over that run, brought him to 19-under par and let the pursuing pack know that even lower than the winning 17 under in 2023 would be necessary.
And the trio was game. Harman and Clark both dipped below 70, to reach 19 under at the final pole. Schauffele could not find a similar gear and closed with 70 — 69 would have earned him a playoff with Scheffler. It was the extra gear, the ability to go low when all things mattered, that eleveated the now two-time champion to the top of the podium. In five of his eight tour wins, Scheffler has posted a sub-70 round on day four, and four of those have been 67 or lower.
With elegant precision, Scheffler applied the final thrust at the par-5 16th. He played safely away from Pete’s Pond on the right, into the left greenside bunker at the back of the putting surface. His bunker shot was thing of exquisite accuracy, trickling to a planned stop about 20 inches from the hole. The birdie concluded matters and rang the sort of bell that Dye courses tend to display.
The greenside bunker is not a problem for the defending champ.
Scottie Scheffler’s birdie at 16 moves him back into a share of the lead @THEPLAYERS. pic.twitter.com/aEi7onLZPE
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 17, 2024
Asian Tour @ International Series Macau: Catlin earns playoff victory
There are two sorts of golfers that compete on the Asian Tour, which makes no secret of its alliance with the LIV. The first are the AT stalwarts, the ones who play as golfers have always played, with little guarantee and much pride. The others are the ones who compete on the LIV, eschewing both risk and pride for the guaranteed payday. Their deal costs them world ranking points, so they play in AT events, hoping to qualify for golf’s major events.
This week in Macau, one of those LIV golfers shot 60 on Sunday and did not win the tournament. Hard to believe, you say? Aye, but when another golfer shoots 59 in the third round, follows it up with a 65 on day four, then makes overtime birdie twice at the par-five closer, the razor’s edge of great golf is sharpened. Thus did it happen with American John Catlin and Spaniard David Puig.
It was Catlin who signed for 59, and it took a twisting, eagle putt at the last to enshrine the first-ever, sub-60 on the Asian Tour. It was Puig who closed the gap on Sunday with a 60 of his own, which featured a bogey at the lengthy fifth hole, but was followed by seven birdies and an eagle over the next 13 holes. Catlin had a six-feet putt for the regulation win, but missed. In extra time, Puig nearly holed for eagle at 18, then tapped in for birdie. Catlin’s second danced along the OOB perimeter, before ending on an access road. His drop and pitch left him another six feet to remain alive, and this time, he converted.
At the second go-round of the par-5 finisher, Puig found the green in two, but took three putts from nearly 50 feet. Catlin confronted another challenging pitch for his third, and once again, his wedge game won the day. He tapped in for birdie and the win.
5??9?? ? @JohnCatlin59 eagles the 18th to shoot the first 59 on the Asian Tour ?? #whereitsAT #ThisISEverything #InternationalSeries @intseriesgolf pic.twitter.com/RV9gYy1SIp
— Asian Tour (@asiantourgolf) March 16, 2024
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Xsurfersam
Dec 8, 2012 at 9:25 pm
Got vega wedges from joe Kwok and have to say best wedges ever hit. Have 56 and 60 degree with shimada shafts. Just ordered the vw10 50 deg for xmas