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Golf Equipment Chronicles 2007 (Part 6)

New Year, First Tournament, New Bag

By Leith Anderson

If you love golf and are lucky enough to live in a climate that permits year-round play, February is an exciting month. The big golf equipment companies crank up their PR blitz leading up to the annual PGA Golf Merchandise Show - always held at the end of January. The local golf clubs start their competition schedules - I broke my competitive drought this year on January 6th. That’s not why I moved from the Midwest to California fifteen years ago - but it could have been. And the most optimistic human beings on earth - dedicated golfers - begin their annual search for the golf clubs that might save a few shots. I’m no different. I started out the first tournament of the year with a bag full of new clubs.

Before I get into describing my first new bag of the year and the complications, I’ve got an update on my plans to work on my game in 2007.

Time and Money - ”Tournament School”

I just finished a great read: Paper Tiger by Tom Coyne. Paper Tiger is a humorous look at the idiosyncrasies the golf world. I laughed out loud. His story traces one of our common fantasies. Coyne took a year of his life and most of his net worth to try to improve enough to qualify for the PGA Tour. My own fantasy is much less grandiose than that.

My goal is to win a single Northern California Golf Association (NCGA) point. NCGA tournaments are the next step up from local club events in California. There is an Open division that attracts the best sticks in the state and there’s a Senior division where the old guys get to have their own tournament. Tournaments are at scratch. You can also win points by playing in NCGA sanctioned tournaments. For example: Amateurgolf.com tournaments award NCGA points to the top finishers - usually the top ten - adjusted for the number of entries.

If you want to be successful at tournament golf, you have to practice under tournament conditions. That’s why I planned my own program that included playing serious rounds with a PGA Professional. Every shot gets analyzed. A professional eye detects the shots that you don’t have but will need down the road. Alas, most of us practice what we do best and eschew working on the parts of our game that most need improvement.

My Tournament Practice Program

First, find a PGA Pro who wants to help a dedicated amateur improve as much as possible in four months. Then, find a golf course and a place to practice with a grass surface and a short game area. Done: Eric Jones and Poppy Ridge. Then, put together the foursome. Requirement: meet once a month for a serious round of golf at Poppy Ridge. Then promise to show up once a week at Poppy Ridge for a half day practice session. Eric will be available for help but the practice will be mostly unstructured, focusing on the shots that need work. Hit lots and lots of balls. Continue for four months. Take your playing test each month and see if analysis, practice and the encouragement of your “practice buddies” help you make it to the next level.

If you’re a player who can structure his time to free up one full day a month for a “tournament” practice round and another half day each week for supervised practice, you’re a candidate. You just need a few bucks in your jeans to pay the pro for his time. I’m working on putting together my group with positive chemistry. There could be more than one group - Eric has time for more. I’ve heard from a couple of volunteers already so the game is on. I’m looking for two more good men. . .

Time Only - Mornings at the Muni

I’m serious about turning back the clock. No one, ever, improves without practice. The question is: “What kind of practice?” I’m against buying a big bucket and whacking it away off of mats. The balls are rocks, the mats are nothing like grass and you can’t see where the ball comes down or how it behaves when it lands. If you like lifting weights, great - that’s what you’re doing.

Big buckets at the range are physical exercise. You get stronger; you work on your balance, tempo and timing. But, I don’t think that’s good practice. You also have to be aware of the danger. Every year, several players come into the Golf Lab complaining that they injured themselves hitting off of mats and lost a month or two of play while they recovered.

Good practice is on course practice. You hit your regular ball or a ball that you want to test. The surface is right. You see the shot. If you’re on your home course so you have hundreds of memories of great and awful shots to compare.

Your targets are precise. You know if the pin is on the top tier and a shot that falls short will back off the green. You see the ball when it lands so you can tell the effect of spin. Practice when it’s not crowded so no one cares if you take the last shot over and get it right. (They only guys who might care are the groundskeepers and they’ll let you get away with it if you fix a few extra divots and pitch marks on every hole.)

I’ll be at the Muni most mornings, Monday through Thursday about 7:30. All readers are invited. We’re not there to show off and keep score. We might say, “No drivers off the tee, no putters off the fringe or you have to hit a bunker every hole." Advice is plentiful and free. There is no cost other than your greens fees and breakfast tab. First come, first served. Please call the Golf Lab at least a day early to grab a spot.

Northern California Golf Show

One of the other early rites of spring is the Northern California Golf Show at the San Mateo Expo Center. It’s easy to get to, just a minute or two off of 101 at 380 in San Mateo. If you want to save a few bucks on your entry fee, stop by the Golf Lab. We always have some free passes. Mark your calendars for March 2-4.

This will be our fourth year. We like the show to meet new customers and get reacquainted with old customers. This year, we have an array of special offers to motivate you to come to the show. By the way, there is a lot more there than just the Golf Lab. You can say that for one weekend, it’s a “who’s who” gathering of the Northern California golf industry.

There’s always a “freebie” at the door. Most of the time it’s golf balls. You will also get a free subscription to Golf Magazine. The main sponsor is the Golf Mart. They outfit a massive booth that concentrates on liquidating their trade-ins and special purchases. If you’re thinking about that Titlist driver that you didn’t buy a couple of years ago but always remembered, you’ll find one at the Golf Mart booth for a price that won’t dent your allowance. The Golf Mart also brings in all of the major manufacturers. If you want to hit any current model, indoors, off of mats, you can do it. From Adams to Titlist, they’ll all be there. There is always a discount on new club purchases from the Golf Mart.

There will be plenty of small guys there as well. That’s where you find the surprises. Fischer Touch Putters are popular. You can try your hand at the 50 foot putt, the chipping contest you can guess the number of tees in the bottle at the Golf Today Magazine booth. It’s a very worthwhile way for a golfer to spend a few hours on a spring afternoon. You can see the show in two or three hours so it’s a good stop on your way home from the course.

The Golf Lab at the Golf Show

The Golf Lab Gang will be at the show. We’ll have a selection of our electronic gizmos with us as well. You can learn a lot at the show.

Bring your driver. We’ll have our state-of-the-art Max Out Launch Max set up to test your driver with your swing. You will get a printout of your ball speed, launch angle and spin rate. You will also receive a comparison of your driver’s performance with theoretical perfection. From that information, you will know exactly how efficient your driver is and how much distance you might be losing. We will discuss possible improvements with you - all this for no charge. After the test, if you decide that you’d like to go through a complete fitting at the Golf Lab, we’ll give you a coupon for a “half price” fitting - driver, irons or both.

If you want to know the true flex of your clubs, you can bring them to the Golf Show and we’ll test them for free. We’ll give you a chart and complete explanation of how we measure and interpret flex utilizing the Professional Clubmakers Society “Equalizer” system. The first step in fitting clubs is testing your current clubs for flex.

If you’d like to book a “mini fitting”, you can. Just bring your clubs, your shoes, your glove and yourself. This will be a short version of our Golf Lab fittings for a short price. Call the Golf Lab for a reservation or wait on line. Just $25 if reserved and paid in advance.

If putting is your problem, we’ll have our state-of-the-art Science and Motion (SAM) putting analysis system. You can have a quick test to see what your stroke looks like for no charge. If you’d like to go through a complete putter fitting, we’ll have experts on site - Heather Hughes our short game guru leads the team. Bring your putter. We’ll measure loft and lie and adjust it free.

Eric Jones, the 2003 Senior World Long Drive Champion and Director of Instruction at Poppy Ridge will also be at the show. He’ll do a demonstration, give a speech and conduct fifteen minute “get acquainted” lessons with video. If you plan ahead, it’s just $25 for twenty minutes - reserved and paid in advance.

We’ll also have a booklet of show specials and discount offers. We’ll have free copies of Tom Wishon’s paperback excerpt from Search for the Perfect Golf Clubs. Add it all up. You can make your afternoon at the Northern California Golf Show worth your time.

The “New” Bag

January sixth was the first Palo Alto Muni tournament of the year. Normally, I wouldn’t recommend a brand new set of clubs for a tournament round. But, since my expectations were low and I’m not competing for the Vardon Trophy, I enjoy the focus of playing with a new set of clubs in a tournament. You get acquainted with the negative features of your golf clubs real quick. This round was no different. Here’s what my bag looked like:

Irons: Mizuno MX-25 (4-P). Despite the fact that Mizuno is known for its forged “players’ blades” the best selling of all Mizuno models is the MX Series, a game improvement model. This year, Mizuno finally discontinued the MX-23 and replaced it with the new and improved MX-25. That caught my attention. After studying the MX-25 head shape for longer than any mentally competent adult should, I convinced myself that the MX-25 was going to be my new iron for 2007

Driver: The SUMO 2. I’m starting to understand the big square drivers pretty well. The big square drivers are not about distance, they are about control. They are going to be much more interesting and effective for average to high handicap players than for low handicap players. But I haven’t given up on the SUMO 2.

Wedges: Sonartec. Sonartec has been a one trick pony since its meteoric rise with its original fairway woods. They’ve got a new line of wedges. They probably won’t stay in the bag as a set for long. But, there is something to learn from deep cut grooves and milled faces.

Utilities: KZG. Bag setups are changing. With 3 irons an endangered species on the PGA Tour and nearly extinct on other tours, the 21* or 22* degree is just the first step. The key to success is setting up your utilities to match your irons.

Fairway Wood: Tour Edge. Of all of the mysteries of golf equipment, how Tour Edge succeeded selling a $399 fairway metal is way up toward the top of the list. I’m predicting that new fairway metals are going to give players of all levels a chance to save a stroke or two in 2007. For now, the Tour Edge 4 wood is in my bag, shafted with an ACCRA Tour 70 gram shaft in M-4 flex. I’m starting to think about hitting par 5’s in two again.

MX-25 Irons in Depth

If you’re a customer for new, custom golf clubs the least expensive way to get the set built is to let the manufacturer do it for you. That way, you don’t buy a new set of irons just to get the heads and then waste money taking the clubs apart and throwing the shafts away so you can reshaft. This year, Mizuno is offering a new, proprietary 105 gram graphite shaft. Most better players who choose graphite are going to end up playing heavier weights, so I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone by ordering my new MX-25’s from Mizuno’s custom shop, set up with inch over length, 105 gram graphite shafts.

There is a lot of information available about commercial graphite shafts from major manufacturers. Not only are player reviews common, but also most shafts have been tested for flex along their entire length and the “bend profile” results are available in database form. As a result, you can know the flex of a shaft measured in the traditional way, and also gain a lot of insight about how the shaft might play for specific players based on the bend profile through its length. Conversely, there is very little known about proprietary shafts. The new Mizuno 105 gram Exar shaft is unknown.

When the new MX-25’s arrived, my first step was to check swingweights and shaft flex. They were good but not perfect. Swingweights were within a couple of points around D-6 and shaft flexes within ten cycles - averaging to a PCS 6.5 - pretty stout for “S” flex proprietary shafts. One problem was they were cut ¼” short. When you’re buying a set of custom clubs and care about length, it’s imperative to specify how to measure length. “Standard” can still mean a 37.75” five iron.

On the course the MX-25’s looked good. From the business end, they looked like low-offset players’ blades with a slightly thicker top line. I mentioned disappointment. That had to do with the sole shape. The MX-25’s heritage is the entire MX series of game improvement models. The traditional sole shape for game improvement clubs is wide with significant bounce. The MX-25 has a “relieved” leading edge, meaning that some of the bounce is ground away. I thought the Mizunos would be compatible with the Palo Alto Muni. Alas, on the sixth hole I fanned my drive right into the wasteland. The lie was bare dirt. I needed to get a five iron over a tree. I was worried so took a six iron to be sure. I still clipped the branches. Therein lays the fundamental problem of too much bounce and a sole that’s too wide. They’re great for nice soft lies but not so hot off of dirt. That’s the whole point of bounce, it won’t let you dig. On dirt, sometimes you have to dig.

The proprietary Exsar shafts are a question. I felt that they went higher than my current favorite, the Aerotech Steel Fiber 110’s. The most disconcerting issue was that with some relatively solid shots that were headed toward the pin, the ball seemed to stall and fall right rather than flatten and drop left. I was playing with a couple of sharp-eyed critics who noticed the same thing. I won’t choose the Exsar shafts against the Aerotech’s after that experience. To verify, we chopped a half inch off, flattened the lies and sent them over to Stanford for Bob’s standing Thursday morning round with The Fitz. Verdict? OK but not exciting. Next stop, back to the bench for an Aerotech 110 transplant.

I think that there is still a “holy grail” out there somewhere. It’s going to be a forged, game improvement design that works for a low index player. The MX-25 is still the best shot. I’ll be back with an update next month.

SUMO 2 Update

Nike supplied two SUMO 2 drivers for us to test for a couple of weeks. I wrote about my first experience, and some Golf Lab regulars’ reactions last month. That article was short on technical detail - particularly launch monitor testing with different balls and shafts.

Since then, I had a chance to play another couple of rounds, including the January 6th tournament round, perform launch monitor testing and let some Golf Lab regulars hit the SUMO 2. Conclusion: the SUMO 2 is a low spin driver. Contrary to reports from an influential online forum, all players we have tested delivered spin readings equal to or lower than their current drivers. For more detail, see two lengthy articles about the SUMO 2 archived on the Golf Lab website: www.calgolftech.com.

Nike did a great job of controlling the availability to keep SUMOs from leaking out into the world of eBay. But by the time this article hits the street, SUMOs will be for sale so if you’re thinking about a purchase, here are some thoughts for you to contemplate.

As time goes on, I think that the SUMO 2 is going to become much more popular with high index players. This opinion has to do with understanding the benefits of Moment of Inertia (MOI) technology. The major benefit of high MOI is less loss of distance from off-center hits. Good players who strike most of their drives near the sweet spot are going to notice less benefit. The winners are going to be players who move the ball around the club face. Average driving distances will improve for those players.

There is a possible problem. Since the SUMO 2 is a low spin head, the biggest hurdle for most average to high index players is going to be getting enough spin on the ball. If you test a SUMO 2 and it doesn’t perform, get a launch monitor numbers to make sure it is going high enough and is spinning enough. The ball must spin to make it fly. Pairing the SUMO 2 with the right shaft might be a challenge. If the SUMO 2 doesn’t perform with the stock shaft, don’t give up. It’s also possible that the ball you choose to play will make a big difference. Comparative testing will definitely be required to find the best performing setup.

Too little spin is the opposite problem from what most low index players face. Low index players will choose the SUMO 2 for control. It will be frustrating for most low index players to try to work the ball. The SUMO 2 is not made to go right. In addition, the very large head is going to demand a low torque shaft to deliver control. That combination tends to be “boardy”. That was a complaint from low index players who tested the SUMO 2 with the Mitsubishi Diamana White Board. I think that most low index players are not going to like the SUMO 2 with the stock shaft. I would test the ACCRA SC series in an appropriate weight and flex. I think that low torque with a lively tip is going to be the best choice for players who want to see their drives do more than start down the right side of the fairway and draw back to the center.

During our test rounds, a very good player put two over the fence on the back nine at Palo Alto with the SUMO 2. That’s a year’s quota in one day. The SUMO2 is engineered with a pronounced draw bias. That was the attraction of the original Sasquatch and the SUMO takes that bias to the extreme. The shape and the face angle make it almost impossible to hit the SUMO 2 right. If the SUMO 2 turns out to be more than this year’s flash in the pan, it will be because it delivers extraordinary control. In our brief experience, the SUMO 2 was not a miracle. You can hit it sideways and you will not hit it farther than any other driver. Nevertheless, with the right setup, SUMO 2 will certainly become the gamer for thousands of players.

On the radar screen. For those readers who won’t eat sushi, we’ve got our eye on the Bridgestone J33, the Adams “Insight” line (and the bargain priced Adams 460 D and 430 Q weight adjustable drivers). We’ve been hearing good things about the Callaway square driver. With the new Taylor Made “Super Quad” coming out, the earlier generation Taylor Made R7’s are becoming terrific bargains. There are a lot of good driver choices for 2007.

Sonartec Wedges

One of the categories that most players ignore is their wedges. I think it’s safe to say that 80 or 90% just buy their Vokeys or Clevelands and forget about it. With so many choices in wedge materials, styles and shafts, it’s amazing to me that most amateurs pay so little attention to their wedges. Aside from your putter and your driver, you have a better chance to change the outcome of your round with you wedges than any other club.

I put the new Sonartec wedges in my bag for the tournament round. They came shafted with True Temper S-300’s and since I haven’t played that shaft for a long time, I thought a little refresher would be appropriate. I cut them a little too long. At 305 grams, the heads were very heavy. As a custom shop, you get used to choices. A single weight head means that you’re going to have to focus on the length, shaft weight and grip weight that suits that head weight. Most players get a little skeptical when the swingweight tops E-2. An easy way out is a little trip to the grinder, but that’s a nasty treatment for a brand new head.

Here’s the takeaway. I don’t think any player should ever have a “set” of wedges that all look alike in his bag. That was the main problem with the Sonartecs, they are all exactly the same shape and with minor variations, the same sole shape.

The Palo Alto Muni has sand in the traps. The best sole shape for those conditions and my skill level is a pretty big bounce sole. I like opening the blade and splashing the ball out of the bunker. I think that gives me the best margin of error. The Sonartec 56* wedge doesn’t have enough bounce to suit my taste. On the other hand, the gap and lob wedges have very good sole grinds for most situations. The same criticism goes for most of the amateur bags that I see.

Most amateurs only have one sand wedge and one lob wedge. They’re likely to stick with their favorite model until it wears out while they buy a dozen sets of irons and two dozen drivers. On the other hand, most PGA Tour Pros come to town with half a dozen wedges or more. They study the course and then choose their tools to suit the course conditions. Here are some things you should think about to improve the results of your wedge game:

Milled grooves and spin milled faces are here to stay. It used to be just the territory of the “Tour” wedges, but now this finishing comes on Sonartec and even component wedges. You really notice the abrasive face if you can pick a lob wedge off of the fairway. It floats up and stops. If you don’t have any spin milled wedges in your bag, you have a treat coming. Beware: you’ll peel a few balls before the grooves wear.

I don’t like the wedge lofts most amateurs play. I see a 56* sand wedge and a 60* lob wedge in most bags. When you think about your game and then choose your tools, the best idea I’ve heard came from Mitch Voges. He says: “Find your 100 yard wedge and go from there”. I took his advice and found that my 100 yard wedge was a 50* gap wedge. Working from there, I went to a 54* sand wedge and 58* lob wedge. There are many benefits. First, you’re going to be amazed how frequently you’re standing in the fairway at 100 yards, plus or minus five. Having the club in your bag that you can step on to go 105 yards or let up for 95 yards has turned out to be a breakthrough for me. Then, there’s no reason a sand wedge has to be 56*. I find that a 54* sand wedge is more useful. It drives the ball a little better out of the bunker, giving me a little more range. A 60* wedge is temperamental for most amateurs. If you’re playing a 60* wedge today, you’ll be amazed how your consistency will improve by just bending it down two degrees. Plus, a 58* wedge is much more useful out of bunkers where you can play a lower bounce with a square or slightly opened face.

If you take loft adjustment the other direction, you can start playing your irons a couple degrees strong. You may be doing that anyway if you bought your irons in the last couple of years. If your five iron is 26 degrees, you can leave the progression at four degrees to your four iron which will make it the longest iron you need at 22*. Taking a good look at your lofts is the best way to make room in your bag for wedges and utilities.

KZG Utilities and Contenders

I’ve been working with the KZG Utilities because they come in a wide range of lofts and more important, they have a bendable hosel. They’re inexpensive because components let you choose your shaft. That’s the takeaway from the last year or so of working with utilities. They should be matched to your irons, not to your fairway woods. In the early days of utility clubs, they were little more than fairway woods with smaller heads. They were too long, too light and didn’t work all that well except that the smaller heads let players get the ball in the air a little easier. The shafts of choice were .335 wood shafts.

After a couple years of working with utilities, it’s obvious that heavier heads, shorter lengths and .370 tip iron shafts are the trend of the industry. If you’re matching your irons, that means lie angle as well so an adjustable hosel is a big advantage. A trend that’s running its course is the “utility shaft” idea. If you want your utilities to match your irons, why not use iron shafts in your utilities? It’s working for us. There are a lot of so-called utility shafts in the market place that are hard to hit and more expensive than need be.

In addition to KZG, good utility designs include Adams, Bobby Jones, Mizuno and others. As with other clubs, players that want to find the one that works the best will have to test many. After all, how will you know unless you have the experience?

Fairway Woods Offer Lots of Upside

I mentioned the Tour Edge fairway metals as an unusually good choice. There is one detail of the USGA rules that is often overlooked. It turns out that the limitations on COR are all aimed at drivers. When lofts go above 15* there are no restrictions. In launch monitor testing, we’ve seen extraordinary ball speeds generated by good players with Tour Edge fairway metals.

But, distance isn’t everything. Like wedges, most players will be better off if they don’t buy a matching set of fairway woods. One should be a shallow face, aimed at getting maximum distance off of the fairway. The other should be deeper faced, useful off of the tee and out of the rough. You have some thinking to do about which should be which. If you use a 3 wood a lot from the tee, you can’t beat the Nike T series, originally 2005 models but held over for 2006 because Tiger kept playing the T-60 until late in the year. It’s a great deep face fairway. From the fairway, I like a shallow face model - recently playing the Tour Edge four wood.

There are other fairway models coming down the pike. I think that the AGT “Fairway Driver” is going to earn a place in a lot of bags. The same hurdle exists with fairway metals and drivers. You’ll only find the “magic” after you’ve tried a lot of different models.

That’s it for now. Watch for the in-depth update on the PGA Show next month.

Leith Anderson is a Partner in the Golf Lab, Palo Alto, CA.
He will answer any and all questions relating to club fitting and club making. Contact: Leith@calgolftech.com.