Golf World Monday - November 29, 2010

�gaMechanger robert karlsson played the par- 5 18th hole at the dubai world championship three times yesterday and birdied it every time, the last producing a playoff victory over ian poulter for the title. assisting karlsson were his titleist Vokey spin milled c-c wedges, which he used to knock his approach shots to three feet, five feet and again to three feet, setting up short birdie putts every time.

�trends earlier this year many were predicting golfers would snatch up wedges with aggressive grooves before they could no longer be made come year’s end. and that, at least based on the latest information from golf datatech, is exactly what has happened. although dollar sales of balls, woods, irons and putters were down from 2009 through the first three quarters of the year, wedge sales rose a staggering 17.9 percent with unit sales up 12. 7 percent. year of the wedge, indeed.

�not so fast the end of the pga tour season brought to a close the first year players used the less-aggressive wedges. and though the new grooves had minimal impact statistically and were little discussed past mid-year, usga senior technical director dick rugge cautions those rushing to conclusions.

“you can’t make a judgment after one year,” he said. “there can be spikes in data either way for a single season. the impact can only be known after several years.”

�debuts although the club has been in play on pro tours for several months, ping’s anser iron—the company’s first commercially available forged set—is now in u.s. stores. the clubs, which carry a hefty msrp of $1,520 for a set of eight, feature a carbon-steel body with a tungsten sole. the hollow-sole cavity design positions the center of gravity low and back for higher-launching shots. project X is the stock shaft, and the irons are available in 12 lie-angle options.

equipMent// e. Michael johnson
‘hot’ wedge sales find their groove

�on the horizon? two inter-
esting items on david dawsey’s
golf-patents.com this past week:
1. callaway has filed a trademark
application for the name “flip face,”
which may or may not signal some
sort of adjustable-face technology; 2.
cobra has a patent application pub-
lished for an invention that allows for
“a method of making a golf club head
by applying a controlled source of
energy to a powdered metal to form
a golf club head.” a golf club from
powdered metal? stay tuned.

Dubai WorlD Championship// Winner’s bag

�in the bag
(Robert Karlsson’s lineup)
BALL: Titleist Pro V1x
driver: Titleist 910 D3 (Graphite
Design Tour AD DI6), 9. 5 degrees
3-wood: Titleist 910F, 13. 5 degrees
5-wood: Titleist 910F, 19 degrees
irons (4-Pw): Titleist MB
wedges: Titleist Vokey Spin Milled
C-C (49, 60 degrees); Titleist
Vokey Spin Milled C-C TVD (56
degrees)
Putter: Scotty Cameron by Titleist
GSS