5.23.11
�gamechanger it was the shot that turned around the
tournament. david toms went from tied with charlie wi
to two ahead with one swing, using a 60-degree cleveland
cg16 lob wedge to hole an 83-yard shot for eagle on the
par- 5 11th (wi birdied the hole seconds later). the club
boasts a wide constant sole width from heel to toe and a
laser-milled face for added surface roughness to assist spin.
“when stuff like that happens, it’s just like it’s meant to be,”
said toms of his seventh hole-out of the season.
equipment// e. michael johnson
kerr’s irons, shaft wars, rule consequences
�changes cristie kerr benched
her callaway X- 22 irons in favor
of the company’s diablo forged
model at the sybase match play.
kerr, who lost in the final match to
suzann pettersen at hamilton farm
gc, also went back to her odyssey
white hot 2-ball putter. … steven
bowditch changed to an odyssey
white hot Xg #7 center-shafted
putter at colonial. for the week
bowditch ranked t- 6 in putts per
green in regulation en route to a
t- 16 finish.
�van insiDer getting clubs in
play has been more difficult for
pga tour reps as more players
are locked into contracts requiring
them to play a high percentage—if
not all—of a company’s clubs. few
players, however, have shaft contracts, and the competition on the
range has heated up. as one rep
said, “our players are repeatedly
being asked to test new shafts, and
shaft reps are going right to them
instead of us. they’re feeling pressure to win the count.”
�it’s the rule taylor fontaine’s
recent disqualification from a
u.s. open local qualifier for having a wedge with nonconforming
grooves brought about a question
as to what would happen if he had
started play with the club, but discovered the problem before using
it. the answer can be found under
rule 4-1a of the rules of golf. in
this scenario, he would have been
subject to a two-stroke penalty for
each hole the club was in the bag
(four stroke maximum).
�on the Drawing boarD a recently published patent application
from titleist caught the eye of david
dawsey at golf-patents.com. the
filing describes the design as “a golf
club head where at least a portion
of the frontal striking surface of the
face is detachable and replaceable
to improve performance.” there’s
a lot of patent-talk that follows, but
the upshot is that the club is designed to improve ball speed across
more of the face. whether it makes
it to market, however, is uncertain.
CROWNE PLAZA INVITATIONAL// WINNER’s bAg
�in the bag
(David Toms’ lineup)
ball: Titleist Pro V1
Driver: Cleveland Launcher DST
(Aldila RIP 60), 10. 5 degrees
3-wooD: Cleveland Launcher DST,
15 degrees
HybriDs: Cleveland Launcher ( 18,
20.5 degrees)
irons (4-Pw): Cleveland CG7 Tour
weDges: Cleveland CG16 (54, 60
degrees)
Putter: Never Compromise Dinero
Tycoon
Jim herity; hunter martin/getty images
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