Golf World Monday - April 30, 2012

�gamechanger when you make one eagle and 21 birdies, putting is at a premium. such was the case for Jason dufner at the Zurich classic of new orleans. in securing his first pga tour win, dufner ranked sixth in strokes gained/putting, t- 2 in putts per round and ninth in putts per green in regulation. the club dufner used was a scotty cameron by titleist prototype similar to cameron’s circa 62 #6 model (shown). dufner’s, however, has a mid-slant hosel and not a plumber’s neck as shown at left.

�shaft stories although true temper remains the dominant iron shaft on the pga tour, kbs’ iron shaft has gained some momentum this season, and at the Zurich classic of new orleans 20 players had them in their irons—the most ever for the company on the top tour. among those using kbs shafts at tpc louisiana were four top- 10 finishers, including ernie els (tour x model), ryan palmer and steve stricker (tour) and Justin rose ( c-taper).

�backups at the ready some players strengthen the lofts in their irons, but hank kuehne actually uses taylormade tour preferred mc irons that are bent

2 degrees weak (ending with a

50-degree pw instead of a 48-de- gree) to avoid overpowering iron shots. at new orleans, however, kuehne requested a backup set made to conventional lofts so he wouldn’t have to alter his gamers on weeks he wanted more distance with his irons.

�changes rickie fowler made a subtle switch at the Zurich event, putting a ping i20 3-wood ( 15 degrees) in his bag. fowler finished t- 10 in new orleans. … brendon de Jonge switched driver shafts, using aldila’s rip 80 in his titleist

910d3 driver. de Jonge was 106th in driving distance coming into the Zurich (284.9 yards) but finished the week t-49 in that stat (286.3 yards). de Jonge’s t- 18 finish was his best in 11 events, dating back to this year’s humana challenge.

… david toms finished t-45 but had some success with a return to a cleveland launcher dst driver ( 10. 5 degrees). toms, who won in new orleans in 2001, hit fairways at a 73.2 percent clip, ranking t- 6 in that stat. … when you rank 129th in strokes gained/putting for the season, a change to the putter is in order, and lucas glover tweaked his nike method core 1i by making it 1 degree flatter to aid alignment. glover was 32nd in strokes gained/ putting at tpc louisiana.

equipment// e. michael johnson
kbs’ shaft gains, kuehne’s plan b, glover’s tweak
ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS// WINNER’S bAg

�in the bag
(Jason Dufner’s lineup)
ball: Titleist Pro V1
DRIVER: Titleist 910 D2 (Mitsubishi
’ahina), 9. 5 degrees
3-WOOD: Titleist 910F, 13. 5 degrees
5-WOOD: Titleist 906F2, 18
degrees
HYbRID: Titleist 910H, 19 degrees
IRONS (4-PW): Titleist AP2
WEDGES: Titleist Vokey SM4 (54,
60 degrees)
PUTTER: Scotty Cameron by Titleist
Prototype