Celtic Manor Wales Open

June 5th, 2009

Both Ryder Cup captains have taken an early chance to view the 2010 venue, at this week’s Celtic Manor Wales Open, being played over the Twenty Ten Course. Titleist ball loyalists Colin Montgomerie and Corey Pavin took the opportunity to tee it up at The Celtic Manor Resort near Newport in Wales, with much talk about how Montgomerie may set up the course for one of golf’s most hotly contested events!

Away from the conjecture about course layout, the Titleist Tour Team have again been busy working with Titleist staffers to deliver the advantages that can make the difference between vital places in counting towards the Order of Merit and the Race to Dubai.

Click here to view the slideshow

Last year’s defending champion and full line staffer Scott Strange is in the field looking for his second win of the season, trying to follow up his triumph in China at the Volvo China Open in April. Scott was a visitor to the Titleist Tour Support Vehicle (TTSV), initially looking for a back up 3-wood. After some work on the range with Fitting Technician Mattias Jelver, Scott tried a lighter shaft than the Rombax 8Z08 he was already using. Scott loved the 60g version of the shaft and ended up asking for a matching 5-wood to be built as well.

The specs for the two clubs were:

Head: 909 F2 15.5°
Shaft: Rombax 6Z08 X - tipped 2”
Length: 43”
Grip: Gripmaster 0+1
Swingweight: D4

Head: 909 F2 18.5°
Shaft: Rombax 6Z08 X – tipped 2.5”
Length: 42.5”
Grip: Gripmaster 0+1
Swingweight: D4

The Titleist Tour Team also believe that full line staffer Mikko Ilonen is on the verge of posting some good scores, having worked hard with him on the range. Mikko wanted to particularly look at his drivers this week, as he wanted to ensure he had stability for the windy conditions expected in Wales.

Mikko’s back up driver specs are:

Head: 909 D2 9.5°
Shaft: Fubuki 63 S – tipped 1.5”
Length: 45”
Grip: Tour Velvet 58R 1+1
Swingweight: D2

Austrian full line player Bernd Wiesberger is in the same position as Mikko - he’s got a great driver in the bag and a little stiffer driver as a back up. Bernd put the back up driver in the bag for this week’s blowy conditions:

Head: 909 D3 9.5°
Shaft: Fujikura Motore F1 75gr X
Length: 45”
Grip: Tour Velvet 58R 1+1
Swingweight: D3

Bernd also picked up a new wedge so he can get some extra spin this week, with a Flying T stamping on the back of the wedge which you can see in this week’s slideshow….very nice!

Head: Vokey Raw Spin Milled 60-T
Shaft: X100
Length: 35.75”
Lie: 1′ Upright
Grip: Tour Velvet 58R 3+1
Swingweight: D4

One of our new staffers this year is Chinnarat Phadungsil from Thailand. He was still using his 905R driver, so after showing him the 909 heads again, a little discussion and a little fitting, he ended up with 12 yards more carry and a total distance improvement of 20 yards! Impressive! Chinnarat seems almost certain to have this in his bag in time for his next European Tour event which is St Omer Open in two weeks time. The specs of the new driver are:

Head: 909D2 8.5°
Shaft: Diamana Kai’Li 70X – tipped 1.5”
Length: 45”
Grip: Tour Velvet Cord 60R 0+1
Swingweight: D3

This really has been a week for driver fittings as staffer Gregory Bourdy has also made a permanent switch going from his old 907 D2 7.5° to the new 909 D2 7.5°- staying with the Vista Tour 60X shaft that has served him well.

The Titleist European Tour Team were bolstered this week by the arrival of a colleague from the PGA Tour, Titleist Representative Fordie Pitts. Fordie spends a huge amount of his time talking golf balls and testing Titleist golf ball products with the best players in the world. When it comes to Titleist golf balls, Fordie is definitely the man to talk to!! This week the Team were lucky enough to have him on the European Tour and he set straight to work talking with a number of Titleist golf ball loyalists including Ambassador’s Paul Waring and Mikko Ilonen as well as 2010 Ryder Cup Captain Colin Montgomerie. This collaboration with the players is essential in making sure the player has the right Titleist golf ball but it is also a hugely valuable research tool for the development of future Titleist golf ball products.

With staffer Ross Fisher just one shot off the lead at the halfway stage (at the time of writing) and Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x loyalists, Jeev Milkha Singh and Jean-Baptiste Gonnet, one shot further back, we’re looking forward to a good finish over the weekend! The Titleist Tour Team will be back at Acushnet’s European headquarters in Cambridgeshire, UK, this week, before heading out to France to the Aa Saint Omer GC for the next European Tour event. The Titleist Tour Blog will be on hand to report any new builds back at HQ and to deliver the inside the ropes insight when the TTSV arrives in Saint Omer!

Entry Filed under: Uncategorized