Czeching in for the Moravia Silesia Open

For the first time since 1997, the European Tour returns to the Czech Republic, and the Prosper Golf Club in Celadna, for the Moravia Silesia Open presented by ALO Diamonds. And a whole host of Titleist Ambassadors and golf ball loyalists are hoping that they can sparkle this week, following in the footsteps of Pro V1x golf ball loyalist and SAS Masters Champion, Ricardo Gonzalez.

Click here to view the slideshow

Measuring 7,155 yards, the par 72 course is very undulating and offers spectacular views of the surrounding mountains. As well as thick rough around the putting surfaces and many water hazards, the main challenge to the players will be the multi-tiered greens. This feature alone will make club selection and distance control vital to good scoring – as well as having a hot flatstick!

One Titleist Ambassador hoping that a new putter will help him tame the greens for the rest of the season is Pablo Larrazabal. He took delivery this week of a Titleist Scotty Cameron “Timeless” putter in a German Stainless Steel (GSS) finish. The specs of the putter are:

Club: Titleist Scotty Cameron Timeless

Length: 33” cut
Lie: 71°
Loft: 4°
Grip: Red Cord
Swingweight: Standard
Finish: GSS

As the Titleist Tour Support Vehicle (TTSV) is not returning to the road until the KLM Open to wards the end of August, the Titleist Tour Team were again focusing on progress evaluation. Titleist Tour Technician Phil Dimmock walked the course during practice with staffers Rob Dinwiddie and Seve Benson to discuss future requirements. At the time of writing, Rob lies five off the leaders after two rounds and Seve is two shots further back having just started his second round.

Fellow Titleist full line player, Tano Goya is right in the mix having just started his second round, lying just one shot off the lead! As you’ll see in the pictures, Tano has been working hard on the range as always – it sometimes just needs a small change to put the guys back in the groove. Let’s hope Tano stays in the fray through till Sunday afternoon!

Once again, a somewhat shorter than normal Titleist European Tour Blog, but we’ll be back again soon with any inside the ropes info to give you the inside line on what keeps the best players in the world in the hunt for titles! Happy golfing in the meantime!

Add comment July 31st, 2009

Getting the flight right at the SAS Masters

A somewhat shorter than usual Titleist European Tour Blog this week, as the Titleist Tour Support Vehicle (TTSV) isn’t present at the SAS Masters at the Barsebäck Golf and Country Club! Don’t worry – there haven’t been any accidents! It’s just that the TTSV had to remain on the practice ground at Turnberry until the Sunday of the Open Championship. At most European Tour events, everything would be packed up and the TTSV would roll quietly off the range on Wednesday evening to move on to the next event.

Click here to view the slideshow

Before the TTSV left Turnberry, it remained a hive of activity over the weekend. Having been disappointed to miss the cut, Pablo Larrazabal knuckled down to some hard work on the range with Titleist Tour Technician Phil Dimmock. This has resulted in Pablo putting a set of Titleist ZM irons (with ZB 3 & 4 iron) into the bag in place of his 735.CMs. In order to develop a flight that was a little stronger, Phil switch Pablo out of his KBS Tours X-flex into Dynamic Gold X100. This has brought the spin down, strengthened the flight and seems to be paying dividends as Pablo is well placed to make a charge over the weekend!

The specs for Pablo’s new irons are:

Clubs: ZB 3 & 4, ZM 5-P
Shafts: Dynamic Gold X100
Set up: Standard length, standard loft & lie
Swing weight: D2
Grip: BCT 1+1

So without their home-away-from-home, the Titleist Tour Team (TTT) was tasked with carrying out equipment check ups with players and ordering up some wedges to be delivered at the next event – the Moravia Silesia Open presented by ALO Diamonds at the Prosper Golf Resort, Čeladná, in the Czech Republic. The TTSV has returned to Titleist’s European HQ in Cambridgeshire for servicing and re-stocking and will be back on the road for the KLM Open in Holland towards the end of August.

Even without the TTSV, it’s still busy times for the guys as they walk the course with Titleist staffers to discuss mid-season progress and the potential need for any changes. Titleist golf ball loyalist Kenneth Ferrie has been hard at work with the Tour issue Scotty Cameron Studio Select Kombi Black that he picked up at the European Open back at the end of May. The specs are:

Club: Studio Select Kombi Black
Shaft: Stepless double bend
Length: 35”
Grip: SC Dancing Black
Loft & lie: 4°loft and SC 71° standard lie
Weights: 20g

Add comment July 27th, 2009

The Open makes a turn for Turnberry

Those players that had either played themselves in by right or qualified at International Final Qualifying or Local Final Qualifying descended on Turnberry in Ayrshire this week for the 138th Open Championship. By the time most of the players arrived, the Titleist Tour Support Vehicle (TTSV) had already been on the range for at least four days, having arrived from Loch Lomond on the previous Thursday.

Click here to view the slideshow

The Ailsa Course at Turnberry is surely one of the most spectacular courses in World golf – with big carries, treacherous rough and penal bunkers, positioning will be at a premium to post a good score! The scene of one of the best Open Championships ever – the famous “Duel in the Sun” between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus in 1977 – the Ailsa Course has been lengthened to 7204 yards for the 2009 contest.

Having worked hard with many of the Titleist staffers last week at the Barclays Scottish Open, requests to the Titleist Tour Team for changes or club introductions were fewer than they would be at a normal tournament. The majority of players prefer to come into a Major Championship with the clubs in their bag settled.

There are, of course, always a few changes at The Open and the TTT was kept busy working with players to check club set up – loft, lie and grip replacement. One visitor to the TTSV was 2003 Open Champion Ben Curtis – “Big Ben”, as he is known, wanted to get a 2-iron to be able to hit his “stinger” and position the ball in the fairway off the tee. Ben was fitted into the following:

Club: AP2 2-iron
Shaft: Dynamic Gold S400
Length: Standard
Grip: Tour Velvet 58R
Loft: 1 deg strong
Lie: 1 deg upright
Swingweight: D3

Another visitor from the PGA Tour to The Open is Titleist full line staffer DJ Trahan. Having spent some time chatting with fellow Titleist Ambassador Adam Scott and trying out his driver, DJ wanted to try out some new options. The Tour Team made up the following, which DJ will continue testing:

Club: 909 D3 8.5°
Shaft: Aldila XPP6 X-flex (prototype)
Length: 44” tipped 1.5”
Grip: X-Line C 58R
Swingweight: D4.5

Club: 909 D3 8.5°
Shaft: ProForce V2 86g X-flex
Length: 44” tipped 1.5”
Grip: X-Line C 58R
Swingweight: D4.5

Titleist Ambassador Ryuji Imada also wanted to work on some driver options, so he spent some time with US Titleist Tour Rep Chris Tuten, looking for a stronger and more penetrating flight. After looking at the numbers that Ryuji was developing on the Trackman launch monitor, Chris arranged for the following drivers to be made up for Ryuji to try:

Club: 909 D2 10.5°
Shaft: UST Atlas 60 X-flex
Length: 45” tipped 1”
Grip: Tour Velvet 60
Swingweight: D4

Club: 909 D2 9.5°
Shaft: Graphite Design YS6 X-flex
Length: 45” tipped 1”
Grip: Tour Velvet 60
Swingweight: D4

As well as Chris, the Titleist European Tour Team was joined by other colleagues from the US as they helped players prepare for The Open. As we reported yesterday on the European Tour Blog, wedge legend and all-round-nice-guy Bob Vokey was on hand to impart his knowledge to players and Titleist colleagues alike. Voke was striding up and down the range, as well as on and off the workshop on the TTSV at Turnberry, as he worked tirelessly with so many players looking to gain that extra feel and control on the Ailsa’s tricky greens.

Voke also celebrated his 70th birthday this week – happy birthday from us all at the Titleist European Tour Blog and, I’m sure, from our readers! Bob was surprised by Titleist staffer Mark O’Meara, who presented him with a card signed by many of the world’s best golfers (see slide show).

Scotty Cameron rep Larry Silveira was also on hand to assist any players with putter adjustments or wishing to try out new flatsticks. Larry issued the limited edition British Open headcovers from the Cameron Studio, featuring scooters and a helmeted Scotty Dog (see slide show for pics) to a number of players competing this week.

We’ve already seen how the weather can twist and turn playing conditions at Turnberry, and more “mixed” weather is predicted! We’re sure to be in for another thrilling competition, but unlike 1977, it seems less likely to be a repeat of the “Duel in the Sun” and more likely to be “Tussle in the Rain”!! The European Tour moves onto Barsebäck Golf & Country Club, Malmö, Sweden, next week for the SAS Masters. We’ll be there, inside the ropes to bring you the scoops and updates that keep you in the picture with the world’s best players!

Add comment July 17th, 2009

Bob Vokey Clinic at The Carrick at Cameron House

Having seen that all of the Titleist Ambassadors playing at the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond had the correct set up in their wedges, Master Craftsman Bob Vokey took some time to visit with a number of Titleist PGA Professional customers just up the road at The Carrick at Cameron House.

Click here to view the slideshow

In splendid weather and against a fantastic backdrop of the hills rising up from Loch Lomond, 16 Titleist customers spent a morning in Voke’s company as he recounted “Tales from the Tour”, his approach to fitting wedges and details of which set up would suit which player. Having been bombarded with questions from the eager PGA Professionals, Bob and the group moved down onto the practice ground - “da Voke” was in his element and spent an hour and a half working with the attendees and providing them with the insight gained over years of working with the best players in the world.

Having dragged Bob off the practice ground and back to the clubhouse for lunch, several of the pros took further opportunity to pick Voke’s brain. Everyone left in great spirits with practical tips and a new insight on club fitting that they would take back to their clubs and customers!

Commenting on the day, Ian Lee, PGA Professional from Haigh Hall Golf Complex, near Wigan in England, said: “I thoroughly enjoyed the day and learnt so much from one of golf’s legendary club designers - I always feel you get more from the man who said or designed it first!”

A big thanks to Bob from all at Titleist in Europe and from the Titleist European Tour Blog Team!

Add comment July 16th, 2009

A Busy Day for the Titleist Tour Support Vehicle at the Barclays Scottish Open

It’s been a busy week on drivers, with Titleist staffers Peter O’Malley, Callum Macaulay and Martin Erlandsson all trying some new options! Peter felt he needed some extra length, so the TTT built him a driver 1” longer than usual and 10g lighter than his current gamer. After walking a few holes with Titleist Tour Technician Mattias Jelver, Peter found he was getting a good flight and will keep trying it. Callum found that he was getting a bit too much spin with his 909 DComp, so after a session on the Trackman launch monitor, he was fitted into a 909D3 which went straight into the bag this week. Callum left very happy! Finally, Martin was looking for a slightly lower flight than he was getting from his 909 D2 8.5° with a Fubuki shaft. Having built the same club with 7.5° loft and same shaft – again, we’ll keep you posted on progress.The specs of the three drivers are as follows:

Peter O’Malley shows off his new 909D2 driver.

Add comment July 10th, 2009

Open de France ALSTOM

The European Tour rolled into Le Golf National at Guyancourt, 20 miles South West of Paris, this week for the Open de France ALSTOM. One of the oldest events on the European Tour and featuring one of the biggest prize funds, the Open de France attracts a strong field every year, with players seeking to hone their games ahead of the Open Championship.

Previous winners include some very notable names, particularly in Ryder Cup circles, with the youngest winner of the event being the legend that is Seve (won at the age of 20) and the oldest winner being Sam Torrance (winning at just shy of 45 years old)! The defending champion is someone that we all have high hopes of becoming a Ryder Cup legend, Titleist Ambassador, Pablo Larrazabal.

Titleist Ambassador Pablo Larrazabal rips his 3 wood on the range

Pablo won in gun-to-tape fashion last year, prompting friends and fellow pros gathering to throw him headlong into the water that surrounds the 18th green! At the time of writing Pablo’s 2-under total after two rounds is a little off the lead, but his cheery outlook and strong work commitment will mean that he will put the experience to good use as he prepares for Turnberry.

He had been using his Titleist 906 F2 13° 3-wood this week, as he had for the whole of the tournament last year – not hitting his driver once! The team on the Titleist Tour Support Vehicle (TTSV) had also built him a 909H 15° hybrid, given that accuracy from the tee is key to success around Le Golf National. The spec for Pablo’s hybrid was:

Model: 909H 15°
Shaft: Rombax Prototype X-flex
Length: 41”
Grip: BCT Tour Velvet, 58 Round + 1 layer
Swingweight: D3

Titleist Tour Technician Phil Dimmock spent some time working with staffer Rob Dinwiddie on gap fitting – an often overlooked consideration by most club players. Repeated impact with the ground over a period of time can alter the loft and lie of irons and wedges and so you should work with your club pro to check your clubs at least once a season.

Back to Phil and Rob – over the past couple of weeks, Rob had been a little unsure about how far his “feel” shots had been going. He had felt that the ball was tending to go a little too far, making clubbing and scoring difficult! Phil worked with Rob using the Trackman launch monitor – Rob calling out how far he thought shots were travelling and Phil telling him the feedback from Trackman. After about five minutes, Rob was dialled in with the short clubs, having a much better feel for distances and the shots he was wanting to hit this week (and over the next couple of weeks).

Phil then went trough the rest of the bag with Rob and found the gapping to be good all the way up to the 5-iron. However, the 3- and 4-iron were almost identical due to a lack of trajectory on the 3-iron – it was coming out flat and not reaching the top of its flight, limiting distance. In fact, the 3-iron distance was often less than the 4-iron and around 10 yards short of where it should have been!

After checking the lofts, Phil found that they were on spec, but made the 3-iron about 1.5° weaker and they tried again. The adjustment definitely helped Rob achieve a higher flight, more distance and meant his gaps were back to where they should be – job done!

Other players working with the Titleist Tour Team this week included staffer Sören Hansen. Working with Titleist Tour Technician Mattias Jelver, Sören wanted to talk about a new driver, as he is currently using the Titleist 905R 9.5° with a Diamana White 73 shaft in X-flex. Sören gets a good flight with this driver, so was interested in what could deliver some improvements. Mattias is therefore going to do some more testing with the Titleist Ambassador next week at Loch Lomond to get him into a 909 driver – they will be trying out a new shaft from Aldila, the RIP 70x and the Diamana Kai’Li 70x in a 909 D2 head. We’ll bring you an update on this soon!

Titleist Tour Technician Mattias Jelver discusses shaft options with staffer Sören Hansen and his caddy Wobbly.

The TTSV is back at HQ in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, at the moment, being stocked and prepared for two of the busiest weeks of the season – The Scottish Open at Loch Lomond and, of course, the 138th Open Championship at Turnberry. The team will be very busy at both events, helping players to make those last minute adjustments that could give them the edge! The Titleist European Tour Blog Team will be inside the ropes as usual, looking for the scoops on your behalf and bringing you all the news from the sharp end!

Add comment July 3rd, 2009

PGA Glenmuir Club Professional Championship

Each week the European Tour Blog takes you a behind the scenes on the European Tour and gives you the inside scoop on what’s been happening behind the scenes. We will bring you the usual update from this week’s European Tour event, the Open de France ALSTOM, later this week but right now the blog is moving away from the European Tour to go inside the ropes at another major golf event that was held recently in the UK.

The Grand Final of the Glenmuir PGA Professional Championship was held recently at the magnificent Dundonald Links, Ayrshire, Scotland. Following eight regional qualifying events played across the UK and Ireland, the tournament saw a field of 159 of the best club professionals tee it up at Dundonald for the Grand Final looking to claim the most prestigious title in the PGA calendar and a healthy first prize of £10,000.

Click here to view the slideshow.

In support of the event, Titleist sent a team of representatives to Dundonald, along with a mobile workshop, known as the Titleist FittingWorks Vehicle (TFV). The TFV is essentially a scaled down version of the vehicle used by the European Tour team and was on-site to provide the participants at the Club Professional Championship with the same sort of service received by the European Tour pros. As you can imagine, this service proved hugely popular with the players, and our club technicians were kept busy during the Monday practice round with a number of equipment requests. Players in the main visited the TFV for re-shafts, re-grips or to have their lofts and lies checked. But by far the most common request was personalised stamping for their Vokey Design wedges. The stamping service has always been popular out on Tour and it proved just as popular with the club professionals at Dundonald.

Another key aspect of Titleist’s support of the event was to provide balls, gloves and headwear to the participants. Those players choosing to play Titleist were issued with a dozen of the 2009 Pro V1 or Pro V1x and each player was given the option of a Titleist or FootJoy glove for the event. A selection of Tour issue caps and visors were also distributed which were greatly appreciated by the players as the heavens opened and made conditions at this year’s event particularly challenging.

The event itself saw the Dundonald Links stretched out to its full yardage and conditions conspired to create a hugely challenging test for the players. Firm conditions under foot, heavy downpours and blustery winds ensured that the course came out on top with no player in the field able to post a sub-par total for four rounds. The eventual winner was James Lee, head professional from Caerphilly Golf Club, whose four round total of 291 (+3) was enough to claim victory by four strokes. James began the final round at -4 following three excellent rounds, including a stunning opening round 69 (-3). Then, in brutal final round conditions which saw only one player break par, James held his nerve to claim a hard fought victory.

This was a special victory for James, and equally special for Titleist, as he achieved this feat trusting Titleist from tee-to-green. As well as choosing the 2009 Pro V1 ball, James played a full bag of Titleist equipment including the 909 DComp driver, 906F2 fairway metal, AP2 Forged irons, Vokey 200 Series wedges and Titleist Scotty Cameron Studio Select Newport 2 putter. We’d like to congratulate James on his victory and wish him the best of luck as he leads out the Great Britain & Ireland PGA Cup team against the United States later this year at The Carrick at Cameron House on Loch Lomond.

It was great to spend some time at the event and witness first hand just how good these guys are. It’s also great to see that in a championship of such magnitude so many of the players choose to play Titleist. Counts from this year’s event revealed that Titleist was again the #1 ball of the club professional with 88.1% of the field choosing to play either the Pro V1 or Pro V1x. Titleist also topped the counts in other equipment categories including drivers (45%), fairways (29.1%), utilities (34.8%), irons (35.8%) and wedges (50.8%)*.

In addition to providing equipment support to the players, the Monday practice round at Dundonald provided Titleist with the opportunity to conduct a photo shoot for an upcoming advertising campaign. The campaign focuses on the strength of the Titleist ball count at the event and features a number of the players that teed it up at Dundonald including the eventual winner, James Lee. The advert will feature in a number of monthly golf publications in the UK so be on the look out for this in forthcoming issues.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this brief hiatus from the European Tour but rest assured that the blog will be back on its usual stamping ground with an update from the Open de France ALSTOM later this week.

* Source: IFM Sports Marketing Surveys Glenmuir Club Professional Championship Survey 2009

Add comment July 1st, 2009