Archive for September, 2009
First off on the Blog this week we must start with a quick look back to last weeks Mercedes-Benz Championship in Cologne where James Kingston claimed his second European Tour title with a playoff victory over Denmark’s Anders Hansen. James is a long-time Pro V1x loyalist and a quick look through his bag also reveals a healthy smattering of Titleist product including a 906F4 fairway, 909H Hybrid, AP2 irons, Vokey Design Spin Milled sand and lob wedges and a Scotty Cameron putter. We’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate James on an excellent victory.
Following a week in Cologne, Germany the Titleist Tour Support Vehicle has made the journey south-east to the Austrian capital of Vienna where the Fontana Golf Club plays host to the Austrian Golf Open. As at Golf Club Gut Lärchenhof in Cologne last week the Fontana Golf Club is dominated by water. The dreaded drink is in play on 10 of the 18 holes meaning that accuracy is paramount to any player looking to contend this week.
Click here to view the slideshow
As mentioned in last weeks Blog the players are now starting to take delivery of new Vokey Design C-C (Condition of Competition) wedges which conform to the new R&A groove rulings due to come into force on the European Tour in 2010. It is critical for the players to have access to the new wedges well in advance of the 2010 deadline to allow for thorough testing during the off-season and hopefully a smooth transition into the new grooves. For the most part players will continue to play their Spin Milled wedges in European Tour competition right up to the January 1st deadline. There is however one exception. Titleist Ambassador Scott Strange has bucked this trend by putting the new C-C wedges straight in the bag. Scott hasn’t got any worries over his playing privileges for 2010 and believes that putting the new C-C wedges in play ahead of time will give him a distinct advantage come the turn of the year. Scott’s wedges made their debut in Cologne last week and the early signs are very encouraging as he posted a highly creditable top-25 finish with a scrambling percentage of 67% and a sand save percentage of 60%. It will certainly be interesting to see how Scott’s short game statistics stack up in the coming weeks and this should give us an early insight into how big an impact the new groove ruling is likely to have on the players next year. Watch this space!!!
Titleist Ambassador Michael Hoey is fast becoming a regular on the Tour Blog as he looks to fine tune his equipment. Michael has recently switched to the new Titleist MB irons and last week placed an order for a new Kombi Long putter and Spin Milled Vokey. This week in Vienna Michael was back working with the Tour Team on a new 909 fairway metal. Michael was looking for a #3 wood that would carry around 260 yards (aren’t we all!!) in order to fill a yardage gap between his hybrid at 230 yards and driver at 290-300 yards. Titleist Tour Representative Mattias Jelver set to work assessing Michael’s requirements versus his current “gamer” and, after trying a couple of different loft and shaft combinations, found the appropriate specification. Michael took away a 909F2 13.5° fitted with the Fujikura Rombax 7Z08, X-Flex shaft and having tried it during his practice round the current gamer was ousted and the new weapon is in the bag for the event.
Alongside a new fairway wood for Michael Hoey two other Titleist Ambassadors also checked in with the team to work on their driver setups – namely Brett Rumford and Pablo Larrazabal.
Brett was keen to work with Mattias as he has been struggling with his driver of late. Shots have been missed both left and right whilst Brett also felt he was developing a little too much spin. Following a session with the Trackman launch monitor Brett’s observations were confirmed with the data clearly indicating excessive spin from his current driver, particularly on mishit shots. Following some successful fittings in recent weeks with the new Aldila RIP shaft Mattias decided to try this with Brett in order to provide some extra tip stability. A 70 gram, X-flex version of the shaft was fitted to a 909D2 9.5° head identical to that of his current driver. The reaction from Brett was hugely positive and he loved the feel of the shaft with the D2 head. It was certainly going well in practice and the new big dog is getting its first taste of tournament action in this week’s event.
Pablo Larrazabal was also keen to try some new driver options in Vienna this week. Pablo is well known for his aggressive approach to the game and he certainly doesn’t hold back with the driver meaning that he benefits from a shaft with a strong, stable tip section. He felt that his current 909D2 9.5° fitted with a Grafalloy Comp NT 85, X-flex shaft was lacking a little consistency and was therefore keen to try some new shaft options in an attempt to tighten up his shot dispersion. There was no shortage of high quality shaft options to choose from for Pablo but again the Aldila RIP won the day, this time the 80 gram, X-flex version of the shaft. Pablo was certainly happy with the new specification on the range and Mattias was pleased to report that Pablo hit every fairway in his first 9-holes during his Tuesday afternoon practice session.
It’s interesting to see how certain shafts become a popular fit among the players and the new Aldila RIP in conjunction with the 909 driver heads certainly seems to be a combination that is working well on Tour. We’re expecting interest in the RIP shaft to continue as its reputation as an excellent compliment to the 909 driver heads spreads around the players.
With the second round well underway in Vienna at the time of writing a number of Titleist Ambassadors are well in contention for a strong finish over the weekend. The highest placed is currently Soren Hansen who, after two top-ten finishes in his last two events including a third place finish in Cologne last week, will be looking to contend for the title. Back-to-back rounds of 67 (-4) to start the week certainly have Soren in strong position, currently in a tie for fourth. Soren is in good company with a number of other Titleist players occupying spots inside the top-30, including Sweden’s Martin Erlandsson, Australian Brett Rumford and Englishman Seve Benson. We wish our boys well for the weekend.
For now, It’s goodnight Vienna for the Tour Blog but don’t forget, if you have any questions regarding life on Tour or you simply want to comment on anything written in the Blog you can post these in the comments section below. We’re keen to give the people what they want so any input from our regular readers is always welcome.
September 18th, 2009
The European Tour is in Cologne, Germany this week for the Mercedes-Benz Championship. The event is once again being held at the Jack Nicklaus designed Golf Club Gut Lärchenhof, a course where water is a dominant feature. H20 is in play on 9 of the 18 holes and whilst the course has a reputation for rewarding good, aggressive play there is always a potential card wrecker waiting should your ball stray off the straight and narrow. The event features one of the smaller fields of the season with just 78 players teeing it up in Cologne. That said, the event provides an ideal opportunity for players to vault their way up the rankings on the inaugural Race to Dubai and qualify for their shot at the European Tour’s richest ever purse at the season ending Dubai World Championship.
The small field meant that things were a little quieter than normal for our team aboard the Titleist Tour Support Vehicle (TTSV). With equipment requirements a little thin on the ground the team took the opportunity to head out to the range with the new Titleist AP2, CB and MB irons. The reaction was certainly positive with a number of Titleist Ambassadors using their practice time in Cologne to begin testing the new irons
Click here to view the slideshow
One such player was young Argentinean Tano Goya. Tano has been playing the original AP2 irons for some time now and was understandably itching to try out the new model. Tano’s initial comment was that they felt exceptional and were noticeably “softer” than his current set. However, he initially struggled to attain the same distances from the new set. A quick check of the two sets revealed that his current set were 1° stronger in loft but, with a quick tweak to the new AP2 set, Tano soon had them flying his usual distances. In addition to testing the new AP2 irons Tano has made a couple of tweaks to his equipment in recent weeks. His 909H hybrid is now sporting the Fujikura 904HB shaft in place of a Fujikura Rombax Prototype but the most significant change is to the flatstick. Tano is now ‘gaming’ a stunning Newport 009 with a ‘Triple Black’ finish. We have an image of Tano’s new putter in this weeks slideshow – it’s an absolute beauty!!!
On a separate note it’s worth checking out this week’s slideshow to see a couple of Tano’s juggling tricks. Some of the things he can do are highly impressive.
Another Titleist AP2 player that was keen to get his hands on the new irons was Scott Strange. Scott has played the Titleist 695CB in the past and was therefore keen to try both the new AP2 and new CB irons. The team put together a set of each in Scott’s specification and he’s taken them away for further testing. Our money is on Scott going with the new AP2 but we’ll have to wait a couple of weeks for his official verdict. Much like Tano, Scott has also made a recent change to his bag with a new Scotty Cameron Kombi being added as his current gamer.
Other Titleist Ambassadors to place their order for the new irons were Frenchman Gregory Bourdy and flamboyant Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal. Gregory has been loyal to the Titleist 670 blade for a long time but loved the look of the new MB. Titleist Tour Technician Phil Dimmock assembled the clubs back at Titleist European HQ and the clubs will be shipped straight to Gregory to begin testing. Pablo on the other hand was typically enthusiastic about the new irons and has ordered a set of both the new AP2 and CB. Decisions, decisions!!! It’s a tough life as a European Tour professional!!!
During last week’s blog from the Omega European Masters we mentioned that Michael Hoey had become one of the first European Tour players to put the new Titleist MB irons in play. Obviously buoyed by the change, Michael was again back on board the TTSV this week in Cologne looking for more new equipment. The team worked with Michael on a new putter and settled on a centre shafted Kombi Long. Michael would like his Kombi long at 48.5” so a special order to the Scotty Cameron Studio in San Marcos was required. The putter is going through the studio as we speak. Michael has also taken away a new Spin Milled 54.08 Vokey wedge to plug a yardage gap in his current wedge set-up.
Another feature of the week in Cologne was the distribution of Condition of Competition (C-C) Vokey wedges. The new R&A / USGA groove ruling will come into force in January 2010 and all players using a non-conforming groove are required to make the switch. Titleist is already providing the players with Vokey wedges featuring a conforming groove. This will hopefully give them sufficient time to practice with the new wedges and make a smooth transition going into the start of the 2010. It’s certainly going to be interesting to watch the players using the new wedges and see how they adapt to the change in early 2010.
With two rounds played in Cologne at the time of writing things are looking good for Titleist with Ambassadors occupying four of the top five spots on the leaderboard. Denmark’s Soren Hansen is leading the way on -10 (with his new Titleist MB irons!!) but fellow Titleist loyalists Scott Strange, James Kingston and Ross Fisher are all well in contention going into the weekend. It promises to be a captivating weekend of golf.
Next week we are in the beautiful Austrian capital of Vienna for the Austrian Golf Open. The blog will be here same time, same place next week. Until then enjoy the action from Cologne.
September 11th, 2009
This week the European Tour makes its yearly pilgrimage to the stunning Alpine town of Crans-sur-Sierre, Switzerland for the Omega European Masters. The golf club at Crans-sur-Sierre has hosted a European Tour event every year since 1971 and remains one of the most popular events on Tour with the players, not least because many of them have holiday homes nearby. This year’s event brings with it a notable first for the European Tour as it becomes the first on European soil to be co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour. That said we are pleased to welcome some of our Titleist Ambassadors from the Asian Tour including 18-year old Sung-Yul Noh from Korea (look out for him in the future, he’s a big talent!!)
Click here to view the slideshow
Titleist Ambassadors in the field:
European Tour
Rory McIlroy
Gregory Bourdy
Scott Strange
Pablo Larazzabal
Brett Rumford
Tano Goya
Michael Hoey
Robert Dinwiddie
Martin Erlandsson
Peter O’Malley
Seve Benson
Callum Macaulay
Carlos Del Moral
Branden Grace
Chinnarat Phadungsil
Asian Tour
Mitchell Brown
Gaganjeet Bhullar
Seung-yul Noh
Rick Kulacz
Adam Blyth
The course at Crans-sur-Sierre is situated 1500 metres above sea level and the altitude will cause players to hit the ball further this week. However, despite the thin Alpine air, the par-71 layout is relatively short at just over 6800 yards in length. Scoring at Crans-sur-Sierre is usually terrific and the same is expected this week with playing conditions nothing short of perfect. The tournament record is set at 260 (-24) but it would be no surprise to see someone get close to that mark this week.
The location high in the Swiss Alps makes it very difficult for heavy goods vehicles to access the event so there was no Titleist Tour Support Vehicle at the event. Equipment work was therefore limited but the event did see two Titleist Ambassadors give a new set of irons there competitive birth. The first player to make a switch is the reigning Estoril Open de Portugal champion; Northern Ireland’s Michael Hoey. Michael has made the switch to the new Titleist MB irons. We had the chance to catch up with him during practice where he commented on how solid the new clubs felt at impact. Hoey also feels that his new clubs are a little longer through the air than his previous set.
Michael Hoey
Model: Titleist MB
Composition: 3-PW
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold X100
Length: Standard (#6 Iron @ 37.5″)
Lie: 1° Upright (#6 Iron @ 63.5°)
Loft: Standard
Grips: Lamkin Crossline Round (+1/64″)
Swingweight: D3
The second player to make a switch at Crans-sur-Sierre was Sweden’s Martin Erlandsson. Martin chose this week to put a set of the new Titleist AP2 irons in play which is a terrific endorsement for the clubs given his recent hot form. Martin has been performing final round heroics in recent weeks. A final round of 63 (-7) at the KLM Dutch Open gave him a tie for 15th whilst a stunning 62 (-10) at last weeks Johnnie Walker Championships gave him a second place finish. Martin will be looking for his new AP2 irons to help fire him into the top 60 of The Race to Dubai and secure qualification for the season ending Dubai World Championship. We will watch his progress with great interest.
Martin Erlandsson
Model: Titleist AP2
Composition: 3-PW
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold S300
Length: Standard (#6 Iron @ 37.50″)
Lie: Standard (#6 @ 62.5° )
Loft: 1° Strong
Grips: Golf Pride Multi-Compound .580 Round (Red/Black)
Swingweight: D3
Model:
Whilst on site at Crans-sur-Sierre we took the opportunity to have peek into the bag of Titleist Ambassador Rory McIlroy who is back at the event looking to go one better than last year’s playoff defeat. We thought our blog readers would be particularly interested to see Rory’s selection of Vokey wedges, images of which can be found in this week’s slideshow. Rory has five Wedge options available to him on any given day and will select his loft combination based on the set-up of the course. Rory is one of the longest drivers on the European Tour, averaging over 300 yards for the 2009 season, which means wedge is a popular club for his approach shots. It is therefore vital that Rory maximises this area of his game and having the right combination of wedges in the bag affords Rory more options and gives more versatility to his shot selection.
Rory McIlroy
Wedge 1
Model: Vokey Design 200 Series – Raw Finish
Loft / Bounce: 48.10 (adjusted to 46°)
Shaft: True Temper Project X 6.5
Grip: Golf Pride Multi-Compound .580 Ribbed (Yellow/Black)
Wedge 2
Model: Vokey Design Prototype- Tour Chrome Finish
Loft / Bounce: 52.12
Shaft: True Temper Project X 6.5
Grip: Golf Pride Multi-Compound .580 Ribbed (Yellow/Black)
Wedge 3
Model: Vokey Design Spin Milled - Tour Chrome Finish
Loft / Bounce: 54.10
Shaft: True Temper Project X 6.5
Grip: Golf Pride Multi-Compound .580 Ribbed (Yellow/Black)
Wedge 4
Model: Vokey Design Spin Milled - Tour Chrome Finish
Loft / Bounce: 56.11
Shaft: True Temper Project X 6.5
Grip: Golf Pride Multi-Compound .580 Ribbed (Yellow/Black)
Wedge 5
Model: Vokey Design Spin Milled - Raw Finish – TK Grind
Loft / Bounce: 60.04
Shaft: True Temper Project X 6.5
Grip: Golf Pride Multi-Compound .580 Ribbed (Yellow/Black)
That’s all from this week in the beautiful Swiss Alps but we’ll be back at the same time next week reporting from the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Cologne, Germany. Competition will undoubtedly be fierce with a strong field assembling, but the event will sadly be missing defending champion Robert Karlsson who is continuing his recovery from an eye problem. We hope to have Robert back out on links in the not too distant future.
September 4th, 2009
