Open de Espana

April 30th, 2010

Following another foray to the Far East the European Tour is back on home soil this week for the Open de Espana. The event is held at the Real Club de Golf in Seville, Southern Spain and the par-72 layout is rated by the players as one of the very best in the European Tour calendar. Bathed in glorious 40°C sunshine, the course looked in stunning condition this week but with water a plenty and some of the most brutal rough the players will see all season on the European Tour the course is far from a push over.

With the Titleist Tour Support Vehicle (TTSV) back on the road and fully stocked following a two-week hiatus, a number of players took advantage of the perfect conditions in Seville to work on their equipment. Driver set-up seemed to be the order of the week as a selection of Titleist Ambassadors checked in with the Tour Team to request a Trackman fitting. Players are always looking for that bit extra from their equipment, in particular the big stick, and with three driver head options available in the Titleist 909 series and new shaft offerings becoming available all the time many players check-in with the team on a regular basis to test new options.

Three of the Titleist Ambassadors working on their driver specification in Seville this week were Englishman Kenny Ferrie, Australian Rick Kulacz and Danish European Tour rookie Mark Haastrup. Each went through a full Trackman fitting session with the team and came away with a new 909 driver for further testing.

Kenny Ferrie

Kenny’s bad shot with the driver is to lose the ball to the right and he therefore prefers his driver head to look closed at address. Taking the standard 8.5° head and adjusting to 10.5° adjusts the visual perspective and the driver appears a little closed at address. Kenny’s new driver set-up is as follows and he will be looking to undergo on-course testing in Italy next week.

Model: 909 DComp
Loft: 8.5° (Bent to 10.5°)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Rayon Fubuki 63 Stiff
Length: 45”
Lie: Bent to 63°
Grip: Golf Pride Multi-Compound Blue/Black .600 Ribbed (+1/64”)
Swingweight: D3

Rick Kulacz

Rick hasn’t been at his best with the driver in recent weeks and following his Trackman session it became apparent that his spin rate had dropped quite considerably since the last time we saw him. With players constantly working on swing changes this can happen but the reduction in spin had meant Rick was losing carry distance and had become more prone to losing the ball both left and right. Work with a new driver option soon had Rick hitting the ball straighter and longer, in fact the new combination was a full 12 yards longer through the air and had Rick’s total driver distance back up near the 300 yard mark.

Model: 909 D2
Loft: 10.5°
Shaft: Oban Devotion 6 X-Flex
Length: 45”
Grip: Golf Pride BCT Black .580 Ribbed (+1/16”)
Swingweight: D3

Mark Haastrup

Model: 909D2
Loft: 8.5°
Shaft: Mitsubishi Rayon Diamana Blue 73 X-Flex
Length: 45“
Grip: Lamkin Crossline .600 Round (+1/64“)
Swingweight: D3

Final word this week goes to Titleist Ambassador Paul Waring. As you can imagine the travel plans of many European Tour players were effect by the volcanic ash crisis and Paul was one of those who was stranded far from home. His planned journey back from the Volvo China Open to his home in England left him stuck in Dubai for an unscheduled seven days of desert sun. Whilst there are worse places on planet Earth to be stuck for a week it did rather play havoc with Paul’s schedule and he only arrived in Seville the night before the opening round. That said, it would seem that Paul has taken all of this upheaval in his stride and it has had no ill effect on his golf game; round one saw the big-hitting Englishman saunter round the Real Club de Golf in just 66 strokes.

As the European Tour moves onto another great venue in Turin next week for the BMW Italian Open we’d like to remind you that you can follow the Titleist Tour Team on a daily basis through Twitter. Click here to become a follower as the guys are provide regular updates from inside the ropes on the European Tour.

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