Barclays Scottish Open
July 8th, 2010
We are on the final leg of our journey back to the home of golf as the European Tour reaches Scottish soil for the Barclays Scottish Open. With The Open Championship just a week away, the beautiful Loch Lomond Golf Club is the ideal venue for the players to fine tune their game and find form as they head to the year’s third major championship. However, whilst The Open is understandably on the minds of many, the Scottish Open is still a prestigious prize and the Tom Wieskopf and Jay Morrish designed parkland layout will provide both a stern test of golf and a stunning backdrop in which the golfing drama will undoubtedly unfold.
The natural splendour of Loch Lomond is hard to beat but for many of the players at this week’s event the scenery was not the main attraction. This week, the natural wonder has been usurped by a man-made wonder as the Titleist 910 drivers landed on the European Tour. Messrs Scott and Ogilvy had brought their 910 drivers across from the U.S. to last week’s Alstom Open de France and it’s fair to say that the sighting of the new driver created quite a buzz among the other Titleist Ambassadors in the field. This week, the Titleist Tour Support Vehicle (TTSV) headed to Loch Lomond packed to the rafters with 910 driver product for the players to test. As soon as the TTSV opened up during the practice days a host of Titleist players were beating a path to our door asking to hit the new 910. Fortunately, the Titleist Team had anticipated such a reaction and had taken the step to assemble 910 drivers to the player’s current ‘gamer’ specifications – they’re a savvy bunch!!!
Click here to view the slideshow
The reaction to the new 910 driver product has been unanimously positive and the initial response is almost always relating to how good the product looks. Before the players have even hit a ball in anger they are seemingly taken by the way the product sits and the overall aesthetics of the 910. There is no doubt that it’s a good looking beast; take a look at this week’s slideshow and we’re sure you’ll concur. But the 910 also has the substance to match the style with a number of Titleist players seeing immediate results with the new product.
Here is a selection of 910 related stories from some of the Titleist players at this week’s event:
As mentioned in last week’s Blog, Soren had a sneak peak at the 910 in California earlier in the year and has been buzzing about the driver ever since. He’s been asking the team week-on-week if the driver has arrived and rumour has it that Soren is only in the field this week at Loch Lomond because he knew the driver would be ready for him. As you can imagine Soren was suitably delighted to get his hands on his new 910D3 and, after a short range session on Wednesday, Soren’s faithful Titleist 905R was ejected from the bag in favour of the new 910.
Following on from a recent driver fitting with the 909 product the Titleist Team were quietly confident about assembling a specification that would suit Filipe. This confidence was justified on Tuesday morning as Filipe hit three shots down range with the new 910 and turned to Titleist Fitting Technician Phil Dimmock to proclaim “That’s in the bag!!!” Filipe’s weapon of choice is the 910D2 9.5° fitted with an Oban Revenge 60 X-flex shaft.
Malaysian Open winner Seung-yul Noh was another Titleist Ambassador keen to get started with the 910. Noh had previously paid a visit to the Titleist Performance Institute in California where he was fitted for a 910 driver, so all that was required was for the team to build the 910 to his specification and sit back and watch. Noh’s 7.5° 910D3 was flying 277 yards through the air down range with a 174mph ball speed. On any given drive Noh was looking at a distance gain of between 7-10 yards with the new 910.
Another man who didn’t take long to make a decision on 910 was Australian Andrew Dodt. Andrew claimed his maiden European Tour victory at the Avantha Masters in India earlier this year using his current 909 driver but, with Trackman on the range to record his data, was quick put the 910 in the bag. With a ball speed up in the 173-176mph region it’s not hard to see why. It was an impressive display of hitting with the 910.
Accenture World Matchplay champion Ross Fisher is noted for his power hitting and clearly enjoys driving the golf ball. With that said, he was very keen to get his hands on the new 910 and put it through its paces. The team assembled a 910 to match his existing 909 specifications and Ross immediately took a 910D3 8.5° fitted with the True Temper Project X 7A3 X-Stiff shaft out for the tournament Pro-Am. Ross’ early reaction to the product was very positive and he will test the club further over the coming weeks.
It’s fair to say that the first week of European Tour seeding for the 910 driver has been hugely successful and, although the official equipment counts have yet to be announced, we are expecting to see a number of 910 drivers in play at Loch Lomond among the Titleist staffers in the field. 910 seeding will continue at pace over the coming weeks so watch this space for more reaction and information on this exciting new product.
As if the excitement of 910 wasn’t enough, this week saw another natural wonder appear at Loch Lomond as ‘The Voke’ himself, Bob Vokey, made the trip across the pond to spend time with the players at the Scottish Open. Bob tends to make an annual trip to our shores prior to The Open Championship and will also spend Open week on site. This gives him ample opportunity to work with the players and this is certainly something that they appreciate. Bob’s knowledge of wedge design and performance is second to none and, in the run-up to a major championship that will be played on a traditional links course, Bob’s help is invaluable to the preparation of the players. The Voke spent time this week working with Titleist Ambassadors Soren Hansen and Brett Rumford looking at all the different grind options available on Vokey Design wedges and the different types of shots that be executed with those grinds. It’s an absolute science which nobody understands quite like Bob and, as you’ll see from the broad grin on the face of Soren Hansen, having the opportunity to tap into Bob’s vast knowledge is of huge benefit.
With 910 driver seeding now underway, master craftsman Bob Vokey part of the team and The Open Championship starting very soon, it promises to be an intriguing few weeks on the European Tour. We will of course bring you regular updates on the Blog from each event but be sure to keep in regular contact with the Titleist Team through the Titleist Europe Twitter page.
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