- Text Size:
- Small Text
- Medium Text
- Large Text
>2009 HOT LIST
Women's Report
Your game is worth an upgrade
By Stina Sternberg
Photos by Jim Herity
February 2009
Last March, during a fun-filled but hard-core women's golf retreat at Kiawah Island Golf Resort in South Carolina, I peeked inside the bags of the 75 women who each had paid at least $1,400 to participate in the three-day event. What I found appalled me. Hidden inside designer golf bags and under chic headcovers were countless steel shafts, numerous 1980s-era blades, at least a dozen 3-irons and a few persimmon woods. (Yikes!) I could count on one hand the number of sets that had been purchased within the past two years, and the vast majority were at least 10 years old. When I asked the women -- most of whom were avid golfers -- why they were using such outdated gear, the typical reply was: "I'm not good enough to notice the difference."
As I told the women at Kiawah, I don't care how bad of a player you think you are. If you don't update your equipment, then you're never going to get better. (And by update, I don't mean buying a 1995 Great Big Bertha on eBay -- I mean getting custom-fitted on a launch monitor and investing in a high-lofted 460-cubic-centimeter driver with high moment of inertia.) If you happen to use your husband's hand-me-downs, you might as well hang up your FootJoys and take up blind-folded cliff diving. You're just as likely to hurt yourself.
Today's women's equipment is significantly better than it was three years ago, and it will allow you to play better golf. Many of the clubs included in this year's Hot List are available in women's versions (indicated by "W" icons). But most female players -- those with driver swing speeds of less than 65 miles per hour -- should use women-specific "flow sets" that seamlessly integrate lightweight, high-launching woods, hybrids and short irons in a smaller set (eight to 13 clubs) with larger loft gaps. Clubs like the ones shown here are different from anything the guys play (weight, lofts, flexes, lengths) to optimize the performance of slower swingers.
- CLEVELAND HIBORE BLOOM
STREET PRICE $1,000 (eight clubs, bag)
WEBSITE: clevelandgolf.com
The set has a 15.5-degree high-launching HiBore Bloom HT driver (left) with a low center of gravity (CG), a HiBore 5-wood, five HiBore XLi irons, and a Classic II mid-mallet putter -- all in a lightweight, women-specific design. (Each club is also sold separately.) Other options include an 11.5-degree driver; 3- and 7-woods; 3-, 4- and 5-hybrids; 3-iron through SW; a 42-degree Niblick chipper and a VP509 mallet putter.
- PING RHAPSODY
STREET PRICE Driver: $300; fairway woods: $220; hybrids: $150; irons: $113 (each)
WEBSITE: pinggolf.com
Ping doesn't believe in pre-packaged set configurations. Instead, the company encourages women to take advantage of its custom-fitting program to create the ideal set from an array of wide-soled, high-lofted Rhapsody drivers, irons, hybrids and fairway woods (all the way up to the 30-degree 9-wood shown here). Clubs are available in two shaft flexes and multiple lie and length options.
- ADAMS DESIGNER TECH
STREET PRICE $1,500 (13 clubs, Keri Golf designer bag)
WEBSITE: adamsgolf.com
This limited-edition set (only a thousand were made) includes women-specific versions of the Insight Tech a4OS 460cc driver, 3- and 5-woods, six Idea Tech a4OS hybrid irons (left), three wedges and a mallet putter. The woods and hybrids have the Adams Boxer technology to help increase stability on off-center hits. Each club comes with a lightweight Graphite Design Pershing shaft.
- Text Size:
- Small Text
- Medium Text
- Large Text
