BOMB: It must be that time of year again, partner. Everyone's asking me what's going to be new in equipment for next year. Normally I just blow them off. But then again, never had a blog before to answer then en masse. So I challenge you, my high-launch, high-spin, short-distance friend, to help me come up with half-dozen things golfers can expect to be drooling over in the next six months. I'll even get us started:
Just got off the phone with Nate Radcliffe, one of Cleveland Golf's brainiacs. We were talking about geometry in clubs, and when I asked if we were closer to the beginning of the end of seeing unusual club designs, he said: "I think this is similar to where we were when the 2-Ball came out. That broke the barrier, and you see what everyone did in mallet putters after that. I see geometry as just starting to blossom." Translation: That scooped-back Cleveland Hi-Bore and square heads early next year from Nike and Callaway are just the beginning. We might not see the Power Pod again, but the accepted shape of drivers might be altered dramatically. That's what the pursuit of the USGA's limit on Moment of Inertia is driving club designers to do.
GOUGE: Here's another thing that all of us need to check out soon: Lightweight iron shafts. And when I say lightweight, I mean lightweight steel. That's right, steel. And not that old-school 95-gram stuff we've been seeing for the last four or five years. No, we're talking maybe another 15 or 20 grams lighter, like True Temper's new GS 75. Certainly, Nippon has already been there with a multi-material alloy construction, but the question remains: Will truly lightweight steel still have sacrifices? I don't know, but if you're losing speed due to age and infirmity like I am, it's time to go as light as you can. One thing to watch out for: Trajectory. Almost all lightweight shafts help you hit the ball higher. Too high could become an issue, but probably not for players who really need this kind of shaft.
BOMB: You know the best part of covering the equipment scene on tour this time of year? Prototypes. It's a fact companies validate their products with the big boys, let a little buzz get going and then unleash the product on the masses. This fall will be no different. How do I know that? Davis Love III just won the Greensboro event using a prototype of Titleist's next iteration of its Pro V1x ball, and expect to see some Nike staffers wielding the big-honking square Sumo-squared driver as soon as Disney.
GOUGE: Something else to think about my hard-swinging colleague. Until we hear something definitive from the USGA on changing the groove rule (check out the second video here), the newest wedge grooves are darn near lethal these days. If you haven't gotten yourself a new wedge in the last couple of years, do it now. The combinations of loft and bounce options are incredibly diverse, certainly--and that's one reason to take advantage of a new wedge--but the fact is the tools being used to mill the grooves in the face of your average wedge are miles more precise than ever before. But a word to the wise: Those grooves are only useful if you're playing a urethane covered ball. And one other reminder: If you don't clean your grooves, you might as well be playing one of these.
BOMB: You know partner, I agree with you about as often as these guys get on the same page, but your recent rants about hybrids being "over" are, sad to say, starting to make some sense. I'm a hybrid hardliner. Anyone without one falls into this category. But some manufacturers are making it hard to stay on the bandwagon. It seems they've forgotten these clubs are IRON-replacement clubs, not pseudo fairway woods. We recently saw a hybrid with a 42-inch shaft that made me want to puke. Can we please get back to designing these clubs for what they were intended to be? Sadly, I think the trend is saying the answer to that is no.
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