Back and better than ever: Bomb & Gouge: Golf Digest

Back and better than ever

Friday, October 16, 2009 Comments

BOMB: As we settle in for the Hot List summit, there's some things we'll see this week that we're not allowed to talk about as many companies provide us with early looks. That said, as soon as something comes out on tour it's fair game and at this week's Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, Cleveland Golf debuted its Launcher DST metal woods.

I bring this up not just because it's always impressive when you get a handful of players to use a new club first week out of the box (Glen Day, Woody Austin, Roland Thatcher, Kent Jones, Steve Flesch, Ken Duke and David Toms are all using either the driver or fairway wood in Las Vegas), but because the club has an interesting technology story -- one of reduced overall club weight. In the driver, for example, many of today's big sticks weigh in
at 310 grams or more. Cleveland's Launcher DST is under 300, utilizing a 44-gram Mitsubishi shaft and a 40-gram Lamkin grip to help get under the 300-mark.

Get this, three of the guys, Jones, Day and Thatcher, are fighting for their cards and in the case of Thatcher, he has used an 83-gram X-flex for 10 years and is now in a 44-gram Stiff. These clubs were brought there just for the guys to fool around with and shoot some commercials, but they kept them and put them in the bag. Tour players using 44-gram shafts. Interesting stuff.

Less weight, swing faster, more ball speed, more distance. Makes sense, don't you think partner?

GOUGE: Maybe. And before I continue, much apologies for our absence (or more correctly, my absence) over the last month. Another unexpected bout of surgery and recovery got in the way, but thanks to everyone out there for all for the prayers and good wishes. I'm healthy enough for our annual Hot List Summit, which we both know might leave anything less than a world class triathlete curled up in the fetal position, so I'm taking that as a good sign. Of course, it could be a sign of my deteriorating mental capacities, too, so we got that going for us. Which is nice.

Here's what I wonder: Will you always swing a lighter club faster? There are plenty of old-school clubfitters who are happy to tell you that a little heavier driver (and one that's fractionally shorter, too) produces more solid hits than a lighter, longer one, particularly for average swing speeds. I know just enough science to be dangerous but will the force be greater if the mass is lighter and the speed is increased? And how much faster will you have to swing to create a significantly greater force?

Of course, testing equipment at the Las Vegas tournament is like testing chocolate at Hershey. It's all going to be pretty good. But here's a number: Kent Jones is hitting it 14 yards farther this week in Vegas with that new driver than he did last year in Vegas. Of course, he also is below the cut line, too. Worth noting as well that the most popular driver on tour, the TaylorMade R9, is one of the heaviest.

But figuring out what makes the most sense for the most golfers is our job. That's what we'll do over the course of the next six weeks as we put together the next Golf Digest Hot List. Stay tuned. We'll send you plenty of updates over the next week to whet your appetite.