Hot List 365: Golf Digest

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Tiger Woods' belly ban idea a little half-baked

Wednesday, February 8, 2012 Comments

GOUGE: It must be nice to be Tiger Woods. Voice an opinion and all of a sudden it becomes an international crusade. Gee, I've only been killing the belly and long putter for half a decade. Maybe if I started wearing a red shirt and hitting 280-yard stingers with my 3-wood people would start listening to me.

As to the specifics of his suggestion, namely that the putter be restricted to a length no longer than the shortest club in the bag (generally the highest lofted wedge), it's a delightfully practical albeit half-baked attempt at proposing a rule that technically doesn't ban anchoring the putter but in large effect does. (I suppose one could choose to putt with a low-lofted hybrid jammed in your belly button, but at that point one could argue your game on the greens might be better served by some advanced pharmaceuticals.)

While practical and diplomatic, Tiger's idea is hardly original to him. Peter Dawson, the head of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews who once suggested that a solution for distance was to ban the tee, juts his chin out just a little farther in characteristic disgust when the subject of belly putters is brought up. Insiders know the R&A has not been particularly thrilled with the long and belly putter for a long time before Webb Simpson and Keegan Bradley were getting paid to play golf. While others have proposed a limit on the length of the putter tied to the length of the driver minus a certain number (say nine inches), there's little doubt that whatever geometric theorem you invoke, the Tiger belly ban is just a politically demure way of getting around what's really distasteful, namely anchoring the putter to something other than your hands.

Arnold Palmer said in an interview on the Golf Channel in October the long and belly putter should be banned. Also on the Golf Channel, Brandel Chamblee has made the case intelligently that the belly putter could be Exhibit A in the case for bifurcation, that average golfers should be allowed to use almost anything on the putting green, but elite players should be restricted to conventional-length putters.

It would be so much easier for golf's ruling bodies if they just took the same approach to belly putting that they took to croquet-style putting back in 1967. Back then, USGA Executive Director Joe Dey and others in charge recognized that something wasn't right and just said, "Be gone." His words then: "We felt it was the only way to eliminate the unconventional styles that have developed in putting. The game of golf was becoming bizarre. It was some other game, part croquet, part shuffleboard and part the posture of Mohammedan prayer." I like that. Bizarre is what we have when players use a long putter to extricate themselves from cacti, dry creek beds or jungle, as was the case last Sunday with Spencer Levin.

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Expect more pink from Ping and Bubba

Tuesday, January 24, 2012 Comments

For several years, Bubba Watson has used a driver with a pink-colored True Temper BiMatrx shaft. Now he has a clubhead to match. Watson will play the 2012 PGA Tour season using a 8.5-degree Ping G20 driver that has a bright, bubblegum pink clubhead. The rear crown of the club has wording that reads, "Made exclusively for Bubba" -- as if that were needed. The driver is built to the exact specs of Watson's previous G20, including a substantially built-up grip that has the Ping wording set slightly to the right of center as you look at the club from the address position.

The club is more than just a fashion statement for the three-time PGA Tour winner. It's part of his year-long "Bubba and Friends Drive to a Million" charity. Watson's equipment sponsor, Ping, has given an initial $10,000 to the cause and has pledged $300 for the first 300 drives Watson hits over 300 yards. Considering he had 483 such tee shots last year, Watson and his pink driver should easily max that out -- and that's a pretty good start. We'll do that math for you. Including the initial $10,000 that's $100,000.

-- E. Michael Johnson
Follow @EMichaelGW

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Thursday: Hot List questions on Facebook

Tuesday, January 10, 2012 Comments

I confess I know very little about Facebook other than what I saw in The Social Network. What I do know a little something about, however, is the Golf Digest Hot List. Since the Hot List is what I do most days (and since it's now available in analog and digital form), we thought it might be valuable that I share a little face time on Facebook, specifically the Golf Digest Facebook Page.

On Thursday, Jan. 12, from 2-3 p.m. EST, I'll take every question you have (yes, the sticky ones, too) and do my level best to provide meaningful answers, whether they be about our process, interesting technologies or even specific clubs. I like to describe the mission of the Hot List as being "helpful to the reader, fair to the industry and true to ourselves."

Let me know how we're doing. Thursday on our Facebook page. Assuming I can find where that is.

--Mike Stachura

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Podcast: Discussing the 2012 Hot List

Tuesday, January 3, 2012 Comments

The beginning of a new year means the release of our annual Hot List, Golf Digest's complete guide to the best new equipment on the market. The full Hot List is available now in the February issue on newsstands and in our tablet editions, and you may have already seen the clubs we selected in the ever-important drivers category.

Related: The complete 2011 Hot List

As for some behind-the-scenes insight, listen to Golf Digest's Senior Equipment Mike Stachura, discuss this year's Hot List, what sets it apart from our equipment ratings, and what he likes and dislikes most about the process of putting the whole thing together.

Listen to the podcast | Download free on iTunes

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Ping introduces i20 line of woods, irons

Sunday, January 1, 2012 Comments

If Ping's G20 line of woods and irons is about hiding a player's mistakes, the new i20 line will attempt to focus on enhancing his skills. The company announced the introduction of the i20 line today, and reports are Ping staffer Mark Wilson could put some of the new clubs in play as early as this week in the season-opening Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

The line includes a driver, fairway wood, hybrid and irons. Ping's successful line of G-series woods and irons have focused on maximum forgiveness for all players, but its i-series has been geared specifically to players who place a premium on manipulating the club to control ballflight. The i20 line of driver, fairway wood, hybrid and irons attempts to satisfy that audience by utilizing a series of designs that focus on keeping the center of gravity closer to the hosel axis to improve a player's ability to manipulate the clubhead during the swing. It all comes with a renewed emphasis on forgiveness, too, says Ping's director of product design Brad Schweigert. That's especially true on the i20 irons, which feature a tungsten toe weight to improve clubhead stability and a progressive shape (larger long irons, smaller short irons) in an effort to give the golfer more control.

"What we were able to do was improve forgiveness and lower the CG, but we also put the CG in a location that makes the clubs feel like the blades these players grew up with," Schweigert says.

The i20 driver utilizes an aerodynamic crown design and a new lighter weight Titanium 8-1-1 in the face, while the i20 fairway woods and hybrids feature a compact design.

There are more details about the i20 line at PIng's website, and discussion on the new clubs at GolfWRX.com.

--Mike Stachura

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All things considered -- Hot List 2012

Wednesday, December 28, 2011 Comments

The 2012 Golf Digest Hot List might already be in your hands, or it might be just about to arrive, but one thing that often gets overlooked in our extensive coverage is how exhaustive our process is. One of the biggest misconceptions we fight is that every product that gets submitted to our process makes the list. Hardly. Fact is, the 98 products named to the Hot List this year reflect only about a third of the total number of products we considered in a process that began when companies start nominating clubs in July.

We internally evaluate every product across our four criteria: Performance (45 percent), Innovation (30 percent), Look/Sound/Feel (20 percent) and Demand (5 percent). Those evaluations take place over several stages, culminating in our annual Hot List Summit. We believe only the truly exceptional products made it to our final list of 98 products on the Hot List this year.

Still, to give you an idea of the range of products we considered, here is a list of the 286 clubs we evaluated:

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Ping's Solheim: What to do about distance

Monday, December 19, 2011 Comments

John Solheim, chairman & CEO of Ping, believes golf's distance debate is about to heat up again, and he thinks he has an idea that might help cooler heads prevail.

With the PGA Tour driving distance average surging past the 290-yard barrier for the first time, Solheim is concerned about how golf's ruling bodies, the U.S. Golf Association and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, might react.

John Solheim's proposal for dealing with distance surges would require three separate golf balls. Photo by Getty Images

"It worries me what might happen with our rulemakers when they see something and how they're going to react to it," Solheim said Friday in an exclusive interview with GolfDigest.com. "I wanted to put this idea out there to give them something to think about. This is an idea that works without bifurcation."

Solheim's proposal, which he has presented to manufacturers and sent to golf's ruling bodies, calls for changing from just one overall distance standard for all balls to a "ball distance rating," or BDR, system that would include three types of balls. The three balls in Solheim's proposal include one that is the same as today's current standard, a second ball that would be as much as 30 yards longer and a third ball that would produce distances 30 yards shorter than current balls. Courses, tournaments, tours and even individual players could choose their ball based on the course they're playing or the skill level of the players in the event. Solheim equated the BDR system to varying tee boxes. He envisioned a system which even might allow opportunities for average golfers playing their home course to have slower swingers using the longer-distance-standard ball while faster swingers would play the shorter-distance-standard ball with both players teeing off from the same marker. To make this work from a competitive standpoint Solheim suggested the handicap system incorporate a "ball rating" element. (Read the full proposal here)

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TaylorMade debuts RocketBallz, R11-S lines of clubs

Sunday, December 11, 2011 Comments

The follow-up to TaylorMade's highly successful white R11 and Burner SuperFast woods was officially unveiled today by TaylorMade and the name of the product line is certain to raise a few eyebrows: RocketBallz.

Although the moniker (originally conceived by the R&D team when they wrote the name on a prototype after gathering some impressive test data) is different, the technology goals of the clubs remain true to TaylorMade's focus on creating speed for golfers. Specifically, the fairway woods and hybrids each boast a slot in the sole designed to enhance the flexibility of the head and face.

The clubs (which boast a slightly deeper face) are cast from stainless steel and feature a web-like crown structure that gets as thin as 0.4 millimeters. The weight saved from the crown is then used to create a center of gravity position that is low and forward to create a faster ball speed with low spin.

To illustrate the club's performance, TaylorMade has provided a video of Dustin Johnson testing the RocketBallz fairway wood, complete with ProTracer graphics:

Dr. Benoit Vincent, TaylorMade's chief technical officer, explained the slot was positioned in the sole because it is an area that is normally not very flexible due to the amount of weight positioned there. The other benefit, he said, is that golfers tend to make contact with fairway woods and hybrids low on the face. Placing the slot in the sole adds speed to those shots.

Lofts on the fairway wood (street price: $230) are 15, 17, 19, 21, 21 and 24 degrees while the hybrid (street price: $160) comes in 19, 22, 25 and 28 degrees. A Tour version of the hybrid is available in 16.5, 18.5, 21,5 and 24.5 degrees.

Although the fairway wood and hybrid are non-adjustable, the RocketBallz driver has an adjustable hosel with eight loft/lie angle settings, making it an attractive proposition at the $300 price point. The driver does not feature the slot technology (drivers have larger, springier faces that are already close to the USGA limit on flexibility and therefore a slot is not needed),

The club also continues TaylorMade's work in the area of lightweight clubs (299 grams overall including a 50-gram Matrix Ozik XCON 5 shaft) with thin crowns and inverted cone technology in the face. The shaft, at 46 inches slightly shorter than the Burner SuperFast 2.0, is still long enough to help boost swing speed.

Two versions of the driver are available. The standard model features a larger appearance at address with a standard face height and a slight draw bias while the tour model appears slightly smaller with a deeper face and a neutral face angle. Lofts are 9, 10.5 and 13 degrees on the standard model and 9 and 10.5 degrees on RocketBallz Tour.

Although the RocketBallz woods serve as the headliners, TaylorMade unveiled several other notable products. Rounding out the RocketBallz line are two irons models -- RocketBallz and RocketBallz Max.

The game-improvement RocketBallz set features 3-, 4- and 5-irons that are made from a high-strength steel alloy and feature a hollow construction to optimize distance. The large face is as thin as 1.8 millimeters in some areas to boost the springlike effect. The clubs (which come with 85-gram steel shafts as well as the ability to bend the hosel for lie and loft adjustments) cost $700 for a set of eight.

Those seeking distance in irons may gravitate to the RocketBallz Max iron set ($1,400). The strong-lofted irons use tungsten weights that are located inside the hollow areas of the sole (primarily in the heel and toe areas) to improve forgiveness. Designers also stiffened the clubface in the toe area to help promote a slight draw bias.

TaylorMade also followed up its R11 driver with the R11-S. The 460cc club ($400, two lofts: 9 and 10.5 degrees) have the same three areas of adjustability however the soleplate now offers five positions. In all the club boasts 80 combinations -- that's 32 more than last year's R11 that cover a range of 3 degrees of loft, 6 degrees of face angle and four millimeters of CG movement.

The R11-S fairway woods come in five lofts (14, 15.5, 17, 19, 22 degrees) and feature a thin crown that saves weight that is used to move the center of gravity forward in an effort to reduce spin and provide more ball speed. The club ($250) has an adjustable hosel and rotating soleplate provide 24 options. All RocketBallz and R11-S clubs will be available at retail Feb. 1.

-- E. Michael Johnson

Follow @EMichaelGW

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Callaway officially unveils adjustable driver

Thursday, December 1, 2011 Comments

In one of the worst kept secrets in golf, Callaway today unveiled its first driver with movable weights and an adjustable hosel. The RAZR Fit, which has been on the USGA's conforming list since early October and has been used in professional tournaments since the Frys.com Open on October 6 by Ernie Els and recently by Fredrik Jacobson in a second-place finish at last month's HSBC Champions, is expected to be in stores by mid-February.

The club features two weights in the heel and toe of the sole (a 12-gram and a 2-gram weight) and a movable hosel that adjusts to three settings: square, 2.5 degrees open and 1.5 degrees closed.

"This is simple adjustability that matters," said Alan Hocknell, Callaway senior vice president of research and development, who indicated that the RAZR Fit is Callaway's effort to respond to the different kinds of golf consumers in the marketplace. "Our goal was to make it easier for every golfer to find the optimum setting for his or her game." Besides the obvious adjustability features, the club also looks to advance the bar from past Callaway drivers in ways the golfer can't see. According to Hocknell, the redesigned variable thickness face, which features 166 points of variation, saves four grams from previous designs while improving ballspeed on off-center hits. Also unseen is its research in aerodynamics. Callaway engineers say that the the drag force on RAZR Fit is 66 percent less than some drivers of just a few years ago. Finally, the head also features the company's lightweight composite material in a crown piece that is designed to save as much as 10 grams over an all-titanium crown. The driver also features a more compact footprint and cleaner look at address, missing the prominent shelf on the crown near the face that was found in previous Callaway drivers.

The club will retail for $400.

--Mike Stachura

Follow on Twitter @MikeStachura

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Search for Callaway CEO goes global

Friday, November 4, 2011 Comments

The search for a new, permanent leader at Callaway Golf appears to be going global.

Callaway is led currently by Tony Thornley (right), formerly the head of QualComm and a member of Callaway's board who was appointed interim president and CEO June 29 after George Fellows resigned for personal reasons. Thornley has said in the past that he was "not taking a short-term view of this job." Still, Golf Digest learned this week that Spencer Stuart, one of the world's leading executive search firms, recently has been retained by Callaway's board to begin a search for a new, permanent chief executive officer.

According to its website, Spencer Stuart operates out of 51 offices in 27 countries. A 2009 Wall Street Journal article described Spencer Stuart as the "go-to recruiter when Uncle Sam wants bailed-out companies to install new directors and other top officials." In the article, a recruiting consultant suggested that half of all board searches by Fortune 500 companies were conducted by Spencer Stuart.

It is unclear whether Callaway's search will extend beyond the golf industry, although Fellows, a veteran of the cosmetics business and a former executive at Revlon, came to the job in 2005 with no past experience in golf. Seeking the counsel of an executive search firm with Spencer Stuart's reach certainly suggests that Callaway will at least be looking at candidates beyond its current corporate structure.

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