April 2011: Hot List 365: Golf Digest

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Golf Equipment: golfdigest.com

Results for April 2011 Back to Hot List 365 Index

When is the season to introduce new clubs? Now

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Long ago, back when titanium was a novel idea in golf clubs, golf equipment was consistently introduced in conjunction with the PGA Merchandise Show in late January. While that no longer is the case, it is generally true that the spring is when new stuff starts hitting the shelves. But with more companies exploring more rapid innovation cycles, led of course by TaylorMade which back in 2004 launched its groundbreaking r7 Quad driver to the market in May, it's increasingly common to see new entries pop up months after the PGA Merchandise Show.

Just in the last couple of weeks, there's been a cavalcade of late additions to the roster of new-for-2011 products. Perhaps it's only a natural result of the accelerated enthusiasm the industry is feeling after early 2011 sales figures, as released by Golf Datatech, showed double-digit gains after consecutive years of negative numbers. In other words, the atmosphere seems, at least initially, ripe for new products, and here they come.

While unlike most of the new products showing up in stores early this spring, these products were not available for review in the February 2011 Golf Digest Hot List. Our team of panelists and judges will be looking at some of these late entries and considering some of them as possible additions to the 2011 Hot List. (We'll be cutting off those evaluations for products launched after July 1. Products launched after that date will be part of our consideration set for the 2012 Hot List.)

Here's a list of some products we've seen show up in the office the last few weeks (details and pics to come on this blog over the next several days, although in many cases these products are already up on company's websites):

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Callaway-Acushnet legal battle over? Of course not

Friday, April 22, 2011

The protracted and mind-numbingly confusing patent infringement lawsuit between Callaway and Acushnet (parent company of Titleist) over some patents involved in the development of the Pro V1 family of golf balls has reached a conclusion.

Again.

This time, as has been the trend in recent court and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office decisions in this case, Acushnet is declaring victory after a U.S. District Court judge in Delaware denied Callaway's request for a new trial on a lawsuit that is more than five years old.

"Today's positive ruling substantiates what our contention has been throughout this process, that the patents in question were invalid and should never have been issued," said Joe Nauman, Executive Vice President Corporate and Legal, Acushnet Company. "We had confidence that once we had the opportunity to present all the evidence, and as we continued to receive favorable rulings from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (PTO), we would prevail. The confirmation by the U.S. District Court is another significant step in finalizing this case."

Callaway, which had won an earlier judgment in the case, claims patents it owns (part of the assets from its purchase of Spalding in a bankruptcy auction in 2003) were infringed upon by the earliest Pro V1 balls. That lawsuit originally was filed in February 2006, and the verdict in Callaway's favor was rendered in December 2007. A subsequent Acushnet appeal, combined with judgments from the USPTO that the Callaway patents shouldn't have been granted in the first place, led to the injunction being lifted and an appeals court tossing out the original verdict. A federal jury then ruled those Callaway patents invalid a year ago, leading to Callaway's request for a new trial that has now been denied. There also remains a second patent infringement suit and countersuit between the two companies. [CLARIFICATION: An earlier version of this story indicated that the judge originally ruled that Acushnet was to pay Callaway $150 million in damages in the December 2007 verdict. That was incorrect. The judge never made a specific ruling on monetary damages. That number was included in our original reporting on the December 2007 and November 2008 verdicts, based on estimates from industry experts.]

But the saga, not surprisingly, continues. Callaway plans an appeal to U.S. Federal Circuit Court.

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Schwartzel's Masters driver not what you think it is

Friday, April 15, 2011

On first glance, Charl Schwartzel's win at the Masters looked like another victory for adjustable drivers. Schwartzel plays a Nike VR Tour driver, which was introduced to the marketplace last year as the Nike VR Tour Str8-Fit, whose hosel clicks into 32 separate settings. (You may remember the commercial extolling those options with goofy nicknames like the "High Cut Cowboy," the "St. An-draw," the "Texas Tee-Snapper," the "Apple Turn-Over," etc.)

But in actual fact, Schwartzel plays the non-adjustable version of the VR Tour, just like Tiger Woods. Indeed, three of the four majors have yet to have a winner play an adjustable driver (the winners of the last two PGA Championships played adjustable TaylorMade drivers).

Is adjustability better than non-adustability? There's no clear-cut trend on tour, although seven of the 16 winners on tour this year used adjustable drivers. Overall, more than 40 percent of the players on tour are using drivers that can be manipulated by lie angle, face angle, loft, weights or some combnation thereof.

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Industry council hopeful of USGA change

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

To paraphrase Seinfeld, sometimes nothing really might be something.

This month's announcement from golf's ruling bodies that they are considering procedural changes in the making of equipment rules, although decidedly light on specifics, may be an indication of a fundamental shift in the atmosphere between golf's manufacturers and the rulemakers.

At least, that's the hopeful view of Steve McCracken, chief administrative officer and senior vice president at Callaway Golf. McCracken also chairs the U.S. Golf Manufacturers Council, which presented comments to the ruling bodies at last fall's landmark equipment forum in Vancouver.

"All the members of the U.S. Golf Manufacturers Council are happy that we've started a dialog and that we've had an event like the forum in Vancouver where we can raise these issues in a constructive and substantive way," McCracken told Golf Digest today. "We're pleased with the acknowledgment that the Council has played an important role in making that process not just substantive and constructive but collegial as well. We're having good, friendly discussions on tough issues."

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USGA to consider equipment changes

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Remember that meeting between manufacturers and golf's rulemakers held in Vancouver back in November? Well, something's finally happened as a result of that day-long forum.

Sort of.

The U.S. Golf Association announced in a letter to golf equipment manufacturers this month that it is considering "procedural changes" in its equipment rulemaking process. The letter, dated April 1 and recently obtained by Golf Digest, indicates a notice of proposed changes could be published "in the middle of 2011."

The two-page letter is the result of a forum on equipment rule-making procedures conducted by the USGA and Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews in Vancouver, Canada in November of 2010. An estimated 50 representatives from equipment companies attended that meeting, which USGA Senior Technical Director Dick Rugge termed at the time "a healthy exchange of views with both sides listening to and learning from each other."

To be precise, the subject matter of the Vancouver forum was more esoteric than dramatic. This wasn't a discussion over ball or groove rollbacks or even adjustability expansion, but rather a conversation about how procedures might be improved and perhaps made more open. Rugge said 800 separate entities were invited to the November meeting.

Still, the recent letter, which arrives four months after the Vancouver forum, seems light on substance, perhaps intentionally so because there isn't anything specific to say currently. The majority of its contents merely itemizes the nine topics originally discussed at the Vancouver meeting (see below).

The letter concludes, "Based on the discussions at the Forum, the USGA and The R&A are evaluating the procedures and practices currently used in administering the equipment rules.

"This evaluation is ongoing. As further progress is made, we plan to publish a notice of proposed procedural changes for consideration and further discussion. We expect to publish this consultative notice by the middle of 2011."

In other words, after about 120 days of internal review, which admittedly occurred in the middle of the surprise retirement by USGA Executive Director David Fay, the search for his replacement and the eventual hiring of Mike Davis for the job, nothing much has happened.

Manufacturers contacted by Golf Digest either declined to comment or have not responded to requests for comment.

Rugge said today there is no timeline for enacting any changes to the rulemaking procedure and that the April 1 letter was designed to update manufacturers on the review of the Vancouver meeting's notes by the game's ruling bodies. Rugge indicated that at the request of manufacturers there was no recording or transcript made of the Vancouver meeting.

Rugge said he expects the elements of the "consultative notice" will come within the nine questions discussed at the Vancouver meeting. "There really isn't anything at this point to have a timeline for," Rugge said. "We're expecting to publish a proposal sometime in the middle of the year."

Here are the topics from the Vancouver forum:

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Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews,
USGA,
Vancouver,
equipment,
golf,
golf equipment manufacturers,
rules

Mickelson's cracked driver a good omen?

Friday, April 1, 2011

If you're into omens, then Phil Mickelson is destined to win the Masters next week. Why's that? Because Phil says he cracked his driver during the first round of the Shell Houston Open. And for those who have forgotten, Lefty also busted his driver last year at the Shell Houston Open and went on to win his third green jacket the following week.

Of course if form really holds, then Mickelson will get his current driver fixed before he tees it up at Augusta National. Last year Mickelson's Callaway FT Tour TA driver required the golf equipment equivalent of a transplant. Performing the surgery was Dr. Alan Hocknell, Callaway's senior VP of R&D. Hocknell retrieved the club Sunday night prior to Masters week and got a text message from Mickelson, who was in Augusta, Monday morning asking, "How bad is it, Doc? Is she gonna make it?"

Hocknell and his team performed, in their words, "an unprecedented repair," removing the carbon composite body from the clubface while never taking off the Mitsubishi Fubuki shaft in order to ensure the loft and lie remained untouched.

"We had never done that before so everyone was a little nervous," said Hocknell. The same weights were inserted in the same location in the new shell before it was bonded to the titanium cup face and the same skid plate added to the sole. The driver was on a plane heading to Augusta by 3:30 that afternoon and delivered to Mickelson on the eighth tee during his Tuesday practice round at Augusta National and went on to rank second in the field in distance with a 297.1-yard driving distance average while winning by three shots over Lee Westwood.

So, anyone want to bet against Phil?

--E. Michael Johnson

Follow me on Twitter @EMichaelGW

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