By John Strege

The catalog of gifts that President Obama received from foreign dignitaries in 2011, released last week by the State Department, included a Kramski HPP 340 putter, courtesy of Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, its value estimated at $1,400.

Kramski Putter, a German company founded by Wiestaw Kramski in 2002, is largely unknown in the U.S. But its putters have had tour success in Europe; Laura Davies has won on the Ladies European Tour using a Kramski putter.

The HPP (High Precision Putter) 340, according to the website, is a "high-speed milled premium putter made of stainless steel in a discreet mocha hue (ruthenium coating). Sandblasted, featuring multiple coatings and fitted with a flexible plug & play training aid (which can be removed by hand during tournaments), this high-quality blade model was engineered with the needs of the ambitious golfer with exclusive taste and certain shortcomings in aiming in mind. The steel striking face is precision milled to a tolerance of a few thousandths of a millimeter, and the contact surface's strike zone is polished to a glossy finish. The shaft features a double bend, putting the ball's position below the left eye."

The president is not using the putter, incidentally. It has been turned over the National Archives.

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By John Strege

The Rickie Fowler effect is evident at any PGA Tour stop, notably those in which Fowler is playing. Kids are seen wearing Fowler's trademark orange Puma hats and often orange clothes to match.

Cobra Golf is now presenting kids with the opportunity to play an AMP Cell Junior Driver, featuring the same technology and orange color that Fowler's Cobra AMP Cell driver has.

"While Rickie bridges the generation gap, there's no question a lot of youth golfers look up to him as a role model," Cobra Puma Golf president Bob Philion said in a news release. "We felt it was time to deliver the same, high performance technology and 'Rickie Fowler' look to the junior golfers out there."

Cobra's MyFly Technology, which in the AMP Cell driver allows six loft adjustments, also allows for six adjustments, from 11.5 to 14.5 degrees (along with two draw bias options), in the AMP Cell Junior Driver.

Its recommended fitting chart suggests a 39-inch club length and the clubhead set to 14.5 degrees of loft for eight and nine-year-olds. It also offers a 41-inch club length (and suggests 12.5 degrees of loft) for 10 and 11-year-olds and a 43-inch club length (and suggest 11.5 degrees of loft) for 12 through 14-year-olds.

The cost is $299, and those who register their drivers are entitled to one free upgrade to a longer, firmer shaft as they grow, the company said.

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By John Strege

The color green is a perpetual golf industry favorite in the run-up to the Masters next month, and, accordingly, Cobra Golf is issuing a limited-edition of its new Amp Cell driver in what it calls Season Opener Green.

Cobra already had fully embraced color, offering the Amp Cell driver in blue, orange, red and silver. It also has a colorful array of staff players in Rickie Fowler, Ian Poulter, Jesper Parnevik and Lexi Thompson.

But this is the season for green, and Cobra is offering 1,800 green Amp Cell drivers beginning on March 15. Each driver is stamped with "1 of 1800' on the sole.

The Amp Cell drivers feature what the company calls MyFly technology, that allows the golfer to adjust the loft from 8.5 degrees to 11.5 degrees. Its SmartPad technology allows the clubface to sit square regardless of loft adjustments.

The limited-edition Amp Cell driver will retail for $399 and comes with a headcover and grip in Season Opener Green as well.

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By John Strege

ORLANDO -- Fred Daly won the British Open in 1947, won the British Matchplay Championship three times, played on four Ryder Cup teams and designed and developed his own equipment under the name Fred Daly Golf.

Today, his son Robin Daly operates Fred Daly Golf and he is at the PGA Merchandise Show here, introducing his putter line to a U.S. audience for the first time. It's called the Peanut Putter.

Robin has removed weight from the top and bottom of the putter in the hitting area, hence the resultant shape of a peanut. But there is a utility in having done so, even beyond allowing the weight to be distributed to the perimters. It gives the putter a platform on which to set on the ground, what is called the Repeatable Anchor System.

"The club sets down right every time," Daly said. "It's a very simple idea. A lot of amateurs, a lot of pros, too, whenever their game goes off a little bit -- hands too high, too low -- this just keeps you in the same position."

Steve Webster, a winner of two European Tour events, has been using the Peanut Putter in Europe. It has been available there for five years, but is new to the U.S.

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By John Strege

There is a point of diminishing return, surely, in wedge lofts for better players, but for those who don't fit that category, there's this: A new conforming 73-degree wedge from Feel Golf.

"I think it helps the recreational golfer more so than a tour player," Feel Golf CEO Lee Miller said. "The nice thing about it, we designed it for the player to take their full swing, which is without a doubt the most repeatable swing anybody has. I have a guy here that's got to be about a 120 handicap. The only club that he can hit three or four times out of 10 is a 73. When he does, he makes it talk."

The object of the 73-degree wedge, Miller said, is to eliminate the need for the recreational player to open the clubface in an attempt to hit the ball higher and have it land softer. Just aim at the pin, he said.

Phil Mickelson uses a 64-degree wedge, the highest loft in play on the PGA Tour.

Feel Golf previously had introduced a 73-degree wedge, but as part of its wedge offerings with non-conforming grooves. This new one, in a satin finish, has been deemed conforming by the USGA.

What is the market for 73-degree wedges? "I did an interview on PGA Tour XM," Miller said. "I have never ever, ever, seen such a deluge of 73 wedge orders. Since Friday morning, I bet we've sold 200 of them."

The obvious question, of course, is that should you elect to open the face up, would you hit yourself in the forehead with the ball? Miller laughed. "That's the same thing they said about the 60, the same thing they said about the 64," he said.

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The partnership of Ferrari and Cobra is not about fast cars (wrong Cobra), though it is about performance and speed. It is a new driver, the centerpiece of the new Ferrari Golf Collection in partnership with Cobra Puma Golf.

"We had an opportunity to work directly with Ferrari engineers," said Tom Preece, vice president of research and development at Cobra Puma Golf. "They had suggestions on material usuage and they thought they could improve the aerodynamics."

They started with the shape of Cobra's ZL Encore driver and began tweaking it. "The surfaces are much smoother," Preece said. "The front face has a different radius top and bottom. The trailing edge is lifted off the ground. Essentially that's helped optimize the aerodynamics to get a little more clubhead speed. It's a different construction. We used a lightweight titanium alloy for the body, brazing tungsten inside for weight optimization. It's slightly different materials and different surfaces."

The upside for Cobra products going forward is that the company can incorporate much of what it has learned through its association with Ferrari. "Absolutely," Preece said. "That's kind of the whole idea. We've got this partner we can work with, an extra resource to bounce ideas off of."

The Ferrari driver features a Fujikura Motore Speeder Shaft and premium leather grip. It will retaiil for $2,000, which would explain the small quantities available. Then again, it's a Ferrari. Ever priced a Ferrari Enzo?

-- John Strege

Miura Golf is a small, but distinguished company known for the quality of its forged irons. Not as well known is that it has a full line of equipment, which includes its newest driver offering, the SIT-460, that it calls "the most compact 460cc [driver] in golf."

So how can a 460cc driver be anything but a 460cc driver, or more to the point, how can it be considered compact? The answer is with its shaping.

The SIT (which stands for Strong & Ideal Trajectory) has a tall face, increasing the volume verticically, rather than horizontally, giving it the appearance at address of a compact design, the company said.

It is an all-titanium head, cast in two pieces (the face is laser welded to the body), and is available in either 9 or 10.5 degrees (right-hand only). The clubhead weighs 196 grams, four grams fewer than Miura's Precious driver, which is 390cc.

The suggested retail price is $595 (though the price will vary depending on shaft option).

-- John Strege

Plucking your golf ball from the bottom of the cup has never been easier than it is with the Eagle Grasp putter, which also was designed with the idea that you might have a need to retrieve it from the hole more often.

The clubhead of the Eagle Grasp fits into a golf hole and features a hole the size of a golf ball, with two rubber rings inside that enable the golfer to pick his ball out of the hole without bending over, preventing unnecessary strain and helping those with back issues

"Our owner [John Smith] had a little bit of a hard time bending and grabbing the ball out of the hole," company vice president Nicholas Costa said. "He's an avid golfer. He had an idea. Why can't you get a performance club that also gives the golfer the ability to extract the ball out of the hole, but not make it gimmicky."

The putter is milled and face-balanced and customizable; it comes with an optional weight kit ($29.95) that inlcudes five weights from 72 to 116 grams that can replace the 46-gram weight already on the putter.

"We tried to make it as universal as possible," Costa said. "We're targeting something professional, not gimmicky."

The putter is available for a promotional price of $149.95.

-- John Strege

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Mercedes AMG and high performance have been synonymous in the automobile world and now it will see if it can replicate the association in golf equipment.

WSH, Inc. will introduced a Mercedes AMG Formula One line of equipment at the PGA Merchandise Show here this week.

"We were granted a global sports licence license from Mercedes AMG, for doing a line of clubs, apparel and accessories under their prestigious logo," said WSH, Inc. CEO Michael Lee, the founder of Nickent Golf. "Under Mercedes, our approach is that anything associated with Formula One isn't going to be cheap. Our initial convesation with Mercedes Stuttgart is that we want to create a line that the Mercedes owner can enjoy. It doesn't necessarily have to be a $2,000 driver. But we're launching it right at $399. That's the ceiling of drivers these days."

Three sets of irons will be introduced as well, along with wedges and putters.

Its driver and fairway wood technology, developed in concert with Mercedes' aerodynamicists, feature Venturi Channels, which have been used in Formula One cars "to manipulate airflow whereby a funnel is created as air flows through the vehicle, and is constricted, and as it flows out...a jet effect is created," according to a company news release.

-- John Strege

Is there room in a weak economy and a flat sport for another equipment company, particularly one called Hello Kitty Golf, featuring the familiar white Japanese bobtail cat logo? Why not, inasmuch as its focus will be on two generally underserved constituencies, girls' and women's golf.

Hello Kitty Golf is a new venture run by Michael Lee, who founded Nickent Golf (now owned by Dick's Sporting Goods).

"This brand was conceived in June of last year," he said. "We were approached by Sanrio [Hello Kitty's parent company] USA to help them do a line of golf equipment and accessories. What we produced is a few hundred SKUs [stock keeping units, or individual products within a line], from junior sets to accessories, headcovers, divot tools, ball markers, balls and full ladies' sets. We retained most of the design staff from Nickent into this new company and it designed the entire Hello Kitty set."

Three girls' sets will be available -- a set for three to five-year olds that includes a 4-hybrid, a 7-iron, a putter, stand bag and headcover ($139.99); a set for six to eight-year olds that includes a driver, 4-hybrid, 7-iron, sand wedge, putter, standbag and headcovers ($179.99); and a set for nine to 12-year old olds, featuring a driver, 4-hybrid, 7- and 9-irons, sand wedge, putter, stand bag and headcovers ($199.99).

"I have an 11-year old daughter," Lee said. "She started golf the year before. The pro shop gave her a 7-iron. Then I tried to buy her a set at the country club. The pro said all the clubs are unisex. I saw my little girl and she said, 'What?' She couldn't believe it. Girls and boys are very distinctive at that age. When the Hello Kitty opportunity came up, I became a super hero dad."

The Hello Kitty women's set includes a driver, 4-and 7-woods, a 5-hybrid, 7-iron through pitching wedge, sand wedge, putter and mix-and-match cart bag and headcovers available in a variety of colors ($799.99).

-- John Strege