Quick Links
Forums
Reviews
Marketplace
Advertisement
Zach Johnson Wins Valero Texas Open
After six weeks off, which is what happens when one plays poorly enough to miss qualifying for the playoffs, Zach Johnson made all the putts he needed to make on Sunday to claim his fourth Tour victory.
During a three hole stretch on the front nine, Mr. Johnson hit a six iron and two wedges inside of 8 feet for birdies that set him up for his first victory outside the state of Georgia. “I’ve been working on my putting over the last six weeks with my teachers and it really paid off this week,” Johnson said. “I had a tough year, but the putts started to fall into today and that why I’m at the top of the leaderboard.”
Related Stories • Read Story
Back when the Wilhelmina 7 was announced in June of this year it was an unprecedented move for the world of golf. The famed agency signed seven LPGA Tour members in order to “to complete a void in the marketplace for beautiful and athletically talented female golfers”, according to Wilhelmina Chairman Dieter Esch. In addition, each member has past accomplishments in more than merely being attractive golfers that just happened to make it on the Tour. The group represents a diverse assembly of women from many backgrounds around the world. The original press release states:
“The W7 includes only those women with the game, the beauty, and the personality to create a major presence in women’s sports, both on and off the course. The ladies chosen range from newcomers such as Sandra Gal and Anna Grzebien to 8-year professional Johanna Head, as well as Stacy Prammanasudh who has amassed two career victories and was selected to represent the USA at the most recent Solheim Cup. Minea Blomqvist who competes on both the LPGA Tour as well as the Ladies European Tour (LET), was awarded the 2003 Rookie of the Year Award and has finished in the top 10 on the Order of Merit List twice as a member of the LET Tour. Other members of the Wilhelmina 7 team, Mikaela Parmlid and Kim Hall, started strong this season and are fully exempt status on the LPGA Tour for the 2008 season.”
Nike Announce New Equipment
By Martin Anderson, Oct 6 2008
Drivers, fairways, irons, wedges, balls, Nike have almost completely revamped their equipment line-up with the new Victory Red line up of irons and wedges, the Dymo woods and new Nike ONE balls.
Obviously taking inspiration from a certain Mr Wood’s favourite Sunday colour, the new Victory Red line up represent 3 new iron sets and a new wedge series. There are also 4 new Dymo drivers (including 2 with STR8-FIT technology), 2 new Dymo fairway woods and 3 new premium golf balls.
Irons
Victory Red Forged TW Blade, Victory Red Forged Split Cavity Irons, Victory Red Full Cavity Irons
Having lead the PGA Tour in iron wins since 2005, Nike have introduced 3 new irons aimed at different segments of the golfing market to extend this dominance: a traditional muscleback blade, a cavity back players iron and a fuller cavity back iron aimed at the average golfer. The muscleback has already seen Tour usage from the likes of Paul Casey and Trevor Immelman.
- Tour Equipment and Info
- General Equipment
- Putters
- Golf Style
- Golf Talk
- Club Maker's Lab
- Swing Fitness
- Junior/College
The Big Review - Mizuno MP-62
By Martin Anderson, Sep 25 2008
Ask any serious golfer what they think of Mizuno irons and you will more than likely get some variation of this: ‘Top quality forged irons with buttery soft feel’. In the years before big money contracts, Mizuno dominated the major Tours in iron usage with its MP range of irons. The MP-14, MP-29 and MP-33 are all rightly heralded as classic muscleback blades and the more recent award winning MP-32 with its cut muscle technology has proved a huge success.
Mizuno say that they only release new equipment when they are happy that they have something that is an improvement on its predecessor. For them to be releasing 4 irons sets at once indicates that some serious work has been going on in the offices of the Research and Development department. With the MX-100 and MX-200 aimed at the game improvement market and the MP-52 being aimed at the mid to low handicapper, Bag Chatter got to test the newest in Mizuno’s long line of better player irons, the MP-62.
The Fujikura Fit-On Academy Experience
By Apryl DeLancey, Sep 23 2008
The Fujikura Fit-On Academy gives the everyday golfer a fitting experience that is fit for a pro. Using proprietary software, Fujikura compiles measurements of every club and all aspects of a swing in order to recommend the perfect shaft. The Academy is headed by Pat McCoy, a PGA of America member with years of experience fitting tour pros. McCoy and his staff find the “unique, one-of-a-kind thumbprint for a swing” that every golfer has.
Depending on the fitting package chosen, your experience can include a tour of the R&D Facility. During this time, you may hear something like when we visited McCoy and his intern Marshall Thompson:
“We at Fujikura needed a place where we could quickly test shafts and evaluate product quickly and easily for all of our customers and tour professionals. We test inside with Trackman and have an additional facility where we can test performance outdoors. Ultimately we also wanted to be able to bring in the consumer to see how we fit tour professionals and give them the experience and information to improve their game. We have many different heads to try out, nearly every one on the market and just about every golf ball so that we can fit any golfer. The common denominator with all of that is, of course, the shaft. We can fit for so many different swings with so many different shafts and wanted to show the customer that differences in shaft, loft, lie, weight, etc. can make a difference in their game. For example, one manufacturer with several head models enables us to offer 987 different fitting combinations.
Miura Golf Latest Offerings
Miura Golf Latest Offerings
By Apryl DeLancey, Oct 7 2008
What’s on the horizon for Katsuhiro Mirua and Miura Golf? Firstly, a Limited-Edition Small Blade forged iron. A press release from the company earlier this week gave these details: Legendary forged iron maker, Katsuhiro Miura of Himeji, Japan, and Miura Golf Inc. have introduced the Limited-Edition Small Blade forged iron. The Small Blade features a nickel (satin) finish and follows the fundamental design, manufacturing, and functional concepts of all Miura Golf clubs. However, the Small Blade’s muscle-back head is about 15 percent smaller than the company’s Tournament Blade iron head, and the new iron’s face is thicker than the Tournament Blade’s face.
When asked why he would be introducing a smaller iron when the industry standard now seems to be mid-size and oversize irons, Mr. Miura responded “industry fads mean nothing to me. These fads are developed by the marketing departments of the equipment manufacturers simply to boost sales and have little to do with performance. What I care about is creating the most perfect performing golf clubs for golfers, and different golfers have different preferences. I believe there is a class of golfer who will very much appreciate the qualities of the Small Blade, and I have made this club for these golfers. This club is for two kinds of golfers - the first being the golfer who generally strikes the ball on the sweet spot and who wants to simply enjoy the unique pleasure of a perfect shot hit with a Miura club - the second being the golfer who really wants to improve and is looking for the most intelligent feedback on every shot he or she hits. Frankly, if people can cleanse their minds of the marketing hype that has been fed to them over the years, they might find that that forged blades are not necessarily only for the single digit handicappers. You are not penalized for mis-hit shots to the degree people believe and there are many advantages to these clubs, for example the Small Blade cuts through rough more efficiently than any other club."
Imagine traveling 180-200 days a year, working at close to 180 different events for almost 22 years. Meet Glenn Mahler, Titleist Advanced Fitting Specialist.
Once a teaching professional he has done fittings for Cobra before his current position fitting on the Titleist FittingWorks Van in California. Glenn claims that the nice thing about his experience from teaching is that "you’re able to know what techniques apply to ball flight. It’s not that we teach players, but it’s certainly helpful to know what’s coming out of a player’s technique and what’s coming out of a specification on a club and what’s achievable in altering a specification on a golf club to altering ball flight." In addition, Glenn claims that there is not just "black magic" to fitting, but science as well. Many of those who take the time to see a fitter are the better players that are more serious about their game. They understand the benefits of fitting.
Written by Dr. Christian Reichardt with John Klages, Pain-Free Golf is billed as “the golfer’s handbook with easy, proven techniques for playing the game pain-free”. Dr. Reichardt is a chiropractor by trade, a certified yoga instructor, and an advisor for Golf Fitness Magazine. In addition, he lectures for the PGA of America. He claims that “most golfers set up in an anatomically incorrect, biomechanically convoluted posture and then crank on the strength in order to try to overcome this issue. It only leads to injuries and pain!” In addition, one simple thing that nearly every golfer can do to improve their comfort is to “learn to set up in a neutral posture and swing through the ball. Stop trying to “hit” the ball!!” according to Reichardt.
Titleist is doing a Huge introduction for the coming 08/09 Model year.
Trying to continue its successful Iron AP1/AP2 iron launch, Titleist has done a major update to its technology, hosel and sole plate designs. The most radical change is the movement away from Bore-through technology and the introduction of a composite driver head. The 909Comp. Also expect to seem more Spin Mill variations.
"What's in the bag?"
Who likes the last section of the Golf Digest where a PGA tour players bag is shown? All the clubs and his specs for all of us weekend hackers to drool over.
G.WRXCAST
Over the year we will have many more interviews. In case you missed the audio chat on line in our chat rooms we have made written transcripts of the interview here, and the most recent interviews are available in an MP3 format.
Right now you can read them, listen to them or download the audio file for later. Here is the Latest WRXCAST.
Golf Digest Forum powered by GolfWRX
