Ernie wields the king of clubs

Tiger Woods may be the man of the moment in world golf, but Ernie Els has stolen a march on him in one important area – he has the hottest clubs.

According to Jason Rowe of the Pro Shop the driver Els introduced to tournament play late last season has proved popular enough to challenge the pre-eminent position of Callaway.

Rowe has just returned from the latest PGA Show in America and confesses to yet again having been amazed at the technical innovation taking place in the manufacture of equipment.

He points out that the 300 series Taylor Made driver used by Els has proved to be a best seller while it has also made a big impact on the PGA Tour – often a precursor to rapid sales as amateurs tend to follow the trends set by the pros.

Els, Taylor Made’s standard-bearer, was the first to put one of the 300 series drivers in his bag. It comes in three versions, a 300, 320 and 360, that increase in size and is also used, among others, by Retief Goosen and Justin Rose.

Rowe says Taylor Made have also produced a range of irons to complement the woods with especially the forged blade made to exceptionally high tolerances and aimed at low handicap players drawing a great deal of attention.

The new ball that Ernie Els (as well as Phil Mickelson and Davis Love) has been using is described by Rowe as “the hottest on the market.” Manufactured by Titleist and called the Pro V1, this ball has caused a buzz in professional circles and has proved so popular that countries like South Africa and Australia are “on allocation” as the company tries to keep up with demand.

This means that retailers in South Africa can obtain only a certain amount of the balls and Rowe says that even though the balls carry a price tag of R33 each “we can’t get enough of them.”

But if you think the club heads of the Great Big Bertha’s, Ping TiSI’s and, now, the Taylor Made 360’s are big, Rowe has news for you. “We’ll soon be receiving a new range of equipment from Hippo Golf that includes a 400cc driver, the biggest currently available.

“In fact, this is the club that is being used by John Daly and has been instrumental in him turning his game around by making eight of 11 cuts and registering four top 10 finishes recently. Daly says he is hitting the ball further than ever before,” says Rowe.

“Adams Golf have made a revolutionary new driver that is fitted with the newest thing in shafts – the True Temper Bi-Matrix shaft. True Temper have managed to keep the weight of this shaft at 70g, which is amazing when you consider average steel shafts weigh between 120g and 140g.”

Rowe explains that the shaft is a combination of steel and graphite; steel at the tip for woods and graphite at the lower end for irons. “In a 3½° torque graphite shaft 1½° of that torque (twist) takes place in the first 10 centimetres of the shaft. The Bi-Matrix shaft has only ½° of torque in the first 10 centimetres which makes it extremely stable at impact. It is probably better suited to stronger players who tend to hit the ball with a hook and are looking for greater stability at impact.

“The shafts for irons are the opposite with graphite at the tip; in varying lengths – more for the long irons. This is to achieve more kick in the long irons and a softer feel in the short ones,” added Rowe.

Another exciting new driver is Wilson’s Deep Red Hyper Ti with Fat Shaft technology. Hyper Ti is a more responsive strain of Titanium and tends to kick the ball harder off the clubface. Grafalloy, known for their ultralite graphite shafts, are producing the shafts for these clubs.

Naturally, given that the greatest percentage of shots are played on the greens, putters received much attention from designers and inventors.

“For me,” said Rowe, “the most exciting putter at the show was a club brought to the market by Kirk Curry. They are beautifully milled and sit exquisitely but the innovation is that they are fitted to you with the use of a laser device.

“A golfer takes his normal set-up, aiming a ball towards the hole. You then remove the ball and replace it with the laser device that is aimed at a board placed behind the hole. The idea is that you can then remove or add loft or make the putter sit flatter or more upright in order to allow the golfer to line up dead centre every time,” explained Rowe, adding that the Pro Shop would soon be taking delivery of a consignment of the putters as well as the laser aiming device.

It makes you wonder…where will it all end? Dale Hayes also attended the PGA show and I liked his quip on the Pitch & Putter. “I worked out that if you entered the show at one end and bought all the new pieces of equipment on offer on the way through you should emerge on the other side capable of driving the ball more than 900 metres!”