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"IF YOU LIKE GOLF"
weekly online golf column
by
Chris Dortch
July 11, 2000
It was Christmas in July last Saturday at Bear Trace. An
agreement between Bear Trace head professional Robin Boyer and Pro
Golf sales manager Chris Elrod brought Super Demo Day to Harrison
Bay, and it was a ton of fun checking out the latest equipment.
Seven major companies—Orlimar, Calloway/Odyssey, Taylor Made,
Ping, Cleveland, Mizuno and Adams—set up tents on the Bear Trace
driving range, and for six hours, golfers of all skill levels came
to try out drivers, irons, wedges and putters. Some of them were
even compelled to pull out their check books, but more on that
later.
Boyer, who sells equipment in his pro shop, wasn’t the least
bit concerned about a loss of business.
"It’s a win-win situation for both of us," Boyer
said. "What we’re trying to sell is our logo. That’s what
helps us more than anything. And to give golfers a chance to come
out here, we think it’s doing them a service."
The day didn’t hurt Elrod’s business, either.
"This has been really successful," Elrod said.
"We’ve done demo days in the store before, but couldn’t
accommodate that many people or club reps. We thought it would be
great if we could get people out here to touch and feel all the
clubs and try them out."
After talking to most of the club reps and test driving a few
of the latest models, the central theme I took away from the Demo
Day is that the true measure of a golf club’s value is whether a
pro will play it without getting paid to do so. Here are a few
examples:
• Cleveland Classics Rick Cleveland is long gone from the
company, but the wedges he built based on the popular old Wilson
Dynapower line have endured. Cleveland wedges are by far the most
popular among good players. Only twice all season has Cleveland
not been the most carried wedge in a PGA Tour event. The wedge was
carried by 75 percent of the players at the recent men’s NCAA
championship.
That means a lot of scratch golfers are playing the club
because it performs.
"It’s all performance based," said Cleveland rep
Todd Cheek. "It’s just a traditional-looking club that
offers good feel and playability. That’s what they want."
Masters champion Vijay Singh plays Cleveland clubs, and his
recent success has been "huge for us," Cheek said. But
make no mistake, the company’s wedge line is tremendously
popular, and has been for years.
• Even Singh isn’t opposed to playing a club for free, as
long as it gets results. That’s why he has a Mizuno T-Zoid
forged driver in his bag along with those Cleveland irons. Singh
was the first player on the PGA Tour to start using the driver,
and his Masters performance opened a few eyes.
"When he reached (the par-5) 13th at Augusta
with driver, 9 iron, a lot of tour players took notice,’’ said
Mizuno rep Jeff Kitchens.
The T-Zoid has the highest trampoline effect that the USGA will
allow, making for longer, straighter shots. How straight? Consider
that Fred Funk, who leads the PGA Tour’s driving accuracy
statistic every year, switched to the the T-Zoid, and he could hit
the fairway using any old club.
Other converts include Paul Azinger, who broke out of a long
slump—winning at Hawaii—after he put the club in his bag this
year, Nick Price, Jim Furyk, Larry Mize and Jack and Gary
Nicklaus.
The Mizuno driver is now No. 3 on tour behind Titleist and
Calloway, which speaks volumes.
• Another innovative club that is making its way into tour
players’ bags is the Taylor Made Rescue, a hybrid cross between
a wood and long iron that is much easier to hit than the latter.
Its expanded head also makes it valuable from all sorts of lies.
Tour pros and Taylor Made staff members such as Ernie Els, Lee
Janzen and Tom Lehman carry the Rescue, but so do about 25 unpaid
players.
"The club’s really taken off," said Taylor Made rep
Matt Castillo. "Originally, people thought it was for the
higher handicapper, but better players are using it in place of
their 1-4 irons."
There were plenty of new products on display last Saturday, but
the one that really grabbed the credit card out of my wallet was
the Ping Anser Ti putter. I’ve always been a Ping loyalist
anyway—I’ve carried Ping irons and a Pal 4 putter for years—but
had recently switched to a face-balanced Ray Cook model putter.
Suffice to say a couple of strokes with the Anser Ti converted
me back to Ping. The face-balanced Ti 4 model features a light
titanium hosel that allows the company to place more weight in the
head, which is milled stainless steel and has a milled stainless
insert. The club practically swings itself.
Now if it will just knock two strokes a round off my score…
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