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A Few of Our Favorite Things
Posted by scratch on 13-1-2010 9:06 pm - 0 comments
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Drawing on leading-edge technology, the year’s fresh fleet of golf clubs and balls will send you farther than ever before.
BY SCOTT KRAMER/PHOTOGRAPHY BY TOM HAYNES
New golf equipment, like NASA spacecraft, is built to venture boldly into new frontiers. Drawing on leading-edge technology, the year’s fresh fleet of clubs and balls will send you farther than you’ve ever gone before. We offer three of our faves in the latest trend categories. Go ahead, take a test drive. Or chip. But if your game malfunctions, you’ve got no one but yourself to blame.
WEDGES BUILT FOR BACKSPIN
Welcome to the
no spin zone. OK, the Less Spin Zone, brought to you by the United
States Golf Association, which recently issued a ruling that limits the
groove dimensions on irons and wedges, effective in 2010. USGA
officials felt that pro golfers had too easy a time stopping balls
quickly or getting them to suck back on approach shots — a threat,
officials deemed, to the game’s integrity. Backspin, of course, is
partly a product of a player’s talent. But it’s also imparted by large,
sharp, square-edged grooves that dig into the ball at impact and
channel moisture and grass blades away from the ball and deep into the
groove, allowing for pure impact. So the powers-that-be outlawed the
offending style of grooves.
The bad news: You aren’t a Tour pro and odds are you don’t generate the kind of backspin the USGA is attempting to eliminate. You already struggle to stop the ball on a dime, and less aggressive grooves will make that task tougher still.
The good news: You’ve still got time. Under the USGA ruling, any wedge made in 2009 will remain legal for amateurs until 2024. And that brings us to this year’s new wedges, which come with deep, spin-inducing grooves perfect for those of us who don’t play like the pros.
Scratch Golf’s JLM/PDG ($199 each): These clubs use wide-and-deep “All Bite, No Cover” grooves to maximize backspin without cutting up ball covers. The grooves are 20 percent larger than the company’s previous box-shaped grooves.
Titleist’s Vokey Design Spin Milled wedge ($119 each): The “Precision Milled Grooves” in these wedges have tighter edges and steeper angles than previous Vokeys, along with maximum depth, translating to 30 percent more groove volume. And lots more control.
Wilson Staff Tw9 ($150 each): Tour-milled grooves, the better for shot-stopping spin, are cut as sharp, deep, and wide into these wedges as the USGA’s current standards allow.
From top: Scratch Golf’s JLM/PDG, Titleist’s Vokey Design Spin Milled wedge, and Wilson Staff Tw9