How long until he beats me?

I've heard many fathers say that one of their proudest moments in life is when there son/daughter has beat them in something. 

Had the pleasure of taking my 21 month old son to a golf dome at the Turning Stone Casino about 25 minutes away from home this past weekend.  It was his second trip to the dome and he continues to amaze me!  Not only does he love hitting balls (wouldn't share the mat w/ his old man), but his concentration is unbelievable.  Sure his club is a bit too long, holds on to it cross handed and stands too close, but he makes contact nearly every time.

I sincerely hope he continues to love golf so we can continue to have this together for years to come.  When he was hitting balls, I couldn't help but wonder if and at what age he'll first beat me.... 

No matter how old he is when it happens; it will be the proudest moment I've ever had on a golf course.

Follow Up On My "Speed = Distance" Post...

At the Demo Day, I was able to look further into my "Speed = Distance" post.  Specifically with Cleveland's new 2011 line up consisting of 3 driver weight classes.

The first 2 weight classes  are the XL 270 and SL290.  The 270 and 290 relate to their total club weights of 270 and 290 grams respectively.  Amazing when you consider my current putter has a head weight (after all the lead tape) of 370 grams alone! 

Now if you're looking to see how fast you can swing a club, then by all means pick one of these up and impress your friends with your swing speed.  But if you're looking to buy a golf club that will provide both distance and accuracy... look elsewhere.  I think my 21 month old son's plastic golf club has more weight to it then the 270 model. 

After picking up the first two I wasn't expecting much, but continued on to the TL310 model.  To be fair, the TL310 driver is designed with a better/stronger player in mind unlike the other two models.  The first one I picked up was a 9.5* w/ a Miyazaki 59 X flex shaft.  Typically I would think a X flex shaft would be too strong for my 103-104 mph swing speed., but something just felt right with it.  The look at address is very traditional.  Not an too deep of a face and a nice square to slightly open face angle.

Like most manufacturers at the Demo Day, Cleveland had launch monitors on hand to show your numbers.  Cleveland was using a new mini launch monitor by Foresight that retails for around $6,000 I believe.  While it doesn't give you swing speed stats, it did provide the golfer with more relevant numbers such as ball speed, launch angle, spin and yards of carry.

I would have loved to see what my face looked like after my first driver with this club.  A smile with a little bit of an "O-face" perhaps?!

The next nine balls were all hit on the same boring rope and let me tell you.... this driver is HOT!  Feels great and seems to be forgiving enough for the single to perhaps the low double digit handicap. My numbers told the story.... average of 13.5* launch, spin in the mid 2800's and 262 Carry.  I'll take that all day, every day.

I picked up a stiff flex afterwards to see if they could be improved.  I immediately noticed something felt different.  Turns out the X flex had a 36 gram Lamkin grip on it (used for the 270 and 290 models) and the stiff flex had a 46 gram grip that normally comes with on the TL310 model.  The 10 gram difference made the club feel different in my hands due to grip size and obviously the weighting of the club was different. 

To make an already long story short, my numbers weren't close to as consistent or as good as with the first club.  Interesting that the first club actually was 300 grams instead of the 310 as it was designed to have.

Subsequently, I've ho'd my driver and ordered the exact setup as the 1st club at a ridiculous price through DiscountDansGolf.com and should have it in hand shortly after the February 18th release date of this line.

To conclude... The 270 and 290 lines just feel uncontrollable, with the 270 feeling like a toddler's toy. However, the new TL310 was the surprise of the 2011 PGA Show Demo Day for me and my 2011 season will start with one in my bag.

White the new black?

From a mere advertising prospective, you have to give TaylorMade Golf some credit.  You’ll know exactly who is playing a new R11 or Burner Superfast 2.0 driver on any golf broadcast on TV or at your local golf club.

TaylorMade has extended its “Ghost” from only putters in 2010, to include drivers, fairway woods and hybrids in 2011.  According to them, the distinctive white crown and black face make the new woods one of the easiest to align at address ever.  Read on for my thoughts on the woods, but I personally think the white on putters DOES help frame the golf ball for easy alignment.  A “Ghost” Corza putter ended the 2010 season in my bag. 

As mentioned previously, the 2011 line adds to its R and Burner series of woods.  The Burner series promotes “speed” and therefore distance through a lighter weight club.  The R series promotes distance and control through “optimization” of ball flight.  The R11 series allows you to adjust loft, face angle, center of gravity and shafts.  The R11 is the first driver that allows you to do all of this. Easily can be seen as overkill, but the ability to fit it exactly to ones swing is appealing.

These new products were released to the masses at midnight this morning.  Persuaded by giveaways or the product itself, people lined up for their first crack at these new products.  I however was able to see them in person last week at the PGA Show Demo Day.

The new white products were everywhere.  Not just at the TM area, but at every shaft manufacturer as well.   I expected to think these looked cheap, like a kids club where Snoopy was on the sole.  However only one fit that mold. 

I first came across the R11 at Oban's (shaft manufacturer) tent.  Great colorful shafts they really popped with the R11.  Here's some pictures with their purple Kiyoshi shaft.  Cool shaft!

The R11 is a traditional shape at address, at the white quickly grows on you.  The white does as TM adverstises make the club look bigger than its 440cc size.  I'm sure it's only a matter of time before TM releases a 460 cc model with more weights.  The crown graphics were subdued and hardly noticed at address, although I'm not quite sure why TM thought it was necessary to have them.

 After a few hits the driver certainly has some pop and the sound is very pleasing.  Not the most muted driver, but certainly not a loud tink either.  Pretty much what you could expect from a TM driver.  While I didn't have time for a thorough test of adjusting the driver and seeing how the ball flight was effected.  I did take a crack at the new ASP (Adjustable sole plate) technology.  Last year I struggled at times with too much of a cut.  Not a slice, but just a fade that would act up at times.  On the R11 I set the FCT (hosel) setting to a draw setting which closes the face.  I can't stand the look of a closed face, so I adjusted the ASP setting to Open.  The result was a draw biased driver with a neutral (square) face angle.  Looked great and this is what is really appealing to me about this driver.  Took a few swings with it and I was hitting a nice consistent tight draw.  Very nice!

At the TM tent, I found the new Superast 2.0 TP.  Last year's Superfast TP spent a lot of time in my bag this past season so I was excited for this one.  Unfortunately TM has ruined this club cosmetically.  They made the driver head a bit more triangular at address and it just looked odd.  While the graphics on the R11 are subdued at address, the graphics on the 2.0 are distracting and make the club look cheap.  The driver cetainly has a lot of pop and feels great just like last year's model, but I definitely can't get past the cosmetic changes TM has made with this model. 

One big concern I have is with the durability of the white finish.  My ghost putter showed wear quite quickly last year.  A chip or nick in the paint of a black club can quickly be masked by a black sharpie marker, but what do you do for a white club? 

Unfortunately it didn't take too long to find durability issues on several of their demo clubs.

Here are some additional pictures of fairway woods and hybrids.

Just like white belts on tour, these clubs certainly won't be for everyone.  While I believe the white finish does help with alignment on putters, I don't think it adds all that much on woods.  The R11 technology is very cool and the 2.0 line is dissapointing.  No doubt these will be all over golf courses this year and on TV.

Titleist - PGA Show Demo Day

Quick stop by the Titleist area as the lines were long.  I haven't been impressed by the 907 and 909 (except for the hybrids) lines, so I wanted to give the new 910 series a quick hit.

Titleist had the best spot on the range, being directly downwind on a very windy day.

They had a large area with countless setups.  Managed to find a 910 D2 9.5 with a Graphite Design DI6 to try.  I've wanted to try this shaft for a while now, so a perfect opportunity.

Result...  my tentative 2nd favorite driver of the day. 

Very forgiving.  Seemed like I hit 20 balls exactly the same with mishits varying only slightly.  Pleasant muted sound/feel.  I used the word tentative because I would have liked to see how it performed into the wind or with crosswinds like every other manufacturer.

Found one of the new fairway wood models that haven't been released yet to retail.  Unfortunately my hitting area was taken before I was able to hit it.  Took some quick pictures for those who haven't seen it.

Tour Edge Exotics - PGA Show Demo Day

Alright Exotics fans... is this good news or bad news?  2011 is more of the same from Tour Edge.

More of the same?
I strolled past the Tour Edge tent and caught site of an all black fairway wood and driver.  Turns out it's the new CB4 Tour in their Exotics line, which I hadn't heard anything about.  Two thoughts came to mind...

1) Could it possibly be better than the CB3 Tour which has turned my my most hated club in my bag to my favorite?

2)  Did TEE finally produce a driver that can live up to it's fairway woods?

Fairway woods...  Notice the all black look including Aldila RIP shaft.  I'll admit I'm not a fan of the RIP shafts and much prefer the UST Attas shaft I have in my CB3 Tour.  However, it was immediately determined the CB4 is just as good as the CB3 Tour.  Same explosive distance.  Easy to elevate.  Solid feel. 

Enough to change from the CB3 Tour? 

If you prefer the all black look or want to match another manufacturers (hint hint) all black driver... yes.

If you prefer the Aldila RIP over last years stock shaft... yes.

If not, no.  Especially considering the price tag these usually bring.

I have such a strong feelings towards my CB3 Tour 3 wood, that I was very excited about the potential in the CB4 Tour driver.  Nice compact and DEEP head.  A little too deep if you ask me.  A very limited market for this style head in my opinion.

Similar to the quick opinion I had with the fairway wood, I developed a quick opinion of the driver.  Very unforgiving and doesn't have the explosiveness that the fairways have... AGAIN!  If you miss the center of this driver, you'll be severely punished.  It's just not good enough when struck pure to offset the lack of forgiveness.

So... More of the Same from Tour Edge Exotics. 

The fairway woods remain the best in the business and drivers leaving us with the "What ifs....?"