Friday, January 26, 2007

SQUARE DRIVERS: THE
(COSTLY) SHAPE OF
THINGS TO COME

By CAL CARSON


Why, after all these years, are we suddenly being asked to buy SQUARE-headed drivers - and other shapes, it should be added, that depart from the traditional?
They have all been on display this week at the 54th US PGA Merchandise Show at Orange County Convention Centre in Orlando, Florida.
This trade show – and it is not open to the public – gives the manufacturers an opportunity to preview all their new clubs, new balls, new shoes, in fact everynew golf-related product you can think of ,for the new season.
What’s on display at the Convention Centre is so huge and so varied that it is practically impossible to visit every stand over the three days.
But, back to the original question. Why change the shape in things that are coming?
Well, it’s one way – perhaps the only way – round the United States Golf Association & R&A limits on the dimensions and spring-like effect off the face of the driver. Since the twin powers-that-be introduced the magic words – moment of inertia – the backroom boys employed by golf equipment manufacturers have been burning the midnight oil to come up with new, innovative ways of increasing the maximum performance possibility of a driving club.
Nike Golf’s head of club research and development, Tom Stites, explained it better than I can as he took the wraps off two new Nike drivers, one of them with a square head.:
“If we change the geometry of the club, we can change the inertial properties and the way we drive the ball,” said Tom Stites, Nike Golf’s head of club research and development.”
So what is this “moment of inertia?” Think of it as being equivalent to the stability of a club, i.e. its resistance to twisting. The higher the Moment of Inertia, the more stable a club should be.
Using a mathematical formula that determines MOI, the USGA and R&A have set 5,900 as the limit for golf clubs.
“A few years ago, the MOI of drivers was about 4,000,” said Stites. “With our SasQuatch driver (which will be phased out), we reached 4,700. Our new Sumo driver is 4,900 and our Sumo2 is in the 5,300 range.”
The SQ Sumo is shaped like a traditional driver head, more or less, but the SQ Sumo2 is square, no doubt about it. .
One of the three new drivers revealed by Callaway at the Convention Centre was also square in shape. It’s called FT-I, which is short for Fusion Technology Inertia.
It has to be said that not all the backroom boffins are certain that square is the way to go.
So while Nike and Callaway are convinced and will start mass production very soon, companies such as MacGregor, TaylorMade, Adams and Nicklaus have come up with new but traditionally-shaped drivers that will be into the 5,000 MOI range.
Cleveland, Cobra and Titleist did not reveal their hand at the Trade Show but, take my word for it, they’ll be coming up with something for the 2007 season. To stand still is to go backwards in the world of golf equipment.
TaylorMade’s top brass maintain, in their opinion, that the negatives of a square driver outweigh the positives.
One thing is certain – the new drivers, whatever their shape, will not be cheap in your club pro’s shop, or wherever you buy them.
I leave you to do the dollar to £ conversion but the suggested retail price for the Sumo is $359.99 and the Sumo2 will come in at $479.99.
The FT-i driver will set you back the sterling equivalent of $625.
Suggested retail price for the TaylorMade Superquad, which won’t hit the pro shops in the States until March 1, is $499. A TP (Tour Preferred) will come on stream on April 1 with a price tag of $699.

ANY COMMENTS? E-mail them to colin@scottishgolfview.com

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