The Clubmaker Report

January 2008	The Clubmaker Report

Geek Golf DCT Fairway and Driver

Wrote last week about the success of the Geek Golf DCT (dot com this) driver after winning the Remax Open Championship recently and also being selected for the Golf Digest Hot List. Head is available as a component priced at $125 through Jan. 21 2008 ($139 after).

Geek has a matching DCT fairway wood that's worth taking a look at. Great reviews at the online discussion forums praise it's hot face and ease to hit off the deck. Here's the info on the DCT fairway: They have a flattened tip rail that sharpens up to 1/8" - centered to lower the Center of Gravity of the head, and pop the ball out of any lie with reduced head flutter. The unique 3-railed sole design enabled these heads to be played off any surface. Component price with a headcover is $59.

More on Geek Fairway Woods and drivers here

Graphite Design TourAD YSQ

Graphite Design -- maker of some of the most widely played graphite driver, fairway wood and hybrid shaft models on the PGA TOUR -- today introduces its much-anticipated Tour AD YSQ shaft model, whose Axial Composite Interlace construction delivers superior performance in four key areas: launch angle, spin rate, accuracy and distance. Available in models for drivers, fairway woods, and hybrids, the Tour AD YSQ's four-axis, interlaced fiber design produces optimum stability throughout the swing, eliminating the shaft deformation that causes inconsistency. Tests reveals the YSQ delivers ball speed increases of five to seven percent while optimizing launch angles and spin rates, equating to greater distance and control. The YSQ's smooth feel and superb feedback are hallmarks of all Graphite Design shafts, including the YS-6+ and YS-7+ -- perennial favorites of touring professionals worldwide.

I'm excited to try this new design. Looks like it's going to be a blend of the super premium priced TourAd (a favorite on the Japanese Tour) and the excellent YS line used by a lot of PGA Tour pros. The new Axial Composite Interlace construction promises to help with accuracy. The TourAD YSQ 65 models are shipping now in R and S flex, other weight classes to follow in February/March. Price is $195.

More on SuperStroke Putting System...

Nakashima Interchangeable Shaft System

The major OEM's will be making a lot of noise in 2008 with their interchangeable shaft/hosel systems. Nakashima Golf is a small OEM that was one of the first to come out with a workable design on a beautiful high performance head that allows you to easily and quickly swap shafts (now allowed and conforming for 2008). Lots of uses for the interchangeable shaft systems. You might try one superlight/long shaft if you're playing on an open/long course where distance is important and switch to a shorter shaft on tight courses where accuracy is most important. I like to go to the range and experiment with different shafts and it's a kick see the look on the guy next to you when to make all sorts of noise and fuss swapping shafts. I'm pricing it this way: The club is only available assembled. The base price with one HTech head and one hosel is $299. Add shaft price from the popular models at my site and I'll install on the HTech hosel with no extra labor charge and cut it to length and install a Star grip. Extra hosels are $25 each. They've added a 460cc model to the 440cc model and also are introducting fairway woods and hybrids. Here's info from Nakashima:

The HTEC Driver from Nakashima adds a new dimension never before found in OEM (original equipment manufacturer) golf driver technology. The HTEC Driver head has been designed with a completely removable hosel made from CNC milled 7075 Aircraft-Grade Aluminum. This feature allows the Nakashima HTEC head to be quickly and easily assembled with any shaft.