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Golf Lab Members Only – PGA Contest Winners
Shaft Update!!
August 24, 2006
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in this issue
-- And The Winners Are ...
-- Darrel Survey Results for the PGA Championship
-- Other Wood Shafts
-- Iron Shafts -- Best Golf Lab Shafts -- Nippon Steel -- Aerotech Steel Fiber and Power Coil -- Specialty Combinations -- Mark the Dates
The results are compiled!! Over 100 entries and the winner is . . . (stay tuned) First, a few comments on the picks. NO ONE picked Shaun Micheel. Not one single pick! Three more players from the top ten were completely overlooked. Steve Stricker, K.J. Choi and fashion plate Ian Poulter received no love from the Golf Lab panel of experts. Four of the top ten received no votes. Ryan Moore, Gary Gupton’s dark horse pick received only one vote. That leaves lots of upside for creative choices and proves that most PGA Tour tournament results are wide open. If you were a Tiger Woods holdout, you didn’t have a prayer. That motivated me to think about the format of future contests – this one was fun and attracted a lot of players so we’ll do it again for the Masters. Next time, everyone gets Tiger Woods. That will let us focus on the rest of the field. The Winning Strategy? The winners mostly bypassed Lefty and Furyk. The young guns came through – Luke Donald, Adam Scott and Sergio. The biggest disappointment to voters was Tom Pernice who had backing but missed the cut by a mile. Underperformers included Vaughn Taylor, Padraig Harrington, Tom Lehman and Camilo Villegas. Mike Weir and Geoff Ogilvy flamed out on Sunday. Chad Campbell waited until Sunday to wake up. It was fun to watch the whole leaderboard for a change. |
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And The Winners Are ... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here are the winners. If you want to see all of the
entries and the complete compilation, I’ve posted the
Excel spreadsheet on the calgolftech website. Here’s
the link:
Golf Lab PGA Tournament Contest Winners (Pick Five)
#1 Mike Matkowski 2,118,800 - Woods,
DiMarco, Sergio, Scott, T. Clark Congratulations to all the winners. For the record, I finished 60th. I needed Lehman to beat Tiger. Please reply to this email with your address if you would like your prize sent to you. Otherwise, we’ll keep your prize in the shop for you to pick up.
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Darrel Survey Results for the PGA Championship ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The single top played wood shaft at the PGA was the
Graphite Design YS-6. Fourteen were put into play.
It is interesting that the YS-6 is not a particularly
difficult shaft to play – unlike many shafts found on
the Tour, the YS-6 is quite suitable for amateurs.
Also noted: Graphite Design has brought out its first
new shaft in a while – the “Pershing” decked out in
gloss black with holographic logos – a “10” for looks.
We have a couple of demos in the shop – it is still
not in distribution but you can always find the
newest models at the Golf Lab. In total, Graphite
Design had 55 shafts in play at the PGA.
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Other Wood Shafts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aldila lead the pack with 108 shafts in play – it was
mostly their hybrid shafts. Just the opposite of the
YS-6, we are not particularly fond of the NV hybrid
shafts. For hybrids, we favor the Fujikura Banzai –
now available in stylish black. The new Aldila VS-
Proto is looking like a winner in the super premium
category.
Fujikura had 92 shafts in play. Fujikura is noted for releasing a lot of different models on Tour that don’t get into circulation. At the PGA, the top models were the tried and true Speeder series and the Fuji SIX. The SIX is a fabulous shaft, the first of the ultra lightweights and still a good choice. We have a nice selection of the new Fujikura Rombax shafts, the next-generation Speeder – at the Golf Lab.
True Temper is still represented by a lot of players who like steel shafts in their woods. The company had 65 shafts in play at the PGA with old standard Dynamic Gold leading the way but with a representation of the Graffaloy Blue, ProLaunch Blue and the Tour-oriented ProLaunch Red which Colin Montgomerie put into play in the PGA. (Remember, it’s the Indian, not the arrow.)
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Iron Shafts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If there is one good investment in the golf industry,
it is likely to be True Temper. They acquired certain
assets of Royal Precision when that company finally
went belly up. Some of the key personnel were
moved to Mississippi to run production of the Rifle
line in the True Temper factory. True Temper now
dominates the steel shaft market in the USA.
There were 96 sets of TT shafts in play. The count was 57 Dynamic Gold, 11 Dynamic Gold SC, 5 Dynamic Gold SL and 3 Black Gold. (Where was the Tour Concept?) The Rifle line accounted for 52 sets. The count was 24 Rifles and 23 Project X. It is clear that the Project X shaft is making remarkable inroads among the Royal Precision tour staff. At the Golf Lab, we have been enthusiastic about Project X since the first revision – when it finally became playable for amateurs three years ago. Now, it comes in all sorts of friendly flexes and a couple of bend profiles – including a new “high launch” version. In steel, the Project X is our second best selling shaft.
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Best Golf Lab Shafts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the Golf Lab, we fit shafts only by performance.
Every player is tested with a range of shaft types,
weights and flexes and the results recorded with our
launch monitors. We can pick the best performing
shaft by measuring and analyzing performance. After
that, players consider feel before making their final
choices. It is very rare for players to find that heavy
steel shafts perform better. How rare? In five years
of business, we have fitted fewer than a dozen sets
of Dynamic Gold shafts. Most of those players were
headed for professional careers. For most amateurs,
lighter weight and softer flexes produce better
distance, consistency and feel.
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Nippon Steel ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Without doubt, the best steel shaft for most
amateurs is the Nippon lightweight steel. We have
extensive experience with all models and flexes. In
super lightweight – the 80 gram shaft has proven a
great choice for women and seniors. We have been
able to watch one of our customers at televised
tournaments several times this summer. That has
been a kick.
Nippon brought out a new shaft this year. It is the 1150 Tour, only available in S and X flexes. It has a fabulous feel – coming from the special steel supplied by Nippon’s Kiretsu partner that is in the car spring business. There is a reason for Nippon’s livelier feel. If your current steel shafts are no fun, you should check out one of our demos and put some spring in your swing. It is true that Nippon lightweight shafts are not found on the PGA Tour. But, there are a lot in play on the LPGA Tour and the Champions Tour. Nippon dominates the steel market in Asia. Most of us amateurs are better off looking in LPGA players’ bags for inspiration.
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Aerotech Steel Fiber and Power Coil ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aerotech is one of the best lines in the industry for
clubfitters. That’s because it comes in all weights
from 70 grams to 110 grams and some innovative
special configurations – constant weight and
ascending weight. Aerotech is also available in taper
tip versions for the purists. When we test Aerotech
shafts on our SST PURE equipment, it shines. (We
are prohibited by our SST confidentiality agreement
from describing what that means in writing but
nothing prevents us from showing you why when you
visit the shop.)
We’ve recently been playing the 110 gram shaft and it has become our favorite graphite shaft.
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Specialty Combinations ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For putters, the new UST Frequency Filtered shaft,
combined with a Balance-Certified counterweight
gives a touch of the Heavy Putter feel without all of
the weight. Highly recommended.
If you’re looking for feel in your wedges, the Project X shaft is my favorite. Bob favors the Rifle Spinner. In either case, keep in mind guru Dave Pelz’ recommendation that “flex equals feel”. The new Matrix Composite (formerly Apache) OZIK shafts have been testing very well. If you’re looking for control, the Graffaloy Prototype (Bi-Matrix revisited) is an interesting choice. Tiger Woods had a brief affair with this shaft before going back to the Diamana. We’re thinking of it for fairway woods. We have the Mitsubishi Diamana shaft in the new “Redboard” model. It has a softer tip section which makes it more friendly for normal golfers. Also, in the “bargain” class, Mitsubishi has brought out the “Bassara” which was in Michelle’s bag for a few rounds. The ACCRA line is turning out to be a very good performer. As time goes on, we’re more confident fitting for weight, bend profile and spin characteristics. The ACCRA Tour model is easy to hit, comes in all weights and is moderately priced. The SC series is more of a premium shaft – suitable for tournament players. At the top end of the spectrum is the SE model – at $400 retail.
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Mark the Dates ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We had a very successful “Technology Shootout” at
Poppy Ridge during July. We’re coming back in
September for two events. The biggest one will be
on the 29th and 30th. That will be a five ring circus
with two state-of-the-art launch monitors: the
Trackman and the Cheetah. Ari Techner will be in
attendance with his complete line of Scratch wedges
for testing. We’ll have our Science and Motion
putting analysis tool and Mitchell putter machine on
site as well as our putting guru Heather Hughes to
make sure your stroke and putter are as good as
they can be. Eric Jones will be conducting clinics.
The Impractis video swing analysis company will be
giving free lessons – and that’s just a start.
This is not a “Demo Day”. Golf Lab customers can make appointments for specific services. There is no wasted time. You get what you come for. To cover costs, we will charge reasonable fees. Call the shop for details and to make reservations. 650-493- 1770. This event will be heavily promoted with two full page ads in Golf Today so don’t wait to get your choice of times. Outdoor fitting is great if you want to see the ball fly. Also, it is imperative to understand fairway woods, utility clubs, irons and wedges. At the Shootout, we will have a complete range of test clubs in every shaft type. Bombsquadgolf.com was charging $1000 for a day of fitting with a Trackman and a range of high performance test clubs. You can have the same experience at the Shootout for a small fraction of that price. We will have a “tune up” exclusively for Golf Lab customers in the middle of September. Watch your email for details. Remember, the best season for golf in the Bay Area is fall. Best regards, Leith Anderson and Bob Huff
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Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email:
leith@calgolftech.com
phone:
(650) 493-1770
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UST had 65 shafts in play. The
Proforce V2 is the
leader – pretty much replacing the standard purple
and yellow Proforce – the first of the ski-pole paint
jobs that made shafts stand out from 500 yards. A
growing number of UST players are adopting the
ACCRA line – in limited distribution and not available
through OEM channels. The “SC” series originally
stood for “Speeder Clone” in development. One of
the top models is the ultra expensive SE series, now
available in an almost-playable for amateurs 70 gram
version.
