It’s always an honor to be able to walk and work the historic grounds at The Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, CA.
For many of us on TOUR, it’s at the top of the list amongst all the places we visit. The place is iconic, magical, historical, and utterly breathtaking. TONS of SUPERLATIVES there.
On-site for the Callaway/Odyssey performance team, we had Tour Manager Joe Toulon, Performance rep. Kellen Watson, Tour Techs Greg Shaw and Simon Wood, Odysseys Cody Hale, and the Icon Roger Cleveland. RC was on site showing off the “new new” that we can’t talk about yet:)
We had ten staffers in the field this week, so let’s see what went down…
Sam Burns: Did some light work on the Ai-Smoke TD (15, D/+1) 3-wood with Kellen Watson. This began last week with two different heads, 15 and HL. Just getting the loft and face angle optimized. The 15 degree is in the bag and seems to be working nicely. I walked with him on Wednesday, and he almost flew it on the green on the 10th hole.
Xander Schauffele: Xander has two different fairway wood set-ups for different tracks…this week at RIV, Xander was looking for something a little hotter in the 3-wood section of his bag, opting for a 15-degree (15.5) TD vs his 16.5 HL. The new stick carries about 10-12 yards further, BUT it caused a HUGE gap into his 23 UW, so Xander had a 21-degree (19.8) UW built with an MCA Diamana D+ 90TX to get the gapping correct. This setup will go in on courses with more demand for 3-wood off the tee.
Adam Hadwin: No changes to the set-up this week
Si Woo Kim: No changes to the set-up this week
Chris Kirk: Pulled out an old Rogue 15-degree 3-wood from seven years ago. CK likes the shape of the head and the fact that it launches very easily with a spin window he likes. Chris is very specific when it comes to fairways (they all are actually) and there are certain shapes he prefers like this one and Mavrik Std.
Emiliano Grillo: Tested some new hybrid shafts with PX rep Paul Lego and also swapped in a new 60, opting for the Jaws MD5 60/10S w/ a DG TI S400. Emi also recently put the Ai-Smoke TD MAX (9@8) driver in the bag with the new Denali Black 60TX. Also, check out the custom PX Flighted Rifles in BLACK… one-offs for Emi:)
Emi still has the old Rogue 3-wood in the bag, but we are getting close on an Ai-Smoke TD 15 (Bonded) with RDX Blue 70TX.
Adam Svensson: Opted for this Ai-One DBL Wide CH Cruiser. The new setup has slowed the pace of his stroke down and improved his speed control. The specs are as follows… (38 EOG, 2 Loft, 71 lie, 600G Total)
Christian Bezuidenhout: No changes to the bag this week
Nicolai Hojgaard: No changes to the bag this week; the AIS TD 7-wood is not in play just yet…still trying to find a bit more spin.
Kevin Yu: No changes to the bag this week
In case you missed it, here is all the content from this week at the Genesis Inv:
Lastly, I am back in testing mode as I prepare to defend the title at the Battle at The Beach in Early March (Hammock Beach Golf Resort).
Think I found some potential gamers in the wood category. I got referred by multiple friends to the new MCA Tensei 1K Red. There were whispers of ball speed upticks in the 3-4MPH territory. The rumors are def true.
I’ll post some more numbers tomorrow, but I was cruising at 163-164, which, for me, after not touching a club for damn near a month…that’s pretty solid. I’m still tweaking with what head/s are best, but I’m close.
WITB VID COMING SOON
Specs:
Driver: Ai-Smoke Max (9.3@8.3, Flat Cog, D/-1, 45 EOG, D3)
Shaft: 1K Red 60TX (Tipped .5)
3-wood: Ai-Smoke Max 3+ (13.7@14.7, Flat Cog, D/+1, 43 EOG, D3)
Shaft: 1K Red 70TX (Tipped 1)
5-wood: Ai-Smoke TD T (18@18.3, 41.5EOG, D3)
Shaft: 1K Red 80TX (Tipped 1.5)
Happy Hunting
LFG
JDub
