I haven’t been on the TOUR since The Tour Championship, so it was nice to get back to Vegas and catch up on all the happenings. I noticed a few interesting trends, but the main attraction was Cody Hale and Odyssey’s R&D squad hitting the practice green with some new shapes to test.
I can’t go into too much detail beyond the pictures, but I’m curious: which shapes do you like?
DM me and let me know. It matters.
I also finally built up a set of XF JPN irons to test, so why not? Brock Kauffman (the new guy) helped with these beauties. He’s a serious builder.
Specs:
XF JPN 6-PW (D3, Std Length, .5 Up, 1 strong) w/ DG Tour Issue S400 (Black Onyx) w/ TT Icon grips 1+1
True Temper Golf launched its new ICON grips to TOUR this week. As a Golf Pride Tour Velvet user for YEARS, I’ve always been looking for the elevated version of that genre, and we may have landed on it. Growing up, it was always Tour Velvet or Lamkin Crossline, and if they could have a baby, that would be amazing. It looks like they finally did.
They feel amazing.
On-site for Team Callaway at TPC Summerlin, we had Tour Manager Joe Toulon, Callaway Performance Reps Kellen Watson, Johnny Thompson, and Dean Teykl, Tour Techs Greg Shaw and Brock Kauffman, and Brian Herr, Eric Stubben, and Nick Arthur from R&D.
Odyssey Proto Launch
Quick Hitter Info
Danny Willet came to Vegas with a head full of equipment steam; when he showed up, he had a nice set of XF JPN, but he felt they got a little diggy for his liking, and the look wasn’t exactly what he preferred, so we replaced those with some oldies but goodies XF 21.
Specs on Danny’s Old New Irons
XF 21 5-9 (D3, 2 Flat, +.25 length, 1 weak) w/ Aerotech SteelFiber 110CW X
He also put this Apex Ti-Fusion 3 Iron in the bag and said I quote
“This thing is a F$$King ROCKET SHIP, and it spins!!!”
Adam Hadwin W Grind with heel/toe and table relief
Few players are returning to the Apex MB for CONTROL and better contact. To a man, they both said that the lower bounce profile gets the club in the turf a little deeper, catching the right part of the face so they can get the perfect launch conditions. I’m a HUGE advocate for the sole to be a priority for all players; it is the decision maker on what part of the face you catch it on.
Too wide feels like hitting the driver off the deck all day and hitting it on the bottom grooves; too narrow, and you are digging ditches, catching nothing but the top grooves. Can’t play good golf that way.
Adrien Dumont de Chassart
Carl Yuan (This is Carls’s 3rd different setup this year CB/TCB/MB…only a matter of time before the XF JPN find their way in)
Non-Staffer, whose name rhymes with Adds, put this oldy but goody in the bag. Feedback was it was the only LOW SPIN driver he could turn over on command. This player was in the Ai-Smoke Max D bit and wanted to move weight around without using lead tape (yes, it’s still there, lol). This head puts him in a good numbers window (11 launch/2400 spin/175-180MPH)
The other neat thing was that he told me that when Mav was cycled out, we gave him the rest of the heads we had on the truck because he hit them so well. He was pretty much the only player still close to this head, and still has about four heads left at his house.
Specs:
Mavrik TD LS 10.5@12.5 (44.5 EOG, D2.5, 198G) w/ Ventus Red 6X (Tipped 1)
Gonna be a great week in Vegas
Go DODGERS!!!
LFG
JDub
