Ping Hybrid Club Gets A Win

Hello everyone! Hope you all had a good weekend and a good Monday. I have some total odds and ends to talk about today so let’s get to it! First up… before I forget. Was it just me or did David Toms give a fan the finger on Sunday? I don’t remember what hole it …

Hello everyone! Hope you all had a good weekend and a good Monday. I have some total odds and ends to talk about today so let’s get to it!

First up… before I forget. Was it just me or did David Toms give a fan the finger on Sunday? I don’t remember what hole it was (I know it was the back nine) and Toms had missed a putt. He went to tap it in and then backed off because someone in the crowd said something. He took a quick look around, tapped in the putt, picked his ball out of the hole and then tried to “itch” his nose with his middle finger. I thought it was funny.

Next up… we get lots of shaft questions. What shafts are good? What shafts are bad? What shafts work well in certain drivers… that kind of thing. It’s so hard to suggest certain club/shaft combinations without seeing a swing but we try our best. I thought I would talk a bit about my new driver/shaft combination and give our readers some feedback. First… a few things about me. I hit a straight to draw ball, the ball flight is pretty high, my swingspeed with a driver is between 105 MPH and 110 MPH. I have been using a 10 degree Callaway Big Bertha 454 driver with a stiff Fujikura Speeder 652 shaft. I hit everything before deciding on this combination. I knew that I wanted the Big Bertha 454 head but I needed to figure out which shaft to go with. I decided to make a small “wish list”. Things I was hoping this driver could do…

– I wanted a lower ball flight.
– I wanted a shaft that would allow me to really swing at the ball. I can get my swingspeed up to 115 MPH when I want to but my current driver starts to fade if I swing harder.
– I wanted something fairly light.
– I wanted more distance… that’s an obvious one. The technology in the head alone took care of this one!

A list like this is a great way for golfers to narrow down their shaft choices. Be realistic though… I don’t think “I want to hit it straight every single time” is a good goal. A club can only do so much! I started to hit all sorts of combinations. Check with your local sales rep here… most reps have demo bags full of different head/shaft combinations. I got it down to either the Aldila NV or the Fujikura Speeder 652. Both kept the ball flight down and both gave me a great launch angle. The Fujikura gave the club a really solid feel and I liked the way I could control my draw with it. I have used it a few times already this summer and it feels great… I’m very happy! I guess there is a moral to this story… try out different shafts. Make a “wish list” and then do some research and find a few shafts that fit your list. Try these shafts out (bug your local rep or find a demo day) and don’t be afraid to hit the stock shaft options too. I feel that a golfer’s biggest problem is overthinking… and in this case thinking that their game is more than what it really is. Not everyone needs an upgraded shaft! Understand your needs and understand your game. Once you’ve done that, you’re halfway home!

We get lots of questions about the new Ping hybrid club. I can’t really tell you much about it but it is out there. The Golf Channel’s website mentions this hybrid in it’s “What’s In The Bag” section. Miguel Angel Jimenez used a “Ping Prototype Utility” club in his win over the weekend. As soon as we get more info we will pass it on!

A quick update on the Nike Sphere React clothing that some of the Nike guys were wearing on the weekend. These shirts will be available in stores July 1st. I liked the pictures of them on the Nike website but I don’t know about the big stripe down the back. Oh well… to each his own I guess.

And finally a bit of a sad note. I didn’t know who Michael James Reed was until about an hour ago but the fact that he passed away on Friday saddens me greatly. Michael was one of the first and one of the finest golf bloggers in the world. I went and visited his website today and read through some of his posts. He was a very good writer and I really enjoyed his work. I also read some of the comments that his readers left after learning of his passing and it was very clear that Michael touched a lot of people with his work. When you start a website like this you really appreciate other sites that much more. There are days where you are excited to type and there are days where you don’t want to go near the keyboard… but you do it because you love it. We don’t do it for the money… and it should be noted that Michael didn’t have any ads on his site… we do it because we have something to say and want to share it with the world. Our greatest gift is the support that we get from readers… and it’s clear that Michael had a lot of that. Go and read through some of his posts… not all of them are golf related but they are all good nonetheless. SirPuttsAlot and myself send our deepest condolences to the Reed family. It sounds like you have lost a great man.