IN THE
BAG PRODUCT REVIEWS and equipment news you can use BY BRIAN BEAKY — CG EDITOR
DREAM A LITTLE DREAM
W
e all wish we could hit a driver like Dustin Johnson. And while we might not have DJ’s height, strength and athleticism, or the small army of coaches, personal trainers, private chefs and other consultants that help him be his best week-in and week-out ... his driver? That’s something we can have. In fact, we can have the same clubs played by just about all of our favorite pros. Maybe you’ll never win The Masters ... but you can mimic some of Sergio’s greatest shots with his Callaway Rogue fairway woods. It might take decades to develop a short game like Phil’s ... but it only takes a few minutes to snap up one of his Mack Daddy wedges. And sure, we aren’t going to make as many clutch putts as Jordan Spieth ... but playing his Scotty Cameron putter certainly won’t hurt our chances. That’s part of the magic of golf. Among major sports, only basketball — where every great player designs or endorses their own sneakers — draws such a distinct connection between the game’s stars, their equipment, and the general public. Who among us hasn’t watched a PGA TOUR star play a club, then gone out and picked one up in the hope that it might do the same for us? It’s an addictive rush, and one of the main reasons that this is our favorite time of year. We may not be the world’s greatest golfers (Jordan, if you’re reading this, you can skip this part), but that doesn’t mean we don’t have dreams. Here are some new 2018 clubs that will get you closer to realizing yours. 24
APRIL 2018
2
1 TAYLORMADE
M3 & M4 Driver
1
PUETZ GOLF PRICE
CALLAWAY
Rogue Driver2 PUETZ GOLF PRICE
M3 $499.99 M4 $429.99
A
fter crunching data from half a million shots, TaylorMade researchers noted that the traditional driver face design — a slight, consistent bulge from heel to toe and crown to sole — was causing shots high on the toe and low on the heel (the most common misses for amateur golfers) to fly farther off-target than they should. In response, the new “twist face” on the M3 and M4 drivers is curved such to guide those misses back towards the target — reducing the average high-toe mis-hit from eight yards to one, and the average low-heel mis-hit from six yards to two. Combined with a redesigned speed slot that includes two thin stabilizing bars (allowing the face to be milled thinner for faster ball speeds) and a thinner crown and sole, the M3 and M4 are both faster and more forgiving than last year’s M1 and M2 (just ask DJ, who crushed a 433-yard drive with his new M4 at Kapalua in January, coming just three inches from a hole-in-one). The M3 features a new, Y-shaped channel with two moveable weights that allow for more than 13,000 unique setups, while the M4 swaps the channel for a deeper CG, making it the most forgiving of the two. See a Puetz rep to figure out which one’s the best fit for you.
$499.99
A
few years ago, Callaway was all about clubhead speed, working with Boeing engineers to develop the super-aerodynamic XR driver. Last year, the company’s GBB Epic driver introduced Jailbreak, a design tweak which increased ball speed by transferring more energy back into the ball. So, what’s the logical next step? If you said, “How about a super-aerodynamic driver with an improved version of Callaway’s Jailbreak technology?” then ding-ding-ding for you — you just invented the Callaway Rogue. Noting that the vast majority of Epic players used either the neutral or draw settings on the sliding track, Callaway did away with the track entirely in the Rogue, creating simply neutral and draw versions instead. That weight savings makes the club 16 percent more forgiving, even as lighter, hourglass-shaped Jailbreak bars behind the face produce a stiffer body with a hotter face, for increased ball speeds. It’s longer and flatter than the Epic, too, which will make it appealing to mid- and high-handicappers who prefer a wider sweet spot, and aren’t as concerned about shaping their shots. And, for golfers who tend to miss right, the draw-biased version is as good as it gets.
Order online at puetzgolf.com • Call Toll Free (866) 362-2441 cascadegolfer.com
