Shell Houston Open update
March 28th, 2007
It has been a pretty busy week here at the Shell Houston Open where we have 31 full-line staff players in the field. These are guys we call “Titleist ambassadors” and carry anywhere from 10-14 Titleist clubs in their bags, including the driver, wear Titleist on their cap, carry the Titleist bag, wear either a Titleist or FootJoy glove and FootJoy shoes. World No. 5 Adam Scott is the highest-ranked player in the field this week and has been a Titleist ambassador since he turned professional in 2000. Charley Hoffman is another Titleist ambassador who won his first PGA Tour victory earlier this year in a playoff at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. Check out the photo below where Charley was fooling around on the range today hitting left-handed drivers. After today its home for a couple of days and then off to Augusta where we’ll be reporting each day from the Masters. Keep the questions and comments coming.
– Steven Felix Mata
Charley Hoffman having some fun on the range with a lefty 907D2.
Charley and his caddie Miguel.
A closer look at what’s in Charley’s bag.
Charley practicing a little more conventionally last week at the WGC-CA Championship.
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I play in the Northeast. It would be great if Titleist made a golf ball specifically designed for cold weather. I do switch to a lower compression ball in the colder months, but it seems like more can be done. There certainly has been talk at the Masters about the cold! They don’t know what cold weather golf is!
From the Acushnet Company Golf Ball R&D Department:
Fact #1: Cold WEATHER doesn’t have much effect. Cold GOLF BALLS do.
It takes a golf ball a number of hours to fully change temperature, so most of the time if you start the round with warm (normal room temperature) golf balls they will still be reasonably warm at the end of the round. As long as you are playing golf with warm golf balls, it is a non-issue. A good idea is to carry one in your pocket and use the other and switch each hole. This will assure that you are playing with a relatively warm golf ball each hole. A three hour round helps.
Fact #2: DO NOT HEAT GOLF BALLS!
When people are told that warmer golf balls perform better, it inevitably leads to the idea that a player should preheat his or her golf balls before a round. THIS IS A BAD IDEA. The different parts of a golf ball react differently to rapid heating (or chilling) and might result in damage during play. The best idea is to store your golf balls in your home and not leave them in the garage, in the trunk of your car, or in an unheated bag storage room, etc., leading to our best golf ball temperature advice: If it is uncomfortable for you, it isn’t good for your golf ball either. Do not use microwaves, conventional or convection ovens, boiling water, blow dryers or other rapid heating methods to heat golf balls. Don’t heat a golf ball any more than you would heat yourself. If you would not fare well spending an evening in the trunk of your car, don’t subject your golf balls to an extended stay in the trunk either.
Failing to do that, your best recourse is to go into the Pro Shop and buy a sleeve of nice, new warm golf balls before you tee off.
Fact #3: Golf balls achieve their best performance at a temperature of greater than 80 degrees.
Anything colder is shorter and increasingly shorter with increasingly lower temperatures. Warmer feels softer, colder feels harder. Really cold is really short, AND let’s not forget that with a bunch of extra clothes and frozen joints most golfers are making a weaker swing in really cold air.
How do the spin rates and launch angles of the new 907D2 compare to the 905S?
Thanks,
Steve S
When is Titleist going to release the Spin Milled wedges in the raw finish as well as the T Grind used by Adam Scott in his lob wedge?
We do not plan to release the Spin Milled wedges in a pure raw finish. The SM Oil Can is our raw wedge. It is only a coating that wears off quickly, not a plating. As far as Adam’s T Grind, I work with many players to develop custom grinds that work best for those specific players in specific conditions. These grinds serve as a kind of developmental testing process that often help shape our in-line offerings but are rarely brought to market in their prototype form. Thanks.
– Voke
I use a 905R with the Proforce V2 X-stiff shaft. I want to try the Grafalloy Axis. Do you think this shaft can be great on the driver? And I don’t know if I have to take the X-stiff or the Stiff because I think that the V2 X-stiff I have on it is a little too stiff for me (My driving speed is 115 MPH). Thank you very much.
Martin
Please visit an Authorized Titleist FittingWorks Partner to determine the correct shaft for your 905R driver.
Good week for the new 907D2. Congrats to Adam Scott. Nice to see him win, always a big fan. Hopefully he plays as well next week.
On Tour, do Titleist players practice with the same Titleist balls they use in competition? If so, are the Titleist players given an unlimited supply of balls to use on the range, etc? And what happens to the practice balls when Tour players are done with them?
Titleist players do use the same ball on the range that they use in competition. Titleist donates 256 dozen balls per week for practice, and when the tournament ends, the balls are donated to junior golf.
Great question.
– Steven Felix Mata
That is really decent and forward thinking of Titleist.
Is there any way I could purchase the black chip, chrome finish 755s? If I could get them custom or pay more? I just have to have my irons in chrome.
Unfortunately, this won’t be possible. Only a few sets were made for testing purposes on Tour.
Who all still plays the 905R?
Please click here to be re-directed to Titleist.com for more information on which drivers our Titleist Ambassadors are playing. Thanks.
Will the chrome 755s ever go to market?
Titleist develops many prototype products, like the chrome 755 irons, for performance-validation testing on Tour. Some of these products are never released to the consumer market. Please check Titleist.com often for the most up-to-date product information.
Adam Scott was using a Red X putter in the practice rounds, was this a permanent move or just messing round? What were the specs of the Red X? Great blog, much appreciated.
Rick Nelson and I made him a Black X to practice with because of his friend Charley Hoffman! By Tuesday afternoon, his Newport Mid-Slant looked great again!!
– Jim Curran
Why won’t Titleist release the black badge 755s with the chrome finish? Many of us prefer the look of the chrome vs. satin.
The 755 Chrome irons with the black vibration chip were tested on Tour along with the satin finish version with the red chip. The latter was preferred so that is what we launched to market.
I saw some new prototype irons on a web page the other day. The picture was taken at Redstone. They looked like the 755 without the insert. Can you comment? Love the site.
Thanks, Nate
Titleist develops many prototype products for performance-validation testing on Tour. Some of these products are never released to the consumer market. Please check Titleist.com often for the most up-to-date product information.