Fleetwood notched TaylorMade Qi10’s first win of the season in Dubai.
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Welcome to Wall-to-Wall Equipment, the weekly gear wrap-up by which GOLF gear editor Jonathan Wall takes you thru the most recent tendencies, rumors and breaking information.
New gear
Mention the identify Tommy Fleetwood and one factor instantly involves thoughts: otherworldly ball-striking. Possessing one of the coveted swings on the planet, Fleetwood can flush it with the most effective of them.
After final week’s win in Dubai, Fleetwood may be capable of add the phrase “bomber” to his resume following a powerful exhibiting off the tee with TaylorMade’s Qi10 LS driver. In simply his second begin with TaylorMade’s newest massive stick, Fleetwood averaged 313.5 yards and hit 57 p.c of the fairways en path to a powerful two-shot win over Rory McIlroy and Thirston Lawrence.
Jonathan Wall/GOLF
For somebody who hasn’t ranked greater than 56th on the PGA Tour in driving distance prior to now three seasons — he averaged 283.9 yards final season — the noticeable uptick in distance raised some eyebrows. While a lot of Fleetwood’s colleagues have embraced velocity coaching, the Englishman was capable of stretch his driver by tightening one all-important attribute.
“The biggest gains for Tommy with the Qi10 comes with really tight spin rates, especially on misses,” Adrian Rietveld, TaylorMade’s senior Tour rep, instructed the corporate’s web site. “On misses, Tommy would normally get 3100-3200 spin, on this one, he’s getting 2700, which is huge for him because it means the distance is there. He’s still getting a little bit of roll out of it.”
TaylorMade Qi10 LS Custom Driver
$629.99
Qi10 LS delivers a lower spin and lower launch that is engineered to optimize performance for fast swing speed players. With a deep face and a more compact overall head shape, it is the preferred driver for Team TaylorMade Tour athletes including Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
NEW INFINITY CARBON CROWN
An Infinity Carbon Crown covers 97% of the total crown area, creating a strategic advantage for mass redistribution and enhanced forgiveness. At address, it delivers a sleek and clean view that pairs with subtle alignment cues, setting the stage for confidence and success.
REIMAGINED SLIDING WEIGHT DESIGN
A new, more efficient moveable weight features an 18g steel sliding weight housed by an innovative track system. The redesigned structure allows the adjustable weight to move farther forward and lower compared to Stealth 2 Plus, resulting in a more forgiving low-spin experience.
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Dropping roughly 400 RPMs is a big quantity for an elite tour professional who’s used to optimizing the motive force to squeeze each ounce of distance out of the construct. And that’s simply on misses. For centered strikes, Rietveld confirmed Fleetwood additionally noticed an enchancment that led to improved launch and spin situations.
“On the flush shots, he’s gone from 10.5 or 11 degrees launch at 2,600 spin, to now at 12 degrees launch at 2,400 spin,” he mentioned. “When you add that up, that’s a real game changer for him.”
A game-changer, certainly. Fleetwood has the {hardware} to show it.
Chomping on the bit
Nearly 4 months after docs eliminated a lesion that was discovered on his mind, Gary Woodland returned to the competitors on the Sony Open in Hawaii with the identical drive, dedication and constructive outlook that helped him triumph on the 2019 U.S. Open.
“[T]here was a time when I didn’t know if [my name] was going to be called again, so it got me a little more than I thought it was going to,” Woodland mentioned of listening to his identify introduced on the primary tee.
Woodland’s week was all the time going to be successful, whatever the outcome. After lacking out on the weekend, he’ll tee it up subsequent week at Torrey Pines and get one other alternative to see how Cobra’s Darkspeed LS driver and fairway wooden carry out in a aggressive setting.
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In the months main as much as the Sony Open, Woodland reached out to Cobra Tour rep Ben Schomin to see if they may conduct testing in November on the Floridian with the Darkspeed lineup. As Schomin recounted to GOLF.com, he prefers to convey a praise of heads and shafts alongside as a substitute of leaving professionals to tinker on their very own. But Woodland couldn’t wait.
“I normally don’t send guys their stuff in advance if I’m going to see them in a week or so,” Schomin mentioned. “I’d prefer to get feedback from them as they test for the first time and go from there. But he was jonesing to see it in person, so I sent it along in advance. As soon as he could hit full shots, he was taking cuts with Darkspeed.”
By the time Schomin arrived, Woodland was already effectively versed on his new driver and fairway wooden.
Cobra DarkSpeed LS Custom Driver
$549.99
The LS model features a Tour inspired shape for better players that demandlow spin and low launch for maximum workability and control.
REFINED AERODYNAMIC DESIGN
An improved aero shape features a streamlined face to topline radius, a highercrown peak, raised skirt and reduced clubface surface area to maximize speed.
TOUR INSPIRED SHAPING
A refined clubhead shape features a reduced visual footprint at address thatpromotes workability and control.
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“He was already a fan of Darkspeed when I showed up,” he mentioned. “We made a few tweaks to the shaft, going from [Fujikura Ventus Blue TR] to the new Mitsubishi Diamana White Board 73 and 83 in the driver and fairway, but that was about it.”
For somebody who tends to reside simply toeward of middle with impression location, Woodland was capable of middle it up simpler with Darkspeed LS. He additionally noticed the frequent high-toe miss turn into extra playable.
“The spin deltas were tight on misses, low and high on the face,” Schomin mentioned. “Low ones don’t spin as high, and the high ones don’t spin as low. The high-toe miss that tends to snap and knuckle, those are staying in the air. We’ve been seeing that over and over from guys who’ve been testing [Darkspeed]. On those toe misses, the flight and spin is a lot more playable for him.”
Trending upward
Callaway’s Paradym Ai Smoke drivers continued to make an impression on Tour on the season-opening occasion on the DP World Tour, as 20 of the 60 gamers within the discipline (33.3 p.c) used one of many 4 new fashions within the lineup. Callaway additionally confirmed it topped the sphere in fairway wooden, irons and wedge utilization on the occasion.
Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke TD Custom Driver
$599.99
Ai SMOKE TD DRIVER
The new Paradym Ai Smoke driver represents a quantum leap forward in Callaway’s Ai journey. This new family of drivers feature the most sophisticated driver face in Callaway history, the Ai Smart Face.
World’s First Ai Smart Face™
The all-new Ai Smart Face optimizes driver performance using swing dynamics from thousands of real golfers. This promotes optimal launch conditions and tight downrange dispersion.
Workable Shape for Better Players
Shaped with a neutral-to-fade biased face progression and a compact overall head size, Triple Diamond model will suit better players looking for workability off the tee. For players looking to increase ball speed and lower spin, a 14g weight can easily be repositioned from the rear to the front.
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At the Sony Open, Carl Yuan, who completed 2nd in driving distance (323.9 yards), and 12 different professionals within the discipline put a Paradym Ai Smoke driver within the bag.
Retail preview
After pondering whether or not Cameron Young’s newest Scotty Cameron T-5 prototype was a real one-off or an indication of issues to come back on the retail entrance, the putter producer supplied affirmation — within the type of a number of putter photos from the Sony Open.
Cameron launched 4 distinct fashions in Hawaii and confirmed six extra choices could be unveiled by Tour reps Drew Page and Brad Cloke within the coming weeks.
“That Phantom shape, for one, helps my alignment,” Young mentioned. “And then also just the forgiveness of a mallet is important. I feel like anything that you can do to make the off-center hits just a little better is always a good thing.”
With an array of shapes obtainable on Tour, it’s all however assured a retail launch is on the horizon.
Quick-hitters: Rory McIlroy swapped a 44-inch TaylorMade Qi10 LS driver for a 45-inch TaylorMade Qi10. The extra beneficiant head profile allowed him to return to straightforward size to realize some further velocity … Odyssey received the putter depend on the Sony Open (extra putters than the No. 2 and No. 3 manufacturers mixed) and Dubai Invitational (65 p.c of putters in play). … 17 gamers transitioned into Vokey’s SM10 wedges in Dubai. … Grayson Murray’s win on the Sony Open was his third skilled title (the earlier two on the Korn Ferry Tour) since making the transfer to Titleist’s 2023 Pro V1 final May.
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