The Carpenter and His Tools

Phoenix got its last blast of Old Man Winter (hopefully) this weekend. It was cold (in the 50s and low 60s), rainy and overcast all weekend. So there was no hiking or golf this weekend. SO and I went shopping and in exchange for not whining and whimpering too much at Macy's, DSW and some other clothing stores, I got to spend an hour at the PGA Superstore in Chandler. The new Callaway RAZR Hawk Driver was released this week and I wanted to try it out. I have about $600 of PGA Superstore gift cards burning a hole in my pocket and I was a buyer today.

I took my 2008 TaylorMade Burner Driver into the store. One of the clerks marks your club with a piece of tape to indicate that it is your club and makes you leave the headcover at the front desk. Normally, this would not be a big deal, but the head cover was my new Jan Craig head cover so I was not thrilled (but I was too lazy to walk the 25 yards back to my car so I left it upfront).

The sales people at the PGA Superstore leave something to be desired. I went up to the hitting area and after waiting about a minute I interrupted a discussion between two of the sales people to see if I could get any help. One guy pointed me in the direction of the RAZR demo clubs and sent me to station 2. I hit balls for about 45 minutes in the simulator and not one sales person talked with me. I hit a number of drives with my TaylorMade Driver to determine my baseline. I hit my driver between 230 and 250 yards according to the simulator. I hit the Callaway RAZR Hawk, the Ping G15 and the TaylorMade R9 and R11 drivers. I hit all of them between 230 and 250 yards. It is possible that my "misses" were going further and straigher, but I did not notice a significant difference. By this time I am dripping with sweat and still no one has said a peep to me.

Two lessons I learned at the store (and that I am happy to impart to my followers): First, incentivizing sales people by paying commissions makes them hungrier. I was salivating to buy a new $400+ driver and no sales clerk gave me the time of day. There is a fine line between being a good salesperson and an over-aggressive boor, but I would have loved to have someone come over and talk with me about the different clubs and show me how to adjust the weights, etc. Of course, I could have tracked down a sales clerk, but why?

Second and more importantly, the old adage that "it is not the tools, but the carpenter that wields them" remains true. The difference in distance between my "ancient" 2008 TaylorMade Burner and the new 2011 drivers was negligible. The RAZR was developed in partnership with Lamborghini and it advertises that the clubface is made of forged composite and is lighter and stronger than titanium, the aerodynamic shape reduces drag by 43-percent over the FT-9 driver for more distance and the hyperbolic face technology precisely controls the face thickness, resulting in consistently higher ball speeds across the entire face. I would have gladly paid $400+ for an additional 10 yards off the tee and a little bit more accuracy, but I was not feeling it.

You Drive Like a Girl!

It is starting to get warm in Arizona so it is great golf weather for the frugal (cheap) golfer. There is an inverse relationship between the temperature, on the one hand, and the greens fee and pace of play, on the other hand. On Sunday, Chad Feldheimer and I played at the Legacy Golf Resort. This is one of the best public golf courses in the central Phoenix area. The temperature was above 90 degrees, the greens fee was less than $50 and we played in just over 4 hours (notwithstanding Chad badgering me about slow play).

Chad bought a new TaylorMade R9 SuperTri black-on-black driver at Golfsmith. He said that he was carrying the ball 270 yards in the simulator (I think there must have been some simulated gale force tailwinds or they just spotted a sucker). He would not even let me touch his new driver! I decided to put my TaylorMade R580 driver away and use my Ping G10 driver that I won in a charity golf tournament a couple of years ago because Legacy has very forgiving fairways. I had the G10 driver "fitted" at the Ping headquarters with a 10.5 degree loft and a draw face. The G10 driver is also an inch longer than my TaylorMade driver and has a whippier shaft. I have never hit this club well, but I keep hoping that something will change. See definition of insanity. We played from the back tees (Copper), which are 6,908 yards with a course rating of 72.1 and a slope rating of 128. We played with a husband and wife that were probably in their early 60s.

I usually average about 240 yards with my R580 driver (although I am often directionally challenged). I was hitting my G10 driver about 220 yards! I was being out-driven by our husband and wife playing partners. It can make for a long day when you are only driving the ball 220 yards and the course is almost 7,000 yards long (and a par 71). Luckily, I am hitting my 1, 3 and 4-hybrids really well (I have been getting a lot of opportunities). I started off with a double bogey, but parred both par-3 holes and both par-5 holes on the front 9 for a 42. I double-bogeyed a par-4 and both par-3s on the back 9, but also had two pars for a 45 (the back 9 is a par 35) for an 87 total. I did not make one medium to long putt all day, but I lagged the ball pretty well. I missed 3 putts within 6 feet, all of which I pushed to the right! Based on my gross score, the course rating and the slope rating, my "differential" for this round was 13.2, which is my lowest (best) differential of all of my handicap scores. I have no idea how the differential is calculated but I am sure that Chad Feldheimer will dazzle us with his knowledge of the USGA Handicap System.

Chad could not hit his new driver at all. Instead of his normal moderately high ball flight with a slight fade and 260+ yards of distance, he was hitting the ball low with an ugly hook. He shot a 40 on the front 9 and I thought that he might just call it a day and quit. On the back 9 he hit the driver a little bit better, but not much better. He started 3-over par on the first 4 holes, but ended 1-under par on the last 5 holes. He was in trouble on a few holes off of the tees, but miraculously he always found his ball and had a shot of some sort. Chad is a great scrambler. If he has to chip out from the desert on a par-4, he will oftentimes hit his third shot to within 10 feet of the flagstick and sink the putt or if he hits the ball into a greenside bunker, he has a pretty decent chance of getting down in 2 strokes or he will make a long putt for a par save. Notwithstanding his poor tee shots, Chad shot a 37 on the back 9 and finished with a 77, which was pretty impressive given the way he was hitting the ball off of the tees.

[Editor's Note: A "Handicap Differential" is the difference between a player's adjusted gross score and the USGA Course Rating of the course on which the score was made, multiplied by 113, then divided by the Slope Rating from the tees played and rounded to the nearest tenth, e.g., 12.8.]