Square drivers not yet fitting in
Square-headed drivers have created quite a buzz in the golf equipment industry over the last few months, with Nike and Callaway each introducing the odd-looking ball whackers, but a quick walk through the driving range Monday at Riviera Country Club revealed that it might not be so hip to be square.
Of the PGA Tour players gearing up for this week’s Nissan Open, only K.J. Choi planned to play one of the newfangled drivers designed to hit the ball straighter than a traditionally shaped club.
Choi has used Nike’s Sasquatch Sumo Squared since October, when he used it to win the Chrysler Championship in Tampa, Fla. He is the only notable tour pro to use a square driver in a tournament, and representatives from Nike and Callaway don’t expect that to change this week.
Still, that doesn’t worry the club peddlers. Pro golfers are a finicky lot and not likely to change equipment to something so bizarre. Plus, they say, the square drivers aren’t really meant for players who hit the ball in the middle of the clubface 99% of the time.
These radically shaped heads are designed to maximize moment of inertia (MOI). In layman’s terms that minimizes club head twisting on off-center hits, keeping the ball straight and long, even if the shot is mis-hit.
“The penalty for being less skilled, and that includes most of us, is considerably less,” said Tom Stites, the lead club designer at Nike. “You’ll probably see more players on tour put them in play, but for the most part, tour-caliber players aren’t able to take advantage of this technology as much.”
That doesn’t mean tour players aren’t interested. Nike had 60 of the square club heads shipped in so players could test them on the range and in practice rounds. Phil Mickelson has been tinkering with Callaway’s FT-i and says he is considering using it at the Master’s in April.
But the problem for many tour players is that they don’t have as much control over intended draws and fades.
“The biggest issue for tour pros is that the clubs hit the ball too straight,” said Jeff Colton, vice president for research and design at Callaway. “What you’ll probably see is players put them in and out of their bags depending on the type of course.”
This improved technology came to the forefront when the USGA limited club head size to 460 cubic centimeters in 2004. Before that, club designers could simply increase the size of the heads to increase the MOI, but with the limits, they have been forced to find new ways.
One such way is to change club shapes.
In addition to the square heads Callaway and Nike have produced, there are triangles coming from Titleist, Cobra and Adams Golf while Cleveland’s Hi-Bore, with a gauged-out top, has been on the market for nearly a year.
“We’re not doing these things just to be different,” Colton said. “We’re trying to provide a benefit.”
One company, however, isn’t buying into the new geometry. Taylor Made has two new drivers coming out this year, both already widely used on the PGA Tour, and neither the Burner nor the 460 Quad is irregularly shaped.
“We don’t feel left out at all,” said Todd Chew, a Taylor Made tour representative whose job it is to work with the tour pros and get them the right equipment. “I’m not saying the square design is not good, but to do that you need to sacrifice in other areas.”
One such area is clubface depth, which helps control the spin, another important factor in driver distance. But Taylor Made is also concerned with MOI, and the new Burner driver fits the high-MOI mold, it’s just not square.
That’s fine with Robert Garrigus, who is using the Burner and is fourth on the tour in driving distance, averaging 304.7 yards.
“The square drivers are fun to look at, but they’re kind of weird to hit,” Garrigus said. “They sound really loud and hollow. When I switched to [the Burner], it was pretty much a no-brainer. Everything instantly improved.”
The Nike Sumo Squared hit retail stores last week and the Callaway FT-i won’t be out until later this week, so it’s too early to get a verdict from the court of public opinion. But Stites, the Nike club designer, isn’t expecting square drivers to completely replace traditional shapes.
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that all clubs in the future are going to be square,” he said. “But certainly geometry is changing. I mean you look at the traditional club and that’s a lot different today than it was 10 years ago.”