Are Pro Golfers Golf Clubs Handmade?

I read a post on a message board recently that asked the question.

Are professional golfers golf clubs handmade by the club manufacturer that sponsers them?

The debate went back and forth... and I'd say 60% of them felt that they were handmade clubs specific to the golfer. I did some research and found that in only the extremely rare case does a pro golfer have their golf clubs handmade.

This is what Frank Thomas of golfchannel.com had to say...

"In most cases the basic clubs being used (not necessarily endorsed) by the pros are very similar to those being produced for the general public, but these have been customized for the pros with a few extra grinds or bends, etc.

In some cases the weighting may also have been changed a little. There are also prototype models of clubs the pros get to use that are not yet (and may never be) available to the general public.

To resolve the dispute, I can assure you that very rarely will clubs be specifically hand built from scratch for the pros. This does not mean that they haven’t been very carefully customized for the pro; it would be the very rare exception if a pro received a standard set off the shelf without some little tweak. But, for the most part, the tweaking is the kind of work that you or your pro can do in a workshop."

Here's the link The Golf Channel.

Are the golf clubs you play custom fitted for you

What's In Mark Calcavecchia's Golf Bag?

Mark Calcavecchia won the 2007 PODS Championship at Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead Course) Tampa Bay, Florida, which was his 13th tournament win on the PGA Tour. Do you want to know what he was carrying in his golf bag during his win?

Driver: PING Rapture 7.5°
3 Wood: Callaway Golf Steelhead III Strong
Irons:  (2-PW) PING i5
SW:     PING EYE2
LW:     PING EYE2
Putter: PING Redwood Anser
Ball:   Titleist Pro V1

This was Mark's only win since winning the 2005 Canadian Open. He and Heath Slocum started Sunday tied at -9 and playing together in the last group. They battled the entire round and it came down to the 18th hole.

Mark missed his 5-foot par putt to win the tournament and left the door open for Slocum to tie by making his 4-foot par putt. Calcavecchia thought for sure it was going to sudden-death, but Heath lipped out and the tournament was over.

Mark finished with a 1-under 70 and -10 for the tournament with 2 other players (John Senden, Heath Slocum) tied at -9. His paycheck for winning the 2007 PODS Championship was $954,000.

Tag(s): golf, golf reviews, golf equipment, golf products, Mark Calcavecchia

One Single Tip To Lower Your Golf Scores

This golf tip is perfect for the average to high-handicap golfer.

The idea is to perform a concentrated amount of practice over a short period of time. Since your average to high-handicap golfer isn't as accurate with their approach shot into the green as a low-handicap golfer is, they end up spending a lot of time trying to get up and down just off the green. This means they rely heavily on their short game to be able to score well.

So the idea is to concentrate their practice effort on their chipping and pitch shots.

Now it follows simple logic that if you develop a solid chipping and pitching game, it will dramatically lower your putts per round. Your putts will go down because you'll have easier putts since your chip and/or pitch shot will end up coming to rest closer to the hole... and you'll be on your way to shooting lower scores.

If you fall into the group of a average to high-handicap golfer then you should really give this golf tip some serious consideration. You'll thank me if you follow this advice because you'll probably drop 3-5 shots from your score in a few weeks.

What's In Mark Wilson's Golf Bag?

Mark Wilson won the 2007 The Honda Classic at PGA National Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, which was his first tournament win on the PGA Tour. Do you want to know what he was carrying in his golf bag during his win?

Driver: PING Rapture 7.5° with Graffaloy Prototype Tour X shaft
3 Wood: Cleveland Steel 13° with Aldila NV 95-X shaft
Hybrid: PING Rapture 18° with X100 DynaLite shaft
Irons:  (4-PW) PING i3 Blade
GW:     PING Tour 52°
SW:     PING Tour 56°
LW:     PING Tour 60°
Putter: PING G2 Anser B
Ball:   Titleist Pro V1x

Mark had gone 111 PGA starts before winning his first PGA event. It was on the third playoff hole, which was played on Monday, where Mark made birdie on 17 to defeat Jose Coceres. If it wasn't for Boo Weekly missing his 3-foot par putt on the 72nd hole Mark Wilson wouldn't be the winner, but Mark made the most of it and took home the vicory.

Mark finished with a 71 and -5 for the tournament with 4 other players (Jose Coceres, Camilo Villegas, Bob Weekly). His paycheck for winning The Honda Classic was $990,000.

Tag(s): golf, golf reviews, golf equipment, golf products, Mark Wilson

Top 10 Golf Clubs For February 2007

Here are the Top 10 Hottest Golf Clubs for the month of February 2007.

1. Ping Eye 2 Iron set
2. Ping G5 Driver
3. Callaway X-18 Iron set
4. Nike SasQuatch Driver
5. Mizuno MP 60 Iron set
6. Titleist 905R Driver
7. TaylorMade r7 quad Driver
8. TaylorMade r7 460 Driver
9. TaylorMade r5 Dual Driver
10. TaylorMade r7 425 Driver

The Ping Eye 2 Iron set still holds the #1 spot. The Ping Eye 2 Irons have to be one of the most popular set of irons I've every seen. Every since I've been posting the top 10 golf clubs, the Ping Eye 2's have been #1 for 4 out of 7 months. The hottest golf club is the Ping G5 Driver, which moved from #6 to #2. Taylormade is starting to show some strength by holding 4 out of the top 10 positions.

Just in case you missed it, here's my post of The Hottest Golf Clubs Of January, which is how the top 10 clubs finished for the month of January 2007.

Tag(s): golf, golf reviews, golf equipment, golf products, Ping Eye 2

What Are Your Golf Clubs Worth?

This is a quick post, but I wanted to share with you a new golf website I found. I'm not exactly sure how long they've been around, but it's definitely worth a look.

It's called GolfBlueBook.com and as you can probably guess they provide a blue book value for golf clubs. They give you the average trade-in value and the average auction value (golfexchange.com).

The values are broken down into 5 categories (Fair, Good, Very Good, Excellent, Average) so you can determine what your clubs are worth based on the condition.

I think this is a great idea and a good place to go if you're in the market for some clubs. You can use the prices as a guide when looking for clubs to make sure you're getting the best deal or not getting ripped off.

Have you seen this golf site before?