2010 NEW PRODUCTS
B Y M A RT I N K AY M E R
HIT HIGH, SOFT WOODS EUROPEA N TOUR STA R
To hold a green from over 200 yards you need height and power. Here’s how. WORDS BY PETER MASTERS PHOTOGRAPHY BY HOWARD BOYLAN
I carry two fairway woods which give me all the versatility I need. My 3-wood is an R9 that has less loft than a regular model, just 13º when your normal 3-wood might be something like 15.5º. This means I can get plenty of distance and I can use the club like a driver off the tee on particularly tight par 4s where hitting the fairway is a must. I’ll hit this around 280 yards off the tee or about 260 from the fairway. The good thing is that I can shape the
Flight plan Your trajectory from the tee and the fairway are going to be different. I’m looking to get an arced flight from the tee which will allow the ball to roll with topspin. From the fairway the ball will climb.
ball really well with it, so if I’m struggling with the driver then the 3-wood can still get it out there. My 5-wood is great because I can vary the trajectory quite easily with it, allowing me to hit the ball quite high if I need to. This is a useful club for par 5s when I want the ball to land softly, while carrying over water or deep bunkers. I can fly this club about 230 yards, although that would go back to about 215 or 220 if I hit it high.
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SET UP TO ADD HEIGHT If you study these two address positions closely, you’ll see how I set up quite differently to hit the ball high. For a higher shot, I’ll position the ball back slightly and move my weight more onto the right side. Also it’s worth noting that my hands are positioned an ounce behind the ball in the second picture.
FADE FOR A SOFT FLIGHT For the high, soft shot into the green, I’ll take the club a little more outside the line than usual because I want to hit a fade. Playing the shot from left to right will automatically add height so that it comes down more gently.
High
Straight talking The clubhead moves straight back from the ball for longer, a path that takes it outside the line and sets up an outto-in, fading shape.
Normal
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2010 NEW PRODUCTS
INTO THE IMPACT ZONE I’m coming in to impact here and my hands are still behind the ball, while my left shoulder is what I call deep. By that I mean that it is coming ‘under’ a little more than usual. You may well take a bit more of a divot than usual, but that’s just a result of the out-to-in swing path.
Loft retained Note how my chest is still marginally behind the ball coming into impact. This allows me to keep loft on the clubface. If my chest got ahead, it would deloft the club.
WHAT GOES WRONG? When I get too fast in the takeaway, I can lose a bit of control and my bad shot goes way to the right. What happens then is that the club gets back to the ball before I’ve had time to turn my left side out of the way. My body gets too late and my arms get ahead of me. I also stay on the right hand side too long. I tend to swing the club quicker with my woods compared to my irons, so I think about balance and rhythm and I try to start the takeaway as slow as I can.
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HOT TECH NOLOGY
WEIGHT BACK FOR LAUNCH My thoughts through impact are to keep my weight on the right foot a little longer than usual. If your weight is behind the ball then the launch will be high.
Twin goals Driving your weight forward, and letting the wrists rotate, both take loft off the face. Stay centred and hold the face off a touch for height.
TAYLORMADE BURNER SUPERFAST FAIRWAY WOOD Glove badge to target You can see here that I’ve avoided too much forearm rotation through impact. My hands haven’t flipped over at all and the clubface has remained square to the target for longer. I like to think of it as having the back of my left hand aiming at the target all the way through impact.
SIGN U INFO P TO RE CE R TAYL MATION IVE O F tma gpla RMADE ROM yers AT regis club.com ter /
The new Burner fairway woods have the largest steel head the company has produced. The 200cc clubhead allows for a larger sweetspot and more forgiveness. The new extra-light Winn grip allows more weight to be positioned where it counts and the Burner 3-wood, with its greater ball speeds, sends the ball 10 yards longer than standard fairway woods.
IN THE BAG Driver: TaylorMade R9 Supertri, 8.5°.
Shaft: Fubuki 70x. Fairway wood: TaylorMade R9 13°. Shaft: Fubuki 73x. 5-wood: TaylorMade Burner, 17.5°. Shaft: Fubuki 83x. Irons: TaylorMade TP MB. Shaft: X100. Wedges: TaylorMade xFT 58° wedge. Putter: Ping Anser 2. Ball: TaylorMade Penta TP. Shoes: adidas Tour 360 4.0.
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