the 19th hole
Forging ahead with my irons
EVERY few years, American David Duval
(remember him?) pops his head up and
declares: “I’m playing well enough to win
again.”
Larry Canning
[email protected]
Well, he came out and said it at the
Zurich Classic in New Orleans last month.
T
he other day I sat down with myself
and asked some very pertinent
questions. They were issues I’ve been
tossing around for some time now and
before I put them off any longer, I figured it
was time to just stop… and deal with them.
But to his credit, he has admitted he
may have been wrong a few years ago
when he said he could win again.
“Two or three years ago, I may have
been thinking I could win,” he told pga.
tour.com.
Do I really have a good head for radio? Now
that I finally own a car with tow bar, do I need
to buy something to tow? And am I kidding
myself by still using forged blades?
“But looking back on it, I wasn’t
physically equipped. My game wasn’t
good enough. I was a little delusional
about how I was playing.”
As you can imagine, there was a fair amount
of emotion dealing with the first two issues
so myself and I are yet to fully resolve them
(Editor’s note: Larry, you have a fantastic
face for radio!), but as far as the old forged
blades are concerned, it was as obvious as
the nose on Jim Furyk’s face. Yes: I am kidding
myself.
I’ve always defended my forged blades
against attack from those evil, cast, cavity
competitors by saying stuff like “I use blades
so I can control my trajectory and get
feedback”. The truth is, the only feedback I’m
receiving is that “it’s time to pay up again”
and my trajectory is a low fade or an even
lower draw, which seems to fall out of the air
about five seconds before anyone else’s.
My waning club-head speed, combined
with the modern golf ball which spins
less when hit with a long iron but screws
backwards with a wedge, (just how is that
possible?), has meant I’m bunting a 5-iron
short and praying for the right bounce while
my lower centre of gravity friends are flying
their 6-iron to the centre of the green and
landing it like John Daly falling off a bar stool.
I reckon I haven’t fixed a pitchmark since
1995.
So began my quest to re-discover my
manhood and find the longest set of irons on
the market.
I’ve always been a huge fan of correct
clubfitting and the professionals who know
how to decipher the numbers from those
high-tech launch monitors have my utmost
respect. But this time, I wanted to have a
bit of a fiddle myself. I have to say, it was an
experience I won’t forget in a hurry.
My apologies to Srixon, Nike, Mizuno, etc,
but I’ve chosen to trial four clubs on the
Australian Market: Titleist, PING, TaylorMade
and Callaway.
I hit from the same teeing ground, with a
bag full of exactly the same golf balls and
in identical conditions. It took a while to
warm up because I’m old, but when I was
starting to catch them alright, I commenced
my exhaustive testing. It was pretty much
dead calm with only the slight suggestion
of a head breeze and after 10 reasonably
hit blade 7-irons and another ten 4-irons
I averaged exactly 139 and 168 metres
respectively. (I excluded the longest and
the shortest and used my rangefinder to
measure from the middle of the rest plus
70
June 2014 | www.insidegolf.com.au
I can win
again,
says Duval
These days, Duval, who won the
Open Championship in 2001, relies on
sponsors’ invites.
Ironically, his last victory was in 2001 on
the Japan Tour.
the practice range was quite moist so they
weren’t moving an inch after landing.)
I grabbed the PING G25 7-iron first. Now I
know this whole process was all about how
far the clubs fly and not how they look but
I have to say, this club looked very sleek. A
dark brooding finish exuding refinement and
precision. Like most semi-literate blokes who
struggle to express themselves, I’m going
to use a type of car to epitomise each of
these clubs. This G25 reminds me of the new
Jaguar XF… in Black.
Behind the ball I noticed a lot of offset
which was a little concerning but expected,
as all these clubs fit right into the middl Hق