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From 100 Yards In

Sweet Rossa! TaylorMade Golf’s latest winning product

TaylorMade Golf (TMAG), the hottest golf manufacturing company in 2001, followed their outstanding success with the 200 and 300 Series of clubs with their new line of Rossa putters. To date, the putter has had 8 wins (as of April 15) on Tour and approximately 70 PGA Tour players have a Rossa in their bag and garnered 80  Top Ten finishes. The putters are stunningly well designed and come in 20 different models.

The two models, the Tour and the Sport both feature a two-piece red Titallium insert: one in the face and one in the back, separated from each other by a 1mm steel membrane. According to Sean Toulon, vice president of new business development and head of Rossa’s product development team, the proprietary Titallium insert is a lightweight alloy mix of seven exotic metals that has a strength-to-weight ratio three times that of steel. This alloy allows for improved putter launch conditions, a higher moment of inertia, superior distance control, and unparalleled sound and feel. The Titallium insert adds 12 -to-15 grams to the putter’s overall mass, giving it the advantage of a lightweight polymer insert, but by it’s being metallic, the feel at contact is superb. Replacing what would weigh 50 grams in a metal putter, it then allows for more than 35g of discretionary weight to be moved to the perimeter of the clubhead, creating a lower, deeper center of gravity. There are eight Tour models that are forged and milled from 1020 carbon steel. They are expected to retail at $275.00. The 12 Sport models are cast and milled from 304 stainless steel and are expected to sell for $165.00.

Visit www.taylormadegolf.com for details on all the styles of Rossa available.

Royal Precision Spinner Wedge Shafts- One of Golf’s Best Kept Secrets

It is no coincidence that top-ranked Tour players worldwide play Rifle shafts. A new addition to the Rifle line is the scoring wedge shaft, the Spinner Wedge shaft, which was designed for sand, lob and gap wedges. The Rifle Spinner Wedge shaft was developed for PGA Tour players who like a softer feel in their scoring irons, the wedges, which are used primarily for less-than-full shots. These shafts also offer the consistency and performance of Rifle’s primary steel shaft lines.

Over 30 professionals on the six PGA Tours (including Rifle Spokesmen, Lee Janzen and Colin Montgomerie) are presently using the Spinner shaft. The Spinner Wedges are sticking shots on greens around the world. Their unique and patented features, with proprietary flex distribution technology to create a shaft with exceptional feel, offer players measurable performance benefits such as: more Spin, lower launch angle, better control and improved accuracy.

Spinner Wedge shafts are also standard in Mizuno and Porsche Design lines and the custom programs of Ping Wrx, Cleveland and Titleist. Your local club maker can retrofit existing clubs with Spinner Wedge shafts, which are available from all golf component distributors or at www.royalprecision.com. Many flexes are available (4.5,5.5 and 6.5) and each shaft retails for a MSRP of $13.75.

The new TaylorMade wedges are Aesthetically Superb, Technologically Advanced and Unsurpassed in Playability  Three wins on the PGA and European Tour are indicative of their performance.

TaylorMade strikes again with what is undoubtedly the most pure feel, well-balanced and strikingly handsome wedges to hit the market in years  The Tour Preferred RAC Wedges.

With the introduction of these wedges TMAG now has a complete product line that completes the company’s promise of and across-the-board category resurgence that started with the launch of the 300 Series driver.

The high quality 8620 Carbon Steel Tour Preferred’s classic shapes combine an updated groove design, milled face and improved score line offer consistent launch conditions with unmatched feel. In addition, the wedges contoured profiles integrate thin top lines, wide soles and TMAG’s two CNC-milled back pockets, which quite simply offer superior distance and spin control. The aforementioned profiles are indeed unique to the industry, and were developed using proprietary TMAG technology  RAC (Relative Amplitude Coefficient).

The beauty of the RAC technology is that it can precisely quantify and predict the feel of the wedge thereby allowing engineers to control how energy is channeled through its head after impact. The result, unheard of in the industry, is a consistent feel across each club’s face and throughout the entire line from club to club. The wedge delivers the ball with laser-like accuracy and ease of use second to none.

The Tour Preferred’s groove design features a dual-draft profile with maximum width and optimum spacing allowed by the USGA between grooves. The top portion resembles a “V” groove with wide open mouth and large symmetric edge radii, while the lower portion employs a “U” groove, made to be deep and straight to maximize total groove volume.

After exhaustive testing of Nike, Vokey, Cleveland and Bettinardi wedges, 24 of our 25 testers at Torrey Pines Golf course became instant converts to the TaylorMade wedges. The most often quoted phrases were “pure feel” and “well balanced”. What also impressed the pro testers were the mill tracks which let the more insightful player know of the personal touch added to the club.

As for bunker play, these wedges are most impressive for accuracy and gracefulness. The biggest beneficiaries of the wedges will undoubtedly be the mid to high handicapper.

Selling for $129 (MSRP), the wedges come in a variety of lofts of between 52-to 60-degrees, seven bounce/loft combinations and have a nickel/chrome plated finish with premium ferrules. The shaft is the Dynamic Gold Wedge Flex (S200) and customs shafts are also available.

Visit www.taylormadegolf.com for details.

Barry Lotz, J.D., Ph.D. is the director of the Professional Golf Teachers Association of America. He is a member of the Golf Writers Association of America, the California Golf Writers Association, and serves both as a Consultant and Mediator to the golf industry. He is also the author of numerous books, including “333 Best Web Sites for Golfers” and his current book, “How to Build Business Relationships Through Golf” is in the Top Ten Golf Business Book’s best seller list.

He can be reached at www.pgtaa.com or drlotz@cbsgolf.net