Nick Doughtherty & Callaway

It might have been a little closer than the eventual five shot winning margin suggests, but the one fact which is irrefutable is that England’s Nick Dougherty produced a stunning performance and a mature one beyond his years to win his maiden European Tour title in the Caltex Masters.

Teamed with Callaway's new X18s early tested by our very own Teaching Pro, Graham.

It was nice to see Thomas Bjorn using the same weapons to finish third.

I think Callaway are getting back where they belong, at the top of the sport.


Ian

It's great to see one of the new boys break through. Let's hope that he can build on this and become a Ryder Cup/Open winning prospect.

As for Callaway, well personally I've tried them (drivers, irons and wedges) but always found another club that I prefer. I'd be interested to try out some X18s though given the rave reviews from Graham, who hates cavity backs.

Ye nice to see doughtherty to win, but did you see monti? coming off the 16 he wasnt happy, do you thinnk that ruling was fair out of the bunker? and yes callaway have got a few new players i.e mickleson and doughterty.

I quote Fred Couples...when you are hitting it well the clubs dont matter.

Getting paid a fortune by Callaway probably is all the encouragement these guys need. They will be using prototype heads and maybe project X shafts. They certainly wont be available in the shops. They will just be mocked up to look like standard X-18's. I am looking forwards to seeing the X-Tours tho.

Its good to see Dougherty has finally stopped peeing his talent away. Hopefully he will join the group inc Poulter, Donald, Rose and Casey that will form the heart of the ryder cup team for the next decade.

Callaway are classy clubmakers but too expensive. They got a real coup when they lured Mickelson away from Titleist but that was mainly because Phil was going for the money. We will see how he does this year, looks good after Hawaii though.

D.

As you say about the prices! have you seen the tag on the callaway fushions!!!! thats a big sum!!!

It was just a matter of time before Nick won a tournament. He has way too much talent to justify his rather poor performances, rather like Justin Rose to some extent. A lot was expected from him, considering Nick Faldo labeled him the next British star!

I was desperately hoping Monty would win ... I admit it! I'd love to see him recapture some BIG form and win regularly again.

As for the Callaway's - yep, they have been doing some major recuiting and spent a small fortune of putting a playing staff together. Bear in mind, not everyone gets paid signing bonuses. Many of the lesser draw card players get paid incentives based on either TV time / print linage or positions placed.

That's part of the reason why Callaway products are expensive but the amount they spend on R&D would finance a non-so small country!

I've seen pics of the X-Tours - they're a forged version of the X18's with less offset and a slightly smaller, thinner head. They developed the forged head to create better feel for the tour players. Rumour has it though that they have 'special' shafts ... we'll have to wait and see. The tour pros aren't talking are sharing info with me on the shaft bit. Bastards!

If I ever ventured on tour again, I'd give the Callaways a serious look. Even for a 'blade' man, they're tempting.

__________________
Golf is easy ... once you know how.
Graham Arnott, teaching professional
Kelrosa Golf Studios
www.kelrosagolf.com
Class 'A' PGA Member
Full Member: World Golf Teachers Federation (GB&I)

I think the english guys will do well.


Lets face it despite the talent and the unquestionable work ethic, Vijay's biody isnt going to withstand that pounding for ever is it? I give him 3-5 years before he has to cut back. As for Tiger I reckon he is only interested in the biggies now and anything sponsors tell him to play in. It leaves plenty room for everyone else to get some trophies. Ernie is much the same as Tiger and the added disadvantage of being almost 10 years older than the guys we are discussing.

I disagree about their talents. I think Donald is indeed the best of the bunch by a fair bit at the moment but he has played a lot more high pressure golf than the others.

Ian Poulter is a remarkable golfer. No one wins at Valderrama without the complete game. He's a bit of an ar$eh0le at times but he's young yet and fatherhood should calm him a bit.

Paul Casey is another top quality player, again he needs to engage brain before opening mouth and is far too cocky, but on the whole thats never been a drawback on the US tours.

Dougherty is really the unknown. We have had flashes now and then and now finally a complete performance. What I saw was good at the weekend. He's aggressive and confident. Hopefully this win will boost his desire and he will work hard and follow it up.

Rose is another very special talent. A great ball striker although one of those players that does everything well rather than anything spectacularly. I think his mental strength will be his greatest gift in the future. He came through some hard times when he turned pro but has learnt a lot and (if memory serves correctly, please tell me if im wrong) I beleive he is the only one of this new crop to have led a Major, The Masters no less.

I think Monty should be a shoe in for the next Ryder Cup. If as I hope, most of these guys make the squad, I would like to see Monty lead by example yet again. Sergio and Padraig are the benchmarks for them I think but My ideal team for the next cup would be

Captain Langer

Monty
Harrington
Garcia
Clarke
Westwood
Donald
Poulter
Casey
Jacobsen
Jimenez

Captains Picks

Dougherty
Rose

I think thats strong enough to win it, especially if they manage to get Tom Lehman into a ten gallon hat.

Even if it isnt strong enough the experience will be invaluable. Lets face it these days no one wins 3 in a row so the odds are against a repeat win. But that team minus Monty, Jimenez and maybe Clarke and Jacobsen will be the core of the team for another 4 or 5 matches let them bed in and find the very best pairings.

As far as Majors are concerned, if theres no featuring of the big guns its a lottery these days. The R&A need to get out and prepare a course to suit our guys just as the USGA do it for the US Open and the USPGA for their Major. I still think Donald, Casey and Rose will do best at Augusta. Donald must surely be the lowest odds among them for the US Open and USPGA and Rose for the Open. I think by 2015 of the four guys we mentioned I can see a couple of Majors held aloft. Heres hoping

D.

You get used to it after a while...

I know that the pressure of living up to a name can hinder these guys, a perfect example would be Australia's Aarron Badley, This guy has some talent, but when people started saying he was going to be the next Norman from Aust he crumbled under the pressure.

Adam Scott is another example this guy has the same swing as Tiger Woods people were saying is he the next Woods, maybe he could of been but Woods is a big name to live up to.

And even though some of these guys hav so much tallent how many of them have the drive and the ambition. Tiger is a perfect example of tallent and ambition put together.

I would like to add one question into the mix........

Ricky, after a week you don't even notice that Callaway are sligtly wider at the top the certainly aren't any wider at the bottom than blades.

I went to the British Masters last year, just after I purchased my X16 pro series irons, there were several players using these irons at the time.......although I accept there is differences in the shafts they use, but every single player whos bag I looked in had excactly the same heads except Edwardo Romero who had the heads filled in ie no cavity at all on any iron.......I suspect that there may be more with the heads filled in for whatever reason..............My question is if they are better or have a better feel with the head filled in then why are they not for sale so that players who prefer blades have a wider choice.

As for their drivers most of them are total cheats nearly every player had an R7 all with different head covers.....total joke lol. Even Vijay used an R7 all season.

As for Monty I hoped he would win although he makes you feel uncomfortable when you walk the fairways with him, you cant help watching his ability together with in my opinion the best, most rythmic golf swing ever...!!!

Doughterty, has he put loads of weight on since we first saw him or is it just me.....if he has it kind of makes a mockery of the fittness racime. A bit like Stads he ace.


Ian.

Ian,

I agree ... once you get used to the 'look' of a new iron, you get comfortable with it and soon forget what the old irons were like. It takes a few weeks but you do get over it. It's like having a new car, it takes a while before you get used to the new positions of the gadgets.

Quite right though: LOTS of players endorse a product but use another. Vijay used an R7 right up until early December when he changed to the Cleveland 460Comp. Lots of Callaway iron players have Hogan irons in their bag, including Craig Parry and Charles Howell III (he's now changed to the X-Tour).

Even when Monty changed to Hogan for that 2 year spell, he had Callaway irons and Driver most of the time.

The story behind Eduardo Romero is that he hits a very high ball flight and he had his irons filled for a short while to hit a lower ball flight. His irons are also 1 degree strong.

I'm positive it's only a matter of time before Callaway bring out a semi-blade.

Monty is a great guy, he really is. Almost everyone who has spent time with him feels the same way. He seems a bit 'off' on the golf course and not very fan-friendly but I know for a fact he works very hard at being more accomodating. When he relaxes away from the golf course he is great to be around and has a wonderful sense of humour.

You see the problem with these 'young stars' is they seem exceptional against their peers. They are excpetional amateurs winning, for example the Aussie Open or finishing top-5 in a major ... but: they're zero is the greater scheme of professional golf. A very average PGA tour player would be the stuffing out of any Walker Cup or US college player. They are just SO much better. When you get to see them play or play against them you'll see a different level of golf you didn't know existed!

__________________
Golf is easy ... once you know how.
Graham Arnott, teaching professional
Kelrosa Golf Studios
www.kelrosagolf.com
Class 'A' PGA Member
Full Member: World Golf Teachers Federation (GB&I)

Very true Graham,

As a pro what do you think of Montys swing although he is steep on the backswing, overswings and comes down on the outside yet he looks so eligant.......and can outplay anyone.

I think he has the best swing ever although not authodox.


Ian.

Yeah, I have tried both TA5 and TA6.

The TA6 are real spades, they meant for guys who can't hit the ball well and need all the help they can get to get the golf ball airborne. They have very deep cavities, oversized heads and lots of offset. A club suited to like 18-24 handicappers.

The TA5's are also oversized but managable. About the same size as the X-16's I suppose. They are really nice clubs if you play with offset cavity backs. But real quality stuff, like all Cleveland products. They have a great feel about, like they mean business. The short irons and wedges are also nice with thinner soles and less offset than the rest so it gives the chance to work the ball a bit with them. I rekom they suit players from like a 9 to a 18 handicap.

For players lower than a 9 who want a great club to work the ball your money has to buy you a set of TA7 Tours. Heeeha ... these are gorgeous clubs. A slightly smaller and thinner head, almost no offset, sensicor shafts and good wedges although they are still cavity backs. Well worth a look if you're looking for a good set of irons. These can be used by any handicap and I saw 2 or 3 players in Europe use them on the Europro tour and Challenge Tour. I'm sure there are a few on the PGA and Nationwide tours as well.

__________________
Golf is easy ... once you know how.
Graham Arnott, teaching professional
Kelrosa Golf Studios
www.kelrosagolf.com
Class 'A' PGA Member
Full Member: World Golf Teachers Federation (GB&I)