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View Full Version : Jacobs Creek - Equipment Review



nudgee
21st February 2005, 12:37 PM
Note this is a very long post.

I caddied for Brad Andrews (running 10th at one stage but had a bad weekend) down in Adelaide and was lucky enough whilst practising at the driving range to check out a hell of a lot of bags. Summary below

Drivers

The driver of choice was without doubt the R7 it was everywhere - I would say 70% of the bags at least. I saw a couple of shallow R7s - hmmmm nice. There were a lot of titleist drivers in mostly the american bags and most of them were the 983K. I saw and held a few of the new 905s - sweet looking although not that much different to the 983s. Bill Haas who we had in our group on Saturday had a 983K with a Fuji 757 Tourspec in X and he said that he didnt really like the new 905 driver and that a lot of Titleist staff didnt like it either. I saw a lot of the new Cally 454 - they were in a lot of non Cally staff bags!! I did not see one single Cleveland 460Comp and saw very few Ping G2s - we played with a seppo named Jeremy Anderson on Sunday and he had a G2 with a Black Graffaloy Tour X Shaft - he drove the ball well with it.

I saw a few of the new fusion driver- there are three versions - FT1, FT2 and FT3 (varying depth and size). These drivers will be the next big hot ticket item!!! Where the previous ERc Fusion failed this one apparently delivers!! No muted sound and dam hot off the face - lots of great feedback even from non Cally playing staff.

Saw one SMT in the only SMT bag in the whole tournament - nice bag. Couldnt see what it was.

Anyway my numbers ranking on drivers

1. Taylor Made R7 (very few 510 TPs or XD Tours)
2. Titleist - 983Ks - few Es and few 905s
3. Cally 454 and Fusion driver
4. Cleveland Launcher 400cc and 460cc
5. Tourstage/Brigstone
6. Ping G2s
7. Nike Ignites
8. Mizuno MP001s

Fairway Woods

Saw a few of the new Titty FWs - I like these better than the driver. The weapon of choice was without doubt the V Steel FW. There were a few Cleveland launcher too. Surprisingly there were still a few 200 and 300 tours.

Heaps and heaps of rescue mids and quite a few Tittys 503s. I did also see the new cleveland LDI hybrid and the new Halo - not bad at all.

Irons

Bucket loads of Tittys 690 both MBs and CBs - saw a few 670s and 680s. No 704 sets but I did see 3 of the new 735 combo sets - Bill Haas had one - very nice looking - these grew on me on a daily basis.

There were as expected a hell of a lot of RAC MBs, RAC CBs, RAC Combo sets and also quite a few old 300s Forged. I saw one set of RAC Black Set 3-PW in a seppo bag - held them and these were without doubt the prettiest irons I have ever seen!!!.

There were also lots of Cally X-16s, a couple of X-18s and I saw 3 sets of X-Tours - boy these will be my next set. They look sensational.

Saw a few Ping I3 sets (blade version) but only saw two sets of Pings S59s and they were both tour ones (new version with ferrule).

Heaps of Mizunos - MP32s, MP30s (Greg Chalmers is playing MP 30s!)

Oh yeah a few Hogans - Ricky Barnes had a nice looking set of Hogans.

Wedges

As expected Titleist dominated wedge count - lots of the new spin milled wedges - sweeeet. Lots of clevelands but surprisingly very few rac wedges and rack black wedges :?:

Putters

Odyssey two ball and scotty cameron were without doubt the most style of putters out there. Saw a few C groves and quite a few Odyssey Tri hots. Only one Mezza.

Saw Peter o'Malley with the new Phantom putter by Scotty Cameron. Lots of the new 2005 line of Scottys putters!!

Shafts

Fuji, Fuji, Fuji!!! Surprisingly low number of NVs and Blues (although S. Bowd had a blue!!). Saw a few HTDs and also a few Penleys. Lots of GD YS series and finally saw the infamous Diamana (flower pattern) shaft that Tiger is using.

Balls

ProV1 and Prov1X (the new improved 2005 version - which I now have a dozen off) the ball of choice by a long way. Quite a few Cally HX Tours and a few HX 56 (I have some now - very peculiar deep dimples).

Anyway if you have any questions fire away.

Jarro
21st February 2005, 12:51 PM
great report Jamie .... you would've been like a kid in a candy store down there :lol: Didn't manage to steal any clubs that were just lying around did you :wink:

What did Brad have in his bag :?: All Callaway :?:

I watched the whole 4 days by the way and didn't see your mug on telly once .... not much of Brad either :roll:

nudgee
21st February 2005, 01:01 PM
Hi there,

Man it was like a kid in a candy store - I just went and checked everyone's bag!!! Brad had all Cally!!.

he was running 10th at the end of friday and I thought that on saturday we may get some coverage especially with Bill Haas in our group and we had a camera crew follow us. But he choked on saturday - was a brutal day - very windy and cold and he got two bad breaks and doubled each and then he just got angry with himself and that was it for Saturday. same thing on Sunday - he was just too tense and not relaxed at all. Finished around 40 I think which at least is a pay check.

I loved the whole experience - I had caddied before but in pissy little events never in one as big as this one - they even have courtesy cars picking the caddy up from the airport (me!!).

BTW I did manage to bring back with me the following:

1. A brand new R7 TP with the full weight kit and stickers - will be up for sale soon
2. 48,54 and 58* Cleveland CG10 wedges (kkeping these)
3. Long Craz-E centre shafted putter (keeping this one)
4. A box of new Pro V1 X (2005)
5. Some HX 56 (keeping these)

Oh yeah and some Jacobs Creek WIne :wink:

Jarro
21st February 2005, 01:06 PM
How do the new improved ProV1X's go compared to the old ones :?:

i'm back using them again and can't believe how good a ball they are ... even for average swingspeed golfers 8)

BrisVegas
21st February 2005, 01:17 PM
BTW I did manage to bring back with me the following:

1. A brand new R7 TP with the full weight kit and stickers - will be up for sale soon
2. 48,54 and 58* Cleveland CG10 wedges (kkeping these)


Yeah, it sucks to be you..... :roll: :cry:

markTHEblake
21st February 2005, 01:44 PM
next time you caddy for Brad you can give him some inspiration. Just remind him of the playoff he won in Darwin.

He knocked a 7 iron to about 1 foot. I was standing right behind that shot, and remember it if it was only yesterday.

Fishman Dan
21st February 2005, 01:53 PM
Great stuff Nudgee, good read.

As a caddy, were you there to pull and clean clubs, or do you think you were meant to give a little "There there...." when things got out of control?

peter_rs
21st February 2005, 02:01 PM
So were guys using Cleveland Launcher 460cc I was under the impression that the 460 head was for high handicaps.

So did you get a cut as a caddy or is the free gear the perk. besides the experience.

nudgee
21st February 2005, 02:27 PM
Blakey,

Is that the tournament where he 4 putted at the last and got into a playoff?? Believe me I tried like all hell to keep him positive - always trying to block out the bad vibes but the problem with Brad has always been a mental one - he has game no doubt but if he gets a bad break he tends to break down. On friday when he was having a great round he had one bad break where a ball skidded off the green (short par 4 - 3rd hole) and got perched in a clamp of grass and straight away he went from been in control to almost losing it - I almost had to bitch slap him to make him get over it!!! When we got to the ball it was nestled under a clump of grass but sitting on a sprinkler so got a free drop!!!

Jarro the Pro V1X has apparently less spin than the previous pro V1 X - Brad reckons it is about 5 metres longer but very hard to stop on hard greens. Great in the wind and soft greens.

Peter - there were two guys with 460cc Launchers. The 454 cally driver is also almost 460cc and the G2 is certainly 460cc as well. Whilst these guys are really good they will use whatever technology will make their job easier. They still have bad shots - eg Bill Haas blocked a 2 iron of the 18th out of bounds and shot 6 in this hole!! Thats a 40 m wide block!!! The head of the 2 iron took a beating after this shot!!

Fishy, I have known Brad for many years and I know and he knows I Know about his weak mental side so I was there to try and steer him in the right direction if we had bad breaks!! I got him back on track on Friday but I was unable to keep him thinking positive on saturday after a couple of bad breaks ended in 2 double bogeys :cry: Believe it or not Brad also requested advice on shots and in a couple of instances I suggested different shots to what he was planning and he executed my suggested shots - lucky for me all of the shots where my suggestion was different to his and he followed my advice they worked well. Otherwise I may have worn a couple of iron heads in the forehead.

One thing I forgot to mention was the fact that all of the American players that I met where extremely polite and very social. Never ever did I get a bad remark whenever I asked to check equipment out or asked questions regarding their equipment and believe me I asked a bucket full of questions. They were all very surprised at the level of knowledge I had of tour stuff :wink:

Deano
21st February 2005, 02:52 PM
Nudgee

Awesome post/info 8)

Deano

markTHEblake
21st February 2005, 02:55 PM
Is that the tournament where he 4 putted at the last and got into a playoff??

I dont remember, but i doubt it. I would have remembered something that significant, and it wasnt until several hours later I got completely plastered. The pro's are great blokes to drink with on sunday nights. anyone would think that they dont get to party very often.

It was the 1992 Casino Classic in Darwin. After 54 holes, he beat Ossie Moore on the first playoff hole. Ossie stumped his drive behind a tree and had to chip out. Then Brad stumped is approach. May well have been one of his first big wins, am sure he remembers it well.

terryand
21st February 2005, 06:38 PM
Great info Nudgee....Well done champ :smt023

Terry.

Trung
21st February 2005, 07:56 PM
great read Nudgee..

PS...Love the TriHot :P

Eag's
22nd February 2005, 08:00 PM
Very nice writeup Nudgee, sounds like you had a ball mate :wink: