Clubs and Courses

Klees Golf Shop is working with both the Bridgeview Sports Dome and The Meadows Golf Course for hosting Demo Days over the next couple of months. The Callaway Demo Day actually went pretty well the end of February at the Dome, so we’re doing another one there on April 4, featuring Titleist clubs.

For information about the Titleist Demo Day click Demo Days.

Charlie and I are spending a few days in Negril, Jamaica, for the grand opening of our friend's beautiful resort, Moon Dance Cliffs. This resort is built on the western point of Jamaica in the cliffs. The ocean surrounds most of it so the views are spectacular. However, to play golf we have to take a 25 minute ride up the only road that goes in and out of Negril to the local public course.

Ely Callaway was a big proponent of composite woods, which ultimately led to the ERC line, a mixed success. His support of composite materials for the driver head was based on the ability to shift weight by replacing steel or titanium for carbon. The ERC line evolved into the FT line, which was a leader in composite head drivers.

Weight shifting is the basis of today's unusually shaped driver heads as evidenced by Callaway's FTi and FT-5 woods introduced in 2007. Square driver shape and high moment of intertia (MOI) are discussed in MOI Part 2--Why Square Drivers?

The market acceptance of square drivers is low. However, so was early response to composite drivers back in 2000. It took a few years before golfers experienced the benefits of composite heads and excepted them, even at higher prices. This may be the case with square drivers.

As quoted in (Golfweek Magazine) Callaway is throwing "everything [they] know"in the design of the new FT-iQ driver. Callaway hopes that once the FT-iQ meets the USGA's conforming requirements it will be in its Tour players' bags.

The FT-iQ is made up of titanium, graphite (carbon composite), aluminum, thermoplastic and a proprietary alloy. It is made up of the same kind of materials used in jet fighters and Formula One race cars.

The use and placement of these materials results in a lower center of gravity than the earlier FT-i, as well as lower spin, while adding distance for average players. Callaway claims that clubhead speed and ball speed have improved from the FT-i as a result of the hnyperbolic titanium face.

The square face of the FT-i was aerodynamically slower than the hyperbolic face of the FT-iQ. The body is still square with weight in the corners, deeper in front and larger heal to toe. The overall head shape is more stretched than the FT-I and better proportioned.

The stock FT-iQ length is ¾ inch shorter than the FT-I and the face is either draw bias (9, 10, 11, and 13) or neutral bias (8.5, 9.5, 10.5). The stock shaft is the newest high-performance shaft from Mitsubishi Rayon, the Fubuki, with a softer tip and more torque in the draw bias version.