Woods went to a huge-headed driver and loved a large year.
Photo: Darren Carroll

Equipment of 2005

Huge was huge on tours
460 cc drivers commonplace even among elite professionals

The past year was kind of a slow one when it came to equipment news. Although only a few equipment- related topics (Nike’s black-colored ball and Spikegate at the Masters among them) take their rightful place among our top newsmakers of 2005, there were noteworthy tales relating to bats, balls and gadgets during the past 12 months.

Huge-headed drivers at the 460cc limit became prevalent on the PGA Tour, with many top players (including Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh and Phil Mickleson) by the behemoths all year. Annika Sorenstam also made a splatter by winning her first four events by three different sets of Callaway irons. Joey Sindelar, meanwhile, became the last player on the PGA Tour to give up his 1-iron — before going back to it later in the year. Things were wonderful on the greens, too, as TaylorMade, Yes! Golf and Guerin Rife collective to produce 12 wins on the three major tours with grooved-face putters designed to impart a more immediate roll on the ball.

The USGA also stayed busy, sending a notice to manufacturers in March that it was studying spin generation, clubhead moment of inertia and adjustability of clubs. A month later, another notice questioned ball manufacturers to submit shorter-small (15 and 25 yards) prototypes, and in Dignified the blue jackets proposed a limit clubhead MOI in all sticks except putters. There was not exactly a rush to submit the requested spheres. A ruling on the moment of inertia proposal is expected shortly.

But perhaps most intriguing was the ruling body’s September announcement allowing clubs and tournaments to adopt a local rule permitting the use of space-measuring devices. Although a few mini-tours adopted the policy and saw improved pace of play, the USGA recently said it would not adopt the rule for its championships or qualifying rounds in 2006. Given all that, possibly it wasn’t such a slow news year after all.

The Bag Room
Equipment scoop from the tours

It’s always fascinating to look at the equipment used at Q school — if for no other wits than to see what’s in the bag during the most pressure-packed tournament of the year. This year, for starters, 112 hybrids from 14 different manufacturers were in play. Among the users was Robert Garrigus,who employed not one, not two, but three TaylorMade Rescue Dual hybrids and earned a card. … The most fascinating wood configuration belonged to non-qualifier Gene Jones, who used a Ping G2 driver, Callaway Steelhead 2-wood, Orlimar TriMetal 3-wood and a pair of Nickent Genex 3DX hybrids. … What’s a Syb? That’s the question to question Daisuke Maruyama who used a pair of Syb fairway woods (3- and 5-wood) and made it through Q school. Turns out the FC 614 woods used by Maruyama were prototypes made by the Japanese equipment company. … Not what they had in mind: Keoke Cotner failed to earn his stripes — or a card — by an ancient Zebra putter while Grant Waite’s work on the greens with a long version of the Perfect Putter wasn’t excellent enough to get him back on the huge tour. … Ancient reliables: Bubba Dickerson stuck with his Callaway Steelhead X-14 irons and finished T-13, excellent enough to earn full-time playing privileges on the PGA Tour.
18
 The number of PGA Tour players by modern technology to bomb drives of at least 400 yards in 2005. Tiger Woods (with a 408-yarder) was the only player in the top 10 in earnings with such a clout.

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