Callaway FT-i Squareway Fairway Wood

Golf Club Review

Anyone that knows me and my game is more than aware that I have an problem with fairway woods. Yes the old 3 wood, 5 wood and 7 wood hardly ever get into my bag let alone used when they do make it in there. So I was a little surprised to find myself in the fairway wood section of the club shop earlier today with a 3 wood in my hand. This however was no normal 3 wood, Callaway have done it again changed a straight forward club and turned it square! The Callaway FT-i Squareway Fairway Wood looks different and offers something a little extra.

As per normal with anything Callaway I was given the appropriate information that as normal means absolutely nothing to around 80% of golfers and I have included it below in the sales bumph:

Callaway FT-i Squareway Fairway Wood – RH Graphite The revolutionary design of the FT-i Driver progresses into the fairway woods. The FT-i Squareway Woods from Callaway are bound to help you get it out of the rough and onto the green. Like the FT-i Driver did for drivers, did for drivers, the FT-i Squareway Woods set a new standard in fairway woods. With a moment of inertia (MOI) approaching that of our best-selling drivers, they are the most forgiving fairway woods Callaway has ever created. The Squareway Inertial Design positions discretionary weight to the extreme corners of the clubhead, raising the MOI for unparalleled resistance to twisting. The result is straighter and more forgiving shots hit over a wide area of the face. Multi-material construction combines a stainless steel face, sole and body with a lightweight, carbon composite crown so Callaway Golf engineers can move discretionary weight where it is needed most. An oversized head shape allows for a higher MOI to increase forgiveness and stability at impact for better accuracy. VFT Technology maximizes ball speed and perimeter weighting for more distance and forgiveness S2H2 increases discretionary weight by removing it from the hosel and repositioning it in the perimeter of the clubhead.

The Callaway FT-i Squareway Fairway Woods are available in 3,5 and 7 woods which are the following lofts:

So is it any good? Well I took my left handed 28 handicap buddy with me to the driving range so we could put the club (both left and right handed) to the test to see if it lived up to its own advertising. After around 10 balls I started to get into the swing of things and the ability to hit the ball with a fairway wood started to come back into life. I am going to say that I had a regular flex Fujikura shaft which was completely perfect for my club head speed of around 87mph. I was hitting straighter and longer than I could with the rescue club I have been using instead of the woods.

My good friend RT was also impressed, although not completely successful with every swing when striking the ball off the surface when he did it was around 75% of the time and it was clean and with a good distance on it, this was also with the Fujikura regular flex shaft and there was talk of him replacing his Mizuno woods with a nice new set of Callaway FT-i Squareway fairway woods.

I on the other hand was very impressed and once I have played 18 holes with the Callaway FT-i Squareway fairway 3 wood as long as I have no major issues, and by major I mean should the club burst into flames or something like that, I will be purchasing the club to add to my bag. Its a great club, easy to hold and comfortable to swing on top of that it strikes the ball beautifully. For once I have nothing bad to say about a club, think I might have to go get myself checked at the docs!

Finally got my hands on the TaylorMade Tour Burner TP

I posted a few days back that I was trying very hard to get my hands on a TaylorMade Tour Burner in order to give it a bit of a test run and after a number of issues (protected nesting birds at the end of the driving range so no drivers, rain and the sheer fact that it was impossible to find somewhere with one in stock) I now have managed to spend a few hours at the range with it and am more than happy to be reporting back to you on if it is any good!

The first thing I noticed before I had even picked it up was the fact that it has this kind of go faster wing around the top of the head, it hard to describe it is supposed to be a groove and create less drag on the swing it does make the TaylorMade Tour Burner TP a little more distinctive. Next thing was the weight, it is according to the bumph 17% lighter than other drivers and it does actually feel much lighter in the initial pick up of the club. Then you swing it and the club is noticeably lighter through the whole motion of the swing.

Sales bumph below:

TaylorMade Tour Burner More legendary burner speed and power for the serious golfer. * Dual crown and weighted power-base promote increased carry and distance * Modern head shape promotes lower, deeper and precision-placed CG for higher launch angle and lower spin * SuperFast Technology promotes increased swing speed, faster ball speed and added distance * Inverted Cone Technology dramatically expands the portion of the clubface that delivers high COR for consistently longer drives on off-center hits * SuperFast 60-gram shaft is exceptionally lightweight and stable to promote greater distance and accuracy

Now where I would normally stick with clubs that are suitable for the average club player in my opinon this is for the more advanced golfer, basically anyone with a 15 or higher handicap is going to struggle to get to grips with this club quickly. It took me a while to get used to the lighter weight and the faster head speed that came with the lighter weigh. Also the Superfast 60 gram shaft is designed to give max distance and if you have a slower swing speed this will effect your ball control as it will twist less in the swing effecting your impact zone.

The club is priced by Austad’s at $399.95 and if you are an improving player looking for a club to increase distance I would advise going for a different club, either the Callaway FT-5 or the Nike Sumo2 5900 range which has a better accuracy for the higher handicapper and although the sound is wrong (oh so wrong) the clubs themselves offer a good range of improvement for the higher handicapper.

All in all the TaylorMade Tour Burner TP is a very good club that takes technology of the game to yet another level with reduction in weight and the increase in head speed. The unfortunate thing is that it will mean that courses need to increase their lengths in order to keep par 4 challenging.

TaylorMade Tour Burner Driver

Having spent that past 6 weeks looking in depth at a number of massive in roads to the golfing world including a brand new insight of a week with a caddy (which I can promise you is not all you think it is) I was somewhat surprised to discover that TaylorMade have released yet another driver to their burner range. The Taylormade Tour Burner Driver is released on the 14th of April and I have been trying for the past week to get my hands on one but unfortunately not been able to get anyone who has held one.

There is sales bumph as you can imagine:

TaylorMade Tour Burner Driver – New for 2008 ! Pre Book for Mid April Delivery ! Features Dual crown with small, thin top with large, weighted power-base has a low, precision-placed center of gravity for low, tour-caliber spin and longer distance at higher swing speeds Inverted Cone Technology promotes a fast ball speed from a larger portion of the face for longer distance on off-center hits 60-g SuperFast shafts are engineered for faster swing speeds and increased distance RE*AX SuperFast 60 shaft by Fujikura Shaft Torque: 3.1 except for Flex R (3.2) Tip Size: .350 in Butt Diameter: .600 in Grip: TV Lite 60 Grip Weight: 44 g

Now having seen that there is an offer to pre-order I am guessing that there is a big price tag attached to this new beast of a driver that offers low spin and higher trajectory but the TaylorMade Tour Burner Driver looks the part before I have even come close to getting to grips with it I have a feeling it is going to be a nice club, but I thought that about the Nike Sumo2 5900 as well so watch this space I will get hold of one this week and tell all.

But if you want to catch a glimpse of it (and lets face it that is all it will be to start with) see if you can see Mike Weir at the Masters today he is apparently carrying one in his bag at the moment.

QUICK UPDATE
I have managed to get hold of the TaylorMade Tour Burner Driver today so will drop an update to the site tomorrow.

Every now and again

Every now and again something happens that makes me thing I have yet to achieve what I am truly supposed to be on this earth to do, and today I opened my email to receive a mail from a good friend of mine who is a caddy.

I have attached the photo below so you can see why I am completely jealous of her this week and think she truly does have the worlds best job sometimes:

Yes she is at the Masters this week, not only is she there but she gets to see all the action close up as you can see she is caddying this week as well.

Now having spent some of the week with Janet during the Andalucia Open two weeks ago I can tell you that being a caddy is not a glamorous position and that a great deal of it is standing around while your golfer practices before you have to carry their clubs around the course that you would rather be playing. It does however have other advantages as you will see from the photographs on Janet’s Caddie Travel website where she sells and promotes her photography from around the globe.

Thanks for making me jealous bloke stuck in rainy Spain this week Jan! )