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NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
BROUGHT TO YOU BY GOLF PRIDE, THE #1 GRIP ON TOUR
It’s common for players to debut new equipment at Kapalua, but few thought they would see Dustin Johnson with a rescue club in his hands. Even Johnson himself was taken aback.
“I'm actually going to play a rescue club, which I never thought that would happen,” Johnson told PGATour.com before the Sentry Tournament of Champions. “I’ve been hitting it the last few days. I hit it quite nicely. I don’t know, we’ll give it a run for a little while, see how it works.”
The 2016 U.S. Open champion added the TaylorMade SIM Max rescue along with the line’s driver and 3-wood for the tournament. Johnson said he played a rescue club sparingly during his early years on the PGA Tour and may make a permanent switch depending on how it feels in tournament play. He can carry the 22-degree club a gaudy 260 yards and said he is impressed with his tendency not to miss shots to the left with it.
At December’s Hero World Challenge, Patrick Reed had unveiled a set of self-named irons that didn’t include a company name. Though he initially remained tight-lipped on the origin of the irons, Grindworks CEO Kiyonari Niimi recently confirmed that his company built the clubs.
“About one year ago, Patrick contacted me asking to try one of our products, but I preferred to offer him an original designed iron set. His iron lie angle is very flat, which would change the total design concept of the iron if we bent an existing head 4 degrees more flat,” Niimi told PGATour.com. “He also wanted a head with (center of gravity) at the exact center of the head for every iron. It was a hard job, hence we have to spend a lot of time and make a lot of prototypes.”
Grindworks is a relative unknown in the industry, but Niimi is a member of the International Clubmakers Guild Hall of Fame.
The first week of the year traditionally is the time companies announce new equipment deals with tour players. One of the more notable set of signings came from PXG, which inked Chez Reavie, Joel Dahmen, Jason Kokrak and LPGA rookie Haley Moore to their staff. Reavie is coming off his best year on the PGA Tour, highlighted by his victory at the Travelers Championship.
Sean Fairholm