Equipment – Page 134 – Syndication Server

Adidas, Honma, Titleist and FootJoy supporting COVID-19 charities

Some of golf’s biggest brands are pitching in to raise money, letting you do something good while scoring great gear.

Charity events and fundraisers are taking place around the world to help doctors, nurses and first responders who are battling the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people are also working hard to help people who have been laid off or furloughed get food and other necessities. Several golf brands are stepping up and helping too. Here’s how you can get involved, help maybe score some cool gear.

Acushnet (FootJoy, Titleist)
On Thursday morning, Acushnet announced that it is auctioning 12 “experiences” to the highest bidder, with all the proceeds raised being donated to CDP COVID-19 Response Fund; the United Way chapters of Greater New Bedford and San Diego County ( most Titleist and FootJoy employees live and work) and the Golf Emergency Relief Fund.

Among the items up for bid are rounds of golf with Webb Simpson and Ian Poulter, as well as a round of golf with Justin Thomas and with a lesson from his father, PGA of America pro Mike Thomas. Golfers can also try to win lessons from Butch Harmon, Peter Kostis, Michael Breed, James Sieckmann, Brad Faxon and Jordan’s Spieth coach, Cameron McCormick. Bob Vokey has donated a wedge fitting and Scotty Cameron has also donated a putter fitting, while Jim Nantz is offering a Pebble Beach experience to the highest bidder.

The week-long online auction is open now at chipin.ralleyup.com/charitygolfauction and closes April 30 at 9 p.m. EDT.

Adidas
The maker of golf apparel and footwefar for stars like Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Paula Creamer and Xander Schaufelle is donating $2 to the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for every purchase of $20 or more on the Adidas smartphone app and at adidas.com.

Honma
The Japanese club maker known for high-end woods and irons has started two fundraisers.

The Pick Up Your Pro charity promotion encourages golfers to donate either $10, $25, $50 or $100 for a chance to win one of eight different prizes. The items available include a Honma gear package ($10), a pre-release set of custom TW4 wedges ($25), a Honma mobile fitting experience ($50) and a TR20 package that includes new drivers, irons and wedges ($100).

Honma’s goal is to raise $50,000 for the PGA of America’s Golf Emergency Relief Fund and all of the promotions are running now through May 15. The drawings will be held May 20 and youy can learn more at https://honmagolf.rallyup.com.

In addition, Honma is donating 10 percent of all the proceeds from sales at honma.com to Golf Emergency Relief Fund until May 30.

As John Kawaja, Honma’s president said in a release, “Even simple gestures can have a significant impact during this crisis, so we appreciate every bit of support golfers can lend to the folks who make this industry special.”

Garmin Approach Z82 GPS laser rangefinder

Garmin’s newest distance-measuring device blends the accuracy of a laser with game-enhancing GPS features to help you play smarter golf.

Gear: Garmin Approach Z82 GPS laser rangefinder
Price: $599.99
Available: April 23

Garmin has been one of the most popular makers of GPS devices for cars, boats and aircraft for years. Using satellites orbiting the Earth that power the Global Positioning System, the company’s devices can pinpoint your location and overlay it on maps, provide you with directions and more.

The company has also made several GPS-enabled watches and devices for golfers too, like the new Approach G62. Two years ago, Garmin ventured into the laser rangefinder category with the Z80. That unit relied on a laser to reveal how far you are from the hole, but then provided extra information based on an internal GPS system.

Today, Garmin has launched the Approach Z82, an updated model that is more accurate and offers more game-enhancing features.

Garmin Approach Z82 GPS laser rangefinder. (Garmin)

According to Garmin, the Z82’s laser and internal systems can now measure a flag’s distance to within 10 inches from up to 450 yards away. You will see your targets more clearly in the Approach Z82 because the high-resolution OLED display has been improved and colors are more vivid.

To help make hitting the flag with the laser easier, Garmin has improved the ranging function, which means when you press the button on the top of the device and slowly pan from side to side in the direction of the hole, the Approach Z82 does a better (and faster) job of distinguishing the flag from trees and other objects in the background. When you hit the flag, the unit buzzes in your hands and the distances you see in the viewfinder blink.

What really sets the Approach Z82 apart from nearly every other distance measuring device, however, is how it blends the laser and GPS data together.

The Garmin Approach Z82 shows a laser-measured distance to the hole plus GPS-gathered distances to other areas. (Garmin)

After turning it on, the Approach Z82 determines your location using GPS and lists which of its 41,000 pre-loaded courses you are near. After selecting the course and starting your round, when you look inside the viewfinder and hit the flag with the laser, you see the hole you are playing and the yardage to the flag. At the same time, using GPS, the Z82 also displays the distance to the front, center and back of the green. To the left of that information, you can also see an illustrated overhead view of the hole, complete with views of bunkers and hazards, and a yellow arc that shows the distance to the flag.

If you link the Approach Z82 with your smartphone, it can also show wind speed and direction. The unit also has a slope function that determines if your target is uphill or downhill, then provides a PlaysLike distance. In Tournament mode, slope function and PlaysLike are disabled, but the laser still works.

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Megha Ganne’s ready to spring into action after winter indoors

Megha Ganne, a four-time Drive, Chip and Putt National Finalist, is becoming a major player in women’s junior and amateur golf.

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Katie Rudolph remembers the first time she saw her prized pupil, Megha Ganne of Holmdel, New Jersey, swing a golf club at a driving range at age 8.

“She was striping 7-irons,” recalls Rudolph, a First Tee coach and chief operating officer of The First Tee of Metropolitan New York. “I stopped dead in my tracks and said, ‘Who is this kid?’ Everything was perfect in her swing.”

Ever since, Rudolph has been the only instructor for Ganne. The 16-year-old has progressed to become a four-time Drive, Chip and Putt finalist, having lost a heartbreaker (in 19 holes) in the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur, shot a tournament-record 62 at the Girls Junior PGA Championship, scored an invitation to the 2020 Augusta National Women’s Amateur (since postponed) and received a sponsor’s exemption into the ShopRite LPGA Classic scheduled for late May.

From Weequahic Park Golf Club, home base for First Tee Newark, Ganne hits balls out of an indoor studio into snowbanks during the winter. Up until a couple of years ago, she viewed growing up in the Northeast as a disadvantage.

“I used it as an excuse for why I wasn’t as good as I wanted to be,” she said.

And now? She realizes she’s continued to make steady progress all year long.

“I think the difference is I don’t see my results while I’m making a swing change in real-time because I hit into a net,” she said. “When you hit a bad shot, you’re less inclined to go back to what was working. Since you don’t see the results, you trust it more than if you did.”

And just as Rudolph fondly remembers her first time seeing Ganne swing a club, Ganne hasn’t forgotten her first experience at First Tee with Rudolph.

“You told me we were playing for $1 million,” Ganne reminded Rudolph. “That continued and now Katie owes me $34 million.”

Rudolph sheepishly grinned and replied, “I have every intention of paying you back. Just as soon as I win the lottery.”

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Wilson Staff Model golf balls

Learn all about Wilson’s new four-piece, urethane-covered balls for better players that will only be sold on the company’s website.

Gear: Wilson Staff Model golf balls
Price: $40.99-$49.99 per dozen
Specs: Four-piece construction with a cast urethane cover
Available: Pre-order April 20

For the past several seasons, Wilson has focused most of its attention in the golf ball category toward the creation of softer-feeling, low-compression products like the Staff Duo Soft+ and the Staff Duo Professional. Now the Chicago-based company is shifting gears, offering a new ball and a new way of getting it.

The Wilson Staff Model golf ball was created with better players in mind and with the help of Wilson’s tour players like Gary Woodland, Brendan Steele and Kevin Streelman. It’s a four-piece ball that features a synthetic rubber core that is encased in a dual-mantle system. The inner mantle is designed using the same soft, DuPont-created HPF material found in the Wilson Staff Duo Urethane ball, while the firmer outer mantle is made from an ionomer material. Working together, the core and dual-mantle system help to create more ball speed, especially with woods and long irons, for increased distance.

Wilson Staff Model balls — The Wilson Staff Model is a four-piece ball with a urethane cover. (Wilson)

Wilson designed the Staff Model ball with a soft, cast urethane cover. The material can easily be gripped by the grooves in wedges and short irons for more spin and better control around the green.

Instead of buying the balls in stores, Wilson is offering the Staff Model balls exclusively on its website, Wilson.com, as part of its new Baller Box program.

In essence, it is a subscription service. Golfers enter how many dozen balls they want to be delivered each month, subscribe for either three, six or 12 months and then select from the free customization options. The more balls you buy each month, the lower the price per dozen, from $49.99 per dozen for a one-month trial to $40.99 per dozen when you buy a 12-month subscription.

Rory McIlroy’s TaylorMade equipment up close

Golfweek got detailed, in-hand photos McIlroy’s gear before the Players Championship was canceled. See what the world’s top player is using.

A week before the PGA Tour was forced to cancel the remaining three rounds of the Players Championship, Golfweek was able to get detailed, in-hand photos of Rory McIlroy’s golf equipment at the Bay Hill Club & Lodge. See all the gear the world’s No. 1 player is currently using.

THE CLUBS

DRIVER: TaylorMade SIM (10.5 degrees), with Mitsubishi Kuro Kage Silver XTS 70X shaft

FAIRWAY WOODS: TaylorMade SIM (15 degrees), with Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 80 TX shaft; SIM (19 degrees), with Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 90 TX shaft

IRONS: TaylorMade P790 UDI (2)*, P760 (3, 4), P730 (5-9), with Project X 7.0 shafts

WEDGES: TaylorMade P730 (PW), Milled Grind 2 (54, 60 degrees), with Project X 6.5 shafts

PUTTER: TaylorMade Spider X Copper

BALL: TaylorMade TP5

GRIPS: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

(*McIlroy takes his 5-wood and his 2-iron to each event, and at some events early in 2020 also took a TaylorMade SIM Max Rescue club. He selects one of those clubs at each event based on course conditions.)

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2020 gear guide: New golf balls

Golf balls have been tweaked to help players gain yards while still providing that much needed zip when they land on the greens.

For whatever your game needs, equipment designers have been busy tweaking existing lines for better performance and often introducing entirely new clubs.

Golf balls have been tweaked to help players gain yards while still providing that much needed zip when they land on the greens. Check out some of the balls introduced for this season.

Bridgestone Tour B

Price: $44.99 per dozen

The key technology in the second generation of Tour B balls is a new type of urethane used in the cover. Off the tee, the urethane rebounds more quickly than other urethanes Bridgestone has used to help golfers generate more ball speed and distance. However, on pitches and chip shots, it absorbs shock and helps the ball stay in contact with the face longer.

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2020 gear guide: New putters

Equipment designers have been busy tweaking existing lines for better performance and often introducing entirely new clubs.

For whatever your game needs, equipment designers have been busy tweaking existing lines for better performance and often introducing entirely new clubs.

Check out some of the putters that have been introduced for this season.

Odyssey Stroke Lab Triple Track

Price: $249.99

Odyssey’s new Stroke Lab Triple Track putters feature the same alignment lines found on some Callaway golf balls, creating an alignment system that blends from the putter’s crown directly into the ball. Each of the seven putters comes standard with a Stroke Lab shaft that has graphite in the upper and middle areas, then steel in the tip.

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2020 gear guide: New wedges

Wedges have adjusted centers of gravity to zero in on specific trajectories with extra spin.

For whatever your game needs, equipment designers have been busy tweaking existing lines for better performance and often introducing entirely new clubs.

Wedges have adjusted centers of gravity to zero in on specific trajectories with extra spin. Check out some of the wedges that have been introduced for this season.

Callaway Jaws MD5

Price: $159.99

This wedge is cast from 8620 mild-carbon steel for a soft feel, and Callaway said the grooves are the most aggressive in the game. They are more V-shaped to grab the cover of the ball for greater spin on chips, pitches and approach shots.

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2020 gear guide: New irons

Check out these new irons released in 2020.

For whatever your game needs, equipment designers have been busy tweaking existing lines for better performance and often introducing entirely new clubs.

Modern irons have gotten in on the chase for even more distance and forgiveness, frequently utilizing hollow designs that boost ball speeds. And for players who value control more than distance, there are better-player irons that offer fine-tuned precision, especially in the shorter clubs.

Check out some of the irons that have been introduced for this season.

Callaway Mavrik

Price: $799 for the standard and Max versions on steel shafts or $899 on graphite shafts; $899 for the Pro model on steel

Each Mavrik iron’s face was created using artificial intelligence in an attempt to maximize distance and forgiveness. The Mavrik irons also have an internal tungsten bar that lowers the center of gravity and encourages a higher ball flight.

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2020 gear guide: New drivers

For whatever your game needs, equipment designers have been busy tweaking existing lines for better performance and often introducing entirely new clubs. Drivers have taken on new shapes with hotter faces and designs that help square the clubface …

For whatever your game needs, equipment designers have been busy tweaking existing lines for better performance and often introducing entirely new clubs.

Drivers have taken on new shapes with hotter faces and designs that help square the clubface while providing greater forgiveness on mis-hits.

Check out these drivers that have been introduced for this season.

Callaway Mavrik

Price: $499.99

Artificial intelligence gave Callaway’s new Mavrik line of drivers computer-enhanced face designs based on model and even specific loft.

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