The next generation of high-tech drivers may already be here, further obsoleting courses, as the following article describes...
"Revolution may see the game go square
By Lewine Mair
Last Updated: 2:54am BST 25/10/2006
Paul Casey, Padraig Harrington and the rest were warming up for the Volvo Masters yesterday but there was a new arrival on the range which was attracting more attention than any of the stars. Not since persimmon gave way to metal can there have been anything to match the awed reception for Callaway's latest driver, with its square, as opposed to rounded, head.
Nick Dougherty started practising with the Fusion FT-i on Monday. As one who has boasted a series of pretty girlfriends, Dougherty was not exactly bowled over by its appearance. However, when he stood as if to hit a shot, he began to think less of how it looked than the confidence which was flowing through his veins. "It gave me the feeling, 'I can really smash this'," he said. Which he did, time after time after time.
The square design is the brainchild of Alan Hocknell, who was born in Barrow-in-Furness and studied mechanical engineering at Imperial College, London. Hocknell, 35, worked with Phil Mickelson on his two-driver tactics at the Masters and is even now helping the player with his preparations for Augusta next year. The new shape, as he has explained, allows the weight to be located outside the weighting zone of a usual driver – ie at each of the two corners at the back of the club. What this means is that the implement is more resistant to twisting, with the sweet-spot playing across the entire face to encourage straight hitting.
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When the Callaway men asked Dougherty to take aim, so to speak, on hitting a few wild shots, he had to apologise. "I found it very difficult to do," he laughed..."
Thomas Bjorn played 18 holes with the driver. "According to Stevens, Bjorn proceeded to unleash one grand drive after another and did not miss a fairway all morning."
You can read the whole article at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2006/10/25/sgmair25.xml