The 3 Irish Open - New Product

There were a few things that caught me eye on Tour and most notably the X range of prototype shafts from Grafalloy have been expanded to 80 gram and 60 gram, all with very low torque (we reported this Grafalloy shaft last October). I suspect they are trying out the heavier and lighted weights to see if this product is worth widening for the market place.

We also came across the new YS-QST shaft from Graphite Design which has a stiffer tip to keep the ball flight down and reduce back spin, this shaft is very new and this is its first week on Tour. Mitsubishi Rayon have also launched some additions to its Diamana range with a new White Board Hybrid “Thump” shaft and also a new Diamana Black, they are in very short supply so a full review will follow in a later issue.

Mike Perry from Golf Pride showed us a new compound grip which is a softer version of their full cord tour velvet. Golf Pride have stopped using velvet when making the corded grips and have moved to cotton which makes the grips much softer without losing the benefit of the tacky cord, especially in the wet. The new Ireland Grip was doing the rounds and was out into play by a few of the Irish players. ForeGolf was the first to have this popular grip in April and it is already proving itself as a favourite.

The 3 Irish Open - Tour Players

I ran into my good South African friend, Thomas Aitken and had a quick chat to him. His putts per green in regulation is number 2 on Tour and he is in the top 10 stroke average statistics on The European Tour, after watching him putt, I would put him up for a win very soon, so watch this space. Padraig Harrington was testing a few wedge grinds from the Wilson truck. He always takes the time to say hello and chat for a few minutes. Rory McIlroy caught my eye while 100 young golf fans buzzed around him for autographs. He has created almost a “Tiger Syndrome” with an awful lot of fan attention. I wonder will he struggle to deal with this amount of support and the resulting impact on his tournament preparation time. We also hooked up with our new friend John Daly who was visiting Adams Golf trailer and sat with us in the Irish sunshine on Monday afternoon to shoot the breeze. This guy is the real deal and was a joy to be around, a real character who lives for the craic. Cleveland Golf's latest signing Gonzalo Fernandez-Costano was also on the trailer to pick up a new 3 wood to help harness the wind at Baltray. This guy is one of the nicest Tour players we have ever had the pleasure meeting, the technician's work hard during the tournament and he shows genuine appreciation for our efforts.

The 3 Irish Open - Practise Days & Pro Am

11th - 14th May 2009

Our trip to Baltray for The Irish Open is our first Tour event this year and Derek and David took the short run to County Louth to join up with Iain “Clarkie” Clarke and Ian “Stainless” Steele aboard the Srixon/Cleveland Golf Tour support trailer.

Thankfully the weather was with us this year and the sun shone while we worked getting clubs ready for the professionals. Monday and Tuesday were quite busy at the Tour Trucks with players having grips replaced, clubs re-calibrated and new clubs built to suit course and playing conditions. The trucks were parked in the main car-park for the tournament but the practice area was quite a distance away and it was very difficult to service both areas. As a tour rep the driving range is our testing ground and having it so far from the truck proved very difficult. The wind was very strong and some of the players didn’t test any irons or drivers but instead concentrated on their putting and short game. I think a good ball shaper with low average putts per green will fair well around the links of Baltray.