They definitely should be banned. Nerves and the skill of putting are part of the game. Take a tablet if you can’t handle it.
—Ernie Els, on long putters, 2004
Golf changed forever in 2011. Not because Bill Murray won a PGA Tour event and Tiger Woods didn’t. (Murray had help.) Or because the rule banning box grooves made a difference on the PGA Tour. (It didn’t.) Or because Rickie Fowler’s wardrobe explored parts of the rainbow where no man had gone before (excluding Jimmy Demaret and Doug ­Sanders).
No, golf changed forever because of the invasion of long, thin, ­awkward-looking alien objects. Looking back someday, golf historians will identify that watershed moment as occurring at Atlanta Athletic Club on the evening of Aug. 14, when Keegan Bradley won the PGA Championship with a belly putter, which he raised in triumph after the final stroke with no small effort, and became the first player to win a major championship with a putter anchored to his stomach. Yes, anchored to his stomach!
Traditional putting hasn’t yet gone the way of the mashie niblick, the stymie or persimmon, but prepare yourself for a brave new world, golfing purists. Seven of 30 players who competed in last year’s Tour Championship did so with a belly or long putter, including the victor, Bill Haas. Five of the winners in the last seven regular-season Tour events went long, as did eight of the 24 competitors in the Presidents Cup.
Did you know this phenomenon already has its own designation? “We call it alternative putting,” says Scotty Cameron, the game’s best-known putter designer. Alternative putting? That does sound more dignified, like an automobile seems classier if it’s preowned instead of used.
“Every pro who has come to my studio in the last three months has asked to try an alternative putter,” Cameron says. “It’s been ­amazing.”
So what’s really up with alternative putting? Is this a game-­changing revolution or a fad?
I think it’s simply another step away from a game that’s been played for 300 years.
—Geoff Ogilvy, on alternative putters, 2011
 
The Birth of the Belly
The first time a golfer used a belly putter at a PGA Tour event he won by seven shots. Yet the flat stick that Paul Azinger used to win the Sony Open in Hawaii in January 2000 went largely unnoticed. Azinger had won his battle with lymphoma cancer, and he turned the Sony triumph, his first since the 1993 PGA, into an emotional tribute to his pal, Payne Stewart, who had died in a plane crash the previous fall. It’s no wonder that Azinger’s putter was ­overlooked.
Here’s the backstory: A few months earlier Azinger was fooling around with someone’s shortish long-shafted putter in the Gator Creek golf shop near his home in Bradenton, Fla. “I put it in my belly button, started hitting every target around the shop, took it out on the putting green and made everything,” Azinger says. “It just fit. It was a fluke.”
Azinger never completely found his ’93 best-in-America form, but he climbed back into the top 20 in the World Ranking and onto a Presidents Cup and a Ryder Cup team. In 1999, Azinger finished 111th in putting. After he bellied up in 2000, he ranked fourth behind Brad Faxon, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, only the three best putters of modern times.
The belly and the broomstick are definitely superior methods. I don’t see any reason why a guy can’t be phenomenal with those putters.
—Johnny Miller, 2011
 
A Better Mousetrap?
The belly putter was already golf’s club du jour by the time Bradley won the PGA with it. When Mickelson, Mr. Ultimate Purist Blade Putter, showed up with one at the Deutsche Bank Championship three weeks later, two things happened. One, “I fainted,” jokes Dave Stockton, the putting wizard who had been working with Phil. Two, alternative putting was no longer seen as a last resort for poor putt­ers. In fact, the success of the belly putter led many to wonder, Is this actually a better way to putt?
Quite simply, the belly’s not for everyone. Stockton stopped at TaylorMade head­quarters in Carlsbad, Calif., to pick up a belly putter made to his specs late last summer so he could try one before his first belly-­putting session with Mickelson. The two met at a nearby practice green, where Phil stroked a pair of long putts. Then Stockton took a turn, and on his first try he holed a 50-footer. “I was smart enough to quit after one,” Stockton says. “Phil just shook his head.”
Stockton, a Mozart on the greens, could probably hole putts with a pitchfork. He’s not a fan of the belly putter and believes anything anchored to the body should be illegal, but he has seen the results. “I still think your routine is much more important,” he says, “but this club is definitely going to help certain people.”
A few years ago Dave Pelz, the renowned short-game scientist, tested students at one of his golf schools for a Golf Magazine story. He had them putt five ways, including with a belly putter, a long putter and crosshanded. The belly putter edged out the long putter as the most effective on short putts.
“It’s not a panacea,” Pelz says, “but it eliminates two things amateurs do poorly. It helps them not rotate their forearms during the stroke, and it eliminates hinging their wrists.”
The only negative with a belly putter, Pelz says, is that the more controlled arm swing used with a long shaft can affect the touch of a player accustomed to a conventional putter. “Mickelson struggled with that,” Pelz says. “He was immediately better on short putts but not as good on long putts.”
Jim Suttie, a Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher, was an advocate of the long putter long before it became fashionable. He was an early believer in the belly putter, too, after Azinger broke his out.
“I’ve been telling people to do this for a long time,” says Suttie, who estimates that 40% of his students own some sort of alternative putter. “The ideal way to putt, the purest way, is left-hand-low with a belly. When your right hand is low, your right shoulder is lower, and you push some putts. You want your shoulders level; that creates a real neutral stroke.”
Stan Utley, who works with a number of top PGA Tour players, teaches an arc-based stroke. Though Utley, an admitted traditionalist, disagrees with allowing anchored clubs, he sees value in alternatives. “Long putters cause the player to make the exact same stroke that I teach with a conventional putter,” Utley says. “When you anchor the grip end to the body, you can’t manipulate the grip in a way that pulls the top of the handle back during the takeaway or toward the target during the through swing, the biggest mistakes I see.”
Steve Flesch, 44, has used a belly putter for nearly a decade. He won three of his four PGA Tour titles with a belly putter. He considers it necessary. “It’s a means to cure the flinches,” Flesch says. “I got the flinches at 21 and have battled them my entire career. I went back to a short putter for a while, but you reach a point over a certain putt that maybe means a lot, and suddenly it’s like having a rattlesnake in your hands.”
One convert who jumped off the bandwagon is Jim Furyk. He began experimenting with the belly putter after getting some tips from Bradley at last year’s Canadian Open. Furyk knows unconventional. There’s his swing, for starters, and the crosshanded putting style his dad taught him growing up. Furyk’s putting had always been considered a strength, but last year, at 41, he struggled with his stroke and gave the belly a try, with mixed results.
“The part I liked is, it’s anchored,” Furyk says. “It does feel stable and steady. The part I don’t like is, it’s anchored. You have to determine how vertical you hold the club, your posture and your arms, and that affects the putter’s path. If you grip the club so it’s too long, you feel as if you’re going to stub it. Too short, and it feels as if it’s not ­anchored.”
Furyk went back to his conventional putter and crosshanded grip for the Presidents Cup, made everything and hasn’t looked back. “People ask me what I learned from using the belly putter,” Furyk says. “My answer is, I learned I had better remember how to putt with the short putter again.”
We don’t see this as a big trend. It’s not as if all the junior golfers out there are doing this. No one’s even won a major using one of these things anchored to themselves. So we don’t see this as something that is really detrimental to the game.
—Mike Davis, USGA executive director, on Golf Channel in 2011
 
The Belly Rebellion
Alternative putters are coming to a ­retailer—or maybe a golf bag—near you this year. More manufacturers are producing them and in greater numbers, and more stores are stocking them. Look in any golf shop; belly putters are multiplying like rabbits.
“We hadn’t gone gung-ho about alternative putters because there ­hadn’t been much of a market before,” says Titleist’s Cameron. “Now there’s a market. I think Adam Scott at the Masters last year [Scott tied for second with a long putter] made this acceptable and cool. Two years ago, when you used one of these putters, you looked defeated.”
The forecast for belly putters is decidedly bullish. According to a survey of 750 golfers by the Sports & Leisure Research Group, 17% plan to buy a new putter in 2012, up 8% from a year ago, and the amount each golfer estimates he or she will spend is $158, a 14% increase from 2011.
“Clearly, the belly putter has heightened interest, and the higher prices people are willing to spend reflect the innovation in this category,” says Jon Last, Sports & Leisure Research Group’s president. “Everything points to a resurgence in the putter category.”
Clubmakers have taken notice. Bettinardi Golf, known for its high-end custom putters, ­didn’t offer a belly model in 2011. Its new putter line does—the BB53, which comes in heel-shafted and ­center-shafted versions. “I was at the PGA when Keegan Bradley won, and that was my eureka moment,” says company founder and designer Bob Bettinardi. “So far, so good. They’re ­selling.”
Scotty Cameron Putters is expecting a huge year. Before Scott’s run at the Masters, Cameron says his company would sell 500 to 1,000 alternative putters a year. By the end of ’11 the number was 10,000. Cameron is gearing up to move 15,000 to 20,000 this year.
Instead of simply adding length to conventional models, for the first time TaylorMade designed its alternative putters to perform at belly- and long-putter lengths. Last year, according to Michael Fox, a TaylorMade product-marketing manager, the company sold four times as many alternative putters as in 2010, and he expects to double 2011’s sales this year. “We were back-ordered 30 days at one point last year,” says Fox.
Ping, riding the crest of Webb Simpson’s success with the Craz-E belly putter, which he has used since college, already had three belly models available and will add a fourth this spring. “We had to readjust our forecasts because our retailers had pretty robust sales during the holidays,” says Ping spokesman Pete Samuels. “I don’t see this as a fad. With so many younger players using it, that suggests it has legs.”
The belly putter is like the two-­handed backhand shot in tennis 25 years ago. It was the odd guy who hit a two-handed backhand. Now if you don’t have a two-handed backhand you can barely compete, unless you’re Roger Federer. The belly putter is going to become accepted, and you’ll see more players using it.
—Brad Faxon, 2011
 
Fitting and Proper
If you know only one thing about belly putt­ers, let it be this: The fit must be perfect.
Todd Sones, a Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher and the owner of Contour Golf Custom Putters, has worked with alternative putters for years. He is adamant about the importance of ­putter-fitting.
“Belly putting is a Jekyll-and-Hyde thing,” Sones says. “It either works great, or it ­doesn’t work at all. Your chance of buying a belly putter and setting up properly without professional help is like buying prescription eyeglasses from Sunglass Hut.”
Sones says a golfer using a belly putter must be tilted at just the right angle so his hands hang directly under his shoulder line. If the putter is too long, the golfer will stand too upright, forcing his hands outside the shoulder line. If the putter is too short, the club is anchored too low in the midsection, inevitably pushing the putter to the outside on the stroke.
The challenge for marketing belly putters is the fitting process. “If Dan Forsman and Steve Jones stood next to each other, they’d be the same height,” Sones says. “But Dan’s belt is, like, five inches higher than Steve’s because he’s all legs. Anyone fitting putters only by height is getting it wrong.”
For example, Sones says he recently measured a 5' 7" teenager to a 33-inch conventional putter. He needed to add 91⁄2 inches for his belly putter to fit properly. Then, Sones worked with a 6' 4" man who needed a 36-inch conventional putter, but only six more inches to cover the distance to his belly. A 42-inch belly putter fit the big man, a 421⁄2-inch model fit the teen.
“Look, the biggest fundamental mistake even the best players make is that they come out of their putt, their upper body moves, usually up and back, or they peek, which makes them open up,” Sones says. “Because the belly putter is connected to the body, it’s easier to stay down on the putt and your chances of keeping your shoulders square at impact go up. Technically, I can see the reasons why belly putting is a better way to putt—if a player is set up correctly.
“Belly putters are technically sound. If they’re done right, they will help a lot of people. If they’re done wrong, they may go away.”
Guys can have a laugh at me, that’s fine. I’ve done it to them. As long as it’s legal, I’ll keep cheating like the rest of them.
—Ernie Els, on using a belly putter, 2011

WHO: Kyle Stanley
WHAT: A 50-yard pitch from under a cactus to the green
WHERE: 332-yard par-4 17th hole at TPC Scottsdale
WHEN: Final round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open
To come back from the emotional roller coaster of two weeks ago, when Stanley blew a huge final-round lead, is spectacular. But last week, he had a big advantage: he was playing from behind, which put him in an aggressive -- rather than a defensive -- mode of thinking. He showed that at 17.
Stanley was aggressive off the tee by hitting driver rather than laying up on the short par 4 with water down the left side. After his tee shot landed under a cactus bush, Stanley could have chipped out and then pitched to the green. Instead, he boldly played a pitch from an awkward stance and with a hooded clubface. The aggressive play could've backfired with a whiff, a skull or another bad outcome. But Stanley was playing to win. He executed the shot perfectly, nipping the ball so it flew over a bunker, landed a bit short of the green and then rolled onto the green 22 feet from the hole. Stanley two-putted for a par.
Stanley is a player to watch. Not many guys could lose so badly one week and come back the very next week with a victory. The turnaround shows a quality of character than is very unusual on the PGA Tour.
 
THE DRILL: My favorite way to practice and learn recovery shots is to play one-club golf. Last week, I played an entire round with only a 6-iron. Another option is to hit driver off the tees and then play with one club (I prefer a 6-iron) for all other shots, including putts.
Playing with one club teaches you to be creative. You learn how to hit different shots and how to manipulate a single club to create a wide variety of outcomes. You're forced to be imaginative and to develop a sense of adaptability with your clubs.
Practicing like that prepares you for spots like Stanley found at 17. You may not have practiced shots from the exact situation you're in, but you'll be able to create a shot.
Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher Mitchell Spearman teaches at Isleworth Country Club in Orlando and at Doral Arrowwood in Rye Brook, N.Y.
 

SPRINKLER SITUATION
I'm in a fairway - when all of a sudden a sprinkler goes off. Can I take free relief from the sudden flood of recycled wash water? Or do I have to sit under the pesticide spray unless I want a penalty?
--Jason Cherpak, via Facebook
First of all, recycled wash water and pesticide spray are two completely different things. I’m concerned about that course you are playing on. But I digress, if your ball currently lies in a puddle of water from the sprinkler after math it is called casual water. According to Rule 25-1, you may then lift the ball and drop it within one club-length, no closer to the hole, from the nearest point of relief without penalty. Whether or not you choose to stay in the pesticide spray is up to you.

From GOLF Magazine ClubTest 2012 (March, 2012)
See a complete list of 2012 Max Game-Improvement Drivers
Cleveland CG Black
WE TESTED: 9°, 10.5°, 12° with Miyazaki C. Kua 39 graphite shaft
KEY TECHNOLOGIES: Engineered for moderate swingers, the CG Black has an aerodynamic, teardropshaped profile to reduce drag and increase swing speed. The lightweight, 265-gram club features a Miyazaki 46” shaft. It has a shallower face than the Launcher Ultralite XL270 and generates a higher, more draw-biased trajectory.
OUR TESTERS SAY: One of the top-rated drivers in its class. Receives high marks in all categories.
PROS
DISTANCE: Top-shelf length; many testers gain 10 yards versus their own.
ACCURACY/FORGIVENESS: Among the most forgiving, accurate test clubs; a real fairway finder; shots don’t travel far off-line, which is surprising for a super-lightweight driver built for speed.
FEEL: Exceptionally light but stable through impact; nice explosive feel to solid shots; well-balanced club swings easily without applying much effort.
PLAYABILITY: High, penetrating, straight ball flight; several testers find they can hit a gentle draw with it.
LOOK: Sleek, teardrop-shaped profile, all-black head and shaft; looks like it means business at address.
CONS
A few testers tend to overswing because of the lighter club—it requires a smooth, even transition at the start of the downswing; a minority of guys lose the lighter head, on occasion, during the swing.

Schecter Lee
Cleveland CG Black (left), CG Black Tour
See a complete list of 2012 Tour Drivers
Cleveland CG Black Tour
WE TESTED: 9°, 10.5° with Miyazaki C. Kua 59 graphite shaft
KEY TECHNOLOGIES: The teardrop-shaped “speed crown” reduces air drag during the swing to help you swing faster. A rear weight screw positions the center of gravity (CG) low and deep for improved launch conditions. The clubface (variable thickness) is engineered to bolster ball speed and carry on off-center hits.
OUR TESTERS SAY: Among the higher-rated drivers. One of the longest in its class.
PROS
DISTANCE: In the top tier of drivers tested; a majority of testers consider it to be “above average” to “long”—some guys achieve noteworthy distance gains over their own driver.
ACCURACY/FORGIVENESS: One of the top models; noticeable sidespin reduction on mis-hits keeps balls in the fairway; provides repeatable shots.
FEEL: Crisp, pleasing sound and hot sensation at impact; controllable, light feel through the swing for many testers.
PLAYABILITY: Consistent, medium flight; draws and fades are relatively easy to create on solid strikes.
LOOK: Sleek, traditional profile; classy black and gold color combo.
CONS
Lightweight feel is a turnoff for some testers; a few high-swing-speed players could benefit from slightly less spin.
From The Shop Blog (October 17, 2011)
The ultimate boxer would be as quick as welterweight champ Manny Pacquiao but would hit like heavyweight titleholder Wladimir Klitschko. Golf club makers have a similar goal when it comes to making drivers: build something that's light and easy for the average player, but make it pack a wallop.
With its new CG Black driver, Cleveland Golf hopes that it has created this combination for players whose swing speed is less 100 mph.
The CG Black features a head that is aerodynamically shaped to slip easily through the air, with a crown that slopes down in the back section more sharply than last season's Launcher Ultralight drivers. Cleveland's head of metalwood development, Nate Radcliffe, says that the shape of the crown decreases the club's drag throughout the downswing, which in turn helps players generate more clubhead speed.
At the same time, the 460-cc head has one of the lightest and thinnest faces Cleveland Golf has ever designed. Radcliffe says the faceplate is very thin on the perimeter, which not only saves more weight, but also broadens the CG Black's sweetspot.
 
Add to that mix a new Golf Pride grip that Cleveland says is half the weight of a typical grip and a special edition Miyazaki C. Kua Gold shaft and you've got a driver on Weight Watchers.
However, Cleveland put a little bit of that saved weight back into the head, adding a weight screw to the back of the sole plate. By adding weight to this key area, Radcliffe says the CG Black should naturally hit the ball on a higher launch angle to maximize carry distance, which is essential for slower-swinging golfers who want more distance.
"The overall package is a club that is designed to generate speed and be really easy to hit," says Radcliffe.
That's music to the ears of distance-hungry golfers looking to land a few haymakers on their opponents.
 

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Last week’s PGA Merchandise Show was, once again, an embarrassment of riches. It’s a golden age of equipment, a time when all the big manufacturers -- and even some small ones -- make superior gear.
 
I’ve already named my 10 favorite items, but those were just the beginning of the most notable things I saw at The Show.
 
Oakley Golf was this year’s biggest surprise for me. They’d been only marginally in the golf business, to my mind, with sunglasses and efforts to spin off some of their trendy footwear as golf shoes.
 
So I didn’t expect much when I checked out their gear, but I was stunned. The Oakley Cipher shoe was remarkable, but so was the company's high-tech apparel. Oakley hired some talent away from UnderArmour and adidas, went all-in for technology and signed some prominent names to wear its stuff—Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley, Ryann O’Toole and Rickey Barnes. My favorite was a windbreaker with removable sleeves. That idea isn’t new, but this jacket had a real innovation: you unzip the sleeve partway up and then neatly fold it, still-attached, into a pouch hidden on the inside of the vest. It’s totally out of the way, and you can't lose the sleeve. Ingenious.
 
A Swedish outfit I’d never heard of, Cross, also impressed. The kings of raingear are FootJoy, ProQuip and Sun Mountain, but Cross is suddenly in the mix with its FTX Full Stretch rainwear. It’s soft and unusually stretchy and quiet. It reminds me of ProQuip’s Silk Touch raingear from a few years back, as soft as a sweater but impervious to water. Plus, Cross has slick European style. Only a few online outlets carry Cross gear, and keep in mind that it’s cut to European sizes. The large pullover fit me nicely, but if I were going to wear it with a sweater or vest underneath, I’d probably have to go up a size to extra large. I’m pretty sure this is going to be my next rainsuit. The jackets go for $275-$300, the pants for $225.
 
In addition to the RocketBallz line, I was also impressed by the new TaylorMade ATV wedges. With their beveled leading edges and versatility, the ATVs are a big improvement for TM.
I like that Titleist broke out of its traditional mold ever so slightly and painted its new Velocity’s numbers in yellow-orange ink. Also impressive on the ball front was the Callaway Hex, which a fellow hacker in the industry told me was the best ball he’d ever played -- “phenomenal,” in his words. I also played nine holes in an outing with the Innovex V-Motion Tour ball and was impressed. Its playing characteristics were comparable to top-of-the-line balls, but they’re about $29 a dozen.
 
Nobody ever talks about spikes. Well, I do, but only to complain when I'm trying get them changed. Champ spikes has a new model out -- the Zarma -- with six longer, spidery legs that have a little more bounce, cushion and give.
 
I never get tired of looking at or trying out new drivers. The Adams Speedline Fast 12 has a more bulging head and a flared fantail, and it felt great when I hit it on Demo Day. I also liked the classic style of the Ping i20 driver and its flat-black paint job. No driver looks better than the Cleveland Classic, which looks like an old persimmon and gets my vote for Prettiest New Driver.
 
I also got a chance to swing a unique club at Demo Day, the new Exotics 11-degree 3-wood from Tour Edge. It’s got a large, flattish head and is perfect for the golfer who needs a backup driver during his round.
 
You’d have been hard-pressed to find more than one belly-putter in almost any golf shop a year ago, but golf’s newest trendy club was all over The Show. Everybody has a version. TaylorMade has its Ghost Manta series, a large center-shafted mallet with a white head and alignment markings. The Ping Nome has a similar mallet shape but is more rounded, and it had a really balanced feel that I liked. The Odyssey Metal-X is based on the Sabertooth model that Keegan Bradley used to win the PGA Championship last year, with two prongs behind the face. Bradley’s Tooth was white. The Metal-X is gun-metal black.
 
How about gadgets? Golf Buddy’s GPS rangefinders now have audio, so you don’t have to constantly check the screen. You can clip one to your belt, maybe even your hat, and it will announce distances as you move around the course. If I jack the volume up, I bet I can annoy my playing partners. I love that idea. Bushnell tweaked its classic laser rangefinder. The new Tour Z6 is more compact and attractive, and the numbers now light up in electric red instead of the usual black. It sounds like a minor change, but it makes the yardages much easier to see. Bushnell says it can hit targets up to 450 yards; from 125 yards and in, it provides distances to a tenth of a yard. It’ll be available in April.
 
Sky Caddie is the Cadillac of the GPS market, with accurate and up-to-date course information. Sky Golf, which makes Sky Caddie, has also expanded into a new area with Swing Labs, a launch-monitor-based fitting system that aims to help club pros, club-fitters and retailers match golfers with the perfect clubs.
 
I will go to extreme lengths to distract my opponents. Hence, a new Hello Kitty headcover for my driver. Hello Kitty Golf, as absurd as it seems, is going to sell a lot of accessories. Women, especially, were buzzing around that booth at The Show. They sell women’s and children’s clubs, bags and accessories. In the same vein, I may pull out some Chromax golf balls, which have colorful metallic finishes, kind of like lawn orbs. They come in seven colors, including turquoise, silver, pink and yellow, and they’re much easier to see than a standard white ball. The suggested retail price is $20 for a six-pack.
 
I can’t believe I’m about to write this, but I was also impressed by the Jacqueline Kennedy Collection.  It’s a line of historically accurate jewelry, sunglasses, hats and accessories that has been approved by Caroline Kennedy. Why was this company at the Show? Because the collection will be sold in golf shops. Prices will vary, but most of the jewelry will be under $100.
 
More on shoes: adidas has two eye-catching models, the Crossflex and the Puremotion. The Crossflex, which weighs just 10.6 ounces, has molded traction areas on its soles instead of spikes and is modeled after a running shoe. The Puremotion is a mesh shoe based on the shape of the foot, and it’s also spikeless. They’ll be priced somewhere around $100-$120 and will be available in late spring. True Linkswear updated its models from last year and made them more contemporary. The phx model has a striking red stripe on the outside of the shoe and gripping nubs in the sole for traction instead of spikes. The Stealth is a leather model. They’re all very comfortable and light and are continuing the trend away from spikes.

Fourteen thousand. Golf Magazine’s hardy band of 40 ClubTesters struck 14,000 shots (give or take a few) while evaluating 25 new drivers for 2012. These big sticks offer innovative advancements in weighting, adjustability, aerodynamics and optics. In short, these drivers are better than ever at delivering “high launch, low spin” flight characteristics to maximize carry and roll with your tee shots.
Golf Magazine selected 40 average Joes to rate and review clubs at the World Golf Village Resort in St. Augustine, Fla. Each tester assessed every model within one driver category on both the course and the driving range. Driver categories are: Tour (evaluated by ClubTesters with +1 to 10 handicaps), Game-Improvement (6 to 16 handicaps) and Maximum Game-Improvement (14 to 22 handicaps). Our exclusive research partner, Hot Stix Golf, custom-fit each tester and recommended clubs based on data gathered using the TrackMan launch monitor. Trained clubfitters can offer the same services to you, regardless of your handicap or playing ability. Using properly fit equipment is a smart investment in your game and will lead to longer, more accurate shots.
Let’s get started.
 
Tour
Game-Improvement
Max Game-Improvement
Adams Speedline Fast
12 LS
Adams Speedline
Fast 12
Adams Speedline 9088UL
Bridgestone J40 430
Callaway RAZR Fit
Callaway RAZR X Black
Cleveland CG Black Tour
Cleveland Classic
Cleveland CG Black
Cobra ZL Encore
Cobra AMP
Cobra AMP Offset
Nike VR Pro Limited Edition
Nike VR_S
TaylorMade RocketBallz
Ping i20
Ping G20
Tour Edge Bazooka
HT Max-D
TaylorMade RocketBallz Tour
TaylorMade R11S
Wilson Staff DXi Superlight
Titleist 910D3
Titleist 910D2
Yonex EZONE SD
 
Tour Edge Exotics XCG-5
 
 
 
 

 
Tour Drivers-->

 
Game-Improvement Drivers-->

 
Max Game-Improvement Drivers-->

 
Tour Drivers Video-->

 
Game-Improvement Drivers Video-->

 
Max Game-Improvement Drivers-->
Many drivers that appeared in Golf Magazine ClubTest 2011 are still available. Click here to read those reviews.

From Golf Magazine ClubTest (March, 2012)
Category: Max Game-Improvement Drivers
WE TESTED: 9°, 10.5° with Aldila NV 50 graphite shaft
KEY TECHNOLOGIES: The aerodynamic, lightweight club has a sloped crown to reduce drag (improve airflow) and boost swing speed. The 9° loft has a square face angle while the 10.5° is 1° closed. Comes standard with 50-gram shaft at 46 inches.
OUR TESTERS SAY: Steady yet unspectacular performer provides respectable distance.
PROS
DISTANCE: Several testers get distance comparable to their own driver; a few guys get up to 10 more yards; off-center hits get out there a good ways.
ACCURACY/FORGIVENESS: Steadyeddie driver forgives and forgets most mediocre swings and mis-hits; by and large, slices are held in check.
FEEL: Subtle but perceptible feel on well-struck shots and mis-hits; head is fairly stable through impact.
PLAYABILITY: Lower ball flight than most; straight, boring trajectory works well in firm conditions.
LOOK: Large, deep face inspires confidence; glossy black finish.
CONS
Several other models deliver more forgiveness; it’s difficult for some testers to decipher center hits from offcenter ones because of dullish impact sensation; nothing sets it apart visually.

Keegan Bradley, the 2011 PGA champion and rookie of the year switched apparel sponsorship from Oakley to Tommy Hilfiger early this year. But at the Farmers Insurance Open last weekend, Bradley was still wearing Oakley footwear. What gives?
Apparently, Oakley lost a heated bidding war for Bradley to Tommy Hilfiger, a golf line licensed to the Fletcher Group of Canada which also makes Sunice. Oakley wanted to keep Bradley, but the rising star commanded as much as five times what Oakley had been paying him to wear its apparel. Executives familiar with the action estimated Bradley's eventual deal to be in the $500,000 range.
However, Tommy Hilfiger does not make golf shoes, so Bradley will continue to wear Oakley's advanced Cipher shoes -- with their sandpaper-like soles and ultralight weight -- under a separate contract.
G-Mac's eyes were smiling
Ireland's Graeme McDowell, who had two incredible shots last weekend -- a hole-in-one and a ricochet birdie -- also signed a new apparel sponsorshipin January, with Dublin-based Kartel. Alan Swan, the chairman of Kartel, said that when he first met McDowell to propose a deal, the two of them were wearing nearly identical cashmere sweaters. That helps. He then made three sample outfits for the Irish pro, who found that they exactly suited his style. Kartel, which dresses Padraig Harrington, too, specializes in mercerized cottons, classic fitted trousers and soft sweaters. This spring the company introduces a new full collection, G-Mac by Kartel, based on the clothes McDowell will be wearing on tour.
 

LOST AND FOUND
Rules Guy,
I topped my tee shot into the bank above a water hazard not far from the tee box. It was close enough for me to look for the ball, but after a couple of minutes I got nervous that we'd be holding up traffic, so I declared my ball lost, scampered back up to the tees and hit again. As I drove my golf cart towards my second drive, I spotted my first ball on the far bank, in the hazard but playable. I had no idea what to do: I definitely found my ball before the five minute "time limit," but I had already declared it lost and played a ball that I had no intention of being provisional. Could I have played the first ball? SHOULD I have played it? I've never been so confused on the golf course!
-- Tim Becker, Hoboken, NJ
This question hits upon one of the most misunderstood Rules of Golf: You can't actually "declare" a ball as lost; it's either lost or it isn't. According to Decision 21-1/1, your second ball was not actually considered in play, as you found your original ball before taking a second stroke at the provisional. This, however, does not mean that you were forced to play your first shot. You were, of course, more than within your rights to go back to the tee and take a penalty of stroke and distance. So, as it turns out, whichever choice you made would have been legal. The only thing not to do was stand around looking confused.
 

WHO: Kyle Stanley
WHAT: A 65-yard wedge into the water
WHEN: Final round of the 2012 Farmers Insurance Open
WHERE: 570-yard par-5 18th hole at Torrey Pines
 
Golf is easy looking in the rearview mirror. Still, it's hard to understand how Stanley couldn't make a double-bogey at 18, which would've given him the title. It took several huge mistakes for Stanley to make an eight, which dropped him into a playoff that he lost to Brandt Snedeker.
Stanley's mistakes included laying up with his second shot instead of blasting his second shot at or over the green; hitting a wedge approach with so much spin that it sucked back off the green and into the water; and finally, three-putting. The wedge into the water might be the shot that Stanley most regrets, because hitting a no-spin wedge from 65 yards is easy.
 
THE DRILL: To take the spin off a wedge, you've got to radically decrease the angle of attack into the ball by using what I call a "sweepy" instead of a steep release. You also need to move the ball a little further back than normal in your stance and shift your weight a little more to the target side than you would do with a standard shot.
To practice no-spin wedges, take practice swings by holding the club with only your right hand. Hold the club at the bottom of the grip so that your right hand (for a right-hander) touches both the grip and the shaft; the butt end of the grip should be near the middle of your right forearm. Make a little backswing and sweep through impact. Just after impact, the butt end of the shaft should hit your right forearm and the shaft should align down your arm. The club and your right arm should remain in that synchronized position for the first half of the follow-through. I like doing this drill without a ball, but you can hit shots using the same technique.
Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher Brian Manzella teaches at English Turn Golf and Country Club in New Orleans.