Titleist had yet another big year on Tour, including wins at the US Open (McIlroy), Tour Championship (Haas).  But while they may dwarf everybody else on tour, other brands picked up some big wins as well.  In particular I hadn’t realized that Taylormade  snagged 5 wins with the Penta this year.  Can anybody make a dent in Titleist’s numbers for 2012?

1. Titleist Pro V1x – 21 wins

2. Titleist Pro v1 – 6 wins

3. Tayormade Penta – 5 wins

4. Nike One Tour D – 3 wins

5.  Callaway Tour i(z) – 2 wins

6. Srixon Z-Star XV – 2 wins

7. Bridgestone B330s – 1 win

 Golf Digest

Just days after Ping announced their new G20 irons/hybrid/driver, Taylormade has unvelied their new R11 irons (I’m sure the similar announce date was a pure coincidence).

The irons “are engineered for the player who appreciates the shape and refinement of a tour-grade iron but needs the help of advanced technology to launch the ball high, straight and long with less effort, regardless of handicap.”  Basically they’re a GI iron without the oversized GI look.

I do have to admit, they’re very nice looking irons and there’s certainly a market for GI irons that don’t look like GI irons.  More pics, pricing/availability info, and the launch video after the break.

The R11 irons are offered in four shaft flexes – S, R, M, L. Ladies’ flex shafts will be offered in the 5-iron through pitching wedge, attack wedge and sand wedge. The standard R11 set includes eight irons offered at a street price of $799 with steel shafts in the irons and $999 with graphite shafts in the irons. The steel offering will be the KBS 90, while the graphite offering will be the Motore 75 S, 65 R, 55 M, 50 L. Men’s irons are equipped with Tour Velvet grips, ladies with Winn grips). Availability begins at retail Thursday, September 1.

The San Diego Padres have converted their right field foul pole into a giant Taylormade R11 driver.  The shaft and grip weigh 960lbs and the head is displayed on the right field wall.

You’ll be able to see the new golf themed foul pole tonight as the Padres host the Phillies.

Taylormade’s recent R11 ad campaign took direct aim at the rest of the golf industry.  Well, Callaway has fired back.  In their new ad campaign, they claim that their new Razr Hawk driver (available on Friday, Feb 18th) is 6 yards longer than the R11.

Don’t think that Taylormade is taking this lying down though.  According to Bob Maggiore, vice president of global marketing for TaylorMade-adidas Golf:

Comparing the R11′s superior combination of adjustability technologies against their forged composite construction isn’t a fair fight-for Callaway. It’s odd that a once-proud company is resorting to tactics like this. It feels desperate. The R11 is the most technologically advanced driver we’ve ever created, with three adjustability technologies to optimize launch conditions and maximize your distance, none of which Callaway utilized in their comparison.

Anybody else think it’s interesting that Taylormade didn’t specifically dispute Callaway’s claim that the Razr Hawk is 6 yards longer than the R11?

Not wanting to be left out in the cold, Cobra took a slightly different angle of attack with a new ad featuring Big Break participant, Blair O’Neal:

Your move Callaway/Taylormade…

Taylormade is giving away 20k of their new Burner 2.0 6-irons.  All you have to do is go to their website and sign up for a chance to get one.  I’ve never even played a set of Taylormade irons but it’s free, so why not?

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR2ObO6OUv4

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnnlGOfIAIk

It’s finally here, Taylormade’s long awaited white-colored R11 Driver.  No, it’s not the first white headed driver on the market, but it will likely be the first one you can actually buy.

Looking past the color, the new R11 actually sports some cool new technology.  The face angle and loft can be adjusted independently.  The weighting can be adjusted via two weight ports on the sole.

Because of the extreme levels of adjustability, the driver will only be produced in 9 degree and 10.5 degree versions.  As an example, the 9 degree can be set up to have an open face, a draw weight bias and an effective loft of 10 degrees.  Or alternatively the same club could be set up to have an effective loft of 8 degrees, a closed face, and a fade bias.

You can pick yours up at your local pro-shop in February.

Every January, 40k golf industry professionals gather in Orlando to see the latest and greatest golf gear from over 1000 different vendors spread over 10 miles of aisles.  Unfortunately this event is closed to the public.  But fear not, because TMAG is offering  chance to attend the show as a VIP member of their brand team.

If you win, you’ll get free clothing and equipment as well as a free trip to Orlando to attend the show at the end of January.  And even if you don’t win, they’ll send you a discount code just for entering.  Sounds like a pretty cool deal to me.

The contest closes Jan 9, so head on over to their facebook page to enter, and maybe 72strokes will be seeing you at the show next month.

Rumors have been swirling for a while that David Duval would be moving on from Nike when his contract expires this year.  Today at the Viking Classic he was using a non-logo bag and a Taylormade R9 Superdeep Driver.  Duval is still listed on the Nike website, but since he is no longer gaming any Nike equipment or logos, the relationship seems to have ended.

No word yet on where he will end up (or possibly if he will go logo-less for while), but he’s using Scratch blades.  Could they be his next sponsor?  Would that sort of make Ryan Moore his boss?

Golfwrx member markheardjr recently got some range time in the with the newly announced Taylormade Burner 2.0 irons.  I generally don’t follow new Taylormade releases simply because it seems like they’ll replace it with the next model in about 6 months.  But in this case, previous model has been one of the best selling irons for past year.  It seemed to provide a good combination of distance and forgiveness.  And while Taylormade has a short release cycle, they do push the limits of technology in their clubs.  So how do you improve what is already a pretty solid iron?

You keep innovating like Taylormade has always done.  One of the main things they’re touting is that each clubface has a different thickness and COR in order to maximize distance.  Markheardjr’s experiences seem to bear this out as he found a 10 yd increase across the board vs his current R7TP’s (although the R7′s have weaker loft, the Burner 2.o’s he was demo’ing had shorter shafts).  Supposedly the kick points in the shafts are also optimized for each club to help with achieving the optimal trajectory.

I also have to admit that the finish on these irons is quite nice looking.  I wonder if Ping might ever consider going with a black powder-coated look on a set of irons?  The Burner 2.0 irons will go on sale on Oct 8 for $700 and $900 for steel and graphite shafts, respectively.  More pics from golfwrx below – including some compare shots to the R7 TP irons.

Golfwrx.com