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Ping S56 Irons First Look!
New Ping S56 irons were spotted today at Pebble Beach and posted on the official Ping Twitter page.  At first sight it's design shares many of the same aesthetic cue's as the new Ping Tour S Wedges that we showed you in Feb from the Tokyo Golf Show. Ping staffers are just now getting their hands on the new Ping S56 Irons and you can expect to see them put  into play shortly.

The  Ping S56 Irons will feature a tungsten toe weight very much like the previous S57 model. It also appears to have a similar thermoplastic urethane insert and tuning slot which enhances feel at impact.  At this point very little is known about the new S56 as spy pics are just popping up all over the web now.  I can only assume it's made of 17-4 stainless steel and designed with a firm elastomer insert.  Expect a thin top line and narrow sole to produce a mid/low trajectory.

Angel Cabrera's new Ping Tour S Wedge was also spotted in the Ping Tour Van and posted on Ping's twitter page sporting a hot new copper finish, this is the first we have seen of the Tour S in this finish and we think it looks great!  Stay tuned for more info about the new upcoming 2010 Ping Products!

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6 years ago Tiger Wood's backup putter sold for a whopping 40,000 USD in Japan to an anonymous buyer, It was identical to what he uses on tour even till this day. When scotty cameron does Tour Prototype's Japan gets the most limited Items and for good reason. People are willing to pay for something unique or rare. In the high end golf world and for folks in Japan who are dead serious about the game owning a putter of high quality and respect is like owning a quality wrist watch.

Very Expensive!
Now enter the Tiger woods U.S Open 2002 GSS Replica putter and for only a meer 25,000 USD it can be yours.  Everything is setup as Tiger's putter should be except the only difference is the special stamping on the sole unlike Tiger's model that sports a smooth blank area. 

GSS ( German Stainless Steel )
Made of GSS this putter used to be an actual backup that was then engraved with location, player score, model and course on the sole.

Now there has been some Tiger Wood's replica putters in the USA available but not many with the verticle scotty stamping or specific details like this one has. If anyone is interested in sourcing this rare putter please let us know we can make it available.

We have Images of Tiger's actual gamer if you Click Here or Keep Reading...

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If you tuned in to even a single round of the wet, soggy and delayed golf that made up the U.S. Open, you most likely saw a few surprising things.  The most surprising of all being that a vast majority of the Pros taking part in the tournament pulled out their long irons from their bag and replaced them with any number of hybrids.  Due to the wet grass, the soft greens, and even the rain falling from the sky, they needed shots that flew high and landed softly.  For all of you purists, looks like those irons are going to be going directly back into the bag next week at Turnberry for the British Open.

Scotland = Wind

That's right, the course, Turnberry's Ailsa Course in Scotland, is notorious for being extremely windy, and given those conditions and the high trajectory that a hybrid inherently brings, looks like Paul Casey, and others are going to be dropping the woods for their long irons, anywhere from 1-3.  According to Paul Casey's Twitter account:

"Thinking the 5 wood will be coming out and the 2 iron will be making a guest appearance for the Open. No other changes."

Casey Going with Nike Pro Combo OS

When asked by members of golf.com what 2 iron that would be, he responded with a simple: "Still the Nike Pro Combo OS. I have 2 or 3 of them that I'm hanging on to."  Interesting.

What Pros Will Go Irons?

It will be interesting to see what other professional golfers on the PGA Tour will opt out of the hybrid realm and directly back into the long irons that dominated the tour before the hybrid craze took over.  Given the windy conditions, I fully expect the majority of the players to be hitting long irons, and even far less fairway woods unless the distance demands it.  Whatever the case will be, we can't wait to see how Turnberry plays this time around!

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If you tuned into the U.S. Open on Monday, you witnessed probably the calmest, coolest and all around most laid-back U.S. Open winners in the history of the sport walk off with one of golf's biggest trophies.  Lucas Glover took home the championship in smooth form, and his humble, chilled-out personality was a strangely welcome addition to an event that's usually dominated by drama, emotion and fist-pumping action.

Lucas Glover's Winning Clubs

So what did Lucas Glover accomplish this amazing feat, and only his second PGA tour win in his career with?  What clubs did he trust to remain that calm down the back stretch?  Lucky for all of us, we found out exactly what was in his quiver as he cooly tackled the rain-soaked and often rain-delayed Bethpage Black course.  Looks like Nike dominates his bag and represents every single club and even his golf ball.  Not suprising.  Nevertheless, here are the clubs he chose to win it all:

DRIVER: Nike SQ Sumo2 Tour (9.5°) with Matrix Apache Ozik shaft
FAIRWAY WOODS: Nike SQ II (13°, 19°)
IRONS: Nike CCI Forged (3-PW)
WEDGES: Nike SV Tour (52°, 60°)
PUTTER: Nike prototype
BALL: Nike ONE Tour D

Prototype Putter Wins it for Glover

The interesting thing about his putter, however, is that it's a prototype putter that reports are saying is very similar to the putters that Paul Casey, Trevor Immelman, Michelle Wie, Justin Leonard and Stewart Cink are all playing.  It apparently has these red ribs along the face that supposedly reduce the amount of skidding on the green when you hit the ball, allowing the ball to roll faster and straighter.  Looks like it worked pretty well, considering the fact he only had one three-putt the entire tournament.  On a course like Bethpage, that's an achievement in and of itself.

Congrats to Lucas Glover

Congratulations Lucas Glover, well played, well executed and well-handled.  Great to watch.

(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

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Callaway PM Prototype Hybrid

Golf.com's David Dusek confirmed while speaking with Callaways lead designer Roger Cleveland that Phil Mickelson is using a new PM Prototype Hybrid this week at the U.S open.  Although its still in prototype phase Phil himself provided a lot of input in its build.

Previously Phil was using Callaway Golf's FT Hybrid off and on depending on the tournaments course venue.

Roger Cleveland did not devulge any specifics on the club, its design, or the technologies used but Mickleson did speak to reporters saying:

"This is a special club I actually made, taking the back part of the hybrid out so that I can open it way up and get through that thick rough."

Of course its far to early to confirm if this club will make it into retail release but it was still a great find by David Dusek and we felt is was worthy to report on.
 

It looks pretty good to me, very simple from what we can see from the small image, I can barely make out the word's Callaway & Prototype on it.  By what Phil Mickleson is saying it appears the logic is somewhat similar to a wedge with trailing edge releif to help him open it up. That makes good sense if you plan on being in the rough a lot.

DRIVER: Callaway FT-9 (7.5°) Tour hosel with Mitsubishi Fubuki 73 X shaft
FAIRWAY WOOD:  Callaway Big Bertha Diablo (15°) with Mitsubishi Fubuki 83 X shaft
HYBRID: Callaway PM prototype (18°) with Mitsubishi Diamana Thump X shaft
IRONS: Callaway X Forged (3-4), Callaway X Proto (5-9) with Rifle Project X 7.0 shafts
WEDGES: Callaway X Tour Forged (56°, 60°, 64°) with Rifle Project X 7.0 shafts
PUTTER: Odyssey White Hot XG #9 Blade
BALL: Callaway Tour ix

(Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)