Bag of the Day: Ian Poulter

Although most of the attention Ian Poulter gets is due to his loud clothing and twittering, he has quietly and steadily risen in the official World Golf Rankings. As of Monday, the 33-year-old is up to a career-high No. 12 with his recent win at the 2009 Barclays Singapore Open.

While there was controversy over Poulter being selected to join the 2008 European Ryder Cup, no one will be surprised if he earns a spot on the team competing at Celtic Manor next October.

Here is a list of the clubs Poulter currently has in his bag:

DRIVER: King Cobra ZL (9.5°) with a Fujikura 6.0 Motore Speeder X shaft
FAIRWAY WOOD: Titleist 909F2 (13.5°) with a Fujikura Rombax 7X07 shaft, Titleist 906F2 (18°) with a Grafalloy ProLite 35 shaft
HYBRID: Titleist 909H (19°) with an Aldila NV Hybrid 85 X shaft
IRONS: King Cobra Pro CB (4-7), Pro MB (8-PW) with True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shafts
WEDGES: Titleist Vokey Design Spin Milled (54°, 60°)
PUTTER: Rife Antigua
BALL: Titleist Pro V1x

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(Photo by Ian Walton/Getty Images)

Cobra Players Trying New ZL Driver at Liberty National

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Several top Cobra Golf staff players are currently testing the company's new adjustable-face ZL driver here at Liberty National. Among them are Geoff Ogilvy, Ian Poulter, Camilo Villegas and J.B. Holmes. In fact, Ogilvy and Villegas have both Tweeted about trying the club.

According to Brian Parker, Cobra's manager of tour promotions, Ogilvy saw the club as a prototype, but Tuesday was given the final product for the first time. The Aussie had been using a Cobra S9-1 Pro D (10.5°), but after just one afternoon's practice with a ZL (9.5) set 1° open with an Aldila RIP 80X shaft, he is planning to use the club this week in the Barclays Championship.

(Alidla's RIP shaft will be available in 2010.)

"The club is easier to draw and easier to fade [than the S9-1]," he said during his practice round this morning. "But it's harder to hit it really wide."

The ZL driver has a titanium face and body, but the crown is made from weight-saving carbon fiber. A weight plug—which is not adjustable—has been positioned on the lower-back portion of the club to increase the moment of inertia, lower the center of gravity and create a higher initial launch angle. Using an included torque wrench, the ZL driver will allow golfers to set the head into one of three different face angles – 1° open, square or 1° closed.

Cobra's ZL driver will be available to the public November 1.

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(Photo by David Dusek)

Ogilvy Successful With His New 3-Wood

MARANA, Ariz. — Four months before he won the 2006 U.S. Open, Geoff Ogilvy defeated Davis Love 4 and 3 to win the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. The following year, the Aussie advanced to the final before losing 3 and 2 to Henrik Stenson. On Friday, Ogilvy defeated Camilo Villegas 2 and 1 to advance to the quarterfinals of this season's event.

When I spoke with him this week on the range, Ogilvy said he made a tough equipment change last week at Riviera and started carrying a new Cobra S9-1 3-wood.

"The 3-wood is the hardest club in your bag to get right," he said. For most Tour players, the 3-wood is the only wood that needs to create the same launch conditions, and fly the same distance, both off the tee and from the fairway.

Ogilvy had been using a King Cobra X-Speed 3-wood. "It was awesome, and I could choke down on and do different stuff with it," he said. "It was quite versatile. The new one is very good, too."

For Ogilvy, who said he tends to create a lot of spin with his swing, finding just the right 3-wood is especially tough. "I tend to hit the ball high, but if I find a 3-wood that creates the flight that I want to see it tends to go too far because it doesn't have enough loft," he said.

That may sound like a nice problem to have, but for Ogilvy, it genuinely is cause for concern.

"I would be hitting it 300 with a driver, 280 with a 3-wood and 225 with a 2-iron. That's not right," he explained. That large distance gap between the 3-wood and 2-iron could put him in a bind on the course. "The balance for me is finding one that goes far enough for me to be happy, but not go too far."

Ogilvy had been testing the S9-1 on the range since the Mercedes Championship in January, an event he won. He admitted its performance has always been a little better than his old 3-wood, but, as he repeated, "It's just changing a club that is hard to change."

This week, Ogilvy also swapped out his King Cobra Pro CB Forged 2-iron and put in a 5-wood. The 5-wood's loft has been bent from 18° to 20° to help Ogilvy make the ball stop faster on the undulating greens of the Ritz-Carlton Course at Dove Mountain.

Here is a complete list of the clubs in Ogilvy's bag this week:

Driver:                       King Cobra S9-1 Pro D (10.5°) with Aldila VooDoo XVS8 shaft
Fairway woods:        King Cobra S9-1 Pro (15°, 20°) with Fujikura Sapphire shaft,
Irons:                         King Cobra Pro MB (3-9) with Royal Precision FCM Rifle 7.3 shafts
Wedges:                    Titleist Vokey Design (50°, 55°), Spin Milled (60°)
Putter:                      Scotty Cameron by Titleist Newport prototype
Ball:                          Titleist Pro V1 (2009)

Geoff Ogilvy Swing Sequence | GOLF Magazine Interview

(Photo by Chris Carlson/AP Photos)

Quest for a driver at the PGA Merchandise Show

By Gary Van Sickle

ORLANDO, Fla. -- I once wrote that Demo Day at the PGA Merchandise Show was the greatest day of the year. Maybe I exaggerated, but it's definitely in the top five and well ahead of Groundhog Day, Bring Your Dog to Work Day and Arbor Day.

At Demo Day, nearly all the major golf manufacturers set up stations around a gigantic 360-degree range at Orange County National. I was here to check out what's new in golf equipment for SI's Golf Plus, but I was also on a more selfish mission. My Cobra driver, which I've had for the last five or six years, passed away recently. The cause of death was a cracked face, and now I'm looking to make a new hire.

Over the years, I've developed a few rules for Demo Day. First, only three swings per club: I don't want my swing to adjust to a new club, and I need to pace my aging body so I can get around the whole circle. Second, don't make snap judgments. I've fallen in love with clubs at Demo Day only to be disappointed when I bought them. My search for a new driver is not over, but thanks to Demo Day, the field is narrowing.

Callaway was my first stop, where I picked up the new Big Bertha Diablo 9.5-degree neutral model and bashed three straight beauties without so much as a warmup, a pleasant surprise. The club has kind of an odd-looking back end, but that's OK. I also tried the FTiQ, which has a squarish, carved-out look, but no luck there.

Cobra and Titleist returned to the Show for the first time in several years. They were sorely missed. I thought maybe I could find a great-great-grandson of my late Cobra SZ440, which I liked because it felt like the ball jumped off the face. The Cobra S9-1 fit the bill. It had a nice look, not unlike the muscled top ridge of my old club. It's big, but the head's thickness tapers off at the back and looks less like a flying saucer than some previous models.

At the Titleist bays, I wore out the turf trying various versions of the 909 D2, 909 D3 and DComp. The D2 is a mid-launch club, the D3 is a low-launcher for high-ball hitters, and the DComp the highest launching version of the three. I liked the extra hang time on the DComp. I think that could be a winner.

The Mizuno MX 700 made me think of John Daly. I mean, heads are limited to 460 cc, but this thing just looks like it's been on a bacon-burger-and-beer diet. I clouted it pretty well, however, and I noticed it has a quieter sound than some previous Mizunos I've hit.

Powerbilt isn't a big player in golf, and I probably wouldn't have stopped there if it hadn't introduced a new Air Force driver, right, that features a chamber filled with nitrogen gas. The pressurized gas adds strength, allowing thinner walls and less weight. I tried two models. The rounder one, the PV (as in Player Version), wasn't bad. You can work the ball a little better if you're one of those few players who knows what direction the driver is headed.

But no three shots felt any better than the sleeve I pounded with the Adams Speedline. It's got a more traditional head shape and some interesting grid lines around its edges. This one definitely advances to the playoff round.

My last stop was Nike. The buzz at this year's show will likely revolve around Nike's new SQ Dymo S2 STR8-Fit driver, which can be adjusted to eight different loft-and-lie positions. This idea is the next innovation after last year's interchangeable-shaft clubs. I hit it reasonably well, and the adjustability makes a lot of sense. TaylorMade started this trend with its successful movable weights. Now we've evolved to adjustable loft and lie.

It's like buying the characteristics of eight different drivers. TaylorMade has a similar new driver but didn't attend Demo Day, so I didn't get a chance to try it out.

What's going to end up in my bag? I don't know yet, but I'm encouraged. In the past few years, I haven't been all that excited about the trend toward bigger and squarer heads. Nothing had proven itself superior to my old Cobra. But I could easily put any of these clubs in my bag and be happy. Thanks to Demo Day, I was able to check them all out in one afternoon.

(Photos: David Walberg/SI)

Geoff Ogilvy's Winning Clubs

Geoff Ogilvy won the PGA Tour's season-opening event, the Mercedes-Benz Championship, by six shots using a few clubs that were recently added to his bag.

Ogilvy put King Cobra's S9-1 Pro S driver into his bag for the first time. The Australian had previously been using a King Cobra Speed Pro D (9.5°). The S9-1, which will start appearing in pro shops in March, is based on the company's popular LD driver, but it is slightly shorter from front to back, as well as from heel to toe.

Ogilvy had been using a Scotty Cameron Newport putter with two 10-gram weight screws in the sole. But at Kapalua, Ogilvy used a prototype Scotty Cameron Newport that Titleist says is identical to the model he used to win the U.S. Open at Winged Foot in 2006. It is darker in color and does not have weights. Like his previous putter, it has a plumber's neck and traditional heel-toe weighting. Click on the image for a better look.

Here is a complete list of the clubs Ogilvy used during the Mercedes-Benz Championship.

Driver                     King Cobra S9-1 Pro S (9.5°)
Fairway wood        King Cobra X-Speed (15°)
Irons                       King Cobra Pro CB Forged (2), Pro MB (3-9)
Wedges                  Titleist Vokey Design (50°, 55°), Vokey Design Spin Milled (60°)
Putter                     Scotty Cameron by Titleist Newport prototype
Ball                         Titleist Pro V1 (2009 edition)

Take a look inside more PGA Tour winners' bags.

Photos: Ogilvy by Stan Badz/Getty Images; putter image provided by Titleist)

Cobra Releases the new L5V Driver

Cobra Golf has just released a new, adjustable-face driver in three versions, the L5V X, L5V F and L5V M. The X version is designed for players with a swing speed faster than 104 mph, the F is for players with a swing speed of 87-108, and the M is for players with a swing speed of 76-97.

According to the company, the face of the L5V is the largest ever made by Cobra, which should help to create a larger, more-forgiving sweetspot.

But one of the most-interesting features of the L5V is its ability to let golfers shift the angle of the face by adjusting the hosel. Using a wrench that comes with the L5V, golfers can adjust the hosel from a 0-position (factory spec) to a 1-position (1° more closed). Click on the image to see the club in the 0-position.

The face and body of the L5V are made from titanium, while the crown is made from an extremely light carbon composite material. The weight that would have been in the crown has been shifted down and farther back in the head to lower the center of gravity and increase the moment of inertia. These qualities should make it easier to hit higher drives with less spin for increased distance.

The Cobra L5V comes standard with a Mitsubishi Rayon Diamana Red Board shaft and has a suggested retail price of $480.

Camilo Villegas' Tour Championship Winning Clubs

Camilo Villegas broke through and won his first PGA Tour event at the BMW Championship in St. Louis. While many of the top players from the United States and Europe battled in the Ryder Cup, the Columbian superstar rested and worked on this game. Sunday he won his second Tour event, the season-ending Tour Championship, in a playoff over Sergio Garcia.

Here's a complete list of the clubs in Villegas' bag:

Driver:             Cobra L4V X (9°)
Fairway:          Cobra Speed LD (15.5°, 18°)
Irons:               Cobra Carbon CB (3), Cobra Pro CB (5-PW)
Wedges:          Titleist Vokey Spin Milled (54°, 58°, 60°)
Putter:             Titleist by Scotty Cameron GSS Circa '62 #6
Ball:                 Titleist Pro V1

(Photo by Fred Vuich/SI)

Ian Poulter's Ryder Cup clubs

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- There was controversy when Nick Faldo decided to use a captain's pick on Ian Poulter, instead of selecting Darren Clarke or Colin Montgomerie. However, his decision was vindicated by Poulter's outstanding and inspired play. In fact, Poulter's four points were the most earned by any player on either team.

Here are the clubs he had in his bag:

Driver:                     Cobra Speed Pro S (8.5°)
Fairway woods:       Cobra Speed Pro (15°, 18°)
Irons:                       Cobra Pro MB (3-PW)
Wedges:                   Titleist Vokey Design Spin Milled (54°, 60°)
Putter:                     Odyssey Tri Force 3

(Photo by Bob Martin/SI)

Camilo Villegas's BMW Championship winning clubs

Ever since his runner-up finishes in 2006 at the FBR Open and the Ford Championship at Doral, a lot has been expected of Colombia's Camilo Villegas. Blending power and creativity, pundits and competitors alike saw him as a potential force on the PGA Tour.

On Sunday, he put everything together and earned his first PGA Tour win at the BMW Championship. Villegas is primarily known for his bulging biceps and enormous drives, but his putting sealed the deal in St. Louis. He averaged a tournament-best 27 putts per round and just 1.608 putts per green in regulation despite a four-putt on the ninth hole during his second round.

Camilo's putter of choice is a specialized version of the Titleist by Scotty Cameron Circa '62 #6. The putter is heel-toe weighted with a back flange that is shaped like a B. (Click on the image for a closer look.)

His is unique because it is made from German stainless steel, which should make it feel softer than the standard model, which is made from carbon steel. Villegas also had lead tape on the bottom of the putter; many players prefer to use a heavier putter on wet, slow greens. Heavier putters can also help golfers develop a more rhythmic stroke.

According to Cobra Golf, here's a complete list of the clubs in Villegas' bag:

Driver:             Cobra L4V X (9°)
Fairway:          Cobra Speed LD (15.5°, 18°)
Irons:               Cobra Carbon CB (3), Cobra Pro CB (5-PW)
Wedges:           Titleist Vokey Spin Milled (54°, 58°, 63°)
Putter:             Titleist by Scotty Cameron GSS Circa '62 #6
Ball:                 Titleist Pro V1

(Photo by Jaime Squire/Getty Images)

J.B. Holmes's new driver and PGA Championship clubs

J.B Holmes has a new toy. The Kentucky native switched to a new driver just before the PGA Championship, a Cobra L4V X, which is intended for players with extremely high swing speeds. (Um, I think J.B. qualifies.)

For players who really pack a wallop, the LV4 X is designed to create a high-launch, low-spin drive that maximizes distance. The face has no bias, so skilled players should be able to work the ball with either a draw or a fade.

According to Cobra's Web site, these are the clubs that J.B. has in his bag at Oakland Hills:

Driver         Cobra L4V X (8 °) with an Aldilla Voodoo XVS8 shaft
Fairway      Cobra Speed LD-X Pro (13°, 18°)
Irons            Cobra Pro CB (3-PW)
Wedges       Titleist Vokey Design Spin Milled (54°, 60°)
Putter         Rife Barbados belly
Ball             Titleist Pro V1x

(Photo by Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images)