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)

Geoff Ogilvy's prototype putter and winning clubs

Geoff Ogilvy is one of the most down-to-Earth and approachable major champions around. Instead of a having high-end courses or an exotic resort's logo on his bag, you'll find the logo of Mojo Pies, a meat pie business he is involved in with fellow Scottsdale-based tour pro Tim Clark. Enough said.

During my 20-minute conversation with him on the range at the Ritz-Carlton Course at Dove Mountain this week, we talked at length about his equipment. I wondered if he would be willing to discuss his prototype Scotty Cameron for Titleist putter — the same putter he used to win the 2006 U.S. Open — and as it turned out, he was very open about it.

"Scotty [Cameron] made me two or three that are exactly the same from black carbon steel, so they won't rust," he said as he chewed a protein bar. "The one I won with at Winged Foot got a big rusty and manky, and by the end of the year [2006] it got a few rusty patches on it that I didn't like. I got him to refinish it, so I now have three. Placing it next to the other two, I can't tell which is which."

The putter itself is a Newport, and while Ogilvy says that he sometimes tries other putters, he never strays from that shape.

"It's always been a Newport of some sort," he said. "I have varied the metals sometimes just to get a different look, a different feel. I used stainless steel for a while, I tried a charcoal mist for a while."

He notices a slightly different feel from metal to metal but said, "After a day or two it feels like your putter again because they all look so similar."

In Ogilvy's mind, putting with a slightly different flat stick is a way to stay enthusiastic. He is a believer in the "new putter theory" — everyone putts great with a new putter.

"Your central nervous system enjoys change," he told me. "The new putter theory is not BS, that's a fact and it works for everyone. So sometimes if my putting feels a bit flat, I'll change putters, but it's not like I'm completely changing putters. I just want to look at something new, something fresh. People might think you are just trying to escape all the bad karma in your other putter, but your brain likes change and it gets you excited about putting again."

Results like he enjoyed in Arizona should help him stay excited about his putting for a long time.

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)

Take a look inside more PGA Tour winners' bags.

(Photo by Chris Carlson/AP)
 

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)

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)