Westwood's 2009 British Open Clubs

Lee Westwood was in a tough spot on the 18th green Sunday.

He was one shot behind Tom Watson when he drove the ball into a fairway bunker and played a shot to the front of the green, leaving him a long putt. Not expecting Watson to bogey the last hole, he figured he needed to make birdie and played an aggressive putt that went past the hole and led to a three-putt bogey. A par, as it turned out, would have put him in the playoff.

"It was a tricky two-putt. I thought I had to hole it, to be honest," he said. "I didn't see Tom bogeying the last since he's such an experienced player."

The Englishman’s career has undulated as dramatically as the dunes that line the Ayrshire shoreline, and yesterday his round mirrored in microcosm his 15 years as a professional. After nine holes he stood two shots clear of the field and perfectly placed to bring a happy end to Paul Lawrie’s status as the last domestic winner of the Claret Jug, at Carnoustie in 1999.

It was not to be, as a series of uncharacteristic errors from tee and fairway were punished heavily on the road home. Four dropped shots on the back nine, three of them in the final four holes, left him a single shot from joining the play-off between Tom Watson and Stewart Cink and ruing an opportunity squandered.

Westwood, who was trying to become the first Englishman to win the British since Nick Faldo in 1992, also bogeyed the 16th hole to fall out of a first-place tie with Watson.

"I've gone from frustration to sickness now," said Westwood, whose 1-under 71 left him at 1-under 279.

The key to playing well at Turnberry is to find the fairways, and through three rounds of the 2009 British Open, England's Lee Westwood has done a great job of that. Finding the short grass on nearly 76% of his drives has helped him hit almost 81% of the greens in regulation.

Here is a complete list of the clubs Westwood is using at Turnberry:
DRIVER: Ping G10 Driver(9°) with Aldila prototype XNV6 shaft 
FAIRWAY WOOD: Ping Rapture V2 (14°) with UST V2 76 X shaft
IRONS: Ping i10 (2-PW) with Ping JZ shafts 
WEDGES: Ping Tour W (54°, 58°) with Ping JZ shafts
PUTTER: Ping Redwood Anser
BALL: Titleist Pro V1x

Westwood’s Bag at the 2011 U.S. Open

Lee Westwood has for many years been one of Europe’s finest golfers and is probably, like Sergio Garcia, most famous for his Ryder Cup heroics rather than his individual success. Lee began to play golf aged 13 which is quiet late the current generation of professional golfers. With a half set bought by grandparents his father John took up the game at same time to give his son encouragement. As an amateur he won the British Youth Championship in 1993 and turned professional the same year. He is not only a talented golfer having played rugby, soccer and cricket to a high standard at school. He is one of the few golfers who have won tournaments on every continent, including victories on the European Tour and the PGA Tour. He won his first professional tournament - the Volvo Scandinavian Masters in 1996 and has since won another 18 times on the European Tour. The 2000 season on the European Tour was his most successful season. 

Colin Montgomerie believes it is now or never for Lee Westwood if he is to win a major championship.

Europe’s last Ryder Cup captain, five times a runner-up in the majors but never a winner, looked ahead to the start of the US Open at Congressional today and said: ‘I do think these next eight majors leading up to Lee’s 40th birthday are critical.

‘If he could just get over the line I could see him winning three or four but he has to get over the line quickly or the danger is, like myself, it will not happen. People often compare Lee to myself and I know better than anyone how much harder it gets.’

Westwood took his range from as far as the greens but could not reproduce the putting display of Saturday. His birdie putt at the second stopped short and seemed to upset his rhythm. A bogey at the par-five sixth drained his momentum and from there he cut a marginal figure.

What’s in his Bag?

DRIVER: Ping G10 Driver(9.0°) with a Aldila PGA Tour Only Prototype XNV6 shaft
FAIRWAY WOOD: Ping i15 (14°) with a UST Mamaya V2 76X shaft, Rapture V2 (19°) with Aldila NV75 Xshaft
IRONS: Ping i10 (3-PW) with Ping JZ stiff shafts
WEDGES: Ping Tour-W (54°, 58°) with Ping JZ stiff shafts
PUTTER: Ping Anser 0
BALL: Titleist Pro V1x

Ping G10 Green Dot Irons 3-9WS Review

    Ping G10 Green Dot Irons are fit for golfers of medium and high handicap. They have the following characteristics. The perimeter weight of Ping G10 Irons has been increased to the highest limit. With more weight on perimeter and toe, PING engineers designed the G10 head with higher MOI to provide higher forgiveness for higher and straighter flight orbit. The grooves of Ping G10 Irons are parallel with ground and help move more weight to head perimeter in order to produce high MOI for the highest forgiveness. These Ping irons adopted the entirely new CTP design. The use of softer material by CTP enlarges the contact area with clubhead to provide more stable stroke and better hitting feel. Meanwhile, it can make up the effect caused by off-center hits for golfers. The center of gravity has been improved. The center of gravity location is lower and further from face, creating higher launch angle when hitting without increasing backspin for better distance control.

    Ping G10 Green Dot Irons increased face offset to create the best spin and launch angle. Long irons have more offset for straighter flight orbit and higher launch angle while short irons have less offset for better control. The polished frosted surface can produce low reflex and is very durable. TFC129F shaft is exclusively designed for Ping’s G10 series. It adopted ultra-light material and improved the shaft weight, flex and torque. The combination of these technologies provides the optimal launch angle, control and hitting feel, and increases head speed for more distance. The graphite shaft is eye-catching for its distinctive orange color. The oval hosel connector can decrease shaft fracture rate and enhance hitting feel. It is also anti-vibration.

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Ping G10 Iron Set Review

The Ping G10 irons always provide golfers with stability and reliance, and added the modern design, so there is nothing to pick fault. With the large, perimeter-weighted head design, the Ping G10 iron features increased MOI and added forgiveness and consistency, which help to get more ideal hits. By using the Custom Tuning Port (CPT) technology, the G10 iron owns stabilized face for consistent distance control. The CPT enlarges the contact area with clubhead, which benefits the hitting with stable and solid feel, at the same time to correct the effect when offset the sweet area. In addition, the center of gravity is positioned away from the face and low in the club head to promote higher launching, lower spinning shots and better control. An elastomer CTP insert helps control vibration for a solid feel.

Many testers find that Ping G10 iron set owns these characters: the clubs feel good. For the mid-to high-handicapper or casual player, these are very forgiving and are very consistent, a little hard to work the draw, but not a bid deal, less forgiving than the Callaway X24s, but more-so than the Burner 2.0s or R9s. If you are low handicapper, you will be looking for more blade one, but for everyone else, these are great value set. The big sweet spot these irons have is ideal for every golfer. This is an outstanding set of irons and it is worthy to be recommended. The sale price made the purchase even better.

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Ping G10 Black Dot Irons 3-9WS Review

    Ping G10 Black Dot Irons are fit for golfers of medium and high handicap. They have the following characteristics. The perimeter weight of Ping G10 Irons has been increased to the highest limit. With more weight on perimeter and toe, PING engineers designed the G10 head with higher MOI to provide higher forgiveness for higher and straighter flight orbit. The grooves of Ping G10 Irons are parallel with ground and help move more weight to head perimeter in order to produce high MOI for the highest forgiveness. These Ping irons adopted the entirely new CTP design. The use of softer material by CTP enlarges the contact area with clubhead to provide more stable stroke and better hitting feel. Meanwhile, it can make up the effect caused by off-center hits for golfers. The center of gravity has been improved. The center of gravity location is lower and further from face, creating higher launch angle when hitting without increasing backspin for better distance control.

    Ping G10 Black Dot Irons increased face offset to create the best spin and launch angle. Long irons have more offset for straighter flight orbit and higher launch angle while short irons have less offset for better control. The polished frosted surface can produce low reflex and is very durable. TFC129F shaft is exclusively designed for Ping’s G10 series. It adopted ultra-light material and improved the shaft weight, flex and torque. The combination of these technologies provides the optimal launch angle, control and hitting feel, and increases head speed for more distance. The graphite shaft is eye-catching for its distinctive orange color. The oval hosel connector can decrease shaft fracture rate and enhance hitting feel. It is also anti-vibration.

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PING G10 Fairway Wood Review

This PING G10 Fairway Wood Review mainly focuses on the features of this new Ping G10. The oblate head design provides a much lower center of gravity. Low CG design provides far, high and straight hits. The improved face design provides PING designers with saved weight, so designers can place saved weight at key place to produce higher launch angle. The wide weight gathering block with a weight accounting for 23% of the whole club weight is placed on sole, near the clubface. This can lower center of gravity to achieve higher ball speed and lower spin for the longest distance. The head crown design of PING G10 Fairway Wood also contributes to great performance. Through the head stress analysis, PING designers made the non-force area on head top thinner which saved 4g weight and the saved weight was positioned at weight-gathering block inside the clubhead. PING G10 also adopted special sole design. The head providing optimal trajectory is flatter than previous models, making sole more closed to ground to inspire golfers’ confidence at address. It is also easier to launch ball, transfer power for high launch angle and more distance.

The next is the Variable Face Thickness design. This thick center and thin edge design can produce high ball speed, and at the same time make clubface more durable, helping golfers achieve excellent performance. G10 Fairway Wood is attached with TFC129F shaft exclusively designed for G10 series by PING. This shaft adopted ultra-light material and has been improved on aspects of shaft weight, flex and torque. The combination of these technologies enhances head speed and distance, creates the best launch angle, better control, consistency and hitting feel. There are some other shaft options including Prolaunch Red designed by Grafalloy and High Launch 75 shaft designed by UST. The former can decrease launch angel and spin while the latter can increase launch angle and spin. The 703 grip of G10 provides softer hand feel and stronger durability.

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