Equipment Insider: Scott gets big win with understated driver

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Each week in the Equipment Insider, Adam Barr -- PGATOUR.COM's equipment columnist -- will provide breaking news, notes and analysis focused on PGA TOUR players. Adam will also appear in video segments for PGATOUR.COM.

No matter how you spin it, Adam Scott looked like a player reborn with his win at the Valero Texas Open. And how he spins it -- or doesn't -- had a lot to do with it.

Adam Scott did big things with his Titleist driver, which is a little smaller than maximum size.

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Scott, who has always arrived at his moments of excellence in an understated way, is just plain... quiet. Reporters lean forward to make sure they don't miss a soft-spoken word. Any obvious enthusiasm from Adam tends to come from his clubs -- or rather, what he does with them.

So it's no surprise that his bag is also understated and classic. The driver, a Titleist 909D3, is a classic pear shape that's actually 20 cubic centimeters smaller than the 460 cc maximum allowed by the Rules of Golf. The head is all titanium and the face is deep, which helps reduce spin. Compared with the other two Titleist models (909D2 and 909DCOMP), this is the mid-launch model.

The face, which seems to be an area of high competition among designers, is milled on the inside with thicker, trapezoid-shaped rings surrounded by thinner areas. Titleist engineers use this configuration to increase ball speed.

Scott's shaft choice in the driver (as well as the 3-wood and hybrid) is the UST Proforce V2, the tour version of which is on the heavy side. That makes sense for hyperfast tour swing speeds. But these are also very low-torque shafts. Traditionally, the absence of twisting can yield a boardy feel in low-torque shafts. But UST has been working hard to incorporate some "give" into the feel while keeping the twisting to a minimum. Recreational players take note: too little twist could rob yardage and straightness; we simply don't get the club going as fast as tour players.

Scott continues the understated, classic approach with his Titleist 710MB irons (the muscle back kind) and three Vokey wedges. The golf ball was a Pro V1.

DELICATE BALANCE: Busy as he was at Valero (where he co-designed the golf course with Greg Norman), Sergio Garcia still had time to work with the TaylorMade-adidas Golf staff to counterbalance his irons. Seems El Nino had been putting lead tape under the grips (!) of his clubs to reduce the swing weight to the point where he hardly feels the weight of the head during the swing. It's just something he prefers; word is Jack Nicklaus used to do something similar.

The TMaG tour van staff scoured the world of golf for a more permanent solution, finally finding some plugs that could be inserted into the grip end of the shaft, under the grip, so Sergio could get the weighting he wanted without any bumpiness under his hands. The devices worked, and word was that Sergio (or at least his clubs) were walking on air.

The new Miura K Grind features a distinct fluted trailing edge.

SAMURAI SHORT GAME: Golf club enthusiasts have long considered the work of Miura Golf, a father-and-sons firm from Himeji, Japan, as the highest expression of the club maker's art. Katsuhiro Miura and his sons sit on low stools at grinding wheels, handcrafting the forgings that have earned the devotion of many multiple-major champions, no matter who they may have a contract with. Himeji is the ancient seat of samurai sword making in Japan, and Miura-san and his sons prefer to think of themselves as extensions of that centuries-old craft.

Not that there isn't innovation in the mix. The latest from Miura is the K Grind wedge, which features the fluted trailing edge you see here. The design works especially well out of wet sand, says Miura-san, and reduces the chance of heavy contact on longer bunker shots. The bouncy design helps in the rough, but the leading edge is sculpted enough to make good contact from less gnarly lies as well, Miura-san says.