Time to unleash the monster

Someone once remarked to me after watching me drive errantly off the tee that, "Golf isn't rocket science. What's with that swing?" Ever since that humiliating moment, I've been searching for ways to improve my swing. What I have learned is that sometimes it is, indeed, rocket science.

So it was with much interest that I followed the dev-elopment of golf's latest technology. The new generation of square-head golf drivers and woods that promise longer distance and greater accuracy. Who wouldn't want greater distance, translating into middle-of-the-fairway shots, boosting your confidence and lowering your score? I did. After all, didn't K.C. Choy win the Chrysler Championship with the Nike model square head?

So, during a recent visit to a sporting goods store, where there were several breeds of this club on sale, I picked a model that offered the only left-handed version. It's huge, a 460cc club head, titanium clubface, graphite shaft, 10.5 degrees of loft, a true monster. Even though I might have gone overboard, even with the sale price, it was still much cheaper than lessons. I compromised.

The theory of this technology is based on Moment of Inertia, or MOI. The physics of the square-head driver are basic. More weight is placed to the back and outside of the club to reduce twisting of the club on off-center hits. However, I needed more information.

I turned to an outfit named Space Electronics. Space Electronics provides products, testing equipment and measuring tools to high-tech businesses and has been working with golf club manufacturers for more than 35 years to measure the moment of inertia and center of gravity of golf club heads.

Space Electronics defines MOI as a "club head's resistance to twisting. It is a strong indication of the forgiveness of a club head, that is, the extent to which a good result can be achieved from a less than ideal contact with the ball." Furthermore, "increases to MOI could reduce the challenge of the game by reducing the skill required to hit the ball straight."

So far, so good!

And now for the rocket science. The USGA imposes a limit on maximum MOI of golf clubs. The limit is on MOI around the vertical axis through the club head center of gravity. The maximum allowed MOI was recently revised upward to 5,900 g-cm2 with a tolerance of +/- 100 g-cm2. Manufacturers have to be inside this tolerance or the clubs will be declared illegal. Armed with this tech information and my new square head, it was time to put all this new, high-tech knowledge to the test.

Of course, it was cold and windy. Not a problem. Conventional wisdom allows that playing in the wind is a little more challenging than on a calm day. And I was ready to test this miracle-club technology.

To minimize our time in the elements, we played at Eagle Crest Golf Club in the Sun City Summerlin community. Billy Casper and Greg Nash designed the course, and it's an executive-length course, featuring six par 4s and 12 par 3s. Just enough to test-drive the new driver.

Eagle Crest is located in probably the highest point in Las Vegas and affords spectacular views of the valley and the Strip. This afternoon, however, the elevation added to the already brisk breeze. The good news, the course is designed to play in three hours and offers plenty of challenges to all levels of golfers.

The front nine features water hazards that affect four holes. The par-4 first hole is a straight shot, bordered on the left with traps requiring an accurate tee shot to stay out of trouble. It is a par 4, 327-yard hole, and offered the first opportunity to use my new square head Intech driver.

The wind was blowing left to right, and being left-handed, I lined up my drive to the left side of the fairway. Perfect take-away, rotation and downswing sent the ball rocketing down the left edge and into the rock rough some 225 yards. The wind didn't blow it back in.

"Not bad," I said to my friend. "The first shot of the new year and I'm open to the green."

The 347-yard, par-4 fifth hole is bordered with water on the right, and with sand traps on the right again required accuracy. This yielded the best drive of the day with the Intech. Down the left side about 250 yards. This time, the wind helped to blow the ball into perfect position.

A little more than three hours later, our round was finished. We nearly shot the temperature, not counting the wind-chill factor.

I will play Eagle Crest again. It saves time, it saves money, and it saves strokes. All that and a testing round of golf.

Rates are $40 before noon; $30 after noon, with a Thursday special of only $25.

The jury is still deliberating on the Intech square head.

John Asay is a local golfer and freelance writer. Contact him at jasay@reviewjournal.com.