Blog 92, 1/19/11 - Aerotech Making Putter Shafts For Zen Oracle, Lake Padden WGT Standings

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The F-360 Resonance

Chris Hilleary, President and CEO of Aerotech Golf Shafts, announced today that the technology used in the creation of the company's best-selling SteelFiber shaft is now being used by putter manufacturer Zen Oracle in its line of Zen RDE putters. The shaft Hilleary developed specifically for the RDE is the Zen F-360 Resonance which, he says, possesses all the advantages of the SteelFiber and offers a perfect complement for putter performance. "The F-360 Resonance harmonizes the exceptional frequency obtained from the patented Zen RDE micro-ridge face technology, giving rise to an entirely new division within the putter and club fitting sector," he adds.
As the SteelFiber does so impressively in irons and hybrids, the F-360 Resonance combines the lightness of graphite with the stability of steel. "All-graphite shafts have certainly been tried in putters, but it doesn't really work," says Hilleary. "It's just too unstable which is no good for putting obviously. In order to make a reliable graphite putter shaft, the walls would need to be five times thicker than normal. So we can make a light and very stable putter shaft with a fifth the material thanks to the ultra-fine steel fiber."
The RDE putter collection consists of blade and mallet models featuring Zen Oracle's patented face ridges which, it says, reduce the adverse effect of dimples on a putting green (indeed, RDE stands for Reduced Dimple Error). "It’s a fact; the dimples on a modern golf ball can actually force the ball off line," the company says on its web site. "That makes it possible to miss from just 5 feet! (miss from just five feet? You're joking right?). "The Zen ‘RDE’ putterface ensures that every putt you hit has a perfect delivery that runs true and rolls straight to the target."
Zen Oracle spokesman Scott Minton says that using the Aerotech-designed shaft in the RDE putter has helped expand the reach of the product. "The weight of the shaft coupled with the ability to still receive feedback from the putterhead has proven to be a winning combination,"he adds. "The response from PGA Tour Players, amateurs and weekend golfers has been exceptional. We feel like the shaft has given us a distinct advantage over our competitors and we look forward to continuing to promote the shafts in our full putter line".

The 1-2-3 on the Lake Padden Winter Golf Tour points list after four events is 1. Mike Hatfield on 440 points 2. Mike Moreno on 430 3. Craig Johnson on 420. The next event - the Front-Middle-Back - is this coming Saturday (Jan 22nd). Play six holes from the front tees, six from the middle and six from the back to deviously-located pins. Check out the proposed pin sheet here. That's a nasty position at the 4th, and it'll be a fine shot that gets close at the 10th too. The 16th appears to be the only hole whose cup is cut nearer the middle of the green than the edge. Should be fun!

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Love (right) was an assistant captain in Wales.
No surprise that Davis Love III was named the US Ryder Cup Captain for the 2012 matches at Medinah CC in Chicago earlier today. Love, the 1997 PGA Champion, says the subject of his captaincy first came up with PGA officials during last year's championship at Whistling Straits, and that he and Corey Pavin, the 2010 Captain, discussed the role a good deal at Celtic Manor in Wales. Love will go up against Jose Maria Olazabal who was named European Captain on Tuesday. The pair met three times in the 1993 matches at the Belfry in England - Love teaming with Tom Kite, Olazabal with Seve Ballesteros (the Spaniards won two matches, the US pair one). Check out Jason Sobel's excellent Q&A with Love on espn.com here.

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