It looks like Grand Strand resident Dustin Johnson is putting some new clubs in his bag for this week's FBR Open in Scottsdale, Ariz. He has been practicing with a new TaylorMade R9 driver that allows players to easily adjust or change shafts prior to a round, and was expected to replace his TaylorMade r7 Tour Burner with it this week.
The R9 incorporates TaylorMade's new Flight Control Technology as well as the Movable Weight Technology in the clubhead that was already popular in the r7 model. With a twist of a wrench, FCT allows players to change the R9's face angle, loft and lie angle. Despite only a soft tour launch by TaylorMade last week, the club won the driver count at the Bob Hope Classic when it was used by 13 players, including winner Pat Perez. Sergio Garcia, Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley also used it in the Qatar Masters. The R9 won't be available to the public until March.
Johnson was also considering adding a fourth wedge to his bag. He has been carrying wedges with lofts of 60, 54 and 48 degrees. He was contemplating entering this week’s FBR Open with wedges of 60, 56, 52 and 48 degrees. Johnson can hit his 48-degree pitching wedge 150 yards, and is often faced with approach shots shorter than that because of prodigious length off the tee.
``Because of his length we always talked about putting in some wedges and taking out the 3-iron because he may hit the 3-iron once a year,’’ said Johnson’s swing coach, Allen Terrell.
