Spoon to the rescue…
Low lofted fairway woods don’t have to be hard to hit. In Japan, most golfers don’t call these fairway woods by their number ie “3 wood”, they say “spoon”. Hence the name EGG Spoon from PRGR. These so called spoons rival your driver in distance and are made to be silly easy to hit off the fairway or the tee. I would have to say that the EGG Spoon is my number one performing club as it saves me with a long second shot that nearly equals my driver in distance. Spoon’s aren’t just for average golfers though but for anyone who wants a mini driver off the grass or rough including pros like Shingo Katayama and Hideto Tanihara who both carry the EGG Spoon in their bags. Soon PRGR won’t be the only one offering a hot Spoon to Japanese consumers.
FricOff… no its not a swear word.
Yamaha has decided to enter the Spoon picture and add the new Inpres D Power Spoon to their standard Inpres fairway wood lineup. The new 2010 Spoon shares some features of the Inpres D Fairway wood like the Fric Off sole I spoke about earlier this year in the blog, a slight hump in the leading edge of the club that is the only point to make contact with the ground at impact thus reducing friction that slows down your swing speed.
43.5″ long and 208cc head?!?!
The Power Spoon is made of precision 6-4 Ti all around. This thin and lightweight Ti allows for the sole to have an incredible 72g of tungsten weighting creating optimal launch and spin. The weights are purposely not placed far back in the head to keep a balanced CG and launch with lower spin. Note the 43.5″ length and 208cc head size. This is no compact fairway wood nor does it pretend to be. This clubs is made to produce confidence and has one purpose in mind, DISTANCE and it is designed to perform. At address it looks nearly like a 350cc driver as the head is long from face to back and features a rather shallow face.
The Spoon is made in Japan and is only available in one loft 15* and has a slightly closed 0.5* face angle. It features the new multi kickpoint Orbit shaft that really squares the face to the ball at impact. This is a mid kicking shaft and also rather lightweight which makes the entire club feel like a little driver at just under 310g. Interestingly the lie is rather flat which may appeal to some better golfers who are always looking for flatter lie FW’s. The Power Spoon has a lie of 57.5* which is even flatter than the pro model Inpres V FW.
The new Power Spoon will launch literally on December 5th and TSG should have the pre orders for this club soon. We hope to also get our demos in for some testing and real live pics!
Perhaps it is time that I dig up my original PRGR Spoon from years ago. It is a very low profile FW but the R flex shaft was so whippy that I keep slicing the ball. The shaft is also long hence requires a different type of swing vs. a small head FW. A reshaft with a mid kick like the Bassara Hawk might do the trick.
The Yamaha FW’s have been speced to upright for me in the past which is why I have not tried one. I have even tried to have the factory bend one down a bit flatter with no luck. Glad to see a flatter lie with this club. If I didn’t have an Egg in the bag already I’d be all over this.
What would the benefit of a flatter lie be, if your swing or static factors like height or the length of your arms does not specifically call for it?
It certainly looks good in the pictures though, much better than the PRGR which I have a hard time with looks wise.
Also, wouldn’t the longer shaft make it harder to square the club?
For some who have a flatter swing plane, the flatter lie provides better contact with the turf for fairway woods. It does really depend on the swing. I did not like the looks of the EGG at first but its performance has well made up for its looks. I thought it would be much better without that egg of a red dot alignment mark but I think it is good being there.
You know I agree with you about squaring the club with longer shafts. I am a fan of shorter lengths but Yamaha thinks that golfers will be able to square this club even at this length and create the distance the Power Spoon intends.
Thanks for the answer =)
I know, performance has a way of making you disregard other factors like looks :D
mmmmm not my bag, but obviously it will be a great tool for the target market. To me its neither a driver nor a 3 wood and wouldn’t out perform either at each specific task. I do like the look of other PRGR and Yamaha equipment though.
Great can’t wait to try it. As a Yamaha fan and short, I feel this flatter lie with allow me into their FWs. I have the driver and irons, so this will help complete my bag.