Winner’s Bag: Carl Pettersson at The Canadian Open

DRIVER: Nike Victory Red Tour (11.5) with a Fujikura Six shaft FAIRWAY WOODS: TaylorMade Burner (14.5) with a Graphite Design YS6 shaft HYBRID: Mizuno Fli-Hi CLK (20) with an Aldila NV Hybrid shaft IRONS: Nike Pro Combo (4), Victory Red Split Cavity (5-PW) with True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 shafts WEDGES: Nike Victory Red (49, 55, 60) with True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 shafts PUTTER: Odyssey White Hot XG #7 Long BALL: Nike ONE Tour See-Try-Buy: Learn more about

Time to buy new wedges, even if you don’t need them

With much of the United States now sizzling in the dog days of summer, only a fool would be thinking about his plans for New Year's Day. Yet here I sit, grateful to the genius who invented air conditioning, thinking about Jan. 1, 2011. And if you need all the help you can get pitching, chipping and blasting the ball from greenside bunkers, you should be thinking about Jan. 1 as well. Golf club manufacturers will not be able to produce, sell or ship wedgesor any other club with a loft of 25 or greaterwith large volume grooves after Dec. 31, 2010. Players on the PGA Tour have already been banned from using the large-volume grooves in competition. Top-level amateurs will need to switch by 2014. But the vast majority of recreational players can continue to use the old, large-volume groove clubs until 2024, including in rounds posted for used for handicap purposes. Golf Magazine and its equipment-testing partner, Hot Stix , recently compared the performance differences between the new grooves and the old grooves . If you are a player who tends to miss greens, the findings might induce goose bumps. Wedges with pre-2010 grooves generate, on average, 48 percent more spin from the rough than 2010 wedge grooves. So, as I wrote in this blog one year ago , I'm planning to create a stockpile of wedges that have those wonderfully big, razor-sharp grooves and stash them in my closet. The way I see it, USGA officials are more concerned with limiting the pros' bomb-and-gouge tactics than curtailing my weekend enjoyment. They created a loophole for golfers like you and me, so we should legally exploit it to the fullest. Take a look at the results of ClubTest 2010: Wedges again, talk with your local PGA professional, and then meet with a good clubfitter. This summer you'll be able to buy a wedge with any loft and bounce combination you like; in December, as supplies dwindle, getting the exact club you want might be harder. If you have the financial means, buy at least two sand wedges and two lob wedges. With wedges ranging from $80 to $125 each, this is not an insignificant investment, and if you can't spend that much, consider buying one or two 58 wedges. It's a versatile loft that a clubfitter can easily bend to 56 or 60 later. So ignore the rising thermometer and listen to the clock ticking, because as surely as winter will come, spin-enhancing wedges will be gone. Related: Follow David Dusek on Twitter or Facebook | Shedule a fitting with GolfTec . (Photo Robert Beck/SI)

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Time to buy new wedges, even if you don’t need them

My Bag: Jonathan Byrd at the Canadian Open

“I have this new hybrid. It has 17 degrees of loft and is like a 2-iron. I hit it about 235 yards. It's great out of the rough.” Jonathan Byrd DRIVER: TaylorMade r7 Limited (9.5) with a UST Mamiya V2 86X shaft FAIRWAY WOOD: Mizuno MX700 (15) with a UST Mamiya V2 86X shaft HYBRID: Mizuno MP CLK (17 ) with a UST Mamiya V2 Hyrbid X shaft IRONS: Mizuno MP-62 (3-PW) with True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shafts WEDGES: Nike Victory Red Forged (56, 60) with True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shafts PUTTER: Scotty Cameron Newport Tour prototype BALL: Titleist Pro V1x See-Try-Buy: Learn more about Mizuno , TaylorMade , Nike and Titleist clubs, and schedule your fitting with GolfTec . Related: Follow David Dusek on Twitter | Facebook (Photo by Fred Vuich/SI)

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My Bag: Jonathan Byrd at the Canadian Open

Paul Casey says more loft has helped him conquer St. Andrews

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — In their never ending quest for more distance off the tee, most professional golfers try to reduce the spin imparted to the ball by the driver. Backspin does help get the ball airborne, but too much spin makes drives balloon, decreasing yards. The trick is to find the combination of loft, shaft and ball that creates the ideal spin rate and launch angle. For Paul Casey, that meant a Nike Victory Red Tour driver with 9.5 of loft, an 83 gram Mitsubishi Diamana Blue Board shaft and a Nike One Tour golf ball. With that combination he has averaged 290 yards off the tee in PGA Tour events this season and 298 yards per drive on the European Tour. But this week Casey decided to increase the loft of his driver. Here's his rationale for the move: I went up about three quarters of a degree. The reason being the squalls we were getting coming through this week, the rainstorms. My spin rate is pretty low, I'm low 2,000s RPM off the driver which is great when it's nice and hot and sunny, and tricky when water gets between the ball and the clubface. So I had a couple of drives slip off the driver face and not go in the desired direction in practice. So I changed that, got through it on Thursday, played pretty good, but went into the van and [Nike Tour rep] Pete Powell in the truck went from a 9.5 to a 10.5, same head, VR Tour, same shaft, same everything. I said I just want more spin. He said that the easiest way of doing it is more loft.

My Bag: Lee Westwood at the 2010 British Open

DRIVER: Ping G10 (9.0) with a Aldila PGA Tour Only Prototype XNV6 shaft FAIRWAY WOOD: Ping i15 (14) with a UST Mamaya V2 76X shaft, Rapture V2 (19) with Aldila NV75 X shaft IRONS: Ping i10 (3-PW) with Ping JZ stiff shafts WEDGES: Ping Tour-W (54, 58) with Ping JZ stiff shafts PUTTER: Ping Redwood Anser BALL: Titleist Pro V1x See-Try-Buy: Learn more about

My Bag: Paul Casey at 2010 British Open

Driver: Nike Victory Red Tour (10.5) with a Mitsubishi Diamana Blue Board 83X shaft Fairway woods: Nike SQ II (15, 19) with Mitsubishi Diamana Blue Board 103X shafts Irons: Nike Pro Combo OS (3) and Victory Red Forged Split Cavity (4, 5) with Project X 7.0 shafts , Victory Red Forged Blades (6-PW) with True Temper Dynamic Gold shafts Wedges: Nike Victory Red (52, 59) with True Temper Dynamic Gold shafts Putter: Nike Method 001 Ball: Nike One Tour See-Try-Buy: Learn more about

My Bag: Mark Calcavecchia at the 2010 British Open

DRIVER: Ping G10 (7.5) with Fujikura Motore F3 X shaft FAIRWAY WOODS: Callaway Big Bertha Steelhead (13, 17) with Accra SE 80X shafts IRONS: Ping Anser Forged (3-PW) with True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shafts WEDGES: Ping Tour S (54), EYE2 (60) with True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shafts PUTTER: Ping Redwood Anser BALL: Titleist Pro V1 See-Try-Buy: Learn more about

Scotty Cameron 2010 British Open commemorative putter headcover

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland Titleist staff players like Davis Love, Geoff Ogilvy and Rickie Fowler are being presented with a special British Open putter headcover, designed by Scotty Cameron. The headcovers will also be available this week in the Club Cameron section of scottycameron.com . See-Try-Buy: Learn more about

Winner’s Bag: Steve Stricker at John Deere Classic

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Winner’s Bag: Justin Rose at AT&T National

DRIVER: TaylorMade Burner SuperFast (9.5) with a Project X X6A4 shaft FAIRWAY WOODS: TaylorMade R9 (13) with a Project X X7A3 shaft, (17) with a Project X X8A2 shaft IRONS: TaylorMade R9 TP (3-PW) with Project X shafts WEDGES: TaylorMade TP xFT (54), Cleveland 588 (60) with Project X shafts PUTTER: TaylorMade Rossa Corza Ghost BALL: TaylorMade Penta TP See-Try-Buy: Learn more about

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