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Don’t Fear, Macho is Here!
In the latest instalment of our Taking the Test feature, Asian Golf Monthly’s Mike Sebastian recruits four testers for Excel Golf’s Macho 460 driver.
Are you the type of golfer who steps up on deck and whacks a slice or a fade that is followed by a piercing warning yell to take cover from an errant ball?
I reckon this applies to most club golfers who are plagued by drives that take a left-to-right flight pattern. It’s absolutely frustrating, especially when these fades and slices land you in trouble behind trees or against clumps of bushes and you know that you’ve just drained another jug of beer down the gullets of your flight mates.
Is there a solution to this problem? Who the heck do you turn to for help?
We think we have found that solution and the guys to call is an outfit based in Chicago called Excel Golf.
Asian Golf Monthly got in touch with John Iacono, Excel Golf’s president, and he was quick to respond. “Tell you what – I’ll send you some of our game improvement products and we’d like you to get a feel for our Macho 460 driver.”
And this heralded the start of our quest in search of a driver that could put an end to slices and fades for good!
The Macho 460 from Excel Golf is a relatively ordinary looking driver, especially when you stack it up against all of those high-tech thunder sticks that come complete with complex ‘how to’ manuals and torque wrenches these days.
None of that mumbo jumbo stuff for the Macho 460. Its understated looks belie the unique technology that is built into its titanium head. “The 460 cc head is just the right size to build confidence and it has been designed to help a golfer straighten his shot and pick up valuable distance as well,” said Iacono.
All right, let’s cut to the chase and address the fade and slice issue. We took the Macho 460 out to the driving range for a shakedown and guess what? This baby really works!
The tester that we used had a 10.5-degree loft with a regular shaft. All very ordinary and regular specifications for a driver. However, there was one difference with the Macho 460 – it had a four-degree hooked face.
So what’s the deal with this offset? Great question. “It allows golfers to make their natural swing because studies have shown that those who slice tend to leave the face of the club open four to six degrees on impact,” explained Iacono. Hey, that’s smart thinking and it makes good sense!
Tell us more John! “The number one reason golfers slice or fade the ball is that they do not get the face of the club back to the square position they started with at address,” he said.
Iacono drew our attention to the fact that the Macho 460 sets up closed. “This allows the golfer to keep the club squared at impact without changing the swing,” he added.
How very ingenious. We continued with our test and all four of our testers saw immediate remedies to their slices and fades. Looks like the trees and bushes in the fairways are due to see a drop in stray balls getting lost in their foliage in the months ahead!
Excel Golf also is well known in the United States for its Zero Friction tees, which is said to be the number one performance golf tee on the PGA Tour. Pan-West represents Excel Golf in Asia.
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