Sonartec is a brand that flew under the radar until Todd Hamilton used one from every conceivable lie and distance to win the British Open. Then, one of the best kept secrets in golf was out. Luke Donald had one in his bag when he won the recent Honda Classic.

The Sonartec SS-2.5 is the company’s latest fairway wood offering, and it made the 2006 Golf Digest Hot List.

This model actually goes in the opposite direction of most manufacturers by raising the center of gravity so that it is in line with the impact point on the ball. This, Sonartec says, will produce a more penetrating ball flight.

On the down site, Golf Digest notes that it also makes the club a little less forgiving than others.

SONARTEC SS-2.5 Fairway Wood

For me, Mizuno has always had the aura of high end clubs that I can’t hit. Maybe that’s because when I played with guys that had them, they were kicking my butt.

But Mizuno has been making some highly rated game improvement clubs in recent years, among them the MX series of clubs.

The MX-500 Driver builds on the MX Game improvement series, offering “high launch trajectory, optimum spin rates, and maximum ball speed.”  It made the Golf Digest 2006 Hot List.

The technology that drives this begins with a graphite toe insert, a graphite crown and a perimeter weight slot,  allowing Mizuno to distribute weight around the club head, and positioning the CG low and deep in the head. Six different CORTECH face areas generate high initial ball velocity for greater distance X-Sole design for solid feel and sound. The head ofers the maximum allowable USGA 460cc volume.

The heads come mounted on Mizuno’s new Exsar® 50 Graphite shafts.

MIZUNO MX-500 Composite Ti Driver

Adams Golf has made its reputation on easy to hit fairway woods, and it promises that the new RPM Low Profile Fairway Wood is it’s best yet. The club landed on the Golf Digest 2006 Host List.

Like all Adams Fairway Woods, the club features the patented “upside down” technology, which lowers the center of gravity and increases the club’s moment of intertia. The club also has a twin rail design on the sole which Adams says reduces ground interference by 54 percent.

Golf Digest complained about the shallow face a bit, but I prefer a more shallow faced fairway wood. I think they inspire more confidence than the taller ones. I’ve also had good luck with the Adams clubs I’ve tried over the years. I never believed that they were the longest clubs around, but they were among the most consistent.

ADAMS RPM LP Draw Fairway Wood w/Exotic Shaft

Bridgestone Golf has been around for quite a while, but its only in the last couple of years that I’ve seen their balls on the shelves of local pro shops and retailers. They are fast gaining a reputation for quality. I know a golfer who has converted in the last year to Bridgestone balls and swears that they are the best on the market.

The E5 and E6 models made Golf Digest’s 2006 Hot List for Value Performance balls.

The E5 is designed to produce higher trajectory for greater distance, while still offering soft feel around the green. The ball has a two-piece urethane cover with a seamless 432-dimple pattern. The Seamless Cover Technology is supposed to eliminate any vagries in ball flight that come from the intersection of seams and dimples.

Bridgestone’s E6 is aimed at players who need to hit the fairway more often.  The 330-dimple design and the seamless cover are designed to reduce sidespin, and thus, hooks and slices.

Interestingly, Golf Digest’s criticism of the two balls was that the editors were “not sure how to choose between the two.” Let me help them out: E5=Distance; E6=Accuracy.

BRIDGESTONE E5 Golf Ball

BRIDGESTONE E6 Golf Ball

Tour Edge has a reputation for high quality, but low priced clubs. That’s why the Iron Wood was a 2005 Golf Digest Best Value, and why it’s on the 2006 Golf Digest Hot List.

Designed—as all hybrids are—as a long iron replacement, the Iron Wood is designed to be more forgiving and easier to get the ball in the air. The hollow body is constructed of super-thin super steel, which allows half of the clubhead’s mass to be positioned in the sole. The body is supported by internal struts.

You can get the Bazooka JMax Ironwoods in three different combinations: as an individual iron, as a set of Iron Woods, or in a mixture of Iron Woods and Traditional Irons. That’s a terrific idea, and one that I’d liek to see other manufacturers offer. TaylorMade, for example could offer a set that consists of 3, 4, and 5 Rescue Duals, and 6-PW R7 XDs. Or Ping could have a 3, 4, and 5 G5, with 6-PW irons.

The idea good, but it isn’t new. There’s a retired teacher I know (who coached the school’s golf teams before me) who has always played with a club set composed nearly entirely of woods. Some of those woods have faces that look like ski slopes. But he had to compile that set on his own, since such things weren’t available when he started.

You can check prices and get more information at Golfsmith, below:

TOUR EDGE JMAX IronWood w/Steel Shaft

TOUR EDGE JMAX Iron Wood Set w/Graphite Shaft

TOUR EDGE Bazooka J-Max QL Combo Set 3,4/ 5-PW w/ Graphite Shaft

Like their big brother the MacTec NVG2 Driver, the NVG2 Irons have an unusual look. In the 2006 Golf Digest Hot List, they were described as “borderline malformed,” but were praised for being “ridiculously easy to hit.”

The irons are a Frankenstein monster of technologies. The cup face design eliminates welds from the face, and stretches the high rebound surface over as large an area as possible. MacGregor says that this gives its clubs the largest possible “sweet spot.”

The clubs also feature maraging steel, variable face thickness, and a tungsten weighting system that moves the weights around to maximize each club.

MACGREGOR MACTEC NVG2 Iron Set 3-PW w/ Steel Shaft

The TaylorMade r7 CGB Max is probably the best looking of the Super Game Improvement Irons on Golf Digest’s 2006 Hot List. I spent a long time at the local pro shop the other day, standing over the various irons and quietly swinging them. The CGB Max looked the least like a game improvement iron.  I guess I really just don’t buy into the standard golf manufacturer’s line that a thick topline “promotes confidence.”

Personal preferenes aside, the TaylorMade CGB Max has a lot of high tech features to help you improve your game. At the heart of it all is TaylorMade’s pull face construction, in which a thin 455 stainless steel face is welded to a hollow topline frame. The large, thin, unsupported face produces an extremely high Coefficient of Restitution for an iron, resulting in more distance.

Pull face technology also allows TaylorMade to use the same ‘inverted core technology” that has made their drivers and fairway woods so easy to play. TaylorMade says that they spent three years trying to find a way to incorporate the inverted core technology into irons.

With the largest steel clubface TaylorMade has ever made, the CGB Max also has the largest moment of inertia, making it very stable on off-center hits. Tungsten weights and a hollow topline allowed TaylorMade to shift even more weight to optimize launch conditions.

TAYLORMADE r7 CGB Max Irons 3-PW w/Steel Shaft