Rossa's Unique Putter Line

TaylorMade Golf launched its highly anticipated Rossa putter line in Orlando

An innovative design that will serve as the cornerstone for a new entrepreneurial product development process within the company.

The Rossa putter will come in two different lines (Tour, Sport) and feature a two-piece red Titalliumä insert: one in the face and one in the back, both separated by a 1 mm steel membrane.

A lightweight alloy mixing seven exotic metals, the Titallium insert has a strength-to-weight ratio three times that of steel, allowing for improved putter launch conditions, a higher moment of inertia, superior distance control and unparalleled sound and feel.

In addition to its groundbreaking insert concept, the Rossa putter has a unique, highly stylized head construction and composition with an attention to detail.

The Tour will be forged and milled from 1020 carbon steel (£179 /£299 recommended retail, eight models) and the Sport will be cast and milled from 304 stainless steel ((£129 / ?219, 12 models). Both will ship in early April.

"With Rossa, we were given autonomous control within TaylorMade to build a performance putter that would match the ompany's recent tour and retail success," said Sean Toulon, vice president of new business development and head of Rossa's product development team.

"Because we had our own in-house processing - one that was completely committed to our Rossa putters ¾ we were able to act quicker to meet these aggressive product goals," Toulon continued, speaking to the operation's dedicated CNC and CAD-CAM capabilities.

"The first result of this ability to act independently was winning over the world's best players just a couple months after Rossa's inception. And with the buzz that's rapidly developed on tour, I'm confident that it will be a hit in the marketplace as well."

According to Toulon, the Rossa putter was played by 35 tour players in 2001 and already has three victories and 13 top-10 finishes worldwide (including TaylorMade-adidas tour staff player Ernie Els' victories at the WGC-EMC2 World Cup and Vodacom Players' Championship and Justin Rose's victory at the 2002 Dunhill Championship).

Along with two-time U.S. Open winner Els, it has also been put in play by three other major championship winners, including Dave Stockton, Sr., the No. 1 putter (putts per round) on the Senior PGA Tour in 2001.

Rossa Putter Technology Story, Player Features and Benefits The revolutionary Rossa putter maintains four player benefits that will redefine putter performance: improved launch condition, higher moment of inertia (MOI), superior distance control and unparalleled sound and feel.

Combining both the front and back-cavity inserts, Rossa putter's new Titallium insert adds between 12-15 grams to the putter's overall mass, giving it the advantage of a lightweight polymer insert, but being metallic to give the golfer a great feel at contact.

Replacing what would weigh 50 grams in a metal putter, it then allows for more than 35g of discretionary weight to be moved where it's needed most: to the perimeter of the clubhead, creating a lower, deeper center of gravity (CG).

Just like with drivers, a lower center of gravity in the face (CG down) and as far back as possible in the head (CG back), gives putters improved launch conditions. With the Rossa putter, the shift in CG caused by the lightweight Titallium insert allows for a high launch angle with very low spin.

"Putters usually produce between 40 and 400 rpms when it comes to backspin," said Tom Olsavsky, Rossa's director of product marketing. "All putters in the Rossa line are on the lower end of that rpm range, measuring between 0-100 rpm.one of the lowest ever seen in the industry."

"The higher the spin, the less control the golfer has off the face," Olsavsky continued. "Even though it's naked to the eye, the better player can feel this.

With the Rossa putter, all golfers will get optimal ball acceleration and minimal initial bounce on impact, giving the putt a very consistent roll." In addition to a lower, deeper center of gravity, the Rossa putter's innovative movement of weight gives the putter a more stable platform, or, a higher moment of inertia (MOI).

A high MOI is the key to accuracy and distance control, reducing the club's twist on off-center shots. However, Olsavsky added, the putter's distance control is not only effected by an enhanced strength-to-weight ratio, but also by two other characteristics: design and hardness.

"Our Titallium insert isn't the only innovation with the Rossa putter," he said. "We've also pioneered a new coining process to create inserts with such precision that they emerge from the press with virtually zero tolerance in thickness at any point."

"They are as close to perfectly even across their face as we can measure which means they are also free of added vibrational anomalies that affect sound and feel. The result is a more refined, reassuring, pleasing feedback unlike any other putter we've created."

Through several player studies, Toulon, Olsavsky and their Rossa team established that golfers often putt by sound, which then directly translated to feel. The Rossa putter's Titallium insert was found to have an advantage over epoxy or other polymer inserts, all of which were too quiet to the human ear.

Toulon and Olsavsky also did comparison analysis between tour pros and everyday golfers to help determine optimum frequency for its Rossa putter. With significantly harder balls becoming the norm with professionals ¾ and softer balls being used more often by the average player the Rossa putter had to meet both standards of feel and sound.

It was ultimately configured to resonate at a level that would be preferred by both levels of players and ball types, somewhere between 3000 and 5000 hz.

Rossa Offerings: Hosel, Loft/Lie, Shaft Length, Grip, Left-Handed Hosel types offered for the Rossa putter will include shaft-in and shaft-over designs.

The loft for all will be four-degrees, while the lie angle will be 71-degrees. Shaft lengths will come in 33, 34 and 35 inches, and all grips will be made by Lamkin.

Two left-handed models will be available in each line. information on TaylorMade-adidas Golf
http://www.taylormadegolf.com
http://www.adidasgolf.com.