Sticks n Stuff: Feel the Burns

ANTI-SLICERS

BOB BURNS No Bananas From $125 each for woods to $800 for iron set |

www.bobburnscustomgolf.com

Leaning Left: We don’t know which side of the fence Wisconsin-based custom clubmaker Bob Burns falls on politically, but when building sticks he’s definitely anti-right (or anti-left for southpaws). His mission in life is eliminating the dreaded banana ball from every player’s game using what he calls “Anti-Slice Technology.” It’s simple: Up to a half-inch offset at the hosel and up to a five-degree closed face. That’s with a driver, which we tested last fall with impressive results.

Now Burns has shipped us a set of No Bananas fairway metals, hybrids and irons, and from 3-metal through L-wedge they too do a great job of curbing the evil curve. First, it’s all about offsetting the hosel from the face up to a half inch, but every club designer in creation does that. What makes these sticks stick out is the fact that they’re truly custom built by a sixtysomething PGA master professional who’s fixed bad swings — and the resulting crooked shots they spawn — for more than 30 years. He knows his stuff, and he knows his customers intimately, even if he doesn’t meet them in person; he can glean a lot from phone or online information. And while he designs clubs all across the spectrum, from blades to big-headed game-improvement models, these No Bananas beauties are his best sellers.

Take the fairway metals, for instance: Burns’ “draw bias” closed face varies from 2 degrees with the 14-degree 3-wood to 1 degree with the 19-degree 5-wood and square with the 24-degree 7-wood. That closed/offset combo is tough for the ego to swallow, but do it anyway for relief from the trees, sand and water. The hybrids are … well, they look and play like a lot of other such clubs out there, with the requisite mild bulge and roll on the face, low center of gravity for impressive ballflight height and a lovely easy of what we’ll call “swingability.”

But the irons are a true revelation, not so much for the pre-hooded face (it’s negligible), but for their wide sole, perimeter weighting and friendly look at address. A recent FG outing at Pacific Grove Golf Course — the “poor man’s Pebble Beach” and a definite iron player’s paradise — left little to no vestiges of a leaking ballflight, even with the 3-iron. In fact, with tall eucalyptus or iceplant-choked dunes pinching several holes, that all-but-forgotten iron was the go-to (and throwback) tee club of choice. The hybrids, wonderful as they are, were barely needed, though they did the trick on a couple of 5-pars and one long par 3.

What a Concept: Being able to go old school and carry a full set of irons out there to the modern golf wars, and feel confident in your target over every one of them.

What’s next? A No-Bananas 2-iron? What is Burns doing to us? Making the game fun and opening up possibilities for even the most wicked slicer, that’s what. We’re believers. Setup Sight: The fairway metals are compact, though with a scalloped toe to move more weight toward the heel, which promotes a closed face at impact. You can almost smell the persimmon (which, believe it or not, Burns also uses from time to time if a traditionalist wants that classic feel). The irons have a vague Callaway feel and look, but with a steel shaft they have a pleasing throwback presence.

Banana-Buster: Even with a left-to-right breeze, these sticks perform admirably, with a few yards of fade instead of that wicked edge-to-oblivion slice. That means more distance. Trajectory tended to the high side in our test, partly because of the wind, partly because of the clubs’ weighting.

The Clincher: Combined with the No Bananas driver, these fairway metals will rein in golf’s most common power-sapping flaw, while the hybrids and irons extend the phrase “scoring club” deeper through the bag. And Burns guarantees all his clubs for life.