PGA Notebook

Steve Pike’s notes column has another Pinehurst scouting report (lots of sodding around greens) and a note about Davis Love helping his 11-year-old son with a science experiment.

Love III recently pulled his old persimmons driver out of the closet, not out of curiosity, but as the guinea pig for his 11-year-old son's science project. The hypothesis was which driver -- wooden or titanium -- hits the new golf balls farther. Love used the MacGregor driver he hit in college.

"Downwind, it was OK,'' Love said. "But anything into the wind, or any crosswind, it was a joke. You couldn't put any spin on it, and it would just nosedive. You had to hit hard and put spin on it. These balls don't spin.''

The last time Love used a wooden driver, he had the Titleist 384, a wound ball. The long hitters generated plenty of spin, which enabled the ball to rise and carry. With titanium drivers and multilayer balls that don't spin as much, the idea is to launch the ball higher.

"If you took Lanny Wadkins' ball shape, and Vijay Singh's, it would make an egg shape,'' Love said.

He didn't disclose the results, but it sounds as though he helped his son with a dynamite graphic.