Over the past year, I’ve lost 25 pounds (50, if you add in the combined weight of all the golf balls I’ve hit astray). When I announced to my wife that I might just go out to buy some new golf clothes, she regarded me skeptically and asked, “Don’t you have enough khaki and black stuff already?” Apparently, she’s noticed my predilection for earth-tones, both on and off the course. It’s a fair cop, I admit. But what’s a 40-year-old guy to do? I’m now nearly as svelte as I was in college, but frankly, I can’t pull off (or more accurately, ... full post »

I always liked the Heavy Putter, at least by name. The company never did respond to my requests to send a demo model for review, and my one experience with the heavy-bodied flat-stick was on a crowded practice green during a demo day. The engineering technology that makes the Heavy Putter different, say true believers, is not only a heavy putter head, but also extra weight added to the grip end. This, they say, produces a pendulous stroke automatically. Maybe and maybe not – I can’t say first-hand. Nevertheless, I liked the homey, unself-conscious moniker. Today I find a press release in my ... full post »

I once quoted some percentage of start-up golf equipment companies that go belly-up in less than three years. I can’t now find that percentage, but since it was a few years ago that I quoted it, the figure is probably outdated now anyway. The point is that the percentage was HUGE. Way more companies go out of business than make a go of it, much less become clubhousehold names. (I think I just coined a new term!) Perhaps this is why I have such a soft-spot for plucky new equipment companies. (Maybe it just never filled back in after that lawn-dart accident.) I ... full post »

This final installment of my trilogy of rants about golf balls. I promise. My claim throughout has been that just because a dozen balls costs more than a steak dinner doesn’t mean that that ball is the best choice for your game. As further (and final) support for this contention, I offer the following two examples. On the rare occasions when I’m striking the ball well, especially with the Eidolon wedges I reviewed a couple of years ago, I absolutely rip the cover off the ball. I’ve skinned Pinnacles, for Pete’s sake. So when I play really soft, expensive balls, they’re toast ... full post »

So yesterday, I argued that all golf balls are not ideal for all golfers, much the same way as golf clubs. I furthermore proposed that people get fitted for club and ball combinations. One problem with this is that we switch balls more often than we switch clubs. It’s also hard to test different kinds of balls, because usually we hit range balls or shag balls, which are very different from the ones we play on the course. In fact, for tightwads like me, how we come to play one ball versus another is largely accidental: I play balls I find in ... full post »

Among the best players, there is as much or more talk about reining in golf ball technology as there is club technology. Jack Nicklaus has suggested using a special restricted-flight ball for the Masters to protect the integrity of Augusta National. For us average golfers, I would argue that improvements in golf balls has contributed to our enjoyment of the game even more than improvement in clubs. Remember when you started the game as a youngster, and thin shots would tattoo those old wound balatas with a huge “smile,” leaving the ball completely unplayable? Or how some of the balls in ... full post »

If golf is going to grow, it needs to attract kids. To do this, there are two requirements: 1) High-quality, affordable, attractive equipment 2) Affordable, accessible, playable courses As for number one, thank goodness that the days of sawed-off 7-irons are over. They are over, right? Well, they should be. If you cut down your irons and jam an adult-sized grip on them and expect to groom the next Tiger using these crude tools, you’re woefully mistaken. Sawed-off adult clubs are the WORST thing for kids and juniors. They are too heavy, the shortened shafts are too stiff, and the grips are too big. ... full post »

Tom Wishon has been in the golf equipment business a long time. He’s the guy that engineered the first titanium wood heads offered by a U.S. company. He’s recently released a book called The Search for the Perfect Golf Club, which I’ll be eagerly reading (and reviewing) soon. In a very clever move for those golfers who preferred Cliff Notes to their high school English assignments, however, Wishon’s also released a very small, very tidy, extremely useful purple booklet titled 12 Myths That Could Wreck Your Golf Game. I won’t give away all the myths here, but let me list a few ... full post »