I remember my grandfather’s golf shoes with a slight shudder. They were ratty leather wingtips and saddle-shoes with cardboard-thin and dangerously slick leather soles. They were always damp, inside and out, and after even nine holes, he’d complain of blisters and sore feet. The metal spikes would press up through the flimsy soles and create tiny bruises on his heels and the balls of his feet. Poor guy. I could never understand why anyone would choose to golf in implements of torture rather than in comfy tennis shoes, as I did. Thank the golf gods that shoe technology has kept pace with ... full post »

A couple of months ago, I pointed out that Nike’s SasQuatch (SQ) driver was being used to win a lot of tournaments recently. With Stephen Ames’s win at The Players Championship, this swoosh-dominance continues. Frankly, up until now I had not been terribly impressed with any Nike equipment–it all seemed fairly standard, carried along on the backs of the company’s big stars (Tiger) and slick marketing. But after reviewing the SQ, my opinion was changed for the better. Considering that in comparison to the Tour’s most widely-played drivers (TaylorMade), the Nike SQ is still relatively rare out there, the SQ has ... full post »

Golf novelist Bob Thomas, best known for his book, Ben Hogan’s Secret, is tired of fighting the publishing industry to try to get his work into the hands of readers. But is he giving up? No. Thomas grew up in an abusive household, and this made him a survivor. “Last year, I decided to start a little company called Bob Thomas Books,” explained Thomas in a recent e-mail. “Mostly, I was selling collector editions of my books through this company until the tournament program picked up. When that happened, I did some quick figuring and realized that the profit ... full post »

A couple of years ago, the founder of Vortex Golf, a new Japanese equipment company, showed me a driver shaft he’d developed. It was triangular, rather than cylindrical, and was thus not approved by the USGA or R&A. Just the other day, I ran across some information on a new German company called Stulz Golf, whose flagship Nano Arrow shaft is triangular with rounded edges for about one-quarter the length of the shaft. The Nano Arrow is the first non-round shaft ever approved by the USAG and R&A. The Germans are of course known for their meticulous engineering. Stulz Golf founder, ... full post »

Last year, the USGA and R&A both altered the rules f golf a bit to allow for laser devices to be used to measure distances during competition. The rule change allowed local committees to decide whether or not the devices could be used. Interestingly, the PGA of America has announced that it will NOT allow use of such devices in any competition “for all PGA of America National Championships, as well as any Section event where players advance to compete in such Championships,” according to a press release. The USGA has also come out with a clarification as to what sorts ... full post »

I like to work out. I like to golf. The problem is that I rarely feel that these two pursuits complement one another, at least in the way I do them. Two days ago I took part in a media conference call with Stuart Appleby, who recently won the Mercedes Championship in Hawai’i for the third year in a row. During that tournament, he hit three drives over 400 yards, including one that measured 426 yards. The topic of the call was The Leaderboard, a combination strength trainer and swing trainer that Appleby has helped develop and has personally invested in. This ... full post »

If you’ve ever read my equipment reviews, you’ll know that I’ve always had a soft spot for golf bags. I love finding just the right pockets for my tees, balls, cigar cutter and lighter, gloves, flask, and assorted accoutrements. And I love that new-bag smell. And now that golf bags have gotten high-tech, the flip-out stands and ultra light-weight designs allow just about anyone to walk and carry their clubs, the way God and the Scots intended for the game to be played. The latest in whiz-bang stand bags is the Aficionado III by Club Glove (MSRP $179). This is the ... full post »

Raise your grip-calloused hands if this has ever happened to you: Your game is in the toilet. You’re farther right than Fox News most days, and others you’re so far left you make Michael Moore look like Ron Reagan. Distraught, you demo a club, or borrow one from a trusting buddy, address the ball full of fear and self-loathing, and proceed to knock the living snot out of it, straight down the middle. Where in the hell did that come from? Must be a fluke, you think. So you tee up another pill and, POW! Same thing. OK. It’s settled. You’re buying one of ... full post »

Ask anyone who knows me and they will agree with this one thing: I do not have a lot of good ideas. I’m the guy who lost my nest-egg investing in a hemophiliac rugby league (not one team survived the first season). Then there was that restaurant/beauty salon, where you could get you hair cut during dinner (hairy mashed potatoes are even worse than they sound). Most recently, I sunk a lot of dough into a company that pioneered the mass cloning of mosquitoes. Turns out, we have enough mosquitoes as it is. Who knew? So when I do get a good ... full post »

The weather in central Illinois has been warming up considerably (aside from today’s sleet), and I’ve wrestled my overloaded golf bag out of the basement and begun taking stock. Other than my swing, which seems to have completely abandoned me, just about everything seems to be in order. Everything except my golf gloves. They’re ratty, frayed, crumpled, and worn smooth. Golf gloves are the bane of my equipment existence. I go through five or six in a year, wearing them out and losing them. It probably doesn’t help that at times I find myself gripping the club so tightly you’d think ... full post »