SRI Sports, parent company of Srixon, is the largest manufacturer of golf clubs in Japan, and holds the most patents for golf ball technology of any company in the world. In Srixon, they have a U.S.-based company with a name that is practically unpronounceable to Americans and Japanese alike. But what’s in a name? More important is what’s in a golf ball. Srixon’s new Trispeed ball (MSRP $40/doz.) is a tough-but-soft three-piece premium ball that absolutely launches off the tee, with low spin and extreme height. Around the green, the Trispeed is rather surprisingly soft, given that its outer cover is not as ... full post »

I’m all for mixing it up a bit off the tee. Driver, driver, driver is fun, but can get boring. And I’m all for being forced to work the ball off the tee, with driver and with other clubs. But I just played Ironwood Golf Club in Fishers, Indiana, whose poor design took driver right out of the hands of longer hitters, especially when playing from the blue (non-championship) tees. From the regular men’s tees, the Valley and Lakes nines combine to measure over 6,500 yards. This seems reasonable, until you play it and realize that a combination of short par 4s ... full post »

As recently noted by my esteemed yet youthful colleague Brandon Tucker, it seems every state is trying to cobble together some sort of ad hoc golf trail. Tucker points out that some of these trails are more like points in a constellation than stops along a logically ordered trail. Such is the case at the Tennessee Golf Trail. This collection of 13 state-run courses, including five Bear Trace courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, is scattered throughout the entire freakin’ state – not in any sort of trail-like configuration unless you’re hopelessly drunk and disoriented. Nevertheless, these courses are fabulous destinations individually. I just ... full post »

It’s tough to plan a golf trip for 36 guys. David Butts, the meticulous, patient, good-natured gentleman who plans the trip to Tennessee that I go on each year is an expert at it. He takes care of every one of us and every foreseeable (and often unforeseeable) detail. That’s why we affectionately refer to him as “Mother Butts.” However, even someone as experienced as he cannot plan for a mismatch between a course’s website and the actual conditions on the course. You see, we like to stop on the way down to our final destination for a warm-up round, someplace different ... full post »

So has anyone else noticed how Sergio Garcia, who is known for great putting about as much as Tiger Woods is known for great singing, caught on fire at The Players championship, to finish a rather surprising 2nd? The brash and normally inconsistent Spaniard carded four straight birdies on the back nine of the TPC at Sawgrass with a prototype model of the Yes! Golf Valerie putter. Even the folks at Yes! Golf were surprised to see it in play at The Players, according to one source at the company. But that trademark yellow, white, and black grip was obvious to ... full post »

More than one blogger on these pages has pointed out that the equipment tests published in major golf magazines like Golf Digest and Golf Magazine are crowded year after year with big names that happen also to be big advertisers. Where are the smaller equipment companies? One blogger mentioned to me off the record how the president of one small company known for Long Drive contest winners reported that the drivers he sent for testing came back in their original boxes, unopened. When questioned, the editor of the major golf magazine doing the purported testing said only that they made “initial cuts” ... full post »

If you happen to be watching the final round of The Player’s Championship, or the LPGA’s Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill this coming Sunday, you might notice pink spikes on the bottoms of the shoes of many players. No, it’s not the influence of flshy-dressing Ian Poulter. It’s a much better cause than that. CHAMP Spikes has launched its “Pink on the Links” program, which raises money for breast cancer research. Every time a player wears pink spikes, the company will make a donation in the player’s name to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. This program will begin, fittingly, this Mother’s Day at ... full post »