I’ve never done this before. I’ve never taken a new club straight to the course, teed up a ball, and, within two holes, decided to keep it in my bag, replacing a tried and true stick. Now, before I go any further, I will confess that I cannot yet name this impressive driver. I still need to test it at the range, and play it more than three holes (which is all I could fit in before yet another wintry blast hit my part of the country) before I can adequately review it. Nevertheless, here’s what this behemoth to be named later did. ... full post »

After ascending to 490th place overall in Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Golf, I’ve plummeted precipitously over the past few weeks. Today, however, delivered a devastating gut-shot. Stewart Cink, my last remaining semi-big-name, was DQed yesterday from the Zurich Classic of New Orleansthanks to perhaps the most idiotic USGA rule: 13-4a. It seems Cink found his ball in the grass on the edge of a fairway bunker. He had to take his stance in the bunker to play his ball. That shot ended up in a greenside bunker. It was then that Cink made his fatal, egregious mistake: he raked the fairway bunker. ... full post »

Let me share a terrifying recurring dream I have: I’m on the road, golf bag on my shoulder, but I don’t know where the course is. I ask the strangers walking past, but they look at me as if I were speaking Japanese. Lots of head-scratching and shoulder-shrugging, and no help at all getting to the course in time for a fast-approaching tee time. Then it turns out I am speaking Japanese, and I’m not wearing pants. But I digress. What, pray tell, is the traveling golfer to do, when similarly caught out on the road with clubs in hand but ... full post »

As a golf equipment junky, my favorite part about covering professional golf events is being able to sidle up to the caddies waiting alongside rows of golf bags and chat about the sticks the pros are using. So what could be better than that? Actually being one of those caddies, that’s what. Now here’s your chance. Caddy For a Cure offers high-bidders the opportunity to caddie for pros during a practice round of a PGA Tour event. For the upcoming Verizon Heritage Classic, April 14-20, interested parties with some extra “green” to spare can bid on looping rights with Justin Leonard, defending ... full post »

To answer the question posed in the title, let me get my cards on the table right now. For the vast majority of golfers, it’s a gimmick. Take for example, TaylorMade’s Tour Van in a Box. For $999 (because companies think consumers are incapable of rounding up), you get three shafts, a clubhead with adjustable weights, and 1,071 weighting/shaft combinations. Since when were hobbies, past times, and recreational diversions supposed to be fun? Hell no – they’re supposed to be work! In order to test out every combination in various playing conditions (not to mention with various balls), you’d have to ... full post »

A couple weeks ago, I reported on a flap between OGIO, Sun Mountain, and Burton. It seems that OGIO had discovered that some of its most popular bag names were being used by the other companies. After a little digging it became apparent that Sun Mountain had used the names in question first, but that Burton had in fact trodden on an OGIO moniker. The tricky thing is that bag names are not generally trademarked, unless the company wants to spend the cash to do so. Design innovations, however, are not at all like bag names. Companies take great pride and spend ... full post »

LPGA fans can now track future stars of that tour – like world number one-ranked Futures alumna Lorena Ochoa – on the shiny new Duramed Futures Tour website. The website features comprehensive player profiles, and, for true Futures Tour fans, player blogs. Hey, we know it’s a busy world. There’s just so much time in the day for golf, and the PGA probably takes most of that. However, if you’re a girl or young woman just getting into the game, or the parent of one, the Futures Tour offers a fresh, stylish, and fun perspective on the sport, and role models ... full post »

When you help design a set of clubs, and put your initials on them, you’d better play them. And more importantly, you’d better win. Just ask Fuzzy Zoeller. On February 24, Fuzzy used his brand spankin’ new PowerBilt FZ1 driver and irons to overmatch his competitors and take home six skins and $320,000 in the Champions Skins Game in Kaanapali, Hawaii. He shared the victory with his partner, Peter Jacobson. Zoeller’s long, straight drives kept the Zoeller-Jacobsen team in the thick of the competition as the FZ1 driver he designed with PowerBilt’s R&D team consistently launched his ball past everyone else’s. ... full post »

From the press release of the American Society of Golf Course Architects: “Theodore (Ted) G. Robinson, a Past President of the American Society of Golf Course Architects, died Sunday March 2, 2008 at his home in Laguna Beach, California after a 10 month battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 84.” Last year, I had the good fortune of playing and reviewing Robinson Ranch, in Santa Clarita, California. The two 18-hole courses there were co-designed by Ted and his son Ted, Jr., and dedicated by the junior Robinson to the senior. Robinson, Sr., was also responsible for Sahale Country Club, just east of ... full post »