Odyssey White Steel Tri-Ball SRT Putter Review

The Odyssey White Hot Tri-Ball SRT Putter is bigger than its older Two-Ball sibling, but is it better?

Odyssey Tri-BallOdyssey’s Two-Ball Putter is the world’s best-selling putter model over the last five years. While the unusual-looking putter has spawned scores of imitators and ignited the high-MOI, alignment-based putter craze, it takes an equipment nut with a sense of history to remember that it is a descendant of Dave Pelz’s 3-Ball putter from the 1980s.

Pelz couldn’t get the USGA to approve his odd-looking device (not “plain in shape” as the Rules of Golf require), but Odyssey was able to adapt his design into the more palatable Two-Ball. Flatstick fans who are looking to add the ball that fell off Pelz’s design in the Two-Ball evolution can now rejoice in the release of the Odyssey White Steel Tri-Ball SRT Putter. Is the Tri-Ball thrice as nice? Read on to find out what we discovered.

2006 U.S. Women’s Open Preview

We’ve seen what the men can do in our national championship. Now the women can show us what they’ve got.

US Womens OpenAlthough there’s a PGA Tour event this week, the real action may be coming from the ladies. Yes, it is their turn to compete for a USGA major championship and with the young guns on the LPGA tour including Morgan Pressel and Michelle Wie, it will surely be an interesting tournament. We can expect another media field day with young Wie this week as she attempts to secure her first professional victory and perhaps validate all the attention she’s attracted attempting to compete with the men.

2006 Buick Championship Preview

With both the Buick Championship and the U.S. Womens Open happening in the same week, its hard to imagine a better week for golf!

Buick Championship LogoConnecticut isn’t exactly regarded as a mainstay of professional athleticism. Their only professional sports team are the New England Seawolves, who compete in the AFL. Perhaps it is for this reason that the crowds go bananas for their very own PGA Tour stop. This year is sure to please the Connecticut crowds once again with more stellar play from the best touring professionals in the world.

2006 Mid-Season Awards

The PGA Tour season has passed the halfway point, and it’s time to give out some early awards.

Thrash TalkIt’s really hard to believe that July is right around the corner. The PGA Tour season is more than halfway complete, even though there are a lot of big tournaments left on the schedule. Two major championships have come and gone, and golf fans already have a lot of great memories from this season. Some of the memories are good ones, while some are pretty hard to think about a second time.

I’ll be giving out awards for player of the year, rookie of the year, disappointment of the year, etc. Hopefully this will even stir up some debate here at The Sand Trap. Let’s get to the Thrash Talk 2006 PGA Tour mid-season awards.

Ogio Shling Golf Bags Finally Launched

After a premature introduction at the 2004 PGA Merchandise Show and two more years in development, Ogio says they finally got it right. You be the judge.

Bag DropI carried my own bag for years – lightweight canvas bags, then nylon bags that I dropped to the ground and stooped to pick up. Then came stand bags and then double straps, and my definition of a great carry bag was changed forever.

Now Ogio, the innovative bag maker based in Salt Lake City, has finally launched their much-anticipated Shling-equipped stand bags. It remains to be seen whether this is as big a revolution as legs and double straps. Here’s the story along with some of my initial impressions.

Volume Sixty-Five

This week’s nine-course meal includes a variety of dishes including the importance of playing irons that are better than you, and a very exciting collection of Tiger Woods video clips.

Hmmm, Monday again. That can mean only one thing, another busload of links already chewed up and available for easy digestion. From a ton of Tiger Woods video clips, to Golf Babes, to the anatomy of a shank, you can kill at least twenty minutes to a solid half hour with these babies.

Enjoy!

Golf Talk [Episode 028]

The U.S. Open is over, and even forum member Rafi sees fit to join in. That Rafi doesn’t care for Phil Mickelson is a moot point, right? Nah…

PodcastPhil Mickelson, Colin Montgomerie, Jim Furyk, Padraig Harrington, and countless others collapse under the weight of the U.S. Open, and only Aussie Geoff Ogilvy manages to avoid a crash and burn to win the 106th at Winged Foot. This week, we talk about the rough, the greens, Phil’s fateful 18th hole, and a whole lot more. Tune in to this episode of Golf Talk for more.

You can subscribe to the RSS feed for our podcasts here or download Episode 028 as an MP4 file. For those who want to subscribe to us in iTunes, click here.

For this week’s Show Notes – links to articles we discuss in the show and additional information – just read on.

Titleist 905R Driver Review

Titleist was one of the last of the club manufacturers to move to the legal limit of 460cc. Was it worth the wait?

Titleist 905R GloryTitleist is a traditional company, and with tradition comes a somewhat slower, more calculated pace. Though drivers have been capped at 460cc for a few years now, Titleist has made due with drivers measuring less than 400cc – the 905S and the 905T.

Late last year, PGA Tour pros began playing the rumored “905R” in significant numbers. Ernie Els and Adam Scott were playing the driver as early as one year ago, and “spy shots” were showing up on Internet forums. Speculation ran rampant, as it is wont to do, and the public was interested, to say the least.

In March, Titleist formally introduced the 905R. Considered by many a “bigger” version of the 905T, nearly every Titleist staff member playing a 905T switched, as did some playing Titleist’s 905S.

Until earlier this year, I was one of those 905S users. I had a chance to give the 905R a spin, and here are my thoughts.

Nine (Post-Collapse) Holes With Phil Mickelson

The whole scene was painful to watch. You wanted to turn away but curiosity wouldn’t let you. How could you miss a train wreck? And then there were those words: “I can’t believe I just did that.”

ProFilesAfter Phil Mickelson’s bizarre performance on the 18th hole of the U.S. Open, the best thing we could do is visit some of the more poignant quotes related to Phil Mickelson’s meltdown.

Is it just me or did Phil play that hole much like us hackers? I seem to remember playing all 18 holes just like Phil’s 18th at my local course last weekend. The guy has enough golf skills to get the job done but apparently someone turned off his ability to manage a course.

Fasten your seat belt, because here comes the pain.