The Daly Show (Again)

Modern golf’s first REALLY big hitter makes another media splash.

Thrash TalkIt looks like we’re in for another round of John Daly stories. In the aftermath of his most recent domestic troubles, the Golf Channel has aired yet another “up close and personal” style profile of Daly in the form of a “hard-hitting” interview from Rich Lerner. But while most of us probably want to either yawn or vomit at the prospect of more exposure of big John, something is rapidly fading from the landscape surrounding the controversial razorback: his place in golf history.

Golf Talk [Episode 064]

One wonders if Phil’s two-paddle approach to ping pong mirrors his childhood upbringing. We jest!

Golf Talk PodcastTiger fails to win his own tournament, and everyone else in the field falls apart. K.J. Choi is the lucky winner, taking both Nicklaus’ and Woods’ tournaments this year. Also, Watson crumbles in the U.S. Senior Open and we talk about playing through, Elin’s hospitalization, and and more in this week’s episode of Golf Talk.

You can subscribe to the RSS feed for our podcasts here or download Episode 064 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.

Network TV Golf Coverage

Missing from this week’s analysis: the number of times the announcers make stupid comments. Gary McCord talks too fast for me to keep an accurate count.

The Numbers Game“They always show Tiger even when he’s not in contention.”

“I want to see more golf. Less jibber-jabbering and network promos, more actual golf shots.”

“Why do they always show people walking around when other players are hitting golf shots?”

No doubt you’ve heard golf fans complaining about network coverage of PGA Tour events. This weekend, I put CBS on the clock and took notes on their network coverage of the inaugural AT&T National. The results… well they may not surprise you, but they do shed some light on the subject.

Golf Club Specs: Little Things that Count, Part One

Sometimes the devil is in the details. Here are some often-overlooked equipment specifications that can make a big difference in how a club feels and performs.

Bag DropMost golfers are aware of basic club specs when they venture out to buy new sticks or, better still, be fit for them. Shaft flex, lie angle, and perhaps driver loft are all well-known ways of matching clubs to your swing. We wrote about some of these in earlier Bag Drops you can find here and here.

But there are a number of other factors that go into the way a club works for you. Some are so subtle that only someone playing as much as a touring professional can feel or see the difference. Even so, sometimes tweaking a little something here or there can make a positive change in your game.

So here are some things to check out next time you’re buying, or when you think you might want to play around with your current clubs…

Volume One Hundred Five

I need earplugs when K.J. Choi tees off with his driver. Even from the confines of my living room.

Hitting the LinksK.J. Choi wins for the second time in just over a month as he captures the inaugural AT&T National by playing some steady golf on Sunday afternoon, which was the complete opposite of the gag job third-round leader Stuart Appleby (and a host of others) threw up.

This week we have a recap of the AT&T National, the return of Tiger’s intimidation (maybe), and the love/hate relationship Tour players have with their putters.

Scotty Cameron Newport Detour Putters Review

Scotty Cameron has taken a Detour… and married it with a pair of Newports!? It’s like a science experiment gone crazy. Good thing the marriage is a success.

Scotty Cameron Newport Detour HeroScotty Cameron, in the mind of some, has been on a bit of a trip lately. As a long-time advocate of an absolutely anti-Pelzian “inside-square-inside” putting stroke, last year Scotty pushed his belief to the forefront with the odd-looking “Detour” putter. I reviewed the Detour favorably last December, and I still use it in a regular rotation with my Red X mallet.

This year, Scotty has further pushed his belief that a good putting stroke moves in an arc by sticking a mini-Detour sight curve on the back of his rather classic Newport putters. Introduced in January as prototypes for market, the putters were released in late March.

Though I’ve always been more of a mallet guy myself, the Newports with the stuck-on sight curve look enough like mallets that I decided to give them a try. Read on to see whether the Newport Detours replaced my original Detour or took a detour of their own…

Golf Talk [Episode 063]

Lorena “O-choke-a” yanks a few drives, but Cristie Kerr sank a few putts and is a deserving champion. Michelle “Wiethdraws” again. Happy birthday, U.S. of A.

Golf Talk PodcastThe U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles sees a fitting victor in Cristie Kerr, while Lorena fails to discard the “O-choke-a” label that’s haunted her (along with the driver yanks under pressure). Also this week, talk about Tiger and Phil at the AT&T, Michelle Wie, the R&A allows redos, and Brian Bateman wins on the PGA Tour. That and more in this week’s episode of Golf Talk.

You can subscribe to the RSS feed for our podcasts here or download Episode 063 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.

Tour Edge Bazooka GeoMax Driver Review

High MOI is this year’s “big thing” in drivers and it has spawned a host of strange shapes and high prices. Here’s a good-looking high MOI driver at a great price.

TourEdge Geomax Driver HeroMoment of inertia (MOI) represents a club’s resistance to twisting on off-center hits. The higher the MOI, the more distance and accuracy you get when you miss the sweet spot. It’s an attribute that has set off a marketing numbers race among club manufacturers as they begin to push towards the limits set by the USGA.

Tour Edge, based in Batavia, IL, has become something of an interesting maverick among club manufacturers. Founded in 1985 by former club pro David Glod, they have gradually built a solid reputation for delivering innovation and performance in clubs that don’t come with a premium price tag.

So, while they have created a premium-priced line of clubs under the Exotics moniker like the Exotics CB2 3-wood we recently reviewed here, their core line of clubs under the Bazooka designation are solid, playable, affordable sticks. So how does their newest high-MOI driver stack up? Here’s the review…

Cobra Debuts Transition-S Integrated Iron Set

Following what clearly has become an industry trend, Cobra is introducing a fully integrated set of irons that include utilities, hybrid irons, and cavity back irons.

Bag DropNothing to me so embodies the evolution of golf equipment as the current crop of game improvement irons. I never imagined that when Karsten Solheim introduced the first cavity back cast irons that he was opening the door to a whole new world of irons that over the years would make the game so much more fun for the average golfer.

Of course, the newest additions to our bags are hybrids or, as Cobra chooses to call them, utility metals. And where once they were simply replacements for long irons, now they are now becoming the foundation for complete sets. Adams Golf and Nickent, whose early success has been based on their hybrids, have both bet heavily on the integrated iron set concept as we’ve written about here and here.