In Praise of Elk

Never mind the fact that he finished in a tie for 53rd place last week at the FBR Open in Scottsdale, the significance of Elkington is more symbolic than statistical

Thrash TalkWikipedia (the keeper of all knowledge) cites him as one of the best interviewee’s of all time on the Jim Rome show (something to do with his use of the phrase “rubber dongers”). Johnny Miller has routinely described him as the best dressed man on Tour. He’s had meningitis multiple times and he was invited to kiss Bubba Watson’s back side. He plays timeless (outdated) irons.

In spite of such peculiarities, or perhaps partially because of them, Steve Elkington has been seen by many as an embodiment of the golfing lifestyle; a nattily dressed shotmaker who has been known to speak his mind to any/all press outlets.

Golf Talk [Episode 104]

Come to think of it, there might not be anything worse to a young rising star than being compared to Tiger Woods.

Golf Talk PodcastRory McIlroy not only wins in Dubai, but he’s compared to – gasp – Tiger Woods! Kenny Perry trudges home to his 13th PGA Tour win in the FBR while Phil Mickelson misses the cut. Monty is named the Euro captain, and a whole lot more in this episode of Golf Talk.

You can subscribe to the RSS feed for our podcasts here or download Episode 104 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 Rolls Out New ProV1 and ProV1x Golf Balls

How are you going to mark the new Pro V1 and Pro V1x?

Bag DropIt’s an odd-numbered year and you know what that means: a new Pro V1 lineup courtesy of the folks at Titleist. If you missed all the ads and Jim Nantz voice-overs, you know the flagship ball of Titleist has been number one on every tour and at every tournament since golf was invented (or at least it seems that way).

This year, Titleist has chosen to emphasize speed. Ball speed, that is. Everybody wants more distance and the new Pro V1 and Pro V1x are seemingly up to the task with reformulated cores and other engineering marvels. In addition, durability is given more attention. As we know, when playing with a urethane-covered ball, durability is very important as the modern wedges eat them for a breakfast.

With the ball market, as Titleist goes, so goes the rest. The Pro V1 line has been the best-selling ball since its inception. Is is good marketing? Sure, however it comes down to performance and at any level, golfers demand a ball that meets their needs and to date, the Pro V1 line has delivered. So let’s take a look at the latest incarnation of the Pro V1 line.

Volume One Hundred Seventy Six

A teenager wins in Dubai, Lefty takes the weekend off, and what in the world is Ryan Moore wearing?

Hittin' the LinksWelcome golf fanatics to yet another volume of everybody’s favorite column, Hittin’ the Links. Although most people have turned their attention to the Super Bowl this past week, there still have been some goings on in the golf world.

In this volume of HTL we first do a preview of the AT&T, then see what happened to Lefty in Phoenix, and find out about a very good teenager winning in Dubai. Also, we investigate the beginning of corporations balking on their PGA sponsorship deals, check out Obama’s golf game, and take a peak at Ryan Moore’s rather unusual wardrobe. All that and an FBR wrap-up, read on!