Year: 2009

Volume Two Hundred Four

Annika has her baby, Ernie’s still lookin’ to be #1, and it takes Tiger 13 holes to make a birdie!

Hittin' the LinksHello golf fans, and welcome again to Hittin’ the Links. Well the PGA Tour has a Monday finish this week and there is a lot of golf news out there. I mean really and truly its news all by itself when on Sunday it takes Tiger 13 holes to make a birdie.

In this edition of HTL we first say congratulations to Annika on the birth of her child, then find out what made Paul Casey miss the Deutsche Bank Championship, and see who will be the starters at the 2010 Masters. Also, we investigate who has a plan to be #1 in the world, see what LPGA tournament decided to stick around another year, and do a wrap-up of the week’s tournaments. Read on!

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“How to Buy the Right Golf Equipment” Book Excerpt

An excerpt from Scott Kramer’s e-book on choosing the proper golf equipment.

Veteran golf equipment writer Scott Kramer has published a new e-book, How to Buy the Right Golf Equipment. The easy-reading book helps simplify the process of buying clubs, shafts, balls, bags and shoes – as well as buying equipment for other people, including your kids. The following excerpts are the chapters on buying drivers and putters (scroll down). For the complete book, visit amazon.com for the Kindle version or lulu.com for the instant PDF download.

What follows is an excerpt from this book.

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Joe French Analysis

Working on lag can be tough… especially when another swing fault makes it nearly impossible to create it.

Swing CheckJoe French is what I would consider your slightly above average player. He consistently shoots in the mid-80s. He hits the ball an average to above-average distance. He even has days where he can hit as many as nine fairways and 13 greens. However, he has reached the point where it is time to take the next step. It is time for Joe to start consistently shooting in the 70s. With a few changes, I think we can get him there.

You could probably freeze frame at any point in Joe’s swing and identify a problem. Even at full speed you could say that he takes the club back too far inside, creates no pivot, crosses at the top, casts during his down swing, comes inside, and then nearly jumps off the ground at impact. Ultimately, making a check list of faults is not going to help Joe. Our job is to identify which problem must be addressed next in order for him to achieve his goals.

Read on to see Joe’s swing and the fixes I’ve outlined for him.

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Begging the Question(s)

Eighteen non sequiturs for your reading and responding pleasure.

Thrash TalkOne
If the FedExCup is starting to work the way it’s supposed to and that “way” looks a lot like the traditional season money leaders list, what’s the point?

Manufactured drama? More money for the Tour’s elite? More FedEx commercials (which, I admit, are generally funny)?

Not, however, as funny as this.

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Golf Talk [Episode 124]

Tiger Woods is putting like a pretty good PGA Tour player these days. Hey, at least he’s not putting like Phil!

Golf Talk PodcastTiger wins, then loses to Heath Slocum. Michelle Wie notches another top five, Jack becomes a ceremonial golfer, the U.S. Am winner is even younger than Danny Lee, 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 124 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.

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My Personal Golf Trainer Coming to Nintendo Wii

Leadbetter give you personal lessons for less than $1000 per session!

Bag DropEver wanted to be able to say that your personal golf trainer is David Leadbetter? Now you can without having to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Coming this October, we will all have the chance to get some of Leadbetter’s best tips and drills, along with his swing analysis, from the comfort of our own living rooms.

This year at the annual E3 gaming convention, Data Design Interactive unveiled their latest development, targeted towards golfers and their never-ending quest to get better. For players looking for alternative ways to better their game, Data Design Interactive enlisted world renowned coach David Leadbetter in producing an exciting new game titled “My Personal Golf Trainer.” This new game makes use of the Nintendo Wii’s motion capturing controllers (known as the Wii MotionPlus and Wii Balance Board) to help guide your way to a better swing. Hit the jump to find out more about this upcoming release!

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Volume Two Hundred Three

Tiger’s playing the ladies tees, people keep hating on golf, and we have an even younger U.S. Amateur Champion

Hittin' the LinksGreetings golf fans and welcome to another volume of Hittin’ the Links. It was a busy week of golf around the world. There was a tournament just about everywhere you looked. PGA Tour, Champions Tour, Nationwide Tour, LPGA, European Tour, U.S. Amateur – it was a golf spectators dream. With all that golf there is lots to cover, so without further ado, on with the show.

In this volume of HTL we first investigate what Tiger considers the “ladies tees,” Check out Pakistan’s first ever bid into the World Golf Championships, and find out what problems face the International Presidents Cup team. Also, we look at golf haters, check in on Ken Green’s recovery, and do a wrap-up on some of the week’s events. Read on!

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FootJoy MyJoy Ordering and Review

If you like golf shoes but don’t want to be limited by the offerings that are available at your local golf shop, then perhaps the seemingly millions of options that you can choose from at MyJoys is right up your alley.

FootJoy MyJoysGolf shoes can be one of those accessories in which you either want to blend in or stand in out a crowd. For those who want to blend in (I am Exhibit A in that category), odds are you just find a shoe fits great and you pay little attention to the looks (okay, maybe a little just to make sure they don’t look too crazy).

For those who like to stand out a bit more, FootJoy has you covered with their customization website and product line: MyJoys. I decided to try my hand at putting together some custom shoes and was interested to see how fun and painless the process was to order a pair. The easy way would have been to pick out a pair showcasing one of my favorite sports teams but that’s too easy to rather I decided to start with a blank slate and go from there to see what my inner Picasso would turn out.

Tag along as we check out my order.

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Mizuno MX-700 Fairway Wood Review

Mizuno offers up one very impressive fairway wood offering with the MX-700 lineup.

Mizuno MX-700 HeroMizuno Golf isn’t the first name that comes to my mind when I think of fairway woods. Not that they haven’t been making them for quite some time, it’s that they don’t quite have the same or really anywhere close to the following they get with the irons (and if you’ve ever hit a Miznuo iron flush, you know the feeling). For a company that makes outstanding irons, their woods have always left a little something to be desired.

The Mizuno MX-700 line looks to change that history with offering some serious technology and what I can only describe as one of the hottest faces I’ve ever hit on a fairway wood. While the MX line traditionally has been geared to the mid and higher handicap range, the MX-700 certainly won’t scare away anyone who has one goal in mind, hit the ball long and straight. Regardless of your handicap, that is a good thing.

Does the MX-700 fairway wood live up to it’s billing as “the perfect combination of power, accuracy, and ease of use?” Read on to find out.

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