Author: Erik J. Barzeski

Mystic Rock

Take a small picture tour of Mystic Rock, home of the 84 Lumber Classic.

Joe Hardy, John Daly’s virtual stepfather, puts on a good show. His tournament – the 84 Lumber Classic – is attended by the big names in golf during a fairly tough week on the schedule. The 84 Lumber Classic, played at the grueling Mystic Rock course at Nemacolin in Farmington, PA, comes after the last major of the year and the week before the Presidents Cup.

I had the opportunity to play at Mystic Rock a month or so ago. The back tees were closed (in preparation for the tournament), but I was able to get a real sense of the course. On television and from the notes I took, the pros played tees that were only 25 yards longer per hole or so than the tees I played. The blue tees measure 7000 yards and the championship tees measure 7500.

Join us on a picture tour of some of Mystic Rock’s niftier holes (and an inside look at their locker room).

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Gore Wins at the 84

Jason Gore, less than three months after shooting 84 to lose the U.S. Open, wins the 84 Lumber Classic with a solid final-round 70.

Jason GoreNo-one would have predicted that virtual nobody Jason Gore would be tied for second entering the final round of the U.S. Open. Fewer would have predicted the final-round 84 he shot to tie for 49th. It’s hard to say how many would have predicted that Jason Gore would shoot 59 to earn a Battlefield Promotion, winning three straight Nationwide Tour events to jump to the PGA Tour.

What can all the doubters say now? Jason Gore, less than three months removed from his final-round 84 at the U.S. Open, has captured his first PGA Tour victory at the appropriately named 84 Lumber Classic. With a final-round 70, Jason Gore has perhaps exorcised the demons that haunted him earlier this year when he considered giving up golf altogether. What a wild ride it’s been.

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Zero Friction Tee Review

The Zero Friction golf tee may be the best of the “alternative” golf tees around. You just can’t break these things!

460cc composite drivers with movable weights. The hybrids explosion (with movable weights). Lob wedges with y-grooves. Golf balls tuned to launch high with less spin. Launch monitors. Huge advances in agronomy.

The golf world has changed dramatically in the past ten years, but a few things have remained the same: the diameter of the hole, the location of The Masters, and the lowly golf tee.

Oh, wait, scratch that last one. Just this year alone we’ve reviewed several new kinds of tees, from the outrageous Brush-T to the fairly traditional Stinger Tee. We even reviewed a biodegradeable tee known as the Epoch-3. Now it’s Zero Friction‘s turn at the tee, quite literally. How does it fare? Keep reading…

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Titleist Debuts Revamped News Site with RSS

Titleist today introduces a brand new “News” section of their site with several RSS feeds to keep users apprised of the latest.

TitleistTitleist today unveiled a new, content-rich news site and several (and we do mean several) RSS feeds to deliver information directly and immediately to customers (and without worry of spam, updating email accounts, etc.).

The new Titleist News site contains feeds for equipment categories and company news as well as other features like Ernie Els’ “On the Road with Ernie,” “Lessons from the Pros,” and “A Quick 9.”

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The Golf Channel’s Solheim Snooze

The Golf Channel’s coverage of the 2005 Solheim Cup left a lot to be desired, turning one of the most exciting sporting events of the year into one of the most boring.

The Golf ChannelThe Golf Channel served as the exclusive home for the Solheim Cup this year, providing coverage from 9am until as late as 8pm on each of the three days of play. They covered the press conferences beforehand and had post- and pre-game shows nearly 100% dedicated to Solheim Cup coverage.

The 2005 matches were some of the most exciting ever witnessed. The U.S. team fell behind early 5-3, but pulled back to 6-6 and then 8-8 entering singles play. Needing 14.5 points to win the Solheim Cup back, the first five matches included blistering play by Paula Creamer and Laura Diaz en route to an eventual 15.5-12.5 American victory.

The 2005 Solheim Cup rivals or surpasses even the (blowout that was the) 2004 Ryder Cup in terms of excitement – despite the fact that it’s women’s golf. Yet The Golf Channel’s coverage rivaled only public access programming in its appeal. Could the coverage have been any worse? It’s tough to imagine.

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Misunderstood Rules

The Rules of Golf aren’t terribly complex, but there are some tricky ones out there. Which five rules are the most misunderstood rules in the game?

Trap Five LogoThe Rules of Golf are not terribly complex. Complexity is naturally reserved for the Decisions on the Rules of Golf! </sarcasm> Jesting aside, the rules are fairly simple so long as some basic concepts are understood. Those basic concepts include what to do when your ball finds a few different areas (hazards, ground under repair, the green, “through the green,” etc.), the idea and definitions of equity, fairness, and intent, and the pervading rule to play the ball as it lies.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there who insist that they’re playing “golf” despite not playing by the rules of golf. Let’s look at some of the more misunderstood rules of the game we love so much.

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The Newport Cup

The 2005 Newport Cup kicks off on October 15-16, and we’re excited!

Newport CupOn October 15 and 16, The Sand Trap .com is holding the initial Newport Cup matches in the sandhills of North Carolina. The competition will be similar to the Ryder Cup (albeit with smaller teams) and should be great fun.

The Name
The Newport Cup is named after the location of the first U.S. Open, the Newport Golf and Country Club in Rhode Island. Held in 1895, professional golfer Horace Rawlins of England was the first champion.

We’ve yet to choose team names for the two competing teams, so this year they’ll simply be the Red and Blue teams. The ball supplies the “white” in a patriotic theme. We’ll choose team names at the event. Perhaps we’ll be in an irreverent mood and play Team McAvoy versus Team Spackler, or perhaps we’ll keep things historic. We shall see…

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Shaving Strokes

Shave strokes off of your game. This week’s Trap Five counts down the easiest way to take that 95 to an 89 or that 83 to a 79.

Trap Five LogoEveryone would love to shave strokes off their score. 18 handicappers want to be 15 handicappers, 15 handicappers want to get down to 12, and two handicappers want to be scratch. On the PGA Tour, saving one stroke per round can move a player from 100th on the money list to 21st.

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Odyssey White Steel 2-Ball Blade Putter Review

If you’ve been holding out on getting a 2-Ball, hop on the bandwagon and give the White Steel models a try.

Odyssey LogoOdyssey Golf has been on a roll since April of 1996. Though that spring’s Masters is better remembered as the year Greg Norman lost a six-shot lead in the final round, equipment buffs remember it for the putter craze set off by winner Nick Faldo. Nick wielded a Dual Force Rossie 2 to great effect, and the “insert” putter niche was crafted.

Odyssey, a Callaway Golf brand, is almost always the first- or second-ranked putter each week in the Darrell Survey, and their tagline “#1 putter in Golf” is true for many – visit your local muni and you’re bound to find plenty of 2-Balls or 2-Ball knockoffs. The insert market is, for the most part, owned by Odyssey, despite attempts by nearly every other putter manufacturer to best company with the hurricane-like logo.

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