Author: Erik J. Barzeski

Improving Your Game

The game of golf can be broken down into five components. We’ve done so – and given you our best tip for each – in this week’s Trap Five.

Trap Five LogoGolf can be broken down into all sorts of things – wrist cock, spine angle, short game, long irons, trouble play, mental aspects, rules and their benefits and penalties, and so on. For this week’s Trap Five, we’ve broken the game of golf into five main areas – the mental game, iron play, chipping/pitching, driving, and putting – and ranked them in order along with the single best tip we can think of to help you with that aspect of the game.

Quick, before you look, which order do you think they came in?

Continue reading “Improving Your Game”

On the Ball with Common Sense

The distance debate rages on, but at least one voice of common sense has poked their head through the clouds.

GolfObserver has an article worth reading:

It’s not just about the ball. It’s about players who have pushed themselves farther than technology has taken equipment. It’s about the endless hours in the weight room, long runs and stretching. About balance in your diet. About a new generation of focus that’s often hard to fathom.

Right on.

Gore and Goosen

Jason Gore shoots 59 and earns a Battlefield Promotion while Retief Goosen earns a win by outlasting the others at The International.

On the PGA Tour this weekend, Retief Goosen trudged through 36 holes to edge Brandt Jobe by a single point at The International, earning his sixth PGA Tour win and his 23rd as a professional. Jobe, who at one point had a nine-point lead, fell apart in the middle of his second 18 holes and let nearly everyone back into the tournament. For awhile, Charles Howell III and Phil Mickelson even had a shot. Jobe left a 25-foot birdie putt short on the last to win. Yes, you read that correctly: he left the winning putt short.

On the Nationwide Tour, U.S. Open fan favorite Jason Gore captured his third straight victory and his seventh on the Nationwide Tour after firing a 59 in his second round on Saturday. His third win promotes him to the PGA Tour via the “Battlefield Exemption” rule, and we look forward to seeing the big guy playing with The Big Guys real soon. Jason put a wedge to five feet on the second playoff hole from the rough and after his opponent, Roger Tambellini, put a shot to eight feet. Roger missed, Jason made, and the rest, as they say, was history.

Continue reading “Gore and Goosen”

Dumbest Rules

The five dumbest rules in golf – can you guess what they may be?

Trap Five LogoGolf is a game of honor. It’s the only real sport in which players routinely call penalties on themselves, and the only real sport without referees. While the NFL abides by the policy that “you don’t break a rule unless you get caught,” golf abides by the policies set forth by the USGA and R&A. Sure, there are some bad seeds out there, but by and large, golfers simply follow the rules.

That does not mean, however, that there are some really bad rules. This week in Trap Five, we’re going to take a look at the five dumbest rules in golf. See if you agree…

Continue reading “Dumbest Rules”

Titleist Introduces 735.CM Irons

Titleist plans to ship the already-popular Forged 735 CM on August 1, 2005.

As predicted in February and expanded upon in March (and discussed in our forum), Titleist is going to be introducing a new line of irons on August 15. The 735.CM blends the forgiveness of a cavity-back in the longer irons with the control of a muscle-back in the short irons. Aimed at skilled players who are looking for a little more help in the long irons than a full muscle-back set provides, this is Titleist’s first off-the-shelf “combo” set.

As with all Titleist equipment, the 735.CM has been extensively used on tour this year by an impressive list of Titleist staff members, including: Davis Love III, Brad Faxon, Frank Lickliter II, Bill Haas, Tom Kite, Tom Byrum, Lucas Glover, Steve Stricker, Rob Rashell, Hunter Haas, Dudley Hart, Jason Hartwick, Chez Reavie, Craig Perks, Kip Henley, and others.

Titleist 735 Irons Small
Click for a larger image. See the March story for more images.

The Titleist 735.CM (“CM” stands for “cavity to muscle”) irons are going to be available in two different alloys – forged stainless steel and chrome plated forged 1025 mild carbon steel. The first will resemble the existing 704 irons, while the latter will look like the image above. Titleist says that the Forged 410 stainless steel will provide a soft, solid feel with a rich, non-glare satin finish. The Forged 1025 mild carbon steel, the primary choice of tour players, provides an even softer feel with traditional chroming for a stunning appearance. The stainless steel forging will offer a few more custom options than the carbon steel irons.

Continue reading “Titleist Introduces 735.CM Irons”

Callaway Receives Second Buyout Offer

MacGregor wants to buy Callaway? Since when do they have that kind of money?

Callaway GolfAccording to Sallie Hofmeister and Greg Johnson of the L.A. Times (registration required), Bain Capital Inc., a Boston-based investment firm, and MacGregor Golf last week put a joint, all-cash offer on the table to purchase Callaway Golf, though spokespersons for Bain and MacGregor declined to comment. Callaway spokesman Larry Dorman said that “no substantive discussions currently are underway.”

Continue reading “Callaway Receives Second Buyout Offer”

Two Free Tickets to Saturday at the PGA Championship

Want to win two free tickets to this year’s PGA Championship? Here’s how…

Looking to win two free tickets to the PGA Championship this year at Baltusrol? We have ’em! Read more about the contest here in our forum. If you don’t wish to join the forum (awww, why not?), I’ll accept email entries. Click the “Staff” page above to email your entry to me by Sunday, August 7.

Callaway Calls New CEO To The Tee

Callaway has a new CEO, and his last gig was with a cosmetics company? Yep. George Fellows is now one of the fellas.

CallawayCallaway Golf’s year-long search for a new leader ended yesterday when the company named George Fellows as its new president and CEO. Fellows is best known as the former head of Revlon, and is credited with turning that brand around in the late 1990s.

Fellows replaces William Baker, who had been the company’s interim CEO since Ron Drapeau was forced out last year. Fellows is the first person to lead Callaway Golf who never actually worked alongside company namesake Ely Callaway, who died in 2001. Past top executives like Don Dye, Chuck Yash and Drapeau were all groomed to succeed Ely Callaway, while outgoing interim CEO Baker served on the company’s board of directors under the late entrpreneur.

Continue reading “Callaway Calls New CEO To The Tee”

Range Finders: Legal Soon?

The “range finder rule,” Rule 14-3b, may soon be going the way of the dodo. Hallelujah!

Bushnell Pinseeker 1500In last week’s issue of GolfWeek, James Achenbach breaks the news that the USGA and the R&A are set to bust up one of the dumbest rules in modern-day golf: rule 14-3b, the “range finder rule.”

The rule currently prohibits a player from using “any artificial device or unusual equipment for the purpose of gauging or measuring distance or conditions which might affect his play.” This includes range finders, which are artificial measuring devices.

The stupidity of this rule was, of course, not always evident. Golf existed long before yardage markers and yardage books. However, with many courses publishing yardage books or marking sprinkler heads, the rule has become long in the tooth.

Continue reading “Range Finders: Legal Soon?”