Author: George Promenschenkel

Volume Three Hundred Fifty-Nine

Olé or U.S.A., it’s time to cheer, chant, and sing at Muirfield.

Hittin' the LinksHere’s a good question to throw out for your next 19th hole discussion: What week of the golf season features the best group of venues? I think it would be tough to beat this past weekend.

First of all, the Champions Tour players and selected juniors from across the U.S. played the Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Not bad for openers, but the week also included the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, which was contested on the Old Course at St. Andrews as well as Kingsbarns and Carnoustie. Not a bad trio at all. And just to sweeten the pot a little more, the Web.com Tour Championship wrapped up the finals series on Dye’s Valley Course, you know, the other course at TPC Sawgrass.

Speaking of the Web.com Tour, you could say that the Web.com Tour Championship put the seal on the 2013 PGA TOUR season by determining the final card holders for 2014. This week, HtL looks at the Web.com finale, the Presidents Cup, and more.

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Volume Three Hundred Fifty-Eight

Cool weather and hot play… Isn’t autumn a great season for golf?

Hittin' the LinksThe calendar says that it is now officially fall; and though the weather is beginning to cool down, the golf is as hot as ever.

Though the 2013 PGA TOUR concluded this past weekend, the 2013-14 season is just a few weeks away. The Web.com Tour Championship this coming weekend will help determine who will be fulltime participants on the PGA TOUR next year and who will be seeking their 2014-15 cards on the Web.com Tour. The LPGA is on sabbatical, but will return Oct. 3 at the Reignwood LPGA Classic in Beijing. And a little thing called the Presidents Cup also tees off Oct. 3.

It’s just a great time of the year for a little golf. Let’s get started.

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Volume Three Hundred Fifty-Seven

Some saucy fare from France, a deep dish or two from Chicago, and some home cooking (for me) from Columbus.

Hittin' the LinksIt was a big weekend in golf: an LPGA major and the third legs of the playoffs on both the PGA Tour and the Web.com Tour.

Weather played a major role at both the BMW Championship in Chicago and at the Evian Championship in Evian, France. The LPGA’s fifth major was shortened to 54 holes, the last 18 of which were played under lift, clean, and place rules. Rain pushed the final round to Monday at the BMW Championship, where Tiger’s final round woes of 2013 continued as he shot even par 71 and finished T11. Meanwhile, another past Masters winner raced up the leaderboard and toward a possible date with destiny in Atlanta.

In this edition of HtL, we have some saucy fare from France, a deep dish or two from Chicago, and some home cooking (for me) from Columbus.

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Volume Three Hundred Fifty-Six

Sir Isaac Newton should have been a golfer, and Tim Tebow should enter a long drive contest.

Hittin' the LinksJust like the NFL, Hittin’ the Links is back! Even though the PGA Tour and LPGA took the week off, there was still plenty of action on and off the links.

If you haven’t been paying attention to the inaugural Web.com Tour Finals, maybe you should take a look. While it lacks the star power of the FedExCup Playoffs, you will recognize a lot of names (Trevor Immelman, Ricky Barnes, Will MacKenzie, Ryo Ishikawa, Vaughn Taylor, et al.), and the drama doesn’t end when the tournament leader has a three-stroke lead on the 18th tee. While the top 25 money winners from the Web.com Tour’s regular season have already earned PGA Tour cards for 2014, the four week Finals will determine who gets the remaining 25 cards and the final pecking order of those cards. Next week, the Web.com Tour Finals visit my town — Columbus, OH — for the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship at The Ohio State University Scarlet Course, before wrapping up the playoffs and season Sept. 26-29 at Dye’s Valley Course in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, for the Web.com Tour Championship.

In this edition of HtL, we ask the following: Who is the best PGA Tour player with only one win? Is Tim Tebow’s swing speed really 141 mph? And why you should probably consider Newton’s Third Law of Motion when deciding whether to cut a shot around that tree or just chip back into the fairway.

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Mizuno MP-63 Irons Review

Mizuno’s Diamond Muscle. Better than Cut Muscle (or Dual Muscle)? It just might be.

Mizuno MP-63 IronsA few years ago, I sold a set of Mizuno MP-60s and have been ruing the decision pretty much ever since. At the time, I thought I’d found a better fitting set for my game (plus, newer clubs are always better. Right?). Unfortunately, I haven’t found an iron with that same sweet feel that those MP-60s had. The MP-57s were very close, but the MP-52s and 62s seemed to lack the buttery feel that solid impact delivered with the 60s. Plus, that “Cut Muscle” design employed by Mizuno on the MP-32, -57, -60 and -67 made for some very good looking golf clubs.

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Ping i15 Driver Review

Are you an i-Guy?

The i15 driver: back in blackThere’s just something about an all black driver that evokes fast cars and sunglasses. You know, it’s just a cool thing that makes you feel good. There’s a reason rock stars are so partial to black.

PING has presumably given the i15 driver its rock star livery for a reason (read: “performance”). The i15 is “tour-style,” which is marketingese for “you better have game.” While that is really overstating the level of skill required (it’s much more about shot shape and solid contact than handicap), the i15 is clearly the more demanding and higher performing of PING’s two new drivers. Finding the one that’s the best for you is the real secret. So (as PING’s website asks) “are you a G-Man or an i-Guy?” According to the site, the G-Man desires “maximum power and forgiveness,” while an i-Guy seeks “traditional look and feel.” Frankly, I’m probably more of an “H” guy myself… I need some forgiveness (a little “G”) while also being able, on my better days, at least, to take advantage of some “i” qualities.

The early buzz about this driver was that “hackers need not apply.” Guys talked about this driver the way they talk about muscleback clubs… “We’re not worthy!”

After all that talk, I had a certain level of concern that this driver would be too much for me, particularly on those days when my swing is not at its best. But after several rounds and couple small buckets of range balls, I can say that you shouldn’t be afraid to try this driver provided you make reasonably good contact on most swings and don’t fight a fade. Forget that “traditional look and feel” bit, it’s more accurate to say that the i15 is for players looking to work the ball off the tee.

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Boxgroove.com Review

Private club golf without the private club price.

Boxgroove.comWant to play that private course down the road but don’t know a member? Now there’s a way to test drive private courses across the country without risking the trespassing charge.

A new online service called Boxgroove.com provides access to tee times at private clubs. Boxgroove currently has 70 participating courses and over 650 members, some of whom hold memberships at private clubs and may be willing to host other Boxgroove.com members (more on that later). The company plans to be in 30 states by summer 2010 and eventually to take the service international.

If you’re like me, you love those occasions when you get to play a course in excellent condition with great greens. The problem is that I don’t belong to a private club, so I play public courses where the maintenance is generally not quite as well applied. While it’s less expensive (unless you are really racking up the rounds) to play public courses, being able to play the occasional round on a truly well kept course is a nice change of pace, one I’ve found to be more and more alluring lately.

Enter Boxgroove.com. I’d been hearing about the service on the radio here in Columbus, my home and Boxgroove’s, as it turns out. When Boxgroove.com offered a membership to let me try out the service and write about my experience, I jumped at the opportunity.

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Is Rawson Right?

Anna for commissioner!

Trap Five LogoIn the last ten years, the LPGA has lost over a quarter of its events, down to 28 from a high point of 38. Prize money is down over $10 million. What can be done to save the LPGA?

Anna Rawson knows the LPGA is in trouble, and she has a plan for fixing it. If you don’t know the name, maybe you should. Rawson is a golfer who models in her spare time (or maybe it’s the other way around). You may know her as the GoDaddy.com spokeswomen who swings a golf club.

That would be fair since she really hasn’t done much on tour thus far. Aside from being in the top 20 in driving distance, she is outside the top 50 in every meaningful category in her sophomore season on the LPGA. In 11 starts this year, she has made just three cuts. To be fair, she did notch a T13 at the LPGA State Farm Classic. Still, it would be easy to dismiss her as the Anna Kournikova of golf, and that’s not entirely inaccurate at this point. She’s beautiful, and she hasn’t won a thing.

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Mizuno MX-700 Driver Review

The MX-700: Best Mizzy Driver Ever? Maybe…

MX-700 DriverMizuno claims that “the MX-700 possesses the lowest and deepest COG, has the largest MOI, and is by far the longest and most forgiving driver in Mizuno’s history.”

After reviewing Mizuno’s MP-600 last year, I was very interested in seeing what the company would do with their “average player” follow-up to the MX-560. The knock (and the only knock in a lot of people’s minds) against the 560 was the sound. It had a very loud and unpleasant impact sound.

As the “MP” implies in Mizuno’s lineup, the MP-600 is intended as a driver for better players. It features a neutral to open face angle at address and little or no slice correction (other than Mizuno’s Fast Track weighting system, that is). The MX-700, with its “MX” moniker, is aimed at any golfer looking to maximize distance, get a little help launching the ball, and reduce, if not eliminate, a slice.

So does the MX-700 live up to its billing? Read on to find out.

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