Author: Michael C. Hepp

Wilson Staff eXo Carry Bag Review

Wilson’s new eXo carry bag is a lightweight carry bag loaded with multiple pockets and extra features to help you enjoy your round while carrying your clubs.

exoIf you are a serious golfer it is likely that you are also a discerning golf bag person. The golf bag is analogous to the toolbox for the golfer. A toolbox is extremely important to a tradesman. There are keys you look for in purchasing the toolbox, like weight, colors, organization, number of pockets, overall functionality, and durability. Many tradesmen I know have decals for showing off school colors or places where they have worked. They become personal and unique to the person using them.

With golf bags, the parameters important for a toolbox are also important for golf bags. This becomes doubly important if you carry your bag, put it on a push cart, or load it onto a golf cart for your regular round of golf. If for example you are a regular carrier of your golf bag then weight, pockets, and the stand are likely of key importance for you.

I was given a Wilson Staff eXo carry bag for review and I used it for about a month before writing this review. Because I am a serious golfer I took this review of a golf bag very seriously. I carried for a few rounds and had it in my regular configuration which is on a push cart. Without further ado, here is my thoughts.

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Pyramid Putters Aztec Series Blade Review

A new player in the clubmaking industry, Pyramid Putters, hits the market with a brand new putter. We test it and let you know if the new tech works.

PyramidAmongst all the clubs we golfers carry in our bags, the most personalized, or better said the most unique, has to be the putter. Sure, the drivers have added a little color over the past few years and of course there are cavity back irons and blade irons of many types, but for the most part the other thirteen clubs all look relatively the same between manufacturers. The putter on the other hand is unique. Shapes, lengths, forms, and colors can vary wildly. A popular saying amongst many golfers is “I’d putt with a shovel if I could make more putts”. I mean did you ever see the putter Jack Nicklaus used to win the 1986 Masters? Good lord, that thing was ugly.

Because golfers will putt with just about anything this leaves the market for putters and putter manufacturers wide open. If you were looking to be a golf equipment start-up breaking in to the market with a putter would be an excellent start. (And we see this every year at the PGA Merchandise Show.) This means when the opportunity to review a putter comes along many of us who’ve been doing reviews for many years are skeptical.

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The Curious Case of Jim Furyk

Jim Furyk’s recent play has warranted a deeper look as one Davis Love’s picks for the Ryder Cup. I explain why DL3 should look elsewhere.

Thrash TalkThe 58 shot by Jim Furyk earlier this year was pretty incredible. Yeah, he holed a shot, but even if you take that away he was going to be close and likely still would have shot 59, which is one small insignificant place below incredible. Pretty freaking awesome, maybe?

What it has done though is really made life a challenge for Davis Love III. To pick a forty-six year-old guy who at the start of this season was planning to help in an assistant coaching capacity is fraught with risk. Furyk’s Ryder Cup record is a train wreck. 10-20-4 for a winning percentage of .353. Among active golfers with more than fifteen matches played he is the worst. If you take a look at the all-time records of golfers with more than fifteen matches, only Curtis Strange at 6-12-2 with a win percentage of .350 is worse, and only by a few thousandths of a point. I hate to call out someone like this, but Jim Furyk is pretty awful when playing for his country against Europe.

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Reliving the Olympic Success

Golf returned to the Olympics for the first time in over one hundred years and did not disappoint. I review how it went and how it can get better next time.

Thrash TalkIt seems from the ratings that I have seen that, like me, there were a lot of people watching the final round of golf for both the women and the men at the Rio Olympics. The ratings for the men were in fact, second only to the Masters. That is truly fantastic to hear.

Going into this Olympics, at least on the men’s side, you might think that we were set for a complete disaster. All but a few of the high profile names dropped out for multiple reasons. Pika, safety, or the real reason – just plain tired. I suspect all that didn’t play sort of wished they did. They will come out and say that they didn’t miss it, because they don’t want to look stupid, but the reality is they probably have a pit in their stomach for missing the first Olympics in over 100 years. I am talking about Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, and yes I suspect even Rory McIlroy.

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The Events that Matter (and the 2016 Olympics)

In a press conference for the ages Rory McIlroy firmly planted his foot in his mouth and now looks like a spoiled, rich, professional golfer who is out of touch with the game he plays for living.

Thrash TalkOne of the things I like best about Rory McIlroy is his candor during press conferences. He is open, honest, and says what is on his mind. I love it. It is such a contrast to the robotic answers that we got for so many years from Tiger Woods. At the British Open Rory’s press conference was not only interesting, he lit the dang thing on fire.

The questioning was about his participation in the Olympics. Male golfers are dropping out at an alarming pace. Rory was not the first and he was not the last. In his initial statement he said he was dropping out because of the Zika virus. Almost everyone has cited the virus, or as Jordan Spieth calls it “health concerns” (we’ll get to him later). But during his press conference he seemed to backtrack. He basically said Zika was one of many reasons. I think he had to do this because the Zika virus is a really weak excuse. As a reporter I could have easily asked him why if he was so concerned about the virus did he go to the Bahamas on vacation a location where reported cases of the Zika virus have been found. Or stay at his house in Florida where mosquitos have been found with the virus. The virus was not a legitimate excuse and he probably knew it. Then he went down a path I would have recommended he not go down.

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TST Staff Predictions for the 2016 British Open

The third major of the season gets underway this week, lets see who the staff expects to play well at the British Open.

Thrash TalkIn my opinion Royal Troon is the perfect British Open golf course. It is a links course with a certain amount of holes where you can play well, and a some really really hard holes. I love watching the players play the postage stamp, just great viewing. Adding to this years event, many of the world’s best golfers are playing really well and we have recipe for an outstanding event.

Royal Troon has a history of winners that is very interesting. For one Americans have won there since Arnold Palmer in 1962. There is not a clear reason for this, but it is an interesting fact. It also has a history of crowning some unsuspecting winners such as Todd Hamilton. So we are likely in for an interesting tournament. Let’s see what the staff expects for this year’s event.

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What the USGA Got Wrong at Oakmont

The USGA has an important job in the U.S. Open of doling out penalties, at Oakmont this year I explain why they did a pretty awful job

Thrash TalkDustin Johnson is no rookie when it comes to penalties assessed in the final round of a major. Who can forget his famous bunker episode at the PGA Championship a few years ago? At that time, he merely missed out on a playoff, but the rule was clear and even he himself admitted he’d made a mistake. There is no question he grounded his club and no question he was in a bunker. It was really hard to tell it was a bunker – I know I had no idea – but many people did and it is his job to notice such things.

Fast forward to this year’s U.S. Open. He was Dustin again in a rules quandary. Did he in some way cause the ball to move during his practice stroke on the fourth green? This is the question that everyone is interested in answering. Now that the dust has settled a little on this issue we are starting to see that some mistakes were made and many – far more than I thought – professional golfers are not clear on the rules.

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TST Staff Predictions for the 2016 U.S. Open

The 2016 playing of the U.S. Open is set to begin at Oakmont with just about everyone playing well. Let’s see what the TST staff expects for this year’s event.

Thrash TalkIf you love a good test of golf, then without question you love watching the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club. The members love to tell anyone who’ll listen that they slow the greens down when the pros show up. They love to test themselves and watch the professionals test themselves as well.

This season brings the three big names in golf – Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, and Rory McIlroy – all playing well and primed to contend on the weekend. Expectations could not be higher for a young gun showdown.

With all these exciting expectations lets see what the staff expects for this year’s event.

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Harry Taylor Design Wedges Review

Harry Taylor is probably a name you are not familiar with, but he has been in the golf industry designing clubs for years. Now he has decided to enter the market with a line of precision milled wedges.

XR16In many ways, picking a wedge can be extremely similar to picking a putter. While the designs don’t vary quite as much (there are no mallet wedges), still there is a great deal of personalization and customization that is available to golfers today.

When I look into golfers’ bags at their wedges, I very often see one of two scenarios. One is what I would describe as a pot luck of wedges. One wedge won at a tournament, one they bought when they lost one on vacation, really, no rhyme or reason to the selection. The second scenario is an off-the-rack set of two to three wedges made by a brand name club manufacture which may or may not (usually not) have been fit for them.

The reality is wedge fitting is important. Because of the customization, mainly the bounce and flange design differences, one wedge might be better for you based on your swing over the one you’d otherwise be tempted to pick off the rack. A great deal of craftsmanship goes into a wedge. Golfers should pay more attention.

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