Category: Hot Topics

Callaway Announces New GBB Epic Drivers and Fairway Woods

Callaway’s newest release promises to bring groundbreaking technology that will have you hitting the ball further than ever before.

Bag Drop A few years back, Callaway made waves in the golf equipment industry when they relaunched one of the more famed lines in their history, the Big Bertha. Since that time, the line has seen yearly updates with new technology coming along the way. The Big Bertha 816 and Big Bertha 816 Double Black Diamond were particularly well received. That being said, since the original relaunch, I would say it fair to call the updates evolutionary, meaning that while they did improve over their predecessors there was nothing that you would necessarily call groundbreaking. With this release, however, Callaway is touting the new Epic line as a huge release with major new technology. Continue reading to see what makes the new clubs so revolutionary and stay tuned to the Sand Trap for our in-depth reviews of the Epic and Epic Sub Zero drivers to see if they really live up to their name.

When I said earlier that the prior updates to the Big Bertha were simply evolutionary, that was not meant as a knock against Callaway. At this point, with the restrictions from golf’s governing bodies on technology, there is only so much you can do and still produce a conforming club. With the new Epic drivers, there are four key technologies at play; some which we have seen before and others which are brand new. Both the Epic and Epic Sub Zero will have the ability to tweak the clubs weight; on the standard Epic this is done through the use of a sliding weight, while the Sub Zero version uses interchangeable weights. Both clubs also feature the new Jailbreak technology along with Speed Step and Triaxial Carbon and Titanium Exo-Cage technology.

Callaway GBB EPIC Driver

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Deep Dive Analysis of Fairway_CY’s Golf Game

With the help of GAME GOLF, we take a look at a forum member’s game and where he can save strokes.

The Numbers GameIntroduction
We are starting a new feature where a volunteer steps forward every so often and allows a statistical deep dive into their most recent rounds. All we expect in return is that they diligently work on the areas that we identify as their biggest problems.

The purpose is to show how we can use GAME GOLF (GG) and the principles in Section 2 of Lowest Score Wins (LSW), “Building Your PracticePlan,” to move our games forward. We will:

  1. delve into the data provided from the GG rounds,
  2. use LSW as a framework to discuss areas of the player’s game that need improvement, and
  3. suggest very specific ways to go about lowering their scores.

One issue we foresee is: based on past experience and knowledge, it is extremely likely that we will all be the same: fix our full swings!

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PING G Irons Review

Can switching to a game improvement club really make that big of a difference? Read on to find out.

PING G Irons - HeroLet me start off by saying I have never been a great golfer. Heck, I don’t know if you could say I have even really been a good golfer. At my best I had a 9 handicap index and that was at a time that I was practicing a lot and playing two to three times a week. When you get the opportunity to play that much, it isn’t too difficult to consistently shoot rounds in the low 80s with the occasional 78 or 79. Throughout this time, I probably had a higher opinion of my game and my ability level than was true and I found myself playing clubs that weren’t really the best for me. I played a number of different player’s type clubs and because I was playing a lot, I kind of got away with it.

Recent life events have changed things. A change in job has made it impossible to play the amount I had previously. Add in the fact that my wife and I welcomed our first child into the world, and the free time has dropped significantly. There is nothing more frustrating in golf than getting to the point where you feel you are starting to put things together only to see it all go away. Due to this, I decided that I needed to face reality so to speak and not play clubs meant for players better than me. I know that I am not going to be playing as often as I like, so I need to make sure that the clubs in my bag are helping me and not hurting me.

Having the opportunity to review the new PING G irons has given me the chance to see how big of a difference Game Improvement irons could help my game. Read on to find out if the irons have lived up to their promise.

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PING Crossover Review

The Ping Crossover design creates a new club category to combine the precision, workability and control of an iron with the speed and forgiveness of a hybrid.

ping_crossover_heroPING introduces the Crossover hybrid iron. Billed as a new category of iron and not a driving iron, it promises to create higher, longer shots. This can be an advantage to holding greens from long distances out. Let’s take a look at the Crossover.

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TaylorMade M2 Rescue Review

TaylorMade’s current marketing campaign is all about distance with forgiveness and the M2 Rescue definitely fits the bill.

TaylorMade M2 Rescue HeroFor a number of years, TaylorMade has been known to crank out one line of clubs after another in quick succession. The entire business model has turned off some golfers who were confused by the multiple offerings out or preferred to sit and wait for the newest line of clubs they know is coming just around the corner. TaylorMade has gone away from that lately, choosing instead to market fewer clubs than they have in the past. They now just have a high-end line, the M1, and the simpler (and cheaper) M2 lineup. This doesn’t mean the M2 clubs are inferior; they are still high performance clubs.

The M2 Rescue is a performer. I love hybrids; they need to be workhorses for me and I usually carry two in my bag at all times. I use them as long iron replacements and for teeing off when I don’t want to hit driver. I also like to use them to try and reach a short par five in two or to advance the ball out of the rough after an errant tee shot.

TaylorMade has produced some very good hybrids in the past. How does the M2 stack up to its predecessors? Let’s find out.

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Voice Caddie VC300 GPS Review

A GPS unit with no display? The Voice Caddie 300 is a little like having an invisible caddie in your ear telling you how far to hit it.

The Voice Caddie 300 GPS… It'll talk to you!The first thing that strikes you about the Voice Caddie VC300 is that there is no screen… none. There have been several talking GPS rangefinders in the past, but the Voice Caddie line is the only one that comes to mind that doesn’t sport at least a small LCD screen to back up the voice output.

I was not sure what to think of that. Frankly, the idea of a talking GPS has always struck me as a little gimmicky. Having a glance at a screen just seems easier than pressing a button and listening to a virtual caddie give me the yardage.

Would my predisposition against talking GPS units sour me on the VC300? Just a few trips to the course would tell.

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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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Blast Golf Review

Has advancements in motion sensor technology made 3D swing analysis possible for the average golfer?

Blast Golf Box FrontGolf is hard (a registered trademark of this site’s owner…). Even the pros do not go about improving without some help from modern technology. For some, it may be with high-end launch monitors like TrackMan or FlightScope. For most of us, the price tag of one of those units puts them out of reach. Fortunately, it seems nowadays that more electronic products are coming out for the everyday golfer that are designed to be both helpful and affordable.

One of those products in the market is the Blast Golf, created by Blast Motion. The company is a leader in motion capture and analysis technology. They create products for a variety of sports and continue to develop new ways to use motion sensor technology to help athletes improve. For golfers, their sensor is designed to detect the movements of the golf swing and analyze it, giving an indication of how well they perform in various functions of the swing and where they can improve, all while taking high-speed video.

Having a good swing trainer at home would be a boon to any golfer who works to improve their game, but is it the real deal? Let’s find out.

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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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