Nike One Black/Platinum Balls Review

The Nike Platinum and Black balls improve on their previous versions but still fall a bit short of the other premium balls in the market.

Nike one Black/Platinum Balls HeroNike jumped into the golf ball arena a few years ago and has not looked back. The Nike Platinum has enjoyed some success on Tour, and not just by way of Tiger Woods, but other top players like Rory Sabbatini, Stewart Cink, Trevor Immelman, and Paul Casey as well. While Nike’s balls may be lagging market leaders Titleist and the Pro V1 duo, the Portland, OR based sports equipment behemoth has fully established themselves in the ball market with no intention of leaving.

With Tiger at the helm they have designed two premium balls for better players: Nike ONE Platinum and the Nike ONE Black (the ONE Gold having been ditched for 2007). Both have gone through a recent makeover to improve upon an already popular ball. I’ve been a loyal Titleist ball player for years, so I was eager to see how the Nikes would stand up. Read on to see if I’ll be playing balls with a swoosh instead of cursive this year.

Eagle Sticks Golf Club (Zanesville, OH) Review

Eagle Sticks is a renaissance course that rewards creativity and shotmaking over the popular bomb and gouge style of play. It’s a throw-back course, and a fun, well-designed one at that.

Eagle Sticks LogoDescribed on our forum as “Augusta Junior,” Eagle Sticks Golf Club has at least one thing in common with the famous Georgia course: the entrance is right off a street filled with strip malls, fast food, and small retail buildings. The course is also set among hilly terrain, like Augusta National, but the comparisons really stop there. Eagle Sticks was not designed by Alister MacKenzie. I doubt if any top-ranking pro aspires to play there. And, as hard as I looked, I couldn’t spot a single azalea anywhere on the course!

Fortunately for golfers, Eagle Sticks is a fun, well-designed, and relatively inexpensive track for golfers east of Columbus, OH. I had the chance to play Eagle Sticks in early May, and after hearing the “Augusta Junior” moniker, I couldn’t possibly help but be disappointed when reality didn’t quite meet expectations. Right? Wrong – Eagle Sticks impressed me enough that I’m trying to find a way to get back to the course, despite the four-hour drive, to play again.

Cranberry Highlands (Cranberry, PA) Review

Cranberry Highlands is a very playable golf course that suffers a little bit from blandness. I prefer to think of it as more of a blank canvas for the kind of golf you’d like to play.

Cranberry Highlands SignAmerican golfers don’t often get to play a course without many trees, and when we do we often call the course “linksy.” Of course, nothing could be further from the truth, as true “links” land exists in only one place: right against a large body of water. Links land is a soft, fertile soil that literally “links” the inland sections to the body of water.

For treeless inland courses I prefer the term “early American.” Many of today’s parkland courses, characterized by chutes of trees leading from tee to green, began their lives as virtually treeless golf courses. Whether as a result of “Beautification Committees” or Mother Nature, treeless golf courses in 1930 became forested, heavily wooded courses by 2000. For example, Oakmont – home of this year’s U.S. Open – was once treeless and has had to remove some 8,000 trees to get back to its original look.

A short drive west of Oakmont, one will find an “early American” course in a town called “Cranberry.” Built on the top of a hill, Cranberry Highlands brings this style of architecture to a public, municipally owned course. I’ve had the chance to play Cranberry Highlands a few times, and I’ve come away with mixed feelings. Read on to see what I mean…

Titleist 907D1 and 907D2 Driver Review

Titleist may be the “traditional” golf company, but that hasn’t stopped them from introducing a triangular driver. How’s it play? Read to find out.

Titleist 907 D1 D2 Drivers HeroSome have called 2007 the year of the square driver. After all, big names in the golf industry – Callaway and Nike – have pushed square drivers on the market with others (Nickent) following. And hey, the logic behind pushing weight to the back corners makes sense. These facts have led some to claim that within five years, all drivers will be squarish in shape.

But not so fast! Feedback from demo days is that the square drivers are shorter than the traditional drivers. And, since they’re engineered hit the ball straighter, the better players who likes to shape their tee balls aren’t taking to the shorter, straighter, squarer drivers at all.

With all the hype, it’s easy to overlook the more traditional drivers from companies like Titleist. This April, Titleist followed up on their 460cc 905R with the fairly traditional 907D2 and the triangular 907D1. Both designed for the better player – and neither at all resembling a box – the 907 line continues Titleist’s “two-driver” strategy.

How do these drivers stack up to the competition? Is a triangle better than a square? Which of the two is better for you? Read on to find out.

Nike CCi Forged Irons Review

Built with better players in mind, Nike’s CCi Forged were fashioned for feel, workability, and a piercing trajectory.

Nike CCi Forged HeroNike has been in the iron business for a while now and have had the chance to release a few generations of clubs. While Nike doesn’t have the long history of other club manufacturers, they are producing some very good equipment, some of which is used by the best players in the world.

Stewart Cink and K.J. Choi have in their bags Nike’s new CCi Forged irons. Built with minimal offset, a thin topline, a high level of workability, and the classic forged feel, these irons are a good complement to their cast counterpart.

Can their performance match the slick brushed-steel look? I have had a chance to give these clubs a whirl for the past several weeks and I’m ready to send their report card home in the mail.

FootJoy ReelFit Shoes Review

The Reelfit FootJoys are not only an evolution in technology, but an evolution in comfort as well. FootJoy has not only kept their lead in the golf shoe category, they have cemented it – with a twist.

ReelFit HeroNormally, a new version of FootJoy shoes would not be met with such a buzz. The latest versions would be upgraded with a slight modification of the lines and possibly the spikes might be updated for better traction. This wouldn’t draw much attention in and of itself.

This time around FootJoy has added something new and exciting. The BOA Lacing System adds a new twist and level of technology never seen in golf shoes before. Gone are the days of loose fitting shoes and laces the come undone or wear out. Now comes a new generation of golf shoes that not only need no breaking in, but fit perfectly right out of the box.

Too good to be true? Not really.

Cleveland HiBORE XL and XL Tour Driver Review

The Cleveland HiBore has helped Jerry Kelly and Vijay Singh (among others) to compete on the PGA Tour, but how does it help us amateurs?

Cleveland Hibore Xl Driver HeroOne of the first geometry-based drivers on the market, the Cleveland HiBORE has changed the shape of the tee game and set the tone for what has become a new era in driver head shape. Now in its second version, the HiBORE XL and XL TOUR attempt to prove once again that Cleveland is “Taking Distance Driven Geometry to a New Level.”

The HiBORE XL gets a lot of attention. After all, a former #1 ranked golfer and two-time winner in 2007 plays it: Vijay Singh. As most of you know, Vijay ditched the original HiBORE last year in favor of the 460 Comp only to come back and win with the XL this year at the Mercedes Championships and the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Whether or not the original HiBORE was to blame for Vijay’s down year in 2006 we may never know, but the driving show Vijay put on Sunday at the Arnold Palmer is proof that the HiBORE XL can earn its keep.

Callaway X Hot Fairway Wood Review

The Callaway X-Hot fairway wood is both long in the shaft and off the tee. It serves as a great second option off the tee and doesn’t do too bad off the deck either.

Callaway X Hot Fairway Wood HeroLast year, Callaway introduced its X fairway woods. That design harkened back to the old, and still popular, Steelhead and Steelhead Plus series. After carrying a Steelhead plus in my own bag for over five years I replaced it last year with a TaylorMade r7. I saw a jump in distance and accuracy that was impossible to ignore. It kept my beloved Callaway from getting back in the bag.

I had a chance last year to demo the non-Hot Callaway X fairway wood and liked it. It felt pretty good but it wasn’t quite good enough to make me think about removing the TaylorMade from my set – but it did make me think.

This year I was able to get my hands on the new Callway X-Hot fairway wood. Now I would be able to take a full and even better look at the new design. The question is, would it be enough for me to make a change after having a great experience with the r7? Read on to find out if Callaway is back in my bag.

Velocity Wipes Review

Velocity Wipes are a product intended to make cleaning golf clubs simple and convenient. I found that they delivered on their promise in almost every category.

Velocity Wipes HeroThere are a plethora of accessories available to make you golf life easier. Some meet expectations and some don’t. Velocity Wipes are an item intended to make cleaning golf clubs easier.

Somebody was going to come up with a product like this sooner or later. Velocity Wipes fills a niche: an easy to use golf club cleaning product. While they can’t do anything for bag chatter or dings, let’s see if they do a good job of cleaning post-round grit and grime or if they’re just a glorified wet-nap.

Basic Construction
Each wipe is approximately 9 x 13 inches unfolded. They come out of the dispenser folded once, just like a baby’s diaper towelettes. The wipes look somewhat like a blue paper towel, but are made of a more fabric-like material and are much more durable than all but the strongest of paper towels.