Category: Review

TaylorMade must really like their “r7” logo because they’re sticking it on everything these days. Just recently they announced “r7 irons,” their r7 driver line (Quad, HT, and TP) continues to sell well, and earlier this spring the r7 TP fairway woods were announced. It’s taken us awhile to get this review online because, with a $399 price tag, the r7 TP fairway wood isn’t one that your average golfer is going to want to try.

Make no mistake about it, this club – like most of TaylorMade’s “TP” or “Tour Preferred” line – is for the better player.

Better players who do put this club in their bags will find one of the best fairway metals on the market today. They’ll also find their wallets four bills lighter. Read on to see whether I felt the performance justified the cost.

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Alpha has been a large player in a secondary market. On the Long Drivers of America (LDA) circuit, you can find the C830.2 drivers in quite a few bags. Not all golfers are going to swing out of their shoes like those guys, but Alpha has designed a solid club that goes toe to toe with the best drivers out there.

Golf Digest even singled out the Alpha C830.2 earlier this year in their Hot List as one of “the best drivers you’ve never heard of.” Titleist, TaylorMade, Callaway: those we’ve heard of. It is easy to dismiss the so-called “second-tier” clubs, but Alpha is a great example of a small company making quality clubs. After spending a few months with the C830.2, I remain surprised.

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Putting instructors have long talked about the advantages of maintaining a smooth, pendulum stroke and in allowing the larger muscles of the shoulders and back to swing the putter instead of any wristy motions involving the smaller muscles in the fingers, forearms, and wrists.

Unfortunately, some would say, the traditional putter does not do all that it can to suit the proper putting stroke. Those “some” have banded together to form a company and a line of putters known as “Heavy Putter.” With putters weighing 90% more than traditional putters, Heavy Putters seek to help players eliminate the twitchiness of the smaller muscles and to smooth out strokes.

Do they work? I’ve spent a few weeks putting with the B3 mallet style Heavy Putter, and my opinion is set. Read on to see what I think.

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I’m a huge fan of milled putters. I’ve had one (but used many) in my bag since high school and rarely play a putter that isn’t milled. I’ve played Scotty Cameron’s and Tad Moore’s, among others, but recently I found out about Big Oak Putters, a company specializing in hand-crafted, milled putters. When I was looking through their product line, I found the T’ville and it really appealled to my eye, so I had to give it a try.

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This review comes to us via our partners at GolfWRX.com. Specifically, we’d like to thank Sam Torrez (aka “Sam-Tee-Time”), who plays out of Dallas, TX, for this review.

TourEdge is a company that I’ve been aware of for their Bazooka JMax drivers, but I’ve never had the opportunity to test their clubs until recently, when I got my hands on the TourEdge Bazooka JMax 460cc Carbon driver. I was pleasantly surprised. Reading other Internet reviews of the previous model Bazooka drivers indicates that these are very solid, well engineered clubs that should be up for consideration for players of any ability level. As the limits to driver size has increased, TourEdge has responded likewise, with larger and larger clubheads that are now at the 460cc size limitations.

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The hybrid. In today’s world, we have hybrid cars, hybrid plants and animals, and hybrid golf clubs. Which you choose to care about most is a matter of your personal, political, and playtime preferences. But here at The Sand Trap, we care about the golf clubs.

Though many can claim to have created the first hybrid (our money is on Cobra’s Baffler from 20+ years ago), some of the first to get some serious ink started showing up in 2003 and 2004. TaylorMade found that it had one of the more successful hybrids when it released the Rescue Mid in late 2003/early 2004.

What, then, is TaylorMade to do with the follow-up to a verified hit? Why, the same thing they do to everything else: add movable weights to it! 2005 saw the introduction of the “Rescue Dual” where “dual” means two movable weights. What’d we think? Read on…

Continue reading “TaylorMade Rescue Dual/TP Review”

Orlimar at one point was one of the big players in the fairway metal wood market. At courses around the world you could find their clubs in the bags of players of all handicap- and skill levels. Just like everyone else, I hit a few different Orlimar clubs when they were hot.

Since the Tri-metal line was introduced in the late 90s, Orlimar has not enjoyed much success. The struggling company has introduced the VT830 to help recapture that success and hopefully get themselves back into the game.

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