Category: Thrash Talk

My final year at Kent State University, home of professional tour pros like the 2003 British Open Winner Ben Curtis, PGA Tour rookie John Mills, Nationwide Tour veteran David Moreland IV, and second-place finisher at this past weekend’s Movistar Panama Championship Kevin Gessino-Kraft, I had the opportunity to student teach at a middle school for an entire semester in order to receive that all empowering piece of paper, a diploma. I found the experience quite rewarding, teaching you see is my profession, but I digress.

It was while I was under the tutelage of a highly esteemed educator during my student teaching program when he had told me he collected PING putters. I knew about hickory shafted clubs, mashies, spoons, and the like – those are antiques and highly praised amongst collectors. However, I was not aware of the collect-ability of PING putters.

Continue reading “From Player to Hacker, is There a Real Collector?”

I don’t know if I am particularly pissed or suddenly sullen. It has come to my attention as of late that there is a matter that needs to be addressed in a public forum. This issue has been festering itself in the sports card business for years now and it’s about time we do something about it, or at least try.

It appears that there are fewer companies with the cash and/or balls to manufacture golf trading cards. In fact, as of right now, there is only one such company, Upper Deck. Upper Deck is a private company whose headquarters is located in Carlsbad, California and has been printing sports cards since 1988 and issuing golf trading cards since 2001, when they saw their next latest and greatest serving of bread and butter vis-à-vis Tiger Woods.

Continue reading “I Proclaim War on ‘The Deck’!”

I don’t know if you can answer that question with a yes or no right now, but maybe you can in the near future. The latest and greatest story out of the PGA Tour in the past few days has been all about the 2007 and beyond television deal that was reached by the PGA Tour, NBC, CBS and the Golf Channel.

I am not going to address the specifics of the deal here because Everardo Keeme did a standout job already. Instead, I’m going to give you the run down, the fall out, and the build up.

Continue reading “The New Deal”

This is Erik J. Barzeski, Editor in Chief of The Sand Trap. Cody Thrasher, long-time columnist here at The Sand Trap, has had to resign his position due to some increasing demands on the homefront. His parting is peaceful and, should he be able to get some free time once again, temporary.

Cody is still going to participate on our forum, but his (again, possibly temporary) departure does mean one thing: we have space on our staff for someone interested in picking up where Cody left off – with a weekly “Thrash Talk” column.

Interested parties should email erik@ this domain with the subject “Thrash Talk” or they can post in the forum in this thread. Interested? We require at least a little computer skill (not much) and some writing skill (again, not much – that’s what editors are for). We do, however, absolutely require that you have a passion and a love of the game (golf, silly!).

We look forward to hearing from you and wish Cody all the best.

Last week’s Thrash Talk was on the positive side, but I won’t write something positive two weeks in a row. Last week, I talked about a few golfers who will make great comebacks next year, including David Duval, Mike Weir, and Paul Casey. This week I’m covering the opposite. There are golfers every year that fall out of the spotlight and struggle, and 2006 will be no different.

Continue reading “Disappearing Act”

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving last week, but it’s time to get back to business. I wanted to write about Michelle Wie missing her sixth cut in six tries in men’s events. However, I have picked on her enough in past editions of Thrash Talk. Instead, I’m going to focus on something a little more positive this time around.

David Duval ultimately comes to mind after playing so well last week in Japan. Duval has played awful since the start of the 2003 PGA Tour season, making just eight cuts in 49 starts. That is shocking, considering Duval was arguably the best golfer in the world in the late-90s. Last week, Duval teed it up in the Dunlop Open in Japan, and the final results were pretty positive. Duval started off great, fizzled a little down the stretch, but still finished in a tie for eighth.

Continue reading “Calling for a Comeback”

The World Golf Championships events have provided some great memories the past five or six years. The Accenture Match Play Championship is held in February, and the event is one of my favorites every year. It’s no secret I love the match-play events, and the Match Play Championship has provided a change of pace since its beginning in 1999. Tiger has won the event a couple times, and there have also been some surprises along the way (Steve Stricker and Kevin Sutherland).

Continue reading “The Oddball Out”

I didn’t get a chance to watch the first two seasons of The Golf Channel‘s Big Break series. I saw highlights of both seasons, but that was it. However, I did watch Big Break III earlier this year. It wasn’t something I thought I would watch, but I ended up watching it religiously. Last season’s Big Break had a lot of drama, and many people really got into the show. The Sand Trap forum was full of posts discussing Danielle Aimee’s attitude and anatomy, among other things.

Continue reading “Big Break IV: Give ’em a Break”