Giant club heads, exotic shafts, and weird-looking putters have become staples in the bags of players today. In fact, it seems every year brings a new twist on technology that prods players to keep pace.
Yet it remains to be seen whether recent novelties like the moveable weights in the TaylorMade R7, the curious shapes of the Cleveland Hi-Bore and Nike SasQuatch drivers, and ever-stranger putters like the Hammy leave a lasting mark on the game.
Looking back, however, there have been clubs through the years that have had a seminal impact. Here’s a look at some of them whose influence is still seen today.
Fresh from a nice little Fourth of July break, Hittin’ the Links is back and ready to go. This week features the intoxicating smile of Brittany Linicome, Pink Paula Creamer, a severe Tiger Woods hater, Trevor Immelman, and much, much more. 
Starting with the original Big Bertha, Callaway has always been associated with quality, high-performance drivers. Nearly every company has rushed to the 460cc limit, although Titleist took their time getting the 
Callaway Golf’s HX Tour golf balls are among the best-selling balls at retail and also enjoy strong usage numbers on tour. While the HX Tour and HX Tour 56 still look longingly up at Titleist’s Pro V1x and Pro V1, Callaway’s flagship balls have actually outpaced Titleist in major championship wins on the PGA and LPGA tours over the last two years (thanks to Annika Sorenstam, Phil Mickelson, Michael Campbell, and even Nike-using Tiger Woods).
Annika Sorenstam needed 90 holes to do it, but she wins the U.S. Women’s Open. This week, talk of Annika’s win, Geoff Ogilvy on distance, Greg Norman’s advice, Carolyn Bivens’ reign of terror, the flaws of the FedExCup and Ryder Cup, Seve on the U.S. Open, and two chips by Jeong Jang. Tune in to this episode of Golf Talk for more.
The Open Championship at Hoylake is less than two weeks away and I can hardly contain my excitement for golf’s oldest and grandest stage. Some of golf’s greatest champions (Vardon, Jones, Hogan, Palmer, Nicklaus, Woods) have won The Open and I’m looking forward to seeing which winner will be revealed in 2006.
The month of June was much better than May when it comes to quality golf. The PGA Tour and LPGA Tour held their respective second major championships of the season in June, and both came down to the last shot. They left impressions on the golf world and the Bunker’s Dozen.
Thanks to the (not-so-) modern miracle of cascading style sheets (CSS), today we’re introducing a long overdue feature here at The Sand Trap: printer-specific style sheets for cleaner prints.
Few PGA tournaments have as storied a past as the “Cialis” Western Open. This tournament, in one form or another, has been played since 1899 when Willie Smith beat Laurie Auchterlonie (of St. Andrews descent) in extra holes. The Western Open has been played in many places since its debut, including sites as far from Chicago (the hometown of the tournament) as Texas, Pennsylvania, and California.