2006 Mid-Season Awards

The PGA Tour season has passed the halfway point, and it’s time to give out some early awards.

Thrash TalkIt’s really hard to believe that July is right around the corner. The PGA Tour season is more than halfway complete, even though there are a lot of big tournaments left on the schedule. Two major championships have come and gone, and golf fans already have a lot of great memories from this season. Some of the memories are good ones, while some are pretty hard to think about a second time.

I’ll be giving out awards for player of the year, rookie of the year, disappointment of the year, etc. Hopefully this will even stir up some debate here at The Sand Trap. Let’s get to the Thrash Talk 2006 PGA Tour mid-season awards.

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Ogio Shling Golf Bags Finally Launched

After a premature introduction at the 2004 PGA Merchandise Show and two more years in development, Ogio says they finally got it right. You be the judge.

Bag DropI carried my own bag for years – lightweight canvas bags, then nylon bags that I dropped to the ground and stooped to pick up. Then came stand bags and then double straps, and my definition of a great carry bag was changed forever.

Now Ogio, the innovative bag maker based in Salt Lake City, has finally launched their much-anticipated Shling-equipped stand bags. It remains to be seen whether this is as big a revolution as legs and double straps. Here’s the story along with some of my initial impressions.

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Volume Sixty-Five

This week’s nine-course meal includes a variety of dishes including the importance of playing irons that are better than you, and a very exciting collection of Tiger Woods video clips.

Hmmm, Monday again. That can mean only one thing, another busload of links already chewed up and available for easy digestion. From a ton of Tiger Woods video clips, to Golf Babes, to the anatomy of a shank, you can kill at least twenty minutes to a solid half hour with these babies.

Enjoy!

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Golf Talk [Episode 028]

The U.S. Open is over, and even forum member Rafi sees fit to join in. That Rafi doesn’t care for Phil Mickelson is a moot point, right? Nah…

PodcastPhil Mickelson, Colin Montgomerie, Jim Furyk, Padraig Harrington, and countless others collapse under the weight of the U.S. Open, and only Aussie Geoff Ogilvy manages to avoid a crash and burn to win the 106th at Winged Foot. This week, we talk about the rough, the greens, Phil’s fateful 18th hole, and a whole lot more. Tune in to this episode of Golf Talk for more.

You can subscribe to the RSS feed for our podcasts here or download Episode 028 as an MP4 file. For those who want to subscribe to us in iTunes, click here.

For this week’s Show Notes – links to articles we discuss in the show and additional information – just read on.

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Titleist 905R Driver Review

Titleist was one of the last of the club manufacturers to move to the legal limit of 460cc. Was it worth the wait?

Titleist 905R GloryTitleist is a traditional company, and with tradition comes a somewhat slower, more calculated pace. Though drivers have been capped at 460cc for a few years now, Titleist has made due with drivers measuring less than 400cc – the 905S and the 905T.

Late last year, PGA Tour pros began playing the rumored “905R” in significant numbers. Ernie Els and Adam Scott were playing the driver as early as one year ago, and “spy shots” were showing up on Internet forums. Speculation ran rampant, as it is wont to do, and the public was interested, to say the least.

In March, Titleist formally introduced the 905R. Considered by many a “bigger” version of the 905T, nearly every Titleist staff member playing a 905T switched, as did some playing Titleist’s 905S.

Until earlier this year, I was one of those 905S users. I had a chance to give the 905R a spin, and here are my thoughts.

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Nine (Post-Collapse) Holes With Phil Mickelson

The whole scene was painful to watch. You wanted to turn away but curiosity wouldn’t let you. How could you miss a train wreck? And then there were those words: “I can’t believe I just did that.”

ProFilesAfter Phil Mickelson’s bizarre performance on the 18th hole of the U.S. Open, the best thing we could do is visit some of the more poignant quotes related to Phil Mickelson’s meltdown.

Is it just me or did Phil play that hole much like us hackers? I seem to remember playing all 18 holes just like Phil’s 18th at my local course last weekend. The guy has enough golf skills to get the job done but apparently someone turned off his ability to manage a course.

Fasten your seat belt, because here comes the pain.

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Cleveland CG11 Wedge Review

Cleveland Golf has always been at the forefront of wedges and wedge technology. So let’s see how the CG11s stack up to the rest.

Cleveland CG11 Wedge HeroIf someone were to play a name association game with me and said “wedges,” the first word I could think of would probably be “Cleveland.” Even before I actually started to play golf and take it seriously, I’d seen Cleveland wedges at my friends houses and in their bags. When I started to play golf, those same friends gave me their old Cleveland wedges only so they could have a reason to buy new ones.

The trend continues on the PGA Tour, even if it’s declined somewhat in recent months. In a super-competitive wedge market (with Titleist’s Vokey line, TaylorMade’s RAC line, and Callaway’s line by Roger Cleveland), Cleveland Golf has always remained at or near the top.

Wedges have followed an almost cookie cutter approach with the exceptionn of some companies that offer custom colors, custom grinds or some new approach to shanks. Cleveland took a somewhat safer approach: the tweaked the solid design of the CG10 wedges to create the CG11. Let’s see how they did.

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Carolyn Bivens, Courageously Running LPGA Into the Ground

Carolyn Bivens is making a mess of the LPGA Tour, and unless she changes her attitude or someone wises up and cans her, the LPGA Tour may be headed for some bad, bad times.

Carolyn BivensCarolyn Vesper Bivens has been at the helm of the LPGA Tour for less than one year, and I am hopeful that she won’t last long enough to blow out the candles on a second anniversary cake.

Bivens’ task was perhaps one of the easiest facing any sports commissioner to date: sell the LPGA Tour to the sponsors, the media, and the fans. She’s failed miserably on all accounts.

Her failure comes at a time when the LPGA Tour might not be easier to sell. Annika Sorenstam still dominates, but youthful, energetic, and attractive gals named Paula Creamer, Lorena Ochoa, Morgan Pressel, Michelle Wie, Cristie Kerr, Natalie Gulbis, and Christina Kim have suddenly come about. Se Ri Pak and Karrie Webb have even returned to form this year, taking the first two majors of the year.

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2006 U.S. Open Numbers

Winged Foot provided some of the highest scoring since the 70s. Thanks to that, there were some fun facts and numbers.

The Numbers GameThe U.S. Open produces some of the most interesting golf all year long. In a tournament where par is a great score, it is always fun to view the aftermath.

This year, we have some new words because of Winged Foot’s 18th hole. “A Phil,” or a “Monty”… maybe a “Phonty” can be defined as letting an Aussie win a major championship after throwing up all over oneself. Any way you describe it, the U.S. Open has provided many interesting factoids for this week’s The Numbers Game.

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