Volume Four Hundred Thirty-Two

It’s a major minor,and don’t call Rickie “overrated”

Hittin' the LinksWhat a finish! Even without the three-hole aggregate score playoff and one hole of sudden death, the last few hours of the Players Championship was easily the most entertaining golf of the last several years.

It featured a charge from deep in the pack, some near-miss specialists trying for redemption, and rookies defying the odds. No less than seven players had very good chances of getting to 12-under to get into the playoff, or even of reaching 13-under, which could have been good enough for the win in regulation.

Let’s hit the links.

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Volume Four Hundred Thirty-One

Match play, pioneers lost, and a journalist suspended

Hittin' the LinksI love match play. The way that each hole is a new life in the competition. How it’s the basically the only scenario in golf when you are competing head to head with another person rather than solely against the course and the elements.

But TV and match play is a tough fit. Here’s the thing, during the early rounds it’s difficult to follow the match ups closely because the network is flipping between groups. We want to see the action but it detracts from the viewers ability to stay current with the status in each match and hence the drama. Once the bracket gets narrowed down, we get a final that is god-awful to watch when one player gets up by more than two holes. I’m not sure what the solution is, other than a multi-cast so that you could follow any group you wanted. But that is not going to happen, at least not on network television.

Golf could use a new way to showcase match play (and stroke play for that matter). But the PGA TOUR is trying to stick to (and protect) traditional media, so adamantly that they just suspended the media credentials of a journalist for using social media to “broadcast” a practice round. At a time when golf is contracting in this country, it seems somewhat short sighted to censor an innovative journalist so harshly over her coverage of (again) a practice round.

That’s it for the op-ed portion. Let’s hit the links.

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Volume Four Hundred Thirty

Ko vs. Henderson (and Pressel), McIlroy vs. Spieth, and Rose vs. Day and Tringale (and the rain)

Hittin' the LinksGet your bracket ready. The WGC-Cadillac Match Play Championship, the most unique of the WGC events, returns next week.

There’s a new format designed to keep the game’s best around for more of the tournament. Instead of single-elimination from the start, the event now features a round of pool play with the top points-earner from each of 16 groups advancing to the more familiar bracket.

There will be two notable absences from the star-studded field this year: Phil Mickelson will skip the event for personal reasons and Tiger Woods failed to qualify. Still, the field features the top 64 OWGR players (and alternates) and should be a fun watch with the TPC Harding Park as the backdrop and antagonist.

But before we get too far into next week, let’s hit the links.

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Sun Mountain Reflex Push Cart Review

Sun Mountain introduces the next generation push cart with an innovative folding mechanism and smallest folded size on the market.

sun_mountain_reflexSun Mountain has redesigned the Micro Cart with the next generation Reflex push cart. The Reflex has a new folding mechanism, a wider base when open, and folds up very small for easy storage in your car trunk. The dual strut design of the Micro Cart has been replaced with a single strut design for easier folding. Other additions are a second accessory compartment and adjustable handles.

This review will take the Sun Mountain Reflex Push Cart for a test drive and see how this next generation of push-cart from Sun Mountain compares to its predecessor and its competitors.

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Volume Four Hundred Twenty Nine

Jordan Spieth is everywhere. And is Tom Watson pondering retirement?

Hittin' the LinksSpieth-mania was in full force and hard to miss in the week following young Jordan’s victory at the Masters. Among his appearances: the Late Show with David Letterman, the TODAY Show, CNBC Squawk Box, Morning Drive, CBS This Morning, the Dan Patrick Show, ESPN Radio, Mike and Mike in the Morning and too many more to mention.

Somewhat surprisingly, Spieth honored his commitment to the RBC Heritage when he could have justifiably begged off. Very surprisingly he didn’t just go through the motions, he was competitive, finishing T-11. It’s going to be very interesting to see how Spieth develops over the next few years and to see if the budding Rory-Jordan rivalry can be what we always hoped Tiger-Phil would be.

Let’s hit the links.

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Mizuno JPX-850 Forged Review

Mizuno’s new JPX-850 Forged irons, “Born out of Boron,” takes their game improvement line to the edge of MP player irons.

mizuno_850_forgedMizuno has unveiled their new addition to their JPX series with a forged boron alloy iron. The addition of boron increases the strength of the steel by 30% and allows Mizuno to forge the face thinner to increase ball speed while still keeping that well-known Mizuno iron feel. This is Mizuno’s replacement for the JPX-825 Pro iron, which is seen as a bridge between the JPX and MP lines.

This review will take a closer look at the JPX-850 Forged and see if “Born out of Boron” really does have an effect.

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Cobra Golf Releases Fly-Z Line-up

Covering everything from irons to woods, the game’s best to those that need more than a little help; Cobra’s newest line-up has something for everybody.

Bag DropCobra Golf may not have the largest tour staff, but a couple of the names that they have are big ones. Between the likes of Rickie Fowler and Lexi Thompson, the company has successfully transformed themselves from the brand that “old guys” play to one that is more appealing to the younger golfer. This transformation really began with the release of the AMP product line a few years ago, and since that time, the company has followed those up with the AMP Cell and BioCell clubs. Now it’s time to replace that line-up once more. Building off the success of last years BioCell line, which got great reviews here at The Sand Trap, is the new Fly-Z line. With an array of different products ranging from drivers and woods to hybrids and irons, the Fly-Z has something for everybody no matter your need or ability level.

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An Interview with The Dan Plan

The Dan Plan is one of the biggest and most active threads on The Sand Trap forum. In this interview, I ask Dan McLaughlin some questions from our forum members right before he heads out to knock off a few more hours from his 10,000.

Throwing DartsDan McLaughlin is the man behind The Dan Plan, a golfer striving to “test” the “10,000 hours to become an expert” theory espoused by a few. His goal? Become a PGA Tour golfer after 10,000 hours of dedicated practice.

I have obsessed over the Dan Plan right from the beginning. Well, maybe obsessed is a strong word, but I have definitely given it a great deal of thought. I was introduced to the idea by a friend who was a member at Dan’s first club Columbia Edgewater Country Club. He told me there was this guy out there practice putting everyday. His goal was to put the 10,000 theory of deliberate practice to the test. As an engineer, I was immediately drawn to the experiment.

Recently, Dan was introduced to the outstanding book Lowest Score Wins by Erik J. Barzeski and David Wedzik and as luck would have it I had an extra copy and was in the Portland area. I offered it to Dan and also the opportunity for an interview with questions coming from the forum members here on The Sand Trap. He happily agreed. Opinions on Dan here on the forum are mostly leaning toward the pessimistic side, primarily because his stated goal of playing on the PGA Tour is lofty. Calling it “lofty” is probably being nice. Perhaps Dan’s goal is closer to fantasy. As such, many of the questions target not only why he chose such a nearly impossible final target as well as why he started with one-foot putts and hit them for so long.

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Volume Four Hundred Twenty Eight

An all-Masters Hittin’ The Links. (Well, almost.)

Hittin the LinksWe’re now three and a half months into 2015, and one major championship into the golf season. Jordan Spieth, runner up a year ago, outlasted charges from major winners Justin Rose, Phil Mickelson, and Rory McIlroy to win his first green jacket (possibly one of many to come).

Spieth was dominant early on, and was able to coast to a record-tying final score of -18. He’s the second-youngest Masters winner even, trailing only Tiger’s 1997 victory, and he broke or tied just about every record his age didn’t disqualify him from.

Woods himself joined in on the low scoring for a few days before Spieth dominance, and Tiger’s own shoddy play on Sunday, knocked him out of contention.

We also take a look at great tournaments by Phil and Rory, a new limited edition shoe from Nike, bask in a bit of ’90s nostalgia, and check in on old friend Anthony Kim.

Let’s hit the links.

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