Shave strokes off of your game. This week’s Trap Five counts down the easiest way to take that 95 to an 89 or that 83 to a 79.
Everyone would love to shave strokes off their score. 18 handicappers want to be 15 handicappers, 15 handicappers want to get down to 12, and two handicappers want to be scratch. On the PGA Tour, saving one stroke per round can move a player from 100th on the money list to 21st.
Chris DiMarco has improved his game tremendously in the past five years but must now prove his worth when tournaments are on the line.
Chris DiMarco’s showdown with Tiger Woods in the third and fourth round of the Masters was one of the 2005 season’s defining moments. DiMarco earned the respect of golf fans the world over when he refused to knuckle under and hung with Woods till their playoff ended and Tiger edged him out. That final round pairing of DiMarco and Woods did a lot for DiMarco’s image and proved that he had the heart to win the biggest events.
While proving he could take heat in a Major without shooting a 76, DiMarco’s next few years will prove whether he gets a chapter or a footnote in golf history.
If you’ve been holding out on getting a 2-Ball, hop on the bandwagon and give the White Steel models a try.
Odyssey Golf has been on a roll since April of 1996. Though that spring’s Masters is better remembered as the year Greg Norman lost a six-shot lead in the final round, equipment buffs remember it for the putter craze set off by winner Nick Faldo. Nick wielded a Dual Force Rossie 2 to great effect, and the “insert” putter niche was crafted.
Odyssey, a Callaway Golf brand, is almost always the first- or second-ranked putter each week in the Darrell Survey, and their tagline “#1 putter in Golf” is true for many – visit your local muni and you’re bound to find plenty of 2-Balls or 2-Ball knockoffs. The insert market is, for the most part, owned by Odyssey, despite attempts by nearly every other putter manufacturer to best company with the hurricane-like logo.
Continue reading “Odyssey White Steel 2-Ball Blade Putter Review”
The USGA may be looking to cap the MOI in your driver. Hey, at least they’re not going after your balls!
E. Michael Johnson of Golf World has published an article which says that the USGA sent a memo yesterday to manufacturers announcing a proposal to limit the moment of inertia (MOI) in drivers. If adopted, the proposal will go into effect March 1, 2006.
Moment of Inertia has been a hot selling item lately… on putters, but its use in drivers has taken a back-seat to two other existing limitations – head size (460cc) and Coefficient of Restitution (or CoR, capped at 0.830). MOI is a measure of a clubhead’s ability to resist twisting on off-center hits. High MOI = more forgiving clubs. In March of this year, the USGA said that MOI had tripled in drivers since 1990 (yes, since the persimmon days). The March notice also mentioned three other areas would be looked at: spin generation, MOI, and the adjustability of woods and irons (see: TaylorMade r7 Quad).
The Sand Trap .com now has a new logo, in addition to Newport Cup logos and more. Get some JPEGs here.
Over the past few months, The Sand Trap has been working with Mike Rohde of Rohdesign to fashion a number of logos for The Sand Trap .com. No doubt you’ve seen the images that headline The Sand Trap’s regular columns, like The Numbers Game, Bag Drop, and Thrash Talk.
Today we’re pleased to announce that we’ve finished the logos. They’ll soon grace polo shirts, business cards, and more. If you’re looking to link to The Sand Trap, grab some of the JPEGs we’re offering below. If we’re working with you to provide a shirts, embroidery, or something similar, EPS images are included in a single .zip file. If you have requests for specific sizes, we can create them. Just let us know by emailing logo-request@thesandtrap.com.
Tiger Woods leads the field to the TPC of Boston this week.
Tiger Woods has had a great 2005 so far, and it could get even better this week at the Deutsche Bank Championship. Woods has an amazing six-point lead in the world rankings after regaining the top spot from Vijay Singh earlier this season. Tiger comes into Boston this week off the heels of a win at Firestone two weeks ago in the WGC-NEC Invitational. Add to that the fact Woods finished second in this event last year.
The man that beat Tiger and rest of the field last year at the Deutsche Bank Championship was Vijay Singh. Singh outplayed Woods en route to moving into the top spot in the world rankings for the first time in his career. Vijay was planning on defending this week in Boston, but that unfortunately isn’t going to be the case. Singh pulled out of the tournament on Tuesday because of back spasms. He hurt his back while playing table tennis with his son.
A players are looking to breakout and have a strong finish to the 2005 year. Here are a couple may surprise you.
Now that the majors are done with a lot of the focus now is on the second-tier players to finish strong, secure cards, and possibly make a name for themselves. For these reasons, most of these tournaments in the next couple months will be quite important for guys you probably have not have heard of. This week, I want to look a bit closer at a couple players that I believe are on their way up and going to have some success.
The LPGA rolls into Illinois for the State Farm Classic. Both Solheim Cup Team captains will be in attendance for a ceremonial “send-off” event.
For the past thirty years the Labor Day weekend has been a special time for the LPGA Tour. In 1976 the first Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Classic was held at the Rail Golf Club, yearly site of the State Farm Classic. This golf course was newly completed and without clubhouse, trees, or even a parking lot. But Patty Berg and the LPGA saw both beauty and challenge in the course and the co-owners were interested in donating to worthwhile charities so the LPGA went ahead and placed it on their tour calendar.
Fast forward to 1993 when Nancy Lopez was the defending champion of the newly renamed State Farm Classic. The addition of television cameras and notable increases of the purse to $500,000 made the Classic one of the hottest venues on the tour.
We’re looking for someone to write an interview column. Could you be the next Sand Trap staff member?!
The Sand Trap .com is looking to add a columnist to our staff. Specifically, we’re looking to add an interviewer to complete a weekly interview with someone in the golf world (we’ve got a good number of contacts). The column would be published on Saturdays and would be read by hundreds of thousands of readers from all over the globe.
If you’re interested, contact me at my AIM screen name (“iacas”) or via email. My email address is listed on the Staff Page. Please, yes, you must know English fairly well. If you IM, please introduce yourself with more than “hello.” 🙂
