David Leadbetter Swing Setter Review

While no substitute for instruction from a PGA Professional, the Leadbetter Swing Setter promotes key swing fundamentals.

Leadbetter With The Swing SetterYou may have seen the David Leadbetter Swing Setter on television and wondered, “What in the heck can a golf club that makes clacking noises and looks like a weapon do for my game?” As I began this review I intended to find out if using this goofy looking contraption could improve my grip, swing plane, release, and tempo like it promised.

Leadbetter, the Swing Setter’s creator, is among the world’s most recognized golf instructors and founder of the David Leadbetter Golf Academy. He has made a name for himself instructing players like Nick Faldo, Ernie Els, Charles Howell III, and Aaron Baddeley. The Swing Setter is his attempt at providing a tool that any player can use to improve swing fundamentals.

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Two Free Tickets to Saturday at the PGA Championship

Want to win two free tickets to this year’s PGA Championship? Here’s how…

Looking to win two free tickets to the PGA Championship this year at Baltusrol? We have ’em! Read more about the contest here in our forum. If you don’t wish to join the forum (awww, why not?), I’ll accept email entries. Click the “Staff” page above to email your entry to me by Sunday, August 7.

John Daly Takes a Full Swing at “Thug” Remarks

PGA Tour Pro John Daly has instituted a lawsuit against the Florida Times-Union newspaper for defamation of character.

john_daly_intimidating.jpgBig John Daly has had enough! After a character assassination by a sports reporter at the Jacksonville-based Florida Times-Union left Daly stunned, Mr. “Grip-It-And-Rip-It” just had to speak up.

The brouhaha began after an editorial written in March 2005 during the Player’s Championship put down fun-loving Daly and playing partner David Duval who has been stumbing around the golf course for over a year.

Accusing Big John of having “Thug Life qualifications” wasn’t enough to tick off Daly. The final straw that broke the ‘Lion’s’ back was the accusation of “smacking his wife around”. At the Buick Open this past week reporters who questioned Daly got a mouthful. “Accusing me of being a wife beater? I had to do something!”

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The International Preview

PGA Tour professionals head to Castle Pines for one last tune-up before the PGA Championship.

The International LogoThe final major championship of 2005 is just one week away, but many of the top-ranked golfers are making one last stop in Colorado before heading to Baltusrol for the PGA Championship. Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh battled it out last week at the Buick Open, and Vijay eventually pulled out the victory. Both Singh and Woods will be taking this week off in preparation for Baltusrol, and Ernie Els is out for the season due to knee surgery. That being said, the rest of the big guns on the PGA Tour will be teeing it up at Castle Pines in what should be a very exciting event.

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USGA Sued by Glove Maker

H&B, makers of the Bionic Glove line and Louisville Slugger sports equipment, has filed a lawsuit against the United States Golf Association after the company’s Bionic Golf Glove was rejected and deemed non-conforming by the Association’s Equipment Standards Committee.

The Bionic Golf GloveIf the glove doesn’t fit the guidelines, then you must deem it non-conforming. Sure, that may not be as catchy as Johnny Cochran’s famous slogan, but that’s what the USGA has been preaching to Louisville Slugger. Hillerich and Bradsby Co., manufacturer of the Bionic Glove line and Louisville Slugger baseball equipment, has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court against the United States Golf Association involving the Association’s approval of the Bionic Golf Glove.

The Bionic Golf Glove was designed by Louisville hand surgeon Jim Kleinert and advertised as an aid to golfers with arthritis due to it’s ergonomical design. The glove has neoprene between the fingers and on the flexpoints of the hand as well as padding placed throughout the palm and fingers. The glove’s padding is the culprit when it comes to seeking the USGA’s approval. Rules state that the glove be “plain” and meet 12 of the USGA Equipment Standards Committee’s guidelines such as “[the glove] shall not have features such as any other contrivance or device that might assist the golfer in making a stroke.”

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Callaway Calls New CEO To The Tee

Callaway has a new CEO, and his last gig was with a cosmetics company? Yep. George Fellows is now one of the fellas.

CallawayCallaway Golf’s year-long search for a new leader ended yesterday when the company named George Fellows as its new president and CEO. Fellows is best known as the former head of Revlon, and is credited with turning that brand around in the late 1990s.

Fellows replaces William Baker, who had been the company’s interim CEO since Ron Drapeau was forced out last year. Fellows is the first person to lead Callaway Golf who never actually worked alongside company namesake Ely Callaway, who died in 2001. Past top executives like Don Dye, Chuck Yash and Drapeau were all groomed to succeed Ely Callaway, while outgoing interim CEO Baker served on the company’s board of directors under the late entrpreneur.

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Score Free Tickets to the 2005 PGA Championship

The Play Golf America Academy is giving free lessons to beginners on Sunday August 7, 2005. Attend the clinic and get free tickets to the 2005 PGA Championship.

Play Golf AmericaIn association with the PGA, Play Golf America is giving away tickets to next week’s 87th PGA Championship. Golfers who pre-qualify at the Play Golf America website and then attend the clinic will be eligible to receive two tickets each to any of three practice rounds at the final major of 2005 to be held Aug. 11-14th at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J.

Make sure you show up for the clinic because if you don’t you will forfeit any chance of scoring those hard-to-get tickets. Register too late and you’ll be placed on the waiting list.

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Coming Back for More

2005 has marked the resurgence of a few veterans on the PGA Tour.

Thrash TalkLast week in Thrash Talk, I mentioned a few young guns who have yet to live up to their potential on the PGA Tour. It was a bit of a negative story. This week, I am turning things around to the positive. There are always golfers that have success certain years and then dissapear for a period of time. Some make a resurgence, and some never make it back to the spotlight. A couple examples from last year are John Daly and Carlos Franco.

John Daly had a horrendous 2003, finishing 171st on the money list. Daly not only won an event on the PGA Tour last year, he also finished 21st on the season-ending money list. Carlos Franco has always been a little inconsistent, but he finished 94th on the 2003 money list. Last year, Franco won the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee and finished 29th on the season-ending money list. These kinds of stories are always great in my opinion, especially when the golfers are fan favorites like Daly.

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Range Finders: Legal Soon?

The “range finder rule,” Rule 14-3b, may soon be going the way of the dodo. Hallelujah!

Bushnell Pinseeker 1500In last week’s issue of GolfWeek, James Achenbach breaks the news that the USGA and the R&A are set to bust up one of the dumbest rules in modern-day golf: rule 14-3b, the “range finder rule.”

The rule currently prohibits a player from using “any artificial device or unusual equipment for the purpose of gauging or measuring distance or conditions which might affect his play.” This includes range finders, which are artificial measuring devices.

The stupidity of this rule was, of course, not always evident. Golf existed long before yardage markers and yardage books. However, with many courses publishing yardage books or marking sprinkler heads, the rule has become long in the tooth.

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