New Adidas Tour 360 and FootJoy GF:II Shoes Coming Soon

Your feet just got a whole lot techier – the Adidas Tour 360 and the FootJoy GF:II are about to hit the streets.

Adidas Tour 360Your feet are about to look a whole lot fancier on the golf course as industry leader FootJoy and TaylorMade-owned Adidas release new shoes geared towards merging fashion with function and form with flair.

The Adidas shoe – the Tour 360 – recently won the prestigious ispovision Global SportStyle Award for men’s footwear. The most unique feature of this shoe? The lack of a sole under the arch of the foot. It’s got a heel and plenty of spikes under the ball of your foot, the famous three-line Adidas acts as a support system. To quote Adidas:

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What’s in the Bag?

Instead of crunching the statistics this week, we take a peek inside the bags of Tour winners.

The Numbers GameA simpler Numbers Game this week. Instead of looking at stats, I decided to examine the bags of the guys on the PGA tour. Specifically, the equipment of all the players who won tournaments this year. My motivation behind this is to look beyond the advertising and claims of the manufacturers about having the ‘#1 Driver on Tour.” The following lists comprise every piece of golfing equipment used to win every PGA tournament this year. Period.

So what were the results? Read on to find out.

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Adidas ClimaCool Polo and Shoes

Adidas has released some nice performance enhancing apparel and footwear that blends comfort and style. See what we think about one of their polos and a pair of shoes.

Adidas Golf LogoGolfers used to be made fun of for their clothing – and with reason! Suffice to say Duffy Waldorf and Woody Austin would have fit in quite nicely 15 to 25 years ago.

The modern golfer is a bit more stylish, however, and a recent push within the clothing industry has focused the energies of golf apparel designers on a new target: performance. What began with Under Armour and Nike Dri-Fit has come to nearly every golf clothing line from Callaway to Izod to Adidas. Performance clothing wicks away sweat while you’re working out (and more). As a geek and a clothes horse (is that possible?), I’ve always been fascinated with this stuff and have found myself buying multiple pairs of moisture-wicking underpants. The only problem with most of this stuff is when you wore it you felt like screaming “I must protect this house” à la Under Armour every time you enter a room.

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U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee Preview

Carlos Franco will be defending at this week’s PGA Tour stop.

usbank_logo.gifThe British Open is in the past, and as always, the show must go on. The PGA Tour stops in Milwaukee this week for the US Bank Championship. As usual, the field for this event is not nearly as strong as most on tour, but there are still some very capable golfers teeing it up. Kenny Perry will be the top-ranked golfer in the field in Milwaukee, and he has already won twice so far in 2005. Perry came into this event in 2003 with two wins that season as well, and he walked out of this event with his third victory that year. He will be looking to repeat that feat this time around as well. Perry finished in a tie for 11th at St. Andrews last week.

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Evian Masters Preview

Oui, Oui! The ladies don their berets and fly to France for the Evian Masters.

LPGAThe top ten LPGA money leaders travel to the Evian Masters Golf Club in France this week seeking glory and a piece of the $2.5 million purse. A whopping $375,000 will be claimed by the one person who can successfully contend against a field which runs the gamut from the number-one female professional golfer on tour to the most extensively discussed amateur golfer in the world today.

In addition to Annika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie flying to the city of Evian-les-Bains, Wendy Doolan will be on hand to defend her 2004 one-stroke victory which she took convincingly from Sorenstam after trailing by five strokes.

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It Hasn’t Been Easy for the Big Easy

Has the extended traveling finally caught up to the Big Easy?

Thrash TalkThe British Open has come and gone, and it definitely lived up to the hype. The Old Course was once again the site of history. Tiger Woods won his second Claret Jug and completed the career grand slam for a second time. He and Jack Nicklaus are the only two golfers in history to accomplish that feat. Speaking of Nicklaus, the Golden Bear said farewell once and for all to major championship golf. He missed the cut by two strokes, and his walk down the 18th fairway on Friday will be remembered forever.

Those two stories will stick out in most people’s minds for years to come, but one other thing really caught my attention this past weekend. A certain South African once again struggled in a major championship, and I’m talking about Ernie Els. The “Big Easy” was plagued by inconsistent play once again, finishing at -2 overall and in a tie for 34th. Els started off with a shaky opening round and then bounced back with a 67 on Friday. He then shot a 75 on Saturday and finished with a 70 in the final round. This is definitely not the same Ernie Els we are used to seeing.

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British Open Equipment Wrap

Equipment moves are rare prior to a major championship, but there was some equipment news out of St. Andrews last week.

Bag DropAs you know by now, Tiger Woods left St. Andrews with the Claret Jug following the 2005 British Open. Tiger stuck with the equipment setup that he used to win the Masters in April, including his array of 13 Nike golf clubs. That includes his Ignite 460 driver, T-60 3-wood, Nike custom irons and wedges and his Titleist by Scotty Cameron putter.

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The Big 24?

Tiger Woods is out – once again – to a greater than four-point advantage in the Official World Golf Ranking. Time to expand: The Big 24 is now all the rage!

The Big Five? They don’t exist. It was a myth. It expanded in March or April or so to include Retief (remember “The Big Four?”), but it should have shrunk to “The Terrific Two” or “The Winning One” as Phil Mickelson has faltered, Ernie can’t win anything with a top-50 player in the field, and Retief falls apart whenever his calendar says “Sunday.” Vijay Singh hasn’t holed a putt for a month or two now.

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Volume Eighteen

Some links for your viewing pleasure after a great weekend of golf.

Let me start by thanking Brian for filling in last week as I was celebrating my birthday. (Presents are still welcomed, in fact they are encouraged!) Second, I need to preface my next few sentences with the following: I’ve forever hated Colin Montgomerie.

But, was it just me, or did you find yourself not exactly rooting against him this weekend at the Open? I’m not saying I wanted him to win, but I am saying I wasn’t trying to squish his head with my fingers or hope that Tiger would mistakenly hit him with a 2-iron. I’m just saying, it might have been okay to see him do well in his native land. I could tell he desparately wants to win a major.

No? Okay, uh, me either. On to the links.

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