David Toms

Southern Boy David Toms’ unassuming nature doesn’t mean that he hasn’t made a place for himself in golf.

david tomsI’ve never been to Louisiana, but I can picture some of the folks who live there sitting on the front porch sipping lemonade on a hot summer day. David Toms fits that image well. David Toms is a low-profile man with a high-profile game. Low-profile comes naturally to a guy who grew up, not in New York, Seattle, or Beverly Hills, but in Shreveport, Louisiana. The pace there is a bit slower than in almost any part of the country and that is the way Toms seems to like it.

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The Longest Yard

David Lloyd has something interesting to say about the distance we hit the golf ball these days. Or so he says…

David Lloyd sets us up for some insight in his GolfWeek.com article “Seeing Both Points.” You see, he played the 8,548-yard Jade Dragon Snow Mountain course in Li Jiang, China. The course sits 10,200 feet above sea level and balls fly 20% further. The title promises to provide a fair analysis of the distance debate in golf.

Unfortunately, Lloyd misses both of his points rather spectacularly. He quotes U.S. Open winner Michael Campbell as saying “(Callaway’s) new FT-3 really made a difference for me in the U.S. Open. I was driving it miles and still hitting a ton of fairways. It was a big part of my win.” I assume that Lloyd feels Campbell’s quote is a great example of increasing distance on the PGA Tour, because Campbell’s statement is nearly devoid of actual fact.

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THE Open

Numbers from past Opens provide some insight into this how this year may play out.

It’s Thursday, which means that it’s time for The Numbers Game again. It is also time for the third major of the year: The British Open. This time it is back at the Old Course at St. Andrews. Lots of bump and runs, punch shots into the wind, and 30-yard putts. There will be quite a variety of skills to admire and to watch. What I like most about the British Open is that Johnny Miller isn’t commentating. Sorry, I still tend to feel this way in the weeks following the U.S. Open.

Back to the task at hand. For The Open, I decided to look into the past to see what types of players fared well. Were they long hitters? Were they accurate with their irons? Or were they better at putting? I was curious to see what the numbers said when looking at the top finishers from Opens past. I was also hoping this would possibly give us some insight into how this year’s Open might pan out.

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John Deere Classic Preview

Michelle Wie tees it up with the big boys for the third time in her career.

john_deere_logo.gifThe British Open is only one week away and the top golfers in the world are either at St. Andrews already or are on their way. The John Deere Classic is the last stop for some of the PGA Tour players before heading to the British Open themselves.

But the British Open is not the story this week. That honor belongs to Michelle Wie as she makes her third career start on the PGA Tour. She has missed her two previous cuts, the most recent being at the Sony Open earlier this year. The appearance by Wie will definitely make tournament directors happy because the ratings will surely get a nice boost.

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Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic Preview

Jamie Farr lends his name and celebrity status to the Owens Corning Classic.

owens_corning_logo.jpgIn 1982, PGA caddy Judd Silverman was on a self-imposed mission to bring an LPGA tournament to Ohio. With the okay from former LPGA commissioner John Laupheimer, Silverman contacted several sponsors and Jamie Farr who lent his name and secured celebrities for the inaugural event.

Farr is still getting the celebs to attend. This year’s Dana Celebrity/LPGA Challenge on July 5th and the National City Celebrity Pro-Am on July 6th features celebrities Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Hall of Famer Jim Kelly, formerly of the Buffalo Bills. The Beach Boys are providing the “Good Vibrations” at the Gala Dinner.

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One-Hit Blunders

Are one-hit wonders really that good for the PGA Tour?

Thrash TalkWith the British Open fast approaching, I can’t help but think about some of the major suprises in recent years. The thoughts aren’t all positive, that’s for sure. The last two British Open champions, Ben Curtis and Todd Hamilton, have done nothing worth noting since their triumphs across the pond. Add 2002 and 2003 PGA Champions Rich Beem and Shaun Micheel to that list as well. These four golfers have gone downhill in a hurry since their major championship victories, and I really don’t think that is very good for the PGA Tour to be honest.

I know that suprise winners in major championships is just a part of golf’s great history, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. I definitely find myself pulling for the top golfers in the world when the majors roll around. I don’t enjoy seeing no-name golfers win the biggest tournaments in golf, and I believe a lot of people share this veiwpoint as well. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed watching Jason Gore put himself in contention a few weeks ago at the U.S. Open. That was a great story, and I wish he would have held it together on the final day. But I never wanted him to win it.

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Volume Sixteen

These nine links should keep you going during this shortened work week.

I need to apologize for being a little late with this week’s Hittin’ the Links. I got a little too wrapped up in the Fourth of July cocktails yesterday and I’ve been a little preoccupied with the catfight going on in the golf blogging world. Anyway, I hope everyone was able to get a round of golf in this weekend.

Here’s nine links to keep you going for your shorter work week. FYI, next week’s links might be a little late as well. It’s my birthday and I’ll be on the road Monday.

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Titleist Sues Several for Counterfeit Balls

Titleist is suing both retailers and distributors for selling illegal, counterfeit Pro V1 golf balls.

TitleistThe Acushnet Company, parent company of Titleist, has sued Cam Golf, Inc., City Sports, Inc., Faber Brothers, Inc., GI Joe’s, Inc., and Kings of Golf, Inc. for selling counterfeit Titleist Pro V1 golf balls, the world’s best-selling golf ball and the preferred ball of professional players worldwide.

Said Titleist in a press release, “These suits are the result of each of these entities either distributing allegedly counterfeit Titleist Pro V1 golf balls at wholesale or selling allegedly counterfeit Pro V1 golf balls in retail locations.”

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Japan Market Gets Exclusive Products

Japan is known as a golf-crazy country. U.S. equipment manufacturers cater to the market with some interesting Japan-only products.

Bag DropIn America, the words “hot import” would probably be most closely identified with cars bearing the names Honda, Toyota, or Lexus. The tables are turned, however, when it comes to golf clubs. The hot imports in the Japanese golf markets come from U.S. companies like Callaway and TaylorMade.

If you’ve seen the movie “Lost in Translation,” then you’ll likely remember the brief but beautiful scene in which Bill Murray’s character tees off toward the towering visage of Mt. Fuji. What kind of driver do you think the American visitor was using to put the ball in play? While it might have been something from a top Japanese golf company, like Mizuno or Bridgestone, it was quite possibly a product made for the Japanese market by a U.S. club company.

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