TaylorMade JetSpeed Driver Review

TaylorMade tries to step up their game with the release of their latest driver, named JetSpeed, I take it for a spin to see how it performs.

JetSpeedIn the past couple of years TaylorMade launched one of the most aggressive marketing campaigns the golf industry has ever seen around a unique club named Rocketballz. The Rocketballz line was a very popular line of drivers and fairway woods. Hoping to continue on the excitement TaylorMade released Rocketballz-ier line called RBZ Stage 2. The Stage 2 line was not nearly as popular as the original, and so once again TaylorMade decided to change it up with the JetSpeed line of woods.

The audience for the JetSpeed is average golfers for whom the excitement of the movable weight technology in the SLDR line does not tickle their fancy. I was the reviewer for the SLDR driver and I was very excited about the distance gains from the SLDR driver but I was unable to hit it straight. So when the opportunity to hit the JetSpeed came along I jumped at the opportunity.

Let’s take a look at how the JetSpeed stacks up.

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Volume Three Hundred Eighty

Phil’s oblique, Na’s not the only slow poke, and Bill Murray has great pants.

Hittin' the LinksDATELINE: Two Weeks Before the Masters–How will the Masters draw without the two biggest current names in the sport? We may have to find out. It will still likely command more eyes than virtually any other tournament could hope to. The Masters, after all, is not just a major, for the majority of us in North America it marks the end of winter and the beginning of golf season.

The TOUR is in Texas for the final tune-ups before the season’s first major. Next week’s Houston Open has a pretty solid field as all those players who like to play their way into the majors will be getting ready for Augusta. Are you getting as excited for the Masters as we are?

Let’s hit the links.

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New Shoes from TRUE Linkswear (2014)

The most comfortable shoe in golf debuts its 2014 line-up.

Bag DropTRUE Linkswear has long been one of my favorite brands of shoes and for good reason; they are super comfortable. While they have always had a slipper-like feel in the opinions of many, they were criticized early on for having, shall we say, a unique appearance. With each progressive release, the looks have improved without sacrificing any of the comfort. On top of that, the company continues to improve it’s sole designs for maximum stability. The new 2014 line-up should have something for everybody as the new additions include a couple of street style shoes, oxfords, and wingtips as well as more options for women.

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Volume Three Hundred Seventy-Nine

Bay Hill turns to into “Survivor” on Sunday, Tiger’s back keeps him out, and we get a new meaning for the phrase “my golf game’s on fire.”

Hittin' the LinksDid you take a break from NCAA basketball to play or watch golf this weekend? After Saturday’s round at Bay Hill, we were thinking that Adam Scott had weathered his “bad round” of the week and would surely play better and win on Sunday. We were wrong.

The conventional wisdom about anchored putters is that they are better at shorter putts than traditional putters. That did not seem to be the case for Adam Scott Sunday. One stroke back with his ball laying two on the 16th green, Scott three-putted from about 15 feet for a par. On the 17th he missed a shortish par putt. Sunday on the PGA TOUR again looked like the players were just trying not to throw up on themselves rather than win. While the suspense level remains high for viewers, we’d rather see players make birdies to win than bogeys to lose.

Here’s more about Sunday at Bay Hill and eight-plus other interesting items from the week. Let’s hit the links.

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Volume Three Hundred Seventy-Eight

Daly goes big, Tiger testifies, and eight is a magic number, twice.

Hittin' the LinksThe Copperhead Course at Innisbrook is a tough course on a normal day. Throw in some gusty wins and the best golfers in the world struggle to make pars let alone birdies, especially as they navigate “The Snake Pit.”

Though it featured a B-list field, the difficult conditions bunched the leaderboard and made the Valspar a good watch (though we admit to frequent flipping away to the various conference championship games). There also seemed to be a lot of odd side stories this week, from Sabbatini’s sneeze to Daly’s 90. And that was just at one tournament. Elsewhere, plenty more was happening in the world of golf.

Take a quick break from filling out your brackets, and let’s hit the links.

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Tiger is Not Using Performance Enhancing Drugs… I Think

The evidence points to Tiger not being a user of PEDs, but as a fan are we only looking at the evidence we want to?

Thrash TalkWhile sitting in the grill room of my golf club during the final round of the WGC in Doral, the conversation sparked up again.

It has not been discussed near as much as in the past, but on occasion – especially when Tiger withdraws or plays poorly because of an injury – people start whispering about it.

This time the gentlemen said that in his opinion ever since the PGA Tour put their drug-testing policy in place Tiger has been injured more frequently than in the past. His insinuation was that Tiger was in the past taking performance enhancing drugs and now that the testing policy was in place he was beginning to show wear as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens did in the later part of their careers.

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Nine Holes With Jimmy Walker

There’s a three-time winner on the PGA Tour in 2014, and it’s time to get to know him.

ProfilesThanks to the PGA Tour’s new “wraparound” schedule that starts in the Fall, and some timely great play of course, Jimmy Walker is the PGA Tour’s hottest golfer. After spending years making his way up through the mini-tour and Web.com Tour ranks, Walker spent a handful of years as a winless journeyman PGA Tour player before breaking through last October.

Wins at the Frys.com Open, Sony Open, and AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am rocketed Walker to the top of both the FedExCup points standings and the money list. Let’s find out where he came from.

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Volume Three Hundred Seventy-Seven

Luke gets mad, Elkington thinks he’s funny, and Reed is seriously good (unlike Tiger’s back).

Hittin' the LinksThe WGC-Cadillac Championship had a bit of everything, a stellar field, a wicked wind, a bad back, and 318 golf balls in the drink. What a week!

After the craziness of the WGC last week, we could use a breather. Lucky for us, the PGA TOUR is heading to the Innisbrook Copperhead Course next week. Sandwiched between Doral and the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bayhill, means that the Valspar Championship gets a bit of a second tier treatment, with many of the big names taking the week off. The Senior Circuit is off to California for the Toshiba Classic and the Euros are playing in Morocco. The LPGA has the week off.

Let’s hit the links.

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Mizuno MP-54 Irons Review

Mizuno’s newest irons promise to give that legendary buttery feel in a package that is both workable and forgiving.

Last year, I was lucky enough to be able to review both the Mizuno MP-64 and MP-H4 irons. At the time, they were Mizuno’s two newest offerings in the MP line and each brought something different to the party. The 64s were all business and were a true players irons. They had a thin top line, compact head, and little in the way of forgiveness. The irons were sleek and beautiful to look at but if you missed the center of the face, they could be punishing. The H4 irons on the other hand were aimed at golfers who wanted to play an MP iron but may not have had the skill set needed to do so. While they did share the simple look of an MP iron, they carried a much larger footprint with thicker top lines and the long irons had more of a hybrid appearance. Forgiving they were, and while they had the soft forged feeling one has come to expect from a Mizuno MP iron, there was just something a little off about them. Enter the newest MP iron, the MP-54.

With the MP-54, Mizuno has crafted an iron that falls nicely in between their two previous sets. They aren’t quite as small as the MP-64 irons, but the slightly larger size along with some new design features means that they aren’t as punishing either. The previous MP-H4 irons probably offered just a little bit more forgiveness, but not by much. Does Mizuno finally have the best of both worlds with the MP-54 irons? Read on to find out.

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