PURE Grips Review

Golf grips with a one-year guarantee and no tape or solvent required? Sound like hocum? It’s not.

PURE GripsTake a moment to consider the grips on your golf club. Odds are they’re the most unappreciated piece of equipment in your bag. I know guys who care more about their ball markers, their divot repair tools, and their towels than they care about their grips.

What sense does that make? The only way you can control the golf club is through your hands, and your hands touch the golf club via the grip only. In some ways, the grip is more important than whether you’ve got a game-improvement cavity back iron on the end of the shaft or a 1970s style muscleback blade – if you can’t grip the club properly you’ve got little chance of success with either.

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Miura Releases K Grind Wedges

Miura drops a unique wedge design on us, called the K-Grind Wedge, which is named after Katsuhiro Miura himself. A club named after the man himself must be worth a look, right?

Bag DropThis week is somewhat of a first for Bag Drop, as this marks the first time we’ve given dedicated coverage to Japanese clubmaker Miura. Does that mean they haven’t been worth mentioning up to this point? Absolutely not! In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

I’m sure a number of you have heard the name from time to time, often from someone either praising the exceptional feel and performance of their irons, or making the claim that the manufacturer forges irons for Tiger Woods, and many other tour players. While I’m not going to touch that subject with a 1-Iron, I will give you a little bit of background on Miura and then we’ll take a look at their new forged K-Grind wedge.

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Volume Two Hundred Forty

Tiger shoots 79, Westwood is injured, and Cristie Kerr talks motherhood

Hittin' the LinksG’Day Sand Trappers and welcome to another edition of Hittin’ the Links. HTL is coming to you a little late this week due to our nation’s birthday, but better late than never I always say.

In this volume we start with a look at who is injured, find out who is listening to their biological clock, and check out the British Champions Challenge. Also on tap, we find out who made the field at St. Andrews, look into what Tiger shot in a recent pro-am, and do a wrap-up of the week’s events. Read on!

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Filming Your Golf Swing

Technology is a wonderful thing, and with all due respect to Vijay Singh, it can help you quite a bit.

Casio FH25Vijay Singh was once famously quoted for saying that he doesn’t look at his swing on video because he’d be tempted to make it look pretty rather than focusing on building a swing that works. This quote is often used by people trying to justify why they won’t record their swing or buy a camera.

Unfortunately, Vijay’s quote was taken out of context, misunderstood, or was simply untrue. Singh has used high-speed cameras to record his swing for years and maintains a large library of his videos. While practicing, he often has his caddie or others record his swing, and will stop to look at things and make adjustments.

I think that what Vijay Singh was trying to say is that he values function over form. That’s fine – and something virtually every good golfer has in common. And while it’s true that form follows function in the golf swing, the opposite is also true: function follows form. A high-speed video camera is a useful, valid tool in improving both the form and function of your swing.

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“The Last Putt” Book Review

The Last Putt provides an intriguing look into the rivalry of two of collegiate golf’s powerhouses during a year that would forever change the world of golf.

The Last PuttIt might seem easy today to generate some book sales and media hype when you throw the name Tiger Woods on the cover or in the title. With the fame of being the world’s best golfer (and now tabloid fodder), all you need to do is put his name somewhere on the cover, toss in some nuggets (whether factual or not), and generate some book sales.

While I’m certain there are or will be plenty of books coming out to cash in on his fame or notoriety, The Last Putt: 2 Teams, One Dream, and a Freshman Named Tiger is certainly not one of them. Oh, to be sure, Tiger is in the title and a picture of him is on the dust jacket but this book is not a memoir of Tiger’s college days. While he’s the most well known in the much heralded cast of characters, it is the story of desire, determination, camaraderie, and a little bit of destiny sprinkled in that takes center stage.

Should you add The Last Putt to your summer reading list? Read on to find out.

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Getting Fit, Part Two

In part two of our series on getting fit, we give a few tips on going in for a real fitting, and then dive into what to look for when selecting the proper fit for the one thing connecting you to the club – the grip.

Bag DropAfter a little hiatus, The Bag Drop is back this week, with the second part in our guide to getting fit. In part one, we looked at some of the online resources available to assist you in finding the right shafts for your game. This week, we’ll touch on a little bit of the same, but also touch on what’s available on the Internet when it comes to looking for new grips.

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Volume Two Hundred Thirty Nine

Ryan Moore hates golf, Bubba finally gets to the winner’s circle, and Faldo says call me

Hittin' the LinksGood day golf fanatics and welcome again to the little column we like to call Hittin’ the Links. Anyone else out there as happy to see Bubba Watson finally win on Tour as I am? I really get a kick out of watching him play. Good for him and congratulations on his first Tour victory.

In this newest edition of HTL we begin by investigating why Ryan Moore hates golf, then find out what’s up with Seve Ballesteros, and see whats new with Torrey Pines. Also on tap we check out the club pro championship, look at the Monty-Faldo spat, and do a wrap-up up of the week’s events. Read on!

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2010 U.S. Open Final Round Live Chat

Sign up now or join us later for a live chat starting at 3pm eastern time when final-round coverage of the 2010 U.S. Open from Pebble Beach begins.

Five Burning Questions for the U.S. Open (That Don’t Revolve Around Tiger Woods)

What are your non-Tiger questions? See if they stack up to ours.

Trap Five LogoWith the conclusion of sectional qualifying last Monday (and Tuesday in some places), the field for this week’s U.S. Open is set. While 156 of the world’s best and/or luckiest players in the world will converge at Pebble Beach, you can be sure that most of the world’s media will be focused on just one of them.

Still the world’s number one player, plagued this year by turmoil on and off the golf course, and a decade removed from arguably the most dominant tournament performance in golf history (at this very tournament and venue),Tiger Woods will be the big story throughout the championship. There is a very good chance that Tiger’s presence will overshadow everything else about the Open. Before things get that bad here at the Sand Trap, here are five of the big questions that should be on any golf fan’s mind heading into Pebble Beach.

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