Category: Review

True Spec Golf Review

True Spec GolfSnowflakes started falling on the range as I began to loosen up for my fitting at True Spec Golf in Columbus, Ohio. Appropriately enough, it was April 1. Mother Nature had clearly pranked me. At least the snow melted as soon as it landed on the newly greened range grass.

True Spec’s Columbus location occupies one side of the range at Brookside Golf & Country Club, a course that regularly co-hosts the final round of U.S. Open qualifying. True Spec uses a brand-agnostic approach to custom fitting and building clubs to best fit any player’s golf swing. That means you get to try a much wider variety of clubheads and shafts than you would at a typical demo day. And while most big box golf stores can put you on a simulator or launch monitor and walk you through several brands of clubheads, the shafts are limited to the stock options and perhaps a handful of special-order shafts, In comparison, True Spec boasts some 50,000 clubhead and shaft combinations to find just the right fit for any player. With 23 locations in the U.S. and three in Europe, you may need to travel a little to get fit. (Maybe finally take the wife to Paris and work in a full bag fitting for yourself?)

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BirdieWrap Tape Review

Does BirdieWrap revolutionize taping your fingers?

BirdieWrap HeroBirdieWrap, at birdiewrap.com, is just what it looks like: pre-cut pieces of tape in a colorful style that make it easy to apply just the right amount of tape to your fingers, your heel, or anywhere that you may currently use athletic tape to solve hot spots, small cuts, blisters, or other ailments.

BirdieWrap asks if golfers:

  • Have hot-spots or blisters show up during a round or a long session at the driving range?
  • Get irritated by small nicks and cuts that seem to appear only when playing golf?
  • Think about how you can eliminate distractions from your game?
  • Use band-aids or white medical tape to wrap your fingers?

Of course, if you meet any of those criteria, BirdieWap can help. Does it?

BirdieWrap Teeing Up

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Precision Pro NX9 Rangefinder Review

Are lower cost alternatives to the big-name rangefinders a worthy value, or just inexpensive gadgets?

NX9 HeroI like nice things. I’ll admit to paying a bit more for things that are well built or feel or look better than competing products that do the same exact thing. This is particularly true in golf and tech, and when those two meet, well, let’s just say I could have afforded to play a little bit more golf if I had been more logical in some of the decisions I’ve made. <grin>

We all knew what a “good” rangefinder costs. Sure, you could go to Dick’s and get a rangefinder from a brand you’d never heard of for as little as $150. The thing might work for a few months before the display would start to fade, or it wouldn’t work with a hint of fog, or the laser would get mis-aligned after dropping it a foot into the rough a few times before playing your shot.

NX9 Box
Get used to that shade of green – it’s Precision Pro’s shade.

We all knew what the “good” brands were, and a lot of golfers either had to shell out as much as a brand-new big-name driver (or more!) to get one, or try to mess around with GPS apps or devices. (I’ve always been a big proponent of laser rangefinders over GPS, for various reasons, but this isn’t the place to re-open that discussion.)

I say “knew” because Precision Pro aims to change the game with their NX9 Slope, NX9, and NX2 range finders. They claim to deliver a quality product at a fraction of the price of the other companies.

How’d they do? Let’s find out…

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RZN Golf Ball Review

Nike exited the hard goods business in 2016, but the original manufacturer of the RZN balls has brought them back to live (and store shelves).

When Nike exited the golf hard goods business in 2016, fans of the Nike golf ball with “RZN” technology grabbed all of the remaining balls that they could, fearful that the ball would never be seen again.

It’s not often that truly new things happen in the golf ball industry. The last may have been the switch to the solid-core ball at the premium level, started by Top-Flite, strongly pushed by Titleist, and now the realm of everyone including direct-to-consumer brands like Snell or Vice. A strong case could be made for the introduction of Nike’s “resin” technology, which isn’t constructed quite like other golf balls.

RZN Balls

As best as I can tell, Nike produced balls with Bridgestone for a number of years, but introduced the resin ball produced by Feng Tay Enterprises since 2006.

So, fans of Nike’s later golf balls rejoiced, and the rest of the world? Well, I suppose we were interested to see if the golf world had moved on from 2016, or if Nike was truly on to something that was reborn in the RZN.

Read on to find out what we thought of the RZN HS-Tour and MS-Tour balls.

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TRUE Linkswear OG Feel Shoe Review

TRUE continues to smash out the hits with this lightweight, zero-drop, flexible shoe for warmer (dryer) days. Read on to see how I feel about the OG Feel.

TRUE OG Feel xxxxIf you see me playing golf, teaching golf, watching golf (in person, not on my couch!), or shopping at Lowe’s for golf training aids…, you’ll see me wearing a pair of TRUE Linkswear shoes. They’re my every-day, every-where, every-thing shoe, and I still have and wear pairs of them dating back to the original Tour.

I love that the original Tours, even though they looked a bit “clown-ish” according to my wife, had wider toe boxes and flexible soles, were zero drop, weighed less than most golf shoes, and were still waterproof and had enough grip to play golf in most conditions without fear of slipping.

Continuing (and improving) on many of those features of the original Tours, and among the latest from TRUE are the TRUE OG Feel. They have a lot to live up to.

Do they? Read on to find out.

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TRUE Linkswear TL-01 Review

TRUE Linkswear’s lightest shoe evokes a simple, classic style that appeals to many. Does it work for us?

I’ve been a big fan of TRUE Linkswear since the Tour debuted in 2010. The classic TRUE “way” is a minimalist, spikeless golf shoe that performs well in all sorts of weather and is comfortable and stylish.

TL-01 Black Sole

TRUE revitalized itself with the Outsider and Original in 2017, returning to their roots of minimalist, comfortable, stylish shoes that perform. That continued with the TRUE Knit and the TRUE Major.

The TRUE TL-01, introduced earlier this year, continues the old and recent tradition of delivering stylish, comfortable, minimalist shoes in all but one regard (we’ll get to that part), and is a welcome addition to the TRUE lineup, which also includes three shoes mentioned already: the Original, Major, and Knit.

How does the TL-01 stack up? How will it fit? How does it fit compared to the other TRUEs? Read on to find out…

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Callaway Epic Flash and Epic Flash Sub Zero Drivers Review

The Epic introduced Jailbreak technology. The Epic Flash introduces AI-designed faces. Skynet is here… and it may just get you some extra distance off the tee.

Callaway Epic Flash DriverTwo years ago, we loved Callaway’s Epic. It introduced a new design concept, Jailbreak, that paid noticeable benefits on the course. Understandably, Callaway sold a ton of drivers.

In 2018, Callaway introduced the Rogue. It was an improvement over the Epic in terms of forgiveness and was a very good driver (we liked it), but it didn’t fly off shelves the way that the Epic had. Maybe Epic owners didn’t want to upgrade their $500 drivers that quickly. Heck, maybe the teal color scheme didn’t appeal to golfers as well as the Epic’s green.

But Jailbreak truly delivered in both drivers, so when Callaway started to talk about adding its AI-designed Flash Face technology to a new Epic, we couldn’t wait to tee it up.

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Comparing the Mizuno JPX919 Irons

Mizuno’s JPX919 line offers three (make that four) different models with very different playing characteristics. But find the right one for your game and good things could happen on the course.

The Mizuno JPX919 family debuted last fall with three members (and recently added a fourth). I compared launch monitor results from a few range sessions with 7-irons in the Hot Metal, Forged and Tour models. My findings are below, but first let’s take a look at what goes into these irons.

From reassuring to compact, the JPX919s have something for everyone.

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Power Package Training Aid Review

The Power Package is supposed to help with a variety of things, but its one trick is just a bit too limited.

Power Package HeroEvery so often, a training aid grabs the market and enjoys a really nice run. In 2018, the Power Package was one of those devices, and after a full season of using it with some students, I’ve got some thoughts.

Endorsed by Tom Pernice Jr. and Lanny Wadkins, the Power Package aims to fix a number of swing flaws and increase distance. Simply put, the Power Package attaches near the bottom of your grip, and while making a backswing and in your follow-through, you guide your forearms into the “cups.”

Read on to see how I felt about the Power Package.

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