golflaw

Peete was a great ball striker and had a terrific run in the mid '80's. Much like the juice filled era in MLB of the 90's, he was overlooked because he averaged around 245 off the tee. Even back then the average on Tour was about 265-270, so Peete really was short but he made up for it with a great short game, as you mentioned. Certainly not forgotten just often overlooked.

Yep. Guess I will have to do that. Was hoping that with as much golf gear as Nike sells, they would have a simple way to get OEM grips.

Thanks for the input. It's really odd because 25 years ago Ping would not sell a Ping brand grip aftermarket. Today you can get them anywhere. I really make more putts with the Nike putter and just would prefer that it has the original style grip on it. I like the feel, the way that I roll it with that putter as well as the look (honestly, I bought a Scotty Cameron putter last years and can't stand the feel of the the grip in my hands, and since I play the Nike better, the Scotty sits in the basement for now).

I bought a Nike Method putter a few years ago and never thought twice about having to replace the grip. I have spent the last 2 hours online trying to find a new Nike brand replacement grip with no luck. Any suggestions? Does Nike allow anyone to sell replacement grips? Much appreciated. Joe

I long ago stopped debating the law with non-lawyers, so I probably should not post this but your statement about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act having any applicability to either basic trademark or copyright counterfeiting is nonsense. But, absolutely none of the factories in China that make brand name goods are making knock-offs, for purposes of this discussion meaning counterfeit clubs. That used to happen in China before the American companies woke up and started having their own US manufacturing people on site in the factories where their products were made. Chinese companies would run a 3rd shift using either scraps or fake materials and over run Alligator logos. (I had a case like that 30-some years ago.) Not anymore. If Nike or Acushnet or any other significant US company found that somehow that factory was running fakes today, that would be because their own US employees were part of the scam. They would fire them, prosecute them when they came back to the US and fire the factory. Unless someone steals the molds and trade secrets of manufacturing (which is one reason why the US companies have their own people on site), the fake companies don't have the molds, they don't have the trade secrets for making the tolerances of the real stuff, and they don't use the same components. And that is for the head. If you think that the shaft in your fake Titleist iron is made by the company whose name is on that shaft, you are really gullible. And yes, from a moral standpoint you are stealing from the brand owner. What amazes me is that people buy garbage like this for low prices and when they realize it is fake and doesn't work right, they then call the brand name customer service and want to know if they will send them real clubs. ( I kid you not, people actually do this, I have read the letters in counterfeiting suits. People think they can be a $20,000 Rolex watch for $5000 and when they learn it is fake they want a replacement from Rolex. Yea, right.

If price seems too good to be true it is. Everyone likes a deal but tough to get a steal on new clubs. Lots of fakes. Attended counterfeiting conference last year and talked with security people from Ping, TM and Acushnet. The volume of fakes is out of control sadly. Not just golf clubs btw.

Agree completely. They have officials with every group. They must need to have them make calls and enforce them at the time. To say golf is different from other sports is baloney and a red herring - other than some of the rules are so archaic as to be nonsensical. The point is that when the rules were adopted they had no referees so they had to have some type of rule system, and most people playing in a social round of golf do not have referees. You don't have referees in pick-up basketball, baseball or football. But, when it gets to a high enough level you have referees and avoid the issue. What is really absurd is that the PGA and golf officials started answering the phone from people sitting on their couch and used that to later overturn results on the course. Began I believe with Craig Stadler not wanting to mess up his pants kneeling under a tree on the back 9 at Torrey Pines. Wasn't funny then and not funny now. Totally absurd that golf allow NON PARTICIPANTS to change the outcome of its events. Call Roger Goodell and tell him that the refs blew the holding call that resulted in the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl, or the umpire how clearly missed the call at home plate. Let's reverse the outcome the next day because someone saw something at home. Whether Tiger should have been in or out is immaterial, golf has to stop letting fans interfere with play. Get in the 20th century and have referees make the call. Then we can all debate whether they made the right call or not, but the players aren't going to be pt in the spot - - and called cheats.

Thanks much. He was rolling it pretty well last Saturday for sure.

What putter is Rory McIlroy using in San Antonio? I can't tell if he is now using the Nike or still with the Scotty Cameron. Thanks.

The prettiest golf course I ever played was a 9 hole created by a farmer just north of Galway called Clew Bay. Remarkable holes up high on a hill overlooking beautiful Clew Bay. Last time we played it was 2007. Went back there in October 2012 and finally found it. The lack of play had caused the guy who owned it to let it grow over and have his sheep on it. Heartbreaking. A lot of that has happened to the really small courses that you would probably like to play for fiscal reasons.

Lucky you. Galway is my favorite place in the world. Love it, the people the entire experience. You can rent clubs at the expensive courses. It is expensive to rent, like $75 Euro. Decent clubs though. At the smaller local places likely not going to find rental clubs. I am talking now about the places where there is no real clubhouse just a trailer and a lockbox asking you to deposit 5 or 10 Euro for the fee and another 2 for the trolley. On the west side of Ireland is Lahinch and Ballybunion. Really expensive as in more than 250 US. But, they are both memorable and you will remember the day the rest of your life. Had the fortune to play both a couple of times and it was worth the price. Drive way out the Connamara coast and there is an awesome course right on the ocean. Not Ballybunion, but not the price either and the wind howls like it does it the big courses. Expect rain and cool in May. I am jealous.

That mural was still firmly in place as of last October when I was in Belfast. Creepy thing was somehow the gun followed you as you walked towards or away from the mural.

It's classic Dick Wilson. I love his courses, and this is a gem. I am sad to see it get bulldozed. I enjoyed it beating me up several times. i realize that tour pros were killing it, but it is tough plus for an amateur. And fair and fun.

Heatherwoode is a nice public course....but. Because of that water I have never played it in less than 6 hours. In my opinion, that is absurd so I won't play it anymore. A big reason golf participation is down. Way too long and waiting between shots for 10 minutes causes me to lose whatever focus or rhythm I have on the golf. Muirfield Village is a nice course, very nice and quite difficult for an average player, at least for me. Scioto and The Golf Club are both equally terrific and fun courses to play in Columbus. As is Double Eagle. We are blessed to have so many great courses to play. And the Scarlet Course at Ohio State is just one other terrific course in this area.

There were a bunch of them in the 80's who had grown up playing Ping Eye2 irons, won some tournaments, got a club contract and dropped off the world. Bob Tway, Kenny Knox and Mark Calcavecchia come to mind. Calcavecchia ultimately went back to Pings and has had played well on the senior tour. John Daly won the PGA using Ping irons.

A lot of valid reasons. It takes too long to play.younger people with both spouses working don't have the time. And if they both work, the idea the one of them can't take off for 6 hours for a round of golf is just not going to work as in the past when only 1 spouse worked. A lot of young people spend time in front of computers and do not play sports. Finally, I once saw statistics that showed the percentage of people who try golf and quit because it is too hard. Or to put it another way, they don't pick up the game and don't have the time, money or interest to engage in the amount or practice required to become decent or even acceptable. Plus, if you do not start golf before you are 20, the time, money and interest required to become decent is much greater. It is like flying. A lot of people take a few flying lessons because they see it is fun. When they learn how much time, study, work and practice is required they drop out. I have talked many friends into trying golf. Only 1 still plays, 1 time a week at most in The Summer. It is a hard game.

Where did you get your law license? A conflict of interest is when you represent one side and later switch to another. I really get tired of people today making up their own facts. You can have your own opinion, but at 62 I am not going to let someone make up their own facts and then spout them off as though they have any merit. You may choose to believe the earth is flat if you wish. Your opinion is not a fact. Saying that Chinese or other clones of product are comparable to name brands is actually false. It is not a fact. You may not like it or you may say 1000 times that clones are the same. It doesn't make that so or a fact. I have no conflicts. I choose not to represent knock offs for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is they move their factories all the time, they hide their money, they create and dissolve Corproate entities to avoid paying damages. Again, those are facts.

That's just nonsense. Have you ever been to Chinese factories? I have over the last 25 years and that's not even close. Today major US companies have their own molds, their own employees on staff and they monitor how many are made and where they go. You bet there are factories making counterfeits and "clones" which I assume you mean as knock offs. They don't use the same materials, don't have the same molds, the same anything, especially quality control. And to suggest that those products are "similar" much less equivalent to the branded products is just not correct. That's like saying the store brand version of NyQuil, Head and Shoulders, you name it are the same as the name brand. They are not. I have made my living suing counterfeits and knockoffs over the past 35 years and when someone tells me the products are the same it insults my intelligence and is contrary to the facts.

eBay. I bid as a lark on a set of Ping S56 irons. 5-P. regular flex graphite and blue dot which is what my current G15's are. Won the bid at $310 and got them this week. You can't even tell they were hit, they look brand new, the guy who bought them couldn't hit them and decided to dump them. God love him.

Depends on the criteria for rating. Been privileged to have been member of GD panel for more than a quarter century and the criteria have changed slightly over that time. They list them in the magazine. I won't try to explain them, but they are intended to mix a number of factors to rate the top courses. Clearly not meant to simply have pro golfers say what they like or play best. However, even with criteria and scoring instructions, there is some subjectivity. It does make for good discussions over a beer.

Glad to hear Wilson is now making good clubs. I have in my basement a set of 1975 forged Wilson Staff blades (1-SW) during the time Pepsi Cola owned them. I know Jerry Pate played Wilson and won the Open in 1976, but these things are just not good clubs. I call them junk. I'm too much of a pack rat to throw them in the trash and too smart to try and hit them at age 62, Indeed, almost everything today is made in China and at best assembled in the US, so tough to throw bricks at any clubs just because they are made there.

When I was a kid MacGregor was based in Cincinnati. They had craftsman there making golf clubs, baseball gloves the whole thing. You could buy 2nds for about 20% and the best stuff at great discounts. There are still people with basements filled with MT clubs never hit. Sadly, they got bought out by Brunswick, closed down in Cincinnati and moved to Chicago. Quality went way down and never came back. Brand has been peddled too many times to count. Just like Wilson, Spalding, Ram and many others. Meaningless brands today with no connection to their roots or quality.

Last I saw of Phil at Muirfield last year, he still owned his own Gulfstream II. Nice jet. I'm not feeling his pain. I'm laughing. His hat says KPMG. They are the most sophisticated tax advisors in the world. If Phil wanted the lowest possible tax rate, they could bring it down to at least 50%. Taking home $23 million a year after taxes isn't a bad deal. You could probably eat out every night and go to a few Padres games. Too many sports stars and celebrities who make absurd sums of money have lost touch with the every person trying to pay the rent and buy a used set of golf clubs and play at the muni on the weekends. They have truly hit the lotto and become so arrogant they don't know how the average person lives. Sadly, Phil appears to have become such a person.

Has anyone in Orlando got an answer from Ping as to whether there is an I25 line of irons to be released in the next few months? I'd like to see them before buying the G25 -- if there is an I25 coming this year. Thanks

Understand Ping G 25 is being released. Is there timetable for I25? Is Ping releasing any other new irons this year? Thanks much.