Matt Jones: Johnny Miller's man crush?

Johnny Miller sounded like a man in love last week on the Honda classic broadcast. But the object of his affection was not some hot young Betty, but a 27-year-old Aussie golfers named Matt Jones. Johnny's frequent gushing about this PGA Tour-rookie during the round 3rd reminded me of some young girls, back in middle school talk about their heartthrob -- Corey Haim.


Ironically, these comments came shortly after Johnny criticized Ernie Els ' swing, who probably has the best swing of all time!  I guess Johnny reserves the right to praise certain golfers.

And Johnny don'tt you think that you are a little premature,  anointing  this guy as the next young golf star?  He could win 94 events in four years on the nationwide tour, but not do a thing on the PGA tour.

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TITLEIST Pro v1 And V1x Differences?

Introduced in the Fall of 2000, the Titleist Pro V1/V1x was one of the most revolutionary golf balls of all time by incorporating a multi-layer construction with a soft urethane-covering to virtually eliminate the traditional trade-offs between distance, spin, feel, and durability. Since then the Pro V1/V1x has been the dominant ball in golf. Dominant among pros and amateurs alike.

Not wanting to be left behind, I adopted the Pro V1 as my primary ball from the get-go. I'm always open to trying the competitor's new offerings, but I just haven't found anything that's materially better yet. Part of the reason is that Titleist isn't content to rest on its laurels. There has been at least 2 major revisions to the original Pro V1/V1x. The newest adds the A.I.M. (Alignment Integrated Marking) sidestamp so that you don't even have to manually line up your golf ball anymore!

I've always used the Pro V1 rather than its X-rated sibling because I've always thought that the former was softer, spun more and produced a higher ball flight; all qualities that I prefer. According to the Titleist website, here are the differences between the Pro V1 and the Pro V1x:

• Distance: For most players, Pro V1x will be longer off the tee.
• Feel: Pro V1 is softer than the Pro V1x.
• Durability: Pro V1 is the most durable Titleist tour played golf ball.

However, results from the cover story, "The Best Ball For You" of the February 2008 issue of Golf Magazine seem to contradict some of these claims. According to this exhaustive robot golf ball test, the Pro V1x is indeed slightly longer than the Pro V1 by about 1.4 yds in total distance (carry plus roll) off a driver (90 mph swing speed, 137 mph ball speed, 13.75-degree launch angle, 2,900 rpm). However, additional tests indicate that the Pro V1x also spins more (the printed article lists the spin rate of the Pro V1x at 12,299 rpm vs. the Pro V1 at 11,914 rpm with a sand wedge) and is softer! Based on these new test results, here's a revised summary of the differences between the Pro V1 and the Pro V1x:

• Distance: For most players, Pro V1x will be longer off the tee. (According to Titleist and Golf Magazine)
• Feel: Pro V1x is softer than the Pro V1. (According to Golf Magazine)
• Spin: Pro V1x spins more than the Pro V1. (According to Golf Magazine)
• Durability: Pro V1 is the most durable Titleist tour played golf ball. (According to Titleist)
• Ball Flight: Pro V1 has a slightly higher flight. (According to Titleist)

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Swing vision - where the views are?

The always witty David Feherty recently proclaimed CBS' SwingVision a "weapon of mass instruction." A brilliant pun, it is a great summary of the slow motion technology. It has been an invaluable tool in my never-ending quest to understand this perpetually perplexing game!

Over the years, SwingVision has evolved with advances in technology. It added color to the close-up camera, upgraded the resolution to high definition (HD) and added a mobile camera to evaluate live swings. However, I think that SwingVision has taken two steps forward and one step back. For some reason they have abandoned the close-up camera from their arsenal. Once featured every time, it is now only utilized once in a blue moon. This is highly unfortunate because it was my favorite feature. There's so much that you can learn by seeing a close-up of club-to-ball impact at 12,500 frames per second!

Here's an old SwingVision of Tiger hitting iron off the tee that shows you what I mean:

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Swing vision - Tiger Woods driver

To commemorate Tiger Woods' return to the tour this week at the Accenture World Match Play Championship, I dug up a SwingVision video from a couple of years ago showing him hitting driver off the tee. As you can see, Tiger tees the ball low for greater control. If he teed it higher, like Vijay, he'd be able to raise his angle of attack with the driver and drive it much further. But if there's one thing Tiger doesn't lack, it's distance! Boy, I sure do miss those SwingVision close ups of ball impact, don't you?



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Sally Jenkins early Prognostication

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine emailed me an article written by Sally Jenkins about Tiger Woods' post injury return to golf.

What shocked me most about this article was the writer's prematurely drawn conclusions about Tiger's golf game. Just read this passage:

But so far, Woods's comeback has been a relatively humdrum event...After an eight-month layoff to repair the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, Woods missed dozens of putts and seemed frustrated by the slow pace of the whole affair. All of which was a reminder that the injury is a clear demarcation in his competitive life: He's now 33 years old and in the last third of his career, and while he surely has a lot of greatness left, the game may no longer come so easily.

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Rancho Park Arnold Palmer Tribute?

A few years ago, I moved into the city of Santa Monica a bout 20 miles west of my former diggs.  As a result, my home course shifted from the Rose Bowl parking lot to Rancho Park, former home of L.A. open.   The par-5-18 program has an interesting badge, which is dedicated to Arnold Palmer's performance  at the L.A. open in 1961.

Here's the engraving:

The first day of the 35th L.A. Open, Arnold Palmer, voted Golfer of the year, took a 12 on this hole.

As an inspiration to all Golfers The L.A. Jr. Chamber of Commerce dedicate this monument.

Palmer hit a fine drive. He sliced his next 2 shots into the driving range, then hooked two more onto Patricia Ave. Hit the green with his sixth shot, and two putted. Eight strokes plus four penalities add up to 12.

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The FedEx Cup Still Sucks

I do not know about you, but I couldn't care less about the FedEx Cup. I know that some important changes in this year event were made, to avoid last year debacle where was the winner decided, before the last match even started.  But this event was a disaster for almost everyone, including some who even saw it coming! There are still many issues which make this whole series a major mess.

I am a reasonably intelligent person, who has earned a graduate degree from a reputable institution. And yet, I can not understand this new and simplified FedEx Cup points system. I have heard all of the golf talking heads on TV trying to explain it, but it still fails.  I even tried to read articles, but I only get further behind.  Is there a way to clearly define this process?  I am losing the motivation.

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Is Phil Mickelson a cheater?

Phil Mickelson has long been rumored, one popular the last players under his colleagues on the PGA Tour be. But now is his popularity wedges, dive to new deep over its 20-year-old ping Eye2 square Groove using the new Groove rule open. Rocco "I it at all, not one bit, not like", said Mediate. "It is against the spirit of the rule..." "We have get rid of these clubs, as are square grooves - what can you say? According to Scott McCarron "it is fraud and I am appalled Phil it has set in the game."

Readers of this blog know, I'm not a fan of Phil, but in this case I think that he get unfairly crucified. I think it is to play the USGA holding legal, perfectly fine golf with something be. Heck, if iron Byron was legal, I would be the first who use one. Because all square Groove ping eye 2 iron produced before 1 April 1990 legal, Phil nothing wrong by you in your pocket. The USGA is true. "The clubs usable where USGA rules apply, so Dick Rugge, senior technical director of the USGA." The rules speak for themselves and show it is not fraud to use.„

Critics of Phil must back down. It is certainly not cheat. People have all beef, you should redirect your anger to golf bodies. But more interestingly, I think that this controversy sheds light on other issues. For example, says what all this through Golf Club technology? The message I remains that 20 year-old technology is better than today's. I have long believed that iron performance improvement technology is limited and this is further validation.My belief was so strong that I have a number of Mizuno MP-14 s in my pocket before about a Jahr.Diese iron are over 18 years old and work as well as my much newer Nike blades would spielen.Ich in the marketing department at any Golf Club company, when consumers see, professionals for organizations that opt made two decades ago are Hasse!Label: Equipment, Phil Mickelson

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Tiger Woods got famous...

Tiger Woods scandal has overrun its course long IMHO. For me it is story about a somewhat normal person who has been damaged by the insignia of the fame and fortune only another. Irene Folstrom describes his girlfriend ex College pre-famous Tiger as normal College child, to human and around maintained as much about other people and the world around him. Visited it Stanford consider drag, he was very much the nerdy side of things, and.

But your Hommies from screech and Urkel go to the Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley, is safe, say that your world is selected inside outwards. The universal praise and worship for the "best of all time" will add to this mixture and it is understandable, as Tiger felt invincible. Yes, bad Tiger up.But are the shortcomings of such self-righteous campaign figures such as John Edwards, David Vitter and Eliot Spitzer schlimmer.Diese of guys were our moral State and Government are to and instead was the faces of hypocrisy.

Tiger has made its public apology, it is all time auf.Keine offense for the rest of the PGA Tour, but it is moving was a real snoozefest no him.Labels: Tiger Woods

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Golf gods strike Mickelson?

During the last round of the 2010 masters FIGJAM Phil happens somewhat strange. When on the par-5 second hole Mickelson one putt birdie on the perfect line to the hole. Putt but as a piece of debris landed directly on the line and threw the ball from course.

Coincidence? I don't think so. The Announcers claim it came: a pine tree, but there was no tree within 100 m of the hole and the wind was calm. I think the golf gods from above were watching and fell a morsel of their party mix on the green.Whether it was by accident or deliberate, was this heavenly referee of the game certainly from! only further evidence for their existence is independent of.

See it for yourself:



But at the end the golf gods struck down Tiger for his part country ring ways as his arch-nemesis win his favorite major.Labels: master, Phil Mickelson, videos

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Tiger, The First Mickelsonized?

Tiger finally returned to golf at the 2010 masters. After a humiliating scandal, it was obvious Tiger had to win back specific golf fans. And that is what he did. On Tiger walked, he confirmed the audience at every opportunity with that Cheshire cat smile, accepted signed gifts from children, and indeed signed some autographs. In other words, he put on a Phil Mickelson Act.

The keyword is "Act". The whole world now knows that Tiger is not a great guy. But I never thought he was at first.  Now that he has suddenly become Mr nice guy on the golf course, it seems to me this is complete crap.


The old Tiger was  a cold, focused and ruthless competitor, full of "I am the best ever".  In short, I prefer wolves without sheep's clothing.

on

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There Is A Lack Of Trust With Golflink's Golf Course Ratings

I’ve always felt that there is a huge bias in the golf course rating world. Admittedly great courses like Bethpage, Pebble Beach, Doral and Torrey Pines all deserve their lofty scores. But, how these scores are derived is what I find very suspect.

As far as I know, other than Top 50 or Top 100 lists, there are only two national guides that attempt to rate golf courses across the United States: Golf Digest & Zagat’s.

There is no qualifications, no training, no guidelines, just opinions. A course rater might be the club pro, the general manager, the cart girl and the clubhouse attendant all signing up to rate the course, all giving it 5 stars. Also, the scoring isn’t based on a tested set of factors like the USGA’s par and slope rating, just opinions from a bunch of anonymous golfers.

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Taylor Made's New Golf Ball Promo Is Just Empty Marketing Hype

I’d like to bring to your attention the lame attempt by Taylor Made to try to sell us more of their new TP golf balls. According to their recent press release, “My TP Ball allows golfers to connect with their number and make their golf ball an extension of themselves.” Oh boy! Even more, “the program allows golfers to design their own golf balls in a new and individualized way.” Golly gee!

....

I’m all for innovation and trying to push the envelope, but I see Taylor Made’s substance-less marketing hype staring me in the face.
How is having my pre-printed “special” number on my golf ball supposed to help me?

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Caddie Opens Mouth, Inserts Foot

Steve Williams is a rich man. He got that way by carrying the bag for the world’s greatest golfer, ever. As a result, he’s also probably the world’s richest caddie. So what does Tiger’s bag man do, he opens his mouth and inserts his foot. He disses probably the world’s second most popular golfer and calls him an ?$*&.

Why is that necessary? I’m sure that Phil can be an ?$*& at times. I’m sure Tiger can be that way too. Does it make Mr. Williams feel better and will it get him more endorsements? People call November and December the silly season. Perhaps because Tiger has been idle for so long, its made Mr. Williams a bit cranky.

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ADT Skills Challenge was a Snoozer

Oh boy, what a snoozer. It was like watching someone hitting balls at the driving range. Sure professional players hit some impressive shots, but that is what they get paid to do. There were so few people on the course (perhaps it was closed to the public), the number of media types, caddies and hangers on probably numbered only about 50 people.
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John Daly Is Really Washed Up

Why is it no surprise that John Daly got suspended from the PGA Tour for six months? Because he is a walking golfing disaster and he’s being allowed to milk everything he can from a sport that hasn’t seen him in the winner’s circle since 2006.

He is definitely colorful, but it is sad to see someone self-destruct in front of your eyes. For the last two years, daily hasn’t even sniffed the Top Ten, yet he still get as much coverage as Tiger does during the first two rounds Its only two rounds because Tiger will make the cut and Daly won’t.

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Where Have All the Golf Equipment Websites Gone?

I was recently looking at my old web bookmarks from a few years ago and noticed that when I clicked on the links to websites like Warrior Golf, Ranger Golf and golfclubs.net, they no longer worked. Many of these sites used to be selling non-branded golf components and clones. In past years, the web was ripe with hundreds of websites selling custom-built golf clubs.

Regardless of your preference for brand-name equipment or golf components, in the food chain of golf equipment retail sales, you’ve got the big dogs like Golfsmith, Golf Galaxy and The Golf Warehouse at the top. You’ve got the Nevada Bob’s, Austad’s, Golf USA and other smaller golf chains in the middle. Under them you’ve golf component sellers like Pine Meadow, Hireko, Diamond Tour and others selling their own equipment. At the bottom are the lampreys of golf; the sellers that have their orders drop-shipped from the aforementioned retailers and don’t manufacture anything.

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Taylor Made Burner Driver

Taylormade followed up with last year’s Burner that made quite a splash in terms of popularity.  This year, they outdid itself with the 2009′ Taylormade Burner.  The Burner only comes in 9.5 and 10.5 (and HT) along with a 49 gram head with a deep face.  The Taylormade Inverted-cone Technology and gently triangular dual crown positions, allows to this driver to have an extremely low CG, much more than it’s predecessor.

The 2009′ Burner weighs less than the average driver, coming in at less than 300 grams, it’s geared to promote faster swing speeds, higher launch and less spin.  The result, this is a monster of the tee!
The Burner comes with a 46 1/4″ stock shaft meant to produce ball speed and distance.  This may be great for some and hell for others when considering control.  Of course the longer shaft is prone to control problems, but I do not think so with this driver due to extreme CG and inverted cone technology.


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Ping Ecstasy Driver: A New Rival For Taylor Made Burner?

The ping Rapture is similar in form to the G10, but includes a Crescent shape with tungsten weights in the heel and toe which combines an optimal tee ball launch that actually comes with a manageable spin rate.  This will allow the ecstasy to employ either a middle or low spin rate, making it a very desirable driver for the part-time player looking for a straight driver.

The dense tungsten weight pads on the back of the lightweight titanium head, extend the perimeter weighting and position the center of gravity low and from the club face.
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The Ecstasy series uses a variable thickness face to promote or increase the ball speed something that helps the weekend player to gain distance.


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Look Out Taylor Made, Here Comes The Callaway FT i driver!

The Callaway FT-i driver was built exclusively with fusion technology, to produce a driver, designed to be the world straightest.  Love it or hate it, this driver has a rectangular head like the Nike Sumo2 and the Nickent 3DX Platz.Aber which is not exactly square head looks — but it serves a particular function.

The square weight 460 cc clubhead, uses carbon body technology outside of the normal zone compared to other drivers, means it is lighter than a traditional titanium driver. The weight saved enabled Callaway to use the driver's weight on the extreme corners of the head, increasing the club's resistance to twisting off center  and therefore created increase extreme forgiveness on recordings everywhere on the face.




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TITLEIST Scotty Cameron Newport Detour Challenges Taylor Made

Scotty Cameron Newport detour 2.5 Odyssey

This is one of the four putter in Titleist Scotty Cameron line currently available.  The curved design encourages players to putter on the right track for a better ball path.  The putter head has an aluminum face and body, with a 303 stainless steel frame, 303 stainless steel backweight.  The backweight moved the focus (CG) to the back for stability, and a dampening ring around the weight provides a superior sound and feel.  The club features orange highlights, including an accident Orange Studio design control and accident Orange head cover. There are two models; the Newport 2 Detour and Newport 2.5 Detour currently available.


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Is The Callaway Diablo Edge Driver Better Than Taylor Made?

The Callaway Diablo Edge driver is the latest in the popular and attention grabbing Diablo range, and offers the largest sweet spot of each Titan drivers that Callaway produces.


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SuperFast TaylorMade Burner Driver

The latest driver in the TaylorMade burner franchise is the SuperFas,t a driver whose Technology is built to generate faster swing speed and therefore greater distances.  It weighs 14 grams lighter than the '07 Bburner and the '09 model burner which has masses of  284 grams. A new clubhead design provides better aerodynamics than the previous burner drivers, TaylorMade says.

And the Burner SuperFast has the largest club face of any driver the company offers. It is 14 percent bigger than the club face of the '09 driver. The faster weekend golfer swing, the more likely they are to miss the sweet spot. A larger area with a higher MOI reduced these problems significantly A new complex bulge-and role design on the SuperFast driver is intended to improve performance on off-center strikes.


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Cleveland classics gt putter and T frame Mallet

Cleveland Golf unveiled a new series of its classic line of Putters; Classic GT, plus a mallet branded as "developed by never compromising" (never compromises is a sister of the  trademark Cleveland  SRI Sports family) Cleveland call it the classic GT, part of the name from the Putters bronze finish. The insert has a copper infused face that should provide a softer, more responsive feel at impact. The four models in all of gt lines, include heel toe weighting, and target MOI, but in classical shapes and designs.

Model 1 is a heel shafted mallets plumbers neck Blade; model 2; a model 4.5 tilt-neck blade; and model 5 a double bend mallets (Only model 1 comes in LH).  Street price of $ 89 contains an oil-treated cloth to prevent oxidation.

The Cleveland T frame Mallet was developed by never compromise way of Club face function targets high inertia with more weight alignment.  The putter has a satin finish and comes in RH and LH. It has a starting price of $ 119, which also contains a head cover with a connected, silver dollar size Ballmarker.


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TaylorMade R9 SuperTri drivers

Since 2004, TaylorMade Golf has been making drivers with adjustable weights. Then the company introduced the R9 series in 2008, which included movable weights plus “Flight Control Technology” (FCT) – giving the golfer the option to change face angle, loft and lie angle. Later, the R9 460 drivers bumped the clubhead size up to 460cc, but offered only the FCT, not the movable weights.Now the TaylorMade R9 SuperTri and R9 SuperTri TP drivers combine all three elements – movable weights, FCT and a 460cc clubhead size.
TaylorMade says the R9 SuperTri clubhead offers better aerodynamics than previous R9 drivers through a redesigned crown, a deeper face, and center of gravity that is slight more rearward compared to previous generations of R9.

The R9 SuperTri’s stock shaft is the Fujikura Motore 60-gram shaft, which is lighter than shaft in previous R9 drivers. The results are a driver geared to help increase swing speed while promoting better launch conditions and more forgiveness on off-center strikes. The movable weights still offer, TaylorMade says, up to 75 yards in side-to-side trajectory changes (depending on the weight configuration used), and the FCT still gives golfers the ability to change face angle, loft and lie.

The TaylorMade R9 SuperTri driver comes in lofts of 8.5, 9.5, 10.5 and 11.5 degrees, with a street price of $399 at retail beginning Feb. 19, 2010.

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McDowell figures out Pebble while Tiger struggles

Graeme McDowell has shot 3-under-par 68 in the second round of the U.S. Open to take a two-shot lead over Ernie Els, Dustin Johnson and 18-year-old Ryo Ishikawa entering the weekend.
McDowell's 3 under Friday at cloudy Pebble Beach left him at 3-under 139 for the tournament.
Tiger Woods struggled, shooting 1-over 72 to finish at 4 over, seven shots behind McDowell. For a while, Woods was behind by nine, a few bad swings from possibly missing the cut. That appeared unlikely after he birdied No. 7 and McDowell finished with a bogey.

Phil Mickelson had an afternoon tee time, trying to improve on his first round of 4 over. Other afternoon starters included K.J. Choi, Mike Weir and Ian Poulter, all finishing Thursday at 1 under

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