Callaway Golf HX Tour ix 12 Pack Golf Balls

Callaway’s new HX TOur ix ball is a four piece, dual core technological wonder. Around the inner core is a tungsten-infused outer core that’s supposed to shift weight away from the center, reducing driver spin. The result is more distance and straighter shot. In addition, Callaway has refined the HEX aerodynamics pattern to further reduce drag and increase stability.

I snapped this photo today at the range.

The Player Who Is Without Peer says that the pace of play on the PGA Tour is too slow:

In a recent newsletter, Tiger Woods said: “It’s been an ongoing problem on the PGA Tour for some time. I honestly believe the pace of play is faster in Europe and Japan.”

Woods’ comments may have been prompted after he played against JB Holmes, who is known as one of the slower players on the PGA Tour. These comments also come in the wake of media reports blaming the decline in the number of golf rounds played on slow play.

Golf Fountain

Ridiculous Golf Item of The Week

Golfsmith’s Clubmaker Magazine is essentially a catalog for their components and tools, but it also has some very good technical articles. This month’s issue, for example, has an article on fitting clubs for length. For a while, the magazine was available only to professional clubmakers and Golfsmith’s regular component customers (of which I was one). Now, however, it’s available online.

The February issue is here.

The New York Times has an article detailing the stagnation (perhaps even decline) in the number of people playing golf.

The total number of people who play has declined or remained flat each year since 2000, dropping to about 26 million from 30 million, according to the National Golf Foundation and the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association. More troubling to golf boosters, the number of people who play 25 times a year or more fell to 4.6 million in 2005 from 6.9 million in 2000, a loss of about a third. The industry now counts its core players as those who golf eight or more times a year. That number, too, has fallen, but more slowly: to 15 million in 2006 from 17.7 million in 2000, according to the National Golf Foundation.

The report from the golf foundation seems to dovetail with the findings of GolfBlogger’s friends at Pellucid Corp, a group which studies the golf industry. In their recent report, they found:

• Facility rounds velocity (rounds per 18-hole equivalent) stabilized behind flat rounds and another year of “net zero” supply growth
• The facility Utilization Rate (actual rounds/capacity rounds) also stabilized behind flat demand, flat supply and statistically-similar weather compared to ‘06
• Play Rate (rounds per capita) moderated driven by a slight decline in participation and a larger drop in frequency
• Involvement continued to erode as an increasing percentage of golfers reported playing at “casual” level (1-9 rds/yr)
• Increasing diversity driving population growth is retarding participation growth
• The Baby Boomer rounds dividend is being offset by lower participation levels by Gen X and Gen Y contributing to rounds stagnation
• Affordability continues to be a factor in golf’s ability to grow and the deteriorating macro economy could make this an increasing factor in ‘08

The Times article implies that the problem is four- and five-hour rounds of golf. Today’s golfers often just can’t take that kind of time away from work and family.

“Years ago, men thought nothing of spending the whole day playing golf — maybe Saturday and Sunday both,” said Mr. Rocchio, the public relations consultant, who is also the New York regional director of the National Golf Course Owners Association. “Today, he is driving his kids to their soccer games. Maybe he’s playing a round early in the morning. But he has to get back home in time for lunch.”

If that’s the case—and I think it may be—then golf course owners and designers have only themselves to blame.

Caiman Titanium Driver – From Hireko Golf

The Caiman is another winner in the oddly shaped golf driver sweepstakes. As with every driver like this, the design is set to optimize weight placement. In this case, the designers used CAD to provide a lower center of gravity and high moment of intertia.

I like the shape of this one. Visit the site to see more views. Its neat.