Titleist NXT Tour 2007

I’m more than a little behind on this one, but I just realized that Titleist has updated its NXT Tour ball for 2007. Titleist says that the new ball has a higher coverage 392 dimple design, and a staggered wave parting line (that, I suppose is to avoid any flight irregularities caused by a straight seam). The three-piece ball also has a new sidestamp that’s supposed to help with alignment on putting.

I was a fan of the original NXT, so I’m going to have to give these a try soon.

Stop the madness.

Apparently, a group of leftist bloggers are trying to form a union of bloggers. They think it will help them to get health care benefits; they also plan on collective bargaining and professional standards.

I’m having a really hard time wrapping my brain around this one. Collective bargaining with whom? I have a golf blog because I love to write, and I love golf. I work for no one, so there’s no one to negotiate with. (OK, so there’s Mrs. Golfblogger. But that’s not a negotiation. I just do what she tells me). I have ads, but if I don’t like Google’s terms, I’ll just go to a different ad agency. There are dozens of them out there.

Professional standards? Please. Some of these people are the ones who write on a regular basis about how Bush blew up the towers. And I regularly visit the grassy knoll with the latest PGA Tour conspiracy theory.

There’s some sense in the health care benefits thing. I suppose that if enough of them got together in a pool, Blue Cross would give them a better rate. But there are already any number of small business pools they could join. If their blogs are making money, they surely count as small businesses. GolfBlogger, for example is incorporated as an Limited Liability Corporation (but that’s more about liability issues than any potential profits).

And if they did manage to pull such a thing off, I wonder if the internet would suddenly become a closed shop. Would I have to join to blog? Would I suddenly have someone to answer to? And could I belong to more than one union at once. I’m already a member of the teacher’s union (we have a closed shop ... all teachers MUST be members.)

The whole idea is just nutty. The internet is decentralized and anarchic. Once people start imposing a structure on it, it’ll lose what makes it such a great thing in the first place.

Sunice Shoal Short Sleeve Waterproof Rainshirt

The golf season is short enough in Michigan that I can’t afford to let a little rain keep me off the course. I have a full Goretex rainsuit, but it frankly is too hot to play in during the summer. So I’ve been looking for a lightweight, shortsleeve rainshirt. I finally settled on this one, and got it today.

I can’t review it yet, because I haven’t yet played in the rain. But the fit is good, and it doesn’t restrict my swing at all (backyard experimentation). And compared to some others I’ve seen, it’s a good buy.

Rory Sabbatini is not making any friends. Earlier this year, he called Tiger out, saying that he was “beatable.” Tiger responded by beating him by five shots at the Wachovia. Yesterday, paired in the final round with Sabbatini again, Tiger beat Rory by eight.

And on Sunday, frustrated by the face that Tiger was lapping him on the course, Sabbatini took out his anger on a local firefighter.

AKRON — Rory Sabbatini has a reputation for saying what he thinks.

But apparently he doesn’t always like hearing what other people think.

A frustrated Sabbatini had a fan tossed out of Firestone Country Club on Sunday for making what seemed to be a rather innocuous comment.
Sabbatini, who earlier this year had said he thought Tiger Woods was “as beatable as ever,” had already gone from a stroke up on Woods to start the day to six behind after making double bogey at nine, a long par 4.

As Sabbatini headed for the 10th tee, Steve Banky of Cuyahoga Falls leaned in from behind a tree in the gallery to shoot a little barb the South African’s way.

“Hey, Rory, do you still think Tiger’s beatable?” asked Banky.

Sabbatini’s response? He told Bridgestone officials to, “Take this (expletive) out of here.”

So they did.

Later in the press conference, Sabbatini implied that the guy was drunk: “I guess a few too many beers were talking,” he said.

I think the firefighter should demand an apology. Or maybe sue for defamation of character.

It’s not the first time Sabbatini has made a total schmuck of himself. Two years ago at the Booz-Allen, Sabbatini got into a tiff with Ben Curtis on the course. Curtis was playing too slowly for Rory’s tastes, so Rory played ahead on the 17th and headed to the 18th, leaving Curtis on the seventeen fairway.

I suppose it doesn’t matter to Sabbatini because he’s wealthy and famous, but he’s going to get a reputation as an immature, spoiled brat. Several golf writers have noted that he’s among the least-liked by his peers.

For fun, some tournament should put Sabbatini and Sergio Garcia in the same pairing.

The Bobby Grace Face Off Putter comes with two inserts that players can use to customize the feel of the putter depending upon the speed of the greens and personal preference. There’s a polymer face for a soft feel, and a titanium one for a harder feel.

Both faces offer what MacGregor golf calls Distance Corrective Technology. This is supposed to help impart the same forward energy to the ball, regardless of where on the face contact is made. That should help to make putting more consistent.

Remember, though, that changing the face of the putter in mid round violates the rules of golf.

The Golfblogger is going to be in San Diego in a couple of weeks and would love to get up a game at Torrey Pines with someone. The best day for me would be Thursday the 16th, although Friday the 17th also could be a possibility.

Anyone in San Diego want to play?

Kevin Hall, former Big Ten champion, has won the 2007 Deaf Golf Championship.

Hall currently plays on the Hooters Tour.

I had no idea that there was a US Deaf Golf Association. As longtime readers of this blog know, I have a “profound hearing loss” as a result of the 1964 rubella outbreak. And although I’ve always thought that I should get more involved in deaf issues and programs, I never have. I’ve just been too busy with other things (especially golf).

But here is a serendipitous confluence. I think I’ll get in contact with them.