Golf Club Pen Holder

Ridiculous Golf Item Of The Week

Tiger Woods tells the BBC:

You cannot win events without having a break here and there. “You can hit a borderline shot. It could easily bounce one way, but all of a sudden it bounces your way and ends up on the green and you make a putt. Little things like that happen. I have never played an event without having one break go my way in order to win.

No kidding. While Tiger’s skill is unparalleled, I also am often amazed at his luck. I can recall seeing more than one tee shot hit a tree and then bounce back into the fairway, or land between trees with a line to the green. When I hit a tree, the ball inevitably heads further into the woods, where it lands directly behind a tree, settling in between two roots.

Yes, you detect more than a little note of jealously here.

It’s sort of a dream of mine to play golf on a course that has a well-run caddie program. Or actually, on a course that has any sort of caddies at all. Every course I’ve played eschews caddies in favor of golf carts. And from a financial standpoint, I don’t blame them. When you take on caddies as employees, you assume a massive obligation, including payroll taxes, workman’s compensation, and other liabilities.

Golf carts, on the other hand, are simply a revenue stream.

But I recently ran across a company called CaddieMaster that may help to alleviate some of that burden. CaddieMaster basically allows a course to “outsource” its caddie program. Caddiemaster handles recruitment, training, and management of caddies and caddie masters. It’s sort of like a caddie Administaff (a company which offers off-site human resources management for small busineses, and which Arnold Palmer endorses).

I love the idea, and hope that it brings caddies back to many, many courses. If there was a public course in my area that offered a good caddie program, I’d go out of my way to play.

PowerPlay System Q Hybrid

Radical geometry makes its way from the driver to the hybrid. And why not. The same principles apply. By redistributing the weight to the sides and the rear of the clubhead, the square shape offers increased moment of inertia, creating better shots when contact is off center. This club is cast from 17-4 stainless steel and has a special glide rsole to reduce turf drag and fat shots.

Callaway Golf FT-i Drivers With I-MIX Technology

After TaylorMade pioneered the idea of changing the weighting of a golf clubs’ heads, it was only a matter of time before someone marketed clubs with interchangable shafts. Actually, though, it’s a tool that’s been available to clubmakers for years. Rather than have hundreds of club and shaft combinations pre-made for customers to try, clubmakers used threaded connectors that allowed them to quickly swap out pieces until the client found the desired mix.

Callaway’s entry into the interchangable shaft market is the I-MIX. With Callaway’s system, you can choose from 22 clubhead designs and 70 shafts for 1600 custom configurations. Wow.

It’s expensive, though. The head is $400, and the shafts run from $150 to $350 each.

HBO is producing a new documentary on the dramatic 1960 US Open at Cherry Hills, Colorado. It will be released on the day before the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines.

Considered by some to be the greatest championship since Francis Ouimet defeated Harry Vardon, the 1960 Open was won by Arnold Palmer. Palmer was eight strokes behind midway through the competition. In the third round, the gap closed by one, when leader Mike Souchak hit his tee shot on 18 out of bounds. Then, in the final round, Palmer came out with a charge. He drove the 313 yard par 4 first, and after missing his eagle putt, settled for birdie. That was the first of six birdies in seven holes. By the end of the day, he had shot a 65 to win.

A lot of other legends of golf were in contention that day: Jack Nicklaus, playing as an amateur, finished second. Souchak, E. J. (Dutch) Harrison, Ted Kroll, Dow Finsterwald, Julius Boros and Jack Fleck finished in a tie for third. Ben Hogan had a chance to win, needing pars on the last two holes. He finished with a six and a seven - four over par. Sam Snead tied for 19th.

It’s the Hogan-Nicklaus-Palmer connection that makes the tournament poignant. There was a remarkable moment at that US Open, when golf’s past, present and future stood together on a tee. Ben Hogan was being eclipsed by Arnold Palmer, while the future, Jack Nicklaus waited. Palmer, the present, won the tournament; Nicklaus, the future finished second. And Hogan, the aging legend, slipped behind.

I wish I got HBO so I could see this documentary.