Here’s a story I missed: Late last year, PGA Player Brandt Jobe was working in his garage when he accidentally snipped off the tops of his fingers. In what can only be termed an amazing piece of surgery, the fingers were sewn back on and he apparently will return to the Tour with this weekend’s PODS Championship.

Best of luck Brandt.

Ball flight monitors are all the rage these days in custom ball and club fitting and no self-respecting golf gearhead should be without one. The Zelocity PureContact Ball Flight Monitor features a Dopper radar transceiver for that records your shots ranging from 30 to 420 yards (no one is seriously going to outdistance this baby). It can display your Ball Velocity, Carry, or Total Distance, as well as your Session Average Ball Velocity, and Average Distance with a 100 shot memory.

Its portable, too, so it should be interesting to take this out on the course, and see how it works under real world conditions.

This week’s PGA Tour event is the PODS Championship, played at the Innisbrook Country Club in Tampa, Florida. It’s a new course for me, and I had a hard time finding it in Google Earth. Here are a few photos. More after the jump.

Golf is better than hockey. We all knew that. Green fairways and warm sun versus sheets of ice. It’s no contest.

And ESPN apparently thinks so, too. While the sports network dropped the National Hockey League because poker got better ratings, they’ve signed an agreement with the USGA to show their championships through 2014. ESPN also plans to feature live scoring and streaming video, plus a webcast from one of the par-3 holes at the U.S. Open on Thursday and Friday. New offerings will include a variety of streaming content on ESPN360 and ESPN-branded mobile devices, interactive television offerings on Thursdays and Fridays, plus increased international coverage.

Having conquered the football, track and workout worlds, Under Armour now is setting its sights on golf. It will, no doubt, be popular with the younger crowd, among whom this brand is well established. But they’ve got competition with the Adidas stuff, which is clearly aiming at the same twenty-somethings.

I’m also not sure how it breaks into the slightly older age group, which I would think more likely to get a Nike shirt, or middle aged guys like me who aren’t going to pay that premium at all. I can get a nice Dockers or Haggar golf shirt with moisture management fabric at Kohls for under $25—much less if you watch the sales. And us older guys who have the money to spend are probably more likely to buy a Ben Hogan, Callaway, or Bobby Jones shirts.

Still, the Under Armour shirt at Golfsmith are good looking.

Team Wie had better look out. There’s a new girl golf prodigy on the horizon. And this one has the added cachet of a famous name: Woods.

Cheyenne Woods is Tiger Woods younger cousin, and by some accounts is the next teen golf prodigy. She apparently was largely responsible for her High School team winning the Arizona state championships. The press is full of stories about Cheyenne. Many are predicting that she wins the Amateur in the next two years.

If so, she’ll have done something Michelle was unable to accomplish—that, indeed, Michelle really didn’t even really attempt.

Maxfli has upgraded its popular Noodle golfball for 2007.

I’m not sure what’s different though, as the Maxfli site still is showing the 2006 products. Its apparently still a two piece ball with a Surlyn cover. I am sure, however, that it’s longer and softer with more spin.

Or something like that.

Still, if you play the Noodle, this is what’ll be on the shelves this year.