May 1, 2007

Fairway Woods Buyer’s Guide 2007

Whether it?s a fairway wood or hybrid, knowing what club to hit depends on what clubs are in your bag

It doesn’t matter if it’s a long par-3, a short par-4 or a reachable par-5, making the right shot choice first depends on having the right clubs to choose from. Today, fairway woods have become longer, bigger and more powerful than ever, and hybrids, on the other hand, have become more specific, acting as either long-iron replacements or high-lofted fairway-wood replacements. The key is to begin analyzing your current set makeup in order to determine what’s missing. Need a club that goes 215 yards and stops on a dime? How about a 3-wood that flies almost as far as your driver, albeit a lot straighter? Maybe both? Discerning your needs is crucial to hitting better shots. And with today’s models, it’s hard to go wrong.

May 1, 2007

Balls Buyer’s Guide 2007

We're not talking range balls, Wiffle balls or those limited-flight Cayman balls either. We're talking golf balls the kind that go too far and spin too much.

No, it’s not the surface of the moon (left), it’s a super-close-up shot of a golf ball. In golf’s modern era, the small, round dimpled orbs that fill the pockets of your golf bags are truly the sum of their parts. From the materials that make up their covers to how it’s filled inside, a golf ball’s composition greatly affects its behavior on the course.

May 1, 2007

Awkward Lies

Master golf's most difficult bunker shots

If only we could tee up every golf shot. We’d always have perfect lies, where no grass or trees or sand could get in the way of making clean contact with the ball. Of course, that isn’t the case. Between the tee and green, we have to surrender to the course and play the ball as it lies. That means adjusting to a number of challenging circumstances, such as plugged bunker shots and awkward stances. For this story, I’ve concentrated my efforts on just those types of lies–the ones you get where you look to your playing partners, throw your arms in the air and say anybody have any suggestions? Take time to practice these shots, and you won’t wonder what to do the next time you’re faced with an awkward lie.

May 1, 2007

Crush It!

Add yards with our long drive secrets

So you think you’re a big hitter? Well, consider this. Today’s top long drivers don’t bunt the ball a measly 250 yards off the tee. Heck, a mediocre wallop drops somewhere around the 320-yard range. Frankly, these guys aren’t satisfied with anything under 400 yards when it comes time to winning a paycheck. Now that’s long!

May 1, 2007

C.S.I. Scottsdale

Club Specs Investigation: GT gets up and close with Hot Stix

“Welcome to Switzerland,” a man in a white lab coat says as we near a door marked “R & D: Employees Only.” Opposite this door, a guy is driving golf balls into a net about 10 feet in front of him. Off to his side, another man in a white lab coat is monitoring his progress on a computer screen, analyzing ball spin, launch angle and a variety of other numbers and graphs.

May 1, 2007

Driver Tech 101

High M.O.I. Rules

You can tell by looking at the latest square and triangular clubheads that the driver market is changing before your eyes. Other new drivers look conventionally shaped on the outside, but are vastly advanced on the inside. Regardless of their shape, most of the latest models look plain huge. Ever since the United States Golf Association ruled that driver clubheads had to max out at a 460cc clubhead volume, club designers have taken the next obvious route in order to improve their products’ performance in your hands: advancing technology.

May 1, 2007

Pro Positions: Will MacKenzie

Willie Mac Attack!

I often long for the days when Slammin’ Sammy Snead and Gene Sarazan played the game, a couple of great sticks with personalities just as bright as their games. Well, fortunately for golf fans, there’s a new kid on the block and he’s brought a unique backstory and stellar game (albeit with a modern flair). His name is Will MacKenzie, or Willie Mac, as the 2006 Reno-Tahoe victor is sometimes called.

May 1, 2007

Wedges Buyer’s Guide 2007

Known as the most versatile club in the bag, the wedge is a bona fide score saver

There’s a reason why the distance from within 100 yards is called the scoring zone. It’s the “make it or break it” area, where a great wedge shot can redeem a bad drive or poor approach to the green. Any miscue from this zone is considered an unforced error that should have been avoided (especially from the fairway). So, what’s that mean? Choosing the right wedges can be the difference between one or more strokes on any given hole! To start, it’s important to find a wedge that matches your needs, and luckily, if you’re in the market for game-improvement models, ’07 is chockfull of new choices.

April 25, 2007

Shafts Buyer’s Guide 2007

The engine of every club is the shaft, and now is the time to get your engine running at top speed. Today?s shafts are, without question, better than ever.

One of the best ways to get your golf gear back into tip-top shape is to consider a new shaft upgrade. Sounds simple enough, right? If you’re among the many confused, heed the following. Choosing the right shaft is a matter of first determining what you need. Is it more distance that you want? More control? Both? The variations of shafts available are crafted to meet specific demands, and it looks like no demands are too great. To find the right shaft, it’s imperative you read up on the details and carefully consider the info and specs presented to you.

April 25, 2007

Irons Buyer’s Guide 2007

Today's irons run the gamut from forged blades and multi-material game-improvement designs to entire sets of hollow-body hybrids

_ÊIron design has been evolving since the earliest days of golf. Though crude and often unwieldy, the first primitive tools quickly proved to be indispensable in situations where accuracy was the primary goal. In the modern era, the iron has become the staple of the set, and accordingly, iron designs are now better than ever.