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Ping i20 Driver Review

sbxcontent@gmail.com (Independent Club Reviewer) — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:18:13 +0000

Hey everyone, thanks for stopping by. We hope you enjoyed the Player's Championship over the weekend. We sure did. Special congrats to Matt Kuchar, who really played solid all week. In today's post, we're sharing an independent review of the Ping i20 Driver. Let's get to it!

The Hip Coil Drill

duncanbmcg@gmail.com (The Golf Drill Guru) — Thu, 10 May 2012 22:11:51 +0000

One of the most common power leaks in the golf swing is an over-active lower body. For some players, instead of coiling their body to generate power, they resort to sliding their hips laterally. This fault is a huge contributor to inconsistency at impact, and often big swooping block slices. If you’ve ever stepped up to a ball and let go a huge block fade – this drill is likely for you. Another term for this fault is called “getting ahead of the ball”. In a nutshell, as you swing back, your lower body slides back with the backswing laterally, and as you swing down into impact you often slide forward and clear your hips too early leaving the club wide open at impact. Some players (with wrists of steel) can even see a snap hook from this fault.

Cobra AMP Iron Review

sbxcontent@gmail.com (Independent Club Reviewer) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:42:21 +0000

Looks

There have been mixed reviews about the new look and style of Cobra Golf. At the very least, Cobra is now the trendiest company in the golf industry. The younger generation has been very receptive to the bold colors while others have not been very excited. It looks as if Rickie Fowler and all the other young stars will continue to be the face of Cobra Golf. The AMP iron resembles Cobra's biggest star, Rickie Fowler. The grips are a bright orange with and orange and black stock graphite shaft (you may recall a picture we posted on Twitter highlighting just how bright these grips are http://t.co/vcdce4NC). While at first glance you may think these irons look poorly-made, upon closer inspection you’ll be surprised how well designed these sticks are. The AMP features an orange cavity insert, iron number, strong bottom groove and a slight offset. The sole is a little thicker while the top line is thin and looks more like a player's iron. While not everyone will like the bright colors, I really like the appearance and the departure from tradition on this design.

Lexi Needs a Prom Date

comments@sirshanksalot.com (SirShanksAlot ) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 19:46:51 +0000

Looks like LPGA star Lexi Thompson is in need of a prom date. She's offering one lucky U.S. Armed Forces member a free trip to Fort Lauderdale to accompany her on her big night. Here's a video explaining her fun little contest. Head over to her Facebook page if you'd like to enter.

Cobra Baffler T-Rail Hybrid Review

sbxcontent@gmail.com (Independent Club Reviewer) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 21:22:34 +0000

Hey everyone, thanks for stopping by, today we've got a a review of the Cobra T-Rail Baffler Hybrid line. Enjoy!

Looks

You gotta love the new Cobra Baffler T-Rail Hybrid. With it’s traditional dark color, flared with streaks of bright yellow, it’s really hard to miss out on the golf course. Cobra is known for developing great hybrids over the years, and in my opinion, the Baffler T-Rail continues this tradition. The men's version features a black club head, silver club face with florescent yellow alignment aids on the club head. The stock shaft is a black and silver Graphite Design Tour AD shaft with a bright yellow grip. The ladies Baffler features an all silver club head, shaft with bright green accent alignment marks and green grip (but we didn’t give this one a test). The shape is fairly consistent with previous baffler models. The baffler sets up nicely at address and screams “easy-to-hit”.

Introducing uDesign by Callaway

dmcgillivray@atb.com (Golf Club Buzz) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 22:33:45 +0000

Callaway announced today a very cool personalization tool for it's RAZR Fit line-up. This new web based tool allows you to customize your RAZR Fit driver into over 70,000 unique combinations or colors, shafts, grips, lengths, loft, and more. This innovation is one of the best things we've seen from Callaway in sometime, and it's likely to get some good feedback from golfers. Customizing clubs has always been a pain for golfers, and it often costs an arm and a leg - Callaway's udesign customization only sets you back $50 (shaft upgrades aside), which is very reasonable.

See the full press release and fantastic pictures after the jump...

Mizuno MP-59 Iron Review

sbxcontent@gmail.com (Independent Club Reviewer) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:18:49 +0000

How fiercely loyal are Mizuno iron players to the brand? Their unofficial motto is, “You’ll get my Mizzies when you pry ’em from my cold, dead hands.”

OK, I made that up, but you get the idea. The butter-soft feel of Mizuno’s forgings sets the standard by which all others are measured. The company’s MP lineup is the crème de la crème, causing Mizuno’s adoring legions to salivate over each new model.

The latest offering is the MP-59, a half cavity-back iron played by the world’s (former) No. 1 golfer, Luke Donald. I recently worked out these beauties and offer my observations here.

(Disclaimer: I’ve played Mizuno irons since 1999 and currently wield MP-57s. You’ll get them when you hand over a new set of Mizzies, or the cash needed to upgrade my blades. I also take checks.)

The Club

Tested clubs were a 4-iron and 7-iron, standard length and lie, outfitted with True Temper Dynamic Gold shafts, stiff flex (S300). This is the stock shaft option, with several custom options available in both steel and graphite from makers including Fujikura, Nippon and KBS.

Looks

Classic, yet modern. The lines are pure blade – thin across the top, narrow across the bottom, etcetera – with a luscious satin finish on the face. The toe and sole are a bit more rounded than the forged irons of yesteryear, which makes these a lot more playable than your grandfather’s old Wilson Staffs. The modern touch comes from the shiny titanium insert in the cavity.

Cobra 'Long Tom' Driver Review

sbxcontent@gmail.com (Independent Club Reviewer) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 17:09:05 +0000

The Club

Cobra is now under new ownership. Puma bought Cobra Golf and ever since, they have been working to revolutionize the Cobra line-up. Some of these changes are winners, like the Amp line, but the buzz and demand for the Long Tom has been pretty stagnant. Recently, I found out why.

The background behind the Long Tom actually goes back to World War II. Where the US Army used massive cannons that could hit enemy targets with a 94 pound shells from 14 miles away – these cannons were nicknamed Long Tom's.

I tested the 10 degree model with the stock stiff flex Grafalloy blackbird shaft. This club is one of the longest, and lightest clubs in the market today. At 48 inches long (the USGA max), it’s 3-4 inches longer than most drivers, and at a mere 269 grams, is extremely light. Cobra made this possible by utilizing a new titanium alloy that is extremely strong, allowing designers to build an extremely thin face, and help remove/reposition weight. The shape of the Long Tom features a deep face and has a triangular shape that reminds me of the old TaylorMade Burner or Titleist 907 D1. It has a pretty sleek all-black textured look, but unfortunately, that’s about all this club has going for it. You may also recall, Cobra released some unfinished versions with a muted grey color as limited editions.

The Wrist Hinge Drill

duncanbmcg@gmail.com (The Golf Drill Guru) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 05:13:07 +0000

While this fault may look silly, you'd be surprised how many players suffer from it. At the top of the backswing, some players are gripping the club so tightly, that their wrists do not hinge at the top. If you are so focused on keeping the clubface on-line throughout your swing, you will likely exhibit some form of this fault in your attempts to keep clubface movement to a minimum. As the video below describes, this is counter-productive. Not only will you be throwing away a ton of power, your wrists and arms will be in such poor position at the top that reaching impact in a square position is all but impossible. This drill is designed to help you loosen up. Much like swinging a rope, let the club hit each of your shoulders - really focus on feeling your wrists hinge and unhinge at the top.

TaylorMade RBZ Rescue Review

sbxcontent@gmail.com (Independent Club Reviewer) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 04:57:11 +0000

Looks

By now most players that see “white” think TaylorMade. This is becoming more than a fad, and looks as though its going to stick around for quite some time. The white and black colors of the RBZ Rescue make alignment easy, and in all honestly, look great over the ball. What can I say? I’m a fan of the white look.

The RBZ hybrid features a sole-positioned Speed Pocket behind the clubface that is designed to increase ball speed (a feature you see on top of the club for Adams’ line). The center of gravity is positioned low and forward to increase launch but decrease spin. Consistent with other TaylorMade hybrids, the RBZ looks great and is slightly larger than the average hybrid. I tested a stiff 19-degree 3-hybrid Rescue, D4 swing weight (standard across the entire line) with the stock RBZ 65 shaft.