Cleveland Golf HALO XL Hy-Woods: Blurring the lines, filling the gaps
Twenty-five years ago, I could really bomb my fairway woods. I didn’t know where they were going, but I knew they were going far in some direction. The rare occasions they went straight were the rare occasions I scored well. Then something happened. Slowly, sort of like how you gain weight. Doesn’t seem bad at…
Cleveland Golf ZipCoreXL Irons: Make Forgiveness Sexy Again
Over 3.5 years ago, I reviewed my first set of “players distance” irons. I admitted in that review that I had reached a certain age when I needed a little assistance from club-making engineers to maintain distance and accuracy, even on mis-hits, while preserving some semblance of shot-making control. I have been playing with those…
2023 Holiday Golf Gift Guide: New year, new memories
Another year is coming to a close, and for golfers in many places, another golf season is ending as well. I’m writing this a few hours after what might be my final round of the year, played on my local municipal course with two good golf buddies and my son, home from his sophomore year…
“Sustainable golf” with Sun Mountain Eco-Lite Golf Bags
Every year or two, some non-golfer commentator decries golf courses as environmentally disastrous or socially corrosive, or both. Calls to “liberate” golf courses for the masses ignore the fact that 75% of American courses are public. Criticisms of golf courses as chemical-laden monocultures are not without some merit, though: in the US, those private clubs…
Sub70 Golf: Boutique golf clubs without the boutique price tags
In 1835, Carlos Lattin built the first log cabin in the town that came to be known as Sycamore, Illinois. Today, on that same site, is the fitting center of Sub70 Golf, one of the fastest-growing direct-to-consumer boutique golf club companies since 2018. The recipe for this success is a combination of the highest quality…
Shop for Pop: 2023 Father’s Day Golf Gift Guide
I just returned from an annual 3-day golf trip with a group of guys who’ve been playing together once a year for 33 years. We don’t all go every year, and sometimes we don’t see someone for a half-dozen years. Yet somehow, I feel like I recognize these guys better than my own neighbors, and…
Cobra T-Rail Irons: Golf clubs for regular folks
Depending on which statistics one looks at, the percentage of golfers who never break 100 is somewhere around 50%. Of course, this estimate also depends on how you define “golfer.” Is someone who plays once or twice a year a golfer? We could argue about this all day. Irrespective of these statistics, though, everyone who…
Cleveland HB SOFT Milled Putters: Sink putts, not your budget
Your putter is the only club you use on every hole. This intense familiarity tends to breed a manic relationship between golfers and their flatsticks. One type of player largely ignores their putters – they’ve played the same one for 20 years, and the grip is glassy smooth, the head is dented, the shaft might…
Srixon ZX MK II Drivers: Consistency breeds confidence
It feels like just yesterday that I first received a dozen Srixon golf balls to review, despite it being nearly 20 years ago. I called them “The best balls whose name you can’t pronounce.” Srixon golf balls continue to be some of the best balls for the money at every price point. Moreover, Srixon has…
Titleist does it again with TSR2 woods
Golf equipment companies introduce “new” clubs two or even three times a year. Every time, without fail, these new clubs are “longer,” “more forgiving,” “better performing.” Heck, they’re regularly trumpeted as “the best ever!” I’ve been writing about golf equipment for over two decades now, and I am not the only person in the industry…
Honma BERES Aizu Line: Straight from the heart of Japan
Aizu-Wakamatsu City is remote by Japanese standards: just over two hours north of Tokyo by Shinkansen (bullet train), followed by a connection of another hour or so by local train. During the winter, heavy mountain snows can block those local tracks completely. The region’s isolation was a reason it became one of the final strongholds…
Should I play or will it snow, now? 2022 Holiday Gift Guide for golfers in all climes
Every winter, I think to myself: “Will I be able to get out to play before spring?” Despite living in central Illinois, sometimes I do – I worry about climate change while teeing it up on some random 45-degree February day. If you happen to live in a climate more conducive to year-round play, count…
Honma TW757 Fairway Woods boast tradition and tech
Japan is a golf-crazed nation. The sport is associated with status, leisure, and wealth. When I lived there in the early and mid 1990s, I would sometimes spend $200 in an evening just at a driving range–and the range was packed with golf nuts like me. Honma is one of the top golf equipment companies…
Bloodline Vale: Stand up for your putts
You’ve likely seen the infomercials for the putters that stand up behind your ball. This review is NOT about those putters. The Bloodline Vale (HPP) ($299) does stand up on its own, but there is no infomercial for Bloodline putters, the original self-standing putters. The Vale is Bloodline’s newest addition. It’s a mallet with a…
Edison Wedges: Invented for the average player
Terry Koehler has been in the golf equipment industry for 40 years. He began with Ray Cook Putters in the early 1980s. He joined Ben Hogan Golf in the early 90s. He founded both Eidolon Golf and Scor Wedges, where he developed the first progressive weight wedge system. Then he brought Ben Hogan back to…
2022 Father’s Day Golf Gift Guide
This Father’s Day, I’m particularly reflective. My son—the younger of my two kids—just graduated from high school, and he’ll soon make his way out of state for college. He won’t be playing golf there, but I hope he takes the work ethic embodied in the photo below with him when he goes. This was his…
2022 Masters Gift Guide
For over a decade, I’ve been writing a Valentine’s Day Golf Gift Guide. But realisticly, that’s not a day for golf gifts. What should be a holiday though, at least for those of us with green running through our veins and visions of birdies dancing through our heads, is Masters Week. If you live in…
Cleveland Launcher XL Driver: If you like “long and straight”
Cleveland Golf is historically known for its wedges and putters. Recent Cleveland driver offerings have also been extremely strong, however. In 2021, Cleveland’s Launcher Driver line literally expanded Cleveland’s august reputation with the Launcher XL. The Cleveland Launcher XL ($399) lives up to its moniker. The driver head is 6.7% deeper front to back, which…
Holiday Gift Guide 2021: Feed your golf habit
Routines are powerful. In golf, routines are especially valued. How many times have you heard top players talk about the importance of maintaining their pre-shot routine, or their practice routine, or their fitness routine? For amateurs, just working regular play into your routine is key to improvement. You’re not going to lower your handicap playing…
Honma TR20 460cc Driver is a “forgiving” “beast”
Japan is home to dozens of high-end, high-quality golf club manufacturers, only a few of which have most Americans ever heard of. Honma has been in the golf club business for over 60 years now, but they remain largely unknown to most American recreational golfers. That’s too bad, given that Honma produces some very impressive…
Golf Gifts for Father’s Day 2021: Vax-up & gear-up
Father’s Day 2021 feels much more hopeful than Father’s Day 2020. We have vaccines, and we now know that outdoor activities – like golf – are extremely safe. So the best thing you can do for Old Dad this Father’s Day is make sure he’s fully vaccinated. The second-best thing you can do for him…
Srixon ZX5 Driver: Balancing power, forgiveness, and control
Here’s why I don’t completely believe golf simulators or launch monitors: it’s really easy for recreational players to get wrapped up in the numbers. Any avid, average golfer has read about how the pros try to optimize “low spin, high launch” in their drivers. Then they get on one of these high-tech machines and flail…
Mother’s Day Gifts 2021: Honoring Mom, Mother Earth, and Golf
When COVID-19 is said and done—hopefully sooner rather than later—one of the unexpected beneficiaries of a mostly tragic event could be golf. As an outdoor activity that naturally allows for social distancing, golf has become an outlet for people who only played once or twice a year in the before times. And at my local…
Titleist TSi woods and hybrids: Terminate the golf ball
Remember the Terminator movies? Skynet was the artificial neural network-based conscious group mind and artificial general super-intelligence system that built the Terminators. And the Terminators were nigh-indestructible metal killing machines. Imagine if Skynet made golf clubs instead of cybernetic monsters, and the only killing was the murdering of golf balls. Oh, what a wonderful (future)…
Cleveland Golf Frontline ISO Putter: Straight back and straight into the hole
I think have played with literally every conceivable putter style: blade, Anser, half-mallet, mallet, plumber’s neck, single-bend, double-bend, straight, center-shafted, heel-shafted, face-balanced, toe-hang of all degrees, 33” to broomstick, belly-anchored, sternum-anchored, side-saddle-armpit-anchored, steel face, aluminum face, inserts from honeycombed nickel to polymer. Heck, I’ve even played with a putter whose shaft was wrapped with a…
All you need is love: Valentine’s Day Golf Gift Guide
You know what’s sustained me through this pandemic? Love. I love my family and friends. I love my job. And I love golf. Without all three of these loves, it would be very difficult to maintain my equilibrium. Winter is tough where I live. Some years, we can squeeze in a round every month. Other…
Panic in the pandemic: Last-minute holiday golf gift guide
Listen up duffers and duffettes – Christmas 2020 is just one week away (and Hanukkah is already over!). If you haven’t secured gifts for the golfers on your list by now, you’re going to need to hit the shot of the year. Seriously, this is the holiday equivalent of stepping onto the 18th tee dormie:…
Stay home, but send great golf gifts: Holiday Gift Guide 2020
If ever there was a holiday season for online shopping, it’s 2020. Most of us have been shopping online since March, but now we’ve hit the big time. This is The Show, baby! So step up to the tee and let the big dog eat! Here’s a list of my favorite golf gifts this year.…
Find Your Way on the Golf Course: Yardages for Technophobes and Technophiles
Finding your way on the course today takes everything you’ve got. Taking a break from indecision sure would help a lot. Wouldn’t you like to know how far it is from here to there? And the carry in the air? –“Cheers” … sort of All right, all right. Enough of that. I’ve been watching WAY…
Cleveland RTX ZipCore wedges deliver on all shots for all golfers
Full disclosure: I’ve always been a big fan of Cleveland Golf wedges. I have tested and reviewed a LOT of wedges over the decades, and whenever a new set of Clevelands arrive, they end up staying in my bag longer than the others. Fuller disclosure: It’s happened again. And this time, Cleveland’s new ZipCore wedges…
You’ve got a lot of balls, Mister! (Can we see them?)
When it comes to golfers, there’s a continuum running from those who commit to playing one brand and model of golf ball to those who put into play literally any ball they scoop out of a pond, stumble upon in the weeds, or spot in the woods. Me? Well, I’m somewhere in the middle. I’ve…
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