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Archive for March, 2007

Hitting the Callaway FT-i square driver

March 31st, 2007

callaway FT-i square driverI had the chance to hit some shots with a slightly customized Callaway FT-i square driver. This is the driver owned by my local pro Guy Lester. I don’t think the shaft or draw bias he had setup was good for me since I draw the ball anyway and my swing is probably slower than his.

One thing I noticed right off which I liked, was the feel of the club during my swing. I seemed to be very aware of the club face and it’s position almost like swinging a heel-toe weighted putter. I hit a few bad shots with it but I was only wearing my leopard Vans and I was freezing to death. BUT when I did hit it well the ball really flew.

Below is a video of Guy hitting it and making some comments on what he thinks about the Callaway FT-i. At the end of the video you see me hit it with my Vans. I edited out the bad shots…

The square drivers have hit many of the stores. You can get the Callaway FT-i square driver at my favorite online golf store, Edwin Watts Golf.

Tony Korologos a.k.a. mediaguru Golf Clubs, Golf Equipment, Golf Videos

PGA Tour bumped by the Mormons

March 31st, 2007

I tune into NBC today to see how the six way tie for first today would pan out. Bob Estes, Jason Gore, D.J. Brigman, Bubba Watson, Stuart Appleby and Jeff Maggert are all tied. What I find on NBC is not long drives and great short games. I did find the program “Latter Day Saints’ World Report.” Where’s the damn PGA Tour? This happens every year. My religion (golf) has been preempted by the Mormons again… ARGH!

Tony Korologos a.k.a. mediaguru Life, Miscellaneous, PGA Tour

Tiger’s tournament in DC has a field of 120

March 30th, 2007

There was a stink a while ago when players complained about replacing The International with an “invitational.” The problem guys like Rich Beem had was that invitationals have smaller fields, thus giving less opportunities for some players to win FedEx points and money.

Tiger, Tim Finchem and the PGA Tour players’ advisory board settled on 120. 120 is a little more than invitationals like Bay Hill (118) and Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial tournament (104).

More at pga.com

Tony Korologos a.k.a. mediaguru PGA Tour, Site News, Tiger Woods

The Golf Chick is back

March 30th, 2007

My friend Kristen, a.k.a. The Golf Chick, is back to golf blogging. She took a break for a month to mourn the loss of The Goose, her K9 best friend.

Welcome back Kristen. You were missed.

Tony Korologos a.k.a. mediaguru Golf Media, Life, Miscellaneous

Augusta National drops from #2 to #3?

March 29th, 2007

Can’t resist… The Masters and Augusta National posts are on the way…

augusta national the mastersSomeone at Golf Digest apparently didn’t get the Masters tickets they requested. Join the club. Augusta National will be dropping from No. 2 of “America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses” to No. 3. The new No. 2 is Shinnecock Hills. Pine Valley is the perennial and uncontested No. 1. Anybody want to get me a round at Pine Valley so I can confirm how good it is?

When asked about the Augusta ranking Tiger Woods said “Maybe they can’t draw the ball.”

Golf Digest’s top 10:
Pine Valley
Shinnecock Hills
Augusta National
Cypress Point
Oakmont
Pebble Beach
Merion
Winged Foot
Seminole and Crystal Downs

Augusta only cracks top 10

Augusta National only came in at No. 10 on their list of “Top 100 classic courses” built before 1960. #10?

Tony Korologos a.k.a. mediaguru Golf Courses

Does your putter “want” to stay on line?

March 28th, 2007

I’ve been tinkering with putters, pictures and videos in the putter category this spring. This post relates to a putter’s “desire” to stay on target.

I see a lot of players who can’t keep their putters traveling on the target line. Much of this is due to the fact that they have poor technique I’m sure. But how much of that could be the putter? More than any other club in the bag, putters are very personal and very “feel” related. When I pick up a putter for the first time the first thing I do is see if it likes to be square to the target when I take my address position. I’ll hold the putter just off the ground at address lightly and then let go and see if it wants to remain square. Some putters stay square and some fall open or closed. If the putter wants to fall a few degrees open, then if you get lazy or lose concentration on your putt you may push it.

So here’s a video showing the unscientific way I like to test putters to see if they “want” to stay on the proper line:

Tony Korologos a.k.a. mediaguru Golf Clubs, Golf Instruction, Golf Videos

Video of the perfect golf swing

March 27th, 2007

I’m really having a lot of fun going through my golf videos and putting them up on YouTube. Here’s a video I forgot about. It’s of some guy which ended up playing as the 4th in my group. Mind you, this group’s highest handicap other than this guy was a three.

Tony Korologos a.k.a. mediaguru Golf Videos, Hackers

2007 Masters Field

March 27th, 2007

Once again all the trips I spent running to my mailbox and I never got an invitation. There’s always next year. Here are those who are lucky enough to get an invitation to play in The Masters:

Tommy Aaron (1)
Robert Allenby (Australia)(15,16,17)
Stephen Ames (Canada)(5,10,14,16,17)
Stuart Appleby (Australia)(14,16,17)
Aaron Baddeley (Australia)(15,17)
Severiano Ballesteros (Spain)(1)
Rich Beem (4)
Thomas Bjorn (Denmark)(16)
Gay Brewer Jr. (1)
Bart Bryant (17)
Jack Burke Jr. (1)
Angel Cabrera (Argentina)(10,16,17)
Mark Calcavecchia (15)
Chad Campbell (10,14,16,17)
Michael Campbell (New Zealand)(2,16,17)
Paul Casey (England)(16,17)
Billy Casper (1)
K.J. Choi (Korea)(14,16,17)
Stewart Cink (10,14,16,17)
Tim Clark (South Africa)(10,14,16,17)
Darren Clarke (N. Ireland)(16)
Charles Coody (1)
Fred Couples (1,10)
Ben Crane (16)
Ben Crenshaw (1)
Ben Curtis (3,14)
Chris DiMarco (12,16,17)
Luke Donald (England)(13,14,16,17)
# Bradley Dredge (Wales)(16)
Joe Durant (14,16,17)
# Johan Edfors (Sweden)(16)
Ernie Els (South Africa)(3,12,14,16,17)
Nick Faldo (England)(1)
Niclas Fasth (Sweden)(16,17)
# Kenneth Ferrie (England)(11)
Raymond Floyd (1)
Doug Ford (1)
Rod Pampling (Australia)(10,14,16,17)
Tom Pernice Jr. (14)
Carl Pettersson (Sweden)(14,16,17)
Gary Player (South Africa)(1)
Ian Poulter (England)(16,17)
# Brett Quigley (14)
#* Richie Ramsay (Scotland)(6-A)
John Rollins (15,17)
Justin Rose (England)(17)
Rory Sabbatini (South Africa)(14,16)
Adam Scott (Australia)(13,14,16,17)
# Jeev Milkha Singh (India)(16,17)
Vijay Singh (Fiji)(1,4,10,11,14,15,16,17)

Fred Funk (5)
Jim Furyk (2,11,12,14,16,17)
Sergio Garcia (Spain)(13,16,17)
Lucas Glover (14,16,17)
Bob Goalby (1)
Retief Goosen (South Africa)(2,10,14,16,17)
Paul Goydos (17)
#* Julien Guerrier (France) (7)
Todd Hamilton (3)
Padraig Harrington (Ireland)(11,16,17)
# J.J. Henry (14)
Tim Herron (14)
Charles Howell III (15,17)
David Howell (England)(16,17)
Trevor Immelman (South Africa)(14,16,17)
Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain)(10)
Zach Johnson (14)
# Robert Karlsson (Sweden)(16,17)
Shingo Katayama (Japan)(16,17)
Jerry Kelly (14)
#* John Kelly (6-B)
Bernhard Langer (Germany)(1)
Davis Love III (14,16,17)
Sandy Lyle (Scotland)(1)
# Troy Matteson (14)
Billy Mayfair (10)
Shaun Micheel (4,13)
Phil Mickelson (1,4,11,14,15,16,17)
Larry Mize (1)
Colin Montgomerie (Scotland)(11,16,17)
Jack Nicklaus (1)
Arron Oberholser (10,14,16,17)
Geoff Ogilvy (Australia)(2,10,14,15,16,17)
Nick O’Hern (Australia)(11,16,17)
Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain)(1,10,14,16,17)
Mark O’Meara (1)
Arnold Palmer (1)
Jeff Sluman (11)
Craig Stadler (1)
Henrik Stenson (Sweden)(15,16,17)
Steve Stricker (11,14,17)
# Hideto Tanihara (Japan)
Vaughn Taylor (14)
David Toms (14,16,17)
Scott Verplank (10,14)
# Camilo Villegas (Colombia)(14)
#* Casey Watabu (8)
Tom Watson (1)
Mike Weir (Canada)(1,10,11,14,16,17)
Lee Westwood (England)(16)
# Brett Wetterich (14,16,17)
# Dean Wilson (14)
#* Dave Womack (9)
Tiger Woods (1,2,3,4,10,14,15,16,17)
Ian Woosnam (Wales)(1)
# Y. E. Yang (Korea)(16,17)
Fuzzy Zoeller (1)

Number after each name indicates the basis of qualification. The Masters Committee, at its discretion, also invites international players not otherwise qualified.

1. Masters Tournament Champions (Lifetime)
2. US Open Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
3. British Open Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
4. PGA Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
5. Winners of The Players Championship (2005 and 2006)
6. Current US Amateur Champion (6-A) (Honorary, non-competing after 1 year) and the runner-up (6-B) to the current US Amateur Champion
7. Current British Amateur Champion (Honorary, non-competing after 1 year)
8. Current US Amateur Public Links Champion
9. Current US Mid-Amateur Champion
10. The first 16 players, including ties, in the 2006 Masters Tournament
11. The first 8 players, including ties, in the 2006 US Open Championship
12. The first 4 players, including ties, in the 2006 British Open Championship
13. The first 4 players, including ties, in the 2006 PGA Championship
14. The 40 leaders on the Final Official PGA Tour Money List for 2006
15. The 10 leaders on the Official PGA Tour Money List published during the week prior to the 2007 Masters Tournament.
16. The 50 leaders on the Final Official World Golf Ranking for 2006.
17. The 50 leaders on the Official World Golf Ranking published during the week prior to the 2007 Masters Tournament
# Denotes first Masters * Denotes Amateur

Tony Korologos a.k.a. mediaguru European Tour, Nationwide Tour, PGA Tour, The Masters, Tiger Woods

New products from GRIP: Golf Research In Play

March 26th, 2007

GRIP: Golf Research In Play is a great friend of HOG and The Golf Space. GRIP makes high performance golf clubs which can compete with the big names, but at a fraction of the price. GRIP’s current lineup includes hybrids, putters and wedges. Coming in April 2007, GRIP will be adding a KILLER 460cc driver (which I’m playing now), 3-wood and wide sole irons. Here’s our first look at their new product offerings for 2007:

grip golf research in play

Here’s a nice look at the new GRIP irons below. Hooked On Golf Blog will be the FIRST to test them and review them so check back!

grip irons

To see more pics of GRIP golf equipment go to the Hooked On Golf Blog’s GRIP photo gallery:
http://www.hookedongolfblog.com/gallery2/v/Equipment/grip/

Tony Korologos a.k.a. mediaguru Golf Clubs, Golf Equipment

GolfBlogger turns four

March 26th, 2007

Happy belated fourth blogday to my pal GolfBlogger. He’s a rock in the golf blogging world with over 2500 posts. GolfBlogger is one of the original and best golf blogs out there. GolfBlogger was one of the 3-4 golf blogs out there I really looked up to (and still do) when I got started.

Happy blogday buddy.

Tony Korologos a.k.a. mediaguru Golf Media