Titleist and Ian MacAllister debut NXTube.com
Written by: Tony Korologos | Thursday, August 2nd, 2007
Categories: Golf Balls • Golf Equipment • Golf Media • Golf Videos
Categories: Golf Balls • Golf Equipment • Golf Media • Golf Videos
As mentioned two posts ago in the Hooked On Golf Blog NXT Tour golf ball review, there are new versions of the NXT golf ball from Titleist just hitting the shelves. I love the funny Ian MacAllister ads on TV for the “wreched NXT” golf ball.
Titleist is now utilizing a marketing area we bloggers and golf web geeks have known about for a long time, the underground web genre of blogs and other online communities. YOU can join Ian MacAllister in condemning the NXT golf ball.
NXTube.com
Titleist now has an entire site for Ian MacAllister and the NXT golf balls. There are real blogs (except for blogrolls), videos, live webcams of Ian and more. There is even a section where YOU can upload videos to NXTube in the hopes that Titleist and Ian will like them enough to show them online or maybe even on TV!
Shot 69 on the day of my big match…
I flew over the par-5 first with an 8-iron, par. Flew over the par-5 5th with an 8-iron, par. Flew over the par-5 13th into a hazard with a pitching wedge, bogey. Drove the #14 par-4 with a 3-wood and two putted for birdie.
It was a 69 that could have been a 64 easily. I even bogeyed the last hole.
Unfortunately, my match play opponent wasn’t there to lose today. He rescheduled…
New Titleist NXT Tour
Written by: Tony Korologos | Tuesday, July 31st, 2007
Categories: Golf Balls • Golf Equipment • Reviews
Tags: Golf Ball • NXT • Titliest
Categories: Golf Balls • Golf Equipment • Reviews
Tags: Golf Ball • NXT • Titliest
Titleist has released new versions of the NXT Tour golf ball, the NXT Extreme and NXT Tour. I’ve been playing both flavors for a while now. In this article I’ll be reviewing the new NXT Tour. My NXT Extreme review will be coming up in the next week or so.
Titleist NXT Tour Golf Ball
The NXT Tour golf ball is aimed at the average to high level golfer. The ball provides a combination of distance off the driver and control with the shorter clubs, and a price point ($40.00) which is more affordable.
Technology
Multi Layer Construction
Layer One – The Core
The solid yet soft inner core is made of Polybutadiene. Don’t worry, I had no idea what Polybutadiene was either until I researched for this article.
From WikiPedia: Polybutadiene is a synthetic rubber that has a high resistance to wear and is used especially in the manufacture of tires. It has also been used to coat or encapsulate electronic assemblies, offering extremely high electrical resistivity. It exhibits a recovery of 80% after stress is applied, a value only exceeded by elastin and resilin. Polybutadiene is a polymer formed from the polymerization of the monomer 1,3-butadiene.
Layer Two – The Outer Core
The outer core, at 1.58? in diameter, is also made of Polybutadiene. The extra layer helps provide distance and a softer feel at impact.
Layer Three – The Cover
The NXT Tour cover is made of Fusablend. Fusablend is a proprietary material Titleist uses which provides the player with a great combination of durability yet soft feel and spin around the greens. Durability AND spin are tough to employ in the same ball.
The Fusablend cover comes in the new “Pro White” color, which is very vibrant and easy to spot anywhere on the course.
Dimples
Titleist has long employed a 392 dimple aerodynamic design. Their research has concluded that the 392 dimple pattern provides more carry and distance.
Staggered Wave Parting Design
New for this year Titleist has introduced the “staggered wave parting design.” Titleist balls, including the ProV1 and ProV1x series have all had a visible seam. What they’re doing now is staggering the dimples where the seam is to gain that real estate on the ball. This has allowed more dimple coverage and even better results in carry, distance and spin.
AIM System
No longer do you need to draw an aiming line on your ball with Titleist’s new A.I.M. system. A.I.M. is short for alignment integrated marking. They call it a system but come on. It’s just a line, right? Perhaps not. The arrows and lines give you conscious and subconscious influence on aim and club path.
On The Course
I expected the NXT Tour ball to be a bit harder in feel than the ball I normally play, the ProV1 (regular flavor, not the ProV1x). I’ve had golfer’s elbow for several years and hard (a.k.a. “distance”) balls really kill my elbow, but soft ones don’t. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my “princess and the pea” golfer’s elbow didn’t hurt when hitting drivers with the NXT Tour.
I found the distance off the driver and long irons to be wonderful. I hit the NXT Tour as far as any other ball I’ve tried with my driver. I found I was able to work the ball to a nice fade or draw at will, or at least as much as my swing allows on any given day.
The most profound difference between the NXT series (not just the Tour version mind you) and other balls I’ve played, was the distance I had with my irons. The first shot I hit an iron with was on my home course, #2 hole. My 170 club is my 7-iron. My 2nd shot on this 468 yard par 4 was right on 170 (yes you math majors, that was a 298 yard drive with the NXT Tour). I pulled my 7-iron and took dead aim at the middle flag. I put a perfect swing (for me at least) and the ball launched right at the flag. I was expecting it to land pin high and release a few feet long but no. The NXT Tour flew over the pin, over the green, over the hill behind the green. That 170 yard shot CARRIED at least 190. Woa.
I thought that was just a fluke but the rest of the round I discovered that it wasn’t. My iron play has ended up 10-20 yards longer with the new NXT’s. It almost became a joke when I was hitting my gap wedge 145 and my buddies thought I was a candidate for the new PGA Tour steroid testing…
Around the greens I found the NXT Tour to be quite good. Mind you I’m used to the precise spin you get with a ProV1. I’d say the NXT Tour is about 90% as “spinny” of a ball for me as the ProV1. I found that just about any shot I tried around the greens like flops, runners, two-hop-stoppers all performed well.
Durability
One area the NXT Tour outperforms the ProV1, ProV1x and many other balls is durability. Of course the cover is a little harder and that’s why. I can chew up balls with my great wedges but the NXT doesn’t get bet up by them. The only time I’ve had to take an NXT Tour out of play is when it had a cart path issue.
Conclusion
Ian McAllister is right. His wreched NXT golf ball has added fun to my game, and distance.
If you want a performance golf ball, but don’t want to spend the dough that companies are charging for their highest end balls, the NXT is the ball for you.
Click here for the Hooked On Golf Blog Titleist Photo Gallery.
Semifinal match against Mr. 62
I hit the range yesterday to try and figure out what is wrong with my irons. My driver and woods are all good, but my GIR’s and ball striking with the irons has stunk.
After hitting five shanks, 10 fats, 10 thins, 10 hooks, 10 slices… I busted out my video camera. I don’t have the best swing in the world. I may make Jim Furyk look on plane. But after recording about 10 five irons and watching the video back I was able to see some stuff to fix.
Chicken Wing
The most obvious problem I saw was what I call the chicken wing. It’s a flying right elbow, kind of like a baseball swing. That chicken wing was causing my usual over the top granny move to be way past parallel and even more over the top and across the line. In other words my club at the top of the swing was almost like John Daly’s, pointing right of the target.
After sucking in the chicken wing and tucking it into my side a bit I started to hit some good shots. I brought the “anti- chicken wing super granny over the top past parallel unfolding lawn chair epileptic on speed” swing onto the course and hit much more solid irons. I did hit a few pulls but that’s just a result of the swing changes and not being used to them.
Mr. 62
I’m feeling better today than I did yesterday about my swing, my game… and my chances in my semifinal match tomorrow. I’m playing against an older player who is pretty amazing. I played with him on this very course when he shot a 29 on the back en route to a 62.
Mr. 62 is human, therefore he’s beatable. It should be fun tomorrow. If I manage to beat him I’ll be in the finals of my club champ for the 2nd time in the last three years. And yes, I did win it last time I was in the finals!
The Glove Grabber
Written by: Tony Korologos | Monday, July 30th, 2007
Categories: Golf Accessories • Golf Equipment • Reviews
Categories: Golf Accessories • Golf Equipment • Reviews
I did a post a few days ago about HOG friend The Glove Grabber being featured on Fore Inventors Only on The Golf Channel. I hadn’t had a chance to really write up the product yet because I was just getting it into play. Now I’ve had a chance to use my Golf Grabber for a while so here it is.
The Glove Grabber Concept
The Glove Grabber concept is simple. It gives you a place to hang your golf (or other sport) gloves for them to dry. Wet gloves don’t work as well. Wet gloves wear out many times faster than dry ones. If you are in a really sweaty situation you can rotate two or even three gloves on your Glove Grabber to ensure you always have a dry glove for that crucial shot in the club championship.
On The Course
I’ll admit I don’t wear a glove, but today was a good day to wear one. It’s about 100 degrees here and though there usually isn’t a lot of humidity here, there was today. I was on the range practicing for my big match coming up in a couple of days. I was sweating so bad the brim of my hat was dripping.
I used two gloves and when one got wet I hung it on my Glove Grabber and then used the dry one. I rotated gloves for a good two hours. By the end, both gloves were dry.
Other Uses
I have another idea for the Glove Grabber. Some of my golf towels have Velcro for mounting the towel on the golf bag. In rainy conditions when you are using an umbrella you could use a Velcro towel and hang the Glove Grabber from the inside of your umbrella. That way you don’t have to hang your towel on the support arms of the umbrella and go through all that hassle of getting them hung and taking them down.
Conclusion
It’s hard to write a 1500 word review on a Velcro strap. That being said, the Glove Grabber is a great implementation of a simple and great idea which will preserve your gloves and help save you strokes.
Corporate entities could use the Glove Grabber for promotion and giveaways by screening their information on the flat side.
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