December 2011: New Stuff: Golf Digest

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Results for December 2011 Back to New Stuff Index

Loudmouth Golf meets America's Team

Friday, December 30, 2011 Comments

Loudmouth Golf.jpg

John Daly and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones both attended the University of Arkansas and apparently have become friends over the years. Daly also represents Loudmouth Golf and says he has been a fan of the Cowboys since he was four.

Throw it all in a blender and here is what you get: Splash Cowboys pants from Loudmouth Golf -- silver, blue and white paisley, with the Cowboys' blue star on the front.

"Ever since I was four years old, I've loved the Cowboys," Daly said in a news release. "I've been close with Jerry Jones and his family for a long time, so to have a Loudmouth clothing line inspired by the Cowboys is exciting for all of us. I can't wait to proudly wear my Cowboys sport coat and slacks on tour."

A matching sport coat?

The pants sell for $120. Also available are Splash Cowboys shorts at a made-to-order length for $100, and Splash Cowboys mini-shorts for women for $80. The line will be available at Cowboys Stadium, Cowboys Golf Club in Grapevine, Texas, and at the Loudmouth Golf website.

-- John Strege

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Feel Golf to introduce non-conforming wedges

Tuesday, December 27, 2011 Comments

Among Feel Golf's new product introductions for 2012 are a putter grip with a reverse taper and non-conforming wedges that feature square grooves.

The putter grip, called the SBST (Straight Back Straight Through), is an offshoot of its Pro Release and Full Release grips and their reverse taper technology in which the thicker part of the grip accomodates the lower hand. Think turning the grip upside down.

"That reverse grip (on the SBST) allows the right-hand, the palm, to stay on line," Feel Golf CEO Lee Miller said. "It keeps the right hand in motion without it breaking down the left hand. In 2010, when Jim Furyk was winning, his dad had taken the putter grip and cut the end off and turned it upside down. He proceeded to putt well. In 2011, he went back to a traditional grip and nothing happened until he went back to his dad's grip in the Presidents Cup."

Miller said that the company sent out the prototype putter grip to as many as 40 players of varying handicaps, and that "60, 70 percent of them said 'we think you have something here.'"

The new SG wedges (for square grooves) feature grooves that don't conform to the new USGA groove rules.

"We decided a couple of years ago to keep some nonconforming wedges for recreational players, saying, 'hey, we're not tour players,'" Miller said. The company decided to manufacture noncomforming wedgeds after receiving the results of a survey of 200 or so of its individual customers, taken in early 2011. "Only a few said that if it's not conforming we won't buy it," Miller said. "Overall, they said we need all the help we can get. Our (groove) edges are going to be sharp with the surface roughness on the face as as max as we can get it."

The wedges will be available in lofts of 52, 56, 60, 64 and 73 degrees.

-- John Strege

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Course photos from Golf Digest photographers

Tuesday, December 20, 2011 Comments

Pacific Dunes.jpg

Some of golf's best shots aren't produced by golfers, but by golf photographers, including Golf Digest's talented staff, whose work is now available through the Golf Digest Category at the Conde Nast Store.

The Golf Digest Category features 709 photographs, golf and otherwise, taken by Senior Staff Photographer Dom Furore, Staff Photographer J.D. Cuban and Senior Conributing Photographer Stephen Szurlej. Also available are historic black-and-white prints, as well as photographs unrelated to golf, taken by Golf Digest photographers on their various assignments around the world, among them Cuban's picture of the Great Wall of China,

Shown above is Szurlej's photograph of the 11th hole at Pacific Dunes Golf Course in Bandon, Ore.

The photographs are available in four sizes, up to 36 inches by 26 inches, for premium photographic prints and 29 by 33 in a stretched canvas print. They can also be purchased with frames.

-- John Strege

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Lamkin's golf grips accommodate change

Friday, December 16, 2011 Comments

One would think that grips have reached their evolutionary conclusion. One would be wrong, to with Lamkin Grips' 2012 line that includes a new grip specifically for adjustable clubs, the REL 3GEN 360.

Adjustability in clubs has become de rigueur, Callaway Golf the latest to join the adjustable fray with its new RAZR Fit driver. The new Lamkin grip is orientation-free, with no logos or alignment marks. Whatever position the clubhead is set in (open, square or closed), the symmetrical grip is in the proper position. It's a small thing, perhaps, but useful for today's equipment. It sells for $6.49 a grip.

Lamkin also has released a new wedge grip, the Performance Plus 3GEN, that is an inch longer than standard, to accommodate choking down on the wedge without having to grip steel. It also features two of what the company calls buttons, down toward the end of the grip, to guide you in placing your hands in the exact same position every time. The cost is $9.99 per grip.

Finally, Lamkin introduced grips for a weak economy, the X10, $4.99 each to facilitate changing your grips at a more affordable price.

-- John Strege

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Donald's jug of claret for a worthy cause

Tuesday, December 13, 2011 Comments

Those who wish to toast Luke Donald for a career year that included his being named PGA Tour player of the year on Tuesday might want to do so with a glass of Luke Donald Claret that will support a worthy cause in the process.

Luke Donald Claret.jpg

Uncorked.com is offering a signed bottle of Luke Donald Collection Claret 2006 Limited Edition for $250, with proceeds going to the First Tee.

Donald is a wine aficionado who is among the growing list of those in professional golf with their own wine labels. His friendship with Bill Terlato of the Terlato Wines International was the impetus for the wines, which currently include two offerings: the 2006 claret and a 2008 chardonnay.

Uncorked.com also is offering a Luke Donald Deluxe Wine and Golf Set that includes bottles of the claret and chardonnay, a sleep of Titleist Pro VI golf balls, a golf towel and tees and ball markers, for $94.99, and a Luke Donald Wine Collection Set, featuring bottles of the claret and chardonnay and a sleeve of Titleist Pro VI balls for $64.99.

-- John Strege

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RocketBallz: What's in a name?

Monday, December 12, 2011 Comments

The name that TaylorMade Golf assigned to its new line of clubs, RocketBallz, already is creating an Internet buzz and no doubt will be a popular topic of conversation for some time.

"They look pretty good, but the name," a commenter on GolfWrx.com wrote without completing the thought.

"I really like the look of these woods," another wrote. "I don't care what they call it, if it performs I will game it!"

Here is the genesis of the name: When Dustin Johnson began hitting the prototype that became the RockeBallz 3-wood, according to TaylorMade, he said on several occasions, "It's like a rocket."

TaylorMade engineers subsequently applied the name to the club both in the CAD model and on the sole of the prototype clubhead.

"I never thought RocketBallz would actually show up on the prototype," Todd Beach, Senior Director of Product Engineering, Metalwoods, said in a news release. But the name stuck.

"Product names come from all over the place, but typically they'll come from marketing, product marketing and sales," Executive Vice President Sean Toulon said in the release. "Never before has one come from R&D."

The club will also be called RBZ, for short.

-- John Strege

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A golf shaft insert for improved accuracy

Tuesday, December 6, 2011 Comments

Harrison Sports began making golf shafts in 1988, yet it isn't only shafts that animate them these days. The company has developed a shaft insert that seems to be generating buzz inside and outside the company.

It's called the Shotmaker, a graphite insert that measures 12 inches in length and weighs four grams and is said to help reduce shaft deformation as well as absorbing most of the impact vibration, resulting in straighter drives.

"Obviously something we've worked on for many years is how to reduce shaft deformation and impact deformation," Harrison's Evan Roosevelt said. "We've homed in on how to figure that problem out. It came in the form of an insert. It impacts the shaft deformation and is able to absorb the majority of the impact vibration. Combine those two factors and you have 40 percent more accuracy with the driver."

The equipment wonks at GolfWRX.com have been discussing the Shotmaker in generally favorable terms for a few months now.

The Shotmaker fits most .335 tip shafts, Roosevelt said. It is developing two new models to fit everything else and expect to introduce them in January. "We're pretty excited about it, too," Roosevelt said. "We've been getting an incredible response from consumers. It's pretty cool."

So what does the USGA have to say about a shaft insert designed to reduce ball side spin by as much as 50 percent? "It's always been very open to approving various inserts," Roosevelt said. "It wasn't really a great concern for us." The USGA has approved the Shotmaker.

The Shotmaker sells for $99.99 or $150 for a kit that includes the tools required to place the insert.

-- John Strege

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