A funny name and a ton of game: RocketBallz
As it has been SO long since any golf was played and broadcast on TV, here are a few thoughts to chew on while enduring your Kelly Tilghman anxiety separation:
PING Boss Sings a Discordant Tune: John Solheim doesn’t want to “bifurcate” the rules. Yet he wants the game to sanction three different gradients of golf ball, altering playing characteristics to the benefit/detriment of certain players? I know “bifurcate” is a big PBS-type word. So let’s cut through the crap. The PING CEO wants a three-ball rule. 3 > 1 = bifurcated. (Trifurcated, actually.)
A Voice in the Wilderness: Brandel Chamblee will continue to be the most reasoned, astute and pointed voice in golf. Thankfully. A hunk of the golf press will continue to supplicate itself and journalistic integrity to Tiger Woods. Sadly.
What’s in a Name? Truth, Perhaps. I love TaylorMade’s new RocketBallz irons. Seriously. Not in love with the name, so let’s go with the shorthand: RBZ. Now I know my game needs improvement. But I still play mid-assist forged Mizunos because it is way too easy to get sloppy with most of the boat anchors on chains that are “game-improvement irons.” (And RBZ has the jacked up lofts that have become the silly bane of club design, but rather than gripe simply add another wedge or two down below and maintain the gaps; it is all about gaps.) These puppies fly easily, they fly true and they fly high–something I’d like to play with by sticking KBS Tour C-Tapers in the set. What separates them from the pack is that I can tell what’s going on where. That is way cool. And rare in this realm.
Can We Have Halftime at the Start of the Game? I’ve long enjoyed the season-opening Insert-Carmaker-Name-Here Tournament of Champions, and particularly since it moved to Kapalua, where the views probably exceed the golf. Too mas. With the Euros straddling 1/1 for their “annual” body of work and seemingly weekly Silly Season events, I’m not ready. And I don’t care which millionaire is struggling to keep his livelihood alive in the fall. Plus, since PGA HQ still hasn’t figured it out after eons, the weather during the West Coast tourneys’ swing through CA and AZ is when we experience our worst weather. What’s the rush? Something needs to give.
California Gold: Over the holidays I finally had a go at CordeValle. Even without the mantel of nature—as I said above, we do have winter in CA—that makes the aesthetic so special, this in one thoughtful design.
Finally, it wouldn’t be new year without a lie, so for 2012 I vow to shun the buggy whenever possible and walk. Whenever possible.
