Over the Green

Callaway Golf’s new Big Bertha Diablo driver is being touted as having lots of distance with all the technical bells and whistles; however the most prominent feature is the price. At $299 the Diablo is significantly less than the company’s other offerings the FT-iQ and FT-9, both of which come in at $400.

True the Diablo is a more traditional shape than the higher end Callaway drivers but what the heck, a hundred dollars is a hundred dollars. More…

Well, it’s official. Greg Norman is a member of the TaylorMade Golf tour staff and will play the company’s clubs and balls at the Masters, specifically the new R9 driver, Tour Preferred irons and the TaylorMade TP Red ball.

The announcement today would seemingly put the final nail in the MacGregor Golf coffin. Norman, the principal owner of MacGregor, played the TMaG ball in his run at victory that came up just short at last year’s British Open.

MacGregor has been reported in trouble for the past several months as evidenced by the inventory reduction sale to retailers recently and the withdrawal from January’s PGA Merchandise Show

Call me old fashioned but I think the clothes you wear are important, including on the golf course. They speak volumes about you and your attitude and many of the modern “youth-orientated” styles just don’t cut it. Cargo shorts, enormous basketball shorts, tank tops, etc. may look fine on a six-year old but on middle-aged weekend warriors they look ridiculous. More…

Alex Micelli writes in GolfWeek Greg Norman will play the Masters with TaylorMade equipment.

Norman owns a competing club maker, MacGregor Golf.

As has been reported here MacGregor’s recent fortunes have been at less than low ebb. Aside from the last minute cancellation of exhibition space at January’s PGA Merchandise Show and the fact no new product for 2009 has been introduced or even rumored, MacGregor is losing management personnel left and right. MacGregor very quietly also has been pushing an equipment “fire sale” with its retail accounts and the speculation the brand may be sold to someone like Dick’s Sporting Goods which would add to the store’s Walter Hagen, Slazenger and Maxfli stable is on the street.

It would appear the defection from MacGregor by its owner is another act in the tragedy entitled “MacGregor.”

It’s interesting that Adams Golf touts their position as maker of the most often used hybrid on the PGA Tour (over 30% of all hybrids in 2008) and much less about their longer clubs. However in the 2009 iteration of the unending battle for the attention of the golf consumer they do seem to found a slightly different wrinkle. More…

Travel & Leisure Golf, respected for quality of its’ writing, is no more. Owner American Express Publishing will close the magazine’s 11 year run with the current issue. T&L Golf joins the casualty list of failed golf print publications which includes Golf for Women that Conde Nast shuttered last summer.

According to Ad Age, a trade publication, T&L’s advertising pages dropped almost 14% based on data supplied by the Publishers Information Bureau and paid circulation was down 32%.

There’s no doubt playing golf is tough on the eyes and doctors recommend both a hat and sunglasses for protection. But one look at the sunglasses displayed in most golf shops can create “sticker shock.” Prices in the hundreds of dollars are not uncommon. More…

The battle between golf ball market leader Acushnet’s Titleist brand and Callaway Golf is going another round. You will recall Titleist is appealing the injunction Callaway obtained prohibiting sales of Pro V1 and Pro V1x balls, alleging patent infringement. The purported offending balls have been pulled from store shelves and replaced with a 2009 version outside the Callaway patents but Acushnet has contended all along the patents never should have been issued.

That point remains to be decided. It’s undergoing a Court of Appeals appeal on the basis the U.S. Patent Office ruled the four contested patents invalid after the jury trial finding against Acushnet.

The bell for the next round rang yesterday with Acushnet filing a patent infringement suit in U.S. District Court against the Callaway Tour i and Tour ix balls, saying they infringe nine of their multi-piece solid core ball patents. In addition since Callaway contends the 2009 Pro Vs also are infringing on patents Callaway holds, Acushnet says it will ask the Patent Office to look at the validity of the Callaway infringement claim and the patents cited by Callaway.

Stay tuned this bout is sure to go 15 rounds.

You’re a golfer and want to do your part in saving the planet so, in part, Scuti Grips has an answer.

The company’s new line of Eco-Friendly Grips is now on the market made from a biodegradable foam material in contrast to the usual plastic and rubber constituents of other grips. More…