Ai Miyazato waves to the crowd at the Safeway Classic-AP Phot/Rick Bowmer

PORTLAND, OREGON– Japan’s Ai Miyazato soared back to the top of the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings with her victory this Sunday at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club. Miyazato went wire-to-wire, carding a tournament low 11-under par, besting here nearest competitors by two shots at the 2010 Safeway Classic. The victory was Miyazato’s fifth of the year, setting her personal career best for most LPGA wins in one season.

Miyazato won the event with a Tourstage X-01G+ prototype golf ball, manufactured by Bridgestone and popular in Japan where its Tour-level performance is often compared to the Bridgestone TOUR B330-S, the company’s comparable ball played in the U.S. on the PGA, Champion and Nationwide Tours. Miyazato earned $225,000 for her victory, and expanded her lead on the 2010 LPGA Money List to nearly $15,000 more than the #2 earner.

www.bridgestonegolf.com

Putting training aids are a dime a dozen, with so many options available like putting gates, pendulum rods, alignment mirrors, etc. When I was approached to try out the Big Putt, I was intrigued, because it was extra large golf ball that’s intended to help make putting practice more fun and effective.

[View with PicLens]

According to Big Putt 40% of your golf shots are done on the putting green during a round of golf, yet we spend more time practicing our long game. Why? I’m not going to lie, but practicing putting is boring.

Look and Feel
The Big Putt is 35% larger than (1.95” vs. 1.68”) a regulation golf ball and has the same feel of your normal golf ball. The larger size of the ball is designed to help you learn to accelerate through impact and help you sink those 2ft -8ft putts that we all have a tendency to miss.

Performance
You’ll notice when hitting the Big Putt that if you mishit the ball slightly, it will provide you immediate feedback and go off line. If you don’t accelerate through, the ball will either come up short or go offline when using the Big Putt, which is very important if you want to lower your score and sink more putts.

I also found that using the Big Putt helped me with proper ball alignment and aiming my putt thanks to it’s larger diameter. You place the ball down and easily tell if you have it lined up correctly, which is really nice.

The other benefit of the large size, is it makes the cup look so much smaller and forces you to concentrate on your technique. And when you switch out to your normal golf ball, the hole looks even larger and gives you the confidence that you can’t miss the putt, which is an important part of putting.

Does Big Putt Work?
The fact that it’s just a slightly larger golf ball, makes it it easy to carry in your bag with the included carrying pouch, and take with you to the practice green-eliminating any excuses for not practicing your putting. What I found from using Big Putt over the last 3 weeks is that its made practicing putting more productive and something I want to do, rather than loathe.

I also found that my confidence level has increased when having to make those 2ft-8ft putts, and that I’m more focused on putting stroke as a result. I should point out that Big Putt, is a training aid and intended to help you putt better and be effective with your practice time. The Big Putt is not going to correct any setup or putting mechanic flaws, only a golf professional can help you with correcting those kind of problems.

The Big Putt is competitively priced at $19.99 which includes: 3 Big Putt golf balls, alignment line template, marker, and instructional DVD. I should note the DVD included is one of those mini-DVDs, half the size of a normal DVD, which I couldn’t use with my DVD player. Not a problem since you can view the instructional videos on the the Big Putt website.

Overall, I really enjoyed using the Big Putt and think it’s a very practical putting training aid that can help improve your putting and give you the confidence you need in your short game.

The Big Putt $19.99

TaylorMade Penta TP

The TaylorMade Penta TP golf ball has been getting a lot of news lately with Justin Rose who has won twice this year playing this five piece golf ball. We wanted to find out if the five piece golf ball is better than its four piece counterparts and if the average golfer could benefit from the technology in this one of kind ball.

The 5-Layers of the Penta TP
When you look at the Penta TP, it looks just like your normal golf ball, but it’s what lies beneath the five-layer (feel, spin, control, launch, and distance) ball that makes it different. The first layer is comprised of the Urethane cover designed to give you better feel and spin with your wedges on shots from 100 yards and in.

The second layer is the outer mantle, which is designed to give you spin with your short irons to stop the ball quickly on the green without sacrificing distance. The third layer is the middle mantle, which helps with your mid-irons shots of 140-170 yards and prevents ballooning of the ball or pop-ups-leaving you short of the target.

The fourth layer is control, and features an inner mantle that delivers a softer feel by providing a higher-launch and low spin with your long irons. Layer five is for distance, with its low compression that provides faster ball speed, higher launch, and less spin off the driver, for longer drives.

Feel and Spin
The Penta TP’s first two layers (feel and spin) are in my opinion the most important layers when evaluating a golf ball, because this is where the average golfer can benefit from the technology in the Penta TP to lower their golf score.

The urethane cover on the Penta TP make the ball very responsive when your putting the ball or using your wedges. I found that the ball spun quite considerably with my wedges, with my pitches and chip shots around the green. In terms of spin control, the Penta TP did a great job of having the ball stop on a dime for those approach shots to the green. I also liked the way ball spun from the rough with my short-irons, providing great control and spin. Overall, I really liked the way the Penta TP performed in the scoring zone, providing the necessary feel and spin desired by today’s golfers, especially with the new grooves.

TaylorMade Penta TP Closeup

Control and Launch
Nothing is worse than thinking you’ve hit a solid approach shot from within 140-170 yard and only to see the ball land short of its intended target. The most common cause, besides improper club selection is the ball balloons to much and can easily get batted down by the wind. To correct the problem of ballooning, TaylorMade engineers, made the middle mantle softer. Making the mantle softer does seem to make a difference in ball flight, from hitting my approach shots with my 6 and 7 irons. The ball seemed to launch at a lower angle, than they typically do with those clubs, but without losing accuracy or distance control.

Long irons are being replaced by hybrid golf clubs in most golfers bags, because they are not as easy to hit. The longest iron in my bag is a 5 iron and I replaced my 4 iron with a hybrid equivalent, I was curious to see how the ball would perform in terms of launch with both of these clubs.

The first thing that you’ll notice when hitting with a long-iron or hybrid, like in my case was the high launch of the ball. The ball flight was much higher than it typically is with the loft on those clubs, and I must have miss hit the ball. To my surprise that wasn’t the case, I did hit them well because my ball traveled the distance I normally hit those clubs (170 & 200 yards). But, there was one other thing that I noticed with those shots, is how the ball would land softly and not run out like they normally do. This was a welcome benefit of the soft inner mantle, especially when hitting a approach to a small green or narrow landing area of the fairway. I think the only time I wouldn’t want such a high launch with my long irons, is in extremely windy conditions, where distance can be affected.

Any golfer would be able to take advantage of these characteristics of control and launch, and elevate their long and mid-iron game.

Distance
The fifth layer deal with distance and this is always hard to measure and subjective to a lot of factors, like playing conditions, impact position on the club face, swing speed, etc. The low compression core is designed to give you longer drives by creating more ball speed, less spin, and higher launch.

So to test this out, we hit 10 drives with Penta TP and averaged out the distance to see if we were able to hit the ball further, than we normally do with a Tour caliber golf ball. The results were surprising, because I saw a gain of 4 yards with my drives using the Penta TP. While a 4 yard improvement is great, especially for someone like me who has a < 100 MPH swing speed with my driver, I don’t think I was able to completely compress the core of the ball, to take advantage of the technology. This is one area where having a faster swing speed will make a huge difference in hitting longer and straighter drives.

Overall, the TaylorMade Penta TP is a Tour caliber golf ball that the average golfer could benefit from the exceptional feel, spin, control, and launch properties. The golfer who has a faster swing speed of more than 100 MPH, will be able to benefit from all the layers, especially distance. TMAG staffers like Justin Rose wouldn’t be playing this ball if it didn’t deliver what it promises.

Have you tried the TaylorMade Penta TP?

TaylorMade Penta TP $45.99 per dozen

Bridgestone Golf B-Fit Service

Say you’re unable to make it out to one Bridgestone Golf’s Ball Fitting events, but you still want expert advice from one of their ball fitting experts. You’re in luck, because Bridgestone Golf has just introduced its B-Fit service, the first ever web based live-chat golf equipment consultation service. B-FIT is free and allows golfers to participate in a 2-way, one-on-one chat with Bridgestone’s expert ball-fitting technicians. Through B-FIT, golfers have the ability to tap-into the Bridgestone ball-fitting experts’ incredible depth of knowledge right from their computer. Instead of answering a few questions via survey and receiving a ball recommendation, B-Fit employs much more of a consultative approach.

“We’ve fit nearly 70,000 golfers through the Bridgestone Challenge, yet we recognize that not all golfers are able to get out to one our events, so web based consultation plays an increasingly important role in educating golfers about what ball is best for their game,” said Dan Murphy – Vice President of Marketing, Bridgestone Golf, Inc. “B-FIT will allow us to help golfers by digging deep into their swing characteristics, current challenges and preferences and then use that info to point them in the direction of a golf ball that can help maximize their performance.”

To experience B-FIT yourself, visit www.bridgestonegolf.com/bfit

Srixon PGA staffer Jim Furyk scored a hole-in-one during yesterday’s annual Par 3 Contest at the Masters. Furyk played a Srixon® Z-STAR™ Tour Yellow golf ball and used a Srixon® Z-TX™ iron on his hole-in-one, which occurred on hole #9, a par-3, 135 yard hole.

Jim Furyk reaction after scoring an ace at the 2010 Masters Par 3 Contest on the 9th hole, using a Srixon Z-Star Tour Yellow Golf Ball-Image via ESPN

During the Masters’ Par 3 Contest, Srixon® Z-STAR™ Tour Yellow golf balls were also played by Vijay Singh, Tim Clark, Steve Flesch and Soren Kjeldsen. Both Vijay Singh and Tim Clark will be officially teeing up Srixon® Z-STAR™ Tour Yellow golf balls during the Masters.

“Jim’s hole-in-one at the Masters’ Par 3 Contest was a great opportunity to showcase our new Z-STAR™ Tour Yellow golf ball,” said Chris Beck, Brand Manager for Srixon®. “We knew having four players use it in the competition was a great way to increase the public’s awareness of this fantastic product, which has already been on tour for several months. Jim’s hole-out had our company’s phones ringing off the hook as golfers everywhere wanted to learn more about the Tour Yellow technology”.

For more information on Cleveland® Golf/Srixon®, Never Compromise® and Cleveland Classics™ apparel or their staff players, please visit www.clevelandgolf.com, www.srixon.com, www.nevercompromise.com and www.clevelandclassicsapparel.com.

Watch the video of Jim Furyk’s ace at the Masters Par 3 Contest

Are you looking for a golf ball that will help you outdrive your golf buddies and have more control without breaking the bank? If your answer is: Yes! Yes! You want to checkout the latest golf ball from Nike Golf called CRUSH.

Nike Golf CRUSH

Nike Golf has designed a new golf ball that provides explosive distance and powerful precision, and it has a name that is symbolic of its performance. The new Nike CRUSH ball is designed for golfers who are motivated by out driving everyone in their foursome and then owning their bragging rights.

Aiding golfers to “crush” the ball, the Nike CRUSH combines a softer compression core, optimized cover design and new DMC Coating® to reduce unwanted side-spin and maximize ball velocity for straighter, longer distance. The larger and softer, high energy core provides high velocity and delivers unrivaled feel. The Directional Micro-Composite Coating or DMC Coating® is the first of its kind; a smart coating that is designed to lower spin for driver shots that would normally slice or hook.

“I believe we’ve done a great job designing a longer and straighter golf ball for a wide range of swing speeds at a mid-tier price, “said Rock Ishii, Director of Product Development for Nike Golf balls. “CRUSH is a natural fit for those who love the game and want to continue to evolve as better golfers.”

Optimized for driver head speeds of 80-95 mph, the newly designed thin, two-piece ionomer blend cover enhances greenside feel and playability while increasing ball speed and maximizing distance off the tee. The Nike CRUSH features a 312-dimple design that produces lift for longer carry and consistent ball flight.

I can’t wait to try out the CRUSH and see how it performs!

Nike CRUSH MSRP $30
Available November 1, 2009

The new Nike ONE Series Golf Balls 2009

The new Nike ONE series of golf balls for 2009 introduce three new ONE Ball models-The Nike ONE Tour, Nike ONE Tour D, and the Nike ONE Vapor. When Nike works with athletes on the PGA Tour, Nike Golf staff ensures that the ball technology is matched to the athlete’s swing speed, ball speed, and launch conditions. Now, Nike is bringing the same philosophy to the core golfer. Nike Golf has created more options for core golfers to find the ONE to match their ability. Now, there’s ONE for everyone.

The Nike ONE Tour

Nike ONE Tour
The new Nike ONE Tour ball is the ultimate Tour performance golf ball. Nike’s athletes on the PGA Tour requested a softer cover for feel and workability around the green without compromising distance off the tee. To make it consumer friendly, Nike added a new cover blend designed to increase distance of the ball. In fact, Trevor Immelman used a prototype of this ball to win 2008 Masters. This is the same ball Anthony Kim, K.J. Choi, Stewart Cink, and Tiger Woods will be using. Key benefits: 4-Piece construction, Improved wood and long iron distance, Longer off off-center hits, Optimum mid iron spin and control, High short iron spin, High Tour level feel, Engineered for 90+mph swing.

The Nike ONE Tour D

Nike ONE Tour D
The new Nike ONE Tour D ball is Nike’s maximum Tour distance ball offering. For those looking for added distance off the tee with uncompromised feel around the green, The Nike ONE Tour D is the ball for you. Key benefits: 3-Piece construction, Longer wood and iron distance, Longer off off-center hits, Penetrating ball flight, Reduces excess driver spin, Soft feel off the driver, Engineered for 90+mph swing speeds.

The Nike ONE Tour Vapor

Nike ONE Vapor
The new Nike ONE Vapor ball provides the perfect balance of distance and control for amateur golfers with targeted swing speeds of 80 mph and above. It’s for the distance seeker who wants just enough forgiveness to keep them in the short grass. Key benefits: 3-Piece construction, Longer distance for average swing speeds, Mid spin/increased distance, Added feel and durability, Engineered for 80+mph swing speeds.

For more information, visit http://www.nikegolf.com

Srixon Trispeed Golf Ball

All things are relative when selecting a golf ball , you have to take a lot of factors into consideration when deciding on which features you want in a golf ball; some of the factors are swing speed, greenside control, distance, spin, price, performance etc. Today I’m going to focus on performance, ball speed, and feel. These are the three features that can be found in the new Srixon Trispeed golf ball.

Srixon Trispeed Golf Ball Profile

Look and Feel
The Srixon Trispeed is an affordable 3-piece construction multilayer golf ball targeted at golfers of all abilities and varying swing speeds (70+ MPH). The  Srixon Trispeed is packed with a lot of technology, that make it such a versatile golf ball with an emphasis on ball speed and velocity without sacrificing feel. Some of the technology is the low compression gradient core, Rabalon® blended boundary mid-layer,  and the Rabalon® blended soft cover. The new Trispeed’s also feature a 333 dimple pattern and nice pronounced aim line .

Off the Tee
During my tests, I compared the Srixon Trispeed with the Callaway HX Hot golf ball. The Trispeed is aimed at golfers with swing speeds in the 70+ MPH range and claims to offer increased distance and higher ball speed and velocity without loss of feel. The low compression Energetic Growth Gradient core (EGG) allows for a more efficient transfer of energy to the golf ball. Couple the EGG with the highly resilient Rabalon® blended soft mid-layer and you have clubhead speed being easily transfered to the ball that will result in greater ball speed and velocity on your shots. The aerodynamic 333 dimple design pattern on the Trispeed gives your shots a nice high trajectory. I found that my drives produced a nice high launch angle and carried my ball about 2-3 yards further than my Callaway HX Hot.  I have a tendency to put more spin on my drives, so the Trispeed didn’t help that much in terms of reducing the amount of spin on mis-hits. The one thing I did notice is that Trispeed does a nice job of getting the ball high in the air to provide some extra distance off the tee by compressing very nicely off the face of my driver. When it came to hitting the Srixon Trispeed with my irons, I found it produced really nice shots that were crisp feeling and easy to shape without the extra carry and roll, so you don’t have to worry about your ball rolling past the green or into a hazard. The high launch angle of my iron shots and the amount of spin put on the ball greatly affect the amount of carry, and the Trispeed stops quite quickly after impact.

Short Game
The short game is frequently referred to as the scoring zone in golf and no where is the amount of control and feel of the golf ball your playing more important. The Srixon Trispeed does a nice job of providing a good amount of control and feel in and around the green. The soft Rabalon® blended cover made the Trispeed very responsive when it came to putting. The ball has a nice pronounced aim line that make it very easy to line up your putt and the soft cover provides the right amount of feel when putting. Now when it comes to pitch and chip shots around the green, I found that the Srixon Trispeed does a nice job of producing shots with a good amount of spin and responsiveness in and around the green. Is the Trispeed going to give you the stop on a dime type of spin you get from a Pro V1, Bridgestone Tour B330-S or Tour 330-RX? No, but it will provide you the type of control and feel you won’t find in other comparable golf balls. I found that in terms of feel the Srixon Trispeed was much more responsive than my Callaway HX Hot in chip and pitch shots.

If your looking for a golf ball that provides distance and ball speed, without sacrificing feel, then you should pick up a box of the Srixon Trispeed golf balls.

Features:

• 3-Piece Construction

• Lowest-Compression Energetic Gradient Growth Core

• Rabalon Blended Ionomer Mid-Layer

• Rabalon Blended Ionomer Cover

Srixon Trispeed retails for $24.99

Bridegstone Tour B330-RX Golf Ball

Update: Enter to Win 2 Dozen Bridgestone Golf Balls

You’ve probably read about how important it is to get fitted for the right golf clubs, but it probably didn’t cross your mind, that the golf ball you play should match your swing speed. Most golfers, myself included, want a ball that’s going to add more distance, have great greenside spin, and feel. Until now, such features were only found in premium Tour-caliber golf balls aimed at golfer with fast swing speeds of 105 mph or greater.  This September Bridgestone Golf released their new Tour B330-RX golf ball, geared for golfers with moderate swing speeds (85-105 mph). I’ve been testing the new Bridgestone Tour B330-RX golf ball for last month and the results were quite amazing.

Off the tee

In my tests I compared the Bridgestone Tour B330-RX to a Titleist Pro V1 golf ball. The Bridgestone Tour B330-RX golf ball is a soft multilayer urethane ball featuring a large and soft gradational core for forgiveness and soft feel, mantle layer core for high repulsion and workability, and soft urethane cover with Seamless 330 dimple design. The reason for the softer core is to allow the ball to fully compress, especially for players with slower swing speeds, like myself.  This is going to do two things, one it will produce a shot that will launch higher and two, it will reduce the amount of spin off your driver. I produce a lot of sidespin on my dirves, so this feature was more than welcome. During the tests I noticed my drives were launching at an optimal launch angle and traveling much further than with my Pro V1. I was getting a gain of at least 5 – 8 yards on average with my driver using the Tour B330-RX golf ball.  The results with my irons was not as significant in terms of extra distance, but the ball was very easy to shape my shots with. The Tour B330-RX golf ball utilizes the same Soft Urethane Seamless dimple design, like its sister products Tour B330-S and Tour B330, so you get pinpoint accuracy with your irons and short game scoring shots. 

Bridegstone Tour B330-RX Golf Ball 330 Seamless Dimple Design

Short Game

No where on the golf course is feel more important than in the short game. I’m very big on feel when attempting that greenside chip, 5 foot putt, or 30 yard approach shot. I want my golf ball to feel responsive and stop on a dime when it hits the green.  The Bridgestone Tour B330-RX does not disappoint when it comes to the short game and scoring shots. The Soft Urethane Seamless dimple design cover gives the Tour B330-RX, that premium enhanced feel in and around the green that I desire. When it came to putting the Tour B330-RX was easy to line up with its pronounced aim line and had a nice feel.  When it came to pitch shots and chips, the Bridgestone Tour 330-RX provided the high spin and control that you want from a premium golf ball. My shots would stop on a dime when they hit the green, very similar to what you get with Titleist Pro V1. 

Overall the Bridgestone Tour 330-RX is an excellent golf ball that provides Tour-Caliber performance for golfers with slower swing speeds who want long driving distance off the tee with great spin and control in the short game.

Key Features of the Bridgestone Tour B330-RX

• Softest multi-layer Urethane Ball on the market
• Large & Soft Gradational Core with a soft feel and added forgiveness
• Mantle layer for high repulsion and workability
• Soft Urethane Cover with Seamless 330 dimple design for pinpoint accuracy

Bridgestone Tour B330-RX Retails for $45 a dozen