Bloggers Beware - You May Get Blocked on Twitter !!!!

I'm writing today's post while waiting for the US Open to resume, sort of like Atlantis rising from the deep. As I sat here this morning, I was catching up on my reading, checking my favorite blogger's posts for the past week, and reading some of my recent posts. Something happened a couple of days ago that really "connected" two of my recents posts.The first post was from a few weeks back, when I wrote about what I regarded as the difference between a "journalist" and a "blogger". The second post was from last Sunday - when I pointed out that, despite some recent indications to the contrary, it seemed that when Michelle Wie has a microphone in front of her she reverts back to making excuses and other comments that can only be considered delusional. Yes, I have been called a "hater" by some - but I believe I'm doing nothing more than holding someone accountable for their comments made in a public forum.

In an effort to be completely open minded, I decided a few weeks ago to "follow" Ms. Wie on Twitter. During these few weeks, she made some witty and quite normal (140 character or less) remarks - and seems to be well accepted by her "tweeting" peers. In an effort to reach out to her, I sent her a "tweet" asking who she was picking to win the U.S. (Mens) Open.

Now, If you are wondering how these storylines converge, here is the punchline. I noticed today on my twitter account that "themichellewie" (her name on twitter - gotta love the "THE") had BLOCKED ME FROM GETTING HER UPDATES !. It would be funny if it were not so sad - I mean,seriously - she has like 4,000 "followers", and she (or someone from"Camp Wie") is tracking them to be sure none of them DARE say anything critical of her ? I guess I should not be surprised - her team has never dealt well with criticism. It's clear to me that these lame attempts to characterize her as "normal" are destined to fail.

I guess this means I won't get to read anymore profound thoughts from her on twitter like "Did u know that the 7-11 extreme gulp is 50% bigger than the volume of the human stomach?!? . or "i love you guys..whenever i read your comments its gives me such a confidence boost!" (Obv the last one was not meant for moi - what in the hell is she learning at Stanford ???)

Not exactly censorship I know - but pretty poor form (and thin skin) from someone who craves the spotlight....

Sunglasses on the Links - Supah Cool or Oh So Cruel ? ?

If you watched much any of the St. Jude's Classic this weekend, you were confronted with a couple of interesting observations. And if you followed players like Brian Gay (the eventual winner), Robert Allenby, or John Daly you probably concluded that golfers have finally embraced sunglasses as a necessary piece of equipment.

However, I think this weekend was merely a fluke - as most pro golfers STILL do not wear sunglasses on the links. It's really difficult to understand,but Tiger, Phil, Geoff Ogilvy, Lorena Ochoa, Steve Stricker, and MANY others are still among the majority of pro golfers who have not embraced performance eyewear as a necessary piece of equipment - despite plenty of reasons to do so.

To better understand this topic, let's take a brief sashay down memory lane. The first golfer that I recall regularly wearing sunglasses on tour was none other than David Duval. Back in the days when Double D (sorry, I could not resist using that phrase !) was ranked at the top of the heap, he was rockin a pair of Oakleys that we were,um, very noticeable. Like it or not, ol' DD (there I go again) had started a fashion/performance trend. Within a few years, it was very common to see many amateurs (from your local muni to college players everywhere) sporting the upturned Oakleys on the back of their golf caps - but still very few pros. Before you think this was all sizzle and no steak, note that eyecare professionals everywhere were strongly recommending that we protect our eyes from the sun whenever we spent prolonged periods outdoors. Couple that with the eyewear makers developing a much better understanding of the specific needs of various sports and the athletes that played them, and SHAZAAM, sport specific eyewear was born. Now you can find not only sport specific eyewear(from a design/performance perspective), but also sport specific lenses (Oakley, Nike, Kaenon, and Maui Jim are just a few who make "golf specific" lens tints). On the LPGA side of the house, none other than the "American Beauty" herself, Paula Creamer has worked with Sundog to design her own line of Sunglasses - fashion forward and performance oriented.

Now I know that some of the traditionalists out there will scoff at all of this - thinking that eyewear is only a "fad" or simply a "fashion item". I disagree, however - my belief is that performance eyewear is here to stay.

Here is a brief listing of PGA and LPGA players who always have their shades available :

- Davis Love III - Rory Sabbitini - Brian Gay

- Robert Allenby - John Daly - Paula Creamer

- Zach Johnson - David Duval - MIchelle Wie

- Chris DiMarco - Ian Poulter - Yani Tseng

- Morgan Pressel - Carin Koch - Christina Kim

- Henrik Stenson - James Nitties - Kristy McPherson
To further support my position, one needs to look no further than the breeding grounds for our professional tours - the college and high school ranks. Take a look there, and fully 80% of the players count eyewear among their "required" equipment. In conclusion, one may assert that the games leaders are actually laggards in recognizing the need to protect their eyes, AND look damn cool while doing it.

Oh, In case you are looking for me, I'll be the guy in the Visor (that's a topic for another post) and sunglasses, calmly lining up my birdie putt on #18 !

LOOK FOR AN UPCOMING REVIEW OF GOLF EYEWEAR FROM OAKLEY, KAENON,AND MAUI JIM !

P.S. - If you are curious, Brian Gay was wearing Kaenon's "Jetty Black" with a G12 lens on Sunday in Memphis.

Oh Michelle, Just when I thought you were LEARNING...

If you have read BCC for very long, you know that I am straightforward in my assessments of players,equipment, and anything golf related. I've previously shared my disgust nausea disappointment with the media mania and constant unwarranted adoration that surrounds the perpetually underwhelming Michelle Wie. Her history of poor performances, fired caddies and agents, and never ending stream of excuses is enough to get someone to searching for the nearest straight razor.

HOWEVER, recently there seemed to be signs that she may ACTUALLY be getting better. To wit, her posts on "Twitter" showed a relatively normal side of her (albeit a bit nerdy,but I'm not gonna nit pick here)...and some players responses to/comments about her seemed to indicate that she is gaining some acceptance on the LPGA tour. After reading Shane B's glowing commentary on Michelle here (and the fact that she was displaying a little self deprecating sense of humor), I was about ready to admit that perhaps she had changed/grown up/rebooted and was perhaps "normalizing" a little bit.

How foolish of me....all it took was a camera,a microphone, and a post round interview on The Golf Channel after the McDonald's LPGA Championship to erase all hopes that she had "changed". After finishing a cool 14 strokes out of first place and not breaking 70in any round,one would think that her first comments would be to praise the winner (rookie Anna Nordqvist) and to talk about working harder to improve and perhaps win an event. WRONG !!!! Instead, we had the same ol' Michelle Wie...., making excuses, telling us that "the score really did not reflect how well she played", and that she really "played great" for the whole event. Um - let me be sure I'm right here - if you subtract the two eagles she made on iron shots (one an ace, the other a hole out on a par 4), her score would have been 3 over - good for a sterling 49th place. Before you call me a hater, stop just a moment - all I'm calling for is some REALISM. I she (ever) wins, I will be the first to give her her props - but until then, she is just another player on the LPGA tour striving for that first win, albeit one who is sorely in need of a dose of humility and reality.

Who the hell is Anna Nordqvist ?

Well, until today that was a question that probably did not get much thought outside of Ekilstuna,Sweden or Tempe, Az. In case you missed it, Anna smoked the field at Bulle Rock to capture not only her first win on the LPGA tour - but also to win an LPGA major event. Considering that this is her ROOKIE season, one has to be suitably impressed with her dominating display. Prior to today, Anna had earned about 30k in 2009, but something tells me that's about to change in a big hurry.

Her performance throughout the event was nothing short of amazing, and she blistered through the last two rounds leading the pack the whole way - and seeming to never even look over her shoulder. This was an exhibition in "cool" that any competitor (including the great one, TW) would hold up as an example.

A few facts about the lovely Miss Nordqvist:

• Won the 2008 Ladies British Open Amateur

• Qualified for the 2008 Women's British Open

• Tied for sixth at the Ladies European Tour Scandinavian Open, finishing on shot out of second

• Will represent Sweden in the 2008 World Amateur

• Made the cut at the 2007 Women's British Open at the famed Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland

• Tied for fifth at the NCAA Championships

• 2008 NGCA First-Team All-American

• 2008 First-Team Pac-10

• 2008 NGCA Academic All-American

• 2008 Pac-10 All-Academic Second-Team

Anna is sponsored by Puma Golf (that's where the cool outfits come from), Ping (like a lot of LPGA players), AXA, and Henderson Global Investors. She currently resides in Scottsdale,AZ.

Congrats to Anna for a great showing this week - and a wish of much future success.

TaylorMade r9 Review - IT ROCKS !!!

The long awaited BCC review of TaylorMade's bangin' new driver, the r9, is finally complete. Since this was such a revolutionary product, I took a LOT of time testing and evaluation this club - thus the delay in completing my evaluation. If you have read this blog for very long, you know that I am a long time believer in TaylorMade's big sticks (see BCC's review of the r7 Limited here). I've tried Ping's G10, a few Callaways, Titleist, and Nike - but for me (and seemingly a bunch of guys who get paid to play), TM totally has the driver game wired. So wired in fact, that they continually churn out new gear at an astonishing pace - but, I digress.

About the r9:For those of you who don't know much about the club, it combines the "Movable Weight Technology" of the r7 series with a new feature - one which allows you to move the clubhead on the shaft. This allows you to rotate the clubface into 5 different settings - from 2 degrees open to 2 degrees closed. For a pro, this functionality is nothing new, as they can get their clubs "bent" to fit - but for the rest of the mere mortals,this a completely new feature. The r9 comes in a variety of lofts and is equipped with a rockin' Fujikura Motore shaft. For more on the technological intricacies of the r9, just go here.

Intro: I've played TM Drivers since the 90's , and since late 2008, I had been playing the r7 Limited, and really,really liked the club. So much so, that I went into the "evaluation" of the r9 fully expecting this to be a fairly short process. I figured I would hit some balls on the range, play with the adjustments, complete a few loops with it in my bag, and come back and write the review. Well, that's where it started to get interesting...

First Date: Out of the box, my first thought was that the r9 is a very good looking club. The head cover has some nice,updated graphics, it is plenty durable, and overall very well finished. The head of the r9 is relatively similar to the r7 Limited, with a bit of a "triangle" shape. The black metaflake pain looks nice - nothing too flashy there. One kind a weird thing I did notice - the little alignment aid seems to be off-center, closer to the heel of the club...not a big deal, but something I thought odd. The new r9 logo is prominently displayed on the bottom of the club. Adjusting both the weights and the face angle are simple, and are accomplished with a special tool that TM provides with the club. As previously mentioned, a Fujikura Motore shaft, all dolled up in TM Red,Black, and White comes standard in the r9 - a kick azz upgrade for certain. IT comes in a variety of lofts, and mine is a 9.5 degree version. Another nit - with the popularity of the Golf Pride Multi decade compound grips, it seems that TM could give some thought to stocking those on the club ( I put a white one one mine to match my set - it looks shweeet), as it currently comes with a TM branded grip.

Making My Move: So my first trip to the range with the new bat, and I was excited. A few practice swings and I was impressed with how solid the club felt when hitting nothing but air...hard to describe, it just felt good. I had been fighting a bit of a hook off the tee, so I decided to take advantage immediately of TM technological wizardry - I whipped out the wrench and cranked the face 2 degrees open (max setting), but left the weights set on "neutral". 10 swings later, and I had yet to hit a drive left... a good sign. However, I was not happy with the ball flight ( a bit to high), so I adjusted it back to 1 degree open. It only took 3 shots, and BANG, I knew I was onto something. Based on this, I decided to take my new toy to the battlefield. The first hole at my home track has always been a challenge to me - the fairway is super tight, and I had long struggled with pulling this shot left. BANG again - right down the middle, high and straight as an arrow. 18 holes later, I had hit 10 fairways, and only missed two of them to the left (one a bad miss, the other only slightly in the rough). Initial Thoughts - This evaluation will take longer than originally planned. I was very,very impressed.

3 weeks later, I have played 7 rounds of golf and continue to be impressed. The adjustability has really helped me (I've not changed the setting of 1 degree open) fully release on my driver swing and not worry (too much) about going left. Meanwhile, I have consistently hit the best drives of my life. Distance, trajectory,ball flight - it's all there. However, one of the really amazing things I have noticed about this club - and something that I have NEVER been able to do consistently or predictably, is "work" the ball. Whether it is the club, my confidence, my swing, or some combination thereof - I can now hit a draw reliably when needed AND hit a fade. Now, for those of you scratch golfers out there (HOLLA, Shane B.), this may not sound like a big deal,because you have been able to do this forever. ..but for a mid handicapper like myself this is a pretty big deal.

Not content to write this review with just my assessment, I let a buddy use it this weekend (he normally plays a Ping G10). He immediately started bombing it - first 4 holes he used it, 4 split fairways, way long. By the 6th hole that he used it on, he was ready to buy one at the turn !

Here are my ratings by "category":

• Sound: Consistently receive comments on how "solid" the club sounds, which I have never gotten before (including on other TM gear). Very pleasing overall. Grade:A+
• Distance: I'm killing it and so are my buddies. I know they say the r9 460 is longer, but I'm hitting it onto the downhill lie sections (which is further than you'd like to be) on a lot of par 4s so far. It's a bomber. Grade:A+
• Trajectory: With the multiple adjustments, you should be able to fix this to your liking. I certainly was, with only two adjustments. My only advice - go slowly o the adjustments, make one at a time, and make them in the smallest increments possible. Grade:A+
• Grip: As mentioned, I wish they would offer the Golf Pride Multi Decade Compound grip - the white one or the red one would look great on this club. The stock TM grip is sufficient tho. Grade: B
• Other: The movable weights and adjustable face angle are simple,well constructed, and easy to understand and use. No complaints there. Grade: A
• Overall Performance: I won't belabor this - this is the BEST DRIVER I have ever played. I like everything about the club (ok,ok, except the grip...but that is so minor).

Will He or Won't He ?: This is a great club, and a huge advance in golf technology. If you are in the market for a new driver, do yourself a HUGE favor - give the r9 a long,serious look. I've never had so many people borrow a driver, hit it, and absolutely LOVE it as with the r9. If you are already a TM fan, just go buy it....it completely rocks. Grade: A+

Postscript - Check back soon, I'm hoping to do a review of the TM r9 Fairway wood as well !!!