Bladed Balata Blog

Speaking of legends, here is the link to the Taylormade putter that, reportedly, Tiger is practicing with, getting comfortable with, and considering making a more or less permanent switch to. Check it out HERE And here’s a less opinionated, non-golf-magazine article making the report Check it out HERE Now that that’s out of the way. Back to today’s story. I remember the first time I noticed someone else’s stuff was nicer than mine. I mean people’s things were always nicer than mine. I just remember the first time I noticed. We were poor. Not like feel sorry for us poor. More like our birthday presents were new but our clothes were all from Goodwill poor. And those sneakers that the new boy in class was wearing all those years ago definitely did not come from any bargain bin. Even as a 3 rd grader I could tell they were special. That they probably cost more than all of my second-hand clothes combined. I had never seen anything like them. For one, they were an unu...

Some of my favorite things ever said about the game came out of Mr. Hogan’s mouth. “Relax? How can anybody relax and play golf? You have to grip the club don’t you?” “The most important shot in golf is the next one.” “Reverse every natural instinct and do the opposite of what you are inclined to do, and you will probably come very close to having a perfect golf swing.” “The ultimate judge of your swing is the flight of the ball.” And Mr. Sam Snead, the most winningest man to ever play the game, said about his closest rival the best thing that could ever be said about any competitor, and sums up most of what there is to know about Ben Hogan . “The three things I fear most in golf are lightning, a downhill putt, and Ben Hogan.” It is a thing in golf more so than in any other sport, to talk about champions of the past and how they might stack up against players from the present. The only thing I can think of that even remotely compares is the Jordan, Kobe, Lebron conver...

Shakespeare wrote apparel oft proclaims the man , or it’s modern idiom, clothes make the man . Mark twain wrote the follow up piece. Clothes make a man. Naked people have little or no influence on society. Which, if the world was to end right this minute, might win as the best anyone has ever done in the category To Turn a Phrase. And so, with the confidence and inspiration of those true words, I write this blog. How can you possibly believe a word I have to say about anything if you don’t know what clothes I’m wearing. Or if I’m wearing clothes at all. Or, possibly more importantly, what clubs I play, what clubs I have played, and what clubs I hope to play in the future. As a point of fact, and just so the question doesn’t go unanswered. Because who likes a loose end? I am wearing Brooks sneakers, Old Navy joggers, because they have elastic in the waist and are supremely comfortable, a Nasa t-shirt, and a William Murray Golf hat, the blue one with...

Let’s first accept a simple truth. If there is money to be made, or pride to be accumulated, then the facts at hand have a hard time maintaining their purest forms. Regardless of whether it pertain to matters of the heart or science, leisure or business, the desire to, and hence the temptation to, distribute the forefront wisdom in one’s chosen field is great. To be the giver of information. To be king. If only the givers were required to prove to the listeners that their crowns are genuine. That what they know is true. But all they really have to do is convince someone that the diploma on their wall is real. And oh, how often does that happen in golf… In part, it may be our own faults. We lovers of the game. So eager to learn. To obtain for ourselves the magic we see broadcast every weekend on tour. But, I think, mostly it’s because there aren’t many walls with accreditation’s on the internet, or out on the course, and those are the two places we’re most often looki...

            Man. Is that a loaded question. They’re all loaded questions, it seems.             … On the other hand, it might also be true that the equation for finding the best ball , per your own personal game, is far simpler than has occasionally been reported.             Sure. A professional club and ball fitting, by revealing which ball spins in which way and reacts to which club, given your own particular swing tendencies, might get you three to five, possibly even ten, extra yards on your best drives. Or keep you slightly straighter on your worst.             But the greater truth here is, we’re human. And we do and think things in rather predictably human ways. And if we can accept that length and accuracy are not all that’s on our minds when w...