Spy on Equipment: Long Putters, Snazzy Shoes and New Mizuno Irons

Golf gear manufacturers release a lot of new equipment during the year. While the vast majority of offerings are simply updated, tricked-out versions of existing models, interesting stuff does come down the pike every now and then.

Here are a few equipment items that caught our attention in recent weeks.

Bellying up – way up

TaylorMade's Ghost Spider putter.

Every golfer of a certain age remembers Jack Nicklaus’ stunning Masters triumph in 1986. Most have forgotten the explosion of putter sales that followed his win. Specifically, sales of the mammoth-headed MacGregor Response ZT putter Nicklaus used to make all those back-nine bombs.

In the 2 ½ years following Nicklaus’ sixth Masters victory, MacGregor sold an astounding 350,000 Response ZTs. A similar boom is mushrooming now in the belly and long putter market.

Late-season victories by Keegan Bradley, Adam Scott and Webb Simpson put extended flatsticks front and center in the public’s eye. TaylorMade recently tripled fourth-quarter sales expectations for long and belly putters, and accelerated the timeline for launching long versions of its popular Corza Ghost and Ghost Spider models.

Cleveland and Odyssey have reported similar success and product plans.

adidas joins street shoe brigade

Constant innovation is a key benefit of the free-market system. And whenever something original breaks through to a mass audience, copy-cats are sure to follow.

adidas' new adicross golf shoes

Hence, Nirvana begat Bush, the Android rode the iPhone’s coattails, and adidas joined the parade of companies mimicking Ecco’s Street Premiere golf shoes.

The adicross is adidas’ entry into this expanding category, which FootJoy, Nike and startups like Kikkor Golf have joined. (For the record, we consider TRUE Linkswear shoes a somewhat different breed.)

What does adicross offer? Lightweight, full-grain leather, five color combos and, of course, a spikeless sole.

Not to be confused with soul-less tripe. For that, we recommend listening to a Bush album.

Rejoice: Mizuno intros new irons

Few golf brands inspire the loyalty of Mizuno, specifically, the company’s forged irons. (You’ll get my Mizzies when you pry them from my cold, dead hands.)

Mizuno's MP-59

There’s a new member of the esteemed MP family, the cavity-back MP-59. Like its forebear, the MP-58, the 59 features a hunk of titanium forged into the back of the blade. The company claims a 5-percent larger sweet spot on the MP-59s than the 58s.

Mizuno aims these irons at golfers in the plus-2 to 13 handicap range. In other words, you need to be a decent stick, but not a world-beater, to wield them properly.

Golf Claps & Silent Treatment: Tour Championship

Bill Haas has been pegged for golf greatness since he was a teenager. He may finally have reached star status with Sunday’s victory at the Tour Championship.

Bill Haas (r) and Tim Finchem

What no one could have predicted, at least a week ago, was that Haas would emerge as the 2011 FedEx Cup winner, too. Thanks to the playoff series’ baffling points formula – and the leaders’ last-tourney stumbles – Haas’ lone victory of the year earned him the title and $10 million check.

That Haas, 29, came out ahead of Webb Simpson and Luke Donald highlights the conundrum faced by the PGA Tour in awarding points. Looking to create maximum drama at the Tour Championship, the Tour weighs the finale’s results more heavily than the other three FedEx events. That makes it more likely that Tour Championship contenders are also vying for the Cup’s riches, but increases the odds that a player without great credentials – a la Haas – will take the whole enchilada.

Our math skills aren’t up to the task of devising an alternative, so we’ll get to the business of this week’s highs and lows.

Golf Claps

Bill Haas: Though he nearly gave it all away with bogeys on two of his final four holes in regulation, Haas was gritty in his playoff with Hunter Mahan. Haas hammered home a 10-foot par putt to stay alive on the first extra hole, then played one of the year’s most memorable shots on the second.

His ball lying on the edge of a water hazard, Haas splashed out a delicate explosion shot that settled with 3 feet of the cup. After matching Mahan’s par there, Haas drained a 6-footer on the third playoff hole to claim his signature victory. So far.

The belly putter: Those murmurs you hear are actually grumbles, and they’re coming from golf traditionalists decrying yet another Tour win for a non-conventional putter. Haas, who anchors a mid-length wand to his belly, joined Simpson, PGA champion Keegan Bradley and WGC-Bridgestone winner Adam Scott among late-season victors using extra-long flat sticks.

Silent Treatment

FedEx Cup contenders: Of the top five in the points standings heading into the Tour Championship, only Luke Donald contended on Sunday. His third-place finish was easily the best of the group as Justin Rose (T20), Matt Kuchar (T20), Simpson (22) and Dustin Johnson (T23) barely caused a ripple.

If not for Haas’ heroics, this could have been one dud of a climax.

Spy on Golf: Tracking the Cup and Course Rankings

In all honesty, football has captured a sizeable chunk of our meager attention span. We’re still focused intently on golf, though, as the PGA Tour season slips away faster than Tiger Woods’ world ranking points.

A few topics we’ve been pondering of late:

• Will the FedEx Cup deliver a worthy champion?
• What’s the best golf city in America?
• Which college golf courses pass Golfweek’s ratings test?

Luckily, we’ve already got the answers. Read on to find out for yourself:

Two down, two to go: Who’s the FedEx favorite? Is it current points leader Webb “Don’t Call Me Homer” Simpson? Uber-bomber Dustin Johnson? Steady-as-she-goes Luke Donald or Matt Kuchar?

They’re all in the mix, along with Brandt Snedeker, Jason Day, Nick Watney, even Phil Mickelson and his belly putter. While Tiger Woods is sorely missed, his absence has created quite a scrum for the title. And say this for the much-maligned Cup: It’s brought the cream to the top.

The race to the finish starts Thursday at Cog Hill GC outside Chicago, where 70 players will compete to advance to the final 30 and the Tour Championship. Based on the list of contenders, the Cup should indeed produce a champ to be proud of.

Dallas-Ft. Worth tops Golf Digest rankings: Great, just what DFW needed – another reason to puff out its chest.

Golf Digest recently surveyed America’s metro areas and determined that Dallas-Ft. Worth beats all comers for outstanding public golf. Criteria included climate as well as the cost and quality of public golf, and while DFW didn’t rank higher than seventh in any category, it scored well in all of them.

More surprising were some of the cities ranked right behind the Big D. For example, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati held down spot Nos. 2 and 3, and Tampa (T4 with Los Angeles) bested golf hotbed Orlando, which tied with Seattle – yes, Seattle -- for No. 6.

Having lived in Seattle pre-Chambers Bay, we can vouch for its public-golf bona fides. What we can’t understand, though, is the Emerald City’s ranking of No. 6 for climate. Was the survey conducted by rain frogs?

These college courses have class: While we’re on the subject of course rankings, Golfweek just published its list of the country’s top 30 college tracks. And the winner is… the Course at Yale, designed by the iconic pair of Charles Blair Macdonald and Seth Raynor.

The rundown features a nice blend of old and new. Behind Yale (circa 1926) comes Taconic GC in Williamstown, Mass., a 1927 gem that serves as the home course of Williams College. A pair of underclassmen follow: The Rawls Course at Texas Tech (2003) and Palouse Ridge GC (2008), headquarters for the Washington State golf teams.

Like any reputable course ranking, Golfweek’s is a who’s-who of architects. Alister MacKenzie, Donald Ross, William S. Flynn, Robert Trent Jones Sr., Pete Dye, Tom Fazio Tom Doak and Bill Coore/Ben Crenshaw are among the honorees.

Spy on Golf: A (Mildly) Controversial Week

First, let’s get this week’s Tiger-related headlines out of the way:

• “Couples picks Woods for Presidents Cup squad”
• “Tiger to tee it up at Frys.com Open”
• “Mediate rips Woods’ former, current coaches”
• “Haney hammers Mediate: ‘Absurd’”
• “Woods may not qualify for own tournament”
• “Tiger still searching for full-time caddie"

Whew! Did we miss anything?

Michelle Wie

No matter, that’s all the time were spending on El Tigre today. Other topics are top of mind, including an even more controversial pick for a U.S. team, eye-opening comments from women’s golf’s former queen about its would-be ruler, and Lefty’s flirtation with – you guessed it – the belly putter.

Onward!

Walker Cup choice a head-scratcher  

You may remember John Peterson as the over-enthusiastic collegian who, after finishing second to fellow amateur Harris English in a summer Nationwide Tour event, claimed that “the top guys in college, the top 20 or 30 guys, can beat the top 20, 30 guys on the PGA Tour.”

Now Peterson has a new claim to fame – he’s the golfer who was inexplicably stiffed by America’s Walker Cup selection committee. (FYI -- The Walker Cup pits 10 top U.S. ams against their counterparts from Great Britain and Ireland.)

The snub is simply shocking, given Peterson’s current ranking as the world’s No. 7 amateur. He also won the individual title at this year’s NCAA Championship and, yes, outplayed every pro in that Nationwide tourney.

No one is saying for sure why Peterson was passed over in favor of Blayne Barber, a fine but far less accomplished player. But the lesson may be that if you want to stay on the good side of golf’s high-and-mighty, it’s best to keep your mouth shut.

Sorenstam’s remarks a Wie bit off base

Speaking of, well, speaking out of turn, Annika Sorenstam recently chastised Michelle Wie for prioritizing her education – her Stanford education, at that. “I think her focus, in my opinion, should be more on golf,” Sorenstam said redundantly.

Our take: Let’s applaud Wie for pursuing not only her degree, but all the knowledge that comes with it. It’s refreshing to see a young person who treats college as something more than an inconvenient stepping stone to a professional career (athletic or otherwise).

By the way, Wie finished second last weekend at the Canadian Women’s Open. If only she’d studied a little less…

Our two cents on a few more topics:

• Keegan Bradley tosses first pitch at Sox-Yankees game: His goal – throw it at least as far as his 71^st-hole birdie putt at the PGA.
• Rory McIlroy opens with 65 in Switzerland: The wrist is fine. Any questions?
• Phil Mickelson tries belly putter in Deutsche Bank practice round: His set makeup – four drivers, six wedges, three putters and a rescue club.