Spy on Golf: The Best (and Worst) of 2011

With 2012 nearly upon us, it’s time to bid adieu to 2011 – a topsy-turvy year in golf that managed to entertain, start to finish, with or without Tiger Woods on stage. Here are one blogger’s picks for the year’s best – and best forgotten – people, moments and assorted objects.

Putter of the Year: Long (by a grip handle over Belly)

Putt of the Year: Keegan Bradley, PGA Championship, 17^th hole of the final round

Quote of the Year: “As long as it’s legal, I’ll keep cheating like the rest of them.” – Ernie Els on using a belly putter

Prize of the Year: Cured Spanish ham

Headline of the Year: Saltman wins body eight in ham for hole-in-one

Ham of the Year

Ham of the Year: Ben Crane

Player of the Year, Men: Luke Donald

Player of the Year, Any Gender: Yani Tseng

Youngster of the Year: Lexi Thompson

Streak of the Year: Donald’s 449 holes without a three-putt

Meaningful Meaningless Win of the Year: Tiger Woods, Chevron World Challenge

Performance for the Ages of the Year: Rory McIlroy’s eight-shot victory at the U.S. Open

Cutthroat of the Year: McIlroy, who dumped his girlfriend and his agent in 2011

Gag-Inducing Celebrity Couple Nickname of the Year: Wozzilroy (McIrloy and his new squeeze, tennis star Caroline Wozniacki)

Resurrected Career of the Year: Tie -- Sergio Garcia and Thomas Bjorn

Celebrator of the Year: Open champion Darren Clarke

Beverage of the Year

Beverage of the Year: Guinness Stout

#$!*& of the Year: Steve Williams

Innocent Bystander of the Year: Adam Scott

Captain of the Year: Fred Couples (Presidents Cup)

City of the Year: Jupiter, Fla. (aka the “new Orlando”)

Amateur of the Year: Patrick Cantlay

Lowlife of the Year: John Daly (who has officially retired this dubious honor)

Instant Classic: Cleveland Golf Driver a Beautiful Behemoth

As a guy who grew up playing woods made of a strange substance called wood, I find many of today’s drivers unappealing to the eye. There’s only one form a driver should take, and that’s pear-shaped.

Drooling yet?

So my heart skipped a beat when I saw Cleveland Golf’s new Classic Driver, due out early next year. Mahogany finish. Brass-colored face “insert” and sole plate. The word “Classic” scrolled on the crown as an alignment aid. Even a black leather head cover in a shape the company calls “RetroBarrel.”

Cue Homer Simpson drooling sound.

In a word, this is one gorgeous golf club. But that’s the end of the Cleveland Classic’s similarities with its ancestors. (You know, the ones made from trees.) The Classic maxes out the USGA volume allowance at 460cc, about three times the size of a persimmon driver head. Its face is massive – the deepest on the market, according to Cleveland. And off-the-rack models are powered by an ultralight Miyazaki graphite shaft.

While it’s not yet for sale to the public, the Classic has already been tested on Tour. In fact, 2011 Rookie of the Year Keegan Bradley used it en route to winning (with Brendan Steele) the Franklin Templeton Shootout last weekend.

Bradley, who strikes me as the traditional type, instantly fell for the club’s old-school aesthetics. “When I looked at the new driver, honestly, I loved it,” he gushed. “I love the gold face on it… You look down at the face and the thing that you focus on is the sweet spot. I think it’s brilliant. I think it’s gonna change the way drivers are made.”

Of course, Callaway, Ping, TaylorMade et al will have something to say about that. In fact, TaylorMade just introduced its new wood lineup, which carries a decidedly non-traditional name: RocketBallz.

May the best club win.

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.

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.