Tiger Woods Coach Hank Haney Resigns

Wow. Tiger Woods’ world is in a state of disaster to say the least. Missed cut two weeks ago, WD from the Players Championship Sunday, talk of a bulging disc in his neck… Now Tiger’s coach for the last six years has bailed. Hank Haney has resigned. I have informed Tiger Woods this evening that I

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Tiger Woods Coach Hank Haney Resigns

Tiger Woods ‘Tiger Slam’ irons available on e-Bay

Ponte Vedre, Fla. Before getting on a plane this morning and flying from New York to Jacksonville, Fla., for the Players Championship, I bought a Mega Millions ticket. The grand prize is up to $266 million , and if I my numbers hi, I'm going to quite my job ( sorry boss ) and buy a Ferrari 250 GT Spyder California like the one Ferris Bueller wrecked. But even if I won all that money, there is no way I would place bid on the Titleist 681 Forged irons currently available on eBay which Tiger Woods supposedly used to win his Tiger Slam in 2000-2001 . The seller, aphotoshop1, says Woods gave him the clubs and that they are still in their original condition. Each club (2-PW, plus a 56 and 60 Vokey Wedge) has a True Temper Dynamic Gold X-100 shaft and Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord grips. He is starting the bidding at $250,000. Here's why I seriously doubt they are authentic: 1. Tiger Woods has an endorsement relationship with Upper Deck. On Woods' Web site, he Upper Deck logo appears as one of his sponsors, and he is listed as one of the company's official autograph signers. On Upper Deck's Web site you can buy Woods-autographed prints, golf flag and golf shoes. During last season's U.S. Open at Bethpage, Upper Deck sold the Nike Golf shirts worn by Woods during the first four rounds of the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. True, the clubs are not autographed, but why would Tiger Woods risk angering a sponsor and allow a company or person other than Upper Deckwhich supported Woods throughout his recent sex scandalto make money selling his memorabilia? 2. Players save clubs. Many Tour pros like to collect clubs, golf bags and other things they use over the years. Paul Casey recently told me that he's saved every set of irons he's used as a professional and has them in boxes at his home. Other guys have told me they collect putter headcovers. While I'm sure that Tiger has given friends and associates golf-related gifts and mementos over the years, it's hard to believe that he'd part with THAT set of irons. I asked an official from Nike if he thought the irons on eBay might be authentic, he laughed out loud. “No way,” he said. When asked if he knew where the Titleist irons Woods used in 2000 might be, he said, “No, but I can tell you those aren't them.” Hey, is it possible that the irons for sale on eBay are actually Woods' old clubs? It's possible. I tried to ask Tiger today after his practice round but he walked away from the reporters on the ninth green and walked to the back practice range at TPC Sawgrass after his practice round with Jay Haas and Rod Pampling. It's also possible that I'll hit the Mega Millions jackpot too. See-Try-Buy: Learn more about

Ping Responds to Eye2 Wedge Controversy

Using a loophole in the new groove rules, several players, including John Daly and Phil Mickelson, have made the controversial decision to play Ping Eye2 wedges in recent PGA Tour events , prompting some criticism from fellow Tour pros. John Solheim, Ping's chairman and CEO, issued a statement on the issue last night. Over the last several weeks weve watched with great interest the impact of the Ping Eye2 and its role in the USGAs 2010 Groove Regulation. Weve read and heard numerous inaccurate reports from various sources, including several PGA Tour Professionals, about the new groove regulation, specifically that U or Square grooves are banned as part of the regulation. As the USGA states on its website: A common misconception is that V shaped grooves will be required under the new specifications and that U shaped grooves will no longer be allowed.

Gear Notes: Michael Sim’s Titleist Hybrid, TaylorMade’s New Drivers, Ping’s Irons and Callaway’s New Tour i(z) Ball

Titleist Michael Sim ( right ), who in 2009 won the Nationwide Tour money title and Player of the Year award, as well as a battlefield promotion to the PGA Tour, spent some time at the Acushnet Test Facility before the start of last week's Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines . According to Titleist's Blog , Sim felt that the distance gap between his AP2 9-iron and his pitching wedge was too large, so he sought the help of some Titleist fitters. By switching from a 47 Vokey Design Spin Milled C-C to a club with 48, the gap shrank from 18 yards to 12 yards. Sim also told fitters that while his 695CB 2-iron worked well on the sandy, dry courses in his homeland of Australia, PGA Tour courses demanded shots that fly higher and stop quickly. After trying various hybrids, he put a prototype 503i with a Project X 6.5 shaft into his bag and took out the 2-iron. Sim also asked Titleist reps to look at his putting stroke using the company's high speed cameras at the Scotty Cameron putting studio. “It wasnt as good as what it was last year when I went in there,” he told Titleist. “But we managed to correct that in probably 20 minutes.” Sim finished tied for second at Torrey Pines. Here is a complete list of his clubs: DRIVER: Titleist 905R (8.5) with a Mitsubishi Diamana White 83 shaft FAIRWAY WOOD: Titleist 909F2 (13.5) with a Mitsubishi Diamana Blue 93 shaft HYBRID: Titleist 503i with True Temper Project X shafts IRONS: Titleist AP2 (3-9) with True Temper Project X shafts WEDGES: Titleist Vokey Design Spin Milled C-C (48, 54, 60) with True Temper Project X shafts PUTTER: Scotty Cameron for Titleist Newport Squareback BALL: Titleist Pro V1x TaylorMade You've had a chance to read all about TaylorMade's newest drivers, the R9 SuperTri and the Burner SuperFast . Last week at Torrey Pines, PGA Tour pros had their first chance to hit the clubs on the range. The video below, provided by TaylorMade, shows some of their reactions: Ping There has been a lot of talk about Ping Eye2 wedges recently, especially after John Daly and Phil Mickelson used the venerable clubs in PGA Tour events. The grooves on the Eye2 wedges would be non-conforming with the USGA's new rules, except they were grandfathered to be legal in perpetuity thanks to a lawsuit Ping won 20 years ago. However, Ping cannot make more Eye2 irons and wedges with the old grooves, but on eBay the clubs are selling like hotcakes. What was interesting to see at the Farmers Insurance Open was that there were 24 sets of Ping irons in play. Twelve sets were used by Ping staff players, and 12 were used by players NOT on Ping's staff, including K.J. Choi ( right ) who used a set of the company's new G15 irons . Choi, who is no longer a Nike staff player, also played with a TaylorMade r7 Limited driver . Callaway According to the company, Spains Alvaro Quiros switched to Callaway's new Tour i(z) ball at last week's European Tour event in Qatar, where he finished second behind Robert Karrlson. Callaway officials pointed out that the switch may have helped the longest hitter in Europe get a touch longer off the tee. Quiros averaged

Adidas Apparel Goes on Extreme Tour

In what sounds like a dream golf assignment, two near-scratch players are being sent around the world this winter to courses with extremely hot weather to test clothing made by TaylorMade-adidas . The “Wear in the World” tour, announced with some fanfare at the Adidas Golf headquarters in Carlsbad, Calif., this week, will transport Lindsay Knowlton (3 handicap) and Josh Sullivan (1) to golf courses in Death Valley, the tip of South Africa, the southernmost part of Argentina, equatorial Bolivia, and Alice Springs, Australiathe world's hottest golf course, with temperatures reaching 122 degreesto see if Adidas' various proprietary fabrics can, well, take the heat. So much of contemporary golf enterprise is devoted to keeping the player absolutely dry and sweat-free during a round. Apparently Adidas willl go to hell and back to prove it. Adidas makes golf clothes with all kinds of high-technology bells and whistles, including the ClimaCool, ClimaLite and ClimaProof fabrics, which use lightweight, breathable CoolMax fibers to keep players cool and dry. The plan is to use different fabric applications for different micro environments; for instance, at super-dry Furnace Creek, in Death Valley , 214 feet below sea level, the players will don ClimaCool, with its mesh ventilation; at Bolivia's LaPaz Golf Club, altitude 10,800 feet, they will wear ClimaLite and FORMOTION, which includes outerwear with almost no friction or restriction; at Walker Bay in South Africa, they will put on ClimaProof, a highly weather-resistant fabric, because that resort presumably has some wind and moisture. And so on. In addition to their promotional activities, the players will teach golf to locals, mountain bike on Bolivia's “Death Road,” and go cage diving with sharks off the coast of South Africa. In case you're interested (and should they survive), they will be blogging about their adventures at wearintheworld.adidasgolf.com and Golf.com, as well as filing Twitter and Facebook updates.

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Adidas Apparel Goes on Extreme Tour

Tiger Woods awarded PGA of America player of the year

Tiger Woods has won the points based 2009 PGA of America player of the Year award. He’s also won the Vardon Trophy and the Byron Nelson Award for having the lowest scoring average of 68.05. The PGA Tour Player of the Year award has yet to be announced. That one is determined by the players’ votes.

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Tiger Woods awarded PGA of America player of the year

Golf Balls Give Hints to Foursomes Pairings

SAN FRANCISCO In the foursomes (alternate-shot) matches this week, the players who are paired together will often play different brands of balls. The prevailing wisdom is that the teams should tee off with the ball preferred by the player who will hit the approach shot. Performance of most low-spinning, multilayer balls is fairly similar off the tee, the thinking goes, but the players would notice a different feel when hitting irons and wedges. Since distance control from the fairway is critical to setting up birdies, you want the player who is going to hit the approach shot to use his preferred ball. The rules allow the teams to switch balls after completing a hole. On Wednesday morning, as the American team practiced on the back nine at Harding Park, I snuck a peek at the balls the players used off the tee, and I used that information to make a guess as to Thursday's pairings, which will be announced later this afternoon. 1. Jim Furyk and Justin Leonard : Furyk was teeing off on the even-numbered holes using a Nike ONE Tour ball. He typically plays a Srixon Z-Star X . 2.

Tiger Woods Practices With 5-wood at Turnberry

It's not uncommon for pros to carry more than 14 clubs during a practice round. As they prepare for a tournament, they often hit a few shots from critical areas with different clubs, trying different techniques. On Monday at Turnberry , Tiger Woods's bag featured three headcovershis traditional tiger (known as Frank in Nike ad campaigns ), a Nike Sumo and a Kiwi bird. The Kiwi is a nod to the homeland of Tiger's caddie, Steve Williams, who hails from New Zealand. Woods continued to use the Nike Forged Blades that he switched to at the Memorial in early June. Like other players , Tiger will be deciding this week whether he's going to keep his 5-wood in the bagas he's done all seasonor pull it out and go with a 2-iron. Although he is capable of hitting a low 5-wood, the 2-iron might prove to be more versatile in firm, windy conditions. (Photo by Peter Muhly/AFP/Getty Images)

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Tiger Woods Practices With 5-wood at Turnberry

John Daly’s Golf Clubs

It's interesting to note that John Daly does not carry a traditional fairway wood. Instead, he uses two wood-style hybrid clubs. A few other PGA Tour players have chosen to go with hybrids instead of fairway woods. For example, Anthony Kim carries a 14 hybrid instead of a 3-wood. Here is a complete list of the clubs Daly is using at the St. Jude Classic: DRIVER: Adams Speedline (9.5) with UST AXIVCore Tour Red 79 XX shaft HYBRIDS: Adams Prototype (15, 18) IRONS: Adams Idea Pro Black (3-9) WEDGES: Titleist Vokey Design (48), Spin Milled (52, 60) PUTTER:

Henrik Stenson’s Winning Clubs

It's a tradition at the Players Championship for the winner to donate a club to be mounted on the wall inside the Sawgrass clubhouse. After leading the field in driving accuracy last year, Sergio Garcia handed over his TaylorMade Burner driver. The most appropriate club for Henrik Stenson to donate would be his 2004 Big Bertha 3-wood . He used the club frequently off the tee and hit 73% of the fairways. “Its a course that sets up nicely for my 3-wood,” Stenson said.

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