Golf Blog

Archive for May, 2008

The BMW PGA Championship was originally called the British PGA Championship back when it began in 1955. Since then it has had several sponsored names, but the phrase “PGA Championship” has usually been included in the name.

Since 1984, the dignified Wentworth Club near London has been the venue of the BMW PGA Championship. The club is also the headquarters of the PGA European Tour, and its West Course was modified and improved last year by no less than Ernie Els. Every year the BMW PGA Championship boasts one of the largest amount of prize money on the European Tour and regularly attracts the golfing elite. The tournament embodies tradition, fame and honour in a way that few other events can match. BMW has been a partner and name’s patron since 2005.

Previous winners include, Ian Woosnam, Nick Faldo and Colin Montgomerie amongst others. The current holder of the BMW PGA Championship title is Denmark’s Anders Hansen. A minimum of 64 ranking points along with a large cash prize are available for the winner. The prize money in 2006 was £3,409,999 and in 2007 was £3,490,339. Competing for the prize this year are Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Lee Westwood, Justin Rose, Luke Donald, last year’s winner Anders Hansen along with many other professional golfers all hoping for the points and the money.

Justin Rose burst to fame at The Open Championship in 1998, as a seventeen year old amateur, when The Open was last held at the Southport course a decade ago, finishing in a tie for fourth place. He turned professional the following week. Rose has already begun preparing for what he admits will be a poignant return to Royal Birkdale for The Open Championship 2008.

Justin Rose’s equipment sponsors are TaylorMade, so needless to say there are plenty of TaylorMade’s finest golf equipment in his bag. Rose’s glove of choice is the TaylorMade Targa golf glove. Targa gloves are made of AAA Cabretta leather for amazing Tour feel, are micro-perforated for 360-degree ventilation and feature antimicrobial fabric for a better fit.

The TaylorMade Targa golf glove can be found, as well as many other TaylorMade gloves, at Golfbuyitonline.

Full-line Titleist player Ryuji Imada captured the 2008 AT&T Classic and registered his first US PGA Tour victory improving on his second place finish at the event last year. Imada trusted Titleist from tee-to-green using Pro V1x golf balls, 905R driver, 906F2 Fairway Woods, 695CB irons, Vokey Design pitch, approach and lob wedges and a Scotty Cameron putter.

8 of the top 10 finishers at the AT&T Classic relied upon Titleist golf balls for their success. Parker McLachlin used Pro V1x balls as well as the new Titleist AP2 irons and shot a final round 67 to finish T5, alongside Justin Bolli who used Pro V1 golf balls, three shots behind Imada.

Titleist was the golf ball of choice of 100 golfers at The AT&T Classic, compared to the nearest competitor with 22. As well as being the golf ball of choice, Titleist was the number one wedge and putter, joint first in iron sets as well as coming second in the driver count at the AT&T Classic. With Imada’s victory, Scotty Cameron putters have been the winning choice of 12 champions on the 2008 US PGA Tour, three times the nearest competitor with four. In fact, Scotty Cameron has been the winning putter in six of the last seven events.

This was another impressive victory for Titleist, and the constant flow of victories for Pro V1 players, provides further proof that the world’s best go for the incomparable performance of Titleist.

Sergio Garcia has spent much of his career in the Top Ten of the Official World Golf Rankings but has yet to win a professional major championship.  He has come close in the past, coming second in The Open in 2007. Garcia is one of the ten favourites to win The Open 2008.

Garcia is currently sponsored by TaylorMade and the majority of his equipment is TaylorMade equipment.  His wedge is a TaylorMade RAC Satin Wedge. The RAC Satin TP Wedge is designed for those who require maximum control from their wedge shots in and around the green. Like the classic RAC Chrome Wedge, the RAC Satin TP features a teardrop shape, milled face and grooves. They are engineered with TaylorMade’s tour-proven Y-cutter grooves, which feature sharp edges and a wide, deep design. The Y-cutter grooves are 100% individually CNC milled after the face is milled flat, resulting in clean, sharp, consistent groove edges that grip the ball better.

Jim Furyk won at least one tournament each year on the PGA Tour between 1998 and 2003. At the time, this was the second best streak of winning seasons behind Tiger Woods and he made the top ten in the Official World Golf Rankings. Furyk’s biggest win to date came on June 16, 2003, when he tied the record for the lowest 72-hole score in U.S. Open history to win his first major championship.  Furyk started putting cross-handed at age 7 and still uses this method to this day.

Furyk uses a Odyssey White Hot Two Ball Putter.  The White Hot XG Two Ball Putter is the next stage in White Hot Technology that utilises a multi-layer insert for phenomenal performance on the green. It combines two materials with different properties to take the level of feedback, feel and distance control to an all-new, extreme level.  The Two Ball Putter is the best selling putter in the world.

After a successful amateur career, including winning the Walker Cup with the Great Britain and Ireland team in 1995, Padraig Harrington turned professional later that year, joining the European Tour in 1996. His first victory came shortly after, at the 1996 Peugeot Spanish Open, but for the next few years the most notable thing about Harrington’s career was the number of times he finished second in European Tour events without ever improving on that position.

Harrington uses Wilson Staff Pi5 Irons. Wilson Staff’s Pi5 iron set is advertised as a Performance Iron to give players a variety of shot choices. The clubs progress from cavity backed long irons for forgiveness to a bladed pitching wedge to give a strong player the right levels of precision and forgiveness for their game. These are not clubs for the 10-18 handicap golfer who’s not prepared to spend an hour or two a week sharpening their game.

The fact that tour players Padraig Harrington and Jesper Parnevik choose to play with these irons over the more advanced clubs in the range is a statement of just how good these irons are. In terms of technical detail the Pi5 is very strong. The heads feature thinner top lines than bottom so as you can see the remarkable attention to detail. Further to these features the irons have perimeter weighting to allow as good a result as possible from off-centre hits and also you have a staggering range of fantastic shafts to choose from.

Ernie Els has been one of the top professional players in the world since the mid-1990s. A former World Number One, he is known as “The Big Easy”, for his imposing physical stature along with his fluid, seemingly effortless golf swing.  Els’ victories include the US Open in 1994 and 1997 and the The Open Championship in 2002.  Unlike most of his contemporaries, Els is known for his willingness to participate in tournaments all around the world. Els uses a Callaway X Fairway Wood.

Callaway’s X Fairway Woods are have been designed based on feedback from tour pros and are one of the game’s best-selling fairways woods. The slightly larger head shape raises the moment of inertia and is designed to appeal to a wider range of golfers. The slightly deeper face increases the effective hitting area and provides confidence at address.

Ernie signed with Callaway Golf in March and straight away was carrying 14 of its clubs in his bag.

Tiger Woods is, as most people will know, one of the most successful golfers of all time, winning 13 major championships. Woods is currently the Number 1 golfer in the world which is why he is tipped to win The Open this year.

Tiger Woods is currently using a Nike Driver. Woods’ Driver has a taller face height with less breadth than a standard  Nike Driver. This unique profile delivers an increased workability desired by Woods. Nike has used ‘Powerbow’ technology on the back of the driver to expand the perimeter making it easier to get the ball up and hit it straight. The Powerbow adds a trailing volume of mass to apply more power and control to the ball without overstepping the 460cc legal limit.

Tiger Woods may only use one driver, but he owns around 80 of them.

Over the coming weeks we will be taking a close look at the ten favourites to win The Open 2008.  We’ll be looking at which Drivers, Fairway Woods, Irons, Wedges, Putters, Shoes and Golf Balls the favourites are carrying in their Golf Bags.  As well as this we’ll be looking at the best golf equipment that Callaway, Nike, TaylorMade and more have to offer but more importantly the golf equipment that the favourites prefer.  If you see anything you like the look of or want find some more information on the featured products, then click onto the Golfbuyitonline website where you’ll find detailed product descriptions.

The favourites for The Open 2008 are:

Tiger Woods,
Ernie Els,
Padraig Harrington,
Jim Furyk,
Sergio Garcia,
Justin Rose,
Phil Mickelson,
Vijay Singh,
Luke Donald,
Trevor Immelman.

Golfbuyitonline are pleased to announce the arrival of a new range of putters, Rife Putters. These are a welcome addition to the range of putters currently on sale through Golfbuyitonline as it seems that these are the putters that are being picked up by more and more professional golfers. Rife Putters came out on top at the PGA Tour at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans which was its 3rd victory in four weeks.

All of Rife’s Putters are high-end CNC milled putters that offer RollGroove Technology. Rife Putters is the true innovator behind horizontal grooved face putter technology with a patent on specifically sized grooves. These precisely spaced grooves allow the putter to gently press into the cover of the ball and grip and lift it into an instant forward roll. Horizontal RollGroove faced putters create the best no skid roll in golf no matter where you hit the ball on the putter face.

Rife Putters now available at Golfbuyitonline include Rife Two Bar Hybrid Putters, Rife Two Bar Mallet Putters, Rife Two Bar Mallet Black Putters, Rife Two Bar Blade Putters and Rife Aussie Putters. 

Week in and week out numerous players on the PGA, Champions and Nationwide Tours rely on Rife Putters to earn their paycheques. With over $25 Million in earnings and no endorsed players, its obvious that Rife Putters has found that for the Tour Players, winning is everything.

With the best prices and fastest delivery around why not put your current Putters up in the loft and treat yourself and your game to some top quality golf equipment.  Golfbuyitonline’s PGA Professional staff are on hand to offer any assistance and information on these products.