Callaway Golf Clubs

Over the years, the name Callaway has become analogous to the term Golf. It’s hardly surprising, given the fact that Callaway Golf is the best known brand for golf equipment recognized worldwide. This American company manufactures primarily golf equipment: golf clubs and golf balls. Over time, their market ventures included sports apparel, footwear, timepieces and watches and various assortments of accessories. The Odyssey brand, Top Flite brand and the Ben Hogan brand are also owned by Callaway Golf.

No one could ever forget how Mr. Ely achieved iconic status, or rather his first masterpiece the “Big Bertha“. He was then a retired Burlington Industries Textile President with a big idea. The big idea was a cheap wooden driver inspiration which used to make his design which would later be realized as the Big Bertha. After having acquired the services of Richard C. Helmstetter who was also a brilliant billiard cue designer, the Big Bertha was made. A marvel club at that time that showcase a 190cc steel club head that can hit the furthest and can hit even with minimal skill. The Big Bertha completely revamped the existing golf clubs and set new standards for golf.

With a highly successful Product, Callaway Golf became public on the New York Stock Exchange.

Callaway Golf did brilliant publicity stunts too, to further its image line. For example when Bill Gates featured in the tongue-in-cheek commercial endorsement for the Callaway Golf Clubs, it was received with quite a reception. And Bill Gates isn’t that great in golf (with a notoriously high handicap). Other celebrities and distinguished personalities with remarkable golfing feats also contributed Callaway Golf in to becoming a household name, such as Alice Cooper and Celine Dion. Even Pro Golfers like Arnold Palmer and Gary Player are considered image line enhancements when Callaway Golf obtained the rights for their playing equipment.

While other emerging successes of the Callaway Golf product line like Fusion Fairway Woods, Wide Sole Irons, X-18 Irons, and several golf balls particularly the HX Series golf balls did garner some successes, the Big Bertha still remains the flagship for Callaway Golf. The Big Bertha Line already has several technology touches on the design feature. The latest is the Fusion FT-3 Driver which won several matches already; Phil in his 2006 Masters Victory and Annika Sorenstam who used endorsed Callaway FT-3 Driver to several recent championship victories.

The most notable feature of the Big Bertha is the shortened design of the traditional hosel length by several inches, allowing some weight to be shifted nearer the club head. This allows more weighty punch on the golf ball, multiplying power to an otherwise moderate swing. This highly marketable innovation was dubbed S2H2 (Short, Straight, Hollow, Hosel).

Milos Pesic is an avid golfer and owner of the most comprehensive Golf Information Pages. Visit now to find out all you wanted to know about golf, golf equipment, tips, resorts and much more.

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Bunker play is a necessary and often frightening aspect of a round of golf.
On your usual golf course what are the bunkers like?

There are those with good fluffy sand that is quite deep and there are those with not so fluffy sand but still sand and those with almost hard pan just deep to a find sprinkling of sand.

On this last bunker type, the sand iron has a tendency to bounce off the hard surface and cause you to duff your shot.
As already stated in a recent article, the object is to get out of the bunker and onto the green taking only one shot.
One can not carry several sand irons to play each type of bunker, so the answer is to compromise.

The thing that makes a sand iron bounce to a greater or lesser degree when it makes contact with the sand is the width and the depth of the flange.

A sand iron with a wide and deep flange will bounce on contact with the sand. The ideal type for that deep fluffy sand because it will stay shallow and not knife under the ball as much.

Conversely, a narrow and shallow flange will not bounce as much and will dig into the sand and tend to stop. Certainly not what you want in fluffy sand but ideal for the hard pan type of bunker.

So, what do you do?

Firstly, you have to know what type of base most of the bunkers have on your home course. If the sand is all fluffy and deep, lucky you.

On my course, there are a lot of hard pan type bunkers.

Then, you go to your professional and ask him to order a sand iron with a medium depth and width of flange.
This will be useful in all types of bunkers.

Don’t forget that the lob wedge is pretty useful out of a bunker.
Practice is needed though to see how it will perform with various swings and ball positions.

Particularly useful for the buried or poached egg lie.

The drill is to hit down onto the edge of the poached egg (the sand ridge around the ball) and do not follow through.
The ball should fly up in the air and out of the bunker. It will not be a very long shot however.

You may like the lob wedge for this, or your pitching wedge. The sand wedge may do too, but the flange could get in the way.
As usual, practice and trial and error is the only way to tell.

However, the shot is played in the way described above.

Bill Maitland is a thinking, inventive golf guru.
He thought out and developed simple techniques and tips which enabled him to lower his handicap from 25 to 18, then from 18 to 15, and finally from 15 to 12.
He is a passionate golfer, and delights in helping others with their game should they want his help.
Author of GOLF TIPS.
An e-Book that takes you step by step to being the best golfer that you can possibly be.
To learn about his tips and simple techniques
And see his book
visit
Online Golfers Handbook.

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They say golf is a great game. They say it’s the only game that you compete against yourself in. I say it’s boring. At least I used to. When Tiger Woods burst onto the PGA he electrified the golfing world. He turned the game into something exciting, something fun, and something that I wanted to do.

So, I decided I was going to go golfing. I called my buddy and we went to the course. We had to rent our clubs and I think we used tennis shoes instead of golf shoes. I am a lefty so it took me like twenty minutes to find a set that I could use. So, we start on the inner 9. Now I played baseball in high school and figured that I would be at least decent at golf. I mean you see the ball and hit the ball right? Well not exactly. I think shot about an 8 on the first and that’s only because I am a decent putter. I had gotten enough practice playing mini golf that I could save face (if not par) on the greens.

The next hole played right along the fence line. About 15 yards past the fence there was a road. This will be important and will forever change the way I think about the game of golf. My first shot, I slice. Not just any slice either. The golf ball looked like it had eyes and shot up and over the fence towards the road. No problem right? WRONG! About the same time I swing, a car turns the corner. Naturally my ball soars up, over the fence, and smacks into the car. Instinctively I drop the rented Titleist and start walking towards the clubhouse. About 3 seconds after realizing that the ball hit the car, my friend turns to say something to me only to find out that I was halfway across the coarse and still walking. He looked at me, looked at the car, and looked at the club in his hand. Only then did he realize that he would be on the hook for the damage that shot caused. Luckily for him, the car didn’t stop.

Once I knew it was safe, I returned to the hole. I pick up the club and decide that I’ll give it another shot. I wait until there are no cars, I aim to my right, and swing away and of course, I slice it again and this time, hit the side of a house off the bounce. We ended up just skipping the outer 9 and went to the 10th. I’ve enjoyed the game ever since and in fact, I am now a handicap of about 8. Not exactly the next Tiger Woods but at least I don’t hit any more cars.

For more information on golf clubs and golfing please visit our website at http://www.netdetours.com/golf/

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