Tilghman and Faldo: Corporate Shills?

During the television coverage of last week's Accenture Match Play Championship, there seemed to be enough promotion to rival a Ron Popeil infomercial. Only it wasn't Ron plugging stuff but the Golf Channel's on-air personalities, Kelly Tilghman and Nick "Han" Faldo. Every time a player hit the new Nike SQ Sumo square driver, Kelly was sure to identify the driver and comment about how much that player loves its performance. During the final match between Tiger and Stewart Cink, Kelly made sure to point out that the "Swoosh" was well represented in the tournament with Nike staffers Woods, Cink and Leonard making it to the semis. Is Kelly trying to make amends with Tiger over the "Lynch him in a back alley" incident or is there some kind of undisclosed relationship between her and Nike? Whatever the reason, it is suspicious at best that she made no similar comments about other golf manufacturers or equipment.

Tilghman's booth-mate was even guiltier of thinly-veiled promotion. Faldo did his best to sneak in plugs for his current endorser, TaylorMade Adidas Golf. Faldo made it a point to talk about players using the new TaylorMade Monza Spider putter with success. But even worse, he took an opportunity to bash his former endorser, Nike, while extolling the performance of TaylorMade's new golf ball. Nick went out of his way to highlight Golf Magazine's recent golf ball test results that showed the new TaylorMade TP ball bested the Nike One Platinum by 20 yards with a driver (90 mph swingspeed). C'mon Nick, was it just a mere coincidence that you happen to choose your current company's ball to compare against that of your old company? I think not. It was quite a cheap shot you old bloke!

Sadly, this isn't the first time that golf announcers have utilized their abundant air time to serve as pitchmen. In the past, I can recall Paul Azinger plugging Nike and Johnny Miller will still occasionally mention Callaway. It's just that this kind of conflict of interest has never been as blatant before as it is now. If an announcer has a relationship with another company, it needs to be disclosed upfront. When I tune into a golf broadcast, I want golf coverage, not an infomercial. It's not like this kind of advertising is effective anyway. How stupid do they think we are?! Now I wonder where I can demo that new Nike driver and buy a box of those hot TaylorMade balls...

Adam Scott: Tiger's Top Challenger?

Butch Harmon believes that one of his current pupils is best poised to take down his former star student, Tiger Woods. Who would that be, you ask? Phil Mickelson would have been a good guess. However, it's not the Joker, but the White Tiger, Adam Scott. According to ESPN, Harmon said, "He (Scott) is the only one who can challenge Tiger Woods in the next four or five years. He's the only one I see of the young players with all the things it takes to get close to Tiger Woods."

That's a pretty bold statement. IMHO, Scott just doesn't possess the short game or putting skills to put him anywhere close to Tiger. On top of that, he hasn't exhibited that "I'm gonna rip your throat out" killer instinct that is a prerequisite for all great athletes. Tiger simply owns the best mental game in golf and no one will be able to beat him on a consistent basis as long as his body holds up.

However, the current #5 player in the world does many things that rival and may even exceed that of the world's #1. In particular, Adam Scott's full swing is a thing of beauty. In fact, it's almost an exact copy of Tiger's swing, circa 2000. I think it's one of the best golf swings of all-time and I was sorry to see Tiger abandon it due to stress on his left knee. But it's really amazing to see how well Adam has copied Tiger's old swing. A while ago, I posted a video comparing the swings of Adam Scott and Tiger Woods side by side. It is one of my personal favorites and remains one of the most viewed videos on this site. Recently, I've uncovered another swing comparison video for your viewing pleasure:



It is quite apparent that Adam has copied Tiger's swing to the "tee". However, it is Tiger Wood's innate ability, intangibles and insane work ethic that will keep him well ahead of the pack over the foreseeable future. Does anyone really think otherwise?

Has Titleist Jumped the Shark?

My friends over at the Sand Trap got the latest scoop on Titleist's upcoming 2008 iron lines. It includes four new models, the AP1, AP2, ZB and ZM. My first reaction was, "Oh crap, has Titleist just jumped the shark?"

"What the hell does that mean?" you ask? Well it's an entertainment industry term that refers to the point when a successful show has passed its peak. The phrase refers to a scene in "Happy Days" where Fonzie (Henry Winkler), wearing swim trunks and his trademark leather jacket, jumps over a shark while water skiing. The sheer ridiculousness of that scene sent the popular TV show into a ratings tailspin. Now it has been used as a metaphor for anything that has passed it's peak. I use it often to describe some of my favorite companies when they start to make crappy products.

For example, one of my favorite car companies was BMW. Ever since I could remember, BMW had consistently improved the aesthetic designs of their cars. Amazingly, each generation of their models had improved upon the previous generation in both form and function. That is, until one Christopher Edward Bangle became BMW's Chief of Design in 1992. Soon thereafter, BMW produced cars that were more Rosie O'Donnell rather than Angelina Jolie. My friends over at The Truth About Cars wrote, "Chris Bangle’s designs are still a shock to the system. I still cringe whenever one of the BMW's 'flame surfaced' 7 Series hoves into view. I still shake my head when I catch a glimpse of a 5 Series’ mascara headlights. I still avert my eyes when any of his models drive past, for fear of glimpsing the rightfully reviled 'Bangle butt.'" I couldn't describe my feelings about the "Bangle Mangle" any better. I swear that the people who buy these new bimmers are suffering from a kind of "beer goggle" phenomenon produced by the BMW badge. Take that bavarian logo away, and they'd quickly realize that their beauty was really a beast. Yes, BMW jumped the shark!

Similarly, I believe that the same fate may be in store for my beloved Titleist. IMHO, Titleist is the premier all-around golf company. If I had to equip myself with golf gear from only one company, there's no doubt that I'd choose Titleist. Most serious golfers would do likewise. But that may all change based on the early teaser shots of their new iron lines. Of course it's premature to base anything from a couple of photos, but aesthetics are an important feature of an iron's design. Unfortunately these new Titleist irons just don't do it for me. They are a dramatic design departure that reminds me of BMW's recent history. Well, I guess it doesn't look like my garage will feature a new bimmer or a new set of Titleists anytime soon!

The Silly Season Got Sillier

I used to really enjoy watching the Skins Game when Turkey day came around once a year. It was exciting to watch the game's best go mano y mano for mucho dinero. But over time, the marquee silly season event changed and so did my interest.

What changed? This year the event moved to a new course, the new Celebrity Course at Indian Wells Golf Resort. But that can only be a positive since the previous course, Trilogy Golf Club at La Quinta, was just not up to snuff. I played that course shortly after it opened in 2002 and it was one of the most disappointing $150+ green fees that I've ever spent. While golf is hard enough, this course just didn't offer much in the way of challenges. The fairways are about as wide as they are long. The small, densely-packed cookie-cutter tract homes that line the fairways ruin the otherwise beautiful natural desert and mountain surroundings. It wouldn't surprise me if the course paid the Skins Game a ton of dough to host the event.

So what changed that turned me off to the Skins Game? Quite simply, it was the players that played in the event. This year the usual $1 million purse was up for grabs for Stephen Ames, Fred Couples, Zach Johnson, and long hitter Brett Wetterich. You gotta be kidding me. I'm a huge golf fan, but you gotta have at least one marquee name to get me to tune in to an off-season golf event. Not only was I uninterested, I was disgusted. What did these guys do to deserve a million bucks playing golf for fun over two days? I bet if they reduced the total purse to $100,000 these same players would have still shown up. It took 25 years but I guess it's official now, the Skins game no longer features the game's best.

The Skins Game debacle just cast a pall over the whole silly season for me. Not only did I not watch a single second of the Skins Game, I didn't watch any silly season event this year. The real season just can't start soon enough!