http://jaystuller.com Great Golf and Travel Writing Sun, 19 Feb 2012 01:52:27 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Once the last resort for old men with bad backs and yippy hands, long and belly putters are now showing up in the bags of PGA Tour professionals, in even more bags on the Nationwide Tour, and a certified rage amongst kids wearing Ricky Fowler colors and wide white belts.  Bellies, it seems, are growing as prominent as Maltbie’s gut. So is an increasingly heated debate on whether or not these “alternative putters” are good for ... ]]> http://jaystuller.com/golf/golf/equipment/743/in-the-belly-of-the-sabertooth-beast-2 A twenty-five inch Travelpro MaxLite 2 Expandable Spinner is a luxury I’ve been without for far too long, a piece of luggage sufficiently large to hold enough clothing for seven days on the links and dinners out, and to accommodate a ride home with the extra stuff that typically accumulates during a golf trip.  Provided by a Golf Road Warrior Palm Springs sponsor -  - Travelpro - - this size of bag marked a reversal ... ]]> http://jaystuller.com/golf/golf/698/in-praise-of-ample-luggage-and-clean-green-shirts At this time of year the good people of the Pacific Northwest are absorbing more precipitation than they shed, a spiritual soaking as depressive as the region’s relentless slate-gray skies.  Across Minnesota and Wisconsin yet another snowstorm could be the final straw that sends even stolid Lutherans overboard, perhaps into a crazed and bloody tribal war against Episcopalians, waged with shards of broken hot dish and bombs of fetid lutefisk. At this time of year, folks ... ]]> http://jaystuller.com/golf/golf/689/the-balm-of-palm-springs Thanks to a 1995 assignment from a feature magazine published by the Discovery Channel, I was granted one of the first inside looks at Callaway Golf’s new test center in Carlsbad, Ca., where a top secret computerized swing analyzer enabled physicists and engineers to develop the driver heads and shafts of the Big Bertha, Great Big Bertha and subsequent generations of high-tech fairway metals, irons and more. I also was invited to spend an unexpected hour ... ]]> http://jaystuller.com/golf/golf/equipment/667/that-callaway-touch The golf industry’s marketing muscles are in full flex this time of year, as new gear is introduced and warm-weather regions buy more airtime than Republican primary candidates, touting courses, food, accommodations and other activities.  From the Gulf Coast to Scottsdale and Hawaii, each makes a good case for what is relatively expensive discretionary travel. However, about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas is the city of Mesquite, which over the past decade has evolved into ... ]]> http://jaystuller.com/golf/golf/642/nevadas-mesquite-an-affordable-alternative-golf-destination Several of my colleagues are at this moment hard at play - - after which they'll be forced to work late into the night - - to bring news and interpretation of their seven days of golf and leisure in Scottsdale, Arizona. Writers Jeff Wallach, Peter Kessler, Tom Bedell, Terry Moore and videographer Jamie McWilliams drew the long straws for this trip.  It sounds cushy spending a couple days at the Four Seasons at Troon ... ]]> http://jaystuller.com/golf/golf/equipment/624/golf-road-warriors-invade-scottsdale In California’s central Sierra foothills there are nearly two-dozen Calaveras County wineries and tasting rooms.  Some are austere, such as the Hatcher Winery’s cellar-like space below the main floor of a building on Murphys’ Main Street, a spare room that belies the quality of its myriad vintages.  There is also the ostentatious, exemplified by the huge Ironstone complex, with its artificial lake, re-created gold-ore mill, a huge performing arts amphitheater that hosts headliner concerts, and ... ]]> http://jaystuller.com/golf/golf/604/twisted-oaks-the-spaniard-stands-out-among-calaveras-county-wines In 1848 a wave of humanity swept into Alta California’s central Sierra foothills, drawn by the discovery of gold.  To the thriving settlements of San Andreas, Angels Camp and Murphys, merchants, opportunists and curious observers followed the miners.  Some of the more notable included Daniel Webster, William Hearst, J.P. Morgan, Ulysses S. Grant, John Jacob Astor and a young journalist with the pen name of Mark Twain, all of whom stayed in the Murphys Historic ... ]]> http://jaystuller.com/golf/golf/591/at-calaveras-countys-greenhorn-creek-theres-a-whole-lot-of-jumpin-going-on My 56-degree Miura K Wedge has a new best friend that just took up residence on the opposite side of the bag. With its unusual and yet beautiful design, the K Wedge has quickly become my most versatile tool around the green, a scoring club from wet sand, thick rough or tight lies.  And now, Miura Golf's recently introduced MG Hybrid may well redefine the look, feel and even the sound of utility clubs. “I probably hit ... ]]> http://jaystuller.com/golf/golf/equipment/581/miura-golfs-new-mg-redefines-the-look-and-feel-of-a-hybrid Hell came to Texas in 2011 and despite Governor Rick Perry’s futile pray-for-rain intervention, much of the Lone Star State withered during its driest 12-month period since 1895, when Texas first began keeping rainfall records.  As fires raged across the state, Austin was cooked by more than 90 days of 100-degree temperatures. Reservoirs went dry, cows died and San Antonio’s golf courses . . . well, in late September they actually didn’t look all that ... ]]> http://jaystuller.com/golf/golf/572/san-antonio-courses-endure-drought-still-offer-great-golf