Pretty in pink at Sawgrass

Yeah, me again. After listening to a PGA Tour caddie's complaints about unsatisfactory working conditions, I still didn't make it inside the press center before another blog-op hit me (that's another new word I just invented--it means an item worthy of blogging).

A public relations person was standing guard outside the press center to alert us media hacks about Pink on the Links, a program to raise money for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (or BCRF as we insiders know it). Champ, which makes non-metal spikes, created a commemorative pink-and-white spike and found a number of tour players to wear them this week during the tournament. So watch the Players telecast closely and see if you can spot any pink spikes on the bottoms of shoes.

Here's a partial lineup of who's going to look pretty in pink this week: Geoff Ogilvy, Steve Stricker, Boo Weekley, Angel Cabrera, Jose Maria Olazabal, Anthony Kim, Mark Calcavecchia, Luke Donald (above), Charles Howell, Fred Couples, Mike Weir, Jim Furyk and (probably) Phil Mickelson.

In addition, Champ is raising money for BCRF with a charity auction on eBay, featuring autographed items by assorted players, including a Tiger Woods-signed flag from the British Open and shoes signed by Padraig Harrington and Lorena Ochoa. The auction will run from May 10 until May 20. You can check it out at stores.ebay.com/pinkonthelinks, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to BCRF.

(Photo: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

Grueling research on new shaft technology

I've been out doing research the last few days. You might call it playing golf, but I call it research. (That looks so much better on an expense report, trust me.)

I've wanted to follow up on what I thought was the most exciting innovation at this year's PGA Merchandise Show -- interchangeable shafts. TaylorMade sent me their Tour Van in a Box to try out. It came with the new r7 CGB Max driver head (9 degrees), three different shafts and a valuables pouch that includes assorted movable weights and a tool that is used to change the weights and shafts.

We've seen some pretty garish driver heads in the last two years, but the CGB Max isn't one of them. It does have a stretched triangular look, which doesn't seem nearly as outlandish now as it did a year ago, and the head is painted in a sparkling burgundy color -- really good looking.

I haven't been a big fan of the wave of big-headed, big-MOI drivers that came out in '07. At least, I haven't found anything I liked better than what I had been using. And club evaluation, of course, is all about how it affects me and my game. Now I have to change my mind. It's a loaner that I have to send back, otherwise the CGB Max would likely be finding a permanent home in my bag. I was surprised how well I hit it (all those bad memories from last year's big-headed driver show still lingered).

I was also surprised by the shafts. The three choices are a 65-gram Mitsubishi Diamana, a 55-gram Matrix Ozik and a 75-gram Fujikura Rombax. The different shafts are supposed to produce different ball flights for different playing conditions or courses.

I was really looking forward to trying them out on the range at my home course near Pittsburgh, Treesdale. The funny thing was, I didn't see much difference in my shots. I hit all three shafts well and with more or less similar flight trajectories. FYI, I'm close to a scratch golfer but I do it with what could best be called a caddie-yard swing. My point is, I was expecting to see dramatic differences between the three and I didn't.

I'm not even sure which shaft I hit the best. They were all pretty good. The shaft on my previous driver was a 55-gram model, and the one I'm using right now has a 65-gram shaft. I could use any of these three shafts and be happy. Now, I'm sure if I'd been hooked up to a launch monitor, the numbers would be different and it would be easier to figure out which shaft is optimal for my game.

But I didn't have a chance to do that, and it's time to put it all in the box and send it back to TaylorMade. I still love the concept, and just so you know, I'll be going back to Treesdale, bumming a demo model off my pro and doing further, ahem, research for you.

The Most Handsome Bag at Augusta

The best looking golf bag at Augusta National this week--subjective alert; subjective alert--has to be the special edition, just-for-the-Masters TaylorMade bag, rubber-and-pleather, black, white and Carolina Blue, going so well against the Fertilizer Green of Augusta National.

In the Augusta bag room, the bags are segregated by brand. In the TaylorMade 'hood are the bags of Justin Rose, Retief Goosen, Scott Verplank, David Toms, Mike Weir (his bag, right), Peter Lonard, Vaughn Taylor and Richard Sterne. Each player was given two bags, one for the week of the tournament -- that goes back to Taylormade to be used for charitable purposes -- and a nice keepsake.

What makes the bag so especially good-looking is a little tag sewn on the front made to make it look like a vintage Masters admissions tag, or a circa-1970 greens fee ticket, with the little brass ring and string. At the top of it are three outlines of the greens on 11, 12 and 13 and underneath are praying hands. In the upper-right corner are the initials "A.P." and "1958," a nod to Arnold Palmer, who won his first Masters in 1958. Below are the initials "H.W.W." A prize -- free access to the golf.com website -- to any reader who can identify what those initials stand for.

Jack Taylor, caddying for his son, Vaughn, in the Wednesday Par-3 Tournament, said, "I know this, I know this, I know this -- they told me this." No credit. Scott Verplank knew right away. Hint: five syllables.

Scottie Martin, Lonard's looper, said one especially cool feature about the bag -- we think he was being literal -- was a water cooler pocket lined with that crinkly aluminum material like you see in an attic or a lunch box. Lonard, on his fairway woods, was also using the old-style pompom headcovers provided for Masters week.

His driver headcover was the red-and-yellow space-age looking thing that goes so well with the bag he'll go back to using next week at Hilton Head.

(Photo: John W. McDonough/SI)

I-Mix is in the mix for Mickelson and Els

Callaway's I-Mix technology, the company's new interchangeable shaft system, is making an appearance at Augusta National this week.

Phil Mickelson, known for tinkering with his equipment and winning the 2006 Masters with two drivers in his bag, is experimenting again. In addition to carrying two drivers in Tuesday's practice round, he has also been using the I-Mix system.

"I did have two drivers in the bag today," Mickelson said in his press conference Tuesday. "The nice thing about that is I have been able to interchange shafts and put a longer shaft in if I want to get more distance. I'm hoping I only need one driver because I want to put an extra wedge in. But if I feel like distance is going to be a bigger factor, I'll stick a second driver in. I don't know. It will be day-to-day. I have two or three different game plans."

Ernie Els has also been working with the I-Mix system, using an FT-I head with a few different shafts.

"We've been working on an FT-I square head driver, and I'm actually using the square head but the old shaft," he said Tuesday during his press conference. "If you don't like a certain shot, you can pull it out on the range and put another shaft into the head." He said he was "still working on getting the perfect fit."

Els also said he would be using a softer Callaway ball this week. "I can spin it around the greens a lot better, and the ball comes out a bit lower, but it spins better, so I think I'll probably use that."

(Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images)