Golf Town, the Canadian golf retail giant, has agreed to purchase it's US-based competetor, Golfsmith for $96M in a stock purchase at 29% over the GOLF closing price on 5/11/12.   While there's no word whether or not employees will be required to wear tuques and drink Labatt's, we have confirmed that the deal includes all of Golfsmith's 85 retail stores and its' online presence.

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Geoff Shackelford brought to our attention this hysterical commercial from our friendly media overloards across the pond.   Check it out after the break!

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Curt Sampson pulls no punches when it comes to his history of the genesis of the Masters Tournament and it's ultra-exclusive host, Augusta National Golf Club.

"Within months of its opening, Augusta National's members started talking about hosting the U.S. Open. Roberts wrote to Rice on March 30, 1933, confirming that this was not possible; the Open had always been held in June or July, and Augusta National was to be closed every summer. Two weeks later, in a letter to founding member Alfred S. Bourne, Roberts announced his and Bob's determination for the National to start its own tournament.

The tournament was Cliff's idea. He even came up with a name for it: the Masters. But Jones thought the name immodest, and he would not go along."

While some consider Mr. Sampson's book to be as close to a tell-all about Augusta National's story as you'll find, I found it to be something slightly different:  A must read for golf fans who enjoy the history of the game, but one that should be taken with a grain of salt.

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Not content sitting on all that money you gave them for your new R11S, TaylorMade Adidas Golf has gone on a little spending spree of their own.

Today, they announced they have a formal agreement to purchase Adams Golf for $10.80 per share, or about $70M.   For those of you keeping track at home, that's over 175,000 R11S's.

The major question is whether they're buying Adams for their market niche, or their technology patents.

The deal is expected to close later this year.

Check out the complete press release after the jump.

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We got a pleasant surprise in our inbox this morning, this time from a site we've never pimped before:   GolfStealsAndDeals.com.

This sounds like another site in the social commerce model where their main draw is a "deal of the day'.   Needless to say, today's deal got our attention....they're offerring the TaylorMade R11 Fairway Woods for $129.99 (plus tax and shipping).

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The Adicross from TMAG golf is the newest line of crossover golf shoes offered by Adidas. The crossover trend has certainly picked up steam this year, as nearly every manufacturer, including FJ – the standard in classic golf shoe wear, has a crossover model. TaylorMade made us a can't miss proposition to review these shoes, so I finally caved and kept my Nikes in the trunk for a few rounds recently.

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When Fred Couples first strolled into tournament play wearing a pair of sneakers in late 2009, most thought it was either a someone simply trying to increase his longevity with a new-age comfy shoe, or it was a purely financial decision.   After all, Freddy was a long time Ashworth guy, and now he had not only switched to Ecco kicks, but it wasn't even a real golf shoe.   They didn't look like a traditional golf shoe, and there was no way those little nubs on the bottom a could support a golf swing.

Slowly but surely, the truth spread.  Not only were the nubs up to the challenge, but they were seriously comfortable shoes.   More and more tour players caught on, and manufacturers rushed to get into the "street golf shoe" game.   By the 2011 PGA season, virtually every major manufacturer has a street shoe available and a tour regular to wear them.

Ashworth joined the party in 2011 with the Encinitas and the Cardiff.   We recently got the opportunity to try the Cardiff for a couple of rounds while in Orlando for the PGA Merchandise show and went in wondering if they could possibly unseat the Ecco as the 'King of the Casual Golf Kicks'.

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