Wednesday, January 8, 2014

New Clubs Time of Year


Are your clubs more than five years old? If they are you are likely missing out on the best of new technology. Now is a great time to buy new clubs. There are some great deals on end of the year clubs, new clubs are coming soon. If you buy the 2013 there are many, maybe too many, reviews of what you will get. Buy 2014 and you might be taking a bigger chance. Right now E-bay and Amazon have dozens of sellers hawking last year’s latest technology.

Not in the market for new clubs, did you know that you should change your grips every year. Some of mine are five years old and I play a lot of golf, 200 plus rounds per year. But I am not going to take my advice on grips; instead I am going to order new irons. I bought new Calloway woods last year, and love them. I bought a new putter two years ago and will probably buy a new one this year. I have been looking at some new Adams hybrid irons and Ping putters so believe that is the way I will go.

-Laugh for the day-

A golfer, playing a round by himself, is about to tee off, a non athletic looking salesman runs up to him, and yells, "Wait! Before you tee off, I have something really amazing to show you!"

The golfer, annoyed, says, "What is it?"

"It's a special golf ball," says the salesman. "You can never lose it!"

"Whattaya mean," laughs the golfer, "you can never lose it? What if I hit it into the water?"

"Not a problem," says the salesman. "It floats, and it detects where the shore is, and spins towards it."

"Well, what if I hit it into the woods?"

"Easy," says the salesman. "It emits a beeping sound, and you can find it with your eyes closed."

"Okay," says the golfer, impressed. "But what if my round goes late and it gets dark?"

"No problem, sir, this golf ball glows in the dark! I'm telling you, you can never lose this golf ball!"

The golfer buys it at once. "Just one question," he says to the salesman. "Where did you get it?"

"I found it."

Monday, January 6, 2014

How To Find Lost Golf Balls


Americans lose 300 million golf balls a year.

The reconditioning and reselling of those used balls has become a hundreds of million dollars a year industry. The Internet and large retailers like Wal-Mart sell thousands of dozen each week. In the old days the only place you could find these ‘water balls’ was in the golf shop. Why don’t we find a few ourselves and cut out the middlemen.

So where do you look to pick up a few of the millions of lost golf balls.

When looking for balls try the out of bounds to the right 170 to 180 yards off the tee.

For the expensive balls try about 220 yards but still the right side.

Most golfers that should be looking in the 170 area look in the 200 yard area and most that should be looking in the 220 range look in the 250-260 area.

If you can’t find your own ball walk back, you likely didn’t hit it that far.

Better balls are often found left and behind longer holes.

When looking along water, more balls are found on the tee side than the green side.

Check out new tree wells, the edges of paths and any grass boarders that need a weed eater.

And lastly, if you find one, there is a good chance another is hiding nearby, make a circle around where you found yours.

Please don’t stop and look while playing, but there is always a chance to walk by some of these ball happy areas. Remember if you hit it here someone else probably did too.

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Els,Singh, and a Wraparound Tour


Vijay Singh signed a multi-year contract to endorse Hopkins Golf. Vijay will wear a Hopkins Golf logo on his visor or hat, carry a Hopkins logo on his bag, and most important, play the company's wedges.

Hopkins CEO, Greg Hopkins, is the former CEO at Cleveland Golf, Vijay played there stuff for many years.

Ernie Els meanwhile has switched from Callaway to Adams and will play all Adams stuff. I’m betting this will let him find a new putter, one he actually feels comfortable with, and back to Titleist, no more Callaway or Taylor Made balls.  

Not sure about the new wraparound tour. So what is a wraparound schedule, a schedule that begins in one year and finishes in the following year. For example, a tour season that begins in October 2013 and finishes in September 2014 is one that uses a "wraparound schedule." Which is exactly what the PGA Tour is doing beginning with its 2013-14 season.

What it really means – tournaments in November and December that are supposed to be meaningful. (But its football time and limited field tournaments are tough to watch)

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Another Golf - Player of the Year


Adam Scott has been voted the Male Player of the Year by the Golf Writers Association of America, Tiger Woods finished second. Before you ask who the writers in the GWAA are, I will answer for you. Writers who publish a lot of words about golf but fail to watch or understand that winning a major and two small tourneys in Australia does not make a player of the year.

Tiger won the money title and the Vardon Trophy (lowest scoring average) who, on tour, wouldn’t want to win these two? If not Tiger, Henrik Stenson gets my vote for player of the year, wait, I don’t have a vote.

I might be prejudiced against Scott, and I admit it, I hate the long putter. He is a big young guy and, too me, looks silly with that senior tour putter. I for one will be glad when they are gone.

Looks like golf for me this afternoon, nice day!

Congratulations to Adam Scott for winning the GWAA player of the year – even if no one has ever heard of this award.