Over the Green

Golf on the rise

Tennis used to be pretty popular at Fort Sill, a U.S. Army base near Lawton, Okla., and the base’s three courts were in constant use. However in recent years the number of tennis players has steadily declined while those interested in golf has seen a pronounced increase.

Shane Dunlevy, Fort Sill’s recreation manager studied the situation and found that even though the base had revamped the golf club, more area for teaching and practice was sorely needed. There were more golfers and golfing families than the club could handle so Dunlevy found a unique solution.

Convert the seldom used tennis court into a golf learning center.

He turned to Adventure Golf Services of Traverse City, Mich. who designed and built a golf learning and practice center to fit on a tennis court.

Dunlevy said the space has seen plenty of use since it was installed in just under a week last August. Branded by Adventure as the GolfCourt, it is the latest in a number of upgrades to the base recreational facilities including a planned youth center that will use it as part of its program.

There are five full swing stations, six contoured chipping stations, a bunker, a 1,300-square-foot contoured putting area and open space for group instruction. For safety there are retractable net separators and an overhead ball containment net plus a golf simulator, launch monitors and bleachers.

Dunlevy and Ernie Altic, Fort Sill’s golf professional, have been proactive in filling a need and bringing new players into the game.

Year two of TEE IT FORWARD

Last year Barney Adams pushed the idea golfers play from tees that are too long for their ability and should move up a set, at least. According to Adams, founder of Adams Golf and golf industry iconoclast, that would mean they could, “…be hitting eight-irons and wedges into par fours like the pros…not fairway woods.”

In other words the 99.99 percent of golfers who do not make their living on the links are playing for recreation and recreation is supposed to be fun. It’s undeniably more fun to play holes of a length you have a chance of reaching with a couple of good shots rather than par-4s that require a driver, then a 3-wood, then a 9-iron and maybe another iron since the 9-iron missed the green.
MORE…

The TaylorMade TR3 Speed Sleeve isn’t going to make you rich or better-looking or divine the Powerball winning numbers; it is however one of those clever ideas that will help your golf game. MORE…

After having been around golf for a while and particularly having spent years writing about the game and equipment it’s easy to become a bit jaded. Whether it’s the latest and greatest, “You’ll hit the ball 30-yards farther!” driver or a training aid right out of Dr. Jeykll’s lab you kind of feel, “been there, done that.” So when the information about another swing aid crossed by desk I put it in the, “when-I-have-the-time file.”

However looking more closely at the SwingPact and reading the literature it was apparent there were no extravagant claims, hyperbole or even scantily clad models…this might be worth trying. Off to the range and after just a few swings the verdict was simple – it works.

After having six other “range rats” use it, their responses ran from, “neat, interesting” to asking where they could buy one.

The Swingpact consists of a plastic arm with a curved channel on one end and a rubber-tipped prong on the other. Using it couldn’t be simpler, Place the end with channel between the third and fourth fingers of the left hand, grip with the right hand, address the ball and position the wrists so the rubber prong just touches the left forearm. Then make a swing keeping the prong touching the forearm until the club is about waist high. On the downswing the rubber prong comes in contact with the left forearm at about waist high and stays there through contact to waist high on the follow through.

Random items some of which might even be interesting

Golf Digest Best New Courses in Abeyance
The announcement Golf Digest decided to put off at least until next year the previously annual beauty contest naming the Best New Courses came as no surprise but it certainly is a commentary on the state of the golf. The stats are not pretty with just 42 new courses opening in the U. S. from June 2009 to June 2010 and with the majority of new course construction having been tied to the residential real estate boom, when that went bust new golf courses did also.

SKLZ Hinged Putter
SKLZ which makes a lot of training aids for not just golf but other sports as well has developed an improved Refiner Hinged Training Putter with an Anser style head and a two way adjustable hinge. The idea is that putting stoke flaws will cause the hinge to breakdown giving instant feedback when a poor stroke is made.

Cobra ZL Driver – white as a ghost
Ian Poulter created a bit of a stir last week at the HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai using a Cobra driver with an all white head and now Cobra (just in time for Christmas) is producing one for the rest of us. Only 500 of the Limited Edition ZL Driver are to be made for sales around the world so the chances of your local muni having a selection in stock, even at the MSRP of $625, are somewhere between slim and none.

Ping forged iron?
Most people don’t realize it but Ping Golf founder Karsten Solheim experimented with forged irons before settling on the cast iron design making him, his company and family a lot of money and a top shelf reputation. So 40 years later after a beta introduction in Japan (club makers know the Japanese love to be early adopters) the forged Anser iron is now available. An offset head, tungsten sole and machined face and grooves are featured in the design. Ping Anser 3-PW irons with stock steel Project X shafts carry a MSRP of $190 per club and are in stores now.

Most popular course name
The National Golf Foundation database of U.S. golf courses produced the statistic; the most popular course name (including ties and excluding The, Golf Course, Country Club, etc.) is Rolling Hills with 33 having that name. You now have ammunition for that after-round showdown but just to ensure you can come out on top the next three on the list are: Riverside (30), Hillcrest (29) and three at 24, Lakeside, Meadowbrook and Lakeview.

There’s an old golf adage that says a good swing starts with a good grip. Even the best player of all time, Jack Nicklaus, thought that was true. Each year prior to start of the PGA Tour season the Golden Bear would visit Jack Grout, his mentor and coach since he was a boy, and they would go back to basics in order to prepare for the new year. The first basic Nicklaus and Grout checked? His grip.

If Nicklaus thought the grip was that important then the average weekend warrior should certainly pay attention.

Want more proof? In perhaps the most iconic golf instruction book ever, Ben Hogan’s “Five Lessons The Modern Fundamentals of Golf,” the Hawk devotes 19 pages to the grip. Any teaching professional will tell you what Hogan said in that 1957 opus is just as true today.

>>>>To read the rest of this story click on the title “Thumbs up” in Latest First Look Reviews above.

There are hundreds of golf instruction books, tapes and videos; some of doubtful value and a few, a very few really worth the purchase price. On that extremely short list of instructional classics are books such as Ben Hogan’s “Five Lessons” (1957) and Jack Nicklaus’ “Golf My Way” (book published in 1974 and VHS tape in 1983).

Joining that list this year is the new “Lessons of a lifetime” two DVD set by Tom Watson. This is a must-have for any serious golfer regardless of skill level; the only necessity is the desire to improve. MORE…

Here’s the second installment of my suggestions for gifts to golfers.

Five – the Best?
After all the noise about the roll back of the permissible groove cross sectional area to those of 60 years ago little has been said about the response by ball manufacturers to the lower spin rates that will be generated by short irons. TaylorMade Golf has leaped into that discussion with the first 5-layer golf ball. The Penta TP is aimed at the professional/top amateur end of the market but you and I both know that only means you will see them in play by every weekend hacker you run into. At $45.99 per dozen, they are available in limited quantities.

Expensive But Worth It
Miura Golf is known as maybe the top maker of irons in the world; a bold statement to be sure, however just ask those who have a set. The company just entered the utility/hybrid market with the Precious line of hybrids and they are as good as their irons. Available in lofts of 17, 20 and 23 degrees the ball flight is a mid to high launch angle and there’s lots of weight in the sole so getting the ball air borne is no problem. With the standard graphite shaft you can be Precious for $239.

Perfect Fit
Though not strictly a holiday promotion, Etonic has a footwear and glove promotion that’s a perfect fit for gifting. Buy a pair of Etonic shoes from the recently introduced 2010 line and get a free Perfect Fit golf glove (MSRP $18) at no charge.

Heeeere’s Annika
Annika Sorenstam may be off the competitive links but not out of golf by any stretch. She has launched shopAnnika.com on the Internet so you can “purchase all things Annika.” Some of the online items are ANNIKA Academy-branded Cutter & Buck clothing for women and men, academy headwear, Annika’s Fragrance, her game improvement instructional book Golf Annika’s Way, and other gifts plus some authentic, limited edition autographed Annika memorabilia.

Pro V1s for Everybody
Every golfer or anyone giving to a golfer can take advantage of the Titleist promotion for free personalization on any of their models including Pro V1. In a nut shell order a dozen balls with a week lead time and get 3 lines of copy – up to 17 characters – at no charge.

Eidolon
Eidolon wedges are unique, patented and they work. There’s a surprising amount of technology and design in the humble wedge and Terry Koehler at Eidolon knows how to do it very well. Though there a number of features in his wedges not necessarily found on bigger name clubs, what really separates his from their’s is the patented V-sole. The bounce of the first ¼ inch is very high and the rear of the sole’s bounce is less. The combination allows the user to “dial in” just the amount for bounce he wants for each different type of shot. Eidolon V-Sole wedges come in a variety of loft/bounce combinations such as 48° loft pitching wedge with 18° bounce on the front edge and 3° on the rear or the 60° lob wedge with bounces of 25°/6°. Available at EidolonGolf.com, V-Sole Wedge are $129 each for the 60° Lob (25°/6°), 56° Sand (30°/7°), 52° Gap (18°/3°) and 48° Pitching (15°/3°). Two, three and four wedge sets are offered at a discount.

Putting Around
Indoor putting …a poor substitute for the real thing whether seriously working on your stroke or simply a weather-induced housebound diversion. Chair legs, water glasses and Berber-woven flowers have been used as targets and there are those plastic devices that trap an on-line putt or even ball returning target cups. But let’s face it; indoors putting isn’t much fun, perhaps suitable as a few minutes entertainment for a five year-old but not much more. Enter The Putting Game a high tech device which doubles as a putting training aid and gaming station. Take a look on the web site puttinggame.com and see what I mean. $330 online

Each year around this time I start looking at the news items that have crossed my desk since last Christmas for possible golfer gift ideas, think of this as sort of my ‘wish list.’ They range in price from the very expensive to a few dollars therefore potentially filling any gifter’s need. So, in no particular order:

No Golf but a Lot of Relaxation
Buccament Bay Beach Resort opens in July 2010 on the southwest coast of St. Vincent in the Windward Islands has a great year round vacation location, exclusivity, 12 restaurants, a tennis academy, the Liverpool Football Club’s soccer school, a cricket academy, activities for children, a 24-berth marina and NO GOLF. Since there’s no direct air service you have to fly into St. Lucia and take a launch to St. Vincent…sounds like fun.

Bushnell Promos
The Bushnell Tour V2 laser range finder has a permanent spot in my bag and until the end of 2009 they are offering a number of promotions for their various models. The one that caught my eye, since I like the V2, is called the ‘Tour V2 Limited Edition Holiday Pack.’ Included besides a Tour V2 laser rangefinder are a premium carrying case, two 3-volt batteries and two SKINZ™, silicone protective covers, at $100 off the usual retail price of $400.

House of Carrington
“Call me old fashioned but I think the clothes you wear are important, including on the golf course. They speak volumes about you and your attitude and many of the modern “youth-orientated” styles just don’t cut it. Cargo shorts, enormous basketball shorts, tank tops, etc. may look fine on a six-year old but on middle aged weekend warrior they look ridiculous.” That was the lead paragraph of my story about the House of Carrington clothing from two brothers named Bell, classic in design, quality construction using the best of fabrics at middle of the road prices. To locate a retail or green grass shop visit houseofcarrington.com.

Let’s Face It
The TaylorMade Golf TP wedge with xFT (Exchangeable Face Technology) gives players the option of changing out a worn wedge clubface; definitely a neat idea certainly worth consideration given the banning of box grooves by the USGA. Street price is $129 per and comes with a Z groove face (i.e., one conforming to the pre-2010 USGA rule). Other xFT wedge faces with either the Z groove or ZTP groove (conforming to the new 2010 USGA rule) are $39.

Sink More Putts
Dr. Craig Farnsworth’s book, The Putting Prescription, is a great reference on how to putt or at least how to understand what’s going on during the stroke. Farnsworth really does understand putting and has coached everyone from Azinger to Yang how to make more putts. John Wiley & Sons, $24.95

Another Golf Book, But Different
Frank Thomas is a very interesting guy, opinionated to be sure but as knowledgeable person as you can find regarding golf equipment and the game in general. Each week he answers questions sent in by readers of his web site and now has compiled the Q&A into a book, Dear Frank… which is available on his at franklygolf.com for $17.99

More suggestions in a couple of days.

Since virtually every golfer suffers sooner or later with a short game that ranges from barely adequate to having no redeeming value, the information found on TheWedgeGuy.com from wedge-maker Eidolon Golf and president Terry Koehler is “good stuff.” In a three-part series Koehler supplies his six rules for “The Basic Chip Shot.”

The second part of the series, “The Basic Pitch Shot” was posted Oct. 9. These three articles add further to Eidolon’s “short-game solution” library and are maybe the largest collection of information regarding the short game on the web. Best of all there’s no charge.

“From what I hear daily, golfers want more basic and simple information on the short game,” says Koehler. “More importantly, they want simple techniques they can digest and implement without hours and hours of grueling practice. What we’re creating with TheWedgeGuy.com blog is a library of simple and clear short game solutions.”

In “The Basic Chip Shot,” Koehler explains why he’s a believer that golf should be learned from the hole backward. Or if you’ve been playing a while, consider working to improve your scoring from the hole backwards. Koehler breaks down chipping into six basic elements of good chipping technique.

Among those rules:

Choose a club that will just loft the ball safely over the fringe, so that it lands on the green where bounce and roll-out are predictable.

“I marvel at those who will chip the ball to the fringe or collar, then become exasperated when the first bounce is not what they anticipated, so that shot ends up very long or short,” Koehler says. “For consistency, figure out where the ball needs to land on the green, and then how much roll to allow for after that, to get it all the way to the hole. If you want to carry it only 10-20 percent of the way, a 6-8 iron is usually good. At the other end, if you want to carry it more than half way to the hole, you might opt for a pitching or gap wedge. It only takes a little experimentation to learn this basic piece of the puzzle.”