My good friend Terry Koehler, also known as The Wedge Guy, recently did an interview with Fred Greene over at the GolfSmarter Podcast.

Click here to listen to The Wedge Guy talking about the short game.

It’s the June 3rd, 2008 episode, it’s about 42 minutes, it’s very “listenable” and very informative.

The Travelling Golfer Podcast is officially in the works.   The first one should be available for you shortly, so watch the blog for further announcements!

The Travelling Golfer and three friends ventured into Jasper, Indiana to try and tame Sultan’s Run golf course.

We played it from the tips, as we always do everywhere we go and in the end, we felt like ol’ Sultan himself had run over us, around us and thru us !

The photo you see above includes my friends Kevin Cawthorne, Todd Hart and Shane Bosemer.

The course was in pretty good shape, as it usually is and the greens rolled as well as I could hope for, because I putted as well as I can putt.

Sultan’s Run has long been a favorite of mine and we used to travel the short 1 1/2 hours from Louisville several times a year. Of late, after it’s purchase by a new ownership group, the rates seemed a bit high to me, so we dropped it from our rotation. $53 may be inexpensive in many parts of the world, but in our area, that’s over-priced, especially since I can get to the Kentucky State Park golf courses, several of which are better and play for 20% less.

The courses website has this to say about the course’s history:

“It was only a few years ago that this lush land was home to Supreme Sultan, a horse of history and literally a legend in his own time. It was over these hills and valleys of picturesque beauty that Supreme Sultan sired a record number of World Champion American Saddlebred horses. No place on earth can lay claim to this record.

Now, this same ground recalls the heritage of Supreme Sultan just as an engraved stone marks each unique and challenging tee box, memorializing the name of one of these World Champions. From its very beginning, this land was destined for greatness, but few would have predicted the creation of a world class golf course that would entice champions of the links.

Sultan’s Run embarked on an extensive remodeling project in 1996, taking the golf course to the pinnacle of public golf. Designer Tim Liddy, a disciple of world renowned architect Pete Dye, took what God had laid out and what the course already offered, and enhanced it. All 18 holes have been beautified in some shape or form from entirely new bunkering and reconstructed greens, to complete rework of several holes. The end result is that Sultan’s Run has become a world class golf facility that golfers will talk about long after their round is done.”

If your within 2 hours or so of Sultan’s Run, it’s very much worth the trip. You won’t be disappointed. If you’re looking to stay overnight and play a couple of rounds, stay downtown at the Hampton Inn and eat at the Schnitzelbank restaurant. You’ll thank me later.

The most famous hole at Sultan’s Run is, of course, the 18th, which starts with a drive over a gorge and ends with a waterfall behind the green.

The water is very, very cold. I know, since I always put my head under the falling water to instantly cool me off. And I do mean instantly.

All in all, it’s a helluva golf course and you’ll enjoy yourself. Send me an email if you’re going and I’ll join you over there !

Those two fine young fellows are Todd and J.T Hart, two of my playing partners recently at Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park golf course. They travelled all the way from Louisville, along with Jason, just to play a round with the Travelling Golfer !

I didn’t disappoint them, as I showed my total package of shots: chili dips, tops, slices and a few nice shots thrown in just to keep ‘em honest.

I actually parred holes 10 - 14 for the best 5 hole stretch of golf I’ve played this year, though that was only my fourth round. From the tips, this course is a monster, so those five straight pars were a real feat. Of course on the 15th, a par three of about 195 yards over a gorge, I quadrupled for a seven and gave away all the nice strokes I’d saved.

The only real redeeming part of my game was my putting, which was phenomenal, for me, since I’m not known as a great putter.

The golf course at Dale Hollow is in tremendous shape. The zoysia is coming in nicely and the greens rolled like a pool table on steroids !

All of Bruce’s fine staff was as nice as ever and showed us fellow Kentuckians just what southern hospiatality is all about.

The recent addition of a driving range and new clubhouse make this place a “must visit” golf course if you’re near south central Kentucky.

I did a rather lengthy review of Dale Hollow’s golf course about 2 years ago, so if you’d like to read it, just click that link.

In keeping with my soon to be added podcast, I’ll try to get back down there in a few weeks and get you a hole by hole audio review and post it here, so stay tuned !

Just in case you’re wandering near or travelling to Evansville, Indiana, the best course in the area, Cambridge Golf Club, is in great shape for this early in the golfing season. I visited Heath, the pro there, the other day and played 18 holes of one of the best views in southern Indiana.

The greens are so full, lush and thick that I broke several tees trying to use them to repair ball marks.

The fairways are coming in nicely, as Tony’s doing his usual great job as greenskeeper and head grass growing dude !

The only real problem was my inability to score, since they didn’t have a “real golf game” on sale in the proshop, so I had to use the one I brought with me

I’ll try to get back over there in the next couple of weeks and get you a hole by hole audio review and how to play it guide.

Stay tuned !

Did you know that you can bid on a chance to caddy for Boo Weekley, Woody Austin or Justin Leonard ?

Me neither…til I got an email this morning from my new friend Ben.
They’re currently running auctions at CarityBuzz.com for the good folks at Caddy For A Cure.

Bidders have the opportunity to caddy for the three golfers mentioned above while they’re at the upcoming Verizon Heritage.

Caddy for a Cure CEO Russ Holden (Bernhard Langer’s longtime tour caddy) gives away all of the money raised to support a charity of the player’s choice. This truly is an opportunity of a lifetime for a golf fan and they need all the support, links, articles and bids they can get.

Currently the starting bid for all three bags is $2500 and that includes a gift pack including a trip to Arizona valued at well over $2000 !

Here’s the link to the auction.

Click that link right now and see if you can help !

GolfHubs.com, simply put, is a search engine for golf courses.

I can itemize all the bells & whistles for you, but one of their goals in building the site was to make it as self-explanatory as possible.

In other words, go here: http://www.golfhubs.com, and if you don’t get the idea within a few seconds, well, then … they tried to make it idiot-proof, but aren’t quite there yet

Another goal was avoid looking like some amateur designer threw some crap on a page and said that’s good enough … like A LOT of golf-related websites.

The creative genius behind the site received “top portfolio” of his graduating class, then went on to do concept design for Fossil for a year-and-a-half, amid various freelance projects for a variety of industries before being brought on as the creative lead for GolfHubs.com.

You can see a generous sample of Carter’s work at http://www.cmartindesign.com.

It’s as fine a portfolio as you’ll find. Very impressive, very creative, very professional.

Maybe you need a new design for your golf-related website. If so, holler at Carter and tell him Mike sent you.

The lead developer, Stephen, has been building websites for a variety of industries for over the past seven years, including Real Estate, Entertainment, Resorts, Ski & Snowboard, Parks & Attractions, Churches, Finance, and Insurance.

What makes GolfHubs.com different … and better ?

• It’s sleek – Most golf sites are really a strewn-together collection of disconnected text & ads that overwhelm and clutter. GolfHubs.com is simple and intuitive. And no ads.

• It’s advanced – Why don’t other golf sites have a “smart” search bar like Google that can parse whatever you type and figure out what you want, instead of requiring you to fill out a small tax-return-like form to narrow your results ?

• It’s dynamic – Most every bit of content on the site (articles, reviews, photos, green fees, map locations, etc.) is user-updateable, meaning once you log in (registration is free, of course) you can start changing things as you see fit. They seem to be hoping to borrow from Wikipedia’s successful model and have the course updating become a well-oiled machine.

• It’s fast (WARNING: NERDY TALK AHEAD) – GolfHubs.com runs on a tier-1-hosted dedicated server, is XHTML compliant, and has optimized database indexes and query structures. Feel smarter yet ?

All that really means is that even searches that return hundreds of courses take place in under half a second, on average … unless you’re still bangin’ on a 486, in which case this doesn’t apply, your search will still take half an hour.

• It’s comprehensive – GolfHubs.com has over 16,000 courses and 20,000 photos already catalogued.

So quit stallin’ and head over to join and add your own reviews of your favorite courses !

This review was provided by my new golf buddy Rich Hicks of Cincinnati. He’s lucky enough to travel and play golf and is kind enough to tell us all about it !

Heron Creek is an Arthur Hills designed golf course in North Port, Florida (about 25 miles south of Sarasota) that features 27 holes (Marsh, Creek & Oaks). All nines have four tee boxes with yardages that can play about 6900 yards, par 72 from the back tee.

The “Oaks” is a traditional Florida course that winds through a residential neighborhood. Except for a very unique starting hole, which includes a 30’ elevation change from tee to green, the layout is okay, but not spectacular. The nine features some sort of water on every hole. Perhaps the best finishing hole at Heron Creek is the 9th hole on the Oaks ( pictured below ). It’s a demanding tee shot, but the left side of the fairway is rewarded with a chance to reach this medium length par five in two. A bail-out to the right and mid-iron lay-up will leave a short wedge to the green; but you better hit it close, because it’s not an easy two putt anywhere on this green.

The “Marsh” was another typical Florida layout bordered by a housing community that doesn’t affect the playability. The Marsh nine had quite a few blind tee-shots that looked tight off the tee, but the fairway looking back to the tee, there was ample landing area. The Marsh nine was tighter than the Oaks nine, but in a more modern sense. Although the nine was visually intimidating, it played a little easier than it appeared.

Two of the better holes on the Marsh nine are #8, a short par 4 with a challenging tee shot, and a long par 3 that looks extremely tight off the tee, but there is a lot of space long and left of this large green

The “Creek” nine is why we went to Heron Creek. The lay-out was fantastic ! Every hole presented a unique challenge and was visually stunning. The holes represented a modern design with bunkering, water and chipping bowls around the greens. The signature hole is the 4th hole, a par 5 that plays 503 yards from the back tee. A good drive left-center will leave a shot at the green in two, what a beautiful hole. A unique feature of this nine is driving the carts in the waste areas in lieu of cart paths on a few holes.

Our day at Heron Creek included 36 holes, but the wind and chilly temperatures (okay, chilly for Southern Florida) made it a tough day to score. The course conditioning was excellent, greens were moderately fast and receptive, fairways were firm and fast, and the tee boxes were spread out enough such that it can be played from a comfortable yardage for all handicaps. The clubhouse, pro shop and facilities are what you would expect for an upscale golf facility. The club appeared to have a healthy membership that patronized the restaurant/pub and golfing facilities. Everyone we encountered was helpful and courteous. If you’re there around lunch, they have a great buffet and cold beverages.

Be sure to check the website for coupons, which can reduce your green fees (http://www.heron-creek.com). If you’re in the area between Sarasota and Fort Meyers, Heron Creek is worth playing.

I‘m now the proud owner of a 19 degree Hybrid from Bobby Jones Golf.

It’s been raining here for the last 5-7 days and pretty chilly, so today’s 60 degrees and sunny skies was the first chance I’ve had to drop by our range and hit this sweet little par 5 killer.

Why would I refer to it as a par 5 killer ? Because that’s what I overheard Gary McCord refer to his hybrid as. I can hit 3-wood or driver off the tee and then hit this hybrid and easily get to every green that’s 470-500 yards away. Easily.

My friends hated it that I could hit my 3-wood 235-250 off the tee and then hit my old Adams 20 degree hybrid 220, making most par 5’s an easy birdie hole, with 2 putts or an easy chip on and a birdie putt.

Today’s 60 degree temperature and with the wind quartering in to me didn’t stop me from peppering the 225 marker on the range with our Srixon range balls.

10-20 feet of fade or 20-30 feet of draw was the shot of the day with the Bobby Jones Hybrid. And for my first time hitting it, that’s not too bad. Not too bad at all.

If I can hit the 20-30 feet of draw, getting me a little run on a dry fairway, I’ll hit it on tight or short par 4’s. The fairway plays so much better than the rough. Seems to promote lower scores for some strange reason.

If I can hit it with a 10-20 foot drop over fade into green’s, it’ll easily hold 225-235 yard approach shots. Easily.

MY only nitpick is the shaft selection I made. I had never hit a JS-7 shaft before and every clubfitter and salesperson who sees my 6′2″ 250 lb. frame assumes I need a stiff shaft.

If they’ve never seen me swing, they don’t know I’m a fairly smooth swinger, on occasion and really prefer a softer shaft.

Maybe not a full blown regular, as when I build my own clubs I tend to cut the shaft exactly between stiff and regular, maybe you could call that a firm.

But, don’t get me wrong, it’s not like the stiff version of the JS-7 is as stiff as a board, like the green NV was in my Adams hybrid. I hate that shaft with an ugly, burning passion.

This stiff is just barely a teeny bit too stiff and makes me swing a tad harder than I want to. Barely. Not much, just barely.

The sole of the Bobby Jones hybrid is one of the best features about it.

It’s lower in the middle, like a keel and it really allows you to go down in the dirt after the ball, so from bad lies it really worked well.

I believe it’s a throwback to some of the old time wooden clubs that worked so well, before metal got in the way.

I put the ball into divots, tall grass and on bare, moist dirt and it went and got it and moved it forward with purpose.

It’ll also come in handy when I have to use it around the greens as a chipping club, as I went over to the practice green and tested that too.

The biggest surprise for me was the ‘thwack’ sound it made, instead of a tinny, metallic ping of some sort that most clubs make today.

As you would expect, that’s because the designer, Jesse Ortiz was around working on wooden clubs with a rasp and file when he started years ago, instead of just in front of a CAD program, like a lot of today’s golf club designers.

It really feels like a solid club and that distinctive sound adds to the solid feeling, as mind, ears and hands all work together to provide the final feedback you feel.

The grip is perfect for me. It feels like a Winn, that’s a compliment, and has great markings and is visually appealing.

Not too hard, not too squishy. Just right. Kinda like the porridge that Goldilock’s loved so much.

Overall, I’m tremendously happy to own this hybrid and I’m looking forward to calling some friends tomorrow and asking them if they want to venture down to Alabama and play a couple of the RTJ Golf Trail courses.

I need to play a few rounds with this sweet little club before the winter weather makes golf a dream, instead of a reality.

A few years back Jesse Ortiz revolutionized the fairway wood part of the game of golf. Today he’s done the same thing for hybrids, as I’m pretty sure it can’t get any better than this.

He also made sure it would look great in your bag by giving us another throwback, the knit headcover.

I like it much, much better than some of the ginormous headcovers we’re stuck with today.

It’ll work itself easily into my carry bag and won’t make me get a map just to find a way around it, looking for another club.

If the driver and fairway woods are anywhere near this solid and easy to hit, my carry bag may well look a lot different next spring !

My 3-wood is pretty well settled in, theorhetically, but that Cobra driver with that awful green NV shaft has been looking for an escape clause all year.

Do yourself a favor and drop by the Bobby Jones Golf website and use their convenient store locator to find the nearest shop to you.

Believe me, you’ll be glad you did.

What are the chances that I can get away with using this sweet little thang as my ballmark the next time I play a round at my local club ?

It’s called EEZ-READ and pronounced easy read and the inventor says it will give me a quick read to see if the green is uphill, downhill, breaks left, breaks right, etc.

I don’t know about you, but even if I can’t use it in competition, I’d still like to go out and survey my local clubs greens and make a nice little diagram like the well paid boys use.

If anybody has any experience with this, let me know what you think.