January 2006

Isn’t that one of the best banners/logos you’ve seen in a long time ?

Don’t you just love that name ? I do. But maybe that’s because it sounds Kentuckian. But it’s not, it’s from Ohio and it’s another Buckeye golf bonanza. Another fine track that Golf Digest deemed worthy of their Best New Affordable Public Course for 2006.

The Golf Club at Stonelick Hills is a Jeff Osterfeld design. Never heard of him, but he’s probably saying that about me and this blog too. He also happens to be listed as owner. Jeff, if you’re out there, I’d love to come play your course and give the readers of travelling Golfer a real review.

That doesn’t mean he didn’t do a good job, because early reports are fantastic and I go to Ohio several times a year, so I’ll get a crack at this fine dude this spring or summer.

Here’s a few lines from the History page on the site :

” In just about every major city I have traveled in my lifetime, there exists at least one upscale Golf Club that was truly built just for GOLF. Sounds pretty logical…. Right? Not necessarily!

My staff and I welcome you to experience a one of a kind course, routed through heavily forested hills and over and around numerous ponds and lakes. All golfers from every set of tees will appreciate the uniqueness of each hole and feel individually challenged by the variety of shots necessary to complete such a strategic layout. Enjoy your round as a relaxing stroll through nature, inhabited by the variety of wildlife typical of such unspoiled surroundings. Don’t let the climax created by the beauty and drama so evident in the finishing holes impede your ability to fully appreciate the genuine balance in the design and the conditioning of the entire golf course. I truly hope we exceed your expectations and your visit is a relaxing escape from the hectic pace of today! ”

Now if that doesn’t inspire you to visit Stonelick Hills, you ain’t much of a travelling golfer.

Go see ol’ Jeff and tell him Mike sent you !

Another one of the Best New Affordable Golf Course, as selected by Golf Digest is Grey Hawk Golf Club at Durham Ridge.

This gem is another one that golfing Buckeye’s have to gloat over. I’m not sure why, but Ohio is covered with fine golf courses. Can’t be the Nicklaus’ factor, as Jack’s courses don’t do it for me. Then again, Jack probably would think my swing is ugly.

Here’s a snippet from their website :

” Grey Hawk Golf Club at Durham Ridge, a new golf course community in the Village of LaGrange, features a spectacular championship course surrounded by a diverse, affordable mix of housing options.

The expansive 268-acre Durham Ridge golf community, located on the southeast corner of Biggs and Route 301, provides homebuyers a charming mix of small-town flavor and new home living. The site has convenient access to State Route 10, just 30 minutes west of downtown Cleveland and a 20-minute drive to Hopkins Airport.

The 18-hole daily fee golf course, designed by von Hagge, Smelek and Baril, is a championship course built to USGA specifications. The master plan for the project has yielded incredibly successful results with eighty-five percent (85%) of the homes having golf course frontage and breathtaking views. “

Renowned golf course architects von Hagge, Smelek and Baril designed the golf course. The championship style golf course is innovative and the design unforgettable.

The foundation of the von Hagge design philosophy is the von Hagge 21-point criteria. This system combines examination of every level of ability, trajectory, direction, distance, terrain contour and positioning of golf course features. Robert von Hagge’s trademark is to create excitement at every tee fairway and green, providing anticipation for the player as to what lies ahead.

The course is a par 72 with an estimated slope of 128 and the anticipated greens are forty-eight dollars ($48.00) an 18-hole round, which includes a golf cart. The golf course design and rating will be a challenging experience for the avid golfer, yet a forgiving layout for the aspiring player. The use of sand, water, and terrain variations will create a spectacular and memorable golf experience that will leave the golfer longing to challenge the course over and over again.

“ In my opinion von Hagge is the complete artist in his field… extremely competent and creative in design, while alert to the practical, economic aspect of his work. Without question, I would place von Hagge as ‘number one’ in the United States.”

CORE Sports Performance, Inc. proudly announces the introduction of its patented CORE Golf Trainer®, the only hydraulic-based fitness equipment specifically designed to train and strengthen a golfer’s core muscle groups. A unique and innovative approach to golf fitness, the CORE Golf Trainer produces a perfect simulation of an actual golf swing to help users improve technique, strength and endurance. It is now available to sports training facilities, gyms, fitness centers, golf schools and athletic programs throughout the country.

According to the CORE Golf Trainer’s inventor, fitness instructor Kevin Cavaretta, the machine is unlike any other fitness equipment or devices in golf today. Rather than relying on pulleys, bands or other free weight resistance, the CORE Golf Trainer utilizes sophisticated hydraulics to concentrate its resistance directly in front of a golfer’s torso at all times. Through a series of exercise routines, the user can work all of the core muscles –upper back and torso, abdomen, hips and upper legs, even the forearms–which are the acknowledged sources of all power and repeatability in the golf swing.

” I designed the CORE Golf Trainer to provide an accurate simulation of the modern golf swing with concentric resistance, ” explained Cavarretta. ” This means that the resistance is always directly in front of the direction of motion. All other types of weight training rely on eccentric resistance, where the muscles are working against a force pulling in the opposite direction. From a golf perspective, this promotes imbalance and encourages the golfer to get outside his swing path. From a health perspective, our type of workout results in essentially no muscle damage, so there is little or no recovery time after a workout. ”

Company President and CEO Terry Koehler, who brings over 25 years experience in the golf industry to CORE Sports Performance, said he was immediately impressed with the CORE Golf Trainer the first time he saw the early prototypes.

“ The CORE Golf Trainer can be used on a daily basis to build golf swing memory and strength,” explained Koehler. ” It also provides an outstanding abdominal workout, which accents overall health and fitness, particularly with regard to back strength. ”

” But one of the most exciting aspects of the CORE Golf Trainer is its value as a teaching and learning tool, ” says Koehler. ” Because the resistance is always directly in front of the golfer, and the resistance stops when the motion stops, it is a wonderful device for an instructor to use to isolate various positions in the both the backswing and follow-through, and allows the golfer to experience the feel of a real golf swing in slow motion. ”

Koehler explains that the new CORE Golf Trainer is the only training and fitness product on the market that isolates all of the muscles used in the golf swing in the exact order in which they fire. The machine offers four main exercise routines that strengthen and train the muscle movements required for a powerful and repeating move through impact, as well as applications for putting and short game improvement. Each exercise helps build muscle power and memory by teaching the proper technique under resistance. And because of the CORE Golf Trainer’s unique and patented resistance methodology, the golfer experiences a quick post-workout recovery, so the machine can be used even on days when a round of golf is scheduled.

The CORE Golf Trainer can be purchased individually, or as part of a complete hydraulic fitness circuit with four to eight compatible machines to create a total golf fitness program. The CORE Golf Trainer has a Suggested Retail Price of $3,295, and carries a ten- year warranty. CORE Sports Performance offers discounts to high school and college golf programs, and has a dealer program that is available to all purchasers.

For more information on the CORE Golf Trainer, contact Karen Martin, VP Sales/Eastern U.S., 512-535-5091 or karen[at]coregolftrainer.com, or Cori Schock, VP Sales/Western U.S., 512-535-5078 or cori[at]coregolftrainer.com.

Okay. I’ll admit it. This picture is one of the greatest advertisements for a golf course, a spa, a resort, a hide-a-way, whatever, that I’ve ever seen.

That, my friends, is courtesy of their website, which is one of the best I’ve ever seen, visually speaking.

If that doesn’t do it for you, how about this one. Can you imagine a beautiful, windless, 72 degree evening, you just shot a 79 and your wife won $1000 at Bingo and is paying for dinner ? Me neither, but a man can dream can’t he !

That’s about all I can do to try to get you to book a golf vacation at Troon North and invite me along. So go ahead and git-er-done !

Tell ‘em Mike sent you !

Eidolon Golf, manufacturer of the highly acclaimed V-SOLE® Wedges, has joined the Professional Clubmakers’ Society (PCS) and its many members who are dedicated to advancing the art of custom club fitting, building and repair within the golf industry. Eidolon Golf is dedicated to custom fitting and expert craftsmanship, which is evident in the extreme quality and performance from every V-SOLE wedge they produce.

“ Effective short game improvement can only be achieved through the finest technology and quality, combined with custom fitting, so making our V-SOLE wedge available to PCS members creates the perfect combination for delivering real results in the short game, ” says Terry Koehler, president of Eidolon Golf and former Ben Hogan Golf executive. “ Our premium V-SOLE wedges combine precise CNC milling of faces and grooves with patented V-SOLE design to offer more spin and more control to golfers of all skill levels. Clubmakers will be able to offer their customers a truly premium wedge to help them achieve real short game improvement. ”

Eidolon’s innovative V-SOLE technology has no equal in today’s golf market. It allows improved shot-making versatility that no other wedge can match. With V-SOLE technology, the leading edge of the wedge’s sole — about one-quarter of an inch —has an aggressive bounce (18 degrees on the 52-degree gap wedge, 30 degrees on the 56-degree mid wedge, and 25 degrees on the 60-degree lob wedge) which ensures that the leading edge never digs into the turf. The primary rear portion of the sole features minimal bounce — three degrees on the 52 gap wedge, seven degrees on the 56 mid wedge and six degrees on the 60 lob wedge — for playability from tight lies. In addition to its patented sole design, Eidolon painstakingly CNC-mills every individual groove and wedge face — a revolutionary extra step that goes far beyond most mass-produced wedges. The additional milling achieves nearly 100 percent of the groove specifications allowed by the U.S. Golf Association, as compared with as low as 60 to 70 percent groove measurements that are common to standard production wedges.

Eidolon V-SOLE wedges are backed by the strongest money-back guarantee in the market. Clubmakers can inspect and even demo the Eidolon V-SOLE wedges and, if they do not agree that the V-SOLE is the finest component wedge head available, Eidolon will refund the purchase price and the original shipping costs, if returned within the first 30 days.

Eidolon wedges are available for purchase online at www.eidolongolf.com.

For more information, please visit www.eidolongolf.com or call 361.983.4691.

Did you happen to see the new lists done by Golf Digest in their January ‘06 issue ?

They have one for Best New Upscale Public and Best New Affordable.

Good stuff.

On the list for Best New Affordable, I’ve already done posts about #3 and #4.

#3 was Eagle Ridge at Yatesville Lake and #4 was The Shoals, a Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail course.

If you missed those two, I’m betting on my Related Posts plugin to bring them up underneath this post.

Scroll down and see.

Tell me I sent you !

Dale Hollow State Resort Park has long been a destination of distinction for residents of Kentucky and Tennessee, along with a few other southern states.

From their website :

” Located in South Central Kentucky near Burkesville at Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park. The longest of the new courses, the Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park Golf Course, a $7.8 million investment, plays along hilly terrain. The No. 8 par 5 hole measures 539 yards; its green is framed by a waterfall and small caves. The No. 15 hole is a par 3 and plays over a gorge. The banks to the 61 bunkers are unusually steep. Hole 11 features a large bunker encompassing 3/4 of an acre. “

The park is one of many in the state that attract visitors from all over the United States. The Kentucky State park system is well known and respected for their cleanliness, beauty and affordability.

Go by and check out their website and then make a date to enjoy some of the finest golf and scenery in the Southeast U.S.

Tell ‘em Mike sent you !

Here’s another great bit of news for golfers in the state of Kentucky.

Over around Louisa, is Yatesville Lake State Park and a fine golf course, called Eagle Ridge Golf Course.

” Located at Yatesville Lake State Park in Eastern Kentucky, this course is built on mountainous terrain and features dramatic views. Some holes play downhill with 100 to 200 foot changes in elevation. The par 5, No. 4 hole plays from an elevated tee and is flanked by a creek along the fairway. Hole No. 13, a par 4, plays from a 200-foot elevation to the green surrounded by a rock outcropping and a creek. ”

For those of you who aren’t very familiar with them, the parks that make up the State Park system for Kentucky are among the finest in the nation and always have been.

Here’s the best parts of a press release from the State of Kentucky :

” Golf Digest magazine has named Eagle Ridge Golf Course at Yatesville Lake State Park in Louisa, Ky., as one of the nation’s “Best New Affordable Public Golf Courses” in 2005.

The 6,630-yard, par 71-course, which is carved out of the Eastern Kentucky mountains, ranked third on the magazine’s annual list. A nationwide panel of more than 800 golfers selected the winners based on shot values, design variety, resistance to scoring, memorability and aesthetics.

“ It’s terrific to receive this kind of recognition and we’re hopeful golfers from all over the state — as well as surrounding states — will want to see why this course is so highly regarded,” said Deputy Parks Director John Kington. “ We offer a package called ‘ Tee’s and Zzz’s ’ that makes it easy for anyone who wants to play Eagle Ridge to couple it with an overnight stay at Jenny Wiley State Resort Park. ”

Eagle Ridge is the fourth golf course operated by the Kentucky State Parks to receive accolades from Golf Digest.

Hidden Cove at Grayson Lake State Park and Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park course were both ranked among the nation’s best new affordable public courses in 2004, at fourth and six respectively. Wasioto Winds at Pine Mountain State Resort Park was ranked fourth in the same category in 2002.

“ To receive this recognition from such a well known and respected golf publication really validates our courses,” said Dan Strohmeier, the park system’s PGA director of golf. “ With this recent announcement, four of the six courses on our ‘Signature Series’ can now boast of having received Golf Digest awards.”

I’ll be doing a post about all the other golf courses in the State Park system over the next week or two.

I’ve played most of them and always enjoy an overnite stay in one of the Resorts that have cabins or cottages.

The parks have great lodges and the rooms are clean and well done, but a family of 5 does better with more room.