July 2006

Just a quick read to let you in on a great find - per Robert Thompson’s Going For The Green, I just found a jewel of a golf blog.

It’s call The Home of Golf and I started reading the July 30th post and was golfmercized enough to read a weeks worth before I had to pull away and get some work done !

Click thru and enjoy both of these fine golf blogs.

For those of us who were watching golf back in the early ’80’s, we’re as happy as we can be for Corey pavin. I’ve got the remnants of tears in my eyes from watching him hang on to beat hometown favorite Jerry Kelly in Milwaukee to win the U.S. Bank Championship.

I remember the first time I ever heard him called “a gritty little player.”

I remember watching that 4-wood soar majestically at Shinecock.

I remember watching him dismantle Colonial.

I remember him beating the big boys at famed Riviera. Twice.

I’m delighted to try and mimick some of his moves thru the ball. I’d love to be a golf technician like him. Even though I out weigh him by 100 lbs !

He’s the one player you didn’t want to face in match play. Just ask the Euros.

Golf was the winner today, because it wasn’t slash-n-gash golf. It was Old Tom Morris, Sam Snead and Ben Hogan come back to delight us, not haunt us.

Maybe this and Tiger’s technical knockout at Hoylake will remind golfers that there’s more to golf than drivers and wedges.

Let’s hope it continues next week at the Buick.

I just ran Travelling Golfer thru the blog valuator that’s powered by Technorati.

As for the current value :

We’re also looking for sponsorship, so if you have a golf related product or service that you’d like to have seen over 20,000 times per month, leave a comment or send me an email.

Has anybody else seen this new tool for keeping your greens smooth and healthy ? The Divotmaster looks like it could be pretty useful and easy to use.

For a little history of the Divotmaster, let’s read some of what John Luna says about it :

” One summer morning, I stopped at one of our local golfcourses to practice chipping before going to work. I was appalled at all the ballmarks that had been left unrepaired on the chipping green.

It occurred to me, ” There ought to be an easy way to repair ballmarks quickly and properly, so all golfers would repair them ! ”

I took this thought to my shop where I started doing some experimenting with different ideas. After making an initial prototype and improving it several times, I finally came up with this tool.

The Divotmaster is an eight-pronged tool with an angle on the inside edge of the prongs. The patented radial design of the prongs along with the inside angle, make it possible to bring the turf up and towards the center everytime you “jab” in the area of the ballmark. “

For more history, pricing and to see the Divotmaster in action, click thru to their website.

Did you happen to see Robert Thompson’s post about The Subtle Art Of Business Golf.

If not click thru and enjoy a dang good read !

Need a snippet or two to entice you ? Okay, here you go :

1. LEARN THE GAME

You don’t have to perform like Tiger Woods, but top golf instructor Chima McLean of the Kings Golf Academy in Toronto, says you do need some sense of how to play.

2. USE THE GAME TO UNDERSTAND YOUR BUSINESS PARTNERS

John Usborne, president of BNP Securities Canada Inc., says he doesn’t use a golf outing to close deals. Instead, he uses the four hours on the links to size up his business associates.

3. KNOW WHEN TO DO BUSINESS

“ Business golf has changed, ” says Chris Neale, the director of golf at Copper Creek Golf Club north of Toronto. “ Now, a person wants a client to come out and play, but also to stay and have dinner afterward, which is often when the topic of business comes up. And we’re not talking about burgers and fries here. We’re talking about a bottle of wine and a nice meal. ”

That’s more than enought to get the job done, now click thru and read the whole post !

Over the last month or so, 5 of my posts have really gathered a lot of views. Just in case you’ve missed some of them, I’ll give you another chance with the links below :

1) Month after month, this post about the Nike SasQuatch driver gets lots of hits

2) Likewise, this post about the pros and cons of cavity back irons is very popular.

3) There must be a lot of people visiting the Kentucky State Parks, as this post about Dale Hollow Lake State Park Golf Course is a world beater for getting traffic.

4) Many, many people like this review on my new putter, the Ray Cook Extreme Aim 3.

5) And rounding out the Top 5 is this post about the great golf course at Yatesville Lake State Park.

Is anyone else getting tired of Lanny Wadkins’ constant demaning comments aimed at ‘Fairway’ Freddie Funk ?

First at the US Senior Open and then during the Ford Senior Players Championship we had to hear Lanny gloating that - ” Fred Funk’s finding out how good these guys are on the Champions Tour. ”

No kidding Lanny ? These guys are good ?

I’ve not read anywhere that Fred said he was gonna kick ass and take names. Quite the contrary, as he said he wanted to get out there, get used to 3 round tournaments and the new courses.

So why does Lanny think he has to rub Fred’s nose in it that he’s played 2 whole tournaments and not won yet ? I have no idea.

I also notice that he didn’t do this to his friends Jay Haas or Curtis ” I haven’t been in the hunt since 1990 ” Strange. Nor did he do it to Brad Bryant or Loren Roberts when they came out.

Why Fred Funk ? I have no idea.

Here’s the two things we need -

1) For Lanny to come down out of the booth and beat Fred on a consistent basis.

or

2) For Lanny to shut up about Fred.

Too bad we don’t have Challenge Golf anymore. Maybe Fred could challenge ol’ Loose Lips and then Lanny could put up or shut up.

I’d be happy with either.

Wow ! That’s about all I can say after buying this golf ball crusher ! This dude is hot ! This dude is Long ! This dude is straight !

I traded in a MacGregor MacTec 3-wood that I didn’t like and bought this driver to match my F-Speed 3-wood. I got the 10.5 degree, with the Aldila NV-F stiff shaft and I am crushing the ball !

We’ve had an enormous amount of rain for the last 2 days, so I can really judge overall distance well as of yet, BUT, I’m hitting it straight and with a shade over medium trajectory and the carry is really, really long.

I’ll let you know more over the next several days as we dry out, but it’s longer than my Nike, which wasn’t the newest model and it’s longer than my Callaway, which wasn’t the newest model.

Both of those are for sale, too, so if you’d like a Nike or Callaway driver for a good price, email me and we’ll work out a deal.

Here’s a quick heads up to let you know my good friend Mike Pedersen of Golf-Trainer and PerformBetterGolf is putting together a “plug-n-play” golf stretching DVD. Mike says it will quickly improve your range of motion, power and overall consistency and eliminate that nagging back ache that all us golfers suffer from.

He is doing a ” pre-order ” offer today for $19.95 (plus shipping) and said it will go up at least $10, maybe $15 when finished.

If you’re interested in improving your flexibility, golf fitness and power, click thru to this special offer and enjoy the benefits of golf specific stretches.

Clicking here will take you straight to Mike’s secure server to place your pre-order for his golf stretches DVD.

Mike says it will ship in 3 weeks, but place your order right away to get this low price.

EDIT - 11:10 AM - If you don’t think stretches and fitness are important for golf, check page 130 of the August issue of Golf Digest, which I just opened.

I recently bought a new Cobra F-Speed 3 Wood with the Aldila NV-F stiff shaft. I’m not prone to embellishment, but I will exaggerate a little, but this dude is a rocket with a graphite booster engine ! I love the ease at which it goes thru the hitting zone. I love the draw bias. I love the way the ball screams as it leaves the face of this masher.

I can hit a straight ball with it. I can hit a draw with it and I can hit a hook, if I try real hard. But I cannot slice this dude, even when I try. I’m still trying to find a little, bitty cut in it, but I’m not sure it’s there.

There’s no way you can be scared of a tight fairway with this club in your hand.

I’m now on the lookout for a matching driver and when I find one, I’ll be a force to be feared at my local muni…that is, until I get an iron in my mitts !

Need help taming your slice and/or cut ? Try Cobra’s F-Speed 3 Wood and see if it will work the same wonders for you.