The Journey To Scratch: Goals For The Next Round

One of the very important things that I am doing along the way in my “Journey To Scratch” adventure is making sure I set some goals for each round. Every time I hit the course, I need to try and get a bit better at something. From lowering my total number of putts to hitting more greens, trying to set a loftier goal for my next round is part of building a stronger game. For example, before my 74 on the 21st of August, I was able to setup a few goals using my round from August 7th. These goals included hitting 70% of my fairways, 70% of my greens and having a much better conversion rate on chips (75% on that round.)   After playing my round on the 21st, I was able to nail down almost all three of them in one fell swoop, but I just missed the fairways goal.

GOALS FOR THE AUGUST 21ST ROUND

Hit 70% of the fairways – 8/14 (57%)
Hit 70% of the greens – 15/18 (83%)
Hit 75% in chipping up & down percentage – 0/0  (100%)

While those numbers may look great, my total putts soared up to 35, which is probably due to the fact that I didn’t have any close missed greens that allowed me to sneak in a few one putts. The bad part is, I had 2 one putts on the front side and another on the back. That’s three one putts (all on par 3’s) that should have brought me down to 30-32 putts. Rolling in more of the 15-20 foot putts will be key to getting the scores down in to the upper 60’s where I need to be, so that will be one of my goals. Also, I need to eliminate the “right” drives. I had 5 drives miss the fairway right in the last round. Now, honestly, they didn’t miss by much. 6 and 15 were the exceptions for the day, but 10, 11 and 14  weren’t more than a few yards offline. Straightening out those drives, would have saved me a shot on 15 and possibly one on 14. The 161 yard wedge that shot 30 yards over the green was hopefully a fluke though, so I’m not even sure if the drive cost me a shot on that hole or not.

Taking a look at my next practice round, which should be on September 11th, I really want to try and step things up a bit, even with the new clubs going into my bag. So, looking at the bigger picture here, I would like to increase the number of fairways I hit to 10. This gives me a 70% rate on them. I’d love to keep greens where they are at, but move the ball closer to the hole to give myself more of a chance to one putt. If I can continue to hit the greens like this, I shouldn’t need any chipping improvement, so let’s move that goal to putting. If I can drop to 30 putts (1.7 per hole) I should be able to break 70 on the course without much issue. For ne next round then, here are the new set of goals.

GOALS FOR THE SEPTEMBER 11TH ROUND

Hit 70% of the fairways –
Hit 80% of the greens –
Hit 32 putts or less – 

If I can pull these off, I should come into the clubhouse at around 70. Three putts less and one approach shot should get me there. The new irons should come out very close to one club longer than my FG49’s, so I don’t expect too much difference in play from them. As I dial them in over the first few holes, hopefully they can be as close as I hope they are. Also, given the fact that most of my shots into the greens were 7 iron and under, I can run my target yardages to 75 (60°) and 95 (56°) wedges. From the blue tees, I only had 8 actual irons for approach shots. The rest of the approaches were all wedges. It will be more work on the 1/2 and 3/4 wedges on shorter courses and more work in the 7-9 iron range for the longer ones, but for that September 11th round, I think I can definitely work towards hitting that magical 70 number as long as I hit the ball as well as I did the last time out.

Blog Babble: Anyone Else Sick Of Apparel Sales?

Have to admit that I don’t spend much money at golf stores on golf apparel. In fact, I’ve become a big fan of the Walter Hagen line of shirts at Wal-Mart (about $15 each) due to the fact that they breathe well, are solidly built and have a great lite weight feel to them. This is the reason why I had to post the fact that I am so sick of getting apparel ads from the online golf stores. Seriously, send me ball ads or tees, or some other consumable that I will need to replenish before the end of the year (or maybe those handy rangefinders that need to find their way under the tree for Christmas?) instead of end of summer deals on summer clothes.

I know they need to move their inventory before the weather changes, but this stuff was already on clearance at my local retailers months ago. Taking 30% off now isn’t likely to make me buy something today. In my opinion, the best way to convert online traffic is to make the ad nutty clickable – like the Bridgestone pull from the same ad that featured the apparel above. Balls, priced so low, we can’t tell you here… Now that is an ad that I would click on, but I didn’t make it past the 30% off shirts I don’t need, so I didn’t.

For e-tailers, capturing the customer is essential for them to stay in business. For golfers, we try to keep the junk mail in our inboxes to a minimum. If we see too much of the stuff that we don’t need leading the ads, we probably will just start deleting them for a while before we unsubscribe to them. It’s a sad fact, but it’s true. We only have so much time to scan for deals, and if they keep sending us stuff that we won’t use, or buy, why would we waste our time reading it. So, e-tailers, please, take note: send consumables and cool stuff, not another 25-50% off shirts coupon, OK?

Stroke Saver: Learn Your Distances To Score Better

Coming up short of your target is a horrible feeling. I know, as it was probably the biggest flaw in my game so far this year. I believe the second biggest flaw was thinking that the club would get to the target I was shooting for. While that may sound like the same issue, it honestly isn’t, they are two completely separate issues with two completely separate solutions. The first is usually caused by a poor swing or some external condition. The second is a complete head game that golfers play, which is usually started by the question, “What did you hit there?” Fortunately, both are pretty easy to solve and this is how.

Under-clubbing is a direct result of thinking you are going to hit the perfect shot every time you strike the ball. Or basing your distances off “one shot” or worse yet, those driving range distances. While it’s all fine and dandy to get a guesstimate at the range, until you physically check distances for a few rounds on the course, your never going to know your real world distances. These are the ones you need to have written down on that handy card in your bag. The best way I have found to chart yardages is to use the extra spaces on your scorecard to write the club and distance for each shot on a hole. If you chunk the shot or catch it thin, don’t count it in the averages, but anything else, fade vs. draw, slices, or even that pull hook gets distance and direction written down. If you have a bit of money burning a hole in your pocket, I can’t recommend using the Golf Pad App with your Android phone and pairing it with the $99 Golf Tags for the best tracking experience I’ve ever used. If you don’t want to shell out for those, you can also just use the App without the tags, it just takes a few seconds longer to track each shot.

Once you know the physical distances you actually hit your clubs, you can start tracking shot by shot on the screen to see what the difference is between a draw and a fade with your clubs. My 6 iron, for example, was hitting 181 on a draw and 176 on a fade. What was interesting about that was the fact that I had a 7 iron draw at 175 on my yardage chart that I carried with me on rounds, which ends up being that “perfect shot” on a draw with it. The problem is, that perfect shot comes out once or twice a round at best, and it’s usually about 5 yards off of that, and the fade is a few more. My 7 iron on a fade was a perfect 166. What this showed me was that I was about a 1/2 club under-clubbing every approach shot I was hitting. That means I still hit the green on back and middle pins, but instead of 10-15 foot putts, I has 30-40 foot putts.

Knowing your real carry distances is crucial to playing better. I see people dump thousands of dollars into equipment, practice and even lessons, when their swing is actually very decent, their clubs were just fine and the pro just tweaks their swing to be a bit smoother, when what they really need to do is learn how far the ball is going off the club face. I’ll admit it, I was one of the players that “thought” I knew how far I hit the ball, but after really tracking my play, I didn’t. Three yards a club doesn’t sound like much, but when you factor in that that is an additional 10 feet on a putt or that you land in the bunker going for that tucked pin, that 3 yards really starts to add to your score card quickly. Learn your distances, use a GPS or App to do it, it doesn’t have to cost you a dime if you are willing to work a bit on it and the results you will see in your game are worth the trouble.

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Equipment Deals: Full Sets, Demo Drivers And Lethal Balls

Golfsmith.com currently has some amazing deals on full club sets. Top brands like Adams, Lynx and MacGregor all have deals running up to 50% off. Even the $1000 Adams Tight Lies complete set is available on this special. If you’re thinking a bit more budget conscious, you can snag a set of the Lynx Predator clubs for under $200 also. If you are in the market for a full setup and a great price, visit Golfsmith.com and hit the 50% off complete sets link on the front page today. These deals are for a very limited time only.

Edwin Watts and World Wide Golf are going crazy with end of season deals and demo discounts right now. From a TaylorMade R15 driver for $199.99 to $40 off the Ping Glide wedges, they have something for everyone looking for a deal. If you’ve been looking at grabbing a new to you driver, check out the huge savings on their demo driver event that is happening right now.

Amazon.com is featuring the TaylorMade Lethal Distance 12 pack balls for just $14.99. That’s 40% off the list price. If you’ve been wanting to try a new ball that will give you more distance off the tee without spending much more than a buck a ball, this could be the sale for you. This is a daily deal, so grab them fast before the deal ends.

The Journey To Scratch: My Round Goals For Next Time–The Results

What a different a round makes! From my devastatingly bad 79 on August 7th to my basically gorgeous 74 on the 21st, the rounds could not have been more dramatically different. Starting out with the round ratings, my round from the 7th came in at a very lowly 28 out of 70. My driving was sloppy, only hitting 6 of 14 fairways. My approach shots were lackluster only finding 1 of 5 greens, and I missed four additional greens when I only had wedges into them. My putting was right on pace with 33 putts, which was right on my average. Overall, the round was just blah for how well it scored, but that’s not saying much. Fast forwarding to my round on Sunday, while the score was only 5 shots better, the rounds was every bit as good as I could have played it, with the exception of a few small shots. I managed to 8 of 14 fairways, bringing that up to 57%. I only hit one solid green on approach, but managed to be in the fringe on all but one. I ended up hitting 15 greens for a whopping 83%. I still putted a few more times that my goal, but it was far from a poor performance.

My driving was very solid throughout the round, with the exception of a stretch on the back side that seems to be giving me some grief lately. The mix of 10, 11, 14 and 15 has left me searching the back nine for many fairways. Honestly, though, in the last round, my drive found the fairway on 10 and 12, but missed on 11, 14 and 15. That was three straight rounds at Riverbend that left me searching for the fairway on those three holes. That’s 17% of the fairways on the course that have just been missing from my game lately.

My irons haven’t looked as good as they did on Sunday in 20 years. Green after green fell to my approach shots. 15 Greens in regulation is an unheard of number for me. Normally my game is a bit more of a scramble, but today was different. I had complete control of my irons with the ability to fade or draw them on demand. As the round went on, I only missed two iron shots the entire round – a bladed 3 iron on the third hole, which still left me an easy par and then a 9 iron that didn’t fade back to the green on the par 3 13th – those were the only two shots that I really felt went a bit awry from a swing stand point. Oh, and then there was that 161 yard pitching wedge on 14 that didn’t quite fit the plan either.

Moving on to wedges, the new WIlson PMP wedges that were added into my bag for this round performed astoundingly. Not only were they dead accurate with the yardages I needed, they also spun my Wilson Zips to a perfect stop every time. It was basically an on call ball that hit and spun back 12-18 inches on every shot in. Keep in mind that the Zip isn’t a high spin ball, but more of a medium hard ball with a very low compression rating. Still the wedges got me out of both traps I got into and just knocked it near the pin all day long.

Putting was a bit rougher, but not in a bad way. Once again, my round was littered with just about’s and not quite’s. Putts missing the hole by an inch and rolling a foot past. Others that just stopped a few rotations short. A few more that just broke a bit more or less than I read. I should have had 5-6 more putts made, but the two birdies and the few one putt pars that I had were quite excellent. I even putted out of the fringe about 90% of the time and ended up counting those towards a two putt rating. That said, putting can get better, but it’s more about just hoping the ball finds the bottom of the cup a bit more often.

This round my driving rated a 8/14. My approaches were 2/4. My wedges moved up to a 13/14. I didn’t actually have a real chip, but my 10 putts from the fringe all turned out to be good shots or better. Putting was still a bit off since not as many dropped, but the 35 putts wasn’t bad, all things considered. Mentally, it was the finest game I’ve had all year, and I rank it as a 6/10. Fitness, I was stronger and more able to really work my swing this round, so I increased my level to a 2/10 even though I haven’t dropped much weight yet. This brings my round total from a 28/70 on the 7th up to a 47/70 on this one. There’s still a ton of room for improvement before I go jumping for joy, but what a positive move. For the next round, my goals are to hit 2 additional fairways, bringing me over 70% in that category, while keeping my GIRs over 80% as well. I’d also like to bring my total putts down to 30.

I also want to make sure that I give credit where credit is due. This was my first round tracking stats with Golf Pad GPS and their Golf Tag system. I’ll do up a full video review once I understand the entire system, but wow. What an eye opener! With just one round down with the tags, I was able to get most of my yardages dialed in and grooved perfectly. Many of them were right on, but for the most part, I was about 1/2 a club off of where I thought I was, well, more like 3-5 yards, but darn close to being off the front edge when I thought I should have made it. So, more on those to come, but for now, another few rounds with them and I will be dialed in completely.

Equipment Review: Taking The Vice Pro Plus Ball For A Spin

 

So a funny thing happened on the course the other day… Well, maybe it was funny to me, but to the people I was playing with, they didn’t find it as funny as they did amazing. When I took the first tee, I didn’t tee up my usual Wilson Zip ball, but instead, took out a sleeve of the Vice Pro+ ball and proceeded to take it for a spin. The Pro+ is a stunning ball to look at with just the Vice logo and number showing off against the stark white urethane cover. The cover isn’t just bright white though, Vice’s MXWhite technology keeps the urethane cover from reacting with the sunlight that normally yellows the cover, which makes it one of the longest lasting whites on the market. Speaking of long lasting, the blend that is used in this cover also holds up to even my “chew through the cover” wedges without any issue what-so-ever.

 

Moving on to the performance of the Pro+ off the tee, I found the ball to be very, very long. The distance on the Pro+ exceeded my typical ball by about 10 yards a drive. I was picking up a solid 1/2 to 3/4 club on almost every approach shot. Now for someone that used to play a wound balata with a liquid core, most of this new ball technology is lost on me. I measure a ball by three basic things: how far does it go off the tee, how well does it spin on the green and how does it feel coming off my putter.  The Pro+ passed all three of these tests very easily, which made it continue past the first few holes without much thought. Without knowing exactly why I like them so much, and why they played so well for me, I have to say that Vice really did nail the Pro+ design. It’s the first 4 layer ball I’ve ever played, and that layer seems to make all the difference.

 

From what I was able to put together about the ball is that you start out with a proprietary blended core that is wrapped in Dupont^TM Surlyn®, which is then wrapped in a Dupont^TM HPF outer casing before they apply the soft case urethane cover. In simple, I don’t want to think too much about this terms, Surlyn® was what the old rock balls were covered in, but they didn’t use it for a cover, it’s the core. Then then covered that with various materials to increase the feel of the Pro+ before they coated it in a super soft, high spin urethane cover. The larger cores allow Vice to put a thinner cover on the ball, which only increases the potential distance and playability of the ball, while keeping the cover extremely soft and workable. The Pro+ is the best of all the ball world’s rolled into one super performance ball.

 

 

Even playing from hazards was no problem for the Pro+. From wet bunkers to damp rough, the Pro+ still spun like a top and stopped on a dime. Their claim of “S2TG” made me chuckle a bit when I read it online, but I’ll gladly admit that I shouldn’t have. The Pro+ just plain performs around the green. With the softer feel of the urethane cover, I felt that I had complete control over my putts and chips, and this was on the first round with the Pro+. After I became adjusted to the shorter clubs into the greens, I didn’t have to worry too much about chipping the ball because I was able to launch a perfect wedge to the flag and stop the ball with a consistent 15-20” of back spin. That’s what I would call “sticking to the green”.

 

Putting was another adventure with the Vice Pro+. I’m calling it an adventure because it was so different than anything I had tried before. Honestly, I haven’t enjoyed hitting my putter this much since I had an old brass Acushnet Bullseye and Maxfli HT100 balatas. The soft tick, although even using the word tick might be too much, of the ball against the face just felt perfect. Even on the practice green, my distance control was spectacular and the Pro+ rolled smooth. Their KIL putting line was clean and clear and left me no need to decorate the ball with my fancy blue Sharpie line that I sometimes resort to with new balls. All in all, the Vice Pro+ is what many would call the perfect ball for the performance player. Now, Vice isn’t limited to just the Pro+ that I used here. They also have balls designed to help your game at every level. Check out the Vice Recommendation Tool here to see which ball is right for you.

 

 

Beyond just a fun ball to play, the Vice Pro+ was a dream on the course. It moves around the course like a ball that would cost $5 a pop. It spins like a $50 a dozen ball. It rolls to the hole so true that I can’t even put a value on it. But now here’s the scary part, at just $2.07 a piece when you buy 5 dozen, they are about half the price of those other tour level balls. The difference is that Vice isn’t paying some huge advertising fee or making back door deals that will increase the cost to the end user. They are just producing the best quality balls at prices that take me back to 1989. I have a few more sleeves of Vice offerings to take out on the course before I order my 5 dozen of these, but I can tell you that these are on my short list of the best balls I have ever played. Between the gain in distance, the increased spin on irons and the incredible touch around the green, I don’t know if there could be a more perfect ball on the planet.

Visit www.vicegolf.com for more information on the Vice Pro+ and the rest of the Vice Golf line up.

Stroke Saver: Know Your Limits And Keep Making Pars

Standing over your tee shot, par 3, 186 yards, water to the left, bunkers behind and a group of trees keep you from .bailing right. The flag is playing back left and you are in complete control of your round. What do you do? The answer to that question is really, what can you do? If you’ve been working your fade all day and it’s been your shot, perfect. If your draw has been dead on, you have the shot. If you’ve been playing that boring “straight” shot all day, then you’re good to go also. The one thing you need to do on a long, difficult shot like this is to make sure you have a shot and play to the limits that you have.

Too many times, we fall into old thoughts about something we read or something we used to do on the course, even though there was a good reason why we stopped doing it. For example, my favorite one in a situation like this was the old, “Hit the ball at the trouble and let it move back away from it.” I have to admit that trying this for years, and some of the time, I had good results. The problem was, say on the shot above, i would start my fade over the water, but it would be the one time during the round it didn’t fade. I took a bath, dropped 2, hit 3 and two putting for a double. Had I started the ball to the left edge of the green and hit it straight, I’d have hit the green or just left of it, and made my 2 putt par. Take a look below on how to plan a better route on a challenging hole like this and save yourself a par instead of bringing bogey into play off the tee.

The Fade: While this may seem to be the best shot to play on this hole, a 186 yard fade is a tough play for most people. Still, if your fade is working and predictable, your play is to let the ball start at the left edge of the green and work back to the center. A 190 yard par 3 isn’t really a birdie opportunity for most shooters, so keep that par on the table as the worst possible score by moving the ball from left to center. Don’t over club on this one as you have the bunker behind, but nothing in front. A nice shot to the front edge is even better than trying to come out of a back bunker to a tight pin with water on the opposite side. Short and center is the best play, then let your putter do the walking for you.

The Draw: Depending on the control factor, you can start your ball either center and work back to the flag, or left edge and work to center. As I said with the fade, a 186 yard shot is awfully tough to get close, so you are wanting to play for that par here. You want to make sure your ball comes up short and right of the hole. This makes the safe shot being one that starts on the right edge of the green and works back towards center. This path also gives you the maximum amount of error before you bring anything else into play. Keep you club shorter on this one as draws tend to end up with a bit more power behind them.

Straight In: For the straight hitter, I always recommend a nice 1/3 rule. Break the green into 1/3 sections from left to right. Analyze the trouble in all three and decided which one offers the safest route to par. For example, if you were playing a hole where the flag is left, but there is a green side bunker short left, you would want to play to the center section of the green. If the pin was right and the bunker was left, you’d play straight to the flag on the right 1/3. Since this hole has trouble in all three sections, your safe play is center 1/3 and just short of the trouble. You should be safe with a 190 club, but if you usually get that little extra pop from it, make sure you verify the back edge yardage before you haul off on it. If needed, drop to your 180 club and take that bogey out of play.

One of the beauties of golf is having 1000 different ways to play shots from anywhere you end up. Knowing which of those shots will give you the best chance to make par, that is the key to scoring better. In my last round, I really took the time to look at my approach shots and what I realistically could or couldn’t do, and was blown away by hitting 15 of 18 greens. Even with drives that drifted into the wrong fairway, I was able to reach greens by playing a better shot than what I may have originally. Thinking about trouble and limits can really be a game changer and keep you on the path to breaking through that 90 or 80 scoring plateau. Just keep this simple thought on your approach shots, “Land in the safest section that gives me the best shot at making par.” There are going to be plenty of birdie opportunities during your round, but that 190 yard par 3 probably isn’t going to be one of them.

Equipment Deal: GolfPad Golf Tags Offer A Wealth Of Knowledge For About The Cost Of A Lesson

Golf Pad Golf Tags: It’s that time of week again where we look at the specials and steals and a few other things that will really help your game move forward and today’s feature item isn’t really a ‘cheap’ one, but the value that it offers is nothing but a steal. The Golf Pad App for Android is a freebie app that allows users to hook up a ‘tag’ to their clubs to expand the amount of data collected to scary levels. From yardages to GIR’s, the data collected by simply scanning your club before each shot is amazing. Just shooting my first round with them, I can see how after just a few rounds, these would dial in distances, let you see shot tendencies and even show you what areas of your game need to be practiced the most.
 
The amazing interface on the website makes it easy to relive your round, shot by shot, hole by hole, just to see where you went and how you got there. The basics of the app is using a shot shape curve that you enter, followed by the two GPS locations of the scans to see where you went. By recording this data, you will easily be able to see where you need to work on your game. Just don’t forget to scan your tag before each shot, including your putts!

The Golf Pad Golf Tags are $99.99 for the set, but that also includes a $19.99 yearly membership for advanced features that aren’t available in the free version of the App. One of these features includes support for Android Wear and a few other smart watch formats that makes the experience even better. There will be a full review of the Golf Pad Golf Tags soon, but for now, consider yourself ready to get your game in gear with the feedback that the Golf Pad Golf Tags will give you.

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Playing A Round: Riverbend Golf Complex, Kent WA

Today’s round at Riverbend Golf Course in Kent was due to be a hot mess. Seattle has been in the midst of 90+ degree heatwave, but today was different. The weather at 8:30 in the morning was cooler and there was a decent breeze blowing throughout the course. What could have been a round featuring hard greens and intense heat ended up being quite pleasant with very soft, almost wet, greens. Conditions aside, what started with that 8L30 AM drive on the first tee, ended up being one of the most fantastic rounds of my season thus far. Here’s the breakdown.

The first hole started out with a beautiful 266 yard drive down the left hand side of the fairway. The 78 yard 60 degree wedge landed pin high for an easy 2 putt par. We were under way. The par 4 second yielded similar results with a 278 yard drive down the right side of the fairway. My 123 yard pitching wedge faded beautifully into the green for another 2 putt par. Moving to the par 5 fifth, a perfectly placed 278 yard drive landed on the right center of the fairway once again. I struck my three iron a bit thin, but it was one of those “good misses” as it travelled 169 yards up the fairway, leaving me a pitch of 33 yards. I left the putt just short of the hole, but tapped in for a 5. That left me even after three holes.

The par 4 fourth was playing tougher than usual, but a 273 yard drive found the right side of the of the fairway. I chose an 8 iron to try and keep the ball out of the wind that had picked up, but it ended up being about a 1/4 club short of what I needed. My approach shot fell just short of the green. My 15 yard chip shot came up short of the hole, leaving me a very challenging putt. Again, I missed my first putt by inches, but managed to tap in for a bogey 5. The par 3 fifth was next. It was playing dead on to the 124 yardage that it reports on the card, so I tried a fading pitching wedge to reach it. The 126 yard fade almost dropped into the hole and left me just about 5 feet for birdie. After draining the putt, I was back to even par. On the par 5 sixth, my driver finally failed me and went right onto the adjacent 2nd fairway. Fortunately, the 259 yard shot left me a decent angle to advance the ball and I rocketed a 212 yard 5 iron to 95 yards out. My 56 degree wedge found the mark and settled in about 20 feet from the hole. My first putt decided not to break until right after the hole, which left me another tap in for par. Still even after 6.

The par 4 seventh went from a dram hole to a nightmare in seconds. I striped a 266 yard drive into the wind which landed perfectly in the fairway, about 30 yards from the pin. From there, things went sideways quickly. My pitch checked up short of the green and bounced straight left into the greenside bunker. With limited sand in these, this hole was about to get really interesting. Strangely enough, my 60 degree wedge hit one of the best bunker shots I’ve hit in some time, which gave me a chance to save par, but my putt just missed again. A tap in left me with a bogey 5. Moving back o the par 3 eighth, a solid fading 6 iron found the front edge of the green and left me a very short putt for birdie again. I rolled the 12 footer at the hole and watched it drop for my second of the front nine. The par 4 ninth started off with another bang as I struck a nearly perfect drive down the right/middle of the fairway. After a 284 yard drive, I hit a 74 yard lob wedge to the green and two putted for my par and an even par 36 on the front side.

As we moved to the back side, the streak continued. On the 10th hole, my 255 yard drive drifted just right of the fairway leaving me a 95 yard shot into the wind. I took a bit off my pitching wedge and landed safely on the green for another 2 putt par. The 11th hole, Well, let me just say that’s a tale of two shots. My drive went right and clipped a tree falling short at just 170 yards. I planned on punching a 3 iron out, but I had just enough room for an almost full shot with it, so I tried to go for the green that was almost 230 yards away. I struck the ball perfectly and watched it fade back to the green, rolling just to the back edge. Another 2 putt par was the result. The par 4 12th played straight up for me as well today. A 261 yard drive into the wind followed by a 77 yard lob wedge left me with an easy 2 putt par. After 12 holes, I was even and shooting a very strong round.

The par 3 13th is usually one of those holes that causes some sort of lapse for me, and with a 142 yard 9 iron finding the left side bunker off the tee, I didn’t think today would be much different. Again, a beautiful 60 degree wedge out of the trap turned out great, but this time I was able to make the putt for a par. That brought our group to the par 5 14th. I once again sailed a gorgeous drive down the right side of the fairway, but this time, the ball stopped abruptly at 248 yards as it caught the forward edge of the fairway bunker. Another foot higher, it would have cleared and I would have been 20 yards further up the fairway and going for the green in two, but not this time. I pulled the 4 wood from my bag, hoping that I could get it close, but as per my usual fairway wood results, the topper rolled about 140 yards down the fairway. I was out and moving forward and only had 130 yards left to the green. I pulled a pitching wedge from my bag thinking that it would be the right club for the short, little did I know that my wedge would travel 30 yards further than usual and come to rest about 10 yards from the out of bounds fence behind the green. My pitch back checked up just short of the green but rolled on and two putts left me sitting at a bogey 6. The drive on 15 was another one that gave me some issues. Again, it went right, clean into the 11th fairway. My 131 yard pitching wedge into the green came up just short of the front edge, but was puttable. 2 putts from there landed me another par, keeping me at 1 over for the round.

Moving to the 16th, I was hoping to snag one more birdie on the par threes, but 16 always plays tough for me. I chose a 6 iron to attack the 180 yard hole, and the 181 yard shot that I hit found the back center of the green like I planned. The two putt that followed left me 2 under on the par threes today, which was amazing since they are usually the weakest point of my game. I really tried to challenge myself on the par 4 17th. Instead of pulling my safe, drawing 1 iron like usual, I pulled driver hoping to get close enough to score a birdie and get back to even. What happened instead was my drive clipped a tree on the left and fell into the fairway about 184 yards from the tee. A 167 yard 7 iron found the right fringe of the green for a “putter chip” but I burned my first real putt past the hole and had to make the comebacker for bogey. The par 5 finishing hole played out much better for me than usual today. My ‘perfect’ drive was a bit too perfect as it carried into the fairway bunker 281 yards away. A clean 7 iron out of the bunker travelled 122 yards down the fairway leaving me a perfect pitching wedge into the green. That wedge landed 12 feet past the hole and left me an easy two putt par for a beautiful 74.

It was about all I could ask for in my round on Sunday. It wasn’t perfect, but it was solid and there were no major mistakes. A few chips closer and a few more putts made and I would have been staring at a very special round. Instead, I had a great ball striking round, drove the ball well and hit 15 of 18 greens. All in all, except for the amount of putts I had, the day was a pretty huge success. Let’s see if I can keep the driving under control on the back side for the next round as that seemed to be the weaker link going around the inward nine. If that comes around, I’m pretty sure that 70 will be mine in no time.

Budget Beater: Skip The Cart And Carry Your Clubs When You Can

The health benefits of walking a round of golf are one thing, but when your bigger concern is your bottom line, carrying your bag while you play can be a huge money saver. When I say huge money saver, I’m probably not doing justice to the amount of money per year that you will save when you walk a course, but I’ll try and make it easier to understand. For example, if I play an early bird round at Riverbend Golf Course in Kent, it costs me $32. If I miss that pre-7:00 AM start, my rate goes to $42. If I add a cart to that, it climbs another $14 per person. That means by walking and teeing off with my early bird rate, I get a virtual 2 for 1 deal at my local course.

Continuing to The Golf Club at Echo Falls in Snohomish, their weekend Prime Time rate is $61 for 18 holes. Add another $15 for a cart (though it’s almost worth it for the hill leading to #12) it takes it up to $76 for 18 holes. That’s 25% more per round that I take a cart there, rather than getting every 4th round free, just for taking a cart. Continuing on to another local favorite, Auburn Golf Course in Auburn. Their weekend rate comes in at $43 a round and their power cart will cost an additional $14. Again, Just three rounds of paying for that cart will net the full cost of another prime weekend round.

When you are trying to save some cash on playing, a power cart becomes a luxury item. Of course, when you look at how much better you can play without that cart, you might just want to think about walking more often anyways. I’ve played three cart rounds this year and have yet to break 80. In the 6 walking rounds I’ve had, I’ve done it three times. By walking to my shots, rather than having someone drop me off at them, I can concentrate on my game and my scoring, not someone else’s. I can change clubs without the irritation of calling the cart back to me when I am waiting to hit. It’s just a more relaxed and easy way to play the game.

I’ll cover more of this side of the walk instead of ride scenario in an upcoming stroke saver, but for now, just think about how much you can save by getting some exercise and walking your favorite course instead of riding. Can you imaging getting a free round of golf every 2-3 months? That’s the savings you’ll see when you walk instead of ride.

Stroke Saver: Plan For That Blow Up Hole

We’ve all been there. We’re cruising through a great round, hitting the ball fantastically, making some long putts, and then it happens… The Blow Up Hole. It starts off with something small, like a drive that finds a bad patch in the rough, or even worse, that rolls into that bunker that we know we can’t reach off the tee. That perfect shot out ends up landing in the greenside bunker where we blade the ball out of it across the green and land behind some trees. The pitch from there hits the one branch between us and the hole and now our worst case bogey chances are already gone. We manage to three putt and escape the hole with e 4 over eight. So much for a good round, right? Usually, a person will throw in the towel after a hole like this, but with a few simple thoughts in your head, you can push past the blow up and move on to the next tee.

1. Plan for the blow up – We know it’s going to try and make an appearance, so do your best to know when you can expect it. Check your scorecards over the lasts 5-10 rounds and see where it is. If you have a pattern for it showing up, make a new plan for that hole. If it’s a bit more random, try and setup the few holes that it’s on a bit differently and see if there is a way to minimize the chances of it showing up.
   
2. Don’t panic when the first shot goes wrong – Blow up holes are usually a result of compound mistakes. Things like letting a good shot that was “too good” and not taking the time to assess your next shot are the number one causes of the blow up. When you hit a gorgeous drive that rolls through the fairway and into trouble, make the safe play out, don’t try to execute the hole the same way you would if the drive had found the fairway. If your bunker shot flies over the green and behind a tree, take the time to check your club selection for the next shot. It’s a very small mental change, but can make a huge difference in your score.
   
3. Reboot when it happens – Even the best laid plans will still yield a terrible hole once in a while. Think about the 9 that Ernie Els posted at The Masters. Sometimes those holes just happen. Here’s the important thing to remember, a round of golf is 18 holes long. A 5 over on one hole can be made up over 9 holes pretty quickly by turning 5 bogeys into 5 pars. Sure if you are an under par shooter, it would be birdies instead of pars, but you can recover those strokes if you can just turn off that bad hole and start your game over. This is crucial if the hole is early in the round. Clear your mind and start the round over on whatever hole is next. If you don’t, and you keep thinking about that past shot, or how bad this or that was, you’ll probably repeat them on the next few holes.

Blow up holes happen, and honestly, even the best planning in the world won’t help keep your ball from rolling into a divot in the fairway or bouncing left into the rough behind a tree. These things just happen and that’s why no matter how ‘good’ you get at golf, every round is an adventure. You can play a hole 100 times with the same clubs and the same swing, but your results will be different every time. Understanding this, and learning to identify the holes that are your trouble spots can help, but those scores will never completely go away. They just wait for you to let your guard down, or try that impossible shot, or even just sneak up on you with a slow green or big breaking putt. Being prepared to react to them and not panicking is step one, and resetting your mind when it does happen is step two. If you can do this, you’ve already started down the path to scoring better, and that’s what it’s all about.

Budget Beater: Don’t Fall For Fake Sales

In my quest to lower my total putts per round, I’ve been eyeing the Wilson Staff Infinite line of putters due to their great aiming system. When I stumbled across this sale, I thought it was great, at first. Then I realized what they were doing with this ad. First off, the $49.99 price tag is GREAT on this putter that normally retails for $99.99. That is a solid 50% off deal right there. Unfortunately, that’s where the greatness ends. Rock Bottom Golf increased the price to $129.99 to make the $99.99 normal retail price (which is what virtually everyone else on the planet sells the putter for) a deal. For this sale, it gets even worse as they artificially inflated the price to almost $200 to get the putter down to 75% off the original price.

This is one of those “tactics” that some stores use to make a great deal look better than it is. When you run across those crazy 60-90% off sales make sure to shop around for the item to make sure they aren’t really just overinflated prices that are marked down to a somewhat normal level. More often than not, you will find lower prices.

The Journey To Scratch: My Round Goals For Next Time

 

I was able to get a really good look at some stats on Sunday that were scary. They were so bad in fact, that I redefined my goals for my next round in an effort to get more statistically balanced. First off, we had a horrible 6 out of 14 fairways hit. This translates to just under 43% of them. I’m not going to get the job done if I am hitting from the next fairway over or from out of the trees on 8-10 holes a round. That has got to sharpen up. That led to my Greens in Regulation. I managed to pull off 9/18 for a slightly better 50% on that one, but still far from the number that I need to get down to a 70. I will also say that I used a different ball for the majority of this round that felt absolutely amazing off the clubface, or at least the wedges and irons. While I had a few missteps with my wedges during the round, the majority of them stopped on a dime and held the soft greens very well. I’ll be back on the Wilson Zips very soon though, so I’ll see how things go when I am back to my normal balls then. For now, here’s the breakdown of my 79 at Riverbend on August 7th.

 

 

Moving on, I had 33 putts, which wasn’t bad for the conditions. I left a few putts just inches from the hole, so I think that should round out nicely with just a bit more practice. That did make me look at my chipping and pitching again though. I had 9 greens I missed, two of which were in bunkers (one good bunker shot and one not so good – for the record…) which meant I should have had 8 good pitches and 8 one putts. Instead, I had 6 decent pitches and not much more. If I had been able to convert all of those to one putts (I did have 4, but only 2 of them were off chips) I would feel better about my chipping, but honestly, I’m not sure I feel great about a 33% conversion rate on them.

 

 

Finally, there was the wasted shot syndrome. I had 4 this round that I wish I had back. The first was a horrible putt on the second hole. I punched my first putt about 12 feet past the hole and just missed the come back shot for par. I should have left my first putt in a much stronger position to make the second, but it just went too far past the hole. It was the only bad stroke I put on the ball all day long. The next one was the sand shot on 3 from the greenside bunker. The lack of sand and the wetness of what was in there created an terrible hitting situation. Instead of ‘clumping’ it out, I tried to pick it clean and hit it across the green into the water. That was a waste of two shots, but only one mistake. Then I had a wedge on 9 that I managed to pass directly under, which created a 15 yard flop shot from 100 yards out. To finish out my foursome of bad shots, I duplicated the same wedge shot on the 11th hole from the right side rough. My 58 degree wedge passed directly under the ball and popped it straight up in the air. Again, the 15 yards didn’t help my case on that hole either.

 

This round scored me a 28 out of 70 on my scoring system. The break down was: Driving 6/14, Approach 1/5, Wedges 9/13, Chips 5/9 and Putts 33. For my playing score, that rated me Driving 3, Approach 2, Wedges 7, Chipping 6, Putting 6 for a total of 24 out of 50. My mental game wasn’t where it should be as I let the weather and outside conditions (as well as my poor driving) affect me too much. I rated myself a 3/10 on that and my fitness level is still in sad shape at 1/10. That brings me to a solid 28 our of 70 total.

Equipment Review: OnCore Avant–The Distance Ball With Terrific Touch

With the video reviews of the OnCore Ball line coming soon to the BITF YouTube channel, I felt the need to share with you a bit more about my experiences with them and how impressive they performed for me. First off, let’s start with the fact that there are two different lines of OnCore balls. The first, and the ball that was most excited about trying out was the Caliber. The 80 compression Caliber is designed for swing speeds under 100 MPH. The beauty of this ball comes in the form of a .9” metal core that reduces sidespin and causes it to behave like a bullet shooting from a rifle. The second ball, which I will honestly admit to thinking it was going to be a throw away for me, was the Avant. The Avant is a lower 65 compression ball that appeared to be something of a TopFlite XL throwback. You remember, that ball that was hard as a rock but flew for 400 yards, no matter what club you used to hit it? Well, color me wrong on this one. The 65 compression Avant not only provided stellar distance off the tee, but also stuck like glue to the greens on approach shots. While I’ve never been a fan of yellow balls before, I was willing to overlook that for the performance that this ball delivered (for the record, you can also order them in White.) Again the video will get a bit more in depth on the coverage of the Caliber, but this shining 5 minutes of internet fame goes to the $1.67 ball known as the “WOW” or as OnCore Golf calls it, the Avant.

 

 

As I stepped up to the tee box to hit my first drive of the day with the Avant, I have to admit that I really didn’t expect anything special from it. I figured it would be hard as a rock and scoot down the fairway a bit. I leaned into a driver pretty hard and smashed one out there. Normally, my driving distance is in the neighborhood of 280, but the Avant eclipsed that by a solid 10-15 yards. So, my thoughts confirmed, it’s a standard distance ball that gains a bit off the tee, but will be torture to get enough spin on to hold the green. As I grabbed my 54 degree wedge to hit my 115 yard approach shot, I worried a bit that the distance ball would fly a bit too far, but I hit it anyways. What resulted was a gorgeous, high flying, tour pro wedge shot that landed about 10 feet past the hole. The Avant backed up to the hole and stopped about 4 feet from the cup. Imagine my shock when the little yellow ball that costs almost a third the price of a “tour caliber” ball backed up 6 feet off a wedge after outdriving my regular ball by 15 yards. The Avant was something special.

 

 

The fun continued as I blasted a tee shot on the par 5 third hole. Again, the Avant was closer to 300 yards than my usual ball. I then laid up with a 5 iron to the landing area in the front of the green, or so I thought. The ball flew the landing area and made it square into the front left bunker, about 20 yards past my target and a full club longer than my normal 5 would have gone. So, loosely translated, the Avant would have let me reach this long par 5 in two, something that I haven’t gotten close to seeing yet this season. From there, I spun a bunker shot out of the trap and landed it to about 5 feet. I missed my birdie putt, but the fact that I had a 5 footer for birdie on that difficult hole says quite a bit about the performance of the Avant. As the round continued, I finished up the 9 hole test with a few more shots that were long and gorgeous. I did not have as much luck working the Avant side to side, but the spin rate on the ball was fantastic and the feel around the greens was great. I think I may have to snag another dozen to take out with my new putter so see if we can go under par with the Avant. With the distance it delivered and the $20 a dozen price tag, OnCore really hit it out of the park.

 

Again, there will be more coming in the video review of both the Caliber and the Avant, but I just felt the need to blog my results with the Avant to let you all know how amazing this $1.67 a ball gem is. For a gamer ball to have the sort of distance that the Avant offers, while offering the spin and touch of a tour ball around the greens, the Avant has to be one of the top balls available today, regardless of your skill level. For the distance challenged player, the Avant delivers stellar length off the tee and from the fairways. For those that need a bit of help getting their ball to stick on the green, the Avant has you covered as well. And finally, for those that just don’t want to pay $5 a ball to get great performance, the Avant is waiting for you at www.oncoregolf.com. Make sure you stop by the site and order a dozen, either white or yellow. Then make sure you sign up to win that Free Player’s Pack as well. Who couldn’t use a killer hat, t-shirt and a dozen balls?

 

More information is available at www.oncoregolf.com.

Equipment Deals: Titleist Woods,

Edwin Watts Golf has a special deal running on their selection of Titleist drivers, fairway woods and hybrids. With savings from $50 to $100, if you’ve been eyeing the 915 series from Titleist, this could be one of the best deals you will find on them. Hit up the Edwin Watts Golf store near you or shop online before they are all gone.

Edwin Watts Golf also is matching the amazing deals on Bushnell’s rangefinders and many Neo GPS products. If you are in the market for a GPS unit and don’t wan to take advantage of that killer phone setup that I covered last week, this could end up being a great option for you.

Finally, we close out this week’s deals with the $40 off $100 or more in apparel and accessories from Golfsmith. There are way too many items to list, but there are some great deals, and if you hit that $100 mark on the nose, that means a 40% savings for your pocket book on some great tools and clothes.

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Stroke Saver: Track Your Stats And Scores With TheGrint

I love having some stats to look at when I break down my rounds to find out what I need to work on for the next time. Sunday’s round at Riverbend actually seemed much worse than it really was when it was happening, but after sitting down to look at the actual round, really the rough spots was just my driving. Sure, iron play could have been a bit better, but from the shorter blue tees, I had mostly wedges in to the greens. The problem was, most of the round I was playing from the wrong fairways or the trees. Breaking down my rounds with TheGrint puts it all in proper perspective really quickly.

First off, TheGrint is a full on course GPS and stat tracker. It also offers a killer stat package for just $19.99 a year, but I have yet to activate all of that since I am only using it for a few different reasons that don’t require me to have that level of commitment yet. What TheGrint does that is special, is it allows you to establish a fully GHIN compatible handicap for tournament use. Normally, it costs $50-100 to join a club that offers this service, but in an effort to keep my costs down, I skipped that step and joined up at TheGrint to establish a free one. This will allow me to track an official handicap on my journey to scratch.

The next part that I use TheGrint for is keeping up with friend’s online as well. Think of it like Facebook for Golfers. You can watch your friend’s bags for changes, enjoy some friendly competition between yourselves and even enjoy a mini-tour style setup where you can plan tournaments and events. TheGrint has pretty much everyone covered from the casual golfer that wants a free handicap to a seasoned tournament pro that wants to know every state they have for just $20 a year.

TheGrint is a free download from Apple Store or from Google Play. Basic services and stats are free and additional stat keeping services are available for $19.99 a year.

Playing A Round: Riverbend Golf Complex–Kent, WA

Today’s round at Riverbend was an exciting one as it was my first round with my new Wilson Infinite Grant Park putter. With the exception of a slightly firm putt on the second hole, the putter performed very well on most of the greens. I decided to shorten up the course for today’s round and play from the blue tees, which measure 6328 officially. Let’s get right into this one and see how the round went.

The first hole started off well with a booming 280 yard drive that found the center of the fairway. A 58 degree wedge found the center of the green and my birdie putt ended up inches to the right of the hole. A tap in par started the day. The second hole started off poorly with my drive drifting left and finding the 18th tee box. A pitching wedge over the trees landed on the front edge of the green where a three putt awaited. The par 5 third was a much harder hole than it had to be today. My drive drifted right to the 4th fairway. A solid 5 iron found the greenside bunker, without sand of course. I caught the third shot out of the sand and picked it too clean and found the water on the opposite side of the green. I dropped 4, chipped on for five and one putted for a bogey 6.

Moving along to the long par 4 fourth, my drive found the third fairway but was playable. My second shot pulled up just short of the green where a quick chip and 2 putt finished the hole. My first putt on 4 burned the edge of the hole, which would have saved my par, but it didn’t have enough of the cup to drop. On the par 3 fifth, my Pitching Wedge found the left center of the green leaving me about 15 feet for birdie. A solid stroke and the putt found the bottom of the cup. That moved me back to 2 over after 5 holes. I felt like a pinball bouncing my way through the sixth hole. My drive went right, punch out went left, 7 iron went right and my 4th shot found the back edge of the green. 2 putts later, I landed a bogey 6 and escaped a crazy hole.

The 7th hole played about as good as possible, thanks to a lucky kick off a tree that put my drive back in the fairway. A nice 54 degree wedge landed on the back edge of the green and a solid two putt left me at three over after 7. The par 3 eighth wasn’t quite so friendly today. My 7 iron fell to the left of the green and bounced further left. My pitch shot to the green landed right where I needed it to, but again, a bad bounce took it off line. My putt stopped 3” to the right of the hole and I tapped in for a bogey. The ninth played pretty straight up, with my drive finding the right hand rough. I cut under the ball with a 58 degree wedge, only to have to hit the same shot again from 20 yards closer. The next shot landed about 20 feet from the flag and a two putt took me down to 5 over for the front side.

 

 

The back nine started off much stronger. A solid 1 iron off the tee didn’t fade back to the fairway from the left side rough.  My ball hit the cart path which gave me a great drop and a decent lie to hit from. A solid 58 degree wedge found the front of the green where a two putt awaited for my par. The undercut wedge got me again on the 11th after a good drive that ended up in the right rough. I knocked the third wedge about 20 feet again as the rain began to pound the course. The wind was also starting to blow pretty hard at this point, so a quick two putts and we retreated to our cart to hit the 12th. A good 1 iron on 12 was matched with a good pitching wedge to the green. I just missed another birdie as my putt skidded past the hole and wrapped around it by about 2 feet.

The par 3 thirteenth was next up. My 9 iron from 145 found the left greenside bunker. A very strong bunker shot found the green but rolled about 15 feet past the hole. A solid putt missed the hole by about 6 inches, which was an easy tap in for my last bogey of the day. My drive on 14 set me up for some major trouble, but once again, I played my second shot from the 12th tee boxes. A 5 iron landed right of the green where I was able to pitch on to the right fringe. A two putt from the fringe earned a hard earned par. Another one putt par on 15 had us headed back to the main section of the course, while I was clinging to my 7 over score.

On the par 3 sixteenth, my 7 iron found the back left portion of the green. My birdie putt came up just short, but another tap in par had me moving on to the 17th without any issue. I struck a solid 1 iron off the tee on 17, but it didn’t have quite the height I was hoping for. Still, a strong pitching wedge found the green for a two putt par. 18 was bound to be a nightmare, but an amazing 58 degree wedge from behind the trees still found the green in a position for a quick two putt par, which left me at 79 for the day.

The round was far from flawless, but it was a very solid round given the weather conditions and the fact that I was only able to hit about 30% of my fairways and 50% of my greens today. When I look at the overall stats, there are some areas to improve on for my next round two weeks from now. Hopefully I can work on straightening out my tee shots and hitting a few more fairways in the process. Till next time!

Budget Beater: Build Your Own Golf GPS For Under $40

I know I’ve covered GPS Apps in the past, but when I work out a system for myself that is really a great value (and benefit to your game) I feel the need to pass it along. First off, you need to understand how most of the GPS Apps work, then you need to understand how this can be totally free going forward. Once we get those two points worked out, you will see what an amazing value this deal can be for you and your game. So, without further ado, here’s my guide to making a sub $40 fully functional golf GPS unit.

We start with the deal of the month at FreedomPop, which is a cellular provider that runs a Voice over IP calling network. While I never had much luck with the voice service, the data coverage has been excellent. Now, each month, FreedomPop offers up a lower end, certified pre-owned Android device for about $30. While they are underpowered for most users today, they are perfect for throwing an App or two on for various uses. Whether it’s to attach a Square reader to for use at your farmer’s market booth or perhaps, using the device for a navigation unit in the car, the devices do a decent enough job of handling the small stuff for you. Once you order the device, the setup is very simple from there.

When you order the FreedomPop device, you will be able to get a plan that includes 200 minutes of talk, 500 texts and 500 MB of data. Using Google Maps, which is what the majority of the course marking Apps do, will use small amounts of data to load the images of the holes while you play. Now you can use your normal phone you have in your pocket, or even an old one in the drawer (for which you can order a SIM card for unlocked phones that used AT&T or T-Mobile service for even less!) Either way you go, the simple FreedomPop connection will allow you access to a data network to load courses on the fly, rather than trying to remember to download the section of Google Maps before you play or chewing up the battery of your regular phone while you play.

Once you have the phone in hand, you can begin choosing which Apps work best for you. I prefer SkyDroid, TheGrint, Hole19 and mScorecard. I’ve really come down to using SkyDroid for GPS and stat entering and TheGrint for handicapping and friend tracking. GolfPad GPS Rangefinder is another great one that can work with the $99 Golf Pad Tags for a really crazy stat tracking experience. Once you’ve installed the App or Apps you want to use on your device, the next trick is going into the App Manager on the phone and disabling everything you won’t use. Most Android devices have a simple “Settings > Applications > Pick the App and select “Disable” from the App page” style of deactivating the Apps you won’t use, but check your how to guide on your particular device to see how to do this. This will turn off all the extra Apps, which will save battery and save you more data while you are on the course.

Once you are all set up, you can simply break out your new GPS whenever you hit the course and track your rounds right in the palm of your hand. Again, there’s no monthly fees associated with FreedomPop once you downgrade to the free plan. Most of their device specials come with a trial of their paid services, but just downgrade immediately as you will never need to use the minutes or texts when you are on the course. For $30 for a device and a few bucks in Apps, you can have a fully functional Golf GPS without any membership fees for as long as you need it.

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Blog Babble: Why Is Nike Done With Gear Any What Went Wrong?

Let me start off this post with the fact that it is an opinion piece. Sure, I’ve done some research on it, but I didn’t call Nike or Tiger or anyone else involved for information on confirmation on things. It’s my own thoughts on the tragic demise of an equipment manufacturer – who by the way, will still be making golf stuff, just not clubs and balls. With that out of the way, let me start my little post about this and get it out of the way.

From 1983 to 1986, Nike was going through a rough patch where the company wasn’t growing and earnings were falling flat. To help boost these earnings, Nike entered a few new markets in 1986, including golf shoes. From 1986 to 1995, the golf shoe business did not fair well. It did not grow as expected and the company was forced to try something different. In 1995, Nike signed an young Tiger Woods to a $40 million, 4 year endorsement contract. In 1998, Nike Golf was officially established.

In 1999, Nike introduced their first line of golf balls and in 2002 they launched their first golf clubs. With Tiger Woods being the face of Nike, people flocked to the apparel that he wore every weekend on TV and wanted to dress the same. Stores offered sales on clothing based on what Tiger wore during that weeks events and clubs that Tiger carried in his bag. It was all Tiger, all the time. From there, Nike Golf’s sales grew but it was mostly due to the success of the shoe and apparel lines. Unfortunately, that was as good as it got for the shoe giant and the decline of business began. With Woods’ injuries mounting, Nike opted to sign a few big name stars to deals that were far too rich to be done. With the signing of Michelle Wie and Rory McIroy, Nike had landed two huge stars, but neither had the drawing power of Woods. The slide continued.

Finally, as we fast forward to today’s market, Nike is under assault from every direction. They can no longer depend on the shoe division to carry the losses that the equipment side of the project is creating. With companies like Taylor Made and Callaway having to mark down inventory to move it, Nike was forced to do the same. Creating a negative margin like this put more pressure on the apparel side, which was now facing competition from companies like Sketchers, Under Armour and Adidas. It literally was a perfect storm of issues for Nike.

What happened at Nike was simple, They applied their same marketing schemes to golf as they did to every other sport on the planet. The difference is, if Jordan misses that shot, or Bo Jackson fumbled the game winning touchdown, they were back at it a the next day and staring in a new game. The PGA Tour isn’t so kind. When things go wrong on tour, it can take weeks or months to get things back together. Look at Woods’ history of injuries and the same can be said of Michelle Wie. When you are on top and winning, everyone want’s to have your gear. When they don’t see you on the weekend, the forget you quickly.

Nike was forgotten. In fact, I can honestly say, the last Nike club that I hit was the Slingshot iron. I have only ever played golf with ONE guy that was carrying Nike irons and a handful that carried their drivers. Admittedly, I played their balls for a long time in the post-Balata revolution, but there is nothing that makes their newer balls any more special than something else.  As much as I hate to say it, what happened to Nike was very simple. They got smart. They know the golf industry is hurting. They didn’t have a large market share to lose a percentage of and stay profitable, so they gracefully exited the equipment game and moved on. It is sad to see, but it’s completely understandable.
Perhaps when the next Tiger comes along, Nike will want to jump back into equipment manufacturing, but I doubt it. With the competition they are facing on their home turf in shoes and apparel right now, I have a feeling that they will have their hands full doing what they do best, making top quality footwear for every sport on the planet.

Update - I've had a few people asking me if Tiger really won with Nike Golf clubs in his bag... The answer is a resounding yes! He won 8 Majors before he switched over from Titleist to Nike, and 6 after. Surely if he hadn't had the injury issues the last few years he would have at least broken even at 8 and 8.

The Journey To Scratch: My New Flat Stick–The Wilson Infinite Grant Park

As I updated my “What’s in my bag” section for August, I realized I should probably put this down in a separate post as well. On Sunday, I took some time and hit about 50 different putters trying to find one that was easier to align than the Wilson 8813 that I was carrying. I had picked out a few models online, but I really did want to hit them before ordering one. So, after a few stores, I decided on the Grant Park model of the Wilson Infinite line. It has multiple alignment lines, sits completely flat and features a list price of under $100. Not a bad deal if you ask me, and frankly, the 2-5 strokes around that better putting may bring me is all I need to hit that magic number.



The milled faces of the Infinite line really give the putter a bit more grip than what I have played in the past. Going back in the day, flat faces with no markings were the way to go. Obviously, since then, things have changed since there were even some grooved putters on the shelves today. What I was looking for out of the face was something that offered the feel of the 8813 and the consistency of the Odyssey Tri-Hot that I had played previously. I just needed something with a bit more of an aiming system than the Tri-Hot had. The Grant Park fit the bill nicely, even though it wasn’t one of the three I had gone in with the intention of purchasing.



The high contrast alignment lines on the Infinite styles are vey easy on the eyes and make lining up putts very simple. The semi-mallet design disperses the heavier weighted head in such a way that it feels much lighter than it really is. The design also gives you a much longer sight line without adding too much bulk to the club.



Wilson also included an oversize grip to act as a counterweight to the heavier head design of the Infinite putters. This is the first time I’ve carried an oversized putter grip, and honestly, I don’t think I will ever go back to a standard one. The putter feels light and natural, even with the 360 gram head down below. The Grant Park fit my needs perfectly and the counterbalanced grip is one of those little parts that really made it feel comfortable in my hands.

Overall, I couldn’t be happier with my purchase. For $99, you can find a model that will fit your game pretty easily. From traditional Ping style blades to center shafted semi-mallets, there seems to be something for just about everyone in the Infinite lineup. If you are in the market for a new putter, I would highly recommend adding this guy or one of it’s cousins to your list to try out. Like I said above, the 2-5 strokes better than I can putt is all I need to start moving down to scratch. That same 2-5 strokes may be what finally causes you to break 90 or even 80 for the first time.
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