The US Open: My Two Cents, Not That It Is Worth Anything…

Image Credit: https://media.nbcnewyork.com/images/1200*834/Brooks+Koepka+US+Open+Trophy.JPG

So, the US Open has ended but everyone refuses to let it go. Brooks Koepka won despite the best efforts of everyone around him to take the title away from him. Still, even with Tommy Fleetwood blowing away the field with a 63 on Sunday, the complaints about the course, the conditions and the players couldn’t stop. Sure, Shinnecock played too hard for some of the players. You didn’t see Jordan, Rory or Tiger in contention. You didn’t see a miraculous comeback from a tour pro from west Texas. You didn’t see anything except for some of the greatest golf that the best players in the world could play – and it was done on a stage worthy of calling itself the US Open. Still, the complaints flew, mainly from those that weren’t around for the weekend. The pin placements weren’t right. The rough was too long. The blah, blah blah… You know what guys, this is the second biggest tournament in the US, perhaps you need to get out more and play some courses that are really unfair and then come back to this one. Courses like our local municipal courses that have more divots than grass. Courses with greens that are so inconsistent that it’s impossible to judge the speed of any putt, much less hit it online with the break. Courses that have more mud than sand in their bunkers. Heck, maybe even take away those guys that find their balls for them (even with the aid of a TV crew) and see how they fair. Sure, they may drive a few par 4’s, but the 5 putts that ensued would make for great TV viewing. Enough about stuff that will never happen though, let’s talk about the great (and not so great) moments of this Open.

Image Credit: https://mediaassets.abc15.com/photo/2018/06/16/knxv%20phil%20mickelson_1529174543477.jpg_90020698_ver1.0_640_480.jpg

Don’t tap that ball Phil… If Mickleson had any clue what was going to happen when he struck that moving ball, I can guarantee you that he never would have touched it. His reaction during the ensuing press conference didn’t help matters, but honestly, this was about as big of non-issue event as ever in golf. Was he right, no. Was he wrong, probably not. All he did was take a two stroke penalty on a very frustrating hole and the world kept moving. Had he been in the top 10 when this happened, that’s another story. He wasn’t, and this isn’t worth talking much more about. The poor guy has been an ambassador of the game for so long and done so much right, let’s give the dude a pass for not wanting to Els’ this green.

Image Credit: http://www.ligaolahraga.com/storage/images/news/2018/06/18/tommy-fleetwood-nyaris-menangkan-us-open-2018.jpg

Tommy… I’m really not sure how I feel about writing about Tommy Fleetwood's charge up the leaderboard. Part of me wants to praise the round and part of me wants to strangle him for not making one more birdie on the way in. While Koepka deserves to win the US Open, Fleetwood’s final round deserved it even more. His masterful destruction of a course that many said was unplayable was a round of golf that shouldn’t ever be forgotten. Just one more birdie or one little slip from the winner and we would all be talking about the greatest comeback in the US Open ever. Fleetwood’s round should be an inspiration to young golfers everywhere, that anything is possible in golf, even in the toughest settings. So, Tommy (and I’m going to call you that because you are half my age) – thank you. Thank you for behaving like a professional, and for playing like one too. I was never a huge follower of yours, but you, sir, have my attention and I can’t wait for you to start taking down majors like you took down that course.

Image Credit: https://www.yourgolfdigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/dj-wins-kapalua.jpg

Dustin didn’t win… There’s something about a being a humble golf pro that just makes everyone happy. DJ is one of those players. Johnson led, then didn’t lead, then finished the tournament with class and a tip of the cap to the fans that rooted for him through thick and thin. His play was good enough to win this open, it just wasn’t good enough to beat Koepka and Fleetwood on Sunday. It was a well played tournament for Johnson and when you mention the words, grow the game, Johnson is a perfect person to summon to the podium.

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Next time, leave the beer at home folks… The disparaging remarks made by the crowds at this year’s open were the true low point of the tournament. From calling a tour player chubby to openly talking about relations on national TV, the fan behavior at this US Open was terrible. It is 100% apparent that there are more marshals needed all over the crowd and a code of conduct book needs to be signed by everyone coming in. Growing the game of golf does not mean that selling tickets to the rudest people in the universe is a good thing. I have an idea, how about we NOT let them in and give those tickets to kids instead. Just a thought.

So, to wrap this up, it was a great US Open this year. Sure there were some stupid moments – Phil. There were also great ones – Brooks, Dustin, Tommy, etc… Let’s not forget that the GREAT moments will outlive the stupid ones by a long shot. I mean we all remember Tiger’s Masters chip that hung on the hold just long enough for that Nike Swoosh to be seen, but we hardly talk about Els’s putting issue at all. Let’s just call it like it was… It was a great day and a great tournament for golf. It was a true US Open. It was hard. It was challenging. It was the perfect venue to crown the perfect champion, for this year.

Is It Time For New Clubs Or More Playing?

Every year, about this time, I start looking at all the new gear that comes out and I realize that I am still really playing with 30 year old technology in my irons. Sure, they have moved weight around and cut the sole differently and even laser etched the grooves, but a blade is a blade and they haven't changed much since the 1970's. As the season wears on, and the scores stay stagnant, I start to wonder if it could be that I need a bit more help with my swing than I used to. As the thoughts race through my head over which clubs I want to hit and which clubs I SHOULD hit, I always come back tone simple thought – I should just play more golf and keep my swing in better shape. Taking the “easy” route on this topic is simple – spend some cash and get clubs that I don’t have to be so “good” to hit well – but that leads to the inevitable issue of how much do you spend and then that becomes how often do you need to spend it? For example, I could make a major “side-grade” to my set by purchasing a clearance set of the Wilson C200 irons right now. But with the C300’s already on the shelves at retailers, getting custom fit for a set of C200’s will be impossible. Worse yet, getting custom fit for a set of C300’s will cost me about $1000.

To put that in perspective, I could play 40 rounds of golf at Blue Boy West for what new clubs would cost me. I could play 30 rounds at Echo Falls on their twilight deal for that $1000. I could even play 20 rounds and pick up 80 large buckets of balls to work my swing the entire year (that’s about 2 buckets a week) for that $1000. Is a new set of irons what I really need or really even want or is it more about getting out and playing more and working hard on my game. Sure, getting new sticks is great and there are many times I look at my bag and wonder if I am playing the right ones for me right now, but then I pull out my 6 iron and hit a frozen rope on a perfect draw, up the hill to 15 feet and realize that the clubs are fine, I just need to get out more. This means budgeting in a number of ways, but most of all, sticking with that equipment that works perfectly well and won’t require me to ‘upgrade’ anything else.

Balls are a dime a dozen to try and I have found some amazing products from companies like Aris Golf (www.arisgolf.com), Snell (www.snellgolf.com), Vice (www.vicegolf.com) and a few others. I’ve had stellar performance from a Wilson ball that costs just $0.86 a ball (the Wilson Zip) and even found some deals on balls that make them even better values, but again, staying consistent is the most important thing, as is being consistent at playing. What I realized this season, as disappointing as the competition side has been, is that if I do not play consistently, I won’t ever play consistently. It all comes down to personal goals, and this season I have failed in making my goals happen. Sure, there was some adversity and, for the most part, it was met and overcome, but there can only be so many excuses or reasons why things didn’t happen the way I wanted them to. As I look back on the first third of the golfing season (in the Seattle area, it’s pretty much May through September if we’re lucky) things haven’t gone really well, but that’s not the fault of the clubs.

My bag is solid. It’s a great performer. It has a driver that I can hit pretty well with a number of shaft combinations that fit just about any conditions I may face. The offseason additions of the 3 hybrids has me not fearing tight holes any longer, nor the extra long ones that I didn’t have a shot at reaching in two without a miracle. My irons from the 5 iron down almost never fail me, so from 200 yards in, I have a chance at a birdie. I can work the ball either direction and have pretty good control of everything from the 7 iron down (the 5 and 6 can still be a bit “wonky” if I try to do too much with them) and my wedges just need more practice time. Overall, from top to bottom, I don’t think I could make a better bag at the moment. It’s more about just getting things dialed back in to where they were during the winter months. Of course, I wouldn’t be a golfer if I wasn’t looking over my shoulder at what was new and what it offered, but in the spirit of “Golfing For Less” I have to keep in mind that money won’t buy me a better game, it will just buy me newer clubs that I can’t afford to play with.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on equipment costs verses playing costs. Post up in the comments below or email backinthefairway@gmail.com with your thoughts!

Playing A Round: My First 9 - Blue Boy West–Monroe, WA

It’s bee a slow summer. In fact, I am actually writing this post almost 2 weeks after this round was played. This isn’t turning out to be the competitive summer schedule that I was hoping for this year, but with the leg feeling stronger and stronger every week, it’s starting to fee like progress is getting made. Even if it’s not competitive play, at least getting out is nice. That said, with a bit of consistency in my play, I could go from shooting some OK scores, to really ripping apart a few courses here and there. A great example of this was my round at Blue Boy West in Monroe. The par 66 course isn’t especially difficult, but with it’s small, target style greens, it plays much tougher than some of the longer courses around. So, let’s start with the round and see how I ended up playing this short little course this time around.

The first hole is a short, dog leg right, par 4. On the 321 yard par 4 first hole, I was tempted to play my 17° hybrid from the tee, but with the left to right movement of the hole, I opted for the shorter 5 iron cut instead. It was a good move as the ball tracked to the corner, then continued to turn around the corner and down into the middle of the fairway. It was about as good of shot as one could play on the hole without taking a shot at the green. I followed that up with a solid 51° wedge to the left edge of the fringe and a two putt for par. The second hole plays a bit funny at Blue Boy as the green has a giant plant in the center of it. It breaks the larger green apart into two sections. Playing about 145 yards today, the pin was tucked left of the planter and about half way back on the green. A solid pitching wedge held up a bit in the wind and caught the front edge of the green. Another two putt par kept the round rolling nicely early. The par 3 third hole was up next. I fell victim to the same wind that caught my ball on the 2nd in reverse on the 3rd. My 125 yard 51° wedge flew the green by 25 yards when the wind came up and took it on a ride. Another 51 ° wedge from under the trees rolled out nicely to about 2 feet and I managed to make a par out of the situation, but this was turning into a scrambling round very quickly.

The uphill, par 4 fourth hole plays much tougher than it looks on paper. In fact, on paper, some may consider the 200 yard hold a long par three, but with the defenses built into this hole, it can be a very tough four. Fortunately, the hole was playing closer to 190 today from the blue tees, which made the 6 iron my club of choice for the tee. It’s not often that I hit the ball “exactly” where I was aiming it, but this was one of those cases. My Wilson Golf FG100 6 iron (total club plug!) flew dead on yardage wise with a slight draw right at the green. It landed perfectly about 4 yards to the right (with the line to actually hit the green, this shot would have ended up in the mound in front of the green had it moved 3 more yards to the left. A 60° wedge bumped the flagstick, but failed to drop for eagle, resulting in a tap in birdie. At one under par, I was about to enter the ‘beast’ run on the course. Back to back to back par 4’s, while not difficult, they do require a bit of strategy to navigate well. I decided that I was playing sketchy and aggressive already today, so I pulled the driver for the short par 4. It was the wrong move. I pulled the tee shot left, into and fortunately almost through the trees. My 60° wedge found the back edge of the green, even though my yardages showed the distance being better to the front than the back. A 2 putt par allowed me to escape my bad driving hole and move on to the 6th. Given the horrendous drive on the last hole, I opted for my 17° hybrid on the 300 yard sixth hole. It turns slightly left about 190 yards out, so this selection made sense on so many levels. The ball started a bit further right than I wanted, but it was drawing nicely and just barely clipped a tree about 200 yards off the tee. Not ideal, but it would still leave me a 60° wedge into the green, which was just fine. My wedge came up about 25 feet short of the flag, leaving me a challenging downhill birdie putt. I managed to run the first putt about 10 feet past, which caused me to miss the comebacker for par. I left with my first bogey of the round and didn’t even play the hole that poorly.

I moved to the par 4 seventh at even par, hoping to make a mini-comeback of sorts. Having missed the last two fairways and knowing that there was trouble in the fairway past about 215 yards, I pulled my 5 iron for another cut on the tee box. The iron was almost perfect off the tee, coming to rest about 80 yards short of the green. Another poor approach was my undoing on this hole as well. My 60° wedge found the middle of the green, but on the left side, which had a pretty good slope towards the back. I managed to scrape out a two putt par and was happy to run to the next tee box still even par for the day. The 8th hole played almost as much fun as the 6th did for me. A decent 20° hybrid found the left edge of the rough, though the rough is more like crazy grass here, not the lush stuff that is found at many courses, so playing from it was more like hitting from hardpan. I caught my wedge clean, but it headed left and missed the green. I chipped for the first time in I don’t know how long, and it didn’t work out well for me. My 7 iron chip ran 20 feet past the hole, even though it looked great coming off the face. My par putt came up 2 feet short, and I left the 8th with a bogey. That brought me to my arch-nemesis, the 9th hole. I love to hate this hole. It plays about 132 yards, uphill and it’s just nasty. It isn’t a hard hole, but it just doesn’t fit my game, or my yardages. The tees were once again up on this hole, which created the perfect gap for clubs. The last two times I played the hole, I flew the green, so today, I underclubbed. My 56° never had a chance of getting to the hole, but it did hold the fringe at the front of the green. A very poor first putt led me to take two additional putts on the hole, or translated a bit differently, a bogey to close out my 9.

It wasn’t a pretty nine holes, but I was set to make the turn and start up anther nine after grabbing a drink and mentally recovering from my streak of bogey golf. My 35 on the outward nine was not a good score, but I honestly felt like I played far worse than that, but scored better early on. With the exception of the drive on 4, I wasn’t finding much to cheer about in the long game. My approach wedges were adequate at best and my putting was atrocious. Overall, I was happy to escape with a birdie and three bogeys. I managed to hit 50% of my fairways, and 67% of the greens. Now something else that I didn’t mention up to this point in time is that I was actually ball testing while this round was happening as well. I had the opportunity to take the Aris Golf trio of balls out for a spin while all this was playing out. Could that have had something to do with the inconsistencies in my game, probably not, but you never know. For the record, head on over to www.airsgolf.com and check out their offerings. The Scout is an incredible distance ball. It’s a two-piece design that is actually spinny around the greens – not like Pro V1 spinny, but not bad – where as their Hero ball is a tour ball through and through. In the middle is the Captain, a blend of the two, which makes for a nice performance ball. The Aris balls are all exceptional performers in their own right, and each of them is available at a price that not only makes them a deal, but practically a steal.

My only issue with the entire line is that the urethane covers that are used tend to ‘rip’ up a bit after a few decent shots. Now, I compress and spin my wedges pretty hard, so this may not be an issue for all players, but it was for me. It’s not that I couldn’t keep playing them, but the fact that I could grind the cover off the ball in one shot (the photo above is a Hero after one full 90 yard 60° wedge) made me worried about the long term wear that the cover may take on. Again, this was a non-issue with the Scout and wasn’t as bad with the Captain, so if you are needing a distance ball, or maybe arn’t so hard on compressing them, please head over to www.arisgolf.com and try out a dozen of them that will best fit your game. With that shameless plug out of the way, it’s time to finish this wrap up. Overall, I played fairly poorly, but managed to get a decent score put up there. The repeat of the back nine was up next, and I was feeling like making a comeback and getting myself back to even. Stay tuned to see what happens next.

Equipment Preview: Aris Golf Balls And How Brilliant Their Company Is

There seems to be new blood popping up in the Golf Ball industry all over the place right now. From Vice Golf to Snell and OnCore to Costco, everyone wants in on the most consumable golf commodity on the market today. While competition is great, the more small manufacturers climb into the game, the more difficult it may be for them to stick around. What is missing from most of these new upstarts (and I use the term new – like in the last 10 years) is that they have no guarantee or deals for us to stick around long term with them. For example, Vice Golf has a great deal on multipack balls, as does Snell Golf. So I may hop online and buy 6 dozen balls that will last me a year and then move to something new after that. Sure, they made their $150 sale to me, but what happens next?

Step into the brilliant minds of Aris Golf. I haven’t been this excited to test out a ball since the Wilson FG Tour, but this is for an entirely different reason. Aris, based in Salt Lake City not only makes what appears to be a full range of golf balls, but they market them in a way that not only make sense, but makes it easy for everyone to have top notch balls all year long. Priced from $1.50 a ball for their distance “Scout” line to $2.33 a ball for their tour quality “Hero” line, finding the right ball pretty simple and keeping the right ball in your bag is even easier. To simplify the process of keeping their ball in your bat, Aris offers a special bonus – free shipping – when you subscribe to their ball. Yes, I said, “Subscribe to their ball.” Their ball subscription program lets you pick up a dozen balls every month, 2 months or even 6 months and pay nothing for shipping and handling. Since most shops and manufacturers charge $5-10 for shipping (that works out to be $0.41 to $0.82 per ball extra) unless you order multiple dozens at a time, you end up paying far more per ball than you would for a decent quality ball at a local golf shop.

About that quality… I will have a full review of all three balls as soon as I can get them on the course, but based off some chipping and putting practice, the Scout looks great and feels better than most of the competitors in the $1.50 a ball range. The Captain is positioned exactly in the middle, a bit more check on chip shots, and a bit softer feel while putting. The Hero, well, it out spun the TP5 and ProV1x that I had to compare it to without much of an issue at all and felt like butter off the putter face. I’d rank it up there with the Snell MTB in short game performance right off the bat, and that’s saying quite a lot in my opinion. I also wanted to compliment Aris on the finish of the Scout line. This is by far the best “lime green” color I have seen on a ball to date. It’s just a smidge different than most of the others and the matte coloring is fantastic. I’ll be out on the course with them tomorrow – weather permitting – so stay tuned for a full review coming soon!

For more on Aris Golf Balls visit www.arisgolf.com

Equipment Gripe: You Want How Much For 10 Yards?

Sorry, but this is a face palm moment that I had to share with you. You see, I recently was emailed an advertisement for a well known online golf shop – which I will leave nameless for this post – that claimed to be able to get any golfer an extra 10 yards off the tee, no matter what! The email than had photos of the latest offerings from Taylor Made, Callaway, and many others right below the headline that is so tempting to so many that may read it. I instantaneously had a flashback to my days in golf equipment sales and dreaded what they were going to say next. The infomercials, As Seen On TV, and other horrible products that would make everyone play like a pro started reeling through my mind. Still, 10 yards, that' can’t be all that hard to guarantee can it? If so, shouldn’t I check this out? How much will it end up costing me to find that elusive 10 yards? As I glanced through the $500 selection of clubs, I thought of something, just how far will that extra 10 yards go towards improving my golf game?

With a very strong 250 yard drive and average dispersion distance of 40 yards (5° open to 5° closed) the average golfer will never see that full 10 yard increase on the course. When looking at the numbers, a 5° closed face-to-path swing will result in a loss of 3 yards of distance on a straight 250 yard shot. The same could be said of the open face as well. Again, these are theoretical numbers as far more depends on where the ball lands, how it rolls, etc…, but you get the idea from the ‘raw’ numbers and geometry involved. When I go in and get fitted for my new $500 driver and my distance increases to 260 yards, my 5° hits will gain about 7 yards in distance, not the 10 that a prime hit gains. Loosely put, for my game, 7 yards is about 1/2 a club difference into the green.

While I love the long ball more than anyone else, spending what could be an entire summer of golf (10 rounds at $50 a round) on one club that will get me about half a club better on approaches seems a bit insane to say the least. Doing so from an online retailer that hasn’t fit the club to my needs is even more crazy. Seeing testing results online from people like Rick Shiels, where he takes a 20 year old club and a current model and throws them up, side by side, only to produce a 5-10 yard gain really points out that it is far more about the swing than it is about the club. Recently, Mark Crossfield did a test pinning the newest Taylor Made offering against a 5 year old SLDR and an even older model. The SLDR won with both people using it for that round. The M3 is $499.99 retail and the SLDR is available for about $130 used in like new condition. Just doing some legwork and paying $40-100 for a fitting will do far more good than buying a new-new club.

Personally, I’m more tempted to see what stats would do if I trimmed the shaft of my driver a half inch down, or maybe even a full inch down. While this may cost 5 yards a drive in distance, if the dispersion rate drops, I will have more drives around the 275 mark that find the fairway and less at 270 that land in the rough. Positioning is far more important in the game of golf than 5 or 10 yards will ever be. If you are able to consistently hit your driver where you want it, your scores will come down, and the cost of lost balls will as well. In fact, this is exactly why I started carrying my 17° hybrid this winter, controlled distance off the tee, not just raw “let’s see where this goes” stuff anymore. My scores are the better for it as well.

So, before you fall for that new club smell, do some homework and watch some testing videos. If you can find a used, or last year’s model club for 20-40% of the price of this year’s that will go just as far for you, aren’t you better off in the long run? Comments are always welcome or you can email me with any question or comments you don’t want to post.

Building A Great Set For Under $500, New?

Budget golfing can be tough. Buying a new-to-you set of clubs can certainly save you a ton of money, but what if you really want to have that ‘new bag feel’ just once in your life? Believe it or not, it’s really possible to build a budget set for far less than you think, you may just not recognize all the names in that bag when it’s finished. So, let’s get started with “our new $500 (or under) bag” and see what we end up taking to the course.

Driver – Bullet Golf- B52 Bomber 460cc Driver – Uniflex Graphite Shaft – $69.99

While Bullet Golf isn’t a household name, they do make some reasonably good quality clubs that perform pretty well for the price. You won’t be able to dial this one in too much, but it will have that new club smell that you really want to have in your new bag, so for $70, it’s a winner.

Runner’s Up - Srixon Golf Z-355 Driver  -  Wilson Golf- Staff Triton Driver

Fairway Wood – Bullet Golf- .357 Fairway Wood – Stiff or Regular shaft in 15° model – $29.98

Sticking with the Bullet woods for this round as well. A “3 wood” isn’t a club that will be used often, but if you need a bit more accuracy off the tee, the extra loft of this club will do wonders for your game. The $30 price tag will easily make the cut and the forgiveness in the head will help you make a bit better shots into the green or offer you a bit more control for those tighter tee shots.

Runner’s Up - Tour Edge Golf- Exotics XCG7 Fairway Wood - Affinity Golf- Xplode Fairway Wood

Irons - Tour Edge Golf- Exotics E8 Irons (7 Iron Set) – Stiff or Regular shaft – 4-PW - $199.99

The Tour Edge Exotics E8 Irons are a pretty impressive setup for the beginner/forgiveness seeking player. Overall, these rate very well with entry to casual players with the only complaint being the grips. Still at $200 for a full set of irons, it’s hard to argue with a full setup that performs this well.

Runner’s Up - Tour Edge Golf- Exotics E8 Combo Irons (7 Club Set) - Tour Edge Golf- Hot Launch 2 Irons (8 Iron Set)

Wedges - Ray Cook Golf RCX Black Nickel 3-Wedge Set – Uniflex 52°-56°-60° – $69.99

The Ray Cook RCX Black Nickel wedges may not be the most durable, long-term wedges around, but they will look good in your bag and perform beautifully for the casual player. They are available in both Black Nickle and a Silver finish to customize your look. The 52°, 56° and 60° will gap nicely with the Exotics E8 set and should give you a nice range down to short yardage situations. The best part, they cost under $25 a wedge when you purchase the 3 pack.

Runner’s Up - Wilson Golf Harmonized SG Chrome 3-Wedge Set - Solus Golf 420CS 3-Wedge Set

Putter - Ray Cook Golf- Silver Ray SR500 Center Shafted Putter – $39.99

Is that a TaylorMade Spider in your sub $500 bag? Nope, it’s a Ray Cook Silver Ray center shafted putter. The SR500 is easy to line up and get the ball rolling on the correct line and it does it at an extremely budget friendly price. For just $40, you get a top notch design that will help you make some putts – though practice will help way more than a putter ever will. The black finish will help you block out the sun reflection, but if you want to pony up $10 extra, they have Green, Red and White finishes also available.

Runner’s Up - Dunlop Golf- Tour #1 Putter - Ray Cook Golf- Silver Ray SR600 Putter - Dunlop Golf- NZ9 Putter

Bag - Ergonomix Golf Pro K 10-Way Stand Bag – $39.99

I’ll be the first to admit, if a bag is comfy to carry, it’s good enough for me. The Ergonomix Pro K is that type of bag, without many of the frills that drive the cost up. It doesn’t have a dedicated pocket for a water bottle or a range finder. It doesn’t have a separate putter pocket on the outside of the bag for when you cart your clubs. It is just a nice, lighter weight bag that carries your essentials on to the course and it’s priced aggressively to reflect that. At $40, it’s a deal to be had, even if it only comes in a strange black and green combo.

Runner’s Up - Hot-Z Golf HTZ Sport Plus Stand Bag - Ray Cook Golf- Polaris Stand Bag

Balls - OnCore Caliber Golf Balls – 2 dozen balls – $25.00

I was pretty impressed with both the Caliber and Avant balls from OnCore Golf. I preferred the Avant over the Caliber, but there may not be a better ball on the market for slower swing speeds than the Caliber. Around the greens, the Caliber performed amazingly well, but my 110+ MPH swing was just a bit more than the Caliber wanted to take on longer shots. It resulted in a fractional loss of distance for me verses the Avant, but that’s not saying you shouldn’t play it. The best part is, with the 2 dozen sale price, you get them for just over a buck a ball, which is much nicer if they find the water or woods compared to a $4 Titleist.

Runner’s Up - Wilson Staff TD Soft Golf Balls - Nitro Tour Distance Golf Balls - Dunlop DDH Golf Balls

That put’s the entire bag cost at $475.00, which leaves a bit of room for some tees, a towel and a few other fun gadgets. Here’s a small selection to get running on those:

Tees - 4 PTS Step Golf Tees (50 Pack)  -  Towel - Greens Towel- Microfiber Golf Towel Duo Pack  -  Divot Repair/Ball Marker - Softspikes Golf- Divot Repair Push Tool  - G;pve - Snake Eyes Golf MLH Pro-Fit Tour Leather Glove

That should take us pretty close to the $500 mark total and includes just about anything you may need for a brand new bag setup. Now, before you ask, no, I do not get a dime from Rock Bottom Golf for this post, they just have some of the more aggressive pricing on budget gear that I have seen. You can also check out Budget Golf and of course, look at quality used gear as well to save a fortune on top brands (remember, after you hit them once, they aren’t going to be “new” anymore) that still have plenty of play left in them.

Golf Fitness: Journey To 100–Week 14

What’s it been, about 4 weeks now? Yes, I haven’t forgotten about my Journey To 100 segment, I’ve just been a bit wrapped up in other things lately that made it practically impossible for me to maintain ANY sort of a fitness goal. So, I’m actually posting this without a weigh in in the last 4 weeks as on the 27th of April, I was the victim of a procedure on my leg that removed a large amount of varicosities from my right leg. Now, as cool as getting shot by a laser sounds, or as gruesome as having some of the supporting veins pulled out of your legs may seem, it’s the downtime that is the real killer. I am now two and a half weeks out from the surgery – and quite a few calories eaten in boredom – and finally starting to feel almost normal again. Needless to say, my week 14 weight-in was not what I hoped for, but given what I put myself through in the last 2-3 weeks, anything that didn’t balloon back up to 325 is a bit of a win for me.  My official weigh-in put me at 304.5, or about 8 pounds up since my week 9 weigh-in. Again, being laid up for a solid week and having limited mobility for the next 10 days definitely did not help in any way, shape or form. Now it’s time to get back at it and get moving forward (or downward) again. If you want to know more about what went on, I’ll be posting a bit more information about that in a different segment down the road, but it’s a good warning for those that have little issues. As for this post, yes, it was a 9 pound gain over the last 4 weeks, which isn’t good, but again, it’s better than I thought I would be, so time to get moving back down to the 280’s and keep moving forward.