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You
can always rent golf clubs when you travel.
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You
can always rent golf clubs when you travel.
What about golf shoes? –It’s NOT that easy.
Insta Golf Shoes provides the answer for any 'on the go' golfer who doesn't want to lug his or her golf shoes around. Derived from the successful idea of wearing winter ice cleats when needed, Insta Golf Shoes provide full foot slip protection, tight traction, and sure stability just like your regular golf shoes.
Introduced at the recent PGA Golf Expo in Las Vegas at which it was voted the Top New Innovative Golf Product, Insta Golf Shoes allow golfers to wear their favorite tennis (gym) shoes, or casual and even dress shoes on the golf course.
Constructed of Dual-Density TPE Elastomer for durability and long wear, the lightweight pull-on Insta Golf Shoes secure to the bottom of your footwear quickly. Full foot slip protection with heel and forefront cleats maintains traction throughout your natural stride while walking and swinging.
Long-wearing cleats are replaceable.
Available in several sizes for men and women golfers, colors are either black or white, with custom color orders accepted.
Rick Hetzel, President of RLH Golf Ventures and author The Traveling Golfer e-book, came up with the simple but most practical idea of Insta Golf Shoes. Hetzel is also a partner in Irish Golf Vacations showing, again, that Necessity is the Mother of All Inventions.
I met Rick during the PGA Show at his booth, and if the future of the Golf Industry is related to such newcomers, then the industry is in great shape the years ahead. Rick is creative, hard-working, and bubbling over with ideas, many of which are in the simmering mode of what he has plans to unveil soon for golfers.
To an old-fogey like me, it’s refreshingly healthy to meet such entrepreneurs whose success stories are now in the making.
Insta Golf Shoes, whose retail price is less than $45, are especially great for the traveling golfer, for everyday golfers who want to stop the car and practice wedge shots at the local park, and ideal also for youngsters growing up faster than their parents' budget allows for new golf shoes every year. Insta Golf Shoes are also a 'perfect fit' for golfers with special footwear issues such as orthotics.
For more info, visit instagolfshoes.com
Have them available under the back seat of your car, or pack them in your suitcase or briefcase when you travel!
Lest you think I’m blowin’ smoke, remember: Just two weeks ago…..
Insta Golf Shoes was selected by golf buyers and PGA Professionals as a top new innovative product at the 2011 PGA Expo in Las Vegas!
I
know Wedgewood.
And I’ve known Wedgewood for many years, both because I usually carry one or two of these clubs in my bag and because I’ve presented these clubs as major prizes at Golf Today Magazine-sponsored tournaments during the past 10 years.
The results I’ve personally seen are the same positive results that the winners of the clubs inevitably have. “Bob, you know that club I won at your last event really worked well for me!” (The Wedgewood.) “That’s exactly what I needed!”
Fact is, the demographics of my players is a smitten image of myself when it comes to age, maybe a couple pounds overweight, more skin on top of our heads than actual hair, memories earmarked by many 50-year anniversaries nowadays. You know the picture.
But my players and I still get a helluva lot more satisfaction from golf than the tall, lean, hittin’ machine players who just got out of college and can’t figure out what to do with their degrees, no fault of their own. And there’s much more savings in the accounts of this Baby Boomer generation than in the younger generation paying for diaper costs and Montessori Schools.
Some of the money saved is used to buy whatever can, indeed, help us to improve our games. We don’t mind playing to a 90, as long as it’s on the day that the winds whipped up to 45 knots the last six holes.
Wedgewood comes to the rescue for us, because now that we find ourselves not in our prime, we sometimes struggle a bit hitting our traditional irons. “My clubs used to work fine. I guess these clubs are just getting old…”
Wedgewood Clubs are much-more forgiving than traditional irons, as they produce a high ball flight with extra backspin without you feeling that you’re hitting that proverbial brick wall which you know Nicklaus didn’t put in his architectural designs for the middle of the fairway.
For those of us with slower swing speeds (“You can’t always get what you want!”), Wedgewood provides that extra power punch without exhausting oneself during a simple two-second golf swing.
The success of Wedgewood Golf is also based on golfers buying one or two of their unique hybrid designed clubs, choosing from a full selection of 12 different lofts from Driver through Sand Wedge.
Once you get the feel of the sweet-sounding punch of hitting your ball onto the green with a Wedgewood, then you can pick and choose other of their clubs for your bag, as I have.
Prices start at less than $50 for a 7-iron, a perfect club to get you started.
Try it and let me know.
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Crowds
are good for public political rallies. Crowds are also good for the public
opening first show of a Hollywood movie.
That's why I avoid them both, as well as I can.
Crowds in a practice area can be frustrating too! When it comes to practicing or warming up on the practice greens, I much prefer to hit three balls in succession towards one hole at a time, rather than stop and wait for other golfers to hit to the same hole.
More than one golfer per hole on a practice green is a soured spoiler, especially before you tee off.
I've solved that problem with the Pro Putt 360, which is a lightweight rounded palm-sized multi functional line tool and practice target that I place on the practice green in lieu of standing in line for a hole on the green. Like the manufacturer says “It is more than a Line Tool!”, and in my opinion it’s much more than a line tool. You can see all the uses at www.proputt.360.com.
It's not that I'm unsociable, but think about it: With the Pro Putt 360, I get my own hole when and where I want it on the practice green. I don't waste time waiting for other golfers to pick up their golf balls on the practice green before I get to hit mine.
Designed smaller in diameter than a golf hole, the portable and plastic Pro Putt 360 is perfectly-sized so that when my ball rolls over the top of it on the practice green (or strikes any part of it!), I know my golf ball would have gone into the hole. That's all I need to know, and, without the need to bend down and test my backbone cartilage to get the balls out of the hole. --No stooping required!
You can also take the Pro Putt 360 out of your pocket any time and any place you want to practice, like at a public park, your lawn area, your home carpeting --you pick the place and time! I've also used the Pro Putt 360 for my own chipping practice, in a typical practice area that often looks like a barrel of large white marbles spilled over. It is even possible to use this tool to mark or represent a landing area, or as a “hole” or finishing spot for you chips, or both!
The Pro Putt 360 is multi-functional, and designed perfectly to lock a ball in place so that you can add an alignment line or ID marks on your golf balls without the hassle of Picasso-like etchings on your fingers or hands. The best, of course, is drawing the line which acts as an alignment line, You can make the line any length you like; either 360-degrees around the golf ball, or in part as hyphenated lines or dots, whatever suits your eye.
The Pro Putt 360s come two in each package, one white and one black. The story behind the different colors is that Paula Creamer's caddie, Colin Cann, asked if the manufacturer could brighten up the black one with more white so that it would be easier to see in the shadows of a long practice putt or chip. Thus, the white one was created!
Price for a Pro Putt 360 package is only $10.95, making it a perfect reasonably-priced stockin' stuffer. They are available in selected stores and online.
I’m always amazed by the simplicity of ideas behind the start of new businesses in America. I’m not talking about the evolution of iPads by Steve Jobs (he is my hero & I wish him so well), nor am I referring to the new planes now designed to travel 10xs the speed of sound.
I’m talking simple, as in small yellow pieces of paper called Stickies, or those round reflectors in the middle of highways throughout the country –safety light reflectors which have cut accidents manifestly at nighttime. (I’m told the inventor got a penny royalty for each mini-reflector, and he is long-retired as a multi-bazillionaire.)
At the recent PGA Show in Las Vegas, I took my time and walked the aisles and talked to the owners of new businesses in the Golf Industry. Made me quite proud, because these people have walked their talk when it comes to good, old American Entrepreneur-ship.
They get an idea, and as simple as it may seem, they pursue it, until they can’t keep up with the orders to satisfy what they perceived (correctly!) as a need.
I talked with the owner of JW Designs Inc, Juanita Wells of Stockton, CA, first at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, FL in January, and weeks ago at the PGA Show in Las Vegas.
Great to say that during this one-half year, her idea has expanded from a Sports Pocket to Pocket Purses to Custom Pockets and now to Garden Pockets. As if that’s not enough to keep her busy after her successful career in fabric design, Juanita now has other related business ideas, the fruit of which will be publicly forthcoming with even newer products.
I’m amazed at the Sport Pocket which is exactly that: a pocket for women who are want of pockets in their skirts or shorts. The Sport Pocket is a fashionable and compact pocket (7” x 7”) which inserts into any waistband and is held in place by an attached pliable plastic insert. Wow! Why didn’t I think of this?!? (After all, I have four sisters and should have noticed that men had the pockets in the family, not women!)
The Sport Pocket for women golfers provides a convenient and easily accessible place for golf balls, tees, ball market, etc. without needing a search light or GPS. They’re all within reach! During a round, the Sport Pocket stays in place, and works with any waistband, belted or elastic.
After the round, the washable Sport Pocket can be used to carry cell phones, music devices, lipstick, keys, personal items, and whatever. It stays in place without worry about slipping off during activities thanks to its “back flap”.
The idea originated when the creator of the Sport Pocket found herself on the golf course (yes, she is an avid golfer) NOT within easy reach of tees, marker and an extra golf ball. “I have an idea…..” the caption of her thought balloon read. But, instead of using straps, harnasses and bands such as in fanny packs, Juanita used one simple but most effective “back flap”. Again, why didn’t I think of that?
And sure enough, at its debut at the PGA Show in Orlando, the Sport Pocket nearly won the very top prize in the New Products Division.
Now, JW Designs has created Black Pocket Purses, Brown Pocket Purses, Garden Pockets and Custom Pockets.
I myself think the Garden Pocket is ideal since it does not take up too much space on one’s person to impede one in the enjoyment of gardening. For sure, this is a winner, as well!
MSRP is $29.95, with a plethora of colors and designs most suitably presented on www.jwdesigns-inc.com
If you’re looking for something different for your next Tee Prize Package in a Women’s Golf Tournament, surely you should consider The Sport Pocket. Talk with Juanita re: volume discounts, as well as a custom logo.
I’ve
seen it happen. You have, too! –I’m talking about when someone in your foursome
hits a 250-yard plus home-run drive propelled by a Tour Player kind of swing
only to have the ball land a football field length away from the center of your
fairway.
Truth be told: You had noticed that the golfer at the tee was facing off-center, but you didn’t want to interrupt his swing. It’s just not proper etiquette.
As his ball was about to land, however, you try to make up to your longtime friend: “Joe, that was a terrific shot. But…. your ball went exactly to where you were aiming.”
As with me, you’ve all done it too –we’ve hit a perfect shot from the sound of impact clubface-to-ball to the completion of the follow-through. But, the ball went errant, way out in a no man’s land.
With a beautiful hit like that, if you would have aligned yourself properly before your swing, you would be carding a birdie, maybe, or at least a par. What happens is that we don’t take the mere seconds needed to properly align ourselves and the ball so that the ball will hit squarely on the sweetspot of the clubface.
So, the ball does fly far and straight and accurate to your stance & alighnment, but not to where you intended.
Just like we all forget that a “California Stop” is not, really, a stop, for police ticket purposes, we all get in a rush and forget, at times, that if you’re mis-aligned with your target, there’s no way your golf ball, even with your ‘best ever’ golf swing, will end up at your intended target….except with luck.
The good news is that the alignment problem is one of the easiest to fix in golf. It’s basic, almost a no-brainer, and proper practice shows you the results of correct alignment quickly. It’s not emergency heart surgery in an overbooked plane flying 375 mph at 35,000 feet high!
How to practice? You can go from the very basics of using white chalk to draw an arrow to the intended target. It’s a cheap aid, but it most probably will be your last arrow drawn on that golf course.
Or, you can visit Google and type in golf alignment and get 685,000 plus sites or stories or blogs on aligning a golf ball.
Alignment training aid sticks of various weights, lengths, colors and styles abound –and it would take about as long as the 100-Year War back in the Middle Ages to read all about these alignment sticks.
I’ll save you lots of time and lots of money by focusing on The Golf Alignment Stick which I used for the first time at the recent PGA show in Las Vegas. To my knowledge, Sure Stick is the only collapsible alignment stick available to golfers.
Coming in a brightly colored set of red sticks (2 sticks per set) for $29.95 (www.golfalignment.com), the Sure Sticks can be used from the getgo for learning how to square up to the target, how to align your feet with the ball and target, and much more. I showed one person how to take the conceptualization of a slice with the use of these sticks to the real thing by holding my club too loosely and edging outwards and, sure enough, the ball sliced as in slicing a very large watermelon!
Golf instructors would do very well in using these training aids, especially for golfers new to the game.
These Alignment Sticks can be easily folded and carried in one’s golf bag to pulled out when needed, say, on the practice range.
Remember, make sure you are correctly aligned to the target of your shot. The alignment starts with practice and understanding, and the Sure Stick is provides for this practice, understanding, and better and more enjoyable golf game.
About 20 years ago, I remember playing a pleasant round with a PGA Pro at a course near San Jose, CA. It was my third shot, an easy chip shot (his was already on the green). I stood above my ball and, for whatever reason, tensed up. To this day, I still don’t know why I was tense on that shot.
But I do remember him saying: “Bob, relax. It’s more of a gentleman’s bet…..And, don’t hold your club too tight.”
Simple advice, but applicable for all golfers who play the game. --Don’t ever bet with a pro and, always relax.
No matter what one’s level of play, you must relax, and make believe you have a bird in your hands. You just want to hold it awhile, not crush it to smithereens.
Grip Solid is a training aid which not only recognizes that one’s shot starts with the right grip, but reinforces the right and solid grip with its Grip Solid. It does all this so well that it was named as the Winner of the Best New Product 2011 PGA Expo held in Las Vegas last month.
Grip Solid is a thin, negligibly lightweight (one ounce!) strap featuring a raised, flexible bar which helps to position your club more perfectly in your hands.
The Grip Solid, with its FLEX•BAR facing outward, attaches around your existing golf glove, with a Velcro tab securing the around-the-hand strap on the back of your hand.
Positioning the strap is threefold: first, by placing Grip Solid across the palm of your hand with the FLEX•Bar facing outward; then, you position the Index Alignment indicator in-line with your index finger. Thirdly, you adjust Grip Solid so that the forward edge is directly behind your knuckles when you make a fist.
Used with any of your clubs, position your club so that it comes across your fingers below the Grip Solid FLEX•BAR which should be parallel with your grip’s leading edge indicators (‘tick’ marks or line which runs parallel to the club face). --That all takes seconds.
Now you’re on your way to a more perfect golf grip.
Using your normal grip by holding your club with both hands, squeeze the club until you feel the FLEX•BAR of the Grip Solid compress. Then, slowly release your grip pressure so that you can’t feel the FLEX•BAR, anymore.
Now you’re on your way to a more perfect golf shot.
Chances are greater than ever that if you have a slice incorporated into your game permanently or as an occasional visitor, you are holding your clubs too tensely. Too tight.
Grip Solid’s FLEX•BAR tells you when you have the bird in control, and when you may start maiming it. Soft FLEX•BAR “fins” will press against your palm when you grip your club too tightly.
There’s that in-between pressure that gives you fair control of your shot. --Not too loose a grip and not too tight a grip.
The feedback from the usage of Grip Solid is immediate, requiring nothing to attach to your clubs and taking only seconds to position on your gloved left-hand for right-handed golfers.
If you’re looking for a non-intrusive no-hassle way of learning the correct grip pressure and proper grip positioning you should have, Grip Solid provides that immediately and throughout your swing. You’ll see it in less hooks and less slices. You’ll see it in hitting your ball more squarely and accurately, giving you the distance you want because you’re hitting it straighter.
Muscle memory later comes to bat automatically as you learn proper club positioning and pressure needed to control your shots.
Pricing is right, as well, at a suggested retail of $19.95.
For more info on this new training ad designed to cut your strokes and make the Game of Golf a more enjoyable a recreational pursuit, visit www.gripsolid.com
Grip Solid is so sure of its unique design features, its functions, and high performance of promise that it offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, as well.
When
you’re talking about an uphill or downhill slope on any hole or two, you’ve got
to consider a possible extra stroke here, maybe another un-planned stroke there.
If you fail to accurately take into consideration these differences of height, plus or minus, during an entire round, you’re talking about several strokes you don’t need or want added to your score.
You’re protected from these challenges, you say, because you have a rangefinder or GPS unit that you bought for $400 to $500.
Question: Are you sure you have slope elevation compensator as part of your GPS unit? –Chances are that your GPS unit does NOT compensate for elevation changes.
And what if the batteries go dead or weaken? Or the satellite reception is weak? Or, what if the morning due is as thick as the Broccoli Soup you ate yesterday for lunch?
The Slope-Tec SDx Pro, recently introduced at the PGA Show in Las Vegas, solves all these challenges at a press of your fingertip on the unit’s dashboard. Point the unit itself at the elevated fairway in front of you, click it, and pronto, all the math geniuses inside the unit take a nano of a second to tell you the exact distance to the top of the rising fairway, or to the flag standing off-center in the next hole, fully accounting for the extra 29’ in higher elevation.
Most important, this 22nd Century Slope-Tec is priced so-right that I know you also will be surprised. $34.95. (The Slope Tec unit looks more like a $300 yardage
distance compensator!) That this unit provides accurate yardage compensation at a fraction of the cost is undebatable.
The SDx Pro is a tool which provides more precise yardage for a more accurate game from that basic info received from a Rangefinder, GPS unit or even a basic fairway yardage marker.
And, to boot, you don’t have to worry about batteries because it doesn’t use any.
Most golfers ‘guesstimate’ how to play uphill and downhill shots. “Ted, it’s slightly uphill. Use a 9-iron!”
Knowing compensated yardage for uphill and downhill shots provides the golfer with confidence of club selection and during club swing. Stop guessing on the course, start playing an even better game!