Golfing-Stuff

As I have been looking at new drivers and testing them, I tested an “offset” driver, the King Cobra S-9.  I said in an earlier post that I liked this driver the best of all the drivers I have tried so far.  But why?  What was it about the construction of the offset that helped me hit the drives straighter and longer?  One of the salesmen that I talked to said many women use an offset because some women don’t get the clubhead through the ball as early as they should.  That means the ball goes off to the right (for a right-handed golfer).  I was seeing that in my drives.  When I hit the offset, the drives immediately straightened out.  Magic?  No.  Below are some answers that I found on the internet which explain it in simpler terms for me to understand! 

Question: What is Offset, and Why are Some Clubs Designed With It?

Answer: Offset is a design condition in clubheads in which the neck or hosel of the head is positioned in front of the face of the clubhead, so that the clubface appears to be set back a little from the neck of the club. (Put another way, offset is the distance that the forward side of the neck/hosel of the clubhead is set in front of the bottom of the face of the clubhead.)

When a wood or ironhead is designed to have more offset, two game improvement factors automatically occur, each of which can help the golfer. First, the more offset, the farther the head’s center of gravity is back from the shaft. And the farther the CG is back from the shaft, the higher the trajectory will be for any given loft on the face. In this case, more offset can help increase the height of the shot for golfers who have a difficult time getting the ball well up in the air to fly.

Second, the more offset in the clubhead, the more time the golfer has on the downswing to rotate the face of the clubhead back around in order to arrive at impact closer to being square to the target line. In other words, offset can help a golfer come closer to squaring the face at impact because the clubface arrives at impact a split-second later than with a club that has no offset. Thus the second benefit of offset is to help reduce the amount the golfer may slice or fade the ball.

From http://golf.about.com/od/faqs/f/offset.htm

My next question is:  Would it be better to work on my swing in order to get that clubface more square or to buy the club whose technology will overcome the deficiency in my swing?

Right now, I am thinking that if the new technology can help me achieve my goals of better drives more quickly than trying to change my swing, BUY THE CLUB!

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When I moved to this area last fall and started playing golf regularly, I was interested only in learning more about the game and “improving” my game.  I didn’t keep a handicap.  Why should I?  I wasn’t going to play in tournaments.  I didn’t intend to play in a league where I needed a handicap.  Why did I need a handicap?

At first I didn’t even keep score all the time.  I was more concerned with LEARNING and enjoying golf.  Then I did keep score, fudging on some of the rules.  As I improved, I realized I had to follow all the rules and score my game honestly.  If my ball went in the water, I had to take the penalty.  As I played more, and practiced, I did improve my ball-striking, and was able to consistently hit the ball a fair distance.  At that point, I did start keeping my score, and doing it honestly.  OK - NOW it was time to start working on the handicap. 

A handicap in golf really shows how your game relates to Par.  If I shot 100 in each of 10 rounds, my average would be 100.  Then, if Par for the course that I played those 10 rounds on was 72, I would consistently be shooting 28 over Par.   That 28 is my handicap.  I should be expected to score somewhere around 100 every time I play golf.  Of course, that could vary by a number of strokes, but the average should be around my handicap.  As I get better, and consistently score lower, say around 95, then after a number of rounds, my handicap would adjust to 23. (It takes at least 10 rounds to establish a handicap.)

At my club, there is a computer in the club house where I can enter my score after every round I play.  I don’t have to figure anything; I just enter the score.  Many public courses will also have access to a handicap system where players can enter their scores by belonging to a particular handicap system.

What is the purpose of a handicap?  A handicap allows two players of differing abilities to play against each other on a level playing field!  I don’t want to go into a long explanation right now, so let’s just say a handicap will let me play with someone who is much better than I am, but I would still have a chance of winning! 

Why?  Why do I need to establish a handicap?

I think there are 2 main reasons why I need to do this: 

First, I do want to improve my game.  I have set a goal to lower my handicap by 10 points from the time I started keeping it until the end of this summer.  By keeping track on the handicap system, I will be able to watch as my handicap gets lower throughout the summer.  Right now, I have a handicap of 38.  That means by the end of the summer, I want to be consistently scoring right at 100 every round.  (I would love to be consistently BELOW 100!) 

Second, as I improve my game, there are opportunities for social outings which are competitive.  Our club just announced a 2-person scramble every week until this fall.  In order to participate, you do need a handicap.  I also take part in some fund-raising tournaments.  These usually take some form of Captain’s choice.  Again, the teams are set up in flights based on handicaps.

For me personally, these are the 2 reasons to keep a handicap:  track my improvement and take part in social outings. 

My feelings are that you don’t need to start a handicap if you are just starting to learn the game.  It’s frustrating enough to learn to hit the ball straight and for good distance!  But as you do learn, practice, and improve, I think you should establish a handicap.   Golf is a social game!  I want to play with other people and enjoy various outings.  For that, I do need a handicap. 

What are your feelings about a handicap?

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I am still trying out various drivers to find the “perfect” driver for me. I am learning as I go!

I went to a Callaway Demo day, but found that they didn’t have a Women’s Diablo driver for me to try. They suggested that I try the Senior Men’s instead. The clubs are not that different as far as flex and clubhead. I was told the main difference is the length of the club. The suggestion was that I buy the Men’s Senior club and have an inch of the shaft cut off. I suppose that is an option, but I think I want to actually be able to hit the driver before I buy it.

The facility that I went to for the Demo used an inside hitting cage. You do get a feel for the club, but I am a visual person and want to see the end results of the hit. One thing I did like was that they did use a device which measured my swing speed and told the estimated carry distance of the drive. I found that my swing speed was pretty consistent, 69-72 mph. I used the Men’s Senior Driver and the Women’s King Cobra Offset driver. It didn’t make much difference whether I was using the Men’s Senior or the Women’s driver.

Which would be better for me to use? I did a little research on the internet. According to this chart, and my swing speed, I would probably be better off with the Men’s Senior. I am tall, 5′ 9″, so maybe the length of the club would be OK for me.

Found: http://www.learnaboutgolf.com/beginner/buying.html

SWING SPEED CONVERSION CHART

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I am working on learning and improving my golf game. I want to lower my handicap by 10 strokes by the end of the summer. There are different strategies I will try in order to achieve that goal. One of those is to take some lessons and let a Golf Pro help me improve my basic golf swing. The second step is something I have been thinking about for a while: Buy a new Driver!

The driver I am currently using is one of the original Callaway Big Bertha drivers. I like it, and have used it off and on for about 15 years. But it is old technology! I have started my quest for a new driver which will give me more distance and better accuracy. In the Myrtle Beach paper last week there was an ad for Golf Dimensions (Golf Super Store). It advertised specials on the Taylor Burner Driver. Buy a Driver and get a fairway wood for $1.00. One of my golfing partners and I drove down to the store to look at the new clubs. One of the salesmen was very helpful and let us try swinging the drivers, hitting into a net. This was OK, but I wanted to hit on a range. We drove on down to the Barefoot Landing Golf Dimensions store. The salesmen there gave us 3 different brands of drivers we try, along with a bucket of balls. Out to the driving range we went.

The first driver I tried was the Taylor Burner. One of the features of this club is that is has Dual Crown Technology. What this means is that the the club has a smaller crown, but a larger power base. The club head is larger than I have hit before. However, the club is light - easily swung. It has a light grip, and the club length is 46 1/4 inches. The shaft is 55 or 60 grams, which makes it very easy to swing and generate speed. The Burner also has Inverted Cone Technololgy. This technology is on the inner side of the clubface, having a larger area. At impact, this larger area delivers a higher ball speed. In tests, the Burner has generated 13 yards more distance. I liked the club, but I wasn’t crazy about it. I’m glad I tried it on a range.

The second driver was the Adams Speedline. Adams has been known for developing the Hybrid technology. They are now working on Drivers as well. The Speedline was engineered using wind tunnel technology. They have analyzed how the air flows around the clubhead. The driver is designed to have less drag, thereby generating higher swing speeds. The Speedline also has improved crown shaping, and an optimized face area. Again, this was a much bigger head than I am used to hitting. But I liked it. It felt good to swing, light, and could generate better speeds for me. The Adams website says tests have shown that this club produces 3 - 9 more yards of carry distance. Overall, I liked the club.

The last club I tried was by far my favorite! The guys in the shop had given me a King Cobra S9-1 Women’s Driver. From the first drive, I was pretty sold on this club. I was immediately hitting the ball straighter, higher in the air, and getting more distance. The club I tried had a 13.5 loft. King Cobra S9-1 also has an 11.5 driver. One of the things that made such a difference for this club was the 9 sweet spots on the club face. The clubface is built with a 1:1 ratio of length to width. It is a LARGE face, but I didn’t seem able to mis-hit the ball with it! Every drive was straight. This club face was very forgiving! It has a traditional head shape, and weighting in the back of the head for more driving power. The club I used was an offset. I hadn’t used an offset club before, but really liked the way this one felt. The results were unbelievable! I wasn’t changing anything in my set-up and swing, but the results were certainly far better than my old Big Bertha!

So why didn’t I just buy that King Cobra?

I am using Callaway woods and irons now, and I really like the brand. This particular store hadn’t received its Callaway Diablo demo drivers yet. But, they are having a Callaway Demo day May 14, so I want to go and give the Diablo Driver a try before I make a final decision.

Any experience with any of these drivers? What would you recommend?

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Myrtle Beach is known as the “Golfing Capital of the World”. Now it is also known for the horrendous wildfire that has been burning since last Thursday, April 23. This fire has burned over 20,000 acres of land and over 70 homes. The miracle is that no one has lost their life to the fire. The fire is now mostly contained.

With all the destruction, it seems trivial to worry about some of the golf courses in the North Myrtle Beach and Myrtle Beach area. BUT, this area depends on tourists. The two main attractions are golf and the beach. The fire did not come close to the beaches, but it did threaten some of the outstanding golf courses. There are 4 courses at Barefoot Resort and Golf - these 4 courses were designed by Davis Love III, Tom Fazio, Pete Dye, and Greg Norman. All four were closed on Thursday, but the Pete Dye and Greg Norman courses opened back up on Friday. Fire was around them, but the courses are fine. The Barefoot courses by Love and Fazio did have some damage and were closed. Those two courses combined some holes to create a course that is playable. Customers were either accomodated there, or sent to other courses in the area to play. Another course which was threatened was the private Members Club at Grande Dunes. The maintenance staff with the firefighters and construction vendors were able to keep the course from being burned.

When I moved to this area, I was more concerned about hurricanes. I had never considered a fire! The area has been really dry, and with wind conditions, the fire spread quickly. I am so thankful for the Forest Service, the Firefighters, the Red Cross, the volunteers, and everyone who has joined in this fight. My heart goes out to all the people who have lost their homes. As a new homeowner here, I can only imagine the devastation they are now facing. I know it is only “stuff” that they lost - but for many it was family pictures, family history, and the family home that is gone. Everyone is still living - and we need to be thankful for that.

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Kenny Perry and I have one thing in common: we both like the Zero Friction Perfomance Tees by Excel Golf.

I am willing to try anything to help improve the length and accuracy of my drives. (If only I COULD drive like Kenny Perry!)  I have heard and read about the Zero Friction Tees. A friend gave me one on the golf course to try. After that, I bought a pack and have been using them the last few weeks. I do like them, and  I think I am getting more distance with them.

What makes the Zero Friction Tee better than standard tees?  Zero Friction has a unique design that drastically reduces the contact area between the ball and the tee. (http://www.zerofrictiontees.com)  The reduction in the surface touching the ball decreases the amount of friction which then produces longer, straighter drives. They claim that during independent testing, a golfer with 100 mph swing speed can gain up to 4 yards of distance and over 5 yards of accuracy.

The tee looks like a standard tee, but the top has 3 prongs that hold the ball. The ball sits up on the prongs, so there is a large pocket of air beneath the ball, meaning very little resistance. The instructions on the packet tell you to aim one of the prongs on the tee toward the target. This is supposed to minimize drag as the club makes contact with the ball. Since the tee has a pretty conventional design, golfers have been quick to adopt them. The tees come in heights of 2 3/4 inches and 3 1/4 inches. These work for even the biggest driver heads.

http://thesandtrap.com/accessories/zero_friction_tee_review

This site wrote a really good review of the Zero Friction Performance Tees. They also put together a somewhat scientific test with 10 golfers who had handicaps ranging from 5 to 15. After hitting 10 shots, they found that the Zero Friction Tee did produce drives that were 4 yards longer and 1.5 yards closer to the center of the fairway.

One other thing that TheSandtrap.com mentioned was that the tees are almost indestructible. They just don’t seem to break. Another site that wrote a good review of the Zero Friction Performance Tee was http://www.galttech.com/research/sports/golf-tees.php. A large part of their review repeated that the tees rarely break! I have to agree.  Since I bought my first pack of the tees about a month ago, I haven’t broken a single one! I’m still playing with the original 3 I stuck in my pocket.  They are flexible.  If the ground is hard, you can still push the tees into the ground without breaking them.

Another big point is that the Zero Friction Tees are biodegradable. This is good for the golf course and the environment. On the package, it says, “An environmentally friendly product manufactured with biodegradable materials.” That alone wins big points with me.  You don’t need to use as many tees since they rarely break.  If they do break, they are biodegradable and will disappear!

As I write this, the Zero Friction people are saying that there are 30 PGA Tour Victories with the tee, and over 210 top 10 finishes!  Not bad… for a Tee!

Do you use the Zero Friction Tees?    What do you think?

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Yesterday I started out playing 18 holes of golf in great weather, sunny and warm. After finishing up, I headed home to watch Golf on TV. I started by flipping back and forth between the men’s and the women’s tournaments. My interest was caught by the LPGA Kraft Nabisco Championship - what an exciting finish!

The three leaders, Kristy McPherson, Cristie Kerr, and Brittany Lincicome, were in the last group. During the day, the lead changed hands. It was great watching these 3 ladies go head-to-head with each other. I was pulling for Kristy McPherson because of her ties to the Myrtle Beach-Conway, South Carolina area. Local girl! After Cristie Kerr had an errant drive, it looked like McPherson would be able to win her first tournament. She was 1 stroke ahead going into 18. Brittany came up with an unbelievable shot with a 4-hybrid to set up her eagle putt. She finished at -9, with the other two ladies sharing second at -8. I was disappointed Kristy McPherson didn’t win, but I couldn’t help but be excited by Brittany’s shot and win. It was good golf and certainly exciting and enjoyable to watch.

I’m commenting on this because in the past people have told me they don’t watch the women play because it isn’t as exciting as the men’s play. Yesterday did not fit that mold! Having the 3 leaders in one group made the competition really come alive! They were playing off each other, and they all hit some pretty amazing shots. I chose to stay with the women’s play. Those women inspire me, and many others, to go out and play more golf!

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As part of my interest in golf, I search the web for golf sites and interesting golf stories. From Twitter I found SassyGolf.com. This is not only a golf story, but an inspiring story for women!

Elizabeth Kennedy Carless, CEO of Sassy Golf, is a golfer herself. She has played golf for over 15 years. She got tired of wearing “a man’s golf glove sized for a woman”. She started designing, making, and wearing her own golf gloves. Other women saw the gloves, loved them, and starting asking for them. From this start, Elizabeth built Sassy Golf.

I admire her - she followed her passion and out of it, grew a business.

When I was ready to leave the corporate world, I was looking for something else to do. Everything I read about career changes said to “find your passion” and then pursue that. If you love what you are doing, the money will follow. That’s a very scary thing to do. The “passion” is good, but you have to have courage to take on the “money” part. I like that Sassy Golf came from a woman’s creativity and passion for a game that she loved. I love real-life stories and examples about “reinventing” yourself. I admire the determination to follow-through on a great idea. The story of Sassy Golf can be an inspiration for all of us. It certainly was for me!

Check out  Sassygolf.com for yourself.

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The last 2 years I have attended Tiger’s AT & T National Golf Tournament at Congressional Golf Club in Bethesda, MD. I love this tournament. It is so well done, and it’s at one of the premier Golf Clubs in America.

Congressional has been host to the U.S. Open, and now Tiger’s own Tournament. It is a beautiful course, the grounds are well kept, and it is a great course for spectators. The admission prices are very reasonable. Those are only a few of the reasons I love this tournament.

Tiger uses this tournament in two ways: to raise money for the Tiger Woods Foundation, and to honor all the men and women serving in the Armed Forces. You have an opportunity to donate to his Foundation directly. You also have the opportunity upon entering the Tournament grounds to write a postcard to a member of the military thanking them for his/her service.

Each of the 4 days of the Tournament honored a different branch of the Armed Service: Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force. On the day that his or her branch was represented, a member of that particular branch had the honor of announcing the Golfers on the # 1 Tee. I had a seat right behind the # 1 Tee Box. As the golfers came to the Tee, they were presented with a commemorative coin. Many of the golfers greeted the Military personnel at the Tee Box. There were also high-ranking officers who visited the Tee, but my focus was on the “Guest Announcer” for the day. There was nervousness, but you could also tell there was great pride in representing the Armed Service at this tournament. I don’t know how the “announcer” was selected, but it was an honor for the soldier as well as the Branch of Service. I loved seeing and experiencing this patriotism.

Last year Tiger was not able to play, but he will be back this summer. The dates are June 30-July 5. If you are anywhere near DC, plan to go!

AT & T National, Hosted by Tiger Woods

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I describe myself as an “Avid Golfer“.  Some of my friends call me a “Golf Fanatic“.  Which am I?

“Avid” is defined as someone who likes an activity very much.  This is a person who has a strong interest in golf, for example.  I do pursue my interests in golf.  I read about it, I watch tournaments on TV,  and I play as often as I can.  If you’ve read my blog, you know that I play even in very cold weather conditions.  I love to play and work on improving my game.

“Fanatic” is also defined as a person who likes a particular activity very much.  The secondary meaning of fanatic is a person who has extreme ideas and may be dangerous.  That certainly doesn’t apply to me!  I don’t think playing golf  3 or 4 times a week is extreme or dangerous. 

What is the difference then between an avid golfer and one who is fanatic about it?  My friends who have joked with me about playing in the cold weather have said, “You’re not on a package!”  When golfers come to the Myrtle Beach Area, they often purchase a type of “Play and Stay” package where they get a hotel room and tee times for 5 days.  They have already paid for the golf so they feel they must play.  They play whether it is cold or even rainy.   I think that is where I draw the line.  I have seen people out on the golf course when there is a mist (which I might play in) or even during a steady drizzle. I will play golf in cold weather, but I will NOT play golf in the rain!  That’s where I draw the line.  

Avid golfer, yes - Fanatic- No!

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