Hooked On Golf Blog

Just got off the phone.  The call was from St. Andrews SCOTLAND.  My best friend, who just celebrated his birthday a few days ago, was calling.

He was having a pint with my pal Boynie!  Boynie is a friend I’ve met online through The Golf Space.  He’s a caddy at St. Andrews.  Boynie and my friend will be doing 36 holes on The Old Course TOMORROW!  Talk about cool!  I can’t wait to hear about it and to see the pictures.

My buddy put Boynie on the phone and he sounded just like I’d hoped and dreamed.  In other words, his accent was so great I could only understand about half of what he said!  I loved it!

UPDATE 6:35ET: I’m on the phone RIGHT NOW with Alan.  He’s WALKING THE 1ST FAIRWAY.

Alan: “I’m touching the 1st tee with my hand.”
Me: “Take a picture.”
Alan: “Every great the game has seen in its history has stood at this spot.”
Me: “Ooooohhhh.”

Written by Tony Korologos a.k.a. mediaguru Filed under Life Tags: St. Andrews

The SUMI-G divot tool is not for every golfer. For golfer’s on a budget, a cheap plastic divot tool will do. After all, we just want to make more putts and have better greens. But for the discerning golfer, the $24 SUMI-G divot tool is as elegant as it is functional. In fact, it is a dead heat.  As a bonus, you can store it in the accessory box of your Porsche.

Forged?

You’ve heard of forged golf clubs? They have the best feel and performance. How about having a forged stainless steel divot tool? There’s nothing like the feel of forged on the course, when you fix that ball mark right on the sweet spot. Ahem.

Built in ball marker

If you own certain other SUMI-G products like say, the mega cool Dormy or Stymie belts like I do, you can use the interchangeable ball marker. The divot tool’s included ball marker secures to a magnet on the head, as well as magnets in the super-hip SUMI-G belt buckles. And once again, the use of said ball markers or SUMI-G gear is called “SumiGizing.”

On the course

The forks on the SUMI-G divot tool are bent inward and downward to provide the perfect angles for fixing ball marks. My pal Marius, the brains behind SUMI-G, rubbed together the massive gray matter inside his cranium and figured this out somehow. That’s why he’s a pioneering golf inventor and I’m not.

The tool is light in my pocket. It doesn’t weigh down my now “falling down” pants, since I’ve dropped a few LB’s this season. My pants would completely fall down if not for my SUMI-G belts as a matter of fact.

Critiques

Mark this down. This is the first “critique” I have regarding a SUMI-G product. As awesome as Marius’ products are, it may be the last as well.

On very hard greens the tool is tough to use. There isn’t quite enough length to get good leverage. The corners on the top of the tool can painfully poke the palm of my hand.

Keep in mind this is really a stretch. I’ve encountered conditions like this in one round out of close to 40.

Conclusion

Man this tool is sexy and shiny too!  I love shiny toys.

This is a unique piece which will last longer than you will, with its stainless steel forged design.  The magnetic ball marker is very convenient and interchanges with SUMI-G belts.  The greens and your fellow golfers will be thankful you ponied up the bucks for a great divot tool.

Related links

Buy SUMI-G products online at The Golf Space SHOP and at the SUMI-G home site.

I have a few images of the SUMI-G divot tool and other SUMI-G products in the HOG SUMI-G gallery.

SUMI-G headcover review.  Do your headcovers have a “rigid exoskeleton”???

SUMI-G Dormy belt review.

Written by Tony Korologos a.k.a. mediaguru Filed under Equipment & Accessories, Golf Accessories, Golf Equipment, Golf Reviews Tags: golf divot tool, sumi-g

If you only knew how many golf gadgets I have in my house…  It is tough to pick which one I’ll try out each day I go to the course.   With all the rain here lately in Seattle Salt Lake it has been a good opportunity to put The Club Caddy into play and I’ve been quite satisfied with the results.

The Club Caddy is basically a spring loaded “Y” shaped clamp which attaches to the shaft of a club and provides two of three legs of a tripod.  The third leg is the club shaft.  The unit elevates the club grip off the wet grass and keeps the club easily accessible, especially good for those with bad backs like myself.  It also serves as a reminder not to forget a club.

The footprint isn’t exactly conducive to putting in your pocket or storing inside smaller pockets of your golf bag.  But the unit comes with a bag clamp to attach it to.  You don’t really need to do that though, as you can attach the “Y” to the shafts of clubs in the bag, bag straps etc.

As you can see by my 2nd image, I’ve managed to use The Club Caddy to not only keep my clubs dry, but my playing partner’s as well.

Conclusion

It is tough to write a 2000 word review on something like this so I won’t even attempt it.

I was skeptical before I started using this thing.  You can even ask The Club Caddy inventor David Jones.  In one of my email responses to him I told him it wasn’t likely I’d use it.  That being said, I’m pleasantly surprised at the usefulness of this device, having dealt with a ton of rain and soggy conditions on the golf course lately.  I really don’t like trying to hit shots with wet grips.

I’m not the only one who likes this unit either.  It won the Golf Channel program “Fore Inventors Only.”

Golfer’s love to buy toys but in today’s economy that can be tough. The price point of The Club Caddy is reasonable at $14.99.  I think going beyond the $15 level for an impulse buy golf gadget is a tough sell.

Related links

I have a few more shots of The Club Caddy, including the shot of it with the bag attachment, in the HOG Club Caddy gallery.

The Club Caddy is available to purchase at The Club Caddy web site and I hope to soon have it availabe in The Golf Space SHOP.

Written by Tony Korologos a.k.a. mediaguru Filed under Equipment & Accessories, Golf Accessories, Golf Reviews Tags: Club Caddy, Golf Accessory

Sports Illustrated has released a top 50 list of the highest paid athletes in America. This includes salary and endorsements. Hey, they should get together with Golf Digest since they love doing lists like that.

Anyway, Tiger Woods ($99.7 million) and Phil Mickelson ($52.9 million) are the top two highest paid athletes! Tiger has been #1 for six straight years. Golf wins over football, basketball and baseball! And the careers are so much longer. If I only could have taken up the sport earlier than 1990.

Here’s a link to the SI article but be careful. The popup ads are so pervasive they’ll almost jump out of your monitor and bash you in the head with a 9-iron. The ads are so bad in fact, that I couldn’t even get page four to load because they were taking so long to load. So I bailed.

Looking at these salaries and endorsements is interesting. Golf is the only “sport” other than Nascar where the “athlete” earns more in endorsements than in salary.

Written by Tony Korologos a.k.a. mediaguru Filed under Golf Media, Miscellaneous, PGA Tour, Pro Golf, Tiger Woods Tags: Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods

We’re 2/3 of the way done with the fantasy season! Fore Heaven has won the Spring leg of HOG Space 2009 Fantasy golf and wins a pair of VedaloHD sunglasses! Week 19: Deadly Eight Iron Week 20: Cal Birdies Week 21: Bogeys ‘n Better Week 22: Grass On The Green Week 23: Apollo Kid & Wiggle Waggle Week 24: Big Hittin’ Lamas Winners contact me to claim prizes!	PRIMARY SPONSORS (click now and thank ‘em!)
Weekly Sponsors (click ‘em now!): • Fantasy Golf Information • Official HOG Space Fantasy Discussion Board Presented by The Golf Space & Hooked On Golf Blog

Written by Tony Korologos a.k.a. mediaguru Filed under Fantasy Golf, Site News Tags: Fantasy Golf

There were some great comments posted in June, ranging in subjects from Tiger Woods, Michelle Wie to killiig geese and Chris Berman’s awful golf announcing in the US OPEN.

It was tough to pick three winners so I had to do a tiebreaker by seeing who had the best 2nd round comment.

“Old Man Par” and “ISBPD” won with their comments regarding Chris Berman’s announcing and “Alan” won for his Michelle Wie comments.  You three brilliant comment authors win a Blu-Ray disc of Disney’s “The Greatest Game Ever Played” courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.  Thanks!

ISBPD (on Berman):

If Berman worked in an office, he’d be the guy who’s desk is situated near the photo copier…as you approach to make copies he’d say: “Here comes the Dave-ster, mak-ing cop-ies. The Dave-ster! Dave-a-rino! Mak-ing copies!” You know…like the Rob Schneiter character (Rich) from a Saturday Night Live sketch from many years ago. Everyone is truely annoyed by him, but no one wants to be the mean guy and tell him he is being such a douche nozzle (yes, it is worse than being just a douche bag). Well Media Guru is the office mean guy it would seem!

Old Man Par (on Berman):

I was thinking about writing about the same thing — Berman has no business covering golf, especially a major. He’s like the loud drunk at the bar who thinks he knows it all (but doesn’t) and thinks he’s hilarious when he’s really tedious and annoying. You wish he’d go home so you could enjoy yourself, but he just gets worse and worse.

And don’t forget “the Hansen brothers” — another gem.

Oh, brother. Thank goodness NBC takes over tomorrow.

Alan (on Wie):

“… has a lot of talent with a golf club, she’s yet to fulfill her promise in any meaningful way whatsoever.”

Which is a true statement of nearly every Nationwide player and club pro in the world, and I would think it’s the nine inches ‘tween the ears that make the difference.

I suppose they were hoping for the female Tiger Woods, not realizing that they just had her, and that her name was Annika Sorenstam.

Winners please email me your shipping addresses!

Written by Tony Korologos a.k.a. mediaguru Filed under Site News Tags:

Last week my men’s league had “ladies day” which is where all the men play from the ladies or red tees.

Lowest score other than mine was a 70.  My score?  65!  I found my true calling in golf and crushed the field by five shots!  And I even bogeyed a par five.  I had two eagles in a row and had a five footer for a 3rd but lipped out…

I’m proud to be ladies’ day champ.  Look out Michelle Wie…

Written by Tony Korologos a.k.a. mediaguru Filed under Hackers Tags:

Ping’s Chairman John Solheim is standing up for square grooves and I don’t blame him.  I can really benefit from square grooves, which I do have in three of my four wedges.  They help me enjoy the game.

I also think that PGA Tour pros have it too easy with the “bomb and gouge” way of playing, hitting 300 yard drives, missing the fairway and somehow getting spin out of the rough with their wedges to the green.  So I can see implementing or backing up some of the technology for their games.

It is a quandary for sure, because most players like myself want to compare my game to the world’s best and therefore want to play the same equipment.

Ping’s/Solheim’s statement released yesterday:

“The new groove rule harms the game and golfers and should be dropped. The recent uproar about it from PGA Tour players demonstrates this fact, however, the PGA Tour’s proposal to delay implementing the rule is not a solution. You can’t turn a bad idea into a good one by waiting an extra year to adopt it. We hope everyone who cares about the future of this game keeps that simple concept in mind.”
Read more…

Written by Tony Korologos a.k.a. mediaguru Filed under Equipment & Accessories, Golf, Golf Equipment Tags: John Solheim, Ping Golf, R&A, square grooves, USGA

AT&T National
PGA TOUR
Thursday 7/2 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM ET GOLF
Friday 7/3 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM ET GOLF
Saturday 7/4 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM ET GOLF
Saturday 7/4 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM ET CBS
Sunday 7/5 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM ET GOLF
Sunday 7/5 3:00 PM – 6:30 PM ET CBS

Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic Presented by Kroger
LPGA Tour
Friday 7/3 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM ET ESPN2
Saturday 7/4 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM ET ESPN2
Sunday 7/5 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM ET ESPN2

Open de France ALSTOM
European Tour
Thursday 7/2 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM ET GOLF
Friday 7/3 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM ET GOLF
Saturday 7/4 8:00 AM – 11:00 AM ET GOLF
Sunday 7/5 8:00 AM – 11:00 AM ET GOLF

Written by Tony Korologos a.k.a. mediaguru Filed under European Tour, Golf Media, LPGA Tour, PGA Tour, Pro Golf, Tiger Woods Tags:

Today is my best friend Alan’s birthday.  Big 40.

Al (Chip here in Utah but not back East!) and I grew up together as next door neighbors.  We’ve shared many great times together.

Some quick highlights:

• Hiking in the mountains in our back yards
• Playing hoops in my yard for hours and hours when we were kids
• Traveling
• Following University of Utah sports through the best and the worst of times
• Being Star Trek fans, yelling “Khaaaaaannnnnnnn!!!!” in Ricardo Montalban’s driveway
• Golfing many fine courses in Utah, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  In fact Al took me to my first Tom Doak course: Stonewall, and my first Donald Ross course: Aronomink.
• Enjoying fine cigars
• Many awesome concerts like The Who, JP, Maiden and best of all 4th row at Pink Floyd

I’m thankful for my friendship and for the many things Al has done for me.  I’d truly do anything for him.  If it weren’t for my pal Al, I wouldn’t have even started this blog.

Cheers to you my friend.  I miss you man.  Now I must go wipe the tears from my eyes…

TK

Written by Tony Korologos a.k.a. mediaguru Filed under Life Tags: