SKLZ Refiner Driver – hinged training club

Written by: Tony Korologos | Sunday, November 22nd, 2009
Categories: Golf Accessories • Golf Clubs • Golf Gear • Golf Instruction • Instruction • Reviews
Tags: Medicus • Refiner Driver • SKLZ

Remember the Medicus from years ago? The SKLZ Refiner series are clubs with a similar concept. The Refiner Driver is a hinged training driver which shows breakdowns in your swing.

Two huge factors in the golf swing are tempo and swing plane.

Tempo

Many players’ tempos are way too fast or jerky at different points in the swing. The Refiner driver breaks down when the following tempos are too quick:

Take away tempo

Top of the swing pause

Start of the downswing

Pronation or follow through

I thought I had a very smoothly timed wing, but the Refiner had a different story. I found that my takeaway was too quick. My “normal” swing had the hinge breaking down between the start of my takeaway and the first foot or two back. I really thought I was slow and smooth here but I wasn’t. Since adjusting that small part of my swing I’m hitting the ball higher and father. The rest of my swing was fine, according to the Refiner.

Swing plane

If you swing the club with a bad swing plane the Refiner will also break down. This helps players get on plane, especially slicers. If you are coming outside in, the usual cause of a slice, the Refiner will let you know.

You can actually hit shots with the Refiner Driver, as seen in the video below

While out testing a myriad of golf gear on a cold cold day at the south range of my home course my pal and mini tour pro Luke Swilor stopped by. I put Luke to work testing the Refiner. Luke is a high level player and I was anxious to see what happened in his swing with this unit.

In the video below Luke and I test out the Refiner and give some off the cuff reactions and opinions. Luke crushes the Refiner, almost hitting the the range shack on the north end of the range. I might add there was a head wind as well. That answers the question, “can you hit real shots with this thing?”

Conclusion

For hammering out swing plane and especially tempo issues, I’ll always keep the Refiner handy. I’m sure if things go a bit bad with my swing, the Refiner can tell me where the breakdowns are occurring.

Related links

SKLZ Gyroswing Review

SKLZ Image Gallery

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-11-22

Written by: Tony Korologos | Sunday, November 22nd, 2009
Categories: Miscellaneous

designing a golf course web stie: http://www.riveroakssandy.com #
in the golf geek blogger gadget review zone! #
Ringside at the biggest mma event here in UT
http://yfrog.com/4gylwj #

Nickent is out of business

Written by: Tony Korologos | Sunday, November 22nd, 2009
Categories: Golf Clubs • Golf Equipment • Golf Gear

“Our bank has refused to fund any future operations of the company.” John Hoeflich, Nickent President.

This is terribly sad. Nickent is done. I’ve always been a big Nickent fan. I believe this lowly little blog helped that company grow in the beginning with some product reviews of their hybrids and putters. The economy and lack of interest in some of their club offerings like irons and drivers led to their demise. 60 employees are now out of work as well.

Premonition

I thought something fishy was up back on September 2nd when I noticed that Nickent’s web site had been moved from a .com to a .net. The .com had said “this account has been suspended” which typically is displayed by web hosts when they haven’t been paid for their service.

Currently I have two Nickent hybrids in my bag which I depend on greatly. One is a 17 degree and one a 23 degree. I have 20 degree to complete the set which I let my dad use, and he hits it so well he has informed me that I won’t be getting it back. Otherwise I might have three Nickent hybrids in my bag.

Perhaps some bigger golf company will buy up the assets and designs of Nickent and carry on some of their great hybrid designs.

Meteor hits a few miles from HOG world headquarters!

Written by: Tony Korologos | Thursday, November 19th, 2009
Categories: Life • Miscellaneous

This is pretty cool. A meteor lit up the sky here yesterday and likely landed in the Utah west desert. No word yet if anyone has be abducted by aliens yet…

I need a fisherman to fish out my Golf Fisherman!

Written by: Tony Korologos | Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
Categories: Boneheads • Golf Accessories • Golf Gear • Reviews

When ProV1’s and ZStar’s and B330 golf balls are $40-60 a dozen, it really makes fishing balls out of the water hazards a productive activity. Ball retrievers can save you a fortune in lost golf balls.

The Golf Fisherman (sounds like the Popeil Pocket Fisherman) is just the tool for fishing out golf balls. It couldn’t be any simpler. You throw the thing out into the water and drag the lake, scooping up dozens of $5 golf balls. You can pretend you’re “Gladiator” with a grappling weapon, circling the unit above your head and then throwing it for the kill (or for golf balls).

Is it that easy or am I just a bonehead? Don’t answer…

I shot a little video (at the bottom of this post) of my first attempt at retrieving balls on the #3 hole at my home course. I’ve put more balls in the water on this damn hole than any other. I guess that is because the golf gods wanted to teach me a lesson for getting an ace on that hole back in 2001.

What you don’t realize when you are dragging a lake, is that you don’t just scoop up golf balls. You scoop up whatever other debris is at the bottom of the lake. In this case it was rotten, stinky algae. I thought for a second I might scoop up Jimmy Hoffa.

If all else fails, try another lake

Not having much luck on #3, I decided to go to the hole which is in 2nd place for ball eating in my game history. This is the lake to the right of #1, a par-5. That lake eats balls. Any drive which drifts right is toast.

I found a good spot, then started circling the unit above my head like the gladiator that I am. I released the unit for the kill with precision and skill. The unit flies about 25 yards right to the center of the lake.

Problem…

I forgot to tether the unit to my wrist this time. I lost the grip and the entire unit and string flew into the middle of the lake, out of reach. I just stood there an laughed as I watched the thing sink. DOH!

I need a fisherman to fish out my golf fisherman!