Hooked On Golf Blog Interview – Talking Fitness With Gary Player

Written by: Tony Korologos | Monday, January 27th, 2014
Categories: Golf Fitness • Golf Life • Golf Lifestyle • Golf Videos • Interviews
Tags: Gary Player

What an honor it was last week to spend a few minutes interviewing Mr. Fitness, golf legend Gary Player. Interviewing the Black Knight is certainly one of the best highlights in the history of this modest golf blog.

In the interview below I discuss fitness with the 9-time major champion and member of the “Big Three,” the other two of course being Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.

Enjoy…

Juicebar Mobile Charger

Written by: Tony Korologos | Monday, January 27th, 2014
Categories: Golf Accessories • Golf Gear

Juicebar In Action

On the 17th tee the other day, my phone died. That’s not cool. It was not only serving as a phone at the time, but was also my golf GPS and golf score keeper. The reason it died? I’d been GPSing for 16 holes, Tweeting/Facebooking/Google+ing pictures from the course, and texting my pals who weren’t lucky enough to be on the course.

My old iPhone was especially bad in GPS mode. I couldn’t get even nine holes of full GPS tracking before the battery died. Fortunately my Samsung Galaxy SIII is better, but I still have to worry if I don’t get to the course with a full charge.

Enter Juicebar

Almost on cue, a Juicebar arrived. Juicebar is a compact mobile charger which can charge all sorts of mobile phones, tablets, and any other gadget like dedicated golf GPS devices. It uses a USB connection and comes with adapters for all sorts of devices.

The Juicebar is capable of storing enough energy to fully charge a mobile device from dead to 100%.

I keep my Juicebar ready to rock in my golf bag. On that occasion when my phone is dying on the course for whatever reason, I plug in the Juicebar and have enough power to last the rest of the round and the rest of the day.

Having a Juicebar on hand is a very good idea in case of emergency. Say you’re out hiking, skiing, and something happens? Nice to have a full extra charge just in case. The unit is small enough to put in a backpack, golf bag, purse, glove compartment.

Conclusion

At about $28 the Juicebar has already paid for itself. In situations where I need to charge my phone but I’m away from a wall plug or on the move, this device is a lifesaver.

You can pick up a Juicebar at CableOrganizer.com.

Most Awesome Golf Score Card Wallet in the World

Written by: Tony Korologos | Friday, January 24th, 2014
Categories: Golf Accessories • Golf Gear • Reviews

Atlanta, Georgia based Ecktron Performance makes custom embroidered golf accessories, namely head covers, cash covers, and score card wallets. Unlike working with other vendors who provide this type of service, you don’t need to make 100 or 1000 units to get your logo put on these accessories. Ecktron Performance will make you ONE for a one-of-a-kind product with your company logo, school logo or your name. Granted the cost per unit is certainly higher than if you made 1000 of them, but if you only want one or two the cost is far less than making 1000 and trying to give the other 998 away!

Check out the cover of the Hooked On Golf Blog score card wallet:

HOG Golf Score Card Wallet – Beautiful – click to zoom

The inside of the wallet:

Wallet Inside – click to zoom

Look at the photo above. Bonus points for the reader who can identify what golf course that score card belongs to.

Critiques

One critique on this wallet is that it is a little stiff. I’m hoping over time it will loosen up a bit.

Conclusion

Hats of to Ecktron Performance for filling a niche in the golf accessory world which had yet to be tapped into. There are certainly many folks who would like their own custom designs on their head covers and wallets. I’m thrilled to be one of them!

Stay tuned for the HOG driver cover and HOG putter cover reviews.

This Week on Tour – PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open with Tiger Woods in field, LPGA & European Tours

Written by: Tony Korologos | Thursday, January 23rd, 2014
Categories: European Tour • LPGA Tour • PGA Tour • Pro Golf • Tiger Woods
Tags: Bubba Watson • Dustin Johnson • Jason Dufner • Phil Mickelson • Rickie Fowler • Suzann Pettersen • Tiger Woods

PGA TOUR
Farmers Insurance Open
Dates: January 23-26
Venue: Torrey Pines Golf Course (North & South courses), La Jolla, Calif.

Notables in the field: Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Keegan Bradley, Brandt Snedeker, Jason Day, Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan, Bubba Watson and Jimmy Walker.

Tournament Airtimes On Golf Channel (Eastern):
Thursday 3-7 p.m. (Live) / 7:30-11:30 p.m. (Replay)
Friday 3-7 p.m. (Live) / 7:30-11:30 p.m. (Replay)
Saturday 1-2:30 p.m. (Live) / 6:30-11 p.m. (Golf Channel and CBS Replay)
Sunday 1-2:30 p.m. (Live) / 7 p.m.-Midnight (Golf Channel and CBS Replay)

LPGA TOUR
Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic
Dates: January 23-26
Venue: Ocean Club Golf Course, Paradise Island, Bahamas

Notables in the field: Stacy Lewis, Suzann Pettersen, Michelle Wie, Lexi Thompson, Paula Creamer, Ai Miyazato, Lydia Ko, Morgan Pressel, Beatriz Recari and Natalie Gulbis.

Tournament Airtimes On Golf Channel (Eastern):
Thursday 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. (Live)
Friday 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. (Live)
Saturday 3-5 p.m. (Live)
Sunday 3-5 p.m. (Live)

EUROPEAN TOUR
Commercialbank Qatar Masters
Dates: January 22-25
Venue: Doha Golf Club, Doha, Qatar

Notables in the field: Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia, Jason Dufner, Luke Donald, Ernie Els, Martin Kaymer, Thomas Bjorn, Migueal Angel Jimenez, Branden Grace, Alvaro Quiros.

Tournament Airtimes On Golf Channel (Eastern):
Wednesday 5-8 a.m. (Live) / Noon-2 p.m. (Replay)
Thursday 5-8 a.m. (Live)
Friday 4:30-8:30 a.m. (Live)
Saturday 4:30-8:30 a.m. (Live) / 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (Replay)

A Cynic’s Guide to the PGA Merchandise Show

Written by: Tony Korologos | Wednesday, January 22nd, 2014
Categories: Miscellaneous • PGA Merchandise Show

Boobs are the best way to sell golf equipment… Click to expand, if you have a big enough monitor.

Though I am not at the 2014 PGA Merchandise Show this week, I can tell you everything that is going to happen there. Here’s a bullet list of some of the highlights one can expect at the PGA Show:

Every golf company’s new and bestest awesome driver ever in the universe will be longer than ever! BOOM! LONG! BIG! POW! LONG LONG LONG!
Every golf ball manufacturer’s ball is the longest ever and has more spin for control around the greens! More control and more distance, every year! How do they do it!?!?!?
Puma will have a DJ and the guys across at FootJoy will be deaf by the end of the show! Boom-tis boom-tis boom-tis… OOOHHHHH YEAH!
Some golf companies will attract visitors to their booths with hired local strippers! Yay for strippers! Booth babes! Problem is, the visitors will never remember the company or its offerings: “Hey Bob, remember the boobs on those two blonds at that one booth? I can’t remember the company, but I sure remember those boobs!”
Many first-time companies will display puzzling products, like golf club stands. Why they decided to blow their life savings on a booth at the show for a product which can’t even garner $5 on ebay is beyond me.
Companies and entrepreneurs who don’t have enough money for a booth will be soliciting people on the show floor, like flashers or counterfeit watch salesmen on the streets of NYC: “Hey buddy, wanna see something cool?”
Chinese companies will be going around the show covertly taking photos of the products they will counterfeit.
Foreigner will play the after show concert for the 208th year in a row.
Non industry professionals who borrowed passes from their golf industry friends will be scouring the show for all the free golf schwag they can carry in a bag they got at the first booth they visited. “Look at these free tees I got!!! Yippeeeee!!!”
As each show morning comes, every participant will have a bigger hangover and sorer feet.
People will stand in line for TWO hours to hit the latest TaylorMade driver.
Golf Channel TV personalities will cut in line at the hot dog stand in front of us low-lifes who are politely waiting in line. This happened to me more than once!
Educational conferences will cover “growing the game” and new “golf initiatives,” but they will be completely forgotten and ineffective. New drivers will still be $400. Golf will still be too expensive. Golf will still take too long. Handicaps will stay the same. The game will remain difficult…just like the last year and the year before… and so on, and so on.
Parking will suck. Ride the shuttles!
Show food will suck. Pack a lunch.
By the last day of the show, exhibitors will be nodding off to sleep in their booths which they paid $40,000 for. Then, after waking up, they will start packing up the booth many hours before the show ends.
Astonishingly, many expensive booths will be staffed by people who do not speak english. Countless communication problems will likely lead to lost sales.