Sandy Utah’s Hidden Valley Country Club Mountain Nine Changes

Written by: Tony Korologos | Friday, May 22nd, 2015
Categories: Golf Course Architecture • Golf Courses
Tags: Utah Golf

At the end of last season my dad and I played the Mountain nine at Hidden Valley Country Club in Sandy, Utah for the last time the 9th hole would be in its old iteration. The club is in the process of putting in a swimming pool and the par-3 hole would have to be moved and altered. It was cool to play the hole the last time it was open.

Today was the debut of the new hole and we were there for that as well, which is kind of neat. The new version is much different. The elevation change is less and the angle different. The green almost seems to slant away from the tee although the shot is slightly uphill. I airmailed the green having kept the old elevation change in my mind, but did manage a solid up and down for par. I’m even on the new version in my career of one time playing it.

New Mountain Nine par-3 9th hole design, May 2015

There were a couple of other changes to the Mountain nine. The two front-left greenside bunkers on the par-3 4th where changed to one bigger bunker. Photo below.

Par-3 4th bunker change, Mountain nine May 2015

The bunkers short right of the par-4 5th were changed to one bigger bunker and made visible from the fairway below. Previously the old bunkers were not visible. Photo below:

New, bigger single bunker on the par-4 5th, Mountain Nine.

I’m not necessarily one who believes the player needs to see everything, but aesthetically that change looks “nice.” The new bunker is much flatter and less deep, with hardly any lip. The old ones were very deep and penal. Very tough.

Decisions and Rules of Golf Club Throwing

Written by: Tony Korologos | Friday, May 22nd, 2015
Categories: Boneheads • European Tour • Golf • Golf For Women • Golf Rules and Regulations • Miscellaneous • PGA Tour • Pro Golf
Tags: BMW • Rory McIlory • Rules of Golf

Rory McIlory Club Throw

A couple of months ago Rory McIlory launched an iron into the lake at Trump Doral. In an awkward moment, the Donald gave Rory the club back on the range the next day. Then this past week McIlory tossed a 3-wood at the BMW after he was dissatisfied with his shot.

Last week I watched a golfer on my home course, a former basketball player who is well known in Salt Lake (no it is not John Stockton or Karl Malone), toss his driver off of the 18th tee behind him. The white-headed TaylorMade bounced across the pavement of a local road and ended up near the 4th tee. He had thrown his club out of bounds. I yelled over to him, “you threw your club out of bounds. You are going to have to throw another one off the tee.” He didn’t think that comment was very funny. I did though.

These club throwing events I’ve witnessed recently have inspired me to post the Rules of Golf Club Throwing, so those of you golfers who throw a club know exactly how to proceed after.

Rule 69.6: Throw Club In Hazard

In the case of the first McIlory toss into the lake at Doral, rule 69.6 comes into play. The rule states that if a club is thrown into a hazard the golfer has several options:

Incur one throw penalty. Re-throw the club from the original position.
If the club is throwable from the hazard, the player can throw it from the hazard as long as he doesn’t ground the club or move loose impediments.
Incur one throw penalty. Take a two club drop no nearer the hole at the point in which the club entered the hazard, then throw the club from there.
Incur one throw penalty. Pick a point on the opposite side of the hazard, equidistant to the point the club entered the hazard and throw the club from there.

Rule 69.6 A: Throw Club Out Of Bounds

In the case where the basketball player threw his club out of bounds from the tee there is only one option:

Incur one throw penalty. Re-throw club from tee or original position club was thrown from.

Rule 69.6 B: Thrown Club Lost

I watched a player throw his driver in disgust up at Soldier Hollow Golf Course a couple of years ago. He threw the driver into some very deep grass. The grass was not a hazard area and it was not out of bounds. A player in my group yelled over to the thrower, “you will have to throw a provisional in case you can’t find the first one.”

The options a player has after throwing a club which may be lost are as follows:

Throw a provisional club. Declare to playing partners that the club is a provisional. In the event the first throw is not found, the provisional throw becomes the club in play and a one throw penalty is assessed.
The player can declare the first throw lost and throw a second club, under penalty of one throw.
The player can proceed to look for the first thrown club and throw it as it lies if found. If the club is not found, the player must return to the original throwing position and take a “throw and distance” penalty, throwing a new club.

In the case of McIlory’s throw at the BMW yesterday, the club was not lost and not in a hazard, or unthrowable. The throw would simply count as a throw and he would throw the next one where it lies.

Golfer Unwraps Decade Old Brand New Hogan Irons and Plays Them in My Group

Written by: Tony Korologos | Thursday, May 21st, 2015
Categories: Golf Clubs • Golf Equipment • Golf Gear
Tags: Ben Hogan Golf

I’m playing in a golf group yesterday which included a very quiet and mellow older player. During his round he was taking the plastic wrap off of his “new” irons, and hitting them very well, for the first time. We’ve all seen that before, right? Wrong.

Upon closer inspection I was flabbergasted to discover the “new” irons were a set of Ben Hogan irons he had purchased some 10 or more years prior. How cool to see these beauties in un-hit condition.

What made him decide yesterday was the day to try these irons? How crazy that a Hogan player for over a decade, me, was in the group.

Very interesting and entertaining indeed.

Blogger Golf Schwag I Review Is NOT Free

Written by: Tony Korologos | Wednesday, May 20th, 2015
Categories: Boneheads • Golf • Golf Media • Miscellaneous
Tags: Golf Blogs

A fantastic golf blog related Twitter discussion happened a couple of nights ago. There was some tremendous discussion and a few important points I thought I’d talk about today. Here’s the tweet that started it below. Click it and follow all the commentary. It is great.

I’m not saying it doesn’t happen but its been awhile since I’ve read a negative review from a golf blogger re: products they get for free.

— John K. (@UWedge) May 19, 2015

People have a misconception about me, and bloggers who work hard to build a reputation and following who trusts their opinion. Often people say to me “you’re lucky you get free stuff sent to you all the time.”

Lucky? Puhlease. Like Gary Player says, the harder I work the luckier I get. I have to chime in because I have a very strong opinion on this. I’ve worked my ass off on this blog for over TEN years. I’ve spent thousands of hours and tens of thousands of my own dollars on web hosting, design, travel, trade shows, software, computers, photo gear… all things I use to produce what I hope is entertaining and original golf content. When I go to the PGA Show in Orlando I pay my own way. The PGA Show costs me thousands in airfare, hotels, rental cars, food. The biggest cost is being away from my super wife and my little 2.5 year old boy. So when I come back from a golf trade show with a new pair of shoes, a bag of tees, and a dozen golf balls, that is far from free. Dollars for dollars the last PGA Show netted me a $3500 pair of $129 shoes and a week’s worth of constipation.

I do not review these useless things…

If I receive a box of golf balls, a shirt, a driver, a book submitted for review here the stuff is NOT “free.” I spend HOURS researching, testing, writing, painstakingly taking photos, working on web content. At the hourly rate I charge my day-job web design and development clients that $29.99 box of golf balls would cost hundreds in my time. If it was free I might as well quit this blog thing and just spend the $29.99 and save myself 5-10 hours of trouble.

Why Little or No Negative Reviews?

If you saw my house you’d know I’m not full of it when I say I can’t go to the bathroom without tripping over a golf accessory or some golf gadget. Seriously. It is out of control. I’ve experimented with having other writers here, but I prefer to have this blog be MY blog, good or bad. Therefore it is not possible for me to review every item I receive. Maybe I could do it if I snapped one photo with my camera phone and wrote two sentence reviews about the products, but that’s not how I roll. I like to get into the products and try to translate my experiences in much more depth.

It is because of that time factor that I can’t review everything. So what do I choose to review what what do I abandon? I made the decision to try and limit most of my reviews to products I believe in and can convey a positive message about. So any product I feel is junk, crap, irrelevant, useless, or not well made or poorly designed gets no airtime.

That said, in every review I write I try to put in a critique paragraph or two if I can. I try to point out product weaknesses or ways the product could be improved.

Blogs Who Mail It In

I do have a beef with crappy and lazy bloggers who mail it in. You know the ones. They are the golf blogs who spend NO time on their reviews. Their content is a copy/paste of the PR firm’s materials and the photos are stock PR photos, or shitty photos they took in their kitchen with a couple of rotten pieces of lasagna from last night’s dinner in the background. Their poorly lit photos have the ratty carpet in focus and the product out of focus. They never played that club or tested those golf balls! They never REALLY tested it for a MONTH or more on a real golf course like I do. They’re mailing it in.

PR firms and golf companies love those types of blogs. Whatever PR stuff they send gets automatically posted. It’s like a free advertising outlet. Those sites are easy to spot because their content is the same as the others who are doing the same thing. Sorry, not here.

I have my reasons for keeping my reviews positive as I stated above. When it comes to others is that the same reason? If so, great. I suspect however that those sites are AFRAID to post a negative review for fear that their golf gear gravy train will run out.

Unfortunately the digital golf world is flooded with these sites which dilute the space and hurt the search rankings of good sites, making it even tougher for them to survive. I know. I’m one of them.

Rant Conclusion

Many golf blogs come and go. Most don’t have the balls, time, or dedication it takes to keep it going and to produce ORIGINAL content. That wedge I reviewed last month was not free. I spent dozens of hours testing it on a real golf course, taking photos, and writing about it with a passion for what I’m doing.

The day that passion is gone or does not translate to an entertaining, original, and informative outlet is the day I leave. Could be tomorrow. Could be in a decade.

Review: Dunning Solid Mesh Contrast Collar Signal Polo

Written by: Tony Korologos | Wednesday, May 20th, 2015
Categories: Golf Apparel • Golf Gear • Golf Lifestyle • Reviews
Tags: Father's Day • Father's Day Golf Gift

Dunning Golf makes fantastic apparel items, from underwear to pants, shirts, and outerwear. The line is some of the best of the best in golf apparel. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to review Dunning’s offerings and let my readers know about this wonderful apparel company.

Today’s piece is the Dunning Solid Mesh Contrast Collar Signal Golf Polo. Yes, it would be better with a longer name, but we can only go with what they give us.

Dunning Solid Mesh Contrast Collar Signal

Style

This polo is a high high contrast green and gray. It’s hard to describe the color of green but the best way I can describe it is vibrant or perhaps electric. Despite how vibrant the green is, it is still very classy and not too over-the-top. Not sure how they manage that but they do.

When wearing this polo with a pair of gray Dunning shorts, the color scheme is tremendous. In fact, it made me want to redesign my website with the same color base? What other golf blogger has an outfit that matches his/her website?! Seriously.

This polo makes me look much better than I normally do…

Comfort/Care

The fabric in this polo is 100% polyester. I’m a big fan of “polys” and not so much a fan of cotton anymore. Polys are so much easier to care for, don’t wrinkle, don’t shrink. They last forever and are very strong and durable.

Despite being a poly, the polo is as comfortable as any golf shirt I’ve worn.

Performance

The flexibility and fit of this great polo lend themselves to a free and unrestricted golf swing. The mesh fabric helps keep the player cool and wicks moisture away.

Conclusion

Hard to write 2,000 words on a shirt review so I’m not going to try. One final word comes to mind on this one and it rhymes with Dunning:

STUNNING.

This Dunning polo would make a fantastic golf Father’s Day gift.

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