Golf Book Review: Golf Etiquette Quick Reference

Written by: Tony Korologos | Wednesday, December 10th, 2014
Categories: Golf • Golf Accessories • Golf Books • Golf For Women • Golf Rules and Regulations • Miscellaneous • Reviews
Tags: Golf Book

I’m thrilled to help increase exposure for the golf book Golf Etiquette Quick Reference – A Golfer’s Guide To Correct Conduct. When golfers learn the game they’re taught swing, stance, grip, technique. They’re never taught the etiquette of the game, where to stand, when to hit, how to care for the course. Those aspects of the game should be just as important as learning the swing itself.

Golf Etiquette Quick Referenc

This book is arranged in a small, easy-to-carry package which will fit in one’s golf bag for reference if needed. The tips are simple and supported by nice graphics to demonstrate the concept.

Great tips for the tee…

The book is very thorough, even covering the before and after-round conduct and traditions, like having a drink at the 19th hole.

Putting green etiquette… be sure to read this part!

Conclusion

This book should be required reading for every golfer.

Miracle Stretch Helps Lower Back Spasms

Written by: Tony Korologos | Tuesday, December 9th, 2014
Categories: Golf • Golf Fitness • Golf Instruction • Instruction • Miscellaneous
Tags: back pain

That’s the spot (photo courtesy lowerbackpainguide.org)

Any regular readers here or on my social networks know I deal with back problems. While I’d like to say all my back problems are behind me, ahem, sadly they are not. I have some arthritis in my lower back, probably a result of playing the drums since age five, and sitting on a drum stool for thousands of hours. Once in a while I turn the wrong way, pick up something too heavy, or sneeze wrong, and a nerve pinches in my spine. The feeling when the nerve pinches is like having my spine plugged into a 240 volt power socket. Shortly after the shock, the muscles in the area begin to spasm, producing sharp pain unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I’ve dislocated shoulders, broken bones, separated shoulders, pulled hamstrings from the bone… NOTHING compares to stabbing lower back pain and spasms. Nothing.

The spams and shooting pain are completely debilitating. It is so bad that I can’t reach my feet to put my socks on or tie my shoes. Getting up and down from a chair, or in and out of the car is horrible. When you yelp in pain from wiping your own ass and fall on the floor in the bathroom, you know you have a real problem.

Failed Solutions

I’ve tried every solution in the book for the back spasms, except perhaps hiring a shaman queen to come in and burn sagebrush over my back and perform some kind of exorcism. Muscle relaxers take the edge off for 45 minutes. Pain pills take the edge off for 45 minutes. Acupuncture from the #1 guy in the state did nothing. Chiropractic care doubled the pain and made the spasms last for two weeks instead of one. Deep tissue massage doubled the pain and made the spasms last for two weeks. Rehab with a sports doctor did nothing.

Possible Solution?

This past Friday while drying my toes in the shower, I felt a small electric shock in my spine. It was enough to stop me in my tracks and wait a minute to see if the spasms started. They did not. I thought I’d gotten lucky. A few minutes later while zipping my backpack I was hit with 240 volts and all I could do was yelp and say, “oh no.” I knew the next week my back would be stabbing with spasms and I’d be down for the count.

By Friday night I could barely walk.

Saturday morning in the shower I cranked the heat up and decided to try some strange stretches. I’d tried some recommended yoga positions the day before to no avail, but I wanted to golf so bad Sunday I thought I’d try some kind of funky stretch to see what might happen. It couldn’t get worse.

In the shower I’d heated up the lower back as best I could. I stood with my feet together facing parallel to the shower wall. I reached over my body with both hands to the top of the shower wall, which I’d guess is about 7-8 feet high. I then began to bend my back in the same direction the spasms were forcing me to go, to my left side. I could feel the tension right in the spot where the nerve pinch was. I continued to maneuver my hands and feet and bend such that I was stretching the spine and muscles on the right side. I would sometimes cross my feet and hands. I remembered the doctor at the sports rehab place last year putting me on the barbaric machine which stretched your body, millimeters at a time. That was an effort to separate the vertebrae so that the pinched nerve would be relieved and the healing bodily fluids could work through the area. While that never worked, I thought this stretch might.

The stretching felt good, and I felt some relief after a couple of minutes. I decided to switch around and do the opposite stretch. My body would not bend that way very much, as that seemed to focus the bend right on the bad spot. I did it anyway, despite the pain. What the hell. Why not? I went back and forth between the two stretches.

When I got out of the shower I was standing straight up, not hunched over at a 25 degree angle to the left. Somehow I’d straightened myself out.

The lovely bride instantly noticed that I was straight and not crooked, and commented about it.

For the next couple of hours I was slightly sore, but stunned at being able to stand straight up with no spasms or stabbing pain only a day after a bad tweak. Normally I’d be expecting 6-7 days of spasms, 6-7 days of laying on the floor. By the afternoon I had a golf club in my hand and was testing out some ginger swings.

Sunday morning it was a bit stiff, as my back often is in the morning. Sitting in a chair didn’t help so I tried to stand. Some of the muscle tightening was back but not terrible. No spasms or stabbing pain. I did the stretches again in the shower and had almost complete relief after.

By 12 noon on Sunday, I was hitting a 290 yard drive up the middle of the first fairway.

Conclusion

My back is as unpredictable as 20-handicapper’s driving accuracy. I’ve found solutions in the past which seemed to help once, but not again. I’m hoping that this stretch I found is one which will work more than once. Logically speaking I think the strange contortion is separating the vertebrae and stopping the pinched nerve. Once the pinch is done, the muscle spasms stop and there’s some residual soreness but general relief from the problem.

I know my back will go out again and I fear it going out on a Scotland trip or at a terrible time. When it happens again, I’ll try this stretch. Only then will I know if this past time was a one-time gig, or if it is a real solution to the problem.

How I Feel When I Miss Short Putts

Written by: Tony Korologos | Tuesday, December 9th, 2014
Categories: Boneheads • Golf • Golf Videos • Miscellaneous

I’m not big on posting duplicate content and this video has been all over. But this time I’m making an exception. This is exactly how I feel when I miss a short putt.

Ave Maria Crusader Cigar Review

Written by: Tony Korologos | Monday, December 8th, 2014
Categories: Cigars • Golf Life • Golf Lifestyle • Life • Reviews
Tags: Cigars

I was thankful to be playing golf yesterday. First because my back had gone out and I miraculously recovered in time to play. Second, it is December here in northern Utah and it is not uncommon for the courses to be closed and under a couple feet of snow.

To celebrate the day and the unseasonably warm weather I busted out a Ave Maria Crusader Cigar courtesy of my BFF’s at Cigars City.

This Nicaraguan made cigar has Honduran/Nicaraguan filler and an Equador Habano wrapper. It is a medium-full strength cigar, so not quite for newbs or those looking for a light flavor.

I liked the body and flavor of this cigar. Very enjoyable. Not too much for my slightly-above-newb level. It had just enough of a kick to it.

Game Improvement Cigar

I fired up this cigar on the 13th hole and it obviously helped my game: par, par, par, birdie, birdie, bogey. I was five over par for the holes without the cigar and one under par with cigar. Could be my new secret weapon.

Hooked On Golf Blog 10 Year Blogiversary – Looking Back at 2004-2006

Written by: Tony Korologos | Sunday, December 7th, 2014
Categories: Golf • Miscellaneous • Site News
Tags: Golf Blogs

As part of the 10 year anniversary of Hooked On Golf Blog I’m going back in time to some highlights of the past.

This post will be a quick recap of the first few years in the life of Hooked On Golf Blog, 2004-2006. In those years I broke ground on many golf blog techniques and features, which many hundreds of subsequent blogs have copied in one way or another, and still do today. When I started, there were no blogs “reviewing” golf equipment, apparel, golf courses, anything else. It was the wild wild west of golf blogging.

2004

After the first post in December of 2004 I posted my first review of any golf product, which was Golf for Dummies DVD by Gary McCord.

In December 2004 I also started developing a golf community website called Web Country Club. Later WCC would die and I would create The Golf Space, which is still around and has over 6,000 members.

Jack Nicklaus and me

2005

In January of 2005 I began ranting about sappy musicians playing golf in pro-ams, like Michael Bolton. That ranting would be a craft I would spend years perfecting and I’m still getting better at it. Kenny G? Pass the barf bag.

In the spring of 2005 I posted many opinions and results from PGA Tour events. I also posted my first few golf course photos from a golf trip to Vegas. Little did I know how many courses and photos would be coming over the next 10 years.

Around March 2005 I tried something to spruce up my then Blogger blog theme. I put a Titleist golf ball up in the corner of the website. About 15 minutes later someone from TaylorMade emailed and asked if I wanted to review some prototype golf balls, and perhaps even write about it. They also “suggested” that the Titleist golf ball didn’t look that great and should be removed. A few days later I received my first product submission, a Maxfli prototype golf ball which I really liked at the time. Shortly after receiving the balls, I played 92 consecutive holes with one.

March would mark the date I would post my first golf club review, the Ping Craz-E. I would also post my first golf travel review of La Costa Resort and Spa. I was not all that great a doing those types of reviews, but how could I be? I was a golf gravel writing virgin.

Unfortunately some of the photos from 2004-2005 were on Flickr, and are no longer available. One of the lessons I would soon learn was to host and be in control of ALL of my content and media.

April 2005 was the first Masters month for HOG. Tiger Woods would win that Masters with the incredible chip-in on the par-3 16th, and it would be the last Masters which Jack Nicklaus would compete in, sniff sniff.

On April 9, 2005 HOG made a big move. I left the Google/Blogger.com domain and opened the site on WordPress with its own domain name, HookedOnGolfBlog.com. In hindsight I wish I would have found a shorter URL but it is waaaaay too late to worry about that now.

In June 2005 Travel Golf asked me to join them as a golf writer. I declined to focus on HOG. Years later they would be bought by Golf Channel.

In July 2005 The Golf Chick golf blog began, and I’d eventually build up a long and great friendship with Kristen Williams. She’s awesome.

Jack Nicklaus said farewell to competitive professional golf as he waved while standing on the Swilcan Bridge at the Old Course in the 2005 Open Championship. Sniff sniff. In the same tournament, Tiger Woods won his 10th major.

In July of 2005 I posted my 300th golf blog article. July 2005 also marked the departure of “MJ on Golf,” a nice blog by a very cool cat named Mike Jones. Mike was a good digital friend.

In August of 2005 I had the pleasure of meeting Jack Nicklaus. On the same day I met Billy Casper and helped him find his way.

In August 2005 I made it to the final championship match at Meadowbrook Golf Club. My opponent, a former pro, made five birdies in a row to close me out. Nice playing buddy.

Last story of August is when my then 8-year-old daughter was hanging out with Bill Murray at a golf tournament. He even bought her a snow cone.

In September of 2005 my proudest moment in golf happened, I won my first club championship!

2006

The first big event of 2006 was unfortunately the loss of a golf pal to cancer. RIP Bobby.

In February 2006 I received my first Google check for advertising. I think it was a little over $5.00.

The 14 Ball Putter was introduced.

The Golf Space, a golf social networking site I built, opened its doors.

TaylorMade got back into the golf ball business.

My golf stats tracker came to life online at The Golf Space for the first time.

I was one of a few people invited to play Ballyneal before it opened and during the round, a new friend carded a hole-in-one. Picture below: