CarveOn is a company based in County Kildare Ireland which makes handcrafted personalized leather goods like wallets, books, purses, keychains, and more. CarveOn also makes a few golf related leather goods. Today we are looking at their yardage book cover, which can also double as a golf scorecard holder.
Carve On Yardage Book Cover
With its fine leather and combination of old school and modern construction, the CarveOn yardage book exudes class. Add the Hooked On Golf Blog skull logo and it goes beyond classy to a realm beyond imagination.
The yardage book cover has several customizable areas. First you can see on the front cover of the first image that there is the HOG logo, plus at the bottom you can see my name. On the inside top of the cover (image below) you can see more custom text.
Carve On Yardage Book Cover Inside
I wondered how the HOG logo would translate to this unit and I’m very impressed. The logo and customization look to be laser etched from the leather with very high precision and superb quality.
The leather itself is very plush and soft. I pet it occasionally…
The packaging CarveOn put into this is quite amazing as well (image below).
Carve On Product Box
The outside of the box is also laser etched, and the inside sports some very cool protective and artistic layers. The packaging along with the actual product would make this a fantastic holiday, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, birthday, or Christmas gift.
Conclusion
This is not an everyday inexpensive yardage book cover. At about $125 USD (79 pounds) the CarveOn is no for everyone’s budget. If you have the dough to spend for yourself or as a golf gift, and want the highest quality and classiest yardage book cover you can get, this is the one for you. Customization makes it even better.
Related
Hooked On Golf Blog CarveOn Image Gallery
Wilson 8802 Putter – click to zoom
(In the voice of Tom Hanks) Wiiilllson!!!
The Wilson 8802 putter has been at the center of numerous major championships and great victories on many professional tours. The 8802 design has been seen in use by the likes of Arnold Palmer, Ben Crenshaw, Greg Norman, and Phil Mickelson. The Wilson 8802 is one of the all-time greats. It has stood the test of time and today is still a great putting choice. Let’s take a look at the Wilson 8802 putter.
Design
The 8802 is a heel-shafted blade putter. In english, the shaft is attached to the end of a thin putter head. This is perhaps one of the most popular designs in the history of putters. There’s a reason it is so popular, it works.
The head is milled from 304 stainless steel, a fairly soft metal. The softness produces great feel and feedback for the player, and helps the player control distance.
To perform well on modern greens and modern green speeds, the head weighs in at 335 grams.
The face of the 8802 features some precise milling patterns which are designed to produce a true and straight roll. See photo below:
Milled face on the 8802 Putter – click to zoom
Looks
Standing over this putter the player is not distracted by busy and complex designs, nutty shapes, or fancy graphic art. The look is as clean as clean could be.
The slightly matted silver finish is easy on the eyes and does not produce annoying glare which more shiny putters can produce on sunny days.
Feel
The soft 304 metal helps the putter produce a nice feel, which gives the player great feedback. Off-center putts still roll well and true, but the putter’s feedback will let the player know the shot was not on the center of the face. Center-face putts are butter.
On The Course
I’m normally a heel-toe weighted, center-shafted or center-axis-shafted putter player. So I figured the balance and weighting of this blade putter would be problematic for me. Not the case. Somehow, despite being a heel-shafted blade, the balance of the putter is fantastic. I never had an issue with keeping the face square at impact.
The face milling helps roll the ball pure and right on line. There were never any surprises with regards to the roll or the line.
Critiques
In its simplicity, there’s no alignment line on the top of the putter to indicate the sweet spot and line up the ball. There’s an element of doubt when I line up as I’m not 100% sure I’m lined up on the right spot.
The putter is only available in 35″ versions, right handed. Sorry lefties or short people! I’m not tall and I have long arms, so 34″ putters or even shorter is good for me. Because the 8802 is 35 inches I have to choke down quite a bit to perform my natural stroke.
Wilson 8802 Putter
Head Cover
One of my pet peeves is head covers. At least 18 times per golf round the player will interact with the putter cover. The last thing I want is a crappy cover which does not protect the most important stick in my bag. Even worse is when that cover is hard to use.
The included head cover for the Wilson Golf 8802 Putter is very sharp looking and does its job well. The putter is well padded and protected from dings. The soft metal in the putter makes it even more susceptible to such dings and dents from other clubs in the bag.
The cover seals via Velcro, which I’m not a big fan of. Velcro wears out over time. A better solution would be a magnetic seal. Even better would be a design which uses no magnets or Velcro.
Conclusion
The reasonably priced $179 Wilson Staff 8802 Putter is the most expensive putter in Wilson Golf’s lineup and for good reason. It is a fantastic putter with great feel and performance. The 8802 design is a proven winner through decades of victories by some of the world’s greatest putters.
This past Saturday I had a second fitting with Mizuno Golf, this time with long time friend and National Accounts Manager Doug Bybee. It was a stroke of luck, pun intended. Doug is based in Atlanta, but happened to be in Salt Lake for the weekend. Lucky me.
We did the fitting in a bay at the popular Salt Lake City golf store Uinta Golf. We were able to take advantage of their Foresight golf launch monitor, which really helped us determine the best components and setup for the fit. Thanks to the staff at Uinta for all that.
Shaft Optimizer
Mizuno’s Performance Fitting System utilizes sensors in the fitting club which gives valuable information to the fitter and software. Those numbers include clubhead speed, tempo, toe down, shaft kick angle, and release factor. See below:
My Mizuno Fit
Once a few swings are recorded, the software produces a set of three recommended shafts based on the data. The club fitter then puts those shafts on the chosen club head(s) where more swings are captured. This is where the Foresight data came in very handy, but doing the same fitting on a live range would produce great visual results as well.
I compared the three recommended shafts with each other, also switching between the Mizuno MP15 head and JPX 850 Forged head. For reference I also compared my current gamer, the old Hogan Apex Edge Pro.
The results were stunning. When using the Nippon NS PRO 1150 stiff shaft, I gained a solid 10 yards (6-iron). That’s great but not the most amazing part. Unbelievably, my dispersion area was tiny. I was hitting 6-irons 200 yards and landing them on a dime. See below:
Circles represent several shots with different shafts, smallest circle is best
Launch lines below:
I hit most of the test shots with most shafts pretty straight…
Though I loved the feel of the Mizuno MP15 head, my accuracy and distance with the JPX 850 Forged was obviously better. That’s the club I’m going with. The club is slightly more forgiving than the MP15, which means mis-hits will be a little less errant. As an amateur player, that’s a big deal.
Conclusion
I’m now waiting for these beauties to arrive. I understand Mizuno is very fast once the custom order is placed. I will put the clubs right into play and begin reviewing as soon as possible. Unfortunately the weather has turned here though. The high today will still be below freezing. I’ll have to head south to warmer weather.
It is quite stunning how big a difference the SHAFT makes and Mizuno’s fitting system with shaft optimizer helps the golfer find the perfect match in dozens of shafts available. I’d be willing to say the shaft is as important as the head. One shaft felt so-so, was 10 yards shorter, and had a variance of almost 10 yards right or left of center and 20 yards total dispersion. Simply changing shafts added 10 yards and tightened up that dispersion to a few feet.
As soon as the new irons arrive my Nikon will see the first action and I’ll post some photos. Then being the reviewing process.
Stay tuned. I’m big time stoked.
While I was happy with my previous set of Golf Pride CP2 Wrap grips in terms of performance and durability, it was necessary for me to change them out because of the recurrence of my golfer’s elbow and tennis elbow. The grips were too hard.
UST Mamiya Soft Touch Golf Grips
I did a lot of research and inquiries on grips. In order to help prevent golfer’s elbow or at least keep it from getting worse, midsize and soft is the way to go. I’ve never liked small hard grips, especially cord style. I’ve always liked more mushy ones. Perhaps that’s because I don’t wear a glove.
I contacted my friend Danny at UST Mamiya since I previous reviewed their Soft Grips back in 2012 and loved them. I remember Danny and UST Mamiya being very cool to work with. They were kind enough to send in recent set of these great Soft Touch grips. I’ve been playing them for a couple of months now.
Features
Soft Touch grips are made from polyurethane, similar to materials found in golf balls. Urethane covered golf balls are softer and higher performance. These materials reduce vibration and give the grip a soft feel.
The grips design pattern and embossing not only looks cool, it provides traction and greater feel in all conditions.
On The Course
Just like before, I’m very happy with the feel and performance of the Soft Touch grips. This batch is even better looking than my old set, in the more rock-n-roll style all black.
I love the feel of my clubs, and the shock to my elbows has been noticeably reduced. The grips perform flawlessly and are very durable.
After spending most of the summer in pain, I’m hoping that my recent cortisone shot and new grips will mean the end of the problems.
Related Links
UST Mamiya website
HOG UST Mamiya image gallery
I’ve added some aerial photos of the nicest private golf club in Salt Lake City, “The Country Club.” The course is also known as Salt Lake Country Club.
Salt Lake Country Club
Click the photo above or the following link to see more aerial photos of The Salt Lake Country Club.
If you are interested in aerial photos or video, for golf courses or any other subject, use the contact form here to send me a note.
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