Ah look at the incredible beauty of the white spheroid below. Tremendous.
Majestic…
The ball above was personalized by my new best friends at GolfBalls.com. GolfBalls.com sells golf balls of course, and also offers full color customization on them as well. In addition to golf balls, they also sell golf clubs, apparel, shoes, bags, accessories, and team logo merchandise. Many of their products can be personalized.
The basic process for creating a customized golf ball could not be much easier. Simply pick the ball you want to customize, upload an image or create the text you want imprinted on it, pay. Within a very short time your custom golf balls arrive.
The following golf ball brands can be personalized by GolfBalls.com:
Ben Hogan
Bridgestone
Callaway Golf
Chromax
Golfballs.com
Nike
Pinnacle
Precept
Rife
Saintnine
Srixon
TABASCO Brand
TaylorMade
Titleist
U.S. Kids
V Golf
Vice
Volvik
Wilson
Wilson Staff
Final Thoughts
Christmas is coming up. A great Christmas golf gift for the hard-to-shop-for golfer on your list would be a box of custom printed golf balls. Slap your favorite golfer’s logo, photo, or favorite saying on a dozen balls and the golfer on your list will forever be thankful. That joy will spread to other golfers as well, when they find your golfer’s lost custom balls in the bushes!
I’m going to be reviewing either a set of new 2015 Mizuno MP15’s, JPX 850’s or 850 Forged irons soon. Yes, yes. Tough gig I know. The reason I don’t know the exact club as of yet, is that I had to go through a fitting to determine the best club and shaft for my game. Yesterday I had a fitting at my home course here in Sandy, Utah, River Oaks. They’re one of Mizuno’s top 100 fitters.
The process is fairly simple as shown in my 2012 video below of their fitting system from the PGA Merchandise Show.
The fitting was quite interesting. I found that with the stock fitting shaft I liked both the MP15 and the 850 Forged. I could certainly play both models as my gamer and do well. When I started changing shafts is when it got very intriguing. The MP15 was complete butter for me and launched the ball very high and deadly accurate when it had a ProjectX 5.x shaft. When switching to other shafts, the club feel and results completely changed to the point that it felt like I couldn’t even hit it. I tried the 850 Forged with that shaft as well and while it had some good results, it did not compare with the feel of the MP15 with the ProjectX. One recommended shaft was a KBS Tour 120. I’m currently loving the KBS Tour 90’s. Oddly, the 120 did not work well on the MP15. The dual chicken wing granny over the top swing can really confuse fitting systems. It has happened before.
I’m awaiting my fitting recommendations to be emailed to me as the fitting ran late and I had to take off for my next appointment which I was running late for. And since I was running late, I became the recipient of a damn speeding ticket.
I’m sure once I get the proper setup I’ll be thrilled, and perhaps the joy of hitting a great set of irons which is custom fit for my granny dual chicken wing swing will make the cost of the speeding ticket worth it.
Many people and businesses are very concerned about “growing golf,” and seem to dedicate a lot of time on their websites and social networks talking about it. Nice to have a cause I guess.
I’m not convinced golf needs to grow. In fact, I’ve said many times that it may be in the game of golf’s best interest if it shrunk. Businesses with self-centered motives want to grow golf for their benefit, and don’t care if the game itself is bastardized and compromised in the process. They want to grow their bottom line, but saying that doesn’t sound as good.
Case in point, and the focus of my discussion in this article, is “Foot Golf.” Foot Golf is a hybrid between soccer and golf, where the players kick balls into larger holes. Foot Golf is played on a golf course, or a course setup in a similar fashion. Some golf courses around the country have started offering Foot Golf, and are excitedly promoting it saying they’re growing golf.
They are not growing golf. They are growing Foot Golf.
Their narrow minds obviously don’t realize that golfers like me and thousands of others do not want our home courses turned into Foot Golf courses, nor do we feel like dealing with “Foot Golfers.” If my home course turns into a Foot Golf course, I will promptly find a new home course.
These courses are trying to pay the bills and keep the doors open. I get that. But perhaps if they had not built a 100,000 square foot clubhouse they might not be in financial trouble? Maybe if their maintenance budgets weren’t so insanely high because they think the course has to be as green as Augusta National is during the first week of April, they might not be in financial trouble? Let the course harden up and brown a bit like, you know, real golf courses in Scotland? Perhaps instead of raising tee time prices, lower them to increase participation? Simple supply and demand. Price goes down, demand goes up. More participation means more bodies buying buckets of practice range balls, more hotdog sales at the turn, more lessons for the teaching pro, more golf equipment and apparel sales in the pro shop.
In Foot Golf there are no buckets of balls or equipment items to be sold in the pro shop. No lessons for the pro either.
After the novelty of playing Foot Golf on a golf course which charges them money wears off, the Foot Golfers will head to a park where they can play for free, leaving the golf course high and dry. The courses will be stuck with bigger holes in the ground and a bigger hole in their revenue stream since their original, loyal golfing clientele is now playing at the course down the road.
There are no simple solutions to the challenges the golf industry faces and my generalizations above may or may not reflect all the complexities involved, but I’ll tell you one thing I know is fact:
The season is winding down, but there is still some green grass to be found here until the snow flies. At lunch a couple of days ago I flew the aerial photo/video hexacopter over a corner of Salt Lake City’s Meadowbrook Golf Course.
Meadowbrook Golf Course Aerial – click for more
If you need golf aerial photos or videos, contact me!
This past summer the Hooked On Golf Blog World Tour was in fabulous Michigan for some amazing golf. Michigan has become a golf home away from home. The courses there are fantastic. I’d much rather play there than Florida or Arizona, though there are some great choices there as well. I lean toward more elevation change, more interesting terrain, and love the trees.
For this past summer’s Michigan golf trip, the temporary world headquarters for the HWT was the MGM Grand in Detroit. I know what you’re thinking. “Detroit?!?”
I’ve not spent any time in Detroit until this year. It is certainly an area which has seen better days, but there are still great reasons to visit, top notch lodging, and dining to be had, like at the MGM Detroit.
MGM Grand Detroit Overview
MGM Grand Detroit is an Art Deco style design featuring 401 rooms/suites. This luxury resort opened in 2007 and is one of a small number of casinos in the Detroit metro area.
The gaming space is very large, clocking in at 100,000 square feet. All of the possible gambling games one might want to participate in are there, including 4,000 machines and almost 100 table games. Having been a very heavy gambler back in the day, it was quite something for me to spend 4-5 days there and not even wager a nickel.
Location
The hotel/casino is located in the heart of Detroit, walking distance from many downtown attractions and restaurants. Tiger Stadium, the home of the Major League Baseball’s Detroit Tigers, is a short walk from the hotel. I was able to catch a Detroit Tigers game. Kansas City came to town and thumped the Tigers. Despite the loss, Tigers Stadium was really a great baseball stadium and the atmosphere was fantastic.
Rooms/Suites
The rooms/suites at the resort are very spacious and well appointed. The service level of the rooms is great, with turndown service and a nice robe with slippers prepared every evening.
MGM Grand Detroit Rooms
The shower and bathroom is very large and nicely constructed with slate tile floors and a cool flare to the design. There’s even a screen built into the mirror in the bathroom (see image below).
Spacous bath/shower
Amenities
There are many restaurants and bars in the resort, including Wolfgang Puck Cucina and Wolfgang Puck Steak. I had the pleasure of enjoying both and they’re as good as you’ve heard.
Also located inside the resort is a great sports bar called TAP, which is packed on a nightly basis. TAP serves great food, stiff drinks, and provides viewing of dozens of sporting events via countless screens.
TAP Sports Bar MGM Grand Detroit
The resort is home to large 30,000 square foot meeting/event space as well as multiple lounges and entertainment venues.
Finally for those like me who like to relax, there’s an on-site spa, pool, fitness area, steam rooms, and private jacuzzis.
Conclusion
MGM Grand Detroit is an upscale, high quality, clean, classy, safe hotel in the heart of Detroit. Whether in the area for business or some of the great golf in Michigan, MGM Grand Detroit is a great choice for accommodations.
I’m going to be reviewing either a set of new 2015 Mizuno MP15’s, JPX 850’s or 850 Forged irons soon. Yes, yes. Tough gig I know. The reason I don’t know the exact club as of yet, is that I had to go through a fitting to determine the best club and shaft for my game. Yesterday I had a fitting at my home course here in Sandy, Utah, River Oaks. They’re one of Mizuno’s top 100 fitters.
Many people and businesses are very concerned about “growing golf,” and seem to dedicate a lot of time on their websites and social networks talking about it. Nice to have a cause I guess.
HOGWire – Golf Industry News
