Golf is expensive on just about every front, from green fees to apparel to equipment. Golf clubs are getting crazy costly. $400, $500+ for a driver! Iron sets regularly top $1000. Most fairways and hybrids fetch in the $200 range. Wedges are often $100 and up. Equipping a first time golfer with all new gear could like this could run thousands.
I don’t recommend beginner and/or golfers with low budgets buy expensive new clubs at first. I often point people who inquire about budget golf clubs to the used bin or the classified section. There can be some great deals on clubs there. Clubs which have many good shots left in them.
Until Lynx Golf reached out to me to review the Power Tune complete set, I had no idea I could point golfers with these budgetary needs to a brand spanking new set which includes wedges, putter and even a nice cart bag! Price? Under $175. That’s insane. Check it out.
Included
- 460cc titanium driver
- 3-Fairway Metalwood
- 4-Hybrid
- Irons, 5-iron through sand wedge
- Mallet Putter
- Cart Bag with five pockets, umbrella holder, towel clip, carrying strap
- Uniflex graphite shafts, ideal launch characteristics for the target golfer
- Black rubber compound Lynx grips
Driver
460cc’s is the max allowable driver size. This 460cc driver is made of high strength titanium and has a 10.5 degree loft.
A decal on the top of the driver helps the golfer with ball position/alignment.
Fairway
The fairway metalwood features 15 degrees of loft, making it a standard 3-metal. This club is made from premium stainless steel and has the same alignment marking as the driver.
4-Hybrid
It’s great that the set comes with a 4-hybrid, rather than a 3 and/or 4-iron. 3 & 4-irons are very hard to hit. Hybrids are far easier and launch the ball much higher.
Irons
The irons are forgiving and lightweight.
The head design and weighting helps golfers get the ball launched higher and easier.
Sand Wedge
It’s cool that this set comes with a sand wedge. Most sets like this don’t come with one.
This wedge is a modern design with the proper bounce to help golfers get the ball out of the sand more easily. The sand wedge in this set will also be a good short game club for anything under around 100 yards.
Putter
The included putter is a solid feeling mallet style putter.
The putter swings smoothly and consistently, and includes alignment lines, dot, and visuals to help the golfer setup properly.
Critiques
The one missing item with this set is a putter cover.
Golf Bag
The cart bag is lightweight and water resistant.
There are five pockets, two which are large pockets for apparel. The three smaller pockets are good for accessories, golf balls, and personal items. The bag includes an umbrella holder, towel clip and a cart friendly strap system.
Final Thoughts
This package is available exclusively on WalMart.com. It’s only $174.99. That’s an amazingly affordable price for what is included. What a great way to get someone started, or replace an old set. Father’s Day is coming up soon and you could hook dad up with an entire new golf rig for less than half of the cost of a $400 driver!
Remember the movie 9.5 Weeks, with Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke? What a film. That one rocked my world as a young, red blooded heterosexual male in 1986. If only my 9.5 week report on my shoulder surgery was as tremendous as that, or even one tenth of one percent.
I just finished up my 14th session of physical therapy today, for my repaired torn rotator cuff, torn labrum, and torn bicep tendon. 9.5 weeks after the surgery I find myself in a frustrating and concerned position. For the last week or so I’ve been experiencing more than usual pain in my shoulder, and in areas I’ve not had any pain before. I’ve feared I did some damage to the repairs by lifting something heavy out of the trunk of the car. The pain has been keeping me from sleeping.
My rehab therapist checked it out today and does not think that I’ve damaged anything or re-injured myself. We theorized that my more active use of the arm/shoulder (computer, driving, daily activities), are causing the added pain and soreness. That’s good. The bad news is I have pretty severe scar tissue built up in the area of the bicep tenodesis (where the doc cuts off part of the bicep tendon and screws it into the bone). It is enflamed and painful 24/7 and always extremely tight. So tight it’s tighter than Stewart Copeland’s (The Police) snare head. This issue is causing my recovery to go very slowly. This condition is also known as “frozen shoulder.”
In therapy sessions the therapist stretches out and manipulates the arm and shoulder to try and increase the mobility, increase blood flow, and break up the scar tissue. It takes some very harsh and painful movements to get the scar tissue to break up. When it does, I sometimes feel a pop.
During today’s session the therapist started a new treatment. He used some lubrication and a bamboo “tool” to rub the areas where the scar tissue is built up and the tendons are tight. When rubbing the tissues with this device you could literally feel the bumps in the tissue. It practically felt like he was moving the tool over a saw blade. With normal tissue the movement would be smooth.
I do have improved mobility in the right arm which I’m thrilled about. A little mobility seems terrific when you had none for 6+ weeks. I can “almost” brush my teeth with my right hand, almost pull my pants up, and almost wipe my own ass right handed without pain. That’s quite an improvement. I still have very limited range of motion in almost every direction. A couple of days ago I picked up a golf club. First time I’ve had a golf club in my hands in months. In a gentle swing test I got the shaft back about 12 inches from grounded and that was all she wrote. Brutal.
At this point I’m not figuring on playing any golf in 2019, but I’m diligently doing my rehab treatments and exercises in the hopes I can break through as soon as possible.
Puma Golf is making some cool new golf shirts that are a cross between a polo and a button down beach shirt. They’re part of the “Play Loose” collection. Here’s a first look at one of two new ones HOG will be reviewing below. Say hello to the Breezer Golf Shirt.
The Breezer works tucked or untucked (better untucked). The 91% polyester 9% elastane fabric is super soft and comfortable.
I just cracked this shirt open today and I’m looking forward to giving it a full wear test. Stay tuned for the full HOG review soon.
It’s not too early to think about Father’s Day. I can already guarantee dad will love a Puma Golf Breezer Golf Shirt.
I’ve been gaming the Ekster Smart Wallet for a few months now. I’d been using the same wallet for years. The old one is your standard leather folding wallet. The Ekster Smart Wallet is quite a new concept in wallets for modern man. Let’s take a look.
Ekster Smart Wallet Features
The Ekster Smart Wallet has a very cool credit card holder. A trigger on the bottom of the wallet presents the cards, each offset and easy to see and grab. Quite useful.
There are a couple of other slots for other cards, so I have my license and some non CC type cards in there.
An elastic band holds cash or receipts.
The wallet provides RFID blocking technology, which thwarts bad guys who use wireless skimmers to steal credit card information.
Tracker Card
There’s an outer card pocket which houses a very cool “tracking device.” The tracker card (photo below) allows the wallet owner to locate a lost wallet in two ways. First, a Bluetooth connection allows the owner find the wallet in nearby locations. Second, a “Crowd-GPS” allows the owner to see where the wallet is via its GPS position. In order for that to work, the user must have the tracker app on his phone. The phone tracks the wallet’s latest position and shows it on a map. Super cool.
One might think such a tracking device would be bulky and eat up lots of batteries. Think again. The Tracker Card is solar powered. After charging in the sun for three hours the card will work for an entire month!
I’ve found my wallet a few times in the house and in my car via the tracker. So great. One time it was damn near right next to me, but under some papers.
Critiques
I have a couple of critiques. First, I often carry a fair amount of cash after winning tons of money in golf bets. 🙂 The elastic can hold cash that is folded over, but beyond a few bills starts to bloat the wallet.
Second, the credit card space is limited to about five. This isn’t a huge issue for me. I had to make a choice on what cards to exclude when converting my old wallet to the Parliament.
Final Thoughts
The Parliament and Tracker runs $119 and can often be found discounted. After tracking down my missing wallet once, that $119 became obviously worth it. The card
Thanks to Golf Pride for joining up with HOG for our 2019 “First Major” giveaway. The contest involved picking the winner of the Masters, who also plays Golf Pride grips. The response was great, and as expected many people picked Tiger Woods. Yes, Tiger does in fact play Golf Pride, as 80% of the PGA Tour does. Even more impressive than the 80% is that Golf Pride doesn’t sponsor players. That 80% is voluntary!
Drumroll please…
The winner of the 13 limited edition Golf Pride grips and cool T-shirt is “Todd” on twitter. Woot! Congratulations Todd. We will be pinging you for your shipping information!
Thanks to all “patrons” who participated.
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