Shoulder Surgery Post-Op – Five Weeks In – Current Goal: The S&M Chair

Written by: Tony Korologos | Thursday, March 21st, 2019
Categories: Miscellaneous
Tags: Bicep Tenodesis • Rotator Cuff • Shoulder Surgery • Torn Labrum

I’m hurting in numerous ways right now. First, spring has sprung here in northern Utah. The courses have just opened. I live on a course, and the parking lot has been packed, with the temps going from snow to the 50’s and 60’s. Second, ski season is still in full swing. The resorts in Utah have gotten hammered with a massive amount of snow, and I’m not skiing it. Third, I’m now exactly five weeks removed from my shoulder surgery for a torn rotator cuff, torn labrum, and torn bicep tendon.

I’m still in a sling. One more week to go. That’s extremely irritating, especially since I have to sleep in it. I’ve just barely started to be able to do some basic typing, but after a few minutes the bicep portion of the surgery really flares up and hurts like hell. I had a bicep tenodesis, where they cut an inch or two of the bicep tendon off, and screw the end into the bone. Yeah. Fun.

I’m attending rehab (a.k.a physical therapy) several times per week and doing daily exercises to strengthen and loosen up the shoulder. Earlier this week the therapist tried to introduce me to a new exercise, pulling my arm up with my other arm, via a pulley. Total fail.

The setup photo above looks like some kind of rig for sexual deviants. I wish it was. It’s the pulley chair. Three days ago they put me in it and asked me to reach up and grab the handle. I tried like hell, but couldn’t. So they lifted my arm up for me, which was a new experience in pain. I then tried to do the pulley action, using my left arm to lift my right arm up. After about two incredibly painful reps where I moved it maybe a quarter of an inch, the therapist stopped me. She said, “I can see your bicep twitching.” I wasn’t ready.

At today’s therapy session the therapist didn’t even bother with the S&M chair. That was a bit depressing, as I want to progress. But I know I can’t push it either. No point in going through this hell again.

So the goal for now is simple. Get to where I can do some reps in the S&M chair. Baby steps.

Sun Mountain Speedcart GX Golf Push-Cart Review

Written by: Tony Korologos | Wednesday, March 20th, 2019
Categories: Golf Accessories • Golf For Women • Golf Gear • Reviews
Tags: Golf Push Cart • Push Cart • Sun Mountain

In 1999 Sun Mountain introduced the Speedcart, an ergonomic three wheeled folding golf push cart. I had the original In my gamer set up, and nearly 20 years later it’s still in terrific condition. I’m now on my third model of the Speedcart, the new GX model. The GX has all of the great features of the original Speedcart, and has dozens of terrific refinements and improvements. Let’s take a look.

She even looks great indoors!

Sun Mountain Speedcart GX

The three wheeled design features large, lightweight wheels which roll smooth and easy. Pushing the cart is nearly effortless. The large wheels navigate even the most gnarly of terrain, and when you play golf like I do you manage to find a lot of gnarly terrain.

Unit folds into a 37 x 16 x 13 package for storage and transportation. Folding is easy and takes two simple steps.

The golf bag is easily mounted onto the cart and secured via bungee cables which are simple to use. This is a very important feature. I’ve used many golf carts which have poorly designed straps which do not secure the bag properly, allowing it to rotate or slide. This causes the golf clubs to bunch up making them difficult to remove. With the Speedcart, golf clubs are easily accessible and visible to the user, without having to change positions from behind the handle. I will often pull my next club while still pushing a cart en route to my next shot.

The handle (photo above) is padded and features a comfortable position for the hands along with an adjustable height. The brake lever is on the right side of the handle and it’s easy to enable and disable. Just below the brake lever is a beverage holder.

A large storage tray in the handle easily stores small items like GPS’s, cell phones, car keys, snacks, and sundries. The lid of the storage tray serves as a scorecard and pencil holder. Just below the storage tray in the handle is a mesh head cover tray.

And umbrella holder screws onto the handle which positions the umbrella right over the user’s head. I use the umbrella in the summertime to keep the sun from beating me up too bad.

Colors

The car comes in eight available colors. Being a rock’n roll musician I chose the color “none more black.”

Optional Accessories

Optional accessories for the Speedcart include numerous additional storage bags/packs, coolers, sand bottles, cart covers, and even a folding seat. I’ve got my eyes on the folding seat.

Final Thoughts

I prefer to walk on the golf course and the Speedcart GX allows me to easily and enjoyably do so without aggravating my bad back. The Speedcart is very easy to operate while keeping my golf clubs and sundries all conveniently organized and stored.

With such well thought-out design there are no irritating issues which can put a damper on our golfer’s round, like the aforementioned club rotating and bag slipping. Pushing in steering the cart is a breeze. It’s quite fun and challenging to let the cart go downhill and see where it ends up. Hopefully not the lake. I’ve seen it happen.

Shoulder Surgery Post-Op – 24 Days In

Written by: Tony Korologos | Sunday, March 10th, 2019
Categories: Miscellaneous
Tags: Rotator Cuff • Shoulder Surgery

It has now been 24 days since I underwent shoulder surgery for a torn rotator cuff, torn bicep tendon, and torn labrum. It has been three+ weeks of very little sleep, quite a bit of pain, and just plain going nuts not being able to do much including typing. I am dictating this post and hoping for no embarrassing typos from the speech to text converter. I’ve now gotten my stitches out and bandages off. Fortunately I’m off the OxyContin and hopefully my digestive system will resume normal operation soon, as a result, if you know what I mean.

17 more days in the sling

I had my first physical therapy session a couple of days ago. That was the first time in weeks I’ve had the opportunity to move my arm in any direction. There are a few directions which are extremely painful and difficult to move, like reaching forward. I can barely move my arm an inch or two forward at this point. There are a couple of other directions which are better.

I’m now past the halfway point in terms of wearing a sling, which in total is six weeks. I’m greatly looking forward to losing the sling. Having one arm not usable makes things like driving, eating, showering, getting dressed, tying your shoes, sleeping, very difficult. Yes, I have to sleep in the sling. Perhaps I’ll publish the full list of irritating things to do one-handed later. Once the sling is off I won’t necessarily be able to do a lot with my arm, however. But that will be a big deal in terms of steps in the process of getting better.

Right now August or Septembers look to be when I’ll be able to start attempting to make golf swings again. At that point I don’t expect to have much in terms of power or flexibility, so I’ll be keeping my expectations low. I should be able to putt long before that and perhaps chip and work on short game shortly after that. Putting has never been an issue but my short game has been pretty bad the last few years. Perhaps one positive which will come out of this is a better short game, but I fear my long game may be forever gone.

I’m going to miss playing competitive amateur golf this season. Even if that’s just the $2 Nassau against my Wednesday buddies. I will not renew my local golf Association membership because there’ll be no point in tracking handicap if I’m not playing. I really like to compete In tournaments but I don’t do that a lot of due to sandbaggers, or as I like to call them cheaters. Still I’ll miss that adrenaline rush and the challenge of trying to keep myself composed under pressure in tournament situations.

Though I won’t be able to do much club testing for a while I will still strive to produce many great golf reviews and product features I can. I can certainly still review golf travel, golf resorts, golf apparel, golf accessories and so on, without having to swing a club. Always good to go on golf satire and humor.

That’s the plan.

First Look: GPO Flagmaster 1800 Golf Laser Rangefinder

Written by: Tony Korologos | Sunday, March 3rd, 2019
Categories: Golf Accessories • Golf Gear
Tags: Golf Laser Range Finder • GPO

In for review from GPO (German Precision Optics) is their Flagmaster 1800 Golf Laser Rangefinder. This unit is possibly the smallest laser I’ve ever seen. It’s barely bigger than the palm of my hand. Love the size. It also boasts class 1 laser technology with a range of 1800 yards. With drivers getting longer and longer every product cycle, golfers need 1800 yards from their lasers!

We are currently in a permanent frost delay here in northern Utah. The courses are under a solid 6-8 inches of snow, With more falling now. When the frost delay is over And the snow melts, I’ll be putting this laser to the test. Stay tuned in late spring/summer. If the German engineering of this laser is as good as my car I expect great things.

In the box

Speaking of German engineering, how about this packaging?

Review: TPC Danzante Bay Golf Course at the Islands of Loreto, Mexico

Written by: Tony Korologos | Wednesday, February 27th, 2019
Categories: Course Reviews • Golf • Golf Courses • Golf For Women • Golf Lifestyle • HOG World Tour • Reviews • Travel
Tags: Loreto Mexico • Luxury Travel • Mexico • Mexico Golf • TPC Danzante Bay • Travel

The final Hooked on Golf Blog world tour stop of 2018 was at TPC Danzante Bay golf course, on property at Villa del Palmar Beach Resort and Spa at the Islands of Loreto, Mexico. TPC Danzante Bay is a Reese Jones design, winding amongst the mountains that surround the beautiful Danzante Bay.

Looking down at Villa del Palmar Resort from near the 18th tee of TPC Danzante Bay

Reese Jones is the son of one of golf’s all time greatest architects Robert Trent Jones Senior. I’ve had the opportunity to play many Rees Jones courses and TPC Danzante Bay is right there amongst the best of them.

Location

TPC Danzante Bay Is located approximately 300 miles northeast of Cabo, Mexico, on the east coast of the Mexican Baja. The nearest town is the quaint and historic seaside town of Loreto, Mexico. Loreto and its airport is approximately 45 minutes away. The course’s home is the rugged desert hills and vistas in the Sierra de la Giganta mountain range, which overlooks the bay.

Course Stats

The golf course plays to a par value of 72, 36 front and 36 back. From the longest set of tees, the blacks, the course stretches to 7,237 yards. There are four other sets of tees for golfers of varying abilities.

I would normally post the course slope and rating but my score card and information I have on the course shows neither. Perhaps it is so new (2016) it has not been rated yet.

Routing

I found the course routing to be quite enjoyable. There is a wide and interesting variance as the course travels through the valley floor, up the side hills, to the tops of the mountains and back down by the sea. Along its journey the course provides stunning visuals and vistas worthy of photography on practically every hole. I nearly spent as much time taking pictures of the golf course as I did playing it.

I felt right at home and enjoyed the elevation changes on many of the holes which reminded me of my home mountain golf. Some of the most entertaining elevation drops are on the par-3 17th and the par-3 9th. The par-4 15th and 16th holes present a fun elevation increase where calculating the proper club on approach is challenging. If the golfer picks a club which is too short or doesn’t make solid contact, the ball could land short and roll all the way back to his position.

Tee

Tee shots are a blast and on this course you’ll love blasting your tee shots to the fairly forgiving and wide fairways. There are some forced carries from many of the tees, as much of the course style is desert target. If the golfer is playing from the appropriate tee, carrying the native areas should not be an issue. I really enjoyed how each different tee not only gave the golfer a different choice in terms of length, but angle and elevation as well.

Fredrik Lindenblom tees off on the par-3 13th hole

There are some extremely fun par-4’s and par-5’s with large elevation changes which make driving the golf ball a hell of a lot of fun. The par-5 fifth, par-4 seventh, and par-4 18th holes come to mind. On the par-4 7th I had one of those blasts. I hit a towering draw which caught the speed slot and traveled all the way down to about 120 yards from the green, some 320+ yards from the tee.

Fairway

As I mentioned the fairways are fairly wide and accessible. Only tee shots which are very errant will miss and find desert areas or natural hazards. There is some minor undulation in the fairways but uneven lies are not much of an issue.

I was very satisfied with the quality and grow-in of the fairways. The turf conditioning was terrific and there were no bad lies to be had.

Fairway bunkering is strategic and well-placed. Most fairway bunkers are navigable and the golfer has a chance to make the green with a well executed shot.

Green

There are a few forced carries to some of the greens like the highly publicized par-3 17th, where carrying the ball all the way to the green is necessary. Most of the par-4’s and par-5’s, however, allow the golfer to choose the option of flying it all the way or hitting a links-style running shot short and bouncing it up onto the surface.

I found the greens at TPC Danzante Bay to be quite enjoyable to putt. Undulations and sloping are manageable. Two-putting from just about any quadrant to another is a fair proposition. Green conditioning was terrific, consistent, and the putts rolled true.

Putting Course

Par three and putting courses have really taken off in the last few years. It all started with the Himalayas, the putting course near the second tee of the old course in St. Andrews, Scotland.

Putting Course

TPC Danzante Bay offers a very fun 9-hole putting course which I enjoyed playing very much. The putting course is a great place for golfers and non-golfers to enjoy aspects of the game, settle bets from the big course, or just enjoy green grass and some frosty beverages in a friendly competition.

Amenities

The practice area is terrific. On the fun driving range golfers hit uphill, similar to the par-4 15th and 16th holes. Near the range is a short-game practice area which gives the golfer the ability to practice every possible chip, pitch, and bunker shot he might encounter playing the course.

Driving Range

The pro shop is small and modest and sits next to a café which serves great food and beverages. From the patio patrons of the café enjoy a lovely view of the resort and bay below.

The Resort

The course is part of the Villa del Palmar Beach Resort and Spa at the Islands of Loreto, Mexico. The resort offers luxury suites, beach and water activities, spa, fine dining, hiking, and much more. Check out the Villa del Palmar review here.

Final Thoughts

Before you book a golf trip to Cabo, Mexico I strongly suggest considering Villa del Palmar and TPC Danzante Bay. The golf course is extremely fun and fair to play. It doesn’t beat the golfer up too much like one might expect a TPC course to do. The views and variances one experiences on the course make every hole interesting and keep the golfer’s attention. When not golfing one can enjoy all of the great activities the resort has to offer.

TPC Danzante Bay image gallery

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