HOG Holiday Golf Gift Guide – Part Three – Odds and ends plus the ULTIMATE golf gift
Written by: Tony Korologos | Friday, December 9th, 2011
Categories: Golf • Golf For Women • Golf Gear • Miscellaneous
Categories: Golf • Golf For Women • Golf Gear • Miscellaneous
I can’t resist doing one more post in the very popular Hooked On Golf Blog Holiday Golf Gift Guide Series. Part one of the holiday golf gift guide covered golf accessories, golf apparel and golf training aids. Part two covered golf clubs and golf balls. I have a few more random golf gift ideas to suggest not in those categories so here we go.
Golf Buddy GPS - click to read review
Golf GPS and/or Laser
Golfers would love to find a golf GPS or laser rangefinder in their Christmas stocking. My GPS suggestion would be the Golf Buddy Platinum World GPS, which has every feature imaginable.
GPS’s are cool, but I’m more of a “laser” guy. For years I used the Bushnell Tour V2 with “pinseeker” technology. I’ve recently switched to a Callaway laser rangefinder by Nikon, but have yet to post a review on that one.
Prazza Golf Ball Locator - click for more
Golf Ball Location System
If a golf GPS or laser isn’t high tech enough, a cool golf gift idea is the Prazza micro-chipped electronic golf ball location system. This is a system in which golf balls have battery powered transmitters which communicate with a locator unit. The locator guides you to what would have been your lost ball. How great is giving the gift of never losing a golf ball again?
Round of golf at a killer course
Here’s a great gift idea for a golfer. Buy that golfer a round of golf at an awesome course! If you aren’t sure what courses to pick from, check out the Hooked On Golf Blog course reviews. My top two public course selections would be Black Mesa in New Mexico and Sand Hollow in southern Utah. If you really want to blow them away, buy them a round of golf at the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course in Florida.
Lessons with a PGA Pro
Golf is hard. Gear is great, but all the best gear in the world won’t help somebody who needs swing help. A fantastic golf gift idea is to give a lesson or set of lessons from a PGA pro at your local course.
Swing Analysis
Along with a lesson, or just by itself, you could give a swing analysis as a golf gift. See if you have a golf lab in town which does such a thing. Locally I found the TaylorMade Performance Lab to be fantastic, though the end goal is ultimately to sell you their gear.
The ULTIMATE golf gift - A trip to St. Andrews
The ULTIMATE Golf Gift
For my final golf gift suggestion I’m throwing out the budget. Assuming you have somewhere between $3,000-$10,000 as a budget, I’m suggesting that the best gift you could EVER give a golfer is a golf trip to St. Andrews, Scotland. The memories your lucky gift recipient will have will last a lifetime. I’d suggest at least five days and if you can manage, make it 10.
Anyone who feels so inclined to give me the ULTIMATE golf gift will be forever on my Christmas card list…
HOG Holiday Golf Gift Guide – Part Two – Golf Clubs And Golf Balls
Written by: Tony Korologos | Thursday, December 8th, 2011
Categories: Golf • Golf Balls • Golf Clubs • Golf Equipment • Golf Gear
Categories: Golf • Golf Balls • Golf Clubs • Golf Equipment • Golf Gear
Welcome to part two of the Hooked On Golf Blog 2011 holiday golf gift guide, covering my suggestions for every club in the bag and golf ball gift suggestions. HOG Holiday Golf Gift Guide Part One covered everything other than golf clubs and balls. The suggestions below for golf holiday gifts are all products which have been reviewed here on Hooked On Golf Blog, each with a link to the original post.
Wouldn't complain if this PING putter was in my stocking.
Putters
Man I’ve reviewed a TON of putters and there are SO many good ones to choose from. The new PING Scottsdale Senita and Scottsdale Shea putters are fantastic.
Tiger Woods’s uses the the Nike Method putter which I reviewed back in April of 2010.
My favorite putter in the world, my “gamer” is the Dornoch Putter Bird Dog One. Might be tough to get a Bird Dog by Christmas though as they’re hand made in Dornoch, Scotland.
A Vokey wedge is NEVER a bad gift idea!
Wedges
I’ve been happily playing my Carnahan wedges for most of the year. Really like them.
Other great wedges I’d suggest for the golfer on your Christmas list would be Bobby Jones wedges, Mizuno wedges, Titleist Vokey wedges or Eidolon V-Sole wedges.
Might need a bigger Christmas stocking for the Bridgestone J40 DPC Irons!
Irons
I’ll mention a couple of sets of irons as suggestions for Christmas gifts. On the premium end, I really love the new Bridgestone J40 Dual Pocket Cavity irons. Very solid.
On the less expensive end, check out some of the irons by my buddies at Weszty Golf like their Zt-C irons or their Double U irons.
An Adams Idea Tech V3 hybrid gift would bring good holiday cheer and lower scores...
Hybrids
There are so many great hybrids out there. I rotate several brands through my bag during the course of the year depending on the conditions, and the condition of my game.
My all time favorites, more of a player’s club (a.k.a. harder to hit), are the Bobby Jones hybrids. My buddy Jesse Ortiz makes awesome hybrids for Bobby Jones and I’ve had them in my bag since 2007.
The Adams Idea Tech V3 Hybrid is a fantastic hybrid and highly recommended.
On the less expensive end of the spectrum, check out the Power Play SystemQ Adrenaline hybrid.
Bridgestone J40 Fairway Wood - great stocking stuffer
Fairway Woods
My best suggestion for a fairway wood is the Bridgestone J40 Fairways. These are the holy grail of fairway woods.
If you like super-light technology and need a bigger hitting surface, check out the Maruman Shuttle i4000X fairway wood.
Santa could carry a lot of these Nike drivers on his sleigh, since they're super-light.
Drivers
I’ll cover three drivers, two premium and one budget driver. My gamer for this past season has been the Nike Machspeed Black ultralight driver. I’ve been hitting about 80% of my fairways with the Machspeed Black. Think how good Tiger Woods would be if his fairway percentage was that high!
My next driver suggestion which might have been my gamer except for the fact that my local pro took it from me and won’t give it back, is the new Bridgestone J40 445cc driver.
On the more cost conscious side of drivers, check out the Acer XF driver.
Deck the halls with Srixon Z-Star Yellow golf balls
Golf Balls
I’ll make two “tour premium” ball suggestions and two “amateur” golf ball suggestions along with a “budget” tour level ball suggestion. My two favorite high end “tour” golf balls are the Srixon Z-Star and the TaylorMade Penta TP.
My suggestions for the best amateur golf ball are the Bridgestone B330RX series (RX and RXS) and the Srixon Q-Star.
My “budget” but tour quality golf ball selection is the Innovex Golf V-Motion golf ball.
HOG Holiday Golf Gift Guide – Part One – Golf Accessories, Golf Apparel, Golf Training Aids
Written by: Tony Korologos | Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
Categories: Golf • Golf Accessories • Golf Apparel • Golf Equipment • Golf Gear • Miscellaneous
Categories: Golf • Golf Accessories • Golf Apparel • Golf Equipment • Golf Gear • Miscellaneous
As I was staring at my blank screen trying to feed my cerebral cortex with coffee, struggling to pry a blog post out of my cranium with a digital crowbar when my buddy John Duval from Into The Grain suggested that I do a holiday golf gift guide. Fantastic idea. I did do a Black Friday golf post a few days ago, but this guide below will be a more comprehensive top 10 list covering everything from clubs to bags to golf balls. Each suggestion will link to my product review so you can get details and links to the manufacturer’s web sites. Only products I’ve actually tested/reviewed will be on this list.
Golf Accessories
I review about 400 billion golf accessories every year, a fraction of the number that hits my doorstep. A few fantastic accessories have stood the test of time with me. Below are the best ones I can suggest:
Frogger BrushPro
Frogger BrushPro – Under $20
The Frogger BrushPro, which I reviewed clear back in 2007, is probably THE most used accessory in my arsenal. I use the brush pro to keep my grooves clean, so I can have the best spin and control on my irons and wedges.
Rain Wedge
Rain Wedge – Under $20
The Rain Wedge is such a cool invention. I did my first review of the Rain Wedge clear back in 2006 and I still use it. I have a newer model I’ve used and will post a supplementary review soon. Basically the Rain Wedge is a retractable rain cover for the golf bag, sort of like a half umbrella. But it easily folds out of the way when you need to grab a club or put a club away. When not in use, it fits easily into a pocket or into a club slot.
iPING
iPING Putter App & Cradle – $25
I recently reviewed the iPING iPhone putter app. This is a very cool tool to analyze and improve your putting stroke. You can even compare your stroke with tour pros, or find the best putter (PING of course) for your putting style.
Sumi-G Head Cover
Sumi-G Head Covers – $20-$40
Perhaps the coolest looking and most innovative golf accessory EVER, the Sumi-G head covers protect golfer’s expensive woods and hybrids. No need to bend over and pick them up off the ground either. Just scoop them up.
FootJoy Layering System
Apparel
There are so many great apparel manufacturers in the golf world. On the higher end I love Greg Norman‘s offerings and have many Norman items.
Puma makes fantastic apparel items, but don’t wear the all orange Rickie Fowler outfit unless you want to be mistaken for a traffic cone.
Tattoo Golf is one of my favorites in the apparel world. Love Skulls.
My favorite socks come from Kentwool and also from Ecosox.
Kikkor Golf Shoes
Golf Shoes
My favorite golf shoe selection is a no-brainer: FootJoy is at the top of the list. I have several pairs of Puma golf shoes as well. Can’t go wrong with either, but stylistically very different.
On the casual end, the Kikkor golf shoes are my favorite.
Golf Outerwear
For outerwear I strongly recommend Columbia Sportswear as well as the FootJoy layering system.
For hats I go with HOG partner Pukka Headwear. Pukka is the maker of the super mega killer HOG/Space Golf Hats.
Greens Speed Reader
Training Aids
Wow I could post a million of these. My buddy Lance makes a swing aid called a Zoom Boom, which is a swing trainer that seemed to help me learn how to release the club.
The Pure Shot Driver helps you hit your driver on the sweet spot, and accentuates miss-hits to give you feedback.
Greens Speed Reader is a personal stimp meter which can help golfers get the speed of greens down.
Hooked On Golf Blog Celebrates 7th Blogday
Written by: Tony Korologos | Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
Categories: Golf • Miscellaneous • Site News
Categories: Golf • Miscellaneous • Site News
Wow I can’t believe that YESTERDAY was the 7th birthday blogday of Hooked On Golf Blog. I posted my first ever golf blog back on December 5th, 2004 when there were perhaps only 5 golf blogs in cyberspace. Starting this golf blog, at the suggestion of my best friend Al, has resulted in seven fantastic years of golf filled fun. I’ve met SO many great people, played so many great courses and tested out more gear than one could imagine. This journey has been a blast and it will only get better! I AM NOT DONE!
Since HOG’s humble beginnings in 2004, millions of visitors have logged hundreds of millions of hits here and I’ve posted thousands of articles and thousands of golf photos. I’m going to log some stats for historical reference below:
Total Golf Blog Posts: 3,756 (including this one)
Total Comments: 3,716
Images in HOG Golf Photo Gallery: 17,939
Spam Comments Which Never Saw Daylight: millions
HOG email subscribers: 2,681
YouTube Videos Uploaded: 317
YouTube Video Views: 4,156,549
Hits January 2011 to December 5th 2011: 35,158,792
Unique visitors January 2011 to December 5th 2011: 1,601,401
Friendships and relationships built: Countless
TheGolfSpace (personal) Twitter Followers: 2,195
TheGolfSpace (personal) Twitter Tweets: 4,544
TheGolfSpace Facebook Followers: 285
HOGGOLFBLOG Twitter Followers: 918
HOGGOLFBLOG Twitter Tweets: 1,538
HOGGOLFBLOG Facebook Followers: 371
Hats off to all HOG patrons, sponsors, friends, critics. Thanks to all of you (even the critics) and see you on the course.
Q-School Results – Who made it to the PGA Tour and who is looking for work in the local pro shop
The intensity this weekend was just as expected in the toughest golf tournament in the world, Q-School. Six rounds or pressure packed golf, with a Tour card or a job delivering pizzas in the balance. Quite a heartbreak for the group of players, which includes Jason Gore, at -7. They were one mere stroke from making their cards. You always hear the story, “he missed the Tour by one shot a Q-School.” Brutal.
In looking at the final results. It is interesting to note that only THREE players in the group who qualified for a 2012 Tour card have had no starts on the PGA Tour in their career.
Locals here in Utah are glad to see that Daniel Summerhays made it. He had his card in 2011 but finished in 171’s in money (top 125 retain their Tour cards).
Notables who did NOT make it: Lee Janzen, Boo Weekly, David Duval, Dean Wilson, Bob May, Shaun Micheel, Sam Saunders, Rich Beem, Tim Petrovic, Daniel Chopra, Robert Gamez. You can watch for them on the Nationwide Tour in 2012 I suppose, but I’m sure some of the bigger names will get some invites to Tour events in 2012.
Q-School 2011 Final Leader Board
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