First Breakthrough of 2017

Written by: Tony Korologos | Sunday, April 30th, 2017
Categories: Golf • Hackers

Coming out of golf hibernation this spring has been hard. Having not touched a club for 4+ months put some serious rust on the game. The first round I played was the best of the short season to date, and scores have been progressively getting worse.

Today I tweaked my back somewhere between getting out of the car in the parking lot of the course and the first tee. I’ve been rubbing the lower back vigorously in the shower with soapy (thus slippery) hands to work the knots and inflammation. On the course I tried the same thing but didn’t have soapy hands and did it on top of my golf shirt. In a few seconds I’d done it so hard I took a half-inch wide chunk of flesh off my knuckle. So then I had back pain and a nasty flesh wound on my knuckle. Golf is tough.

On the range before the round a swing thought came into my head from out of the sky once told me by an old golf buddy who moved away years ago, “narrow your stance.” I tend to have a wide stance and it might creep wider and wider. I’ve been quite inaccurate with the irons this year, and hitting lots of fat shots and even 3 shanks. I’ve gone years without one shank. I narrowed the stance on the range and nuked a 4-iron almost to the end of the range.

On the course I hit the irons tremendously for the most part. Nearly jarred my 2nd shot on the 2nd hole. The greens were so bloody fast though, I missed the nearly gimme birdie.

As the round progressed I hit a lot of great iron shots, but started to fight the back spasms. Starting on the back every few swings was a bizarre “protect the back” swing, which doesn’t work well. Just ask Tiger Woods. I lost a few strokes to par because of those few swings, but managed 77.

77 for me normally is a mediocre round, but as rusty as I am, simply breaking 80 for the first time was a major step in the right direction. The number is somewhat a representation of the round, but is much less important to me than the feel of hitting solid irons and executing shots. That’s much more rewarding.

Positive thoughts at the moment, but the back is very, very stiff.

New USGA and R&A Video Rules Missed the Elephant in the Room

Written by: Tony Korologos | Tuesday, April 25th, 2017
Categories: Boneheads • Golf • Golf For Women • Golf Rules and Regulations • Miscellaneous • Pro Golf • USGA
Tags: Rules of Golf

Pop quiz: What’s the only document more complicated than the USA’s IRS tax code? You guessed it, the Rules of Golf!

I’ve just read through, ok glossed through the new and immediate rules decisions by the USGA and R&A regarding video evidence, disputes, and decisions. Golf has had such a bad reputation because of things like the recent Lexi incident the governing bodies obviously felt it immediately necessary to do something. In regular fashion, they added more language to the rules which doesn’t address the main problem.

If the committee concludes that such facts could not reasonably have been seen with the naked eye and the player was not otherwise aware of the potential breach, the player will be deemed not to have breached the Rules.

The above line is the key to the new changes, and I completely agree with the sentiment. If it isn’t humanly possible to conclude there’s a breach in the rules, then there are no rules broken. That’s the good part, but not the elephant in the room.

867-5309

What’s completely missing from the new rules is the way that rules infractions are discovered, reported, and the timing in which these notifications happen. I’m talking mainly about the viewer call-ins, emails, or social networking of rules infractions. In the case of Lexi Thompson, she was notified and penalized an entire day later, and during her final round. In my opinion, any possible infractions and related penalties should have an expiration date. Perhaps once the next day’s tournament tees off, all possible issues from the previous round become invalid. If there isn’t an upcoming round, perhaps one hour after each player finishes the tournament is the point at which any questions about rules violations become moot.

That time limit can apply to any source of the possible infraction, whether another player, a spectator, a rules official, or some fat dude sitting on his couch eating Cool Ranch Doritos who has nothing better to do than shuttle his DVR back and forth 12,000 times to see if Segio’s ball moved on the 13th at Augusta in the final round of the Masters. That has to be the worst run-on sentence I’ve ever typed, but it sure rolls off the tongue nicely.

In my opinion (yes I realize nobody is asking for it) there should be NO call-ins. No emails. No tweets of rules infractions. There’s no other sport on the planet who allows such a thing and it’s one more way the golf industry makes itself look more dumb in the eyes of the general public.

Sun Mountain TravelGlider Suitcase – Four Wheels Are Better Than Two, or None

Written by: Tony Korologos | Monday, April 24th, 2017
Categories: Golf Accessories • Golf For Women • Golf Gear • Reviews
Tags: Sun Mountain

Some reviews take a wee bit longer than others because there are specific applications for the products, like travel. Case in point is the Sun Mountain TravelGlider Suitcase (below).

The TravelGlider Suitcase is a companion to the Club Glider Journey, which I reviewed here a long time ago. The TravelGlider works on the same basic engineering as the Journey, four wheels are better than two, or none.

The TravelGlider Suitcase is H 30” X W 13” X D 13” and weighs 17 lbs. There are multiple internal pockets and a main compartment that expands 2.5” for added capacity. There are numerous handles for easy loading, carrying and of course the baggage handlers to throw the thing around.

The inside is spacious and hold plenty of golf apparel items for golf trips of several days to more than a week, depending on how much you sweat or spill marinara on your golf shirt.

Wheels

The key and best part of the bag is the ease in which it is huffed and transported through airports, train stations, parking lots, hotels, and wherever else one may shlep a suitcase. Just like the Club Glider, I can move my suitcase around an airport with one finger. Even my pinkie. It’s so easy. The wheels retract for storage and to check the bag.

Conclusion

Getting around airports with a Club Glider and TravelGlider is so easy it almost makes airports fun. Almost.

Wildlife Interactions on the Course Today

Written by: Tony Korologos | Monday, April 24th, 2017
Categories: Golf • Hackers

Sunday services today took me up Parley’s Canyon between Salt Lake and Park City, to Mountain Dell. There are two courses there, the Lake and the Canyon. I enjoyed a slightly brisk and quite windy round there, going through the process of resurrecting my dead golf game.

I busted out the PB&J on about the 11th hole.

Today's lunch scripting. pic.twitter.com/qFmBxR1yDc

— Tony Korologos (@TheGolfSpace) April 23, 2017

On the 12th tee I reached for the 2nd half, but found that the 2nd half was gone.

Some animal got in on my lunch scripting. Everyone be on the lookout for a squirrel or bird with pb&j mouth. pic.twitter.com/mK3R5U0Vs9

— Tony Korologos (@TheGolfSpace) April 23, 2017

On the 14th I found the culprit, a MOOSE! Hard to see, but he’s in the trees.

Saw a moose in the trees right of 14 fairway! pic.twitter.com/tQS824bfoa

— Tony Korologos (@TheGolfSpace) April 23, 2017

I may not have played the best golf, but it was nice to be out in nature sharing my lunch with the wildlife.

Sprout Plantable Golf Scorecards and Pencils Grow Into Herbs and Flowers

Written by: Tony Korologos | Saturday, April 22nd, 2017
Categories: Golf • Golf Accessories • Golf Gear • Reviews
Tags: Sprout

This is an extremely cool idea. Check out these plantable scorecards and pencils by a company called Sprout in the photo below. The paper and pencils contain seeds. When done with them, the golfer simply plants them in the ground and later reaps what he/she sowed.

For now I will be using the cards and then planting them in the front yard of my house. We’ll see what grows. So this is part one of a 3-part series. Part-2 will be a quick post showing the planting and marking the date. Part-3 will be seeing what grows!

I don’t normally post press releases here. I reserve that for my golf newswire HogWire.biz. But in this case their explanation warrants some airtime here.

SPROUT PRESS RELEASE

The Original Startup Wants To Make The Golf Industry Greener!

The green company Sprout wants to rescue millions of golf pencils and scorecards each year from ending up in the trash. By equipping them with seeds, they can be planted after use and grown into flowers or herbs.

Sustainability and golf is not a combination you normally associate with each other. Although the high water consumption is a challenge, think of the thousands of golf pencils and cards, which are typically thrown out after each round.

This is a problem that Sprout wants to solve. Sprout has achieved international success with the world’s first sustainable and patented pencil that can be planted after use and grown into herbs, flowers and vegetables.

Last fall they launched the plantable Sprout paper, which makes it possible to transform everything from business cards, gift cards, hotel key cards, coffee cards, and now scorecards, into flowers.

“The Sprout pencil has become a symbol of sustainability because it gets a new life when it has become too short to write with. And this function becomes even more relevant in a golf pencil, which is half the size of a traditional pencil and because it typically doesn´t last longer than a single day on the golf course,” says founder and CEO of Sprout, Michael Stausholm.

Along with a plantable score card, Sprout is offering golf clubs, proshops, associations and companies a sustainable golf writing kit that invites players to plant instead of throw away. And this is exactly what is important.

“We would like to inspire to a more sustainable mindset. We want people who come across our products to ask themselves: if I can plant a pencil and a card, what else can I do for a greener everyday life?” says Stausholm.

There are approximately 60 million golfers in the world and 35,000 golf courses – 15,000 courses are located in the US alone. According to Michael Stausholm the golf industry is a large and potentially untapped market that needs a boost of innovation towards a more sustainable direction. He sees a wealth of opportunity to sell Sprouts’ golfkits to this industry. Business and networking play an important role in golf, and the idea is also to reach more potential business customers.

“Sustainability is trending in the USA and we have already experienced great interest for our products from both American retailers, the promotional industry, businesses, organizations and the press, said Michael. “Golf is a popular sport in the US and we expect great success from this new industry.”

About Sprout:
Sprout sells over 450,000 pencils monthly to more than 60 countries. Sales are primarily to companies and organizations that get their logo on the pencils, and use them for green giveaways. Disney, Coca-Cola, Ikea, Marriott, Bacardi, Toyota, Save the Children and Bank of America are among the customers.