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Accessory Review: Starter Coin

February 16, 2011 By 1 Comment
Starter Coin

Most of us that play golf have, at one time or another, been standing on the first tee, trying to figure out what the teeing order should be. Some foursomes use the tried and true method of standing in a circle and throwing a tee in the air, with the honor going to the person closest to the pointy end. Other groups kind of just figure it out somehow, despite the fact that everyone really wants to play last. And some groups just don’t care with whomever is ready playing first and the others following in some unspecified order. Well, the folks from Starter Coin think they’ve brought order to chaos. They call it “the gentleman’s way to start the gentleman’s game.” The Starter Coin is a two-sided, well, coin, with markings to indicate the order of play. Simply gather your foursome around, flip the coin, let it land and the markings do the dirty work of establishing teeing order. On one side, the Starter Coin contains the word “Honor” in the center, written as

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An Anti-Slice Golf Ball?

January 24, 2011 By 19 Comments

[Update: The last test slot is now filled. Thanks to everyone for the responses.] This post is going to come off like an advertisement, but I promise it’s not. I just find the idea compelling. Let me rewind a bit. Remember about week ago, when I talked about the idea of divergence in rules and equipment for tournament and recreational golfers? I mentioned that the thought process was sparked by a conversation with someone in the golf industry. Well, that someone was Dave Felker, the director of technology for a company called Polara Golf. I found the story of Polara to be quite interesting. In last week’s post, I discussed the idea that the USGA has a way of squashing technology through equipment regulations. Those of you who go back a ways might have even heard of the Polara ball before. The brand originated in the 1970′s. Here’s some information from the Polara Golf history page that kind of outlines what I’m talking about. Two scientists, Daniel Nepela and Fred Holmstrom developed the original Polara

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Should Tournament Golf and Recreational Golf Diverge?

January 15, 2011 By 10 Comments
Cheater

I had an interesting phone conversation last night with someone from the golf industry that I’m going to tell you more about some time in the next several days. One of the things we discussed, at length, is the idea that there is a serious disconnect between tournament golf and the enjoyment that recreational players derive from the game. The Rules of Golf are probably the biggest divergence between the best players in the world and the rest of us. They have to play the Rules to the letter or suffer dire consequences. Weekend players, however, take extreme liberties with them. In many cases, it’s not even out of a desire to cheat. Sometimes, it’s a matter of ignorance. It’s also an issue of the Rules not always being practical on busy public courses. Be honest, how many of you go back to the tee to hit another shot after you’ve discovered that your ball is lost or has ended up out of bounds? All of the golf leagues I’ve been involved with had local rules

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The New Groove Regulations Came in with a Whimper

October 10, 2010 By 3 Comments

For the last few years, there was a mix of emotions and reactions as the USGA proposed and implemented new, more stringent regulations on golf club grooves for short irons/wedges. As the D-Day for the new rules approached, there was a prevailing opinion that, on Tour, where the regulations took effect well before they will for the rest of us, there would be a rebirth of shot making hearkening back to the old days of tournament golf. There was speculation that there would be a painful adjustment period, that scores might increase slightly, and that the “bomb and gouge” would fall out of favor, as players struggle to control the ball out of the rough, putting a higher premium on being in the fairway. I was fascinated to read in the October 2010 edition of The Pelz Files in Golf Magazine (p. 32), that maybe things didn’t quite work out that way. In his column, Dave Pelz compared some key statistics from 2009, the year before the rules took effect, with the same from 2010 to see

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Playing a Three-Club Round

September 19, 2010 By 6 Comments
Golf Clubs

You might have noticed the poll in the side bar that’s been running for a while that asks, “If you had to play a round with only three clubs, which would you choose?” My golf league does a three-club event which, unfortunately, I missed this year. It got me thinking about it some, though, and I thought I’d see which clubs you all would choose. It’s really a great exercise in course management. It forces you to think about which clubs you need most and which clubs you can most easily adapt to fill in the holes. Many teachers would tell you that a limited set is the best thing for juniors, too. It gets them out of the analytical mindset that overburdens many of us and teaches them just to grab a club and hit a shot, and if they don’t have a club that’s perfect for that shot, then they have to make that shot with what they have. It’s a great way to learn creativity and to become versatile shot-makers. As of now,

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