Slow Play

Is it just me, or is play becoming slower. I thought last year was a deterioration from the year before. Now this year seems to be even worse. Golf is not growing, could slow play be part of the reason? Four hours for 18 holes is plenty of time. More than once I've thought about playing 18 holes at a particular course and then passed when I remember that it usually takes 5 hours there. Only a few years ago there were rangers on the course making sure everyone stuck to the 4 hour time limit. Nowadays I don't see rangers anywhere. Is that because golf courses figure they can't afford it. If that's the case, then I think they're missing the bigger picture. With slow play they are apt to loose more in greens fees than they'd have to pay a ranger.

Slow play isn't about crowded courses from what I see. I played 18 holes in a threesome last week and we played through three groups. The course wasn't crowded by any means. There were vast expanses of open holes in front of each group. They were taking in excess of 20 minutes per hole. In my definition that's not golf. Do they enjoy taking that long? I just don't get it. It's a game and it has to be fun or people will give up the sport. Waiting 3 or 4 minutes before taking every shot isn't fun.

The slow play I've seen is not because of a physical handicap or beginner skills. Many golfers don't seem to know how to proceed down a hole as a group. In one instance last week, a cart came at least 100 yards backward for a shot, meaning they played the farthest shot first. My wife and I played behind two young men who looked to be in their early 20's. We literally played a circle around them. We finished ahead of them and played 6 extra holes. I have no idea why they were taking so long. They were competent players, but they'd agonize over every stroke as if there were a couple of hundred thousand dollars hanging in the balance.

Male, female, young, old, beginner and 15 handicapper - it doesn't seem to make a difference. Slow play cannot be attributed to any one group. Are golfers being effected by the slow play they see on the pro tours? Are the rest of their lives so joyless that they're trying to prolong their time on the course as much as possible. Or are we, as a society, less concerned about others? For the life of me, I can't see the attraction of slow play. A foursome can finish a round in under 4 hours without rushing a shot. It requires 'ready golf' and except in tournaments that should be the norm. For those who don't know what 'ready golf' is (and I hope your numbers are minuscule) you take your shot when you're ready to play not standing on ceremony that the player furthest from the hole goes first.

One aspect of slow play me be looking for lost balls. If you hit a lot of errant shots, then don't play Pro V's. Choose a ball you can afford to leave in the woods. It seems that most new courses are made as punishing as possible, which often means tight. Maybe this is adding to the problem. I predict that course design will have to change radically in the coming years to save the game. More modern designers should take a page out of the old Scottish designers' books. You can make a course challenging and difficult without requiring a golfer to lose balls. A pot bunker is a wonderful hazard and though you may wish you couldn't find your ball once it's rolled in, it will be lying in plain sight. Well placed trees and shrubs in the mowed rough are wonderful challenges as well.

Ultimately the solution lies with educating golfers to playing time rules and then enforcing them via rangers. It only takes a few months of enforcement to 'train' your customers that 4 hour rounds are required. For players learning the game, sometimes you'll have to 'pick up' on a hole. Learning this is as important as learning how to hit a shot out of the sand. It's part of the game. Maybe we could learn a few things from the Europeans. Clubs often require a certain handicap level to play a particular course. Many times, your handicap determines which tees you must play from. They also require that new players pass a 'playing' test with one of the pros before they get their first handicap card. This insures that everyone learns golf etiquette, when to 'pick up' and how to play 'ready golf'.

One last word to the stud golfers that want to play the classic courses from the same place the pros do. If you don't hit 300 yard drives you aren't really playing the same course. Think about it. Even if your drives are 270, you won't be in range of the hazards, like bunkers and narrowing fairways, the pros face. Play the tees that force you to negotiate the same hazards as the pros and your experience will more closely approximate theirs.

Alpha V5 Driver Review

Back in February I received a brand new Alpha Golf V5 driver and wrote a blog about my intentions to review it. The weather in New England finally eased up in April and I have completed my tests.

Initial Impressions and Unique Head Cover
First, let me recap my initial impressions; it's a gorgeous club, elegant but not showy and comes with the best head cover I have come across. It's important to protect the graphite shaft on a new driver, but trying to put the long necked head cover on can try your patience enough that you decide to leave it in the car. That's great for the short term, but bad for the long term. It only takes a small nick on the fragile shaft to weaken it enough to break in the middle of a round. For my money, Alpha has solved the problem with a slick design that uses magnets to control the opening in the head cover. It's so easy to use that there's no excuse for not protecting your driver. Even if you don't need a new club I encourage you to check out these great head covers.

Now on to the club test. I compared the Alpha V5 to my current driver. I have a range where I can hit my own balls. I used the exact same balls, marked red and black and hit both drivers in alternate sets of 5 over numerous practice sessions. I also took the club out on the course to try it where it actually counts.

It's not easy to test drive a new club and really know whether it's right for you or not for a number of reasons. A new club is usually setup differently - you are looking for something different aren't you? Accordingly it's going to feel different while you learn how to swing it. If you can't test it over an extended period against what you're currently using, how do you know the results aren't colored by your swing on that particular day.

Configuration
The Alpa V5 came in the same length as my current driver and with a similarly configured stiff shaft. They sent it with a normal size grip. While I use mid size grips on my clubs I wanted to test it first with the normal size as this is what you're going to find on most demo clubs. I found that it definitely affected my ability to hit the ball. So be careful in evaluating a new club if the grip is different from what you normally use. After a few days with the normal grip I replaced it with a mid size Golf Pride Decade Multi-Compound Cord grip. (I not reviewing grips here, but I have to say that these grips are incredible-though expensive.) I noticed a difference immediately. Without the change I don't think I would have given the club a fair evaluation.

Aesthetics
Let's look at aesthetics for a moment before getting to the results. I've talked about the great look of the club which is important for building confidence. I also want to mention sound because this is important to many golfers when considering metal woods. When I first hit the V5, the sound was a definite surprise. It wasn't bad, but it was just different from what I am using. Where my current club makes a clank, this club makes a clink. The more I hit the club the more I got accustomed to the sound, to the point where I actually forgot about it. If you find the sweet spot the sound almost disappears, which is quite pleasing - in a biofeedback sort of way.

At The Range
What about the results? On the practice range I found the Alpha V5 to be, on average, between 15 and 20 yards farther on solid center hits. I didn't check off center hit distances as carefully, but my impression is there was little difference there. The results can't be an absolute number because this was not an exact scientific experiment. I'll leave it to the physicists and Iron Byron to come up with absolute performance figures. Golf clubs are hit by humans and this brings in a lot of variations, even with an individual golfer. I noticed that the biggest differences in distance came in the later tests. Maybe I was learning how to swing the club. Or maybe my confidence was increasing due to the results of the earlier tests.

On The Course
Finally, I took the club out on the course. After all, this is where any club has to perform. No two days on the golf course are ever the same, but when you've played a course enough you have a pretty good idea of how far your drives go. I was definitely hitting the ball at least 10 yards past my normal landing spots and this in cooler spring conditions. There's a 292 drivable par 4 - at least for some - on the course I used for my test. My previous best there was about 10 yards in front of the green. I don't remember the conditions, so I can't say if mother nature helped or not. I'm delighted to say that I was able to put one of my drives with the Alpha V5 on the front fringe. It's important to note that the last 15 yards of the fairway rise about 12 feet up to the green. There was no helping wind with the V5 and the ball ran up the slope. Regardless of what happens on the practice range, it's those kind of results that 1) make it easy to covet the club and 2) get you psyched up to try it on your favorite driving holes. Now I'm anxious to see if I can repeat my 'longest drive' on a few other short par 4's that I've never been able to reach. It would also be great to reach the par 5's in two that have been impossible up to now.

After testing it myself, I whole heartedly encourage anyone who's looking for more distance in a new driver to give the V5 a try. Though it's not as universally carried in golf stores the way the most advertised brands are, you can buy it on line with a risk-free 30 day guarantee. Just a couple of last remarks. The club has customizable weight ports which I didn't mess around with. For those of you who want the club to help you change your ball flight, the option is there. I don't think the average amateur is really working his drive intentionally. I don't try to move mine much as the results can get scary. My natural shot is a draw. On the course, I was able to fade the ball a little with the V5. Hopefully it wasn't just luck, but I'm confident this club will not hold any skill level player back.

As soon as it stops raining here, I'm going to go out and play some more with the V5. I'll keep you updated on how the club performs. Right now the old club is confined to the trunk of my car! It's no wonder that Alpha Golf has won 6 ReMax World Long Drive titles.

AceMagnetics.com Announces New Patent

AceMagnetics.com has been granted a patent on its RB30 which is clearly the lightest weight, highest strength, most durable, waterproof sports and leisure magnetic bracelet in the world.

Encinitas, CA (PRWEB) April 24, 2008 -- www.AceMagnetics.com ®, an internet e-commerce company providing magnetic bracelets and magnetic jewelry for sports and health enthusiasts has been awarded a new patent for its RB30 style Rally Band Magnetic Sports band.

Acemagnetics.com is the sole distributor of this new product now on sale at RB30 Rally band to be the lightest weight most powerful, waterproof sports and health band on the market bar none worldwide."

"We are delighted about the advantages of our unique Rally Band® wristband," says Jay Varon, President of AceMagnetics.com®. "The Rally band has no clasp so it slips on and off easily, it is more flexible than traditional metal wristbands, the silicone is completely waterproof and the silicone lets us embed and protect even more magnets. The Rally Band sports band® is the lightest weight most powerful (105, 00 total gauss) magnetic wristband on the market and is virtually indestructible and suitable for young and old alike. Additionally "we can make them in different colors so they are not only functional but incredibly stylish!"

AceMagnetics.com utilizes neodymium magnets in its entire product line. Neodymium magnets will retain 90% of their magnetic force for a hundred years. AceMagnetics.com products are used by a wide range of professional golfers and other professional athletes as well as everyday weekend warriors around the globe.

About AceMagnetics.com, Inc.



AceMagnetics.com Inc., founded in 1996 & headquartered in Encinitas, CA, offers more than 250 magnetic products including bracelets, copper bracelets, titanium magnetic bracelets, magnetic rings, magnetic necklaces, magnetic wraps, magnetic mattress pads, tungsten carbide magnetic bracelets and other magnetic accessories. Free sample RB30 Rally Bands are available to any and all media content providers for field testing upon request.



For more information

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Loren Norquist, Public Information Officer

V: 1.800.599.9098

F: 760.479.0202

info(at)acemagnetics.com

Have They Designed Away Masters Excitement?

Go to GolfDash and check out the Headline Story for today, April 14. It's by John Huggan at Golf Observer and addresses the fact that course changes to Augusta in the last 10 years seem to have taken the excitement out of the Masters competition. I couldn't agree more after watching this last week and reflecting on 2007 as well.

It seems that we have come to love the Masters because of the dramatic play it inspires - or used to. Some lost big leads while others made dramatic moves ahead. Different players played the course well - differently. If you felt you needed to make up ground you could take risks, which sometimes paid off and sometimes ended in disaster. But today, it's all about survival. The course seems to dictate that everyone play the course in almost exactly the same way. Most holes don't have options anymore, which is what great courses are all about. If you follow the British Open and classic links design then you know what I'm talking about.

Bobby Jones worked with the famous Scottish golf designer Alister MacKenzie to build Augusta. Mr. MacKenzie knew all about the subtleties of a well designed hole. Winning a tournament was as much about strategy as ball striking. Given your skill set, a great hole is about challenging you to figure out the solution of how you should play it. There was one hole at St. Andrews Old Course that Bobby Jones himself said was most often played the best by a woman golfer of the times. Think about that for a moment, he was saying that she played the hole better than he did. I'm sure he could hit the ball farther, but she was able to unravel it's secret code better.

I have looked forward to this Masters all winter, but now that it's complete I have an empty feeling. That's no to slight Trevor Immelmam. He's a great golfer who played better than everyone else, including Mr. Woods. He's a wonderful ball striker and showed he has the nerves that all the great ones have. I think (and hope) to see a lot more of him in the future. We need someone to push Tiger. Without a Retief, or Ernie or Vijay to challenge, pro tournaments are losing some of their luster.

A high level of anticipation for the next Masters is certainly gone. I want to see dramatic shots, an Arnie charge or a Nicklaus come from behind. Just seeing who can endure the rack the longest is not much entertainment. For my money the course has been designed into it's own dead end. I'm not a course designer, but the Augusta people need to find someone with a different vision to save the tradition. They might want to consult a past winner who's also an architect and probably understands the old course design traditions better than anyone. That would be a Mr. Ben Crenshaw.

ESPN Masters Coverage is Abominable

Today is probably the worst golf tournament coverage I have ever seen and because it's the Masters it's that much more painful. It's not the problem of the ESPN commentators, it's the producer. When you cover a golf tournament you are expected to broadcast the play, not shots of the trees, the bridge, magnolias, and so many walks down memory lane that I thought I was watching the history channel for awhile.

The trend in the last couple of years is to focus too much on only a very few golfers at the top. If a player is a few shots back you're lucky if you see then hit two shots. I do believe the average viewer is like me. I want to see Justin Leonard and Vijay Singh and Padraig Harrington and the rest of the best golfers in the world whether they're on or not. I want to see as much as I can of the best golfers in the world on one of the best courses in one of the top four tournaments of the year. Not only is ESPN sticking to the leaders on the course and Tiger, but the producer has fallen in love with everything that has nothing to do with the live action.

It's getting to the point where you have to be online to actually know what's going on. If a top player like Retief Goosen isn't doing so well, why? Has he lost control of his driver, did he hit it in the water, did he take a double bogey somewhere? Why can't the networks let the camera show us the action and let it speak for itself. Why not get as much real footage on our screens as possible. I love Gary Player and I think it's great that Zach Johnson won last year. But don't take away from this year's actual play to take us back into the history books over and over. That's better handled later, or earlier, but not during the heat of play. By chopping up the coverage the viewer gets no sense of the overall unfolding of the competition.

The powers that be at Augusta have gone to extremes to have the Masters run and be covered the way they want. Maybe it's time for them to look at the Thursday/Friday contract with ESPN and let a network who will really cover the action take over next year.

An Augusta Tribute

Hopefully this tribute will get you in the mood for (in my opinion) the most special golf tournament of the year.

The Golf Channel, Cialis and Slazenger

An advertiser is an advertiser and most every popular media business needs them, who else is going to pay the bills. So don't blame the Golf Channel for the pain that the current Cialis and Slazenger ads cause. I've got nothing against either product, it's just certain characteristics of the ads - not the product mind you - that's making it more painful to sit through the ads with each passing day.

The production quality of the Cialis ad is fine, it's just that it NEVER CHANGES. If you've got enough advertising funds to buy up that much airtime, then spend a few more bucks on some different versions. I've had to watch that kitchen faucet erupt more than once too often. It's getting so you can't watch any sporting event without being bombarded by erectile dysfunction products. I guess that says something about where the male viewing public is at, so maybe we are buying enough pills to warrant the ads. But please, too much repetition can kill a good thing.

Take a page out of the Aflac book. Even if you've seen a lot of their ads, you look sort of look forward to them because they are funny and there are enough versions to keep from driving you stark raving mad. Lilly, please do us a favor and come up with a few more versions of the ad or you're going to give golf a bad name.

Then there is Slazenger's 'Raw Distance' ad. Who do they think buy the most golf balls? If it's 14 year old boys who play video games then they've probably hit a home run with their ad that you'd swear was for the World Wrestling Entertainment. If it's anybody else, then why would video of raw meat and blood in a blender and a guy who spends too much time in the weight room and not on the practice range make anyone want to purchase a golf ball. My advice, team up with Lilly and get a twofer deal with the advertising agency producing the Aflac and Geico ads. Your golf ball may be terrific, but who can get past your commercial.