What's Wrong With US Golf

Depending on your mood you might say 'nothing' or 'everything'. I tend to lean more toward the latter. Are things occurring in golf that some months or maybe a year or two down the road we'll exclaim 'why didn't someone do something'?

First, I can't resist making a comment about US men's sports in general. Has anyone noticed how poorly we've faired in recent years? Remember the US basketball team - they were so bad I was routing against them in the last Olympics - and in a game that we created. Then there's baseball, hockey, alpine skiing and maybe in a couple of hours - soccer. Is it just coincidence, or is something wrong here at home.

I don't want to ruin your day, just yet, but remember the embarrassment of the last Ryder Cup. It's one thing to lose, even lose badly, and quite another to be so uptight, tightlipped and self-involved that you forget those who made you what you are, namely the fans. In case you forgot, the US squad was so out of touch during the practice round that the US fans started routing for the Europeans!

How much more do we need to understand that we might be getting a wakeup call? More tomorrow....

The "Incredible" Hook/Slice Talking Swing Meter

I thought this sounded like a pretty honest review. What do YOU think?

"From the "We'd Rather Get Punched in the Face" department: An absolutely awful golf gadget that hooks onto your driver and announces how crappy your last shot was, 'cause we really need some wise-ass device telling us we just sliced the ball into the snack bar. Even though it's marketed as a training tool, the Hook/Slice Talking Swing Meter does nothing to improve your game but lots to crush your confidence. Great fun for screwing the jerk in your foursome, but that's about it. At $18, it's more than $17 overpriced."

Review by Evan Blass of Engadget.

Amino Vital, why do the Pros love it?

I have been noticing a lot of professional golfers now using a product called Amino Vital. In a lot of ways this makes sense, after all amino acids are "the building blocks of life"

According to their website: "Scientists have learned that three linked essential amino acids—leucine, isoleucine and valine, called Branched—Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) serve as a critical source of muscle energy as well as nutrition for muscle repair. Unlike other amino acids, which are mostly metabolized in the liver, BCAAs are metabolized in the muscle tissue itself. Without a sufficient supply, your muscles begin to feel tired and sore during exercise.

In contrast, a plentiful supply of BCAAs makes you feel energized—and helps muscles recover and rebuild much faster. And during and after exertion, two other amino acids, arginine and glutamine, work to synthesize proteins, remove harmful toxins and strengthen the body’s immune system."

In this age of do-whatever-it-takes to get the competitive edge, Amino vital might be worth looking into.

Check them out at: www.amino-vital.com

What is Par-formance?

I wanted to bring this very practical product to your attention. It is called The Par-formance Golf Score Journal. It is a smaller, spiral-bound booklet that fits easily in your pocket and allows you to keep track of your game from tee to green. For example, there are places to enter your score, course, weather conditions, tee boxes, total yardage, number of putts, fairways hit, birdies, pars, bogeys, double bogeys, greens hit, penalty strokes, notes, etc. and on the bottom section of the chart you can enter all your shot info (tee shot, approach, fairways, greens, up and downs, putts, penalties, etc.) hole by hole.

In my opinion it is really a great way to "see" your round visually so you can begin to assess your strength and weaknesses. It is also very well designed (opens flat) with plenty of space to enter your information. This is a nice thought-out detail as when we are in the heat of the battle on the course we want something simple and practical that we actually USE regularly.

Order the Par-formance Score Journal at: www.par-formance.com

I highly recommend these for yourself or as gifts.

Family Golf

I was recently at the US Kids Golf website investigating some clubs for my nephew when I noticed the "Family Courses" tab in their main navigation. There they provide you with a list of golf courses that meet or exceed "our family course criteria" - it seems these "designated" courses have (or have added) 2 additional sets of tees. Green tees - 2200 yards and Yellow tees - 3750 yards - the obvious logic being *most" forward tees (usually white) are to long at 5000 yards for kids and beginner adults.

Personally, *I like* the idea of promoting family golf but in all my years of playing golf I am having a hard time remembering ever seing a family play golf together. Certainly a father and son or less frequently a mom and daughter - but a family!? and now family-friendly courses?

Curious if other have seen families play recently.

L2 Putter - time for a change?

I played in a team tournament last weekend that consisted of five 9-hole matches. One of our competitors, who is now in his 70's, was putting in way I had never seen. He stood tall, faced the hole and held a belly putter to the side. In this manor he used the putter like a pendulum, stabilized by his left hand which he held across his chest and gripping the top of the putter around his right armpit. He was able to putt this way while looking directly at his target. And he putted very well.

I asked him about his style and how he came by it. He said he picked it up from the best amateur golfer he had ever seen. Keep in mind that this gentleman was the state amateur champ a few times himself. We played at a course that is particularly noted for its very fast and difficult greens. Needless to say he putted much better than I did, but that's not saying much.

Today, while I was looking for interesting products to showcase on GolfDash, I came across the 'L2 Lateral Line putter'. This is a putter that was built specially to putt in the same way as the gentleman I played against. There's interesting video on the website (www.toolite.com/golf)showing how it works, and why it may be a better way to put. It's very compelling. Now I'm one who never liked the long putters. I thought the R&A and USGA should have outlawed them. But as long as they are legal, I sure would like to give the L2 a try. It certainly seems a more natural way to putt. As the video on the L2 site says, if you told any Tour pro that you'd pay them $20,000 if they could roll a putt into a hole 20 feet away (no putter mind you), how would they attempt it? Exactly, everyone would face the hole. No one would stand sideways.

If anyone has tried this thing, I'd love to hear their impressions.

GolfDash Survey

First, please forgive us for a few weeks absence. We have been extremely busy with our next phase of GolfDash development work which is consuming most of our time.

We truly value all the valuable comments our members have given us in the past. It is how we can continue to provide great golf information and build the web tools that our members (and non-members) believe most important.

To that end, we ask if you might take a minute out of your schedule (it really takes that long, unless, of course, you have plenty to say - which is fine too) to fill out our brief GolfDash Survey.

As a bonus we are offering a GolfRound Towel ($7.95 value) FREE to those who fill out our brief survey. The towel has been called, "One of the most innovative golf products to hit the market in years!" We do have a limited supply (about 50) so please hurry. Once they're gone they're gone.

Just send an email to info@golfdash.com with the headline "Survey Completed" and include your mailing address.

Click here for the survey: GolfDash Survey


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