Over the Green

GolfBuddy was the first to offer a GPS rangefinder preloaded with 35,000 courses worldwide and not charging a yearly subscription. Their latest device, previewed at January’s PGA Merchandise Show is the Voice – a speaking rangefinder giving yardage to the front, back and middle of the green.

photo courtesy of GolfBuddy

It’s tiny, the same diameter as a golf ball, 1.68″. It’s light, about an ounce. It clips on the brim of a golf hat or belt and works with the push of a single button. A small screen also displays the yardage plus hole and being played and its par.

Priced at $179 the Voice comes with a silicon carrying case, data cable and wall charger.

Sunglasses on the course are a must.

Not as a fashion statement but to protect your eyes from the sun plus blowing dust and pollen. They should be put on every time you play, just like sunscreen but there’s a potential problem. High quality protective sunglasses are expensive, often selling for $75 to $200 a pair.

Therefore it’s a pleasant surprise to find the SunSport Optics brand golf eyewear selling for less than $30.

SunSport Optics is based in Castle Rock, Colo. and has been making golf eyewear since 2003. Their good looking line of new models are priced between $24.95 and $29.95 and feature lightweight rimless frames, optically corrected lenses and most importantly 100% UVA and UVB protection.

According to Todd Roberson, SunSport Optics president, “Our newest golf-specific design offers significant benefits to players. Just as important as your favorite driver is the pair of sunglasses you choose to protect your eyes and help perfect your game, and our newest golf design offers notable advantages.”

The lenses are also water repellant, fog resistant and scratch resistant.

SunSport sunglasses may not turn you into a scratch golfer but there’s nothing wrong with getting the sun protection you need and making a little bit of a fashion statement at the same time.

New service for US Golfers

Golfweather.com, an online weather forecast service for golf courses and golf destinations, is now tracking up-to-the-minute weather conditions at over 16,000 golf courses throughout the U.S.

The brainchild of South African entrepreneur Moshe Adir, a 14-year veteran of online start-up businesses, Golfweather.com is a golfer’s 15th club in the bag offering accurate and real-time seven-day forecasts that include temperature, wind speed and direction, comfort level and probability of rain.

“We gather raw weather data from renowned meteorological organizations and institutions to provide longitude and latitude location-based forecasts for each golf club in the U.S. and around the world, which results in an incredibly accurate picture of what the weather is going to be like there on any given day,” says Adir, a three-handicap golfer. “Our detailed forecast is broken down into three hourly segments for 5a.m., 8a.m., 11a.m., 2p.m., 5p.m. and 8p.m.

To get the accurate weather data, golfers simply search by golf course or location on Golfweather.com. They can choose to see a 7 Day Detailed Forecast or a Summary, which lists conditions, daily high and low temperatures, daily precipitation probability and an overall playability rating.

It’s not only golfers who depend on the weather accuracy of Golfweather.com. Golf course superintendents are now tapping the online source when setting up their courses for the day and deciding on pin positions and tees according to wind directions and strengths.

Golfweather.com was founded in 2009 in South Africa, and by 2010 grew to include Ireland and the United Kingdom. The free online tool now pinpoints weather at more than 26,000 courses worldwide. Golfweather.com has already released its app service for the iPhone and soon for android phones.

TipTeeToe Golf Shoes for Women

A often overlooked principle for making a good golf swing is good balance. Proper balance promotes transfer of weight during the swing and leads to more distance and consistency.

Now lady linksters can buy the first wegde soled golf shoe designed to promote good balance. The TipTeeToe not only helps achieve better while providing stability at address and at impact but they are stylish, attractive and as the company says they, “segue easily from the golf course to the concourse.”

Micky Gallas, President of TipTeeToe said, “We are excited to unveil our new 2012 Low Wedge design at the PGA Show this year. We were the first company to come out with a stylish yet effective wedge technology that positively affects posture at every stage of the golf swing. Our shoes are USGA conforming for competition and they look great and perform well on the course. Women will find they have better balance when wearing our wedge shoe and that will have a significant impact on their golf game. Our mission is to grow the game through innovative footwear.”

Color combinations include: white/red, black/hot pink, white/black, black/white and solid black and each pair comes with built-in ball markers and color coordinated straps. They are available on line at tipteetoe.com for $149.

Izzo Golf’s Swami 3000 is really worth consideration when compared to the crowded field of more expensive golf GPS units.

It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of a $300 unit advertised by one or more of golf’s beautiful people. It is though, a good basic way to know the distance to the front, back and center of the green…for a suggested price of $99.99 and no annual fee or course downloading. It comes with 19,000 courses in North America preloaded.
MORE…

by ED TRAVIS
Dawgs Golf hit the golf shoe market with lightweight golf shoes that could be described as non-conventional.

Regardless the on course models were well received and they have followed up with the Golf Crossover billed as “high-comfort ultra-soft men’s and women’s casual and before-and-after-golf shoes.”

The rubber outsole has nubs so they can be worn while playing too but the big difference is the very comfortable insole and canvas upper. There are men’s and women’s models, both for $50 a pair.

Tiger’s return
Tiger Woods finish at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, his first tournament since May, was just that – a finish. As expected his game was not sharp and the T-38 in the 76-man field, in which there was no Friday cut, has some flashes of his former greatness. The best news for Tiger-fans though was his physical injuries seem to be all healed and he says he is enthusiastic about playing.

With the PGA Championship this week he obviously is looking to improve his competitiveness and get more “reps” to use his word for tournament rounds.

Both he and former caddie Steve Williams (on winner Adam Scott’s bag – talk about poetic justice) were questioned over the circumstances surrounding Woods firing Williams with Williams relating a different version than Woods. And under the heading extreme trivia, Woods wore for the first time plastic cleats in a pair of Nike prototype golf shoes based on a training shoe the company had made for him for use during his rehabilitation.

New shoes
Speaking of shoes, adidas Golf has extended their very popular TOUR360 line with the TOUR360 ATV and says it is “the company’s most technologically-advanced shoe to date.”

“This shoe takes all of the advancements of the TOUR360 line and pushes it one step further,” said Kevin Ross, VP adidas Golf. “We’ve taken feedback from our Tour players and combined it with our experience from the previous four versions to make ATV even better – the best performing TOUR360 yet.”

ATVs (All-Terrain Versatility) have a 10-spike sole specifically designed for stability and traction on uneven ground. The MSRP is $190 and they will be in shops Sept. 15.

Those who fly a lot with golf clubs know that Club Glove Last Bag is makes the best golf club travel bag period. It’s designed correctly, durable and easy to wheel through airports or any where else.

Jeff Herold, founder of West Coast Trends makers of the Last Bag, applies high standards to each product sold by his company with the most recent example being the TRS Ballistic luggage. It is not inexpensive but it is for the traveler who needs the easiest to pack and toughest bags engineered to place their center of gravity so less effort is needed to pull them. MORE…

The TaylorMade TR3 Speed Sleeve isn’t going to make you rich or better-looking or divine the Powerball winning numbers; it is however one of those clever ideas that will help your golf game. MORE…

Best of two worlds

Bushnell enjoys the reputation of being the gold standard of laser range finders. In fact, a large majority of touring professionals and their caddies use Bushnell devices to measure distances during practice rounds to ensure accurate club selection during competition.

The new Bushnell Hybrid goes a step further by combining a GPS yardage system with the laser.

MORE…