Orlando Golf Blogger

Stumbled upon these folks today, looks like they’ve got some good prices on gear.  What caught my eye is that they’re selling my driver for $169 bucks!  I paid $250 for this thing at the beginning of the year and thought I was getting a killer deal!  Here’s the picture below.

By the way, I absolutely love this driver!  It has a different sound than your used to, but you learn to love it!

So if your in the market for a new driver, I recommend it, check the link below to check out their site.

Still dancing over Azinger pulling it out!

-Dave

he website is called Stracka.com.

It’s a myspace/facebook for Golf. Click on the link above to create an account.

You create an account for free and you gain access to a whole bunch of goodies. It has a handicap calculator that displays your handicap with and without ESC. You can record your golf rounds, they have a very comprehensive list of courses nationally as well as globally. If you don’t find the course you played in the list, you can add it.

The round tracker is cool, it offers you two ways to track your scores, first way, just log the course, the tees you played from and the score and it’ll calculate your handicap and post the score for everyone to view. The 2nd way is a bit more in depth and it tracks, FIR, GIR, putts, chips, drives, etc.. and displays a more detailed breakdown of your game and like I said, free!

I pulled the map of Falcon’s Fire from their site, check it out.

You can upload swing videos and it has a simple swing analysis tool that allows you to analyze your swing. Everything uploaded is public so other members can view the video and add their feedback. You can upload photos as well which people can rate.

I’ve uploaded a video of yours truly swinging his mighty SuMO BOOMSTICK., definitely need to check that out.

Yes, you might have to tilt your head to the left to fully appreciate the shot….

Oh, in case you were wondering, yes, I am wearing Tattoo Golf!

You can search for other golfers in your area, post up blog entries, visit the forums and more.

When you create your profile, it asks a series of questions about the type of games you like to play (betting, competitive, etiquette, etc) and you can search by those same questions and partner up with players based on that criteria.

Create or join golf groups, meet new people, view others photos, videos, stats, equipment, handicap and style.

Here’s something that sets them apart from other sites doing similar things. It’s called The Stracka Line.

It’s a patented process designed to aid a golfer’s ability to read the complex breaks on a putting green. They use state of the art laser land surveying technology to scan the surface of the green for millions of data points accurate to the millimeter to pick up even the most subtle elevation changes.

The topography maps are then run through industry leading software used to determine the fall lines of how water would drain off the surface, which is then applied to how the ball will roll off the slops on a green.

So far they only have a handful of courses that offer this feature and regrettably none are Orlando Courses

I created a profile named OrlandoGolfBlogger (the names a bit unexpected, I know..) and an Orlando Golfers Group. So create yourself a profile and add me to your friends list!

I’m still working on organizing a golf outing/scramble for all who are interested, so let me know if you wish to be included in the list.

Leave your Comments!

Dave

This is pretty interesting.

Here’s the history of the golf ball.

In the earliest days of the game, wooden golf balls were used. I found this picture of a wooden golf ball, it’s probably a picture of a ball used by the British soldiers in the U.S during World War I.

One of the earliest recorded events of a wooden golf ball being used was 1550 a.d. in eastern Scotland.

Next, in 1618, the feather golf ball or ‘featherie’ was invented. This ball consisted of several pieces of stout leather sewn together, leaving a small opening. After the stitch was completed, the casing was turned inside out. Feathers, boiled and softened were then stuffed into the small opening. They say that as much as a “gentleman’s top hat full” were stuffed into the casing. The stitching was completed and the ball was hammered into a round shape with a couple coats of paint added. These balls were extremely difficult to make and therefor very expensive.

A practiced featherie maker could produce four a day. Man, imagine shanking this ball, i’d spend the entire round trying to find it!

In 1848, the first ‘gutta’ ball was created by the Rev. Dr. Robert Adams Paterson. This was created from the milky juice or latex from a tree found in Malaysia. This material, once boiled becomes soft and impressionable, and the ball is made by rolling the boiled latex on a board. This ball was a lot easier to produce, resistant to water, improved roll and much cheaper than the featherie. Remember the Old Tom Morris & Alan Robertson split was over the invention of this ball.

Players soon discovered that nicks on the smooth surface of the ball actually produced a truer flight than a completely smooth surface. Because of this players were taking a sharp, pointed hammer and scarring the face of the ball, giving the ball an even pattern that greatly improved it’s play.

Surface textures and patterns impressed into the gutta-percha balls evolved from early imitations of feathery ball stitching to the highly detailed and symmetrical that greatly improved the ball�s flight. The best known balls were the hand-marked private brands of the Scottish club makers, such as Morris, Robertson, Gourlay, and the Auchterlonies. Many brands with a variety of patent names used the bramble pattern (with a surface similar to the berry). This became the most popular pattern of the gutta era and was also used on some of the early rubber balls.

Arguably, the most profound change to ever hit the game of golf occurred in 1898 with the invention of the rubber golf ball. It was invented by a Cleveland, Ohio, golfer, Coburn Haskell, in association with Bertram Work of the B. F. Goodrich Company. The ball featured rubber thread wound around a solid rubber core. Early gutta-percha gave way to the Balata cover that was developed in the early 1900s.

On January 1, 1932, standardization of golf ball weight and size was established by the United States Golf Assocciation following 1930 standards set by the British Golf Association for a slightly smaller ball. The weight was set at a maximum of 1.620 oz., and diameter not to be less than 1.680 in. Later. after testing apparatus was developed to measure velocity, a maximum velocity of 250 feet per second was added by the USGA. The durability and precision of today’s ball reflect not only the tremendous technological advancement of their manufacture but also the development of space age plastics, silicone, and improved rubber.

And now, an improvement to an earlier idea, (ahem) drum roll please, introducing the new and improved Caesar Featherie!!!

I’ll be receiving some of these very soon to review and i’ll do a complete write up once I test them out.

to be continued…

Reference

I was reading Frank Talk over there at golfdigest.com. He’s a pretty entertaining fellow who discusses golf equipment.

Here’s a link.

Pretty much, he’s a dear Abbey for golf where people ask him questions and he writes responses up for everyone to read.

One of today’s questions was “What is the difference between X-out balls and regular balls.” You know what his response was… (drumroll please)

Nothing that would affect the performance of the ball, X-outs are perfectly functional golf balls with minor blemishes or printing errors on the epidermis of the ball.

WHAT?!

I had no idea… I always assumed that the reason that all my balls were flying so poorly had to be due to some flaw in the balls I’ve been hitting and nothing what-so-ever in my playing ability….

<ahem>

Uhh, I just went to check the price on the X-out pro v1’s and I encountered a slight flaw in ol Franks post. It seems as if he’s only partially right, well, atleast as it pertains to Titleist.

QUESTION

What is the difference between Pro V1 Practice and Pro V1 X-out golf balls?

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

We appreciate you allowing us to clarify this matter and wish you much success with your game. Thank you for making Titleist an integral part of your game, as well as the #1 ball in golf.

Thank you for your inquiry regarding the differences between Titleist Pro V1 Practice and Pro V1 X-Out golf balls.

The Acushnet Company invests significant time and effort to ensure that our products are Best-in-Class in terms of quality, performance and consistency. As such, in the rare event one of our products fails to meet USGA requirements for size, weight, velocity or any other conformance criteria we destroy rather than market such products.

As such, only products that are of a minimal defect are available for purchase. These products are available in two offerings:

1. Pro V1 Practice golf balls are conforming products that differ only due to a cosmetic blemish such as paint, ink or registration of stamping. Pro V1 Practice golf balls do not have any construction or performance deficiencies.

2. Pro V1 X-Out golf balls are also conforming products. However, they usually have a cosmetic blemish and/or occasionally have a minor physical defect that should not significantly affect its performance. More often than not, the physical condition causing the ball to be stamped as an X-Out is so minute that it is not recognizable by the player.

Both products may be used in the casual round of golf including those with scores posted for handicaps, and most competitions, with the possible exception of high level competitions invoking the Local Rule requiring balls to be on the List of Conforming Golf Balls. Please refer to the USGA Official Rules on the subject listed below for your reference:

Q: May I use a ball stamped with “Practice” or “X-Out” to play a round of golf?

A: Our present policy provides that if the List of Conforming Golf Balls or the One Ball Condition is in effect, a practice or logo ball may be used provided the other markings on the ball (i.e., pole and seam) correspond exactly to a ball listing on the current List of Conforming Golf Balls. Balls labeled with ”PRACTICE” or a circled ”P”, are essentially treated as a logo ball (such as a Mickey Mouse emblem). A player’s name stamped on the ball is also acceptable. However, the original ball markings (i.e., pole and seam markings) must be readable in order for a Rules Official to determine whether that ball is on the List of Conforming Golf Balls. X-Out balls are not permitted to be used in any competition in which the List of Conforming Golf Balls or the One Ball Condition is in effect. However, if neither of these Conditions are in effect, X-Out balls may be used because all balls are presumed to conform unless they have been tested and found not to conform or are obviously non-conforming (e.g., too small or too heavy). (See Decisions 5-1/4 and US/5-1/101).

As a result of the potential for an X-Out to be non-conforming if tested, we do not recommend using this model during tournament play.

Here’s the link.

So it looks like the X-outs can potentially suffer from defects which might indeed affect your game!!

Damn those dirty apes and damn you Frank for getting my hopes up!

I never actually purchased any X-outs before, I found a couple and used em, I dunno, I don’t think I could ever play with a ball that could potentially adversely affect my game, it’s bad enough as is, I don’t need anything else to fuel the fire!

I’d love to hear your opinions on the matter

In case any of you awesome folks have been hiding in a dark cave on the island next to the Dharma Initiative, I wanted to give you the heads up on a pretty sweet website.

It’s called Golfnow.com

They provide discounts on Tee-times booked through them, sometimes up to 70% off!

In Orlando alone, they’ve partnered with over 100 Orlando Golf Courses and the list is still growing.

They give some good course info on the courses you’d like to check out as well.

There’s a rewards deal they run, so the more rounds you book through them, the more cool crap you get.

I recommend checking them out when planning an outing.

One suggestion, if possible, wait until the day before your round and check, typically the rates get cheaper the closer the round is.

I’ve been doing some research into these custom fit clubs with their interchangable heads, weights and shafts and it just blows my mind the amount of customization available to golfers now-a-days. 

For example, Callaway has something called the Opti-Fit system and it has 28 shaft combinations for their FT-5 & Hyper X drivers and 23 iron heads (x-20, FT, Big Bertha, Fusion Wide Sole, FT i-brid) for 667 head shaft combinations. 

667 HEAD SHAFT COMBINATIONS!!!  Are you serious?!

This is delivered as a selling point….  I don’t need 667 DIFFERENT combinations to choose from, I’ll spend my entire time wondering if I made the wrong choice in combination and I’ll blame every bad shot on the wrong weight in the club, or the wrong head, or shaft, until the frail infrastructure of this authors limited sanity shatters and I spend the rest of my years in the great golf camp with the padded rooms…

I suppose the light at the end of the tunnel is that custom fit shops will now have more options to select from to help this pitiful golfers swing.

I will give credit to those damn fine metallurgists over at Callaway, they created a new type of alloy called tunite that weighs 20% more than stainless steel and has twice the density of titanium..

I love how we create all these totally amazing innovations in pursuit of a better golf game, but we can’t do anything about our dependency on fossil fuels..

Anyone know if there’s anything like this in the Orlando area? I’d be really interested in checking this out.

I found this post written by Bomb & Gouge and it got me thinking about hybrid clubs. Here’s the post Bomb & Gouge I don’t use any hybrid clubs, you could call me a traditionalist (dang kids and their new fancy hybrid clubs, why when I was your age…..) but the truth is I’m cheap.. I always see guys I play with pulling out these shiny new clubs and sending the ball screaming for its mommy.. All the time I get “when you gonna get one of these?” to which I respond, “hey, my clubs work fine, why change em?”

The truth is, the clubs themselves may in fact work fine but I wouldn’t know, I hardly bring them out of the bag. So I suppose a hybrid might be for me simply because there’s some yardage that’s not presently covered by my arsenal.

But isn’t it almost one of those, once you go hybrid you never go back situations? A hybrid makes that range of clubs a lot more forgiving and a lot easier to hit, and all your sacrificing is some yardage that say a standard 4 iron would reach, but a hybrid would not. Short term it doesn’t matter because hey, you weren’t getting anywhere close to it before.

So you make the switch and you get more and more used to using a hybrid do you ever go back to the “traditional” club selection? Do you have to?

I almost feel like by making the switch your giving up on trying to improve on that aspect of your game and just settling for what works for now. Your giving up the gold and settling for the silver. Am I way of the mark?

Quite possible Comments?

I was reading Tony’s Hooked On Golf blog today and he was blogging about Tattoo Golf Clothing.

The best way I can describe their product line is to say that they sell an alternatively “cool” line of shirts, hats, club covers, balls, tees, bags, etc… They’ve taken a preexisting standard and added some trendy style to it.

As with most new ideas I encounter, I began pondering the potential demand of their clothing line. It seems to me that in the past 10-15 years golf has lost that “old man sport” label that it once had and it has experienced an influx of players from all ages, backgrounds, demographics and skill levels. If you don’t believe me, visit your local $20 public course, in our case, Casselberry and take a look at the clientèle.

It is from this group that I believe Tattoo Golf will receive a lot of business from. I think the “old school” golfers will still wish to maintain the traditional look that we’ve all grown accustom to but the new breed of golfers will be more inclined experiment.

Personally, I like their product line and I hope it does well. Check out this highspeed low drag Poly-Dri high performance golf shirt called “The Argyle!”

Your opinions?