Golf Blog by The Orlando Golf Blogger

Have you ever thought about golf and what it is that draws us like moths to a flame? Really, if you think about it, it’s a pretty tough question to answer.

What makes golf so addicting?

It’s certainly not the insane amounts of money you’ll invest in greens fees, golf equipment you’ll replace annually, gloves that will wear out, golf balls that you’ll dunk into the drink and lessons you’ll never remember, all resulting in virtually no ROI.

Nor is it the countless frustrating moments you’ll encounter during a round due to slices, hooks, pushes, pulls, thins, fats, chunks, blades, shorts, longs, and worst of all, three putts.

Lets not forget the numerous hours logged on the range, putting greens, reading golf publications, golf websites, swing tips, youtube golf videos, rounds of golf, and researching the next big thing guaranteed to fix your game.

Nor the many sleepless nights where you lie in bed, staring at the ceiling, reflecting on your most recent round of golf, breaking your swing down into individual frames, and then in your mind, comparing those frames to the other individual frames you have of a certain #1 golfer in the world with questionable morals..

We do all this for a sport where 90% of all the players will never achieve anything greater than below average.

Why? Why do we dedicate our lives to this entity who seems to delight in our misery and who by all accounts appears to be a very cruel spirit.

I don’t have the answer, but I have a theory.

Golf gives us hope.

I came across a brilliant quote in this book I’m reading called, “The Golf Book: 101 Great Stories from the Course and the Clubhouse.”

Golf at its core might be a vile game, but it is not without its charms, among them the shelf life of hope. It has no expiration date. – John Strege

We’ve all experienced it, that one round where everything was falling apart, and those flaws in your swing that you thought were LONG gone, resurface with a vengeance. Just when you’re about ready to call it quits and donate your clubs to charity, you have that perfect hole, where you crank it down the fairway 300 yards off the tee and you knock your second shot to within two feet for a birdie putt (which of course lips out, golf isn’t that generous ). You walk off the green with your head held high thinking “you know, I think I’m getting the hang of this game.”

Or better yet, you have that amazing round where you shoot well outside of your handicap zone (and it’s usually with strangers who end up labeling you a sandbagger…) and you feel like all that hard work has started paying off.

These moments give us hope for our game and I like to think that we take that with us after we leave the course and at least for a bit, we can look at the world with slightly rose colored lenses.

Or, if nothing else, have something to brag about for a while..

Why do you play golf?

David Leadbetter’s My Personal Golf Trainer for the Nintendo Wii was unveiled in the U.S. at the 2010 PGA Merchandise Show.

It looks like a very cool and very useful tool for golfers who are looking to improve their game without having to brave the elements or find time to head to the range.

Incorporating David Leadbetter’s Seven Steps to a Better Golf Swing, “My Personal Golf Trainer” analyzes: grip, posture, alignment, ball position, coil, swing shape, and tempo. Offering instructional videos and drills within each of these seven basics, players can improve their swing step-by-step and then graduate from training mode to the practice range and onto a full 18-hole game where after each shot the golfer has the option to get feedback from David Leadbetter and suggested drills for improvement.

Taking advantage of the new gyroscopically controlled MotionPlus controller, introduced in June 2009, David Leadbetter’s “My Personal Golf Trainer” is the first home golf product to record and analyze a full golf swing from address to backswing, impact to follow through, in three dimensions and over time. It then offers the opportunity to compare the users own swing with an ideal swing to identify areas for improvement. Swings can then be replayed in 3D so the user can view his/her swing from any angle for detailed analysis.

This trainer then goes further and provides step by step corrective drills which it guides you through in an interactive process. To date, a few golf training devices have been available for the home, but have only given basic feedback limited to just the impact portion of a swing. “My Personal Golf Trainer” is comparable with professional golf trainers costing thousands of dollars and similarly provides complete analysis of clubhead speed, angle and force through the entire swing process, and includes weight transfer, swing plane and tempo.

My Personal Golf Trainer features an hour worth of golf video featuring David Leadbetter demonstrating a series of swing drills and fourteen interactive drills designed to correct various aspects of your golf swing.

Every swing you take is analyzed and gives you immediate feedback on what you’re doing wrong and how to improve it. Once swing faults are identified, David Leadbetter’s My Personal Golf Trainer suggests drills that will improve the particular fault that’s been identified in your golf swing.

According to the gents at the booth, it is incredibly accurate, the Wii Motion Plus is a gyroscope designed to give you one to one feedback capturing a detailed swing that some of the big dogs in the space cannot duplicate.

As you play and get some swings logged, the software will customize for you a series of golf drills for you to follow to aid in improvement.

Presently the software only offers full swing golf tips, evaluation and drills and no short game or shot shaping drills or training are included.

That is something that they’re going to be implementing in the next iteration of the software.

Something else that broke my heart, this release of the David Leadbetter’s My Personal Golf Trainer is for right handed golfers only, there’s been no functionality built into it for us southpaws.. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? First club manufacturers and now software companies! Curses on you all!

David Leadbetter’s My Personal Golf Trainer release date is sometime in March, 2010 with a suggested retail price of $99 and they’ll be available in golf shops and sporting goods retailers throughout the country.

Something that shocked me and something, from a business standpoint, I disagree with, they’re not going to be selling them in electronic retailer or gaming stores. They’re very adamant that David Leadbetter’s My Personal Golf Trainer is NOT a game, but a training tool for golfers who are looking to improve their game.

Does this look like something you’d be interested in using and if so, do you think it’s worth the $99 SRP?

Here’s more 2010 PGA Merchandise Show posts.

Quite possibly the one of the most practical accessories I saw at the 2010 PGA Merchandise Show.

CleatSkins Golf – The only way to travel to the golf course. Well, maybe not the ONLY way, but certainly more convenient than bringing two pair of shoes and changing in and out of them.

It’s a relatively simple concept, Cleatskins (GolfSkins) features a flexible SKINTEK molded rubber shell constructed that cups the bottom of golf shoes extending the life of cleats and improving mobility and safety so golfers can move to and from the course with ease.

CleatSkins prevent wear and tear, extending the life of your cleats; improves safety on concrete and asphalt surfaces, and acts as a sealed barrier to keep dirt and grass out of the home, car and clubhouse.

I’m one of those guys who hates to wear my golf shoes anywhere but on the course or range, so every time I go play golf, I’ve gotta put on my tennis shoes, drive to the course, get out of the car, go to my trunk, take the shoes out of the bag, do the golfer shuffle while trying to balance on one leg so I can slip the shoe on before I lose my balance and step on the asphalt with my socks on (thus getting pebbles in my shoes) and then do the same thing on the other leg. After the round, the process is repeated.

The Cleatskins have simplified the whole process, now it’s put golf shoes on, drive to the golf course, at the range, remove golfskins. Reverse process on the way out.

Cleatskins Golf for men come in a variety of sophisticated colors including black, white, taupe, dark brown and medium brown in sizes medium (6.5-8.5), large (9-11), XL (11.5-13.5) and XXL (14-16).

Cleatskins Golf for women come in black, white, taupe, red and blue violet in sizes small (5-7), medium (7.5-9.5) and large (10-12).

They’re machine washable for easy maintenance.

The suggested retail price for Cleatskins Golf is $24.95.

(Yes, I know it's not an Escalade.. )

I’ve been pretty disconnected from the computer today, figured I’d spend the day with the family and take a day off from the blog. So, after putting the boys down for the night, I figured I’d hop on real quick and check my email before watching a movie with the wife.

I received an email from BBC news (first time and probably last time) and they asked if I would do an interview on the “woods story.” I was thinking, “Woods story? What Woods story?”

Imagine my surprise when I googled “Tiger Woods News” and the first result was….

“Tiger Woods wife rescues golfer from smashed up car.”

What??

It’s been reported that around 2:30 am, Tiger Woods was driving his SUV and crashed into a fire hydrant after hitting the neighbors tree. His wife Elin Nordegren Woods, heard the crash and ran outside with a golf club, smashed the window of the Caddillac Escalade and pulled him out. Good thing Tiger’s not the only one who knows how to swing a golf club!

When the police arrived, Tiger had cuts on his lips, blood in his mouth, was unconscious but breathing. He was unconscious for about six minutes. Officers administered first aid until medical personnel arrived. He was transported to a Windermere hospital and released a few hours later.

There’s no word on whether Tiger was wearing his seat belt, but alcohol is not being considered as a factor in the accident.

The airbag in Wood’s Escalade did not deploy, which means the vehicle was traveling under 33 mph (or they weren’t functioning.. ), according to FHP.

The police arrived at the Woods residence Friday evening to interview Tiger Woods about the accident, but Elin informed them that he was resting and asked them to come back Saturday.

There’s no word on who phoned the police and the recordings aren’t available.

As of now, the latest word is that Tiger Woods was treated, released and is in good condition and they thank everyone for their concern and well wishes.

I’ll try and post up an update as soon as I get some additional info, but I hope everyone will keep the family in their thoughts and prayers.

Orlando Sentinel is putting on an “Orlando’s Rockin Blogs” contest and Orlando Golf Blogger was nominated in the sports category.

Voting runs from now until November 20th at 5:00pm EST.

You can vote once a day in each individual category as well as best over all category.

Gonna need your help here, all 13k of you If you can spare a couple minutes (per day ), please click the badge below, locate the blog and click vote.

You’re the greatest reading audience ever!

Thanks!

-Dave

That’s one brave man…

EMBED-Hot Girl Pulls Off Insane Golf Trick Shot – Watch more free videos

The Link Freedom Debt Relief.

I know this is way off topic, but I found it very interesting, and worthy of sharing. The company is called Freedom Debt Relief and they help people reduce their outstanding non asset debts like credit cards, lines of credit, etc.. They don’t do anything dealing with an asset involved, like mortgages or car loans. What caught my attention was a page on their site that shows actual results of some of their work. Here’s that link: Top Debt Settlements.

It looks like, on average, they settle between 10% & 20% of your outstanding debt. Here’s how it works.

>Call them

>Work out an amount you’d like to spend monthly to get your balances down and they set up an account that that money is sent to every month.

>They call the credit companies and “attempt” to handle all future communication with the creditors. (which could be a relief if your getting hounded)

>The money in the account accrues for a couple months and they will contact your creditors individually and try to negotiate a lesser balance. The website says the target is 50% of what your current outstanding debt is. (I’m assuming it’s in a short term interest bearing account that they keep the interest )

>They reach a settlement, pay off the creditors and you get a “good news” message

>The creditors will call the credit bureau and report that your accounts are “settled in full,” “settled,” “paid,” or “settled for less than the full amount.”

>Your Debt Free.

I don’t know what the fee for this service is, but it’s taken out monthly from your saving account they’ve created.

What shocks me is that this actually works. I don’t see how a company would just reduce the debt owed because a third party calls and asks them too. What’s the convincing leverage? Is it that they’re negotiating with a lump sum of cash that can be paid immediately, which they will then use for other loans? Is it from a threating perspective of do this or there’s a good chance you’ll get nothing? Seems unlikely to me. It’s mind boggling, and you’d think that we could do this ourselves, but I guess coming from the receiving end of the prodding doesn’t hold as much weight…

Leave your comments!

- Dave

Orlando Golf Blogger has signed on another writer, welcome Thomas!

Thomas is a sports writer who is passionate about golf and loves to write about it. He’ll be writing a couple posts a week.

Look forward to reading some of your posts!

Dave

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