Early Season

Sweet Rides for the Golf Course

2012-05-23T18:31:00.000-07:00

Custom Golf Carts by Pennwick (http://www.pennwick.com )

If you're looking to impress fellow golfers roll up in one of these custom carts by Pennwick.

They have a couple models: the 56 (chevy), F5 (ferrari), smoothster (hot rod), and the shadow (rolls royce). They are all built on a Club Car chassis with heavy duty fiberglass bodys complete with headlamps, horns, turn signals, and an go up to 20mph.

All the models run between $15,000 and up to 25,000 so don't let your friends bump you at the next tee box...

Top 5 Best Golf Apps

2012-05-15T10:59:00.003-07:00

Golflogix
Golflogix is the top selling and best-rated app across all smartphones. It is home to GPS distances for over 30,000 courses, keeps track of scores, provides aerial views and much more. Golflogix is truly a complete solution for beginner and advanced golfers.

Golf My Way
Brought to you by legendary golfer, Jack Nicklaus, Golf My Way incorporates 26 golf lessons remastered and optimized for your mobile phone. Nicklaus takes you through in video how to play the game of golf.

Golfplan with Paul Azinger
Featuring 29-Year PGA Tour Pro and victorious Ryder Cup Captain,Paul Azinger, Golfplan will improve your game and lower your scores. Golfplan provides personalized tips, drills and instruction based on your Golfshot game statistics. If you don’t already use Golfshot for the iPhone, you can download it for free, or choose your own Golfplan categories.

V1 Golf
There’s a reason why golfing instructors always incorporate video into lessons -– it’s the only way to show you the mistakes of your swing. Like Nicklaus' Golf My Way, video is an important learning tool, which is why V1 Golf incorporates it so prominently. This app not only lets you analyze your own swing, but also lets you compare swings from pros and figure out what adjustments you need to make to stop hooking your drives.

The Rules of Golf
There are lots and lots of rules in golf, and there will be a time — if there hasn’t been already — when you’re playing with someone who is ALL about the rules. In those instances, it’s helpful to have a definitive guide to golf. There’s no better authority than the USGA Rules of Golf app.

75-Year-Old Man Bitten, Dragged by Alligator at a Golf Course Pond

2012-05-01T09:11:00.002-07:00

Albert Miller, 75, was golfing when the 9-foot alligator pulled him into a pond.

A SPOKESMAN for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said trappers captured the alligator that attacked Albert Miller. The alligator weighed about 190 pounds.

By Phil Attinger

LEDGER MEDIA GROUP

Published: Monday, April 30, 2012 at 9:48 p.m.

LAKE WALES - "You'll never get me to look at a gator, touch a gator or eat a gator," Albert Miller said.

He's seen enough of alligators for a while. Miller, 75, is at home recovering from being bitten and dragged by a 9-foot alligator while he was playing golf last Wednesday.

Miller was playing a four-ball tournament with his friend, 66-year-old Ted Price last Wednesday at Lake Ashton Golf and Country Club.

Price said his ball landed closest to the 15th hole, but Miller had hooked his into the water that borders the green.

The golf course uses the pond for irrigation water, Price said, so the water is clear, not muddy.

No one saw an alligator, Price said, but in retrospect believes they should have been more cautious because of that.

Miller went over to the edge of the water with a ball retriever tool, and found two balls that weren't his, so he turned to leave.

That's when the alligator launched at him from under the water and got him by his left knee.

"He lifted me up three feet and slammed me down," Miller said.

Price ran over and grabbed Miller under his shoulders while the animal was thrashing and pulling.

The other two golfers in the foursome ran over to help.

Miller said the animal took one look at him and clamped down harder.

"It was excruciating to say the least," Miller said.

As the animal started dragging Miller into the water, Miller prayed for a miracle.

He got one.

"He let me go," Miller said. "I was three feet from my life. He had me submerged up to my belt buckle. That was my miracle of the month."

The man-made pond has a sharp drop-off just two to three feet from the bank, Miller said. Any further, and the animal could have pulled him under water.

Price said the alligator "stayed right there," waiting in the water just off shore.

"If a person had been there by himself, it's safe to say that he would have been dragged into the water," Price said.

Miller's leg was a "mess," Price said. They wrapped his knee in a towel, drove the golf cart over to him, and drove to the front gate to meet an ambulance.

When asked if he thought Miller might or might not survive the attack, Price said he didn't know.

He had lived in Florida for 16 years and worked as a golf pro, but had never dealt with alligator bites.

In the emergency room at Winter Haven Hospital, Miller had to have 35 to 40 stitches to close a 10-inch lance wound, and two other 5-inch wounds.

"He just filleted me," he said. "You could see into the bone."

Miller also had puncture and claw marks. He was worried to lose his knee capsule — a water-tight fibrous casing that encloses the space within the joint.

If that was punctured, he would face several surgeries and long rehabilitation.

So far, it appears to be OK, but his knee is too swollen for doctors to get good CAT scan or MRI images of the joint, Miller said.

He's thankful the alligator didn't cut a major artery or tendon.

Gary Morse, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said trappers captured the alligator. It weighed approximately 190 pounds.

He said trappers also found a 6-foot alligator in the pond, and took that one, too.

Investigators also found out that someone had been feeding the 9-footer, Morse said, which is against state law, but no one has been identified.

"Interacting with any wildlife, especially ‘gators, can be dangerous," Morse said.

He recommends that anyone with questions visit www.myfwc.com and read a brochure called "Living with Alligators."

Miller said the Lake Ashton Homeowners Association does a good job informing new residents about the dangers of alligators, and is angry that some people would still feed them as if they were pets.

"If this could have been avoided, I would like it to have been," he said. "I was facing loss of life, loss of my leg, a possible loss of golf, and I'm in a (whole) lot of pain."

The best thing to come out of this, Miller said, is the community. People have been dropping by with cards, food and well wishes since it happened.

"(Lake Ashton) is the real deal," Miller said. "I'm very moved by it."

For now he's focusing on getting better.

"If this leg gets me back on the golf course," Miller said, "I'll be the happiest man in Lake Ashton."

13 foot swells in Cleveland...Ohio?!?!

2012-04-23T21:36:00.000-07:00

Apparently a couple days out of the year, you can surf in Ohio! Who knew? High winds at Edgewater State Park on Lake Erie allow you to catch some choppy waves.

I just want to know how many people have a long board in their garage in Cleveland.

Art of putting moving more toward technology

2012-04-16T11:39:00.000-07:00

Putting has always been considered an art form, an aspect of the game that was more about feel and comfort than technology and mechanics. And to some players it still is.

But, like big-headed drivers and irons that propel the ball greater distances, putters are now entering the realm of golf's advanced technology.

Putting is no longer about a $20 blade out of the clubhouse barrel that feels good on the pro-shop carpet. Now it's about testing devices that can fit the golfer with a putter best suited for his or her stroke, whether that's a conventional putter or long putter.

"It's been a category that's kind of been stagnant," said Michael Fox, global product marketing manager for putters and wedges for TaylorMade Golf. "It's lagged behind others, technology-wise. It's been one of the last things to innovate because people thought it's something you don't need technology for, that it's such a feel thing. It's something they didn't think the benefit would be there."

Ping, one of the leaders in putting innovation, introduced the iPing putting app that provides data on everything from swing path to degree of loft. The app is designed to fit players into the putter that will allow them to best roll the ball and eliminate the dreaded hop or bounce that occurs when a putter-face strikes a ball.

As a result, stores such as Golf Galaxy aren't carrying more putters; they're carrying a wider variety of putters. Golf Galaxy is owned by Dick's Sporting Goods, the nation's largest golf retailer.

"What has happened over the last 12 to 16 months with the long and belly putters is that you're seeing a shift and having more vendors producing putters in that category," said Chris Marchini, general manager of Golf Galaxy in Robinson. "The styles are changing."

High-performance putters with mallet heads have become very popular, even on the PGA Tour. They are used by players such as Keegan Bradley, Jason Day and Justin Rose. Other players such as Tiger Woods have always preferred milled-head putters that have a soft, quiet feel.

"Part of technology is being able to manipulate sound, and if you can control sound you can control feel," Fox said. "It used to be when you made a mallet putter, they were loud and hollow. They were awful-sounding. If you have an old performance mallet, they didn't feel good because they didn't sound good. Now we can make them sound like an all-milled putter."

But there are those who believe that having the putter best suited to your stroke isn't the only solution to shaving strokes off your game.

Mark Sweeney, founder of AimPoint Technology, a company that specializes in green-reading instruction and the science of predictive putt technology, said it is more important that players understand the proper line if they want to improve their putting.

"You can have the perfect stroke, the perfect putter and the perfect speed, but if you pick the wrong target, you won't make any putts and that will endlessly frustrate you," Sweeney said. "I consider green reads to be the first piece of the puzzle.

"If you understand your target, then you can fit yourself into a putter that feels properly, that rolls the ball the way you want, and then putting is very simple. You can actually make a lot of putts with a very average stroke."

But, despite all the video analysis and loft angles and trajectory of ball roll, Justin Leonard still believes that putting is all about confidence and consistency, no matter what putter you are using. Leonard, a former British Open and Players Championship winner, always has been considered one of the best putters on the PGA Tour.

"If you can consistently do the same thing and putt with confidence, you're going to make some putts," Leonard said. "Certainly, with the belly putters and long putters, those are something new to the game that have become way more widespread in the past four or five years. But I don't think there's any replacement for putting with confidence and doing the same thing consistently."

Republished from:
By Gerry Dulac / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Big Wave Kayaking

2012-04-13T17:58:00.001-07:00