With the regular PGA Tour showcasing more celebrities than tour winners this week, the Champions tourney is the one to watch. Hawaii this time of year looks pretty darn good.

Here is my case for the round bellies over the flat bellies this weekend. Fred Couples, David Duval and maybe a first time winner are the stories at the Hope. It is so tough watching those pro-ams. It is only fun for the amateurs and celebrities that are playing. It is no fun to watch; maybe the tour should get the message.

If you want personality along with great golf, watch the Champions this week. There are eight players that have won a PGA major at the Hope this week. There are eleven players in Hawaii that have won PGA majors. The eight have won a combined total of eight majors, each having one win each. The eleven ?old? guys have a combined 32 major wins. That?s right 32. Oh yea, the Champions event boasts seven World Golf Hall of Fame members. Gary Player has more major wins then the entire Hope field and Tom Watson has just as many.

Gary Player, Tom Watson, Hale Irwin these guys are icons that have shaped the golf world, and they still got game! Player is 73 and still beats his age. He is in better shape then 99% of the PGA tour and he?ll let you know it. Player has been the best international ambassador for golf for over 50 years.

Tom Watson has eight PGA majors and has battled all the greats over his career. He always manages to sneak into contention at the Masters. He is a living testament to the qualities that this game encourages.

Hale Irwin at 63 is the all time Champions Tour winner with 45 wins. These guys still can play some great golf.

Look at this one grouping, Player, Watson, and Jay Haas. Haas is the current Charles Schwab Cup champion and the 2007 player of the year. Watching that threesome alone is worth it.

Check out these names that are playing: Kite, Pate, Sluman, Stadler, Langer, Crenshaw, Strange and Roberts. These guys are good.

With all due respect to Arnie, who is hosting the Hope, I?ll spend my time watching some of the all time heroes of the game. I?ll take Player and Watson any day.

golf ball

The Littlest Golfer, Inc. announced plans to introduce its unique resort-quality line of infant and children’s golf clothing, golf accessories and toys at the 2010 PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando in January.

The Littlest Golfer will be located at Booth 6552 near the main entrance in the Apparel Section next to Titania Golf, Life is Good, and Oakley, Inc.

The Littlest Golfer offers a wide assortment of resort-quality golf clothing, golf accessories and toys for newborns, toddlers and children up to age 12.

The specialty line includes seersucker knickers, polo shirts, golf dresses, windshirts, performance wear, tee-shirts, golf hats, plush toys, backpacks, and club head covers; more products are currently in development.

The company is strategically positioned to capture the newest and fastest-growing niche in the golf industry?children’s golf.

The Littlest Golfer’s unique brand, with its signature Putter and Sandy turtles, is irresistible to children, their parents and grandparents.

The new company is catching the eye of world-class PGA and LPGA Tour players, whose children are wearing The Littlest Golfer and who are joining the company’s rapidly growing community of Facebook fans.

Leta Lindley, LPGA Tour player and mother of two, recently shared, “You have an adorable line of clothes for young golfers. I love the mascots, and my kids have really enjoyed the backpacks and head covers. I think you have a great thing going!”

The Littlest Golfer has also been gaining national recognition with golf fashion writers and editors like Woody Hochswender, style editor for Golf Magazine, who featured the company in his online column, “The Course of Style,” this past July.

Fresh Products, New Niches Drive Retail Sales in Sluggish Economy

The Littlest Golfer’s product line is also being eagerly welcomed by the nation’s top golf resorts who recognize that offering fresh, high-quality golf products at affordable prices is essential for driving sales in today’s economy.

The Littlest Golfer’s custom embroidery services are proving to be attractive branding strategies for partners like the Grove Park Inn and the Ritz-Carlton at Naples, who is currently reviewing The Littlest Golfer products for use in their VIP amenities packages.

The Littlest Golfer has also been gaining national recognition with golf fashion writers and editors like Woody Hochswender, style editor for Golf Magazine, who featured the company in his online column, “The Course of Style,” this past July.

The Littlest Golfer’s complete line of infant and children’s golf clothing, accessories and toys may be previewed at www.thelittlestgolfer.com. The company is recommending buyers order now for Spring to ensure the biggest selection and to avoid backorders.

About The Littlest Golfer, Inc.

The Littlest Golfer was founded in Asheville, NC by Kris and Keri Wilson, who are avid golfers and parents of two small children (with one on the way).

The company’s motto sums up their guiding philosophy, “Start Younger, Play Longer.”

The Wilsons believe that children are never too young to start learning the important life lessons that golf teaches including sportsmanship, perseverance and integrity.

The Wilsons created The Littlest Golfer to make golf more accessible to children and to encourage them to look up to role models like Tiger, Phil and Annika.

Although The Littlest Golfer’s playful apparel was designed with children in mind, it is constructed to the rigorous standards that adult golfers demand, with high-quality performance fabrics and an attention to detail and function.

A-class Celebrities Will Participate The NEC Golf Show

Funny Halloween Game

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Mini Golf Game Set:  You have seen them on TV, now you can give your customers a logo printed desktop golf putting game for their offices.  The game is only 23.5cm x 10cm x 2cm so it will fit on most desktops.  OK, so it won’t improve their game but it is a nice way to pass the time when they are on the phone.  The set comes with a golf ball, mini club, putting green and a hole with a flag.

Executive Golf Putting Set:  This is the ultimate gift for those customers that just cannot get enough golf.  It features a collapsible putting club, a foldable putting green, two golf balls, and a target all supplied in an impressive leather carrying case.  This is the perfect gift for office and home.  It is worth noting that there are quite a few generic options on the market as well that are quite nice and less expensive.

Golf Ball Finder:  Next time your good customer is out on the course looking for his or her ball, they will love this gift, though it does not come cheap.  The ball finder has been designed to scout the environment looking for and find lost balls.

Water Bottle Full of Tees:  This attractive bidon holds 120 wooden tees.  There are a lot of tee sets available so if purchasing PGA Tour branded merchandise is not important to you, you might like to look around for less expensive options.

PGA Golf Towel:  This is a high quality towel but you will be paying a little more for the brand.  There are many goof quality golf towls on the  market that look great embroidered.  Although some towels can be printed, I would not recommend doing so as the print does not last and it does not look near as good as embroidery.

PGA Golf Counter:  A less expensive option to the golf watch mentioned in part one.  This device will keep score for up to four players.  It will allow your customers to concentrate on their game and not the score.

Laser Range Finder: With this nifty but quite expensive gadget, golfers will improve their game by knowing the exact distance from where they are to the flag.  This laser range finder provides exact information which your customers will find invaluable.  There is no minimum quantity and personalization is done by printed decal.  It is the perfect executive golfing gift for your most important customers.

PGA Tour Monocular:  For those that are put off by the hefty price tag of the laser golf range finder, you might be interested in the monocular.  Any golfer will tell you that knowing the distance to the flag is very important.  It helps you to decide which club to use.  The monocular provides distances from 50 to 300 yards/meters to the flag. This gift can be personalized with printed decal.

PGA Sunglasses:  These are a much more economical choice!  If you are on a budget, you can still give your customers good quality sunglasses that come supplied in a nave pouch with a karabiner.  There are several styles to choose from.

Golf Shoe Care Kit: There are several different styles, but they all provide a means to the same result: clean golf shoes.  Most sets include black and natural shoe polish, a buffing brush and a soft cleaning cloth and a shoe horn.  What a perfect gift to give your top clients after a day out on the course.

Golf Watch:  This midrange executive gift may prove difficult to get printed with your logo if your supplier does not offer in house printing but is can be done.  The PGA Tour golf watch features handicap, the golf score of the current game from hole one to 18.  The golf score record and handicap are calculated for you and the watch even stores the details for up to 20 players.  Of course, the golf watch also displays the time and has an alarm as would be expected of a watch.

Golf Multi Tool:  There are many golf multi tools on the market but branded tools tend to go down better.  The PGA Tour version has five functions.  There is a knife, a divot tool, a golf ball marker, a tee punch and the all important, never leave home without it, bottle opener.

Golf Gift Set:  You have probably seen a lot of golfing gift sets as they are one of the most popular golfing gifts on the market.  It is worth noting that there are some very nice generic sets but if brand name is important to you, PGA Tour’s features three balls, a golf towel, 18 tees, and a the five function multi tool described above.

Just as amateur golfers find that using the same equipment as the pros doesn’t translate into playing as well as they do, it is difficult for most of us to keep up with our golfing heroes’ commitment to physical fitness. But you don’t need to spend 5 nights a week in the gym to make noticeable improvements in your physical conditioning. An easy place to start: go for a walk.

We think we hit the ball with our arms and hands, so it might be tempting to build up the big muscles in the back and shoulders through weight training, but actually the legs supply the power to a golf swing. Just watch the fast leg and knee action of a pro golfer in the downswing. There’s almost like a “snap” as they strike the ball. Going for walks on a regular basis is a great way to build up your legs. Notice we said walk, not run. You don’t have to take up jogging, which can be stressful on your joints. After 6 months or so or regular walks, you will notice that you don’t get nearly as fatigued when you hit a few buckets of balls on the practice range.

You can start with a short walk, say 20 minutes or so, and build up to longer distances. If you build up to brisk walk, you will get some cardio benefit from the exercise as well, which your doctor will appreciate. Which reminds us, before you start any exercise program, including walking, be sure to consult with your doctor.

The key is to go for a walk as often as you can. If you have a dog, you have a built-in personal trainer. Your dog would be happy going on walks 3 times a day if he could. And he’ll nag you to go. Who can resist those imploring eyes when he brings you his leash and gently nudges you towards the door?

Of course, walking was one of the original benefits of a round of golf. But the advent of golf carts eliminated that (along with valuable summer employment for young people as caddies). Going for walks will help improve your golf game. Establish a regular walking program will improve your golf fitness and you might even lose a few pounds.

There are two types of injuries classified by professionals in
the fields of athletic training and sports medicine. The two
types of injuries are: 1) acute and 2) chronic. The above
example of the football player is classified as an acute injury.
An acute injury can be defined as the trauma in the body
occurring immediately after the injury. Refer to the football
player example above for a reminder. (For us older golfers,
remember Joe Theisman of the Redskins and Lawrence Taylor’s leg
breaking tackle? Acute injury.) Relating an acute injury to golf
is a little more difficult. Probably the easiest, and maybe most
the common, acute injury in golf, occurs while swinging and you
hit a rock or something that creates an injury to your wrist.
That would be the best example in the sport of golf of an acute
injury. Overall, acute injuries tend to be rare in golf because
contact by the body with external forces is rare.

My back is always killing me!

The second type of injury, chronic, is much more prevalent when
it comes to the sport of golf. A chronic injury is one that
occurs over time. Think of it as a “wear and tear” injury. These
are usually the result of the body breaking down over time. A
great sports example outside of golf is when you hear about a
baseball pitcher having tendonitis in the elbow. Tendonitis is
an inflammation of the elbow resulting from the stresses placed
upon it from throwing. Over time the elbow becomes tired and
eventually injured from the number of pitches thrown. If you are
a runner and, after a certain amount of time, your knees begin
to hurt, this is usually a chronic injury. When we talk about
golf, the majority of injuries are chronic. They tend to be a
direct result of the golf swing (just like the pitcher’s elbow).
Usually the chronic injuries in golf show up in the lower back.
If chronic injuries are caught soon enough in the cycle, rest
and proper treatment (i.e. massage, chiropractic care) will heal
them. But if you wait too long the body is going to “break,” and
then you will not be playing any golf for a long time. This is
where the unfortunate situation of surgery and other invasive
procedures are considered.

So a couple of questions we must ask when it comes to chronic
injuries in relation to golf are: how do they occur, and how do
we prevent them? Chronic injuries occur as a result of the body
becoming fatigued and eventually “breaking down.” The muscles,
ligaments, and tendons of your body are required to perform the
activity of swinging a golf club. Over time this activity causes
fatigue within your body. As the body continues to fatigue, or
get tired, the body gets sore. This is the first indicator of a
developing chronic injury. If you continue with the activity
you’re participating in, with soreness in the body, eventually
your body will break down. This “break down” will be in the form
of maybe a pulled muscle, muscle stiffness, tightness, or some
other type of inflammation. All of the above examples are a
result of structures in your body breaking down from fatigue and
overuse. Even if just on one swing you feel “your back go out,”
nine out of ten times it is a chronic injury, and that last
swing was the “piece of straw that broke the camel’s back.”

How to Prevent Chronic Injuries in Golf

We all know that the golf swing is a repetitive movement,
meaning the body is performing the same activity over and over
again. This creates fatigue in the body over time. And if over
time our body can’t support the number of swings we are taking,
it is eventually going to break down. There are three variables
we have when it comes to the prevention of chronic injuries in
golf. Number one is workloads. Workloads can be defined as the
number of swings that the body takes with a club over a given
period of time. That time frame can be seven days or an entire
tour season. Number two is efficiency of your mechanics. When we
say “efficiency of mechanics” we are talking about how
biomechanically correct your individual swing is. “Why is this
important?” you ask. Let me tell you. I think most of us would
agree that the tour players have very “efficient” swings; their
swings are smooth and look almost effortless. A swing like this
asks less out of the body to perform and requires less effort
from the muscles; hence fatiguing levels in the body are lower.
Some amateur swings look like they take a lot of work to
perform, and in reality they do! These types of swings ask a lot
more out of the body and fatigue it more quickly. The final
variable is what we term “golf strength.” Golf strength is a
measure of the required levels of flexibility, strength,
endurance, balance, and power to successfully support the
mechanics of the swing. Large amounts of golf strength allow the
body to support an efficient swing. Low levels of golf strength
do not provide the support needed for the swing.

Workloads, Swing Mechanics, and Golf Strength

All three of these variables work together to determine if you
are a candidate for a chronic golf injury. Golf strength is
essentially the foundation upon which your swing is built. This
variable indicates how many times you can swing a golf club with
your current mechanics before you come up injured. If you have
high levels of golf strength then regardless of how efficient of
a swing you have, you will be able to play for quite awhile
before you get sore. The flip side can also be said. If you have
low levels of golf strength, regardless of your swing mechanics,
you will come up sore in a shorter amount of time.

Secondly, let us look at swing mechanics. If you are a player
that has a very efficient swing that places very little stress
on the body, you will undoubtedly be able to play many rounds
before your body starts screaming at you. Again, if you have
poor mechanics, it is going to take its toll on your body and
your game.

Finally, we have workloads (i.e. number of swings). The number
of swings one makes must match up with levels of golf strength
and swing mechanics. The golf swing is a “stressor” of the body
and breaks it down over time. If you have an efficient swing,
each swing does less “damage” to the body. If you have a poor
swing, the body has to work harder, thus fatiguing it more
quickly. In addition to this is golf strength. If you have high
levels of golf strength, you can swing the club more (i.e.
workloads) before you get tired. Low levels of golf strength
present the situation of the body’s fatiguing more quickly. “So
what is the magic formula?” you ask. My first suggestion is
twofold: 1) work on your swing to improve the efficiency of it,
and 2) increase your levels of golf strength in order to support
your swing. For the time being, match up your swing and golf
strength levels to determine what workload levels you can get
out of your body. If you are in need of some more information on
the golf strength side of the equation, take a look at
www.bioforcegolf.com.

About the Author

Sean Cochran is one of the most recognized golf fitness
instructors in the world today. He travels the PGA Tour
regularly with 2005 PGA & 2004 Masters Champion Phil Mickelson.
He has made many of his golf tips, golf instruction and golf
swing improvement techniques available to amateur golfers on the
website www.bioforcegolf.com. To contact Sean, you can email him
at support@bioforcegolf.com.

During the collision between the driver and the ball (which lasts for less than half a millisecond, 200 times faster than you can blink your eye), there’s an average force of 1,500 pounds being applied to the ball. This violent collision compresses the ball to about two-thirds of its diameter. The cover thickness is less than 3 percent of the size of the ball but doesn’t much influence the outcome of this collision.

Two-piece balls, which have been on the market for many years, will spin less and go a little farther off the driver than the soft, wound balata balls that were used on tour until five years ago. The hard-core two-piece ball will spin about the same as the wound ball off the wedge only if it has an extremely soft and relatively thick cover. But such a cover reduces the ball’s distance off the driver. The trick is to get a ball to spin less than a wound ball off the driver but the same as a wound ball off the wedge. A multi layer ball will do this because it has a soft core (for speed off the driver face) surrounded by a hard mantle and a thin soft cover. The mantle reduces spin off the driver, and the cover, too thin to influence driver launch conditions, is soft enough to significantly influence the spin off the wedge. The collision between the wedge and the soft cover, less violent and more oblique than with a driver, generates more spin. Thus, designers combined new materials with a better understanding of the synergy between ball and club to create a more efficient multi layer ball.

Could you please shed some light on how to determine the proper driver length and what the average driver length is on tour? Chuck Mooney, Davenport, Iowa.

The average length driver on the PGA Tour is 44 1/2 inches. For most golfers, I recommend no longer than 44 inches. This will give you more control than the longer driver. You will develop more confidence and make a better swing. On average this will give you more accurate and longer drives. You might not win bragging rights with an occasional testosterone-inspired long drive, but you will lose fewer balls and enjoy your game a lot more. Shaft length is important, but don’t forget to make sure you’re comfortable with the flex of the shaft. Remember: If you think the 44-inch driver is too short, how on earth are you going to use a 3-wood or your hybrids, which are a lot shorter?

Is there a published report that gives a true count of equipment used by PGA Tour pros? B.C., New Orleans

An organization called the Darrell Survey goes through every competitor’s bag on Thursday of every tournament to verify the pros are using the equipment they claim to be using or the manufacturers claim they’re using. It has conducted these surveys for about 60 years. The information is sold to the manufacturers, who use the counts for advertising purposes. The information is considered reliable–at least for the first day of the tournament. Players may change equipment after the tournament begins, potentially draining the winning putt with a club not reported on the survey.

Remember when Golf was by and large understood to be a summer sport? Now those were the days. You used to get all excited come March / April time when the US Masters from Augusta was televised, then it was not long before the Open Championship from usually some wind swept piece of sand and gorse somewhere in Scotland. After that it was headlong into the US Open and the US PGA.

Before you knew it the season was over and you were busy packing your clubs away and counting the days until the next season started.

Not any longer however!

We now have this slightly strange situation whereby the PGA European Tour which stands for the Professional Golfers Association now has events in the far East and elsewhere worldwide so that golfing is now a fair weather sport just anywhere in the world (outside of the USA as far as the PGA European Tour are concerned) as long as the sun is shining and the weather is OK!

This latter fact is interesting in that it now a case of Golf being a truly worldwide and universal sport (wasn?t even Neil Armstrong famously filmed playing a form of golf on the moon?) that can be played by almost anyone.

There are golf courses in nearly every community in the United States and the world over. The majority all offer tee times that are available to pre book when you make reservations but by and large golf is a game that you must by and large plan ahead. Most things in golf are achievable but nearly all of them are achievable if you plan ahead well in time.

How golf got its start is a fascinating topic that all golfers want to know more about, and the game has a history rich in culture and lore.

Scotland has long been believed to be where golfing originated. Golf was played at what is now as the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews (R & A), and this led to a law being put in place by the then King, King James in 1457. The kings soldiers were spending too much time on the game and not enough time on archery practice and therefore made the game illegal. Early accounts of the game are also seen in depictions inside England’s Gloucester Cathedral dating back to 1340.

The word “golf” is based on the Dutch word “kolf,” which refers to a “bat, smash or fasten,” and hence may give credence to the idea that golf began in the Netherlands. Apparently there was a game where you place an ball in a hole in the ice, and this was called “ice kolf,” which might be seen as how the land-based form of the game developed i.e. less seasonal. More lately, a German scholar has found early depictions of the game of “Kolven,” which was a game about putting a ball into a hole, and this supposedly helps to set the sport’s origins in the Netherlands.

At the end of the day, none of this is important, what is important is the fact that more and more people are playing the game and that only has to be good for the sport.