Golf Caddie.net

It came from the Internet: Visiball

Do you ever have problems searching for your third ball in the high rough on that nasty 16th hole at your local home course? Well if you do, suffer no longer! The good people at Visiball have developed the latest and greatest product in golf ball finding history! Does it use radio waves? Voodoo? Simple magic? No sir! It uses a blue sunglass lens. Wait what?

While the company offers a demo online that shows how Visiball helps you find your lost Titleist, I’m not really buying it. While the blue shade of the lenses might help bring out the white against the green on the golf course, there would be no way to get over looking at the world in blue for you entire golf round. Additionally, the $55 dollar price tag for the glasses might just buy you enough golf balls so you don’t have to worry about finding them. In my opinion, spend $55 dollars on driving range balls and learn how to hit the ball straighter or just walk a golf course in the rain and find dozens of them. I’m just saying…

It came from the Internet

Golf is a strange sport in that it has some of the gimmickiest products available of any sport. If you have a slight hook and your head moves and you would really like to keep your right elbow closer to your body, by golly there is a product for you.

Whenever I look around the internet for things to post on golf, I always come across some of these “products” that are supposed to turn you into the next Tiger Woods over night. While some of these might actually work, they cannot guarantee that you won’t be laughed at or ridiculed by your closest friends or colleagues. Even if they do deliver on their promises, in my experience, there is always a cheaper and easier way to help your golf game. But due to people’s inherent drive to want results immediately, somebody will keep pumping these things out. Because of the library of products that I have found on the internet, us at GolfCaddie.net are starting a new feature called “It Came from the Internet”, which will put all of these ridiculous gadgets on display. Enjoy!

Site Update

Dear Golf Caddie.net Readers:

Just wanted to give you a quick update and given attention to a new page on our site titled Submit. For the intuitive amongst you, you might figure it is where you could send us your own articles or thoughts on golf and have it posted on this fine place holder on the internet. If you believe this to be true, then you are correct.

Please send all inquiries to info [at] golfcaddie.net. While we can’t guarantee that well post everything, well assure you that well take a look at it.

-The Team

Review: Callaway FT-9 Driver

Callaway has always been known for its big Drivers. Ever since the release of the Big Bertha driver, the golfing world started to take the phrase “Bigger is Better” quite seriously. Callaway’s latest development into the arena of drivers is the Callaway FT-9. Although this club graced Golf Digest’s 2009  Hot List, I think they choose the FT-9 for their little list off of a Press Release rather than actually hitting the thing.

When you look at Callaway’s website for the FT-9, they talk about the hyperbolic face technology which mathematicians and engineers designed to create faster ball speed, the fusion technology that sets the center of gravity just right, and the external web weighting which sets the weight. After reading through the FT-9s spec sheet, you almost feel like you are buying a Space Shuttle rather than a club to hit a little white ball.

While all of this technology might be great, and I am all for tech in my golf clubs, it is just that when you swing the club, it feels miserable. The size of the driver is apparent right when you begin to take your back swing. When drivers began to tip the 350cc range, I started using the phrase that it felt like swinging an “apartment” was strapped to the end of my club. Well in the case of the Callaway FT-9, it feels like a multi-level condo.

After taking a few swings with the club and adjusting for the behemoth that I was whipping around, the club again disappointed me. The impact felt sluggish and the ball spin/trajectory was all over the place. While the FT-9 is supposed to be forgiving, I could never get a great deal of consistency out of it. As for its price point, the thing is almost unattainable. Oh, and don’t forget the 13 weights and loft configurations that you can make. I hear that the FT-9 comes with its own instructional tape.

Review: Groove Sharpener

After years and years of playing the same wedges, you might notice that the groves in the club face have begun to wear out. Although it might not seem that these little notches are a big deal, it is what gives you the control and accuracy that your shorts around the green demand. When your clubs got to this point of no return, it was usually time to throw in the towel and get a replacement.

But if you are looking to save that club of yours from the used bin at your local Play It Again Sports, Groove Sharpener.com has the answer.  Since 2003, they have been making sharpening tools in order to bring the club face’s grooves back to their former glory. The tools are pre-sized to your club, so you will never have to worry about causing unintended damage and actually sharpening your club is a breeze. After using this simple tool, you will be amazed at the amount of spin that your short shots have re-gained.All in all, the Groove Sharpener is a fairly inexpensive way to make your old wedges feel like new again.

Tiger Returns: The Movie

With all of the hysteria surrounding the return of Tiger Woods, PGA Tour.com put together a pretty slick video highlighting some of Tiger’s major achievements over the years to refresh anybody and seemed to forget he existed since his 8 month disappearance. It is really amazing to see just how dominate this guy really is in the game of golf.

Although he was knocked out early from the Accenture Match Play tournament, there is no way that he is down and out. I think for any human being, having been away from head to head competition would need time to readjust mentally. I still expect great things out of Mr. Woods, and I’m sure the rest of the people on the Tour are both glad and disappointed at the same time. Glad that their sport has regained some of its lost spectacle, disappointed that they have to you up against Tiger Woods again.

Golf Gets its Bailout Package

It is a little known fact that in the 500 plus page Congressional document outlining how the $800 billion dollar stimulus package would be appropriated, there was small section carved out for the PGA. Considered a pet project by the President, he was  concerned that he would be forced to play golf without his mentor and coach. In order to avoid this troubling situation, he decided to slip a binding resolution to make sure that Tiger Woods would return to golf. In my mind, the President probably thought that Tiger’s continued absence would result in further job loss on golf courses country wide and an push the recession into 2011.

While the above is obviously a joke, the part about Tiger returning to the PGA Tour is not.  And yes, it does feel as though someone finally passed along a bailout for the PGA Tour. The man, who made the sport relevant to so many millions of people around the world, has finally returned to our televisions screens and golf greens. After sitting on the sidelines for over 8 months due to knee surgery, he is ready to return to the spot light. Hopefully Mr. Woods can bring back some of the excitement that has been lacking in the 2009 season thus far.