The Golf Slice

Whether you are new to golf or just want to improve your game, there are a number of golf schools available throughout the country. Most golf schools offer a great mix of education and relaxation since many schools teach at the top professional golf courses. The key to finding the right golf school is knowing your options.

The first consideration when going to golf school a person needs to think about is their particular skills. Most golf schools offer specialized training to meet the needs of any golfer, whether it is an emphasis on your short-game or an overall improvement of your skills. When discussing the types of programs available with a golf school, make sure you let them know how much time you want to spend taking classes with the faculty.

Another consideration is the names associated with the school. Golf instructors are usually well known according to their own record on the golf course or the elite clients they have taught. And while you may not always get the top instructor at the school, all instructors working for the school will teach any particular method that the head instructor has developed.

Now it’s time for the golfer to select a campus. After you have researched the educational opportunities one or more schools provide, get to know the location. It is important to know what types of courses you will play during your time at the school and what other facilities are available. Even the city where the school is located should play a factor in your decision. Not all of your time will be spent on the course and it is important to find the entertainment or solitude that you need to help your learning process.

Nike features drivers used by the greatest golfer in the world, Tiger Woods. They range in price from about $150 to $400. The SQ DYMO STR8-FIT series provides the latest technology in two different drivers. Both drivers in the STR8-FIT series offer the capability to adjust the head of the driver in eight different positions.

The main difference in the two drivers is the shape; one is a square head, the other more rounded. The square head may be better for the less experienced players, or ones that just have trouble keeping their shots off the tee straight. The square head allows greater control, and results in a longer, straighter ball. Both clubs are price right around $400. Nike also offers two drivers in the DYMO series that don’t allow golfers to adjust the club head, but do include the options of either a square or round head. They are the SQ DYMO and SQ DYMO 2, priced around $300.

The previous generation of Nike drivers included three clubs in the SasQuatch SUMO series; the SUMO 2 5900, the SUMO 5000, and the SUMO 2 Tour driver, all are priced around $150. The SUMO 2 5900 is a square head, and the other two are rounded. So, those options may be better for beginning golfers not trying to spend nearly half a grand on a golf club. All Nike’s drivers are designed with the latest technology, and can you really go wrong using the same drivers that Tiger uses?

It’s time for the US Open once again. This year’s tournament takes place at the infamous Bethpage Black, in New York. Even though the tournament is supposed to start today there are still plenty of ways to get tickets and travel packages. Things usually don’t heat up until Saturday and Sunday anyway so if you have to miss the first day or two you’ll still be in store for great golf action on the weekend.

The 2009 US Open has lots of interesting plot lines developing already. The surging Tiger Woods is probably everyone’s favorite to win. After his performance at the Memorial there aren’t many doubters left about whether or not Tiger has returned from his injury. The talking heads on sports television are back to picking between Tiger or the field again like they used to do when Woods was crushing the opposition week after week.

With the recent announcement of his wife’s illness, the sentimental favorite to win will be Phil Mickelson. Since it’s now heavily rumored he’ll be missing the British Open, this year’s US Open will be the end of his streak of 61 straight appearances is a major.

My personal pick to win is Tiger Woods (tough choice, I know) but I can certainly see someone on the fringe of people’s minds right now, like Sergio Garcia maybe, taking a run at things. Whomever wins I know I’ll be enjoying it on television even though I wish I was going to be there in person.

Now that summer is upon us it’s time to start planning some vacations. Since you’re most likely a golfer if you’re visiting this site it’s probably safe for us to recommend to you one of the many golf tours that are available around the country this time of year. One of the more popular options is a tour of the golf courses in the Myrtle Beach region.

Myrtle Beach is a great place to visit in the summer because of the people and places you’ll encounter. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that there are probably almost 100 different golf courses running up and down the coast of the Carolinas that you have easy access to while you vacation there.

One of the more popular, and impressive, vacation spots for golfers is the Legends Golf Resort. The resort has six different courses for you to choose from. The crown jewel, so to speak, of the resort is the TPC course. It’s a 5-star rated course that was once home to the Senior Tour Championship. The other courses are just as respectable. the Heathland course, designed by Tom Doak, was built to resemble and play like courses in the United Kingdom. It’s a wide-open and windy course that will prove quite a challenge to golfers of all skill levels.

In addition to the courses, Legends Golf Resort has fantastic practice facilities and first-class travel amenities. There’s even an on-site golf academy so you can get instruction to improve your game and not embarrass yourself on their impressive golf courses.

So there are plenty of things to do at Legends and it’s only one of dozens upon dozens of options for you if you’re interested in a golf tour of the Myrtle Beach region. If you’ve been scratching your head over a summer vacation plan you should seriously consider this, or any other golf tour here in the States or in another country, as the perfect vacation idea.

Have you ever wanted to golf with a professional? Well, the folks at VacationRentals.com are having a contest where the winner gets a Golf Weekend with Charley Hoffman as the grand prize. A 2000 graduate of UNLV, Hoffman is a PGA Tour player who turned pro immediately after graduation. His most recent PGA Tour win was the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in 2007. He’s also won on the Nationwide Tour as well. Already, in 2009, Charley has made all 14 of his cuts and earned just over $1.5 million dollars with a scoring average of 69.7. He’s ranked 14th in the FedEx standings as well.

Needless to say, some of us could probably pick up a few tips and improvements to our own games by playing a round with Mr. Hoffman

This is a cool promotion that VacationRentals.com is putting on so you might want to take the time and check it out. It’s not often you see a contest like this that gives you such a cool chance to play golf with a very talented, and professional, golfer. Even if you’re not the big winner of the contest I’m sure you can find some good deals on vacation rentals on their site.

Putters come in a plethora of different sizes and shapes and are often used to play the ball on the green, however can be used occasionally to play from bunkers or for some approach shots. There are various different types of putters that a golfer can use to put the ball.

The different types of putters include Long-Shaft Putters, Chippers and Trainers. Putters that are made with long shafts and grips are used to decrease the amount of freedom that a player is able to play with when they putt. Chippers are another variation of the putter that has a similar construction as a general putter however includes a much higher loft often in the range of thirty to forty five degrees. It is most commonly used to lift the ball over the rough or fringe and onto the green. In addition, it can also be used to “lag” the ball. Belly Putters are also another type of putter. This type of putter is used with a two hand stroke and is very similar to a conventional putter. Belly putters have a longer shaft and the shaft is anchored against the golfer’s stomach for maximum accuracy. Trainers are the last type of putter that s used primarily as a teaching tool for a golfer to learn proper technique.

Putters are an essential part of golf and the various types of putters that are available can be used to improve the quality of play in a golfer.

Cleaning golf clubs can be a difficult task if you don’t have the right materials to do it properly. There are several cleaning products offered by golf club based companies like Wilson who offer things like a golf club cleaning brush. The golf club cleaning brush by Wilson can be bought for around seven to ten dollars in a golf equipment store. Wilson also offers an entire golf club cleaning kit for around ten dollars as well which can be quite useful.

There is also a Club Cleaner offered by Club Clean which has a table for you to set your clubs out on and different substances for you to wash the clubs off with in order to get all the sand and other stains off your clubs. The Club Cleaner is fairly affordable in my view at around fifty dollars if you are a prolific golfer and want to keep those clubs nice and shiny for around fifty dollars. It could be argued however that the manufacturers of the Club Cleaner are too worried about supplying the different color options when it comes to the club cleaner as opposed to making the product a little better and more extensive in its scope and ability. You can get the club cleaner in black, beige and hunter green however. I guess the style of the club does count for something out on the golf course.

Just like with any product you want to be frugal and still achieve the highest quality.

A friend of mine is really into amateur photography. He is also an excellent golfer and is interested in following the PGA. He’s managed to combine these two interests into one by attending Tour events and taking high-quality photos of the players during their rounds.

He offered a few tips to me for anyone else who shares his hobbies and wants to get into photographing golf events:

• Get a nice telephoto lens. The only way to get really nice photos of the golfers is with a good zoom. His photo of Sergio Garcia that I posted above was taking from a great distance but with great results thanks to his lens.
• Keep moving. When you’re at a Tour event keep moving with the gallery from hole to hole to find the golfers that you want. If you get stuck in one spot all of your shots will end up looking identical with the same background in each.

From time-to-time he takes a photo good enough to be printed and framed. He’s a big fan of a company called PsPrint that does custom poster printing. He sends them a digital copy of his photo and he gets back a high quality printed poster of his work. They make them as large as 27″ x 39″ but he usually opts for something smaller.