Cradlz - Review Introduction

Recently, I reached out to Cradlz by Stinger with hopes of getting to review their product. Well the good folks from Cradlz responded and gave me a chance to review their Cradlz Smart Phone Holder. This is an introduction to the upcoming review that I made a week ago.  Also in this video is a second product that I am reviewing a belt from KenRick Golf. More to come later.

Until The Next Tee!

Nordic Fire

So it's Monday and we got through another weekend unscathed and it's now time to put on our thinking hats. It's time to exercise our brains and get warmed up for the week. So with this said, let's play a little game of "Who Am I?".

"I'm Swedish and I am 34 years old. Even though I went to school at Oklahoma State University - Stillwater I play golf on the PGA European Tour. I have a driving average of 289.12 yards and my astrological sign is Sagittarius. Who am I?"

Photo Credit: europeantour.com

If you guessed Alex Noren then you are indeed correct. The Oklahoma State University alum is as hot as any golfer to come out of Sweden since Annika Sorenstam. I  just find it so amazing that  a Scandinavian country has a population of 9.5 million can produce so many world class golfers. Although, the number of golfers coming out from Sweden hasn't quite matched the number of hockey players. But the list is quite impressive when you look at the names. I already mentioned Annika, but then there is also names like Jonas Blixt, Jesper Parnevik, Anna Nordqvist, Fredrik Jacobson, Carl Petterson, Carin Koch, and some guy named Henrik Stenson. Now that I think about it Sweden has developed more Tour or World Class players than my beloved Canada.

Sun City, South Africa hosted the Nedbank Challenge hosted by Gary Player and with his win this week Noren claimed his fourth victory of the season this year. That win is also record-setting as no other Swede has won 4x on The European Tour in the same year ever. Noren joins a pretty exclusive club of golfers that won 4x in a single PGA European Schedule. Some other names on the list includes Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Miguel Angel Jiminez, Colin Montgomerie and Seve Ballesteros. All of whom are either World Golf Hall of Fame bound or are already inductees. What is it that makes Noren's game so good to see him work his way into 9th place on the Official World Golf Rankings?

If one was to look at his driving distance stats one would be inclined to think that his 289 yard average is middle of the pack. Remember two things when looking at that number. The first is that they use one upwind hole and one downwind hole to ascertain driving distance. Secondly, it may not always be a driver. His fairways hit is 57.59% his highest since 2012. His G.I.R is 72.39% and when you combine that with his average Putts Per GIR at 1.75 you have to know that his stroke average of 70.03 is made up on and around the greens. By the way, his stroke average is the best that it's been since 2011. Noren doesn't overpower golf courses necessarily but it goes to show that if you can hit GIR's, scramble well when a GIR is missed and limit the damage on the greens you can score well.

Photo Credit: sports.yahoo.com

I think that the ceiling in really high for a guy like Noren to win more on the European Tour and even though he is not a household name in North America yet he will be. His eight victories since turning professional in 2009 is just a beginning. With wins this year in South Africa, the British Masters, the Omega European Masters, and the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open why would he not make more history by winning the Race to Dubai?

Until The Next Tee!

Lions and Tigers and... Mongoose Oh My

In a recent blog post I talked about how golf being a worldwide game can have it's fair share of problems politically. But, as many problems as there can be there is also great reason to celebrate the game and it's play around the world.

Photo Credit: tripadvisor.com

As a viewer in North America you don't really get to see and hear the things that you do in comparison to what there is overseas. When comparing the PGA Tour to the European Tour it's like comparing monochromatic pictures to "Technicolor". Where the PGA Tour has some exciting vista changes from the opening of the season in Hawai'i and then the move to California and the "West Coast Swing" and from there "The Florida Swing" while some of the geography changes in a way it's still sort of vanilla. The European Tour on the other hand makes stops in seemingly exotic locales on 4 of this planets 7 continents. With that we see changes in climates and more importantly to the world view different cultures.

If there is one thing that I absolutely love it's waking up, turning on The Golf Channel and watching the action from across the world. I am a nature guy by... nature and I love seeing the kangaroos on the golf course. Or hearing the call of the loudest bird on the planet (the Kookaburra). The sounds and scenes of the country's that the European Tour visits is like going to a massive buffet feast. I like hearing the wildlife in Malaysia on the golf telecasts. How can you not watch in amazement the scene from today in Sun City, South Africa where a pack of Mongoose casually played through the green without touching a ball. I guess the ruling would have been replace it nearest to the spot? I mean golf on the PGA Tour has some pretty cool things too like the American Alligator of the southern states, the pods of Humpback Whale that we see in Hawai'i and Pebble Beach (Monterrey). Or maybe a Scorpion in the Arizona desert. Other than that, the only wildlife we see or hear are the drunkards that continue to shout "mashed potatoes" after a tee shot. I would comment on #16 at the Waste Management Open but that would make me a hypocrite because I would love to be immersed with beer in hand in that setting. Or better yet... playing in front of them.

Photo Credit: golfchannel.com

I realize that most Australians would disagree with me on the kangaroos and kookaburra's and that most Floridians or Alabamans would disagree with me on alligator's because they live with them every day. But I love these types of things as they are as unique to me as squirrels are to the Japanese. I was floored to watch a group of Japanese tourists be so captivated with squirrels one day in a park. This was until I found out that they don't have squirrels there. Sometimes you take such small things for granted I guess and therein lies the beauty of the game. It gives golfers and viewers alike to take in the sights, sounds and cultures that otherwise we may not see.

Until The Next Tee!

Review - Introduction to KenRick Golf

In this video, I take a preliminary look at the high-quality, well thought out belt from KenRick Golf. Special thanks go out to Holly G and Irlianna from Golf Marketing Services for the opportunity. Also, in use on the approach shot is the Avant golf ball from OnCore Golf.

Golf... The Real Fountain of Youth

If there is one thing that I love about golf it's the fact that it's a game that you can take up at any age and play it until your final dying breaths. Personally, I know of two 90 year-old men that are both very spry who still play the game very well... besting their age. My coach who himself is 70 can still hit a golf ball very well and far for his age. I've seen him blast the ball past younger 20-something golfers. Golf is at an age where age doesn't have to be a factor... even on Tour.

Photo Credit: Family Guy

In the last couple of weeks we have seen some great golf turned in by guys over the age of 40. I wrote an article a little bit ago right on the heels of the win in Portugal by Padraig Harrington. Padraig (45) won for the first time on the European Tour in 8 years that week but it didn't stop there. That same week Anders Hansen (46) who only plays part-time finished third. Think about it... a 46 year-old part-time golfer finishing third in a tournament chock full of "millenials". Many of whom are towards the younger end of that spectrum. It's exciting when you really think about it... after all remember when a few years ago World Golf Hall of Fame inductee Tom Watson contended a few years ago in the Open Championship? The excitement that was in the air... of course much of that was sentimentality hoping that the "youngster" could pull it off. He didn't as we all know but here was right there. Then this week happened. "Only in Vegas Baby" a place where dreams of big payoffs can come true. Played at TPC Summerlin the Shriner's Open was won by another elder statesmen. Australian Rod Pampling found himself collecting his first victory in over a decade. Pampling (47) a Srixon staffer using a mixed bag of clubs consisting of TaylorMade Golf, PING, Titleist (Scotty Cameron putter), Cleveland and Srixon started his week by firing a 60 and ending with a 65 en route to a -20 total two strokes clear of runner-up Brooks Koepka. Pampling's dramatic putt on 18 was fun to watch as he started to "walk it in" from about 4 feet.

Photo Credit: PGA Tour

In a way, these types of occurrences on Tour sort of reminds me of the scene in the movie "Cocoon" where all of the geriatric folks jump into the pool and party. If you haven't seen the film from 1985 (by Ron Howard) it's about a group of elderly people rejuvenated by aliens (extra-terrestials). Well I think that the movie really is a symbolic metaphor for what is occurring in golf. Where guys like Pampling, Harrington and Hansen to name a few are the elderly people (guys you really aren't) the aliens in this case is played by the respective equipment manufacturers. Fitting resources never used before aided by Doppler, R&D that could easily be used (or might have already been) by the aerospace industry (Callaway Golf and Boeing XR-16) and space-aged materials are all largely instrumental in the new found "youth". Not to mention that golf fitness and nutrition are a thing... for some. Thanks to these gentlemen and the golf industry it gives old guys like me... hope. 

Photo Credit: 20th Century Fox

Until The Next Tee!