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Finding the Perfect Sunglasses for Golf

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golfstinks-oakley-promotionI spent 15 years playing golf without sunglasses. Why? Well, I’m not really sure – I hadn’t really given it much thought. I tend to be one of those people who have to be told the obvious sometimes.

Like when my friend and golfing buddy pointed out that he was surprised I didn’t wear sunglasses since I had blue eyes. He claimed that lighter eyes needed more protection from the sun. While I’m not sure how accurate that statement is, it sounded plausible and anything to help the old golf game was worth a shot. And so, sunglasses became a constant accessory of mine out on the links.

At first, I purchased a pair of $50 sport-sunglasses and wore them for a few years until they got a scratch on the lens. I tried to keep wearing them, but seeing that annoying scratch in my peripheral vision was keeping me from tracking the ball’s flight path.

After discarding my scratched pair, I bought inexpensive sunglasses from a stand at a highway rest stop. Don’t laugh, those actually lasted several years (though I did feel they weren’t quite as effective on the golf course). Flash-forward to about a year and a half ago, when I actually received (via a promotion through this golf blog) a free pair of off brand sunglasses that were polarized – a feature specifically geared toward golfers. And while these glasses were better at helping me track and see the ball in the fairway, they weren’t the highest quality shades out there.

Still on the hunt for the perfect pair of golf sunglasses, I was excited when someone from Ads Sports Eyewear reached out to me regarding their latest promotion featuring Oakley Sunglasses and Prescription Oakley Sunglasses. After all, Oakley is a popular brand not just for pro golfers, but for all pro athletes in any sport.

Long story short, I was sent a pair of Oakley Half Jacket 2.0 – Polished Rootbeer XL G30 Transitions Lenses (a mouthful, I know). But there are a few things golfers should take note of in that lengthy name: First, they are the Half Jacket – which is somewhat smaller than the “Jacket” line Oakley offers. I found this a plus during my back swing, since there is an unobstructed bottom side view.

Next, the lenses are extra large (hence the “XL”) – meaning despite the smaller frame, you still get full-lens coverage. In addition, the lenses normally have about a 30% light transmission, which is helpful when hitting from shady areas (like from the woods, if you drive the ball like I do). But in full sunlight (like say on the fairway), the lenses will transition to about 16% light transmission – it adjusts automatically so you’re only left with the best possible view of the fairway, green, pin and/or ball flight path.

Finally, the lenses have a rose tint (you macho guys stay with me here). While it took me a second to adjust to this hue, it really was helpful in providing contrast on the course. For example, it allowed me to read the green better for putts and pitch shots.

Overall, these are the best sunglasses I’ve ever worn for golf (see photo of me wearing the glasses at top). They are feather light – I literally couldn’t feel them once they were on – and the lenses are a perfect combination of light filtering and view enhancement – specifically designed for the golf course. The only complaint was from my wife, who doesn’t particularly like the sport sunglass style in general. But that’s not what these babies are about – they’re about helping you perform better on the golf course…period.

Now these shades aren’t cheap, but you know the old saying; you get what you pay for. Of course, I didn’t pay anything. And on that note, why should I get to have all the fun? As our fans know, we here at GolfStinks go to great lengths to ensure they too can benefit from our product reviews. As such, the good folks over at Adseyewear agreed to provide a $150USD gift certificate to one lucky GolfStinks fan towards the purchase of your own sweet golf sunglasses on adseyewear.com!

Here’s how to enter: Go to the GolfStinks Facebook page (facebook.com/golfstinks) and comment on the post on our wall entitled “Win the Perfect Golf Sunglasses” (it would help if you provide a good reason as to why you need new golf sunglasses)! That’s it! We’ll choose one winner a week later!

Good luck!

Book Review: Bad Golf

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badgolfThere’s an ethos we live by here at GolfStinks: You don’t have to be good at golf to love it. And in the spirit of that ethos, we strive to write commentary that helps you accept the fact that even though you might stink, you can still get great enjoyment out of this game.

It’s in this spirit that author Dave Simon penned Bad Golf. After receiving my copy and initially thumbing through the pages, I thought I had the book figured out; Mr. Simon had written a comical take on how bad the vast majority of us are at this game. However, after reading a few chapters, I realized Bad Golf is so much more.

In reality, what Mr. Simon has done is create a golf self-help guide. But this guide doesn’t give you tips on how to play better – instead it provides you ways to enjoy the game in spite of your wretchedness on the links! His premise is simple: You’re bad at golf – most of us are. So, why not accept that fact, move on and start having fun despite your high handicap? Sounds like a book GolfStinks can stand behind!

Bad Golf is 34 (somewhat short) chapters of rollicking ideas to help you forget the quadruple bogie you took on the 7th or the sleeve of balls you lost on the 13th. Chapter titles include: “How to get better, briefly;” “450 yard par 4’s made easy;” and “I know what I did wrong (but can’t correct it).”

One of my favorite chapters (Fun topics when things are going worse than usual) encourages you to use comedy to get your mind off the terrible round you’re having. In one example, Mr. Simon suggests you have an exploding gag golf ball in your bag for this occasion. But don’t try to pull the gag on someone else – instead, he suggests you walk to the next tee and use it on yourself! Unbeknownst to your golfing pals, you step up to the tee and drive the ball into a cloud of powdery smoke – resulting in laughter from all (including you). The point is to get your mind off your round and it’s genius! I’m definitely giving that a try next time I find myself playing a particularly miserable round!

Bad Golf is more than just poking fun at yourself and your golf game – it’s an instructional guide to getting more enjoyment out of golf! While you might not lower your handicap reading this book, you’ll surely learn to not sweat the high scores as much. As Mr. Simon says: Live it. Love it. Learn it. Laugh at it.

You can download the e-book version of Bad Golf on Mr. Simon’s website here: justwrite15.com/bad-golf.html (scroll down a bit once the page loads).

The Most Important Thing on your Golf Bag

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goose golf towel
Goose Golf Towel

Last year about this time, myself and my buddy Tom (who also happens to be a co-founder of GolfStinks) were playing the first round of the new season. We were walking up the second fairway after hitting our approach shots when Tom stopped, bent over and held his hand to his nose.

I’m not sure if it was the cold spring air, or the jolt from the swing of his 7-iron, but he had a nose bleed. As I came over to help by asking for his golf towel, his reply was more shocking to me than his face (which looked like we were playing hockey instead of golf): “I don’t have a golf towel.”

WTF?

Who doesn’t carry a golf towel? I mean seriously, it’s the most important accessory on your golf bag. I’ve taken my golf towel off to wash it and then forgot to put it back on before my next round and I felt naked out there – as if I forgot to wear my wedding band.

Not only does your golf towel clean off your clubs, but it also dries your hands; washes your ball; shields your neck from the sun; acts as a rain cover; and on some occasions, can be used to wipe a bloody nose. But with no towel of his own, I was forced to sacrifice my towel.

Although I replaced it the next round with another one I found (typical white cotton towel with the logo of some golf tourney I had played in years ago), I felt it was time to get a real golf towel. You know, one that does more than act like a rag – something specifically designed for a golfer.

One such towel is produced by Goose Golf. This isn’t just an ordinary towel – this Canadian company has created the perfect towel for out on the links. The three-layer cloth has anti-microbial cotton on the outside for great drying results. But on the inside, they’ve put a microfiber that can be moistened before your round to help clean off dirt and grit after a sand shot or taking a beaver pelt. Meanwhile, sewn between the anti-microbial cotton and microfiber is a water repellant mid-layer to help keep the wet inner layer from getting the dry outer layer damp.

So far I’m really digging this idea – you can clean your clubs really well inside the towel and dry them really well on the outside – plus if it’s raining, you can use the whole thing as a water-repellant rain hood!

But the folks over at Goose Golf didn’t stop there – they added a pouch (which is detachable) of the same materials specifically for cleaning your ball. And on that pouch is a magnetic ball marker to boot! But there’s one more feature – their unobtrusive logo, which is embroidered at the top/center of the towel, is made of velcro – so you can hang your golf glove when you head over to the putting green!

At only $20, I’m sold. But why should I be the only one with a new golf towel? And on that note, the good peeps at Goose Golf have sent me a few “extra” towels for y’all to enjoy too! Just head on over to our Facebook page and comment (not just “like”) the post on our wall entitled “The Most Important Thing on your Golf Bag.” That’s it – we’ll choose 4 random winners next week!

Now, I really hope Tom doesn’t get a bloody nose again this year…

Replace the Sharpie with GolfBallStamp.net

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00233-1-logoImageAs an average hack, I go through multiple balls per round – some go in the drink, while others are donated to the lumber yard. Then there are the ones that are simply misidentified: You see a ball in the fairway and are positive it’s yours – you hit a great approach, only to arrive at the green and realize it’s not the ball you teed off with!

So to avoid such errors, we end up marking our golf balls. Using a Sharpie or other permanent pen, we clumsily draw some sort of shape on the side of ball. Have you ever tired to draw on a spherical object, especially one as small as a golf ball? Let’s just say it’s not the easiest thing to do. Thus, we end up just adding a few dots. The trouble is, everybody else has dots on their ball too!

Enter GolfBallStamp.net. This simple stamp can be customized with your initials, favorite shape, or other image that you identify with (e.g. a bullseye, kitty cat, skull and crossbones, wrench or even a tank)! In addition, you have your choice of red, blue or black ink.

golfstinks, golf stinks

So when I was contacted by the folks over at GolfBallStamp.net, I was interested in customizing my own stamp and testing it out for myself. The idea of having an easy way to apply a consistent marking on several balls was appealing to me. The design needed to be simple, but I still wanted to see if I could achieve some customization in terms of the font and image. Thus, I decided to use the “G” font from our Golfstinks logo and include a box around it (see image to the left).

I submitted my artwork and promptly received a personal email back from the company reminding me I forgot to specify which ink color I wanted. Technically, our logo is a very dark green, so dark in fact, I figured they would just consider it black. But these guys are good – they immediately recognized the color was not black and reached out to confirm – great attention to detail!

About a week later, my customized golf ball stamp arrived. I had watched their video on how to prep and use the stamp, so I was ready to go! They recommend practicing on a few older balls first to get the hang of it and then switching to your game balls.

Our final product with the stamp
Our final product with the stamp

I have to say that overall, I was pleased with the results (see image above). Now I must add that this stamp doesn’t replace professionally stenciled logo balls. If you want your company logo printed on a ball in the highest quality, this product is not the answer. Instead, the Golf Ball Stamp is meant as an easy way to personalize your golf balls and for me, seems to be a much faster and more consistent way to do so than using a Sharpie or the like.

And as always, whenever we here at GolfStinks review a product, we don’t think it’s fair that we have all the fun testing it out. As such, the good folks over at the Golf Ball Stamp have agreed to send a $30 gift certificate to one of you for ordering your own personalized stamp! All you have to do is go over to our Facebook page and  “Like” the post on the wall entitled “Replace the Sharpie with GolfBallStamp.net” – that’s it! We’ll choose one random winner next week!

Good luck and never hit the wrong ball again!

Golf Stinks if your Grip Stinks

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PACKAGING1So one of the things we typically don’t do here at GolfStinks is give you swing advice. We’re not expert golfers, we’re golf connoisseurs – we love golf, even though we mostly stink at it! But every once in a while, we come across a product we feel can be of benefit to the average golf hack – and that’s what we believe we’ve found in Golf-Grip.

About 10 years ago, my golf swing was a mess and I took a lesson. The very first thing the pro corrected on me was my grip – and to help me train my mind on a producing a consistent grip every time I picked up a club, he had me practice with one of those weighted clubs with the molded grip.

Now I had seen those “practice” clubs before and always dismissed them as gimmicky – but once I started using the club, I realized just how wrong my old grip was. Around the same time I took the lesson, I was also reading Ben Hogan’s “Five Lessons” book – one of the most popular golf swing books of all time. I became convinced that my new grip was correct by the way my hands looked in the mirror when gripping the practice club – they looked exactly like the drawing of Hogan’s hands in the “grip” section of his book.

There may be other flaws in your swing – on the backswing or downswing or both, but you can’t even begin to address those issues unless you have the right grip to start with. And the good news is, you don’t need a lesson from a pro to begin fixing that grip.

Up until recently, you had to go out and spend $50 or more on one of those molded practice clubs. And while those clubs help train you on the proper grip, switching back to your real clubs always felt a bit different. In my case, my real club’s grips were thinner than the practice club, so I had a harder time transitioning my newly corrected grip over to my actual clubs. And that’s the cool thing about the Golf-Grip. It not only trains you both physically and mentally to produce a consistent and, more importantly, correct grip, but it’s also made to fit on your clubs. Just line it up with your club head and snap it on.

Seeing as it’s snowing outside as I type this, now’s the perfect time for me to take a few practice swings in the house. And to keep fresh in my mind the proper grip technique, I snapped my Golf-Grip onto my 60-degree wedge and began gearing-up for the new season. Not bad for only 23 bucks!

OK, so now that I basically sound like a freaking infomercial, I’m gonna tell you how to get a Golf-Grip for FREE! As always, whenever we review a product, we ask the manufacturer to send us two – one for us to test out, and one for us to giveaway to one of you! All you have to do is head on over to our Facebook page and “Like” the post on our wall entitled: “Golf Stinks if your Grip Stinks Giveaway!” That’s it – We’ll choose one random winner later in the week!

Good Luck and get practicing – only 43 more days till spring!

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