GolfStinks

A Golf Blog for the Rest of Us!

Rebel Hack: Playing Above The [Golf] Law

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Should you fear bending a few golf rules?
Should you fear bending a few golf rules?

Yes, I am well aware the USGA has set forth a bunch of rules and what-not for us hacks to abide by. Let’s be real, we the 99.9% of the 30 million golfers in the U.S. do not golf for a paycheck. In fact we actually pay to play. So, if I’m paying I’m making the rules, no? We’re not talking about a complete overhaul of the law here, just a few tweaks that are more hack friendly – possibly something like what the Recreational Golf Association of America has done.

This past weekend my buddy and I hit the local track for a quick nine. During our play we were confronted with a couple issues that required some rule bending. I’m writing about it so I can justify our actions and not feel like a cheating scumbag. The first problem we came across was when my ball ended up in the sand trap. Upon reaching the trap, I noticed a bunch of little yellow jacket nests in the sand. F*** that S***! I left my ball there and dropped another one a good 5 yards from the trap and continued to play without taking any penalty.

Granted, that is not a big deal, but we were still curious to know what the ruling would have been. I did a quick search but couldn’t find anything (not surprising, since you need a guide book to understand the rule book). Moving on, the next issue is actually something we have talked about before and we even coined a term for it – PAF! The Pro Advantage Factor (PAF) came into play when my buddy hit his tee shot and couldn’t find it. We saw it land just off the fairway into the rough but we couldn’t find it. Is that fair to take a penalty for that? Hell no! On the tour, someone in the gallery and/or a marshal would have found that ball immediately!

I’m sure stuff like this happens every day on every course. How closely do you actually follow the rules? I’d love to hear what you think!

Hit’em long…yell FORE!!!

Re-Gripping Clubs, Saving Money & Balance

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golf club slipFor the last 4 years I’ve been telling myself I need to re-grip my clubs. I know, I know…4 years is a long time to go with crappy grips. What you are missing here is the strategy. I can blame my grips for every bad shot, which happens to be just about every shot. OK, maybe not every shot but, you get the point.

The fact that I stink at golf has made me a firm believer in everything has to have balance – yin and yang. You see, without bad shots I wouldn’t appreciate the good shots as much. Although there are usually more bad shots than good shots, the good shots are easily worth 5 or so bad ones (e.g. balance). Hence, no re-gripping…that is until now.

I decided to re-grip my clubs myself for 2 reasons; 1) it’s cheaper and I can save 40-50 bucks and; 2) my grips were so bald a club almost went flying out of my hands, which is definitely a safety hazard. So, I hopped online and was able to find a good deal on some new grips, double sided tape and solution. I then headed over to YouTube for instructional videos and voilà, I was good to go.

The difficulty level was very low, however it did require a little effort to slide the grips over the tape. Other than that it was very easy. Now I have to figure out what to blame for my un-spectacular play. I guess I could just man-up and face the reality. Hey, at least my ball retriever can go another year before it needs to be re-gripped!

Hit’em long…yell FORE!!!

Golfstinks.com: Help Wanted

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Help-WantedAs far as I can remember, I was always told numbers don’t lie. So, let’s do the math. There’s 29 million or so golfers in the United States alone. Of that 29 million a fraction of 1% are pro and get paid to play. What does that mean? Well, it means there’s a crap load of stinky golfers out there.

To the 28.99 million golfers that stink, we are here for you! Our ethos has always been geared towards getting out there and having fun. We don’t give swing advice or try to sell you some bs gadget that will lower your score. Our favorite hole at every course is the same – the 19th. Ya dig?

In order for us to achieve what we set out for we need your help. We want to hear from you! Let us know what’s going on in your stinky golf world. If you have a benefit golf tournament going on, let us know and we can post about it. If you have a funny story that relates to a post, leave a comment about it. If you are in the Connecticut area and want to play a round, contact me (pete@golfstinks.com) and I’ll do my best to arrange a hack-fest with the guys at gs.com. Trust me, nothing better than laughing at Stinky Golfer Tom.

We all golf for the same reason. We love to play and enjoy the camaraderie. The chances of us going pro are slim, actually they’re pretty much non-existent. In fact, if you have a buddy with delusions of grandeur thinking they can go pro we can set up a golf intervention. That’s actually pretty funny considering.

There you go. Golfstinks is all about helping the average golfer because that’s who we are!

Hit’em long…yell FORE!!!

Finally, Prescription Sunglasses For Golfers

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What is one of the most important factors that directly affects our golf game or any other activity for that matter? If you said vision, congratulations you are 100% correct! In the literal and figurative sense, vision is a much needed tool to enjoying our round, obviously. So why do we take it for granted? I’m willing to bet most of us hacks never think about how important it is to see clearly while chopping up the local track.

Whether we are a 30 handicap or scratch golfer, correcting our vision and properly protecting our eyes is vital to a long and happy golf career. How do I do that you ask? Enter SportRx.com. SportRx is a  company geared towards creating, promoting and delivering the proper prescription or non-prescription eye-wear customized to our lifestyle and activities.

Recently, we connected with Rob and Stephanie at SportRx.com and after a consultation they graciously sent out a pair of the Adidas TourPro sunglasses to review. Let me also add that they have 6 opticians on staff each specializing in their respective activities from golf and cycling to skydiving and motocross. Pretty cool , right?

So, let’s get to the glasses! In order to give these a thorough review I hit the driving range and followed that up with a round at a nearby course. There’s 3 categories I feel important when it comes to golf sunglasses; fit, performance and value. Here goes…

Adidas tourpro

Fit – Upon opening the box, the first things I noticed were the weight and quality of the craftsmanship. Very light and very well made.  A couple key comfort features are the double snap nose for adjusting the nose bridge and the tri-fit temple hinge for a more custom fit. You can check the video of Rob demoing them here.

Performance – After wearing them for a few hours I actually almost forgot they were even on! The wrap around lenses did a great job in keeping my field of vision even especially when it came to tracking the ball flight.  The LST Active lens Adidas uses enhanced any contrasts and really helped with depth perception. Normally, I’m a fan of polarized lenses but these really impressed me with their clarity and brightness.

Value – Worth the money! Between the overall quality and performance plus the value added services SportRx.com provides, it’s definitely a wise investment no matter what level you play at.

So, how do you get your own pair of prescription sunglasses from SportRX.com for free? Glad you asked! Just head on over to our Facebook page, find the post entitled “Win a new pair of prescription sunglasses!” and tell us why you deserve them in the comments – that’s it! We’ll choose a winner next week.

Hit ’em Long…Yell FORE…See the Ball!

I Want New Clubs Too…Waaaahhhhh!!

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tantrum1This is a great time of year in the Northeast! The birds are back chirping away and building their nests. All the plants and trees are budding and waking up from their winter dormancy. We replace our snow blowers and snow shovels with lawn mowers and garden rakes. And most importantly, we break out the ol’ sticks!

There’s nothing like swimming your way to the back of the garage and carrying your clubs out over head like a soldier carries his rifle through a river. Who has time to move all the crap out of the way? Plus I wasn’t notified nor received a memo of any “spring cleaning” yet.

Once again my clubs see the beautiful light of day. Even with a coat of dust they still look good and give me that warm fuzzy feeling inside. So, for the next 20 minutes I wash away old man winter’s dust and bring back the shine. I then set my clubs up to dry in the sun and grab my golf bag for a quick sprucing up when a buddy of mine stops by.

We shoot the crap for a few as I finish cleaning the bag and then he tells me he got a new set of clubs for his birthday. “Awesome!! Break’ em out!” I wish I never said that. He walks to his car, pops the trunk and takes out a brand spanking new set of clubs.

WTF! I look over at my clubs and, remember that warm fuzzy feeling? Gone. I felt like I was 3 years old again sitting in the sandbox watching my brother play with his brand new G.I. Joe and He-Man while I had the one-armed Skeletor. Yep, the title says it all. Luckily, I have matured since then (I think) and was able to control myself.

It took a minute but I was able to re-evaluate the situation. I don’t need new clubs. All I need is some free time, a course to hack up and good company. That’s not asking too much, is it?

Hit’em long…yell FORE!!!

 

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