Frank J. Peter
Editor
LearnAboutGolf.com
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Hello Golfer,
Welcome to the November edition of the LearnAboutGolf.com Newsletter.
As always, if you disagree with any of the info below, I welcome your opinion - please send your feedback simply by using our contact form.
If you find this newsletter helpful, please forward it to your friends, buddies, associates, instructor etc. Thanks for helping us growing.
Best wishes, Frank
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Thanksgiving Special Discounts on Golf Equipment Golf Club Review: C.CARNAHAN St. John Putter by Pinemeadow Golf Golf Rules Quiz Feature Article: Golf during Tough Economic Times How to be featured as our Guest Columnist Answer to the Golf Rule Quiz Source of free Golf Swing Video Lessons Guest Golf Tip: Moving Your Head
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Here are some great Thanksgiving Discounts on Golf Equipment:
Pinemeadow Golf is offering some of their popular 2009 models at steep discounts, including 'buy-one-get-one' offers: Click here for Pinemeadow Golf Year End Savings
In addition Pinemeadow Golf offers a 50% discount on all pre-owned clubs. Most clubs are returns from retailer and have never been hit. This is a perfect opportunity to pick up an as-new club fror a fraction of it's normal price. Details are here: Pinemeadow Golf Pre-owned Clubs (ends Nov 30, 2009 or while stocks last)
To top it off Pinemeadow also has a special 24hour sale going on. Every day a particular club is up to 66% discounted. Check every day to find out what club is on super sale today. The daily club is shown HERE
Purepoint Golf is arguably the most popular developer of instructional golf DVDs and books on the web. They have some crazy offer for you:
THE HALF PRICE THANKSGIVING WEEKEND SALE available November 26th thru November 30th, 2009 ONLY. Every product is half price!! Details are here: 2009 Holiday Special - Half Price Thanksgiving Weekend
The 5 eBooks for the Price of 1 Bundle available November 1st thru December 31st, 2009. You can get their 5 popular eBooks Full Swing Fundamentals, Bunker Fundamentals, Chipping Fundamentals, Pitching Fundamentals and Putting Fundamentals which normally sell for $37 each for the low price of $37. Thats a five for one deal. Details are here: 2009 Holiday Special - Get 5 eBooks for the price 1
The Ultimate Golf Gift Offer available December 1st thru December 20th, 2009. This bundle are their first 8 DVD titles Full Swing, Short Game, Driver, Putting Performance, How to Hit a Draw, Bunker, Pitching and Trouble Shots for one ridiculously low price of $100. They've sold this set of DVDs before but at prices of over $200. This package has a retail value of over $424. This is a very limited time offer. Details are here: 2009 Holiday Special - The Ultimate Golf Gift Offer
Here are some Special from Golfballs.com:
 
 
 
 
Click on any of the ads above for more info.
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Golf Club Review: C.CARNAHAN St. John Putter by Pinemeadow Golf
Pinemeadow Golf, well know for almost 25 years now for their great selection of high quality clubs, has recently come out with a new premium line of clubs, the C. Carnahan line. All clubs under this brand name are designed by Chris Carnahan, a very accomplished player who successfully played on the Canadian Tour and now heads the product development department at Pinemeadow. His professional tour experience and his vast connections to other professional players enable him (and Pinemeadow Golf) to come up with great designs that have not evolved from drawing boards or rocket science but from actual playing experience.
The new C. Carnahan line has started with five putters and a wedge, all of which Pinemeadow Golf has kindly sent us for review. In this first review we take a closer look at the St. Johns Putter.
The C.CARNAHAN St. John Putter is a classic anser style blade putter, featuring a long neck to which the shaft is attached. In contrast to many other putters that are toe heavy the St. John putter is very evenly balanced. This favors players that have a straight pendulum putting stroke, compared to a circular 'inside-out' putting stroke.
The putter weighs in at 330 grams, just right for a smooth pendulum swing without being too 'clunky'. Heavy putters, at least for me, make it more difficult to judge the correct speed especially on shorter puts, while light putters require to much of a swing, which often results in pulled or pushed putts.
The C.CARNAHAN St. John Putter head has a 4 degree loft, slightly higher that most other putters. This increased loft, together with the CNC milled face, imparts a bit of top spin on the ball. This top spin is particularly helpful for golfers playing in warmer regions like the southern states of the US or, like me, in Asia, as most courses there use the sturdier Bermuda grass on the putting greens. The 4 degrees loft allow the golf ball to get a cleaner start upon impact without too much interference from the rough type of grass, while the top spin gives the ball a truer roll on this kind of surface.
The putter comes standard with a C. Carnahan branded Winn® AVS Medallist pistol grip (see picture on the right) which is soft enough to allow for a good, light grip while allowing for responsive feedback of how your putting impact was.
During our tests we compared the St. John putter with our regular putters from identical ball positions around the green, and the St. John performed exceptionally well. I probably shouldn't say this publicly, but we actually had a fight in the end as to who can keep the putter after the tests. Me being the boss has some advantages, so the St. John putter has now permanently replaced my previous putter.
The putter is very well put together and looks classy. It comes with a head cover that again bears the C. Carnahan brand name and crest, also very classy (see picture on the right).
Our verdict
At US$129.95 the C.CARNAHAN St. John Putter is the most expensive putter in the Pinemeadow Golf line-up, but still considerably cheaper than comparable putters from better known brands. While I got this putter for free I would have happily paid the money for this club, it is one of the best putters I ever hit, and certainly the best in this price category. If you have a straight pendulum putting stroke and/or if the greens on your golf course have slightly longer (like many do) or sturdier grass then this putter is perfect for you.
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In stroke play, a player deems his ball unplayable and lifts it. Then, he discovers that the ball was in ground under repair. What is the ruling?
(1) If he drops a ball under the unplayable ball Rule, he may lift the ball and proceed under the ground under repair Rule without incurring any penalty strokes.
(2) If he drops a ball under the unplayable ball Rule back into the ground under repair, he may then lift the ball and proceed under the ground under repair Rule incurring a total of two penalty strokes.
(3) If he does not drop a ball under the unplayable ball Rule, he may proceed under the ground under repair Rule without penalty.
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Tap the book cover below to get a free copy of the newest Rules and Regulations (2008/9 edition) directly from the USGA as pdf file:
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Golf during tough economic times
These days all the media talk about a recession in the US which in turn affects the rest of the world. I'm no economist, but I've read the common definitions of a recession in the newspapers as 'decline in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for two or more consecutive quarters'. However, as an 'Average Joe' my definition is a lot simpler: I may have less money to spend; hence I have to be more prudent with my purchases.
As an avid golfer, does this mean that I have to shelve my plans of buying some new clubs this season? Of course not, I just have to be more prudent as per my definition above. On the other hand I don't want to buy some cheap, inferior clubs just because I'm a bit short of money. I still want top quality, but at a reasonable price I can afford.
The solution is to stay away from the well known but expensive top tier brands like Titleist, Ping, Nike, Callaway and the likes, and instead look at the cheaper second tier brands which offer the same quality but at a much reduced price. And just to make sure, I'm not talking about some cheap counterfeit clubs slapped together in a sweat shop in some third world country, I'm talking about proper clubs from well established manufacturers and merchants.
Let's look in detail at the two main issues: price and quality - how can a second tier manufacturer offer the same quality at a fraction of the price?
Quality: there are only so many factories out there that produce club heads, shafts and grips - the three main components of every golf club. Quite often the factories that produce club heads for the big names also produce the heads for other, less known manufacturers. They use the same raw material, including high quality titanium and stainless steel, in the production processes. When it comes to shafts and grips it becomes even more obvious: both top and second tier manufacturers use the same shafts and grips which can easily be verified when you read the respective product descriptions. In other words, since the same materials and components are used the quality of top and second tier manufacturers is very similar if not the same.
Price: An article in the respected Golf Digest a while ago argued that a modern $500 top-brand driver actually costs about $77 to build: $55 for the club head, $15 for the graphite shaft, $3 for the grip and $4 for assembly. Since you as the consumer pay $500, where does the remaining $423 go? Well, some of course goes into R&D, some goes to the company shareholders, but a huge chunk goes into the pockets of golf professionals for endorsing that particular brand. Let's look at some cases in point:
A more recent article on the Golf Digest website listed both the on-tour and off-tour income of the top 50 money earners for 2007. It will come as no surprise that Tiger Woods leads the list, having had tour earnings of approx. $22.9 Million plus an additional $99.8 Million in off-tour income. That's almost $100 Million in endorsements and other engagements! Phil Mickelson made approx. $40 Million in off-tour money, and Vijay Singh about $25 Million. Even Michelle Wie, who only won a measly $9,899 for playing golf, raked in some $12.5 Million in off-tour income in 2007 alone. So who paid for that? Well, if you bought a golf club from a well known brand than you did - by paying a huge premium on top of the actual value of the club. This is definitely not where I want to see my hard earned money go, especially if times are getting tougher.
So what's the alternative? Second tier manufacturers! Their manufacturing costs are still the same as above, but they don't spend money on endorsements. They also save money by selling their products online rather than in a retail shop, thus cutting down on rent and related costs. While it still costs them some $77 to build a driver (as per above example) they are able to sell it for just around $100 - and still make some profit.
For the same money I otherwise (involuntarily!) stuff into some golf pro's pocket I can now buy a complete new set of golf clubs. I like that! What about you?
I strongly suggest you visit the following two manufacturers' websites - I have personally bought their products and was (still am!) very happy with the great quality and value I got:
Pinemeadow Golf, a respected custom club manufacturer who has been around for some 23 years. They operate out of Portland, OR.
GigaGolf, another well established (over 10 years) custom clubmaker - they are from Oldsmar, FL.
Check out their clubs, and especially the prices, and you will see why I like them...
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Free Golf Swing Video Instructions
A new website called "iGolf Videos" offers free weekly instructional golf videos, delivered right to your email. Click the following link to get more details and to sign up for the free video clips:
Golf Swing Video Instructions
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Moving Your Head
by Dr Richard Myers of thinkandreachpar.com
The head is the keystone around which the entire golf swing
circles. When you lift, jerk, or otherwise move your head, you
set up a terrible chin of events during a golf stroke. With head
movement the easy turn of the shoulders into the shot is
restricted. A majority of bad drives go off to the right because
a moving head doesn't give an adequate pivot point for a good
swing.
Think of the head as an axis or hub around which the swing
revolves. The less it moves the better. It may take you a while
to develop a comfortable chin position, and you may have to do
what Jack Nicklaus does-point you chin slightly to the right as
you start your swing. This slight alteration from a straight up
and down head position will help you get a better pivot and more
accurate swing.
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| ANSWER TO OUR GOLF RULE QUIZ |
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Correct answer: (3) If he does not drop a ball under the unplayable ball Rule, he may proceed under the ground under repair Rule without penalty. (Decision 28/13)
Provided the player has not put a ball into play under Rule 28, he is not precluded by the unplayable ball Rule from taking relief, without penalty, under the ground under repair Rule (Rule 25).
Source: USGA
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