Only 12 yards of distance has been added to the average driving distance on the PGA tour since 1968. 12 Yards???? With all the technology of new drivers and golf balls that is not much distance. Golf balls do make a difference but be careful when spending your hard earned money on the latest Pro V that will add 20 yards to your drive. Consumer reports came out with a non biased report on Golf balls and although the Pro V’s did very well so did some much cheaper brands like Maxfli, Dunlop, Pinnacle and cheap Nike distance balls. Because most golfers don’t choose the right ball for their swing speed you should choose a ball that fits your pocketbook. I like the Callaway HT tour 56 even though it is a more expensive ball not because of the distance but because I like to show off with my wedges and spin the ball. Most of my golfing buddies can’t spin the ball but with this ball a new wedge and clean grooves you can be the envy of your group too.

Would you use a non conforming club??? I have 4 drivers that I use. A ping G5 (conforming) a Nike Sumo2 Sasquatch (Conforming), a Krank Red Hot Chili Pepper (Conforming infomercial special), and a Cleveland Hi Bore XL (Non Conforming). Can anyone guess which club I use the most? Wrong! it is not the Non Conforming or the infomercial special it is the Ping G5. Why? you ask. Well because that is the club I have had the longest and practiced with the most. Don’t get me wrong I will take the other drivers to the range or play a round with them but I always go back to my trusty G5. It is a little heavier than the other clubs and I use that one the most because Johnny Miller gave me some advice on light clubs. Johnny Miller said “the biggest load of crap the golf manufacturers have been feeding us is that we need light clubs, we need a good swing with a good heavy club.” My Ping G5 isn’t that heavy but it is a Normal weighted club for me…not too heavy, not too light. So what is moral of the story??? Get yourself a driver that you are comfortable with and if it is too light then put some lead on it. Oh, and don’t cheat either.

The�top 5 most popular golf betting games.

1. “The snowman”

Played with poker chips-Decide the value of each chip, usually $1 or $5 per chip. Each time a golfer hits a shot that corresponds to a chip he/she is awarded the chip. Chip is kept until competitor hits similar shot and takes chip. Players with good chips after 9 holes or 18 are given the value of the chip by each player and the players with the bad chips must pay all players the value of the chip. Make sure you pick this up in our past deals section on dealadaygolf.com.

2. “Nassau”

The Nassau is three bets in one: low score on the front nine, low score on the back nine and low score over the full 18. Nassau is perhaps the most common betting game with a $5 front a $5 back and a $5 18.

3. “Wolf”

Wolf is one of the classic golf betting games for groups of four. It is a great equalizer for players of differing ability because it is played in teams and the teams change every hole. Players rotate as the “Wolf.” On each hole, the player designated as the Wolf has to choose whether to lone wolf or pick another for 2 vs 2. The wolf picks his/her partner after the drive of another to give the wolf team a small advantage. The team that wins the hole outright gets a point. Lone wolf after the drive is worth 3 points and Lone wolf in the blind is worth 6 points. Teams or the lone wolf must win the hole outright…there are NO carryovers. Give a value to points and pay up after the 18 holes.

4. “Bingo Bango Bongo”

Points game that can be played by any number of players, from two up. In Bingo Bango Bongo, three types of achievements are rewarded with a point. The first player in a group to get his ball on the green gets a point (bingo). The player in the group whose ball is closest to the pin once all balls are on the green gets a point (bango). And the player in the group who is first to hole out gets a point (bongo). Add up the points at the end of the game. Bingo Bango Bongo gives weaker players a chance to earn points because what matters is being first at something. For example, all members of the group tee off on a par-4. The player who hit the worst drive (farthest from the hole) plays first, and so has the first shot at winning the bingo point. Strict etiquette must be enforced. The player who is away always plays first.

5. “Acey Ducey”

Simple scoring game where the low score on a hole wins a predetermined amount from the other 3 players and the high score on the hole has to pay the other 3 players. Very simply the winner is getting paid twice from the highest scorer and the two middle scores pay the winner and get paid from the loser on the hole. This game can get very expensive so be sure you are playing with similar playing levels.

Bonus Game-”Crocadilio”

Game should be played when the same hazard is prominent on the course. For example if there is sand on every hole of the course this is the game to play. Start with a small amount and double it each time the hazard is hit. If a player hits into the sand on the first hole they he owes everyone $.10 if he was the last person to hit the sand for the whole round. The next person to hit the sand owes everyone $.20 and it doubles each time the hazard is hit. The only person that pays up is the last person that hit the hazard of choice. It can get very expensive because the value doubles each time the hazard is hit. It is fun on the last whole when everyone is aiming in the opposite direction of the hazard and would rather do poorly on the hole than get anywhere near the hazard.

It is one of those things you didnt think you needed until you use one all the time.
Remember TV’s before remotes? Remember having to unluck your car with a key? Golf before a GPS unit was very fun but now it seems to be a game I can get really good at. It makes me rethink everything about my game and want to practice alot more….I find myself asking questions like “Why can’t I hit my 7 iron 165 yards every time the same distance”? A golf GPS makes me want to hit the driving range alot more so when a big 165 pops up on the GPS unit I know without even thinking about to pull out my 7 iron. I love knowing how far I actually hit my drives. Before golf the GPS came along the longest driver of my foursome would always say he hit it 320. He would subtract the length of the hole from the sprinkler head he hit next too and shout treefity or something stupid and now I can let him know he hit it 283.

Once you pick up one of these babies you can be sure that golf will NEVER be the same. If you want one for cheap go with the IGOLF GPS caddie for around $170 or go with the ferrari of Golf GPS units and get the color Skygolf Skycaddie SG5.

Charles Barkley was quite the baller back in the day on the court. But can he hack it on the golf course today? Yes, he certainly can hack it. If you haven’t already seen these, you’ll die laughing. Check out Charles Barkley and his sweet golf swing techniques.

Tiger Woods doing a Charles Barkley golf impersonation…

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=5chdYDbYQAA[/youtube]

Charles Barkley swing his golf club…

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=PuZPIVpxNtE[/youtube]

More Charles golf swing…

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=s50K65PNeBU&feature=related[/youtube]

Fixing Charles Barkley’s Golf swing.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=Zz7uR4CZHR8[/youtube]

Well either way, Charles is probably better at golf than I am. Kudos to you Charles. If anybody out there has a better golf swing than you, I want to know about it.

Irwin Koss of DeWitt, New York found that his i-Phone saved him from what could have been a serious injury.

Irwin’s pal was teeing off at the 7th hole and he thought he was out of the way… he wasn’t. The ball hit him right where his i-phone was in his pocket! The phone was completely broken, wouldn’t even turn on. Irwin was left to suffer with a nice bruise on his side, but the ball could have done more damage to him had it not been blocked by the i-phone.

Great job Irwin. Looks like it’s time to get a new phone… and a new golfing partner.

When I was a kid, I loved going to the local putt putt golf course for a few competitive rounds with friends and family. The obstacles were usually pretty cool, you’ve got your traditional windmills, bumps, blocks, loop-de-doops and tunnel tubes. My personal favorite were the loop-de-doops, because you have to hit the ball pretty hard to get it through the whole loop which can be problematic… The most frustrating part was always the last hole. It steals the ball and the game is over just like that. Am I the only one who doesn’t like the disappearing ball?

I came in this morning and had an itch to learn how to improve my game - I don’t want to be the “snowman” on the golf course forever!

The first site I visited was Golf.com. I browsed through their home page and found a main feature that said ‘Tip of the Day’ - 3 Secrets Golf Pros Know That You Don’t. Wow, great headline, of course I took the bait and clicked to find these tips quite interesting. They weren’t run of the mill beginner tips that I always find…at least they didn’t seem that way to me:

Tip #1 - Maintain Wrist Hinge Until Release

Tip #2 - Rotate Your Head

Tip #3 - Keep Your Trailing Knee Flexed

I have a feeling that I was NOT doing any of these the right way. Naturally, I wanted more…3 tips was NOT enough for me! What else can I learn? Golf.com did a great job capturing my attention AND driving me to browse around their site even more. I browsed to the main menu Instruction -> Lesson Finder and the initial text tells me, or rather asks me this question:

“What part of your game would you like to work on?

With the golf.com Lesson Finder, you can fix what ails you or learn a new skill. Click on a topic below to find video lessons and articles from GOLF magazine’s Top 100 Teachers.”

WOW! I can get FREE VIDEO instruction from the Top 100 Golf Teachers! I had time to watch one video in the “Hit It Long” section. Here are the topics you can choose from:

Hit It Straight

Hit It Long

Hit It Solid

Putting

Pitching and Chipping

Sand Game

Shot Making & Trouble Shots

Mental Game & Course Management

The Basics

It looks like a pretty sweet roundup of everything I need to know about improving my game for now. This will definately keep me busy for a while!

We’re wishing you all the best in your games this week from DealADayGolf.com!

Think about how intimidating it must be for Golf Pro’s competing against Tiger Woods in the PGA Championship.

At age 6 Tiger Woods made his first birdie on a 91 yard par three. He Won the Optimist International Junior World at ages 8, 9, 12 and 13! At age 20 he was the Sports Illustrated “Sportsman of the Year”… blah blah, the list goes on and everyone already knows all these facts.

But here are some additional factoids you may find interesting regaurding the number of times certain keywords are searched on the internet. We’ll start with the 2007 PGA Tour positions. (These searches are per month)

Tiger Woods - 63,096

Ernie Els - 970

Woody Austin - 45

John Senden - 7

Aaron Oberholser - 2

So Tiger is pretty much a Giant on the world wide web and not just on the golf course. Just for the record George W Bush only gets searched 30,853 a month. Maybe Tiger should run for office??

VS.

Interesting factoid that you’ll probably never use:

“golf cart” was typed into search engines approx. 37,000 times last month

“vw golf” was typed into search engines approx. 32,000 times last month

Here are a few hypotheses I have regarding why the search trend is this way:

1. While the VW Golf would be fun on a golf course, it would be a pain to get in and out every time you need to hit the ball.

2. The VW Golf is probably too heavy for the golf course.

3. Golf carts are bigger than the VW Golf.

4. Golf carts are easier to push.

5. Golf cart = 15 mph in 3 seconds.

6. VW Golf = 60 mph in 8 seconds?

7. The golf cart is easier to get started - you just push the accelerator, does that mean you can get moving in 1 second instead of 3 seconds…imagine the lag time…ugh.

Ok, I know this was a crazy post - I thought it was funny though. Remember, I’m the Internet geek in the group.