Best Sunglasses for Golfing

As the summer golf season comes closer and closer, the sun will be shining bright (unless you live in the mid west then its a crap shot if you will have nice weather). For some golfers wearing sunglasses is a problem, they do not like the change in color or simply the glasses bother them. I was a big believer in this for a while until I was given a pair of Oakley Sunglasses at an event. I did not think much of them until I got home from the event and tried them out on the range. It was a bright day and I was surprised to see how much of an improvement they made on my vision when lining up my target. I think there are a few designers out there that have done well to optimize their products performance for the golf course. A poll was done on golfwrx.com regarding the top manufactures of golfing sunglasses. Oakley came away with the majority of the votes, followed by Maui Jim and Adidas. I want to start off by talking about the Oakley shades, but more particular the Quarter Jacket Style  . I find that these have the best grip around your head for the movement of the swing. They offer a variety of lenses that go with this style. I have not quite found a certain lens that suits me best over another. Some articles say other lenses are better than others, but I do not think there is a big enough difference to tell. The next brand is a personal favorite of mine being from a town where they have a main distribution center, Maui Jim. I want to first start off by saying Maui Jim has the best lenses on the market for golf. They have polarized lenses in all of there products and ensure that it is the best quality. I will say one fault I find with them most often is the lack of traction on your head. The last product, Adidas has a strong on coming with some tour pros however. I was able to try the Retego sunglasses and I was taken back by how nice they actually were. My one problem with this particular line of sunglasses was the bulkiness of them. Other than that all three are great sunglasses for the golf course! I encourage you to go out and try them out for your next round!

Putters, What kind do you need?

With so many different manufactures out there today promoting all different sorts of putters, I think it is harder today for the average guy to go out and simply just pick one. To build on that point, I do not want any of my readers to just go out and pick one either. I think taking the extra time and effort to get numbers on monitors and figure out the proper lie, loft and height for your putter is crucial. There are three types of putters I want to look at today and talk about the benefits and weaknesses each of them posses. The first, is the conventional style putter. It is commonly found out on tour and has been around for a while. Scotty Cameron is predominantly the leading putter maker out on tour and has just released his 2014 New Port Series. By clicking on this link you can get full in depth information on these putters and all of the specs and customizations you can ask for. I enjoy using this putter on faster greens, I think it gets a true role coming off the face and will get your ball rolling on its correct line. The thing I want you all to be careful about is just going out onto this website and going to a customization page with out getting a lesson or put on a monitor with your local PGA Professional.  The next putter I want to talk about is the mallet putter. This has been made most recently popular by Brandt Snedeker. He uses a pop action stroke that gets the ball up in the air. Not really suggested for faster greens but I think it is great for slower grainy greens. The odyssey putters have always been great and that is the kind Brandt uses. One putter stood out to me recently at my local golf shop and that was the Ping Scottsdale B60. I like how Ping has made this slick looking design into a mallet and with their groove technology it allows for a true role with the blade while allowing for the mallet feel. The last putter I want to look at is the blade putter. Phil Mickelson has been seen using this putter as of late and found some success with it out in the British Open. It is a putter that lays down on the ground a little more and allows the players hands to swing more freely. This could be good for some players but not others. I find myself pushing more putts with my blade and I have not used it for some time. However, it can be a great putter for the right stroke. The Versa 9 is one of Odyssey's blade types and I encourage you to check it out! Just remember the most important thing is to get the correct numbers on your stroke and go from there, also confidence is more important than anything anyone ever tells you!

Slow play, how to deal with it and how to play quicker

Playing slow has been a big topic of discussion over the past few years on the major tours in golf. It is something that affects all players of different skill levels. The first thing I would like to talk about is how to address a slow player in your group that you might/will get paired with. Let me start off with this, I am not a "fast" player, but I am certainly not a slow player either, I just am prepared to hit my shot and know what I want before I pull the trigger, so when I get paired with someone who is slow, it is hard for me to deal with it. I brought this up to my swing coach one time after competing in the Illinois Open. The person who I was playing with was notoriously slow and everyone knew it before you were even paired with him. He would fidget with his glove, step off the shot and just all around be slow. My swing coach told me a few things to do in order to stay focused on you and not your opponent during the round. One, accept the fact that you will be playing with someone slower, it will not be easy but once you take the acceptance factor into your head, your mind will begin to accept the fact that it will be a slow round. Secondly, when your opponent is up to hit, do not pay attention to him/her, your mind should be thinking about anything but golf until you have to hit your shot. Daydream, admire the course all around do not think about golf. The third thing is something Tiger Woods does to get his playing competitors out of their game. If he were to play with a slower player, Tiger would simply just walk faster, play faster all around do everything faster, it would be the opposite if he were playing with faster player. Finally I would like to speak directly to the slow players reading this. YOU ARE SLOW WE DO NOT LIKE YOU, just kidding, but seriously here are a few tips you can do to help out everyone in your group. The first is to have a shot ready in your mind before you approach the ball (obviously you cannot do this with every shot but you get the idea). I think it helps to visualize the shot when you are walking towards that way you already have an image in your head of what you want. The second thing is I want you to be confident in yourself! If you have a hard time pulling the club back to make a swing, its all because your confidence is lacking. Go out to the range and just hit simple shots, shots you know you can hit, this will build up your confidence and help you make a quicker decision in competition! I hope this helps and enjoy the spring golfing weather!