Tip of the Month

By John Pallot
Director of Instruction

January 08: PGA SHOW'S THE WAY

The annual PGA Merchandising Show, marqueed "The Can"t Miss Show", played to packed houses Jan 16-19 in Orlando. During it's fifty five year evolution the game's ancient traditions have been merged with a superb and modern presentation of merchandising, marketing and professional training opportunities. It's an annual reunion for buyers, sellers, and networkers taking place in over a million square feet laden with dazzling displays of fashionable attire and latest equipment for playing and teaching. This year's show included 1250 leading golfing suppliers, an indoor golf range hyped as worlds largest, and PGA Professionals from over 80 different countries. Personally, I wouldn't miss one. It's a refreshing way to begin the new year.

HOT TREND items are everywhere. I was attracted to two of the Hottest:

SkyGolf's Sky Caddie S65, a hand-held GPS unit, and Bushnell's Tour V2, a hand held laser rangefinder. Sales of these two products have skyrocketed since the USGA "legalized" them in 2006. The SkyCaddie S65, sleek as a cellphone, comes in a durable, rubberized shell, and sports an always sharp picture screen that needs no shielding from the sun to be legible. It constantly recalculates yardage based on your view of the green. So if you hit a tee shot into the next fairway, your view of the green will be vastly different than if you kept it in the proper fairway. Not only will the SG5 still provide exact distances to all points of interest on the hole you're playing, it reorients the green map on the device so you can see the exact green map from your current perspective.

Bushnell's Tour V2 is a vertically configured version of its industry leading line of laser rangefinders. The hand held device features golf-grip touch points for enhanced feel and stability and is capable of ranging up to +/- one yard to the flag without the need for reflectors. Bushnell's laser rangefinders dominate the PGA, LPGA and Champion's Tour. Their Pinseeker technology zeroes-in on the flagstick, instantly isolating it from backround clutter(trees) to provide super-accurate distance to pin readings, thus bolstering the player's confidence in club selection and swing tempo.

This months' tip will help you dial in your chips and pitches and enable you to physically use all this great technology to your maximum benefit. Most amateurs use too much wrist action and not enough arms and body action to control distance, direction and club-ball contact.Use your pro's sponge ball or an empty basket between your forearms to feel arms and body moving together. Take four practice swings with the sponge ball in place then hit a few shots. When using your chip swing, hold your finish and point the club at the target.Pitching requires more backswing thus more wrist hinging than chipping, however the initial part of the swing doesn't hinge. Hold your finish. If done properly your arms will be close together. Your body has pivoted(rotated) with your arms. Using the ball or basket drill helps you zero in on the pin.