Golf Clubs On Us

You have many options for night time golf practice here in Arizona.  Here is a list of driving ranges in the East Valley:

1. Greenfield Lakes Golf Course, Gilbert
2. Western Skies Golf Course, Gilbert
3. Arizona State University’s Polytechnic campus, Mesa
4. Dobson Ranch, Mesa
5. Mesa Golf Center, Mesa
6. Riverview Golf Course, Mesa
7. Coronado Golf Course, Scottsdale
8. Crakerjax, Scottsdale
9. Pavilion Lakes, Scottsdale
10. Fiddlesticks, Tempe

1. Fiddlesticks, Tempe

Location will play a major role in your selection.  But all driving ranges are not the same.  I would like to hear what others think of the above driving ranges.

If you would like help with your golf game, call Arizona Golf Lessons at 602-828-GOLF.  I teach/coach at Rio Salado Golf Course in Tempe, Arizona.  The practice facility features a large putting green, practice green for chipping, pitching, and bunker  shots.  Whether you are beginner golfer, intermediate golfer, and advanced golfer – you are all welcome.  And, you can sign up to learn how to play on the course.  Playing lessons are a great way to lower golf scores.

When it comes to finding some cheap used golf clubs, there is no place with more variety than eBay. I just did a search for ‘used golf clubs’ and there were 4,000 results – do you think there is a set in there for you?

Unfortunately their strength is also one of the things that can make it difficult for you to find exactly what you want. I’m not sure about you, but I don’t really have the time to go trawling through all 4,000 auctions looking for the one that appeals to me the most.

Which brings me to my first point. When it comes to eBay you need to have a short list organized BEFORE you go to the website. I liken it to sending your Dad down to one of those hardware superstores that cover half of the city. If they don’t go in their with a list, you’re not going to see them for the rest of the day.

Same with eBay – you get distracted by all the options available. you click from one auction to the next and before you know it you’ve wasted half the day and you’re no closer to making a purchase.

So have your research done first – that includes trying equipment out. Narrow your search down to 2 or 3 choices. You can then use eBay to find the best price available on these short listed items.

As always with eBay do your research on the vendors as well. Check their reputation/feedback etc. The thing with used golf clubs is that many of the auctions will be from private sellers who may not use eBay very often. If this is the case just use your common sense.Ask them questions about the condition of the equipment – make sure they have photo’s of every club. If they don’t ask them to take some.

Good luck with the bargain hunting

CC

www.WhoWantsCheapGolf.com

Taylor Made is due to release it’s all new Burner Irons in march and expect to see great returns with them.  Having taken a look at them they are a vast improvement from prior models.  This iron is much more compact and crisp from the prior model.  The 2009 Burner Iron Set is everything you’ve come to expect from Taylor Made and more.  Definately worth looking at.

By:  Grant Garrison, PGA

Pro Golf Training Center.com

Many parents ask me if their child can get a golf Scholarship. My answer is always yes as long as we have time to develop skills and promote the time to contact the colleges of choice. I recommend using Letics, your child can put together a golf profile for free which will help them get recognized by college coaches. You can upload golf swings and tournament film for coaches to view. For a small fee, your child can search for colleges based on location, grades, major, sports, etc. Go to Letics.com

Start Early – The best time to start is as a Freshman in High School. As a a Sophmore it’s not too late but you must get started soon. As a Junior it is getting late, and as a Senior it is doubful that your son will get recognized.

Grades – Their are more academic scholarships available than sports scholarships. Often, coaches will reward an academic scholarship and a spot on the team. This help the coaches form a great team. Bottom line, good grades give you a much better chance.

High School Golf – Making the High School Golf Team is great but not neccessary. In fact, many students make the mistake of only playing on the High School team and ignoring the steps necessary in attaining a golf scholarship. Doing well in big junior tournaments and building a great profile will make the biggest difference. Junior golf tournaments are held all year in Southern California with the biggest events played in the summer.

Make Contact – It is up to the student to make themselves known to coaches. Golf coaches are not able to contact potential students until the summer of their Junior year but the student MUST make themselves known to the coaches well before this time.

Get a PGA Pro – Create a relationship with a PGA Golf Instructor. Most of these teaching Pro’s played in college and can explain life as a college golfer. They can also write references and make calls to the college coaches on the students behalf.

Community Service – Coaches today are staying away from the pre madonna athletes. They are looking for good kids who will represent their school and team well. I recommend getting involved with charities or community outreach programs. Remember, it’s ultimately not about the prize, it’s about how you live your life.

Well, I think first we should clear up why we are only testing 3 Woods and not 3’s and 5’s. The reason is simple, why group them? Some golfers hit a 3 wood and don’t hit a 5; some hit a 5 and not a 3, so we wanted to test them differently. Got a problem with that? Talk to Paul (just kidding).

The 3 Wood is such an interesting club for so many reasons. Depending on skill level and personal preference, most golfers consider the use of this club for a wide variety of shots. Although the brand junkies will disagree, it seems that most golfers are not as concerned with the brand of the 3 wood as they are with other categories.

High Handicappers often use it when their Driver isn’t working off the tee (although most 3 woods are not designed to be hit off a tee, so I’ve learned). Others use it for a hopeful, yet low percentage shot to reach the green in 2 on a par 5. So distance seems to be a big deal for 3 woods, along with the obvious forgiveness. Low Handicappers are usually concerned with feel, ball flight and accuracy, although everyone seems to want more distance. In my humble opinion, Senior’s are mostly concerned with distance, but the look and feel of a club are close behind. Accuracy is also an important consideration. For shots that they previously hit with their long irons, they now use a hybrid. Some of their older friends are replacing their hybrids with fairway woods…

Women are more concerned with the look (and weight) of the club initially, but want performance (distance) and feel too. For them, this club is hit more times in an average 18 than men. It appears to be inconsequential to them what club someone else is hitting.

Prior to the Rankmarkers testing and rating the clubs, the anticipation of trying the new products from almost 27 choices was incredible. (click here for a list).

“It’s like a standing on the first tee of a course you’ve always wanted to play, you just feel excited and breathe it in” said one of the Rankmarkers waiting to hit.

We honestly don’t know many golfers who aren’t very interested in what’s new, or what the latest and greatest products are.  Many club makers gave us product that isn’t even on the market yet! We all love brand new stuff!

It was another amazing test. The Rankmarkers lined up and we had perfect weather in January for them. Paul and I never get tired of hearing golfers talk about trying the new clubs. Numerous testers were very pleasantly surprised with the experience. The “AHA” factor as Paul so eloquently puts. (click here to read Paul’s article).

Unlike the wedge test, we had different shaft flexes for the testers to choose from. We had Stiff, Regular, Senior’s and Women’s. Some shafts were categorized as Lite/Light and even Medium Lite (for either Women or Seniors presumably).

In a recent radio interview, I commented that there is obviously some benefit to the massive sums of money that the “biggies” spend on R&D. In this month’s test, it seems to have paid off for the number one and two categories respectively.

That being said, our methodology proves that not all of the clubs that the majors make match their advertising claims (you may notice there are no club manufactures ads on the site anymore). There were some very interesting comments about clubs from companies you may have never heard of! This was especially true in the “Overall Winner” category. The 3rd Place club was preferred and recommended over 25 other options! Although relatively well know in another county, we were happy to invite them into the winners circle here in our wonderful USA.

Kudos again to Brad Booth, PGA Head Professional and John Ortega, PGA Director of Instruction at the Costa Mesa Golf & Country Club for all their help. Carolyn Tashiro, our Manager of National Testing also worked tirelessly in preparation, during and post testing, thanks!

By adding 18 new test categories (including Women’s), we feel like we really improved our ability to share with you (without any influence from the manufacturers) how regular golfers really feel about the clubs. We appreciate your trust and recognize the responsibility in producing unbiased reporting of what our testers say. Once again we heard so many wonderful compliments about the way the test was conducted and the overall experience. A most enjoyable time was had by all.

We simply wish to provide valuable information to all golfers, whether new to the game or seasoned low handicapper. Of particular note, we do find a huge void in the “performance” aspect of the women’s clubs though. Manufacturers must make more of an effort to improve the performance of women’s clubs as well as the look and feel etc.

Thanks for visiting and keep coming back!
Andrew Birnbaum, CEO
Paul McCormack, COO

There is a moment that almost all golfers hope to experience – the “Aha” moment, or more specifically, “Did I just hit that ball perfectly straight, right down the middle of fairway?!?!?” At Rankmark’s most recent test, I experienced that “Aha” moment.

On January 15, we staged a 3 wood test at Costa Mesa Golf and Country Club. Over 20 manufacturers submitted their clubs for testing. We had plenty of products to test from all of the major manufacturers and well as many of the lesser known brands. As the number of testers thinned out, just for fun, I took advantage of the break to swing the clubs myself. I hit about 15 of the clubs, making mental notes of which clubs I liked, which clubs offered the most forgiveness, which clubs looked the most appealing, just as the testers had done throughout the day. Then it happened. I picked up “THE” club.

Now, I suspect that you want to know which club I am talking about. If I told you which club created an “Aha” moment for me, you may decide to buy it. That would be a mistake. The fact that this club amazed me is really inconsequential. It is one data point, and one data point does not make a test. (In my previous article, I talked about the limitations of a golf club review versus a test).

But, read on…….

Back to my “Aha” moment – my first shot with “THE” club sailed down the range on the prettiest line I have ever seen (ok, I am biased, but it was a GREAT looking shot). As I followed the ball in flight, I literally leaned forward in amazement. “Did I just hit that ball?” On shot number two, I did what many golfers tend to do. I tried to hit a bad shot to show that the previous shot was just lucky. I swung the club again and the ball launched on an even prettier trajectory and landed approximately 20 yards past my first shot. I looked at the club in utter disbelief. I could not believe that I had hit both shots so effortlessly. But, could I do it a third time? No chance, I thought. But let’s just see…….again, the ball sailed down the range. I started laughing like a little kid. This is just fun! I hit three more shots in quick succession, all of them looked, and felt perfect. Rest assured this club is already in my bag.

My “Aha” moment was certainly not the only time a golfer found “their” club. I talked to numerous golfers that found the club that worked for their swing. There is nothing more gratifying than watching a golfer smile to themselves as they looks down the range at a shot that he they are proud of hitting. Throughout the day, we heard testers say, “I really didn’t know if I would like that club, but when I hit it…..I really liked it!” or words to that effect. I talked to at least five golfers that told me that they didn’t even carry a 3 wood in their bag, yet they had just tested a club that they planned to buy.

The testers that had an “Aha” moment obviously ranked that club accordingly. Alternatively, there were a number of clubs that testers uniformly disliked. I stood by one station and watched golfer after golfer hit a well known brand. After “spraying” shots down the range, they often stuffed the club back in the bag with disdain.

The key point to remember is that by testing all of the clubs that we had gathered, the testers had the opportunity to go play with clubs that they typically would not have considered due to brand loyalty, their fellow golfer’s recommendations etc. By reading the test results on Rankmark.com you will be able to determine the best 3 wood for your game (men’s high handicap, men’s low handicap, seniors or women). Our testing goes beyond the marketing message that numerous manufacturers present, “Buy OUR club. You will drive the ball further and straighter” or “Buy OUR club, we have a larger face so it is more forgiving”. None of the clubs we test have a marketing message attached to the shaft; the club must submit to the ultimate test, can the golfer hit the ball straight and true?

In essence, Rankmark’s tests are a collection of “Aha” moments, as well as “That was ok, but not great” and the dreaded, “What was that!” when the ball shoots off the club at an angle that appears to defy physics. Our mission is simple; we want you, the loyal visitor to use the test results to narrow the search for your next club. I know that next time I am on a par 5 and trying to get home in 2, I’ll be reaching for “THE” club.

P.S. For those of you that read the whole article, here is your reward. “THE” club did place in the rankings. Where? That’s a secret…..

Paul McCormack
COO