First Nine Of 2011

I got our for my first nine holes of 2011 this afternoon. I didn’t keep score, but did give a thorough test run to several products I’ve been sent for review: Acer XF Irons from Hireko.Com, an Acer XK Titanium Driver, and a pair of NIKE Lunar Control Golf Shoes

It’s difficult—and unfair—to try to judge the clubs, given my six month layoff. That said, the driver was plenty long and I discovered, begging to be hit hard. In fact, I got straighter shots and better ball flight when I went all out than when I tried to hit under control. The irons were perfectly adequate also.

I got a better read on the shoes. They fit well, but the heel area is a little wider than the Eccos I usually wear, so they felt just a tad loose. That didn’t cause any problems, however. I did get a blister on the bottom of one of my feet, but that was because I was wearing a totally inadequate pair of dress socks—I had forgotten to pack a pair of walkers in the car before heading off to work this morning.

More on all of these later.

I took the photo above to commemorate the first drive of the season. That’s the first hole at Green Oaks, in Ypsilanti, MI. According to my GPS, the drive went 220 yards, and ended up behind the small pines on the left.

The photo was taken with my Canon Xsi, 28mm lens, iso 200, f7.1, 1/500 sec. Just for fun, I ran it through a “clarity” effect in Adobe lightroom. More dramatic that way.