Bad Ass Custom Golf Carts of Las Vegas offers some of the most amazing buggies I’ve ever seen.

The California Roadster shown above is $12,000. It’s too rich for my blood, but Vegas is full of high rollers.

When I was at the PGA Championship, I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly the players moved along. Play was relatively quick in the fairways, as players moved swiftly from the tees to their next shot, selected their clubs and hit again as soon as the green ahead was clear. I actually had a hard time keeping up with the Garcia, Kim, Villegas group.

But on the greens, everything slowed to a standstill. If on television you see players standing in the fairway, taking endless practice swings, it’s likely they’re just waiting for a group on the green to finish.

It’s not at all evident on tv. There, you see a player making his putt, not the five minutes of deliberation that precedes it. And while you may see a player taking a pile of practice swings, television doesn’t show you that the reason for the delay is his fear of hitting someone.

I’m not the only one to notice the delay on the greens. Noted putter designer Scotty Cameron also has noted the amount of time wasted by Tour players as they go back and forth between ball and hole to make sure everything is properly aligned.

So Cameron did what inventors do: he came up with a solution.

The Ball Tool is a flat piece of metal with a circular indentation and a series of alignment marks. This lets the player line up the putt even after the ball is marked. When it’s time to replace the ball, you just align the ball’s sidestamp with the proper line.

Cameron hopes to sell a bazillion of these at $44 starting in September.

I’m just hoping he sells gives one to each of the Tour players and it speeds up the action on the green.

Z TECH Club Caddy

This device was the winner of The Golf Channel’s Fore Inventors Only competition It clips onto the shaft of your club, turning it into a small tripod. You can then set your club down on the ground, while still keeping the grip out of the dew, mud and dirt.

Golf Dotz

Grade: A
Teacher’s Comments: A neat idea.

Rule 12-2 of the Rules of Golf states that “Each player should put an indentification mark on his ball.” For most, that means putting a couple of dots on our balls with a sharpie. I like to draw little doodles. You could also go in for one of thse deals where you get a few dozen balls done with a custom print job.

Now there’s another option: Golf Dotz.

Golf Dotz are small decorative decals (the manufacturer wants people to call them golf ball tattoos) that easily stick to your ball as an identifying mark. They come in a variety of symbols, such as skulls, bobs, four leaf clovers, smilies, hearts, flames, aliens, card symbols (hearts, spades, diamonds, clubs),bugs, cats and dogs and the ubiquitous computer power-on symbol (you know, the circle with the verticle line extending from it).

I had three major concerns about the Dotz when I first heard about them. Then I got a sample pack from the manufacturer and all my rears were alleved.

The first concern was that they would be hard to apply. I’m a modeler, and know just how tricky decals can be. But Golf Dotz couldn’t have been easier. You just cut the image out of the sheet and press it to the ball for five seconds or so until it releases from the sheet.

My second concern was that the decals would be thick enough to affect a ball’s performance. Golf Dotz turned out to be incredibly thin, and flexible enough that they conformed exactly to the ridges of a Callaway hex ball. Running my fingers over them, I couldn’t detect their presence.

And finally, I was worried that the decals wouldn’t last for long. The manufacturer claims that you’ll lose your ball before the decal wears off. They’re right. I played two rounds with a single Callaway HX Hot, and the ball showed far more scruffs than the decal (actually, the ball was beat to death, but that’s another issue).

Each pack contains enough decals for two dozen balls at a retail price of around $5. They’d make a good stocking stuffer or small gift for the golfer in yoru life. You can get them at Golf Galaxy

What’s the big deal about electric cars, like the upcoming Chevrolet Volt? Golfers have been using them for years. You can get 20 miles in a golf cart on a ten hour charge.

Now, it seems that golf carts are becoming “street legal” vehicles in a number of towns. Currently, 26 states allow the use of golf cars on local streets.