Precision Putting Trainer

Grade: B+

Since putting is fully one half of the game of golf, it makes sense that half of all your practice should be with the flat stick. (For those of you who hadn’t thought about it, consider this: Half of all the par strokes on a course are for putting. Par 3: one stroke to get on; two for putting. Par 4: two to hit the green; two for putting. Par 5: three to reach in regulation; two for putting.)

Drive for show. Putt for dough.

There’s another maxim to consider here also: Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.

If you’ve ever been to a PGA Tour, Champions Tour or LPGA event, you’ll see the pros hard at work on the practice greens with their caddies and coaches, relying on their experienced eyes to detect small flaws in alignment, angle, position and tempo. They know that a good putting stroke is the difference between playing on the weekend and a missed paycheck.

You and I, however, generally don’t have the advantage of working with our own personal putting coaches. We do, however, have a wide variety of putting trainer gizmos.

The Putting Technologies Precision Putting Trainer is a simple device that’s designed to address many putting issues, including alignment, face angle, ball position and smoothness of stroke. It consists of a yellow rod on a clamp which you attach to your putter shaft and align with its face. A second, ladder-like structure hangs swinging from the rod, and lines up perpendicular to the clubface, showing the putting line.

As you stand over the ball, the yellow rod should run parallel to the face. If your club face is open or closed on your grip, you’ll see it immediately. Ball position is correct if the hanging ladder appears bisects its circumfrence. The ladder element also has a red stripe running along its length. If your eyes are properly above the ball, the red stripe disappears from view.

In making your stroke, the ladder’s top should remain relatively level, whereas a large rocking motion would indicate a certain lack of smoothness. The yellow top of the ladder also offers a stroke line.

Overall, this is a pretty useful tool for working on the details of your putting game. The Precision Putting Trainer offers a lot of feedback and is light enough to leave your “feel” unaffected. Some other devices I’ve tried are so heavy as to be actually detrimental. It comes in a neat plastic tray that will easily fit into your golf bag.

I’ve done some good work with the Precision Putting Trainer over the past few months—albeit on the sun room carpet. I think it’s helped with my alignment, and in keeping the face steady. But I’m still waiting to see if this translates into better scoring on the course.

My one complaint—and the reason it didn’t get an A—is that I found it frustratingly difficult to align the yellow rod with the face of my putter. It shouldn’t be so hard, but it’s tricky. Its my own clumsiness, I suppose, but every time I tried to adjust it a minute bit, I ended up moving it a mile.

Still, a very good putter training product.

PRO ACTIVE SPORTS Ultimittens Push Cart Mitts

Grade: A
Teacher’s Comments: An essential piece of winter golfing equipment.

I’ve got just one thing to say about Ultimittens: Brilliant!

ProActive Sports’ Ultimittens are a set of heavy duty, waterproof, windproof mittens designed to attach to the handle of a golf push cart. In between shots, as you push your cart about, you just slip your hands into the Ultimittens where they stay comfortably warm. Even better: there are pockets on the mitts for those ubiquitous chemical handwarmer packages.

I’ve used the Ultimittens on numerous walking rounds in the winter. One that’s open all year ‘round is Fox Hills in Plymouth, Michigan. But like most courses open in the winter in Michigan, it’s walking only. So all of those propane heaters, zip up plastic covers and the like designed for power carts are about as useless as a liberal in a gunfight.

Nearly all of the brave souls on the course on thee cold days are pushing or pulling a cart.  But I generally am the only one with Ultimittens. They are brave, but foolish. If you are playing in the cold, you NEED Ultimittens.

GEL Ruby Putter
Grade: A-
Teacher’s Comments: Putts as true as any I have ever used.

Few ever notice, but when a ball is struck by a putter, it gives a little hop, then skids for a moment before starting to roll toward the hole. The hop is caused by the loft of the putter. However small, a ball sitting on a green causes a small indentation, and putter loft is necessary to get it up and rolling.

After the hop, the ball has more forward momentum than spin. so it skids until its forward speed matches its forward roll. As anyone who has ever experienced one in a vehicle knows, skids are very hard to control; this also is true of a skid with a golf ball. The skid on a golf ball is unlikely to be very straight.

In pursuit of a more accurate putter, many companies are working on eliminating that hop and skid, and starting the ball rolling mroe quickly. Some have tried it with soft inserts that are designed to keep contact with the ball longer; others are using a milled pattern on the face, or a grooved insert.

Two of the biggest names in the grooved insert anti-skid designs are Yes! with its C-Groove and TaylorMade with its ASGI (Anti Skid Groove System Insert). Add to that list Groove Equipment Limited (GEL), a company founded by the former CEO of Yes Golf Asia Pacific. Alec Pettigrew.

GEL makes six putter models, all featuring an aluminum insert that has been cut with grooves designed to get the ball rolling faster (i.e., less skid). The six models—each named after a precious stone—range from a standard toe weighted blade to more exotic designs.

I have been playing with the Ruby model for a month now, and am very impressed with the results. Essentially the same size, weight and shape as my Scotty Cameron putter, the GEL Ruby is nonetheless much more accurate.

There’s no real way to describe in words just how well this putter performs, though. I could tell you about how I’ve knocked down every three to five footer I’ve faced; or about the thirty footers I had no business making; or about the number of one putts I’ve scored. But the biggest measure is in the number of complements on my putting that I’ve received from playing partners.

The putter’s performance just terrific.

If I have a complaint about the putter is that it looks awful (but beauty is in the eye of the beholder). The head’s tarnished finish doesn’t appeal to me, the aluminum insert is a strange blue, and the grip has very loud blue and yellow stripes.  Further, the GEL logo looks like it was designed by a middle schooler.

Overall, it just looks cheap—like the kind of putter you find in a KMart.

I think that the company needs to talk to a professional designer. A premium putter needs exude quality.

That said, I still would play with it every day. I’m just not sure that people would give it a second look when there are so many more handsome putters on the shelves of the pro shops.

C9 Ti Face Insert

Grade: A-
Comments: You get very good value with these clubs.

This past summer, I got into the market for a second set of golf clubs. My intent was to have a set that I could leave at the Inlaws’ cottage in “Up North” Michigan, so that I don’t have to cart my bag back and forth on short jaunts.

After looking at a variety of options, including new sets on clearance, and used clubs, I decided instead to get a set from GigaGolf. I was intrigued by the technology behind the C9 Titanium Face irons and attracted by GigaGolf’s relatively low prices. I have had good luck with GigaGolf clubs before and given that GigaGolf offers a 30 day playability guarantee, I figured I had nothing to lose.

One of the nice things about ordering from GigaGolf is that you can customize things to your specifications, choosing which clubs are included in the set, grip type and size, shaft type and flex, and adjust length loft and lie. I ordered a 4-SW, plus a gap wedge. Passing on the GigaGolf grips, I had the set made with Lamkins—my favorite. Grip size was standard, but I also could have ordered them in midsize, jumbo, small or junior.

For the shaft, I decided to go with GigaGolf’s standard True Temper Feather Flight. The online fitting wizard recommended a firm flex (between standard and stiff), regular length and standard loft and lie. I stuck with the recommendations. GigaGolf offers twelve different steel and graphite shafts, so I could have had pretty much anything I wanted.

The ordering process was easy, and communication was good. I got emails confirming my purchase, telling me when the building process started, and when the clubs were shipped. There was a brief delay because of a shortage of the heads, but I was kept apprised of the situation.

From first glance, I could tell that the clubs were well made. As a clubmaker, I know the telltale signs of a poor construction job: ferrules that are not flush, stray bits of epoxy, mis-aligned grips,  inconsistently placed shaft bands and so on. Every one of the GigaGolf C9 irons was well built. Ferrules blended smoothly with the hosels, meaning that they had taken the time to turn them, since no ferrule ever fits properly on a first try. The grips all were aligned consistently. The clubs had been cleaned and wiped free of any stray epoxy. It was clear to me that they had been expertly made by a clubmaker who cares. I haven’t taken one apart to see whether the cuts were even and smooth, but I have no reason to believe otherwise.

Grade: A
Teacher’s Comments: Useful for protecting an injured hand.

The Bionic Golf glove was the subject of some controversy a couple of years ago when the USGA judged them unfit. After a couple of rounds of suits and countersuits, the USGA approved the glove under certain conditions.

Last week, as I was packing things up in my classroom, I managed to bruise my right hand pretty badly. It’s so bad, in fact, that every shot has become painful.

I could stop playing for a while to give it a chance to heal—and indeed, that’s what Mrs. GolfBlogger, the nurse, recommended. But that wold mean giving up a week of an already short Michigan golf season.

So I stopped by my local pro shop and got a right hand Bionic glove. And I’ve been very pleased with the product.

Designed by an orthopedic hand surgeon, the Bionic Glove has twelve pads on the palm and fingers designed to offer relief to painful hands. The pre-curved fit allows a player to grip the club more lightly, while still maintaining control. Lycra inserts across the knuckles keep the glove flexible.

The glove works as advertised. The padding has protected the bruises and allowed me to play without further pain or injury. Because I don’t actually have arthritic hands, I can’t attest to the Bionic Glove’s effectiveness in that respect. But I imagine that it would work very well.

Grade: B-
Teacher’s Comments: It can help, but you still have to know where your ball went.

Every golfer has had the experience of watching a ball roll just off the fairway and then—upon arriving at the location—finding that it is nowhere in sight. Nestled amongst a tuft of grass, the ball stubbornly refuses to be found. I can’t count the number of shots I’ve added to my score on account of balls lost in plain sight.

Visiball claims to have the solution, and indeed, in many situations, they’re right.

Visiball glasses are designed with special tinted lenses that turn everything in your view into a shade of blue—except the golf ball, which stands out as a glowing white. if you’ve got the right general area, and any portion of the ball is visible, these glasses will make it easier to find. You can see the effect in the image below:

I’ve found that the glasses work very well when the ball’s in the rough, and isn’t immediately spotted. With these glasses, white really stands out.

But that’s also the first limitation of the glasses. Everything that’s white really stands out—scraps of paper, the underside of leaves, and other bits. I usually see a couple of likely targets before hitting on the real thing. Sometimes I see a LOT of white spots.

Of course, the glasses also don’t help if the ball is under something, or behind something. There’s got to be enough of the ball exposed to cast a glow. I don’t think it works very well in shaded areas. And you still need to have a good idea of where the ball landed

But for what it’s intended for, the Visiball works pretty well. When a quick visual scan doesn’t turn up the ball, I put on the Visiball glasses, and take another look. If I’ve got the right area, and the ball is in the open, it turns up pretty quickly.

At the instigation of a couple of my readers, I bought a fifteen pack of the new Top Flite D2 Distance balls and tested them for a round. I played two balls, using the Top Flite on every hole and alternating between the HX Hot and the Bridgestone E6 for the other.

My initial impression of the Top Flite D2 is that it’s pretty good. It had excellent distance off the tee with driver and fairway woods; indeed, I hit a couple of titanic drives with it. The D2 outflew the E6, but generally didn’t seem to go as far as the HX Hot (with a couple of exceptions). I couldn’t detect any difference in the feel between the balls off the tee.

I liked the D2s less with irons off the fairway, though. There, I don’t think that they held up as well as either comparison ball in terms of flight. I like my iron shots to soar into a green, stopping quickly. I get that shot with both the HX Hot and the E6. I thought the Top Flite noticably lower, leading to shots that skipped off the back of the green. It’s something that I could adjust to, but I’m not sure I want to.

As for feel, I honestly can’t be sure whether or not these are the rock flites of old. I want to say that I didn’t like the feel of the D2 as much as the HX Hot or the Bridgestone, but dont know how honest I can be about that. LIke many golfers, I was traumatized by the Rock Flites. The idea of them being a “feel ball” just sounds absurd.

Durability of the ball was good. My irons didn’t tear it up (unlike Nikes) and I bounced one off a cart path with little effect.

The core technology of the new Top Flites is the Dimple-in-Dimple pattern on the cover. And it’s exactly what it sounds like. There’s a smaller dimple inside of each of the regular ones. Top Flite says that’s supposed to preduce drag and create more lift. Their mantra is “distance through aerodynamics, not hard ball compression.”

In the end, I don’t think I’d switch to the D2 Distance. Still, for the price, I can recommend that you give them a try. There’s enough there that you may find a ball you really like to play.