Buy Golf Clubs in Bangkok

The "average golfer" doesn't really prepare properly at the beginning of each season. As a matter of fact, most players find themselves on the golf course not only in poor physical shape but with equipment that is either missing or in need of repair.

Every spring, you need to properly prepare both your body and your equipment for the grueling thousands of swings that you will make this season. The old saying "if you fail to plan, then plan to fail" certainly is true.

Plan on having a checkup with your personal physician. This will not only help to prevent injuries but also to help treat conditions that are associated with the golf swing. Bad backs, shoulders, elbow and hip problems are common concerns with our aging golfer population. Proper diagnosis and treatment for these common ailments will ensure that your performance on the golf course is maintained and that your swings are pain free buy golf clubs thailand Golfers that ignore pain, often find themselves sidelined for the better part of the golf season.

Gradual preparation is the best way to begin any sport activity. I suggest starting off your first couple of practice sessions at the range with only your irons. Make sure to warm up and stretch at the beginning of every practice session. Start off each practice session around the green with short chip and pitch golf shops in bangkok shots and eventually work yourself into your full swings. If you are planning to hit the links this weekend, I recommend that you start by playing 9 holes rather than a full 18. You will enjoy your game more and quickly realize that your swing and short game will need some fine tuning.

It's a good idea to check all your equipment at the beginning of the season. Start by cleaning all your clubs to ensure that the grooves on all your irons are free from grass and soil. If you want to maximize the spin on your ball when you hit your approach shots, then these grooves must be clean.

Also check your golf shoes for missing cleats and replace them with new cleats that match your brand of shoe.

It's also not a bad idea to clean out your entire golf bag from last season. Check to make sure that you have an ample supply of new golf balls and tees and I recommend starting off each season with a new glove when buying golf clubs in bangkok thailand. Lastly, have a look at your grips to see if any are damaged and need replacing. If your grips are shiny and slippery, then it's time to replace them. The cost is marginal compared to buying new clubs. New grips feel better and will help you develop a more fluent and tension- free swing.

Start off this season by allowing more time before you play a round to practise and warm up. Preparing yourself properly before a full round of golf is the key to playing better golf shops thailand. Arriving at the golf club, even 30 minutes before your tee time, will give you sufficient time to stretch, warm up and hit a few balls before you play. Finish up your warm up around the practice green with a few short pitch shots and putts to get your touch around the greens.

Many of our local courses are now open for the season. If you get a chance to play this weekend, then make sure that you are prepared. Have fun, enjoy the fresh air and exercise and most importantly don't take your first rounds of the season too seriously!

Top Flite Rap Video

I never thought I would write this, but golf has its first rap video and it's well done, clever and just the thing the game needs.

"We Never Lay Up," with its rapping super hero, D2 Man, has become one of the latest viral videos on YouTube. It debuted March 6 and within a week it had more than 900,000 views. Even more impressive than that, the video also has helped change the old, sullied image of Top-Flite golf balls.

I've always been a premium-ball snob and I'm more conservative than Bill O'Reilly on the golf course. So, I'm not exactly the target audience for Top-Flite's message of no-holds-barred aggressive golf told through the warbling narrative of a paunchy singer in tights. But I was a sucker from the start.

How could I not be? D2 Man looks like a cross between Mr. Incredible and Space Ghost. He has a soul patch, two fetching backup singers, a tricked-out golf cart and he dances the cabbage patch and the running man. While he's not exactly Kanye West, D2 Man raps with enough bravado that makes him seem credible and even a little cool.

The shocker is that D2 Man isn't even a rapper. He's a corporate suit! Nate Randle, Top-Flite's 32-year-old senior manager of integrated marketing, plays the character he and Top-Flite brand director Paul English, 35, created last summer.

The story of the D2 Man is simple. Early in 2006, English and Randle were charged with resurrecting Top-Flite's abysmal sales and poor reputation. In 2007, they came out with the D2 ball and its unique dimple-in-dimple, aerodynamic design. The ball sold well and even won an innovation award from Time magazine.

English and Randle wanted to continue the momentum and devised a rap video to present at the company's global sales meeting in September. Randle, who says he has been "rapping since diapers," and English wrote the lyrics in two hours. The video was shot in two days at corporate headquarters in Carlsbad, Calif., and in less than a month the video was completed.

"When we saw the initial cut," Randle said, "we showed it to a very small, selective group here internally, and everyone loved it so much that we thought, 'Man, I wonder if after we hit the sales meeting with this we'll be able to do something more with it?' "

The video was a huge success at the September sales meeting, but it was held back from release with the dormant winter sales months approaching. When the video exploded on YouTube, Randle said it wasn't hard to understand its appeal.

"Who in golf has a rap video right now?" he said. "Nobody in golf is willing to step outside of the features-and-the-benefit story and connect on a different level. How many more times can a golfing consumer hear that a golf ball is longer and softer, that a driver is longer and has more MOI (moment of inertia)? There's only so many times the golfing consumer can hear that and really, truly believe the message."

In this case, hearing truly is believing. Just like Randle and English, the video doesn't shy away from the truth about Top-Flite and opens with this verse:

"They said the brand was dead, 6 feet under/Sales were declinin' so it's no wonder.

"Brand so bad couldn't get no lowa/Then the D2 Man came along to run the showa."

English, who has an MBA from the University of Michigan, said the video's irreverent approach helps promote Top-Flite's two new balls -- the Gamer and the Freak -- and also gives the product a newer and more robust identity.

"We're not just talking about the new products," he said. "We're talking about going for it at all times, never laying up. I think there are people who really gravitate toward that kind of mind-set on the golf course. And what better way to communicate that than through a super hero?"

Speaking of D2 Man, Randle and English are a bit mum on plans for a sequel.

"We haven't given a whole lot of thought to what's next," Randle said. "But if it continues to go like it is, the caped one can be in Video 2 soon enough."

To view the video, visit freep.com/sports or search D2 Man at YouTube.

TaylorMade Vs Ping

I was covering a basketball tournament in Winston-Salem last month and had my days free. I also had some new clubs from TaylorMade and PING to test.

I visited a local driving range over three days and whenever there’s a guy with a bunch of new clubs – and no bag to put them in – regulars know the deal: you’re testing out clubs. And regulars always ask to hit them.

So I let them.

I was curious about their feedback.

We hit the TaylorMade CGB Max irons, fairways, hybrids and drivers – the company’s high technology line aimed at high handicappers. Likewise, we hit PING’s G-10 line of drivers, irons, fairways and hybrids that are aimed at the same group.

There were five golfers who had a chance to hit everything during my visit. Three told me they were sub 10 handicaps, and only one of them had a swing that made me question that claim. The other two were high handicappers.

IRONS: In the irons, we hit regular flex steel CGBs from TaylorMade and stiff graphite PINGs. All but one tester preferred the TaylorMades. The PINGS, they complained, had a bit too much offset and wanted to send the ball left. The PINGs we tested came two degrees upright, however, and could add more left bias to those who didn’t need it. Informed of that, the testers still preferred the TaylorMade.

“It provides plenty of help but isn’t bulky,” said Sam Jones, 41, from Kernersville. “It’s a high handicapper club that doesn’t look like one. I could play this easily.”

In all, all but one tester preferred the Taylors.

HYBRIDS: This was 3-2 in favor of TaylorMade but was the closet of all races. Testers worried that the diamond-shaped TaylorMade, which features a 45-gram shaft and lightweight head and lightweight grip was hard to swing fast with confidence. Two high handicappers loved it – for the same reasons. The PING was more traditional in feel and provided more consistent shots, but when hit well, the TaylorMade was longer, which swayed two testers and gave the Taylor its second win.

FAIRWAYS: The TaylorMade, again, was light with a lightweight shaft. The high handicappers loved it. The better players worried about it. The PING provided more reliable results, but like with the hybrids, when you smack the TaylorMade well, it just goes high and straight – and about 10 yards past the PING on average. DRIVERS: The PING was king here. It’s got a 45.5 inch shaft, all burnt orange colored, and a pleasing look. The moon shaped alignment aid is not as pronounced as on past models. And it is the longest stock driver I’ve hit this year. I’ve hit a Nike Sumo 5900 model that has a new Graphite Designs Tour AD YSQ shaft in it that is the current distance king.

But for out of the box, nothing beats this PING.

The Winston-Salem testers agreed, with all but one choosing the PING which also equaled the light weight, light shafted TaylorMade for dispersion. The TaylorMade, however, launches easily and once you get past the dark red coloring, it’s very easy to hit. The better players hit some very very high shots with the TaylorMade, worrying about wind performance.

-- Personally, I enjoyed all these clubs. I think the PING G10 irons had a bit too much offset for some golfers’ eye, but I didn’t find it to be super leftward leaning and with a proper fitting and proper lie angle, these soft-feeling clubs could be money for a lot of golfers.

I preferred the CGB irons because they masked their game improvement mods better, provided more confidence looking down on them and were longer. The woods I felt were a toss-up. If you need help getting it up, try the Taylors. If you want pure distance and consistent performance, try the PINGS.

I don’t think you can wrong either way.
Mickelson expected to play Callaway I-MIX At Masters

Callaway loyalist Phil Mickelson is expected to play the company’s new I-MIX interchangeable driver system at this week’s Masters. Mickelson used the I-MIX Driver in practice rounds last week at the Shell Houston Open.

I-MIX, which will debut in stores soon ($435-$500 clubheads; $185-$435 shafts) pairs interchangeable heads and shafts to provide driver customization and personalization. The new technology, which capitalizes on the U.S. Golf Association and Royal & Ancient’s rule change on club adjustability, allows golfers to reconfigure drivers on the fly. I-MIX combines the features of Callaway Golf’s top-selling FT-5 and FT-i Driver heads with over 70 shafts, offering more than 1,600 clubhead/shaft combinations—more than any other system in the industry.

“No one’s swing is the same from day-to-day – neither are the weather or the course conditions,” said Jeff Colton, Senior Vice President of Research and Development for Callaway Golf. “Our I-MIX technology allows players to quickly and easily customize their equipment, every time they play.”

News N Notes

-- Johnson Wagner, the first Charlotte resident to win on the PGA Tour in 20 years, won the Shell Houston using the Grafalloy ProLaunch Red in his driver all four days last week while earning an automatic last chance invitation to this week’s Master’s. ProLaunch Red features a boring trajectory with optimal feel achieved using proprietary Micro-Mesh Tip technology, which offers a firm shaft without sacrificing feel.

-- Wagner played a bag full of Titelist: Pro V1x golf ball, Titleist 905R (8.5) driver, Titleist 904F (13.0) fairway metal, Titleist ZB Forged (3-9) irons, Vokey Design pitching (47), sand (54) and Spin Milled lob (60) wedges Scotty Cameron by Titleist prototype putter.

-- Titleist was the most played golf ball at the Shell Houston Open with 99 players, compared to 21 for the nearest competitor. In fact, Wagner became the ninth player to win on the 2008 PGA TOUR with a Titleist golf ball, more than all other competitors combined.

-- PING pro Lorena Ochoa’s victory at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, her third win in four events this season and second straight major dating back to last year’s Women’s British Open, came with 14 PING clubs in her bag.

Ochoa, who signed an endorsement agreement with PING in June of 2007, played a PING Rapture Driver, G10 3-wood, Rapture 5-wood and 21-degree Hybrid, S58 Irons, two Tour Wedges and a Redwood ZB Putter.

-- A new season of Golf Fitness Academy presented by Titleist returned to Golf Channel last week. There will be 10 new episodes to help golfers build a better game through fitness. For air times, visit http://www.mytpi.com/gfa/default.asp

There will be segments on controlling back pain, junior development, beginning a workout program, mobility, returning to golf after an injury, total body workout for golf, manual therapy and flexibility.