Product Review: Ballzee

** PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS SITE HAS OFFICIALLY MOVED TO MY NEW URL, RUBOFTHEGREEN.ORG, BUT I WILL BE POSTING TO BOTH SITES FOR THE TIME BEING **

Did you ever notice how Phil and Tiger toss their golf balls to Bones and Stevie once they mark them on the green? Me too. I've often wondered why golf ball cleaners are only located on the tees on a golf course, when as we all know, one of the most critical times for a golf ball to be free of any kind of dirt and grime is on the green. Of course the reason is because there's really nowhere to locate a ball cleaner around the green and have it be out of play our out of the way.

Ballzee Golf Ball CleanerEnter the Ballzee. The Ballzee is one of those products that is so simple, yet so handy. It's one of those "why didn't I think of that?" type of products.

The way the Ballzee works is simple. It's a plastic outer shell that surrounds a cloth-like interior. Before you tee off on the first hole, you simply put water on the cloth interior, put the Balzee in your pocket, and then you have it to clean your golf ball on the green.

I've found it works surprisingly well, especially this time of year, when conditions find my golf ball picking up a lot more mud and dirt than usual. I can tell it will also be handy later on in the year when my local course likes to sand the greens and my golf ball ends up picking up a lot of sand either when it lands on the green, or after my initial putt.

Anyway, click on this link if you are interested at all in the Ballzee, and especially if you want to look into getting a bunch as gifts or door prizes for a golf outing. They're not too expensive, and they really do work very well.

New Home for Rub of the Green

For those of you using http://rubofthegreen.blogspot.com to access this site, please update your links to point to http://rubofthegreen.org. I am in the process of moving this site to another host, a change which should take place in the next day or so. If you were previously using http://rubofthegreen.org to access this site, obviously you won't need to do anything, other than wait for the servers to update to point to the new site. Again, that should take place in just a day or two.

Norman on Tiger-Phil...

Greg Norman says that he thinks Tiger and Phil are equal in every way, except for the mental game and putting.  He goes on to say that Tiger is the best clutch putter he has ever seen and that Tiger has an advantage on Phil on putts over nine feet.  While I don't disagree with the Shark's opinions, I would also add that I think Tiger has the edge on Phil on putts inside nine feet.  Phil can't make a 3 foot putt under pressure and we all know it.

Does it Really Matter?

According to this article, Tiger could lose the #1 spot to Phil in a couple of weeks, providing Tiger doesn't win this week and Phil does win next week.  But Tiger has been on the bench for the last 8 months.  So does it really matter?  Will it prove anything?

It's akin to saying that Scottie Pippen will outscore Michael Jordan, providing Pippen scores 40 and Jordan only plays 30 seconds.

I'm not one of these people who say that Padraig Harrington's two major wins last year don't really count because Tiger wasn't playing, but this... is a non-story.

Spring Fever

I am hardly able to contain my excitement at the knowledge of Spring, and therefore golf season, being on its way.  I have been lucky enough to play two rounds this year so far, and hope to take advantage of some fair weather the latter part of this week to get a couple more rounds in.  Other than my new driver, I am excited to borrow a friend's GPS unit he received this past Christmas.  I play the same course 99% of the time, but I am excited to see how much having a rangefinder, even on a course I know pretty much by heart, will affect my game.

 

I am pretty much a 15 handicapper and have been at that level for the past couple of years.  I shot a couple of easy 83's last year, and (if memory serves)an 81, and am anxious to see if I can build on that success and actually break 80 this year.  I know that's a tall order, as breaking 80 is one of the big stepping stones in the game of golf, but I have the luxury of knowing that I have done it already, with a 77 several years ago.  So maybe I won't go all deer in the headlights when that day arrives.

 

Also am looking forward to reigniting a rivalry that has slowly been building the past couple of years, a fathers vs sons scramble on Sundays.

 

All in all I am looking for a great year of golf, and hope everyone else enjoys the same.  Just remember one of my favorite golf quotes of all time... "you don't HAVE to go play golf, you GET to go play golf."

 

Enjoy your year, everyone.

I Thought it was back in January...

Last week after I heard the announcement that Tiger was coming back this week, I mentioned to some friends that the PGA Tour season was finally upon us. According to this article, I suppose I wasn't the only one with that thought. But you see, I was joking. You see, I was making jest of the fact that a lot of people (mainly media) truly thought that the last several weeks of the season didn't mean anything and that the season didn't start until Tiger returned. In fact, those same people probably would tell you that the 2008 season ended after the US Open last year, even though there were two majors and lots and lots of tournaments still on the books.

I can tell you this: there are quite a few PGA Tour members out there who would tell you that the season did in fact start the first week of January, even though Tiger and Phil didn't really show up until this past week. There are a lot of players out there who would tell you that, you know what? The Tour does exist without the 2 or 3 or 5 people that you see week in and week out on TV, and that typically, believe it or not, there are more than 100 pros who show up each week with the hopes of making the cut, winning the tournament, feeding their family.

The PGA Tour is more than 1, 2 or 5 pros. And the sooner they and the media and the fly-by-night fans figure that out, the better.

Wie are Finally Legit

I will be very interested this week to watch Michelle Wie in her first "official" event on the LPGA tour. I say "official" of course, because this will be her first tournament as a Q-School Grad, official card-carrying member of the LPGA Tour.

I was never really into all the hype surrounding Michelle, not because I have anything against her, but because I tend to not believe in the praise, and therefore privilege, that tends to be given to athletes in any sport before they have actually proven themselves at the highest level. I am not a fan of college basketball players getting million dollar contracts before they ever lace up a professional shoe, nor do I like golfers receiving multi-million dollar deals before they ever win a professional tournament.

At any rate, I do wish Michelle the best of luck this season and hope that her struggles are behind her and hope that she will eventually turn into the force that the LPGA hopes she will become.