Golf Practice-zine, Issue #002 -- Golf Fitness Programs & World Golf Tour

That's the main focus this month, that and some other news that I think you'll find interesting. Here's the line-up:

2. Golf Travel - a recommendation if you plan on some Florida golf to escape the February blahs.

3. News about some great Canadian content at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando.

5. World Golf Tour - an upcoming online golf game that will blow your socks off!

6. An Article from Korea about their take on Golf Sponsorship costs for some PGA Tour athletes.

Well, it's February, how is your fitness program going? Here in Canada, we have anywhere from one to three months unitl golf season starts for real. Time to get ready. Here's a plan for the over 50 crowd, that you may find useful. Don't worry, we'll cover the younger crowd in later newsletters. You guys can afford to wait.

There is new evidence that emphasis should be on strength training. For the fifty plus age group, there has traditionally been a concern to focus on weight training to help slow the degeneration of muscle capacity, reduce the reduce the risk of injury. But lately, comparatively new information reported by the American Heart Association points to benefits including reduced risk of heart disease, improving balance and weight control.

The biggest plus from weight-based exercises is that, proper programming will lead to increasing your muscle mass. More muscle cells mean your body has more capacity to burn calories. Fat cells just get stored, muscle cells help increase your base metabollic rate -- your ability to burn the fuel need to perform exercises. Muscle cells will burn fat even while at rest, helping you achieve and maintain a healthier body weight.

This is not to demean aerobic exercise; walking and running are still good, but they do not increase muscle density.

A book by Wayne Westcott and Thomas Baechle, Strength Training Past 50 (Human Kinetics, 1998) cites twelve reasons you should strength train:

To benefit from strength training, the following factors should be considered when building your program:

I strongly recommend you read the book. It contains very detailed information about weight training techniques, detailed descriptions of exercises, how to choose a physical trainer, nutrition, equipment selection, characteristics of machine and free weight programs (for men and women); starting weight levels for age categories 50-59, 60-69 and 70-79. The authors have conducted detailed surveys and discuss test results from their strength research programs. This is definitely a book with integrity and experience behind its content.

Finally, the authors outline a series of suggested workouts for men and women. The programs are broken into exercises that are:(a)machine-based; or (b) free weight-based. The programs are for a 10-week period, starting with an introductory phase of five basic exercises, the program is broken into 2-week sections, after which new exercises are added. The authors even provide exercise logs for you to record number of reps, workloads and number of sets for each exercise over time. For illustration,

format for a 10-week program of machine based exercises outlined in the appendix. The image shows the first two weeks, but all 10 weeks are provided in the book.

For the list of exercises recommended for the full 10-week program, have a look at the table below:

	Exercise
Order	Week 1-2	Week 3-4	Week 5-6	Week 7-8	Week 9-10
1	Leg press	Leg press	`Leg press	Leg press	Leg extension
2	Chest press	Hip adduction	Hip adduction	Hip adduction	Leg curl
3	Compound row	Hip abduction	Hip abduction	Hip abduction	Hip adduction
4	Abdominal curl	Chest press	Chest press	Chest crossover	Hip abduction
5	Back extension	Compound row	Compound row	Super pullover	Chest crossover
6		Abdominal curl	Tricep extension	Lateral raise	Super pullover
7		Back extension	Bicep curl	Tricep extension	Lateral raise
8			Abdominal curl	Bicep curl	Tricep extension
9			Back extension	Abdominal curl	Bicep curl
10				Back extension	Abdominal curl
11					Back extension

The sample table shows five standard exercises that work the major muscle groups. Once you've made it through 10 weeks, you can continue by mixing machine and free-weight exercises, perform more sets of each exercise or go on to more advanced strength training programs laid out in the book.

The logs enable you to adjust the exercises, weight-loads and reps to tailor it to your strength level and progress. I encourage you to get the book, or visit the authors' website at:

Planning a Winter golf trip to cure the February blahs? As Canadians in the East, we go to Florida or the Carolinas; in the West, we can go to California or Arizona (or Oregon, or Washington, or, ho hum, we can just stay at home and golf).

Either way, a golf trip is good for the spirit anytime, I say. For me, I love Orlando, Florida but I haven't been many other places for golf in the states, but I'll take Orange County National Golf Course and Lodge outside Orlando anytime. I discovered it quite by accident during an outing planned for a conference I was attending back in 2002.

What a place! It was golfer heaven. You know it now as host course for the recent PGA Tour Qualifying School this past December on the Golf Channel. They have hosted the Q School at least twice now. There are two 18-hole curses, Panther Lake and Crooked Cat and an Executive course called Tooth, which was free to guests who stayed at the lodge.

Yes, free golf in Florida at one of the best practice ranges in the world (in my assessment). The range is a one-mile oval with grass hitting stations all around it. I walked up and paid about 7 bucks for a large basket of practice balls and was alone out there my first morning, happily hitting wedges into the dew-laden turf. I was quickly joined by about 80 members of a tournament organized by a business group. They were provided with large garbage buckets full of range balls. They walked up with their large baskets, dunked into the bucket and went out to warm up for their tee times. Of course, nobody knew that I wasn't part of the group. After a while I could walk up and dunk some of my own baskets and quietly tuck them away in my golf cart for later use. Turned out that wasn't necessary since when all those guys left to take their shotgun start, it was just me and about four garbage buckets left out on the range.

You see, you got a cart when you went to practice since the place was so big, you needed a cart to go anywhere. After you warm up, jump in the cart and go up over the far ridge about a quarter mile away and you are on the Tooth course applying your improved swing. Tooth is setup just like the main courses. Same grass, same bunkers, same green speed -- perfect. And it is a good test -- all holes except two are par threes from about 60 to 185 yards in length. The two par fours are both just under 300 yards.

Along side the practice range is the Phil Ritson Golf Institute, a very well appointed golf academy. Phil Ritson was a contemporary of Arnold Palmer and gave people like David Leadbetter their start in teaching the modern golf game. An ex-tour player, Ritson had many PGA and Champions Tour players at the school practicing when I was there. I saw Dick Mast(Champions Tour) and Brian Davis (then on the European Tour, now on the PGA Tour) right beside me hitting on the range. That time of year (mid-October) players were working on their games between tour seasons. There were a lot of Korean juniors attending Ritson's golf school. They didn't speak any English, but were there full time to work on their games. One of the instructors as a joke told some of them that I was a pro from Canada working on his game over the winter so they stopped by to watch me hit. I don't think they learned very much, and they made me pretty nervous.

Anyway, if you're thinking of going south, I highly recommend Orange County National (or OCN as the locals call it). The facilities are great and the Lodge has 70 suites that are very reasonably priced compared to much of Orlando. It is off the beaten track in a small community called Winter Garden but its quiet and very accessible to Disney World, the Convention Center and the rest of Orlando. In fact the PGA Merchandise show generally holds its Demo day at OCN when it hosts vendors promoting the coming year's new equipment every January.

Orange County National has been a secret for a long, long time but you should take a look, I guarantee you'll be favourably impressed.

Darrell Bachmann- GC Superintendent from Penticton, B.C. has developed and patented a product called Kickspikes. Button on the heel. Click and six metal spikes open -- two in the heel, four in the ball of the foot -- to grab the turf. Huge for course management. Retract on the greens so reduced need for fungicide and herbicide application. Soles actually better for greens that soft spikes since no mini, invisible indentations to affect putts. No spike marks to fix. Better traction for hard swingers.

Major vendors approached him at PGA Merchandise show. Callaway stopped by his booth to check it out and talk; they were very interested in his prototype shoe and its technology. and FootJoy, which wasn't even at the Show called him after he had returned to Penticton, and wanted a meetng. Ecco shoes wants to see him after the GC Superintendents' show in Florida later in February.

Time to get a good patent lawyer and talk investment deals with all the major shoe manufacturers. Good luck Darrell!

What are the the dimples on a golf ball for? The shape of a ball is not the ideal design for an object to fly its farthest. When it's hit, the rear of the ball actually decreases in diameter during the early part of the flight. As air passes over the ball, the air around it has to speed up around it, which causes turbulence as the air rushes to the vacuum left in the space immediately to the rear. This "wake" of turbulent air means there is less force on the rear of the ball than there is in its front. As a result, the turbulence acts to drag the ball, or slow it down. This is why wings on airplanes have a tapered shape, as do motorcycle helmets. The air is "streamlined" over the tapered surface, allowing the air to smoothly and quickly travel from front to back with out creating excessive drag or turbulence.

A golf ball is, of course not tapered, so turbulence has to be miminimized by some other mechanism. Dimples work by creating a thin layer of turbulence close to the ball's surface that allows the flowing air to move around the ball further and more smoothly than if it didn't have dimples at all. The drag is reduced so much, that a dimpled ball can travel twice as far as a smooth ball when hit with the same force.

Different kinds of dimples are suitable for different weather conditions? Shallow dimples generate more backspin than the deeper dots, which means more lift and a ball that stays in the air longer. Wider dimples give a higher ball flight and a longer time in the air, but allow for less control in the wind. There is lots of room for scientists and marketers alike in the game of ball design.

I am not a very big computer games person. I play a little, but frankly, the games do not excite me very much. Well, I found one that blows my socks off. You gotta see this. But be careful, this one can be addictive. It's called World Golf Tour . It's on the web and it's going to be very popular.

The game is still in "beta demo" mode, but you can go to the website and try it for free. You first register, take a few minutes while they take you through a quick intro about the game features (try out a few swings and hits, test the mouse and aiming procedure, etc) then you play nine holes of a closest-to-the-pin competition. The course is based on holes at the Bali Hai golf club in Las Vegas.

The full site is expected to go live, sometime in 2008. When it opens, management is planning to have up to six 18 hole courses in play. Right now, they have lined up the famous Ocean Course at the Kiawah Island Golf Resort, and two courses from the Pinehurst family: No. 2 and No. 8.

World Golf Tour distinguishes itself in at least three ways from other golf video games:

This is a true Web 2.0-class game, which opens up many more marketing options. They are already in the door with the PGA Tour, having used it for the Charity Challenge event last June. There are monthly prizes for best score and they are supported by some well-heeled sponsors like TaylorMade, adidas and major golf resorts.

Their management has some serious street cred when it comes to the business of electronic gaming. YuChiang Cheng, co-founder and CEO of World Golf Tour, worked for IGT/WagerWorks, a company that is a major player in the development of back-office business systems and console games for casinos and gaming sites. Inspired by the huge success of the online gaming franchise, World of Warcraft, Cheng formed World Golf Tour in June of 2006 with co-founder Chad Nelson.

Nelson, also worked at IGT/WagerWorks and helped create 70 games games for the PC and gaming industry. Mr. J.F. Prata, is the former Vice President of Product Development at Electronic Arts (EA)and while there helped develop one of my favourite games, Sim City and Tiger Woods PGA Tour.

Together the WGT team has built a game that sets a very high standard for photo-realistic golf on the web. Their key innovation, to me, is how they have adapted high definition video of actual courses to the animated ball flight and swing of a video golfer. The game simulation includes club selection, swing timing, wind direction and topographical changes that offer a truly absorbing and realistic experience on the golf course. It all feels very real.

In a recent Fortune Magazine article, author Josh Quittner wrote, "Backed by first-round funding from venture firm Battery Partners, the World Golf team has been taking high-resolution pictures of every square inch of far-flung golf courses - from Pinehurst in North Carolina to the Bali Hai Golf Club in Las Vegas - using a small fleet of helicopters and radio-controlled drones. It takes a dozen people six months and $200,000 to make one World Golf course simulation, says Cheng. But that's a bargain compared with the millions it can cost to design, animate, and distribute a conventional video or PC game. Cheng says the site will make money through advertising, sponsorship deals, and various premium offerings."

With lots of attention already and the technical know-how to lead and innovate, World Golf Tour is definitely a company to watch. I hope their business model pays off. Personally, I want to see what they do with a full 18 holes that includes putting, driving and bunker play. It could take virtual golf to a whole new level.

When golf fans worldwide viewed ``The Tank'' K.J. Choi gearing up for his final round at the Compaq Classic PGA Tour in 2002, their eyes would have seen the Superior (a Korean-based golf gear company) visor he was wearing.

Broadcast live in Korea and on major global networks, including CNN, BBC and NBC, Choi's first PGA tour victory put Superior, into new marketing territory.

"Experts estimate that Superior, a brand that was little known, enjoyed a promotional boost worth more than 300 billion won ($318.6 million U.S. dollars) just from that tour alone," Han So-hee, an analyst at Emars, a marketing study agency, said. Golf sponsorship brings a different level of marketing impact compared to any other sports in Korea.

"Golf is a game that has people stare at the players for a long period of time, consequently giving more exposure to the wardrobe they're wearing," said Kim Sung-hwan, a sales official at Superior. Kim added that unlike marketing strategies in sports like basketball and baseball, golf sponsorship leads to a direct sales boost, which is one of the major reasons why fashion retailers are all for this type of promotion.

Among the most popular golf wear brands here, Superior budgets about 500 million won ($531 million U.S.) annually on sponsorship, while FILA Korea sets aside 25 billion won ($26.6 million U.S.) and FnC Kolon estimates 20 billion won ($21.2 million U.S.).

"The cost mainly covers basic contract fees, sporting goods and incentives based on performance," said Min Sae-joong, a divisional chief at FILA Korea, which currently sponsors players, including LPGA golfers Han Hee-won and Kim Song-hee.

The marketing benefits are there, but they often do not equal or exceed the sponsors' investments in athletes.

World Golf Hall of Famer Se Ri Pak is regarded as one of the first players to prove the merits of golf sponsorship in Korea. When Pak took her first LPGA title in 1998, her sponsor was Samsung. They stated that her win was worth a promotional boost valued at $212 million U.S.

For Korean golf sponsors, Pak's stardom pretty much set the standard for succeeding years. Firms that came to the table after that saw sponsorship fees skyrocket, putting the squeeze on companies and altering the type of company that could afford such marketing.

Now, companies are starting to pay closer attention to player performance so that they ensure they get value for their sponsorship investments.

Korea has enjoyed a golfing boom in the last decade, especially on the LPGA tour, as young Korean women are increasingly spotted on tournament leaderboards. The current re-evaluation may have longer term affects.

Remember the Orlimar TriMetal? It started the trend to hybrid fairway woods -- low profile woods that were easier to hit and went farther than your driver ( a lot of the time). Well, for me, the club just disappeared. I would spy an occasional on on the used rack or eBay, but I always wondered what happened.

Then the designer, Jesse Ortiz, suddenly reappeared late last year on Golf Channel infomercials, but he wasn't talking Orlimar, he was promoting a new venture with Bobby Jones' family. A set of wedges and a new driver aimed at the high end market. But I still wondered about the story behind the demise of Orlimar. How come, a very good club failed in the marketplace?

The San Francisco Chronicle recently interviewed Ortiz around the time of the Pebble Beach PGA Tour event. They asked him for details about Orlimar and this is the story:

Jesse Ortiz, artist, craftsman and reluctant businessman, is taking another step on the comeback trail.

In the late 1990s, Jesse and his father took Orlimar from a $1 million to a $105 million business in 18 months, starting in a workshop near their home in Hayward, California.

Ortiz's father, Lou, started the company in 1960 in what was once a horse barn in San Francisco. He was very well known as a designer and maker of woods. Orlimar got the reputation of being one of the finest persimmon wood companies in golf.

"Dad was really the first to show the beauty of the wood. There was no paint, no decal on the top, no excessive logos or lettering. It was just clean. The bottom of the club would just have the number and it would just say, "Orlimar handmade." It looked like a piece of furniture."

"....There were a lot of pros that came in the late '60s or '70s that lived in the Bay Area, like Johnny Miller, John Lotz, Rod Funseth and all the guys from Northern California that lived here. What I learned early on was my dad's business was everybody else's hobby or pleasure. That was a great way to grow up."

Jesse grew into the design business naturally, being around the shop and the pros and his dad soon had him contributing. When asked about the origin of the TriMetal, he said:

"Well, the TriMetal was pretty much my baby. Up until 1997, all the clubs on the market were either all stainless steel or all titanium. I didn't have the bias of being a metal guy. I came from a background of wood."

"Eventually, the big push was to take the consumer, the golfer, from steel fairway woods to titanium. The conventional thinking was that since titanium is great for drivers, it has to be just as good for fairway woods. I knew that wasn't true. Bigger wasn't better, but in the golf business, everyone copies everybody else."

"...When you put the club head down in the fairway, the ball looked like a marble. That's not exactly giving a lot of confidence to the average guy who has a hard time getting a fairway wood up in the air."

By comparison to the metal woods other companies were selling at the time, the TriMetal was a low profile, sleek-looking clubface that laid no higher than he top of the ball at address. It was a marked difference in style from the competition, but it had to be introduced to the players. Getting the word out was a must. Jesse tells that story, too:

"It exploded almost overnight. I had some prototypes at a seniors' tournament up in Sacramento. I had five or six clubs in a golf bag that had the Orlimar logo. All the guys on the Champions tour had used our persimmon woods years before. So when they saw the Orlimar bag, the guys would come up and ask if Dad was still involved with Orlimar. They remembered me running around the shop when I was young."

"I told them yes he was and said I had a new club and wanted feedback. All the guys were real gracious. When they started hitting these fairway woods as far as they were hitting their drivers, after the third shot, every one of them turned around and said, "Tell me about this club.""

So the boom was pretty sensational, as exciting as it was short lived. The good times wold not last and Ortiz is the first to admit mistakes were made.

Golf Practice-zine Newsletter for February 2008