Videogames have long been based on sports – now sports are getting a power-up from videogames. A case in point: TopGolf, a real-world driving range that uses radio frequency technology to register the distance and accuracy of drives. Players hit into one of the range’s 10 scoring zones and get real-time feedback on their shots. The system also features target-practice games you can play solo or against others. The first US TopGolf range was built in Washington, DC, last summer; swingers in Chicago and Dallas can log on and tee off later this year.

(via riesenmaschine via wired)

You surely can argue about taste and the design of Loudmouth Golf Pants, but these guys surely wear it with great attitude!!

This morning we tested the Hybrids and Fairwaywoods. In the past I tried hybrids on different occasions, but wasn’t convinced of them. So I was a little sceptical about me and the hybrids.

We tested the following:
- Cleveland Hybrid Halo Graphite, 25° loft
- Geotech Rv2 Carbon H4, 23° Loft
- Honma U22 Utility Wood ARMRW 2* R
- Callaway Big Bertha Heavenwood 6 Regular, 29° Loft
- Komperdell Hyperglide 22
- Kasco K2K 44R
- MacGregor MT Utility, 23° Loft
- Srixon AD Hybrid ’4 Regular
- Taylormade Rescue Dual 22RH R 80
- Wilson Dh6, 22° Loft
- Voit V10 Hybrid, 21° Loft
- Ping G5 Hybrid, 22° Loft

After hitting a couple of shots I soon found my favourites: Cleveland Hybrid Halo Graphite and Callaway Big Bertha Heavenwood 6 Regular. They fitted like a glove, good solid impact and between 150 and 200m in length. Normally, for these distances I would use something between 5 iron and 5 wood. Surprisingly, the Cleveland hybrid had the almost identical design as the Ping G5 hybrid. The Ping produced the same lenght as the Cleveland, but not with the same precision.

I was curious about the Honma, as I had never played the brand before. My two shots with the Honma driver on the course yesterday were impressive, but the hybrid didn’t meet my expectations. It produced some good lengths, but it didn’t “feel” that good. I didn’t think that it had such a good error tolerance. I’d definitely prefer the Callaway, and its more than half the price.

We didn’t get through with all the Fairwaywoods today (rain still pouring), but my two favourites at the moment are the Sonartec SS2.5 3wood and the Callaway Big Bertha X 3wood. I’ll get back on those tomorrow.

February in Berlin isn’t exactly the time of year to go out on the course, with the soil still frozen and everything. Luckily, I will have the chance to escape the bad weather and fly to Mallorca for four days. By invite of a large german newspaper, we will hit the Golf de Andratx course and test everything new on the club market for the newspapers golf supplement (aaah, that’s what the mysterious hint was all about).

(picture courtesy of Golf de Andratx)

About that I am excited not only because of the weather reasons. I have been playing my Wilson Fat Shaft irons for over two years now and they still serve me good. But my play has developed and I am curious to see what other clubs out there might comfort me or even help me in various situations. As of yet I don’t know what equipment we will be testing, but it should be the latest in irons, hybrids, wedges and woods. With me there will be eight other fellow golfers with different handicaps, I presume that I will have the red lantern with my handicap around the 30 mark.

It will also be my mallorquin golf premiere, I have visited the island before, but not to play golf. I had a chance to get a glimpse of the Golf de Andratx course two weeks ago, as the n-tv golf magazine ‘Abschlag’ reported from there. From what I saw it really looks interesting and promising.

The weather in Mallorca is supposed to be rainy in the next couple of days, temperatures will rise up to 15° Celsius. I don’t mind the rain and already got my rain gear out. Part of it I bought two years ago, when – also in February – we traveled to Spain to play AC Nuevo Portil Golf and Castro Marim Golf Course. Rain was pouring every single day back then.

Let’s hope it gets a little better this time. As far as my preparations go, I will hit the range after I finish writing this and will see my pro tonight for some lessons. Of course I want to look good!

And of course I’ll try to blog from there. Hopefully they have a WLAN of some kind. So stay tuned for more this week – from Mallorca.

Besides playing golf, together with my pro we designed a little aid to visualize your golf swing called the Pocket Pro. It is designed like a small flipbook, so you can carry it around in your golfbag and use it – unlike other teaching material – on the golf course. You can also use it with your pro in your golf lessons, he can write down comments in the flipbook and you can remember what to practice.

The Pocket Pro looks like this (please reload this page in case the animation doesn’t play):

Besides being an aide for the golfer, it also can be used as a promotional give-away for your business. For example, we produced the first series for the car rental company AVIS who used it for their sponsorship of the PGA of Germany.

The sleeve design of the Pocket Pro can be altered according to your wishes and your companies design. Feel free to contact me to discuss the usage possibilities of the Pocket Pro for your business.