Tom Slighter..

Can anyone tell me who Tom Slighter is?..anyone..anyone..Bueller..Bueller..? ok that was bad. Anyway I know many of you, if not everyone, know who Scotty Cameron is but I assume that not too many people know who Tom Slighter is. Tom is the owner/designer of his line of putters at Slighter Golf Custom Putters, based in Snohomish, WA.

They are absolutely exquisite putters that are individually handcrafted and customized to your liking. You can tweak it out anyway you want and there are numerous styles he offers. Although they may look a Scotty Cameron, but even his design is actually from the PING Anser style, you won't be able to get Scotty to tweak it like Tom will do for a fraction of the cost with craftsmanship involved.

Although Scotty Cameron is based here in the U.S., but unless you have deep pockets and are fortunate to get one of his handmade creations, his putters are made overseas. All Slighter putters are personally created here in the U.S. by a master like Tom Slighter. I would highly suggest if you are looking to step up and purchase a high quality putter get one by Tom ASAP while you can!

I found out about Slighter putters from one of the golf forums I belong to and he also does putter refinishing. I had a chance to deal with Tom, personally, and he is a great guy. He has great customer service and gets personally involved in your order, which you won't see Scotty Cameron doing unless you're on the tour. I will be sending in one of my putters (Yes! Tracy) to get it "Slighterized!" with the 3X Black Oxide Finish.

Examples of his work done:

Here is another one that got "Slighterized!"

You may have noticed that the bottom of these Yes! putters have the "beach" sound slot which was also done at his shop. I'm not sure how much this affects the weighting of the putter, if any, but Tom can also add additional weights if desired also..neato!

Not Yet...

I played at Oak Quarry, again, last Saturday morning going into it with new found courage since I broke 90 at Rio Hondo last week. I really came with the mindset to play well and break 90. I played well and and hit the majority of the fairways. My putting wasn't that bad either with only one 3-putt, one 1-putt and the rest being 2-putts.

The kicker, as before, were the greens. This place has no mercy if you do not hit the green or near by it. The majoriy of the green seem to be perched up and guarded by hazards on all sides. It also doesn't help that they're all muti-tiered which adds to the overall difficulty. The greens are extremely tricky too. The holes break ALOT less then what appears which I noticed throughout the day. I'd say the greenskeeper knows what he's doing..very sneaky.

I did manage to only lose 2 balls this time, both on forced carry par-3's over a ravine, fun huh.. One thing I wished they did replace is the sand in all the bunkers. It is so coarse and granular. Very similar to playground sand..maybe I should take my sand wedge out the next time I take my kids to the playground. You really have to commit on your bunker shots here or you're going no where, fast, since a majority of them are pot bunkers.

The rough here is also very thick. I hit a great drive on the 17th and our group couldn't find it..it was straight as an arrow but just rolled into the rough..I ended up finding it but it took some time. Hitting out of the rough here always always incurred an additional stroke.

Either way I ended up shooting the same exact as I did last time, 95, which I wasn't too happy about. My goal this year is to break 90 on this course.

Yellow Box...

I received a mysterious yellow box package today. It was on my front porch.

What could it be?!? Taaa-Daaa!!

My Scotty Cameron Red X arrived :)

After a couple weeks and a few thousand miles traveling around the midwest it finally made it here. I'm contemplating just keeping it packed or playing with it. I may be playimg Oak Quarry again this weekend so if I do I think I'm going to give it a whirl there. It truly is a work of art.

New Wedge..

I got home and the wedge that I bought on 4gea.com (swap shop forum) was there. I was looking for a wedge to fill in the gap between my PW (46 deg.) and my SW (56 deg.). I got the 51 deg. wedge (Cleveland 588 GunMetal) to fill this void and to keep it consistent with my SW. I've always played with a Cleveland wedge and aesthetically it is still the "cleanest" looking wedge out there..it doesn't have any fancy colors or graphics. I got it for $45, shipped, which was a great deal.

This was the 1st time I bought from the Swap Shop but it truly is a golfer's mecca (bazaar) for used/new golf equipment. I would say that it's better and worse than Ebay for golf gear. Unlike Ebay the sellers at 4gea.com don't have "ratings" so you just need to do some homework and see who's legit/trustworthy and who's not. This can be done by checking out how active they are in the swap shop forum and also cross referencing that with how many posts and other items they have sold/bought by using the "search" function.

Yes, I agree it's still not the most secure way to find a reputable seller but after you browse the numerous classifieds they have in the swap shop you can get a feel for who the regulars are. There is also a positive/negative feedback section to further compare sellers.

It definitely has better prices than Ebay and usually some room to negotiate. I've noticed a majority of the sellers sell their product with a final "shipped" price which makes it simple to understand. The majority of the selling/buying is based in CONUS so any overseas sales would probably cost a little more with shipping, but like I said there is always room for a little negotiating.

These seller's just don't want to deal with all the Ebay BS and just want to turn a quick sell with less hassle. Many of the items for sale do not have photos with them so you need to know exactly what you are looking for. Many of them will take a photo of the product if you ask for it but don't be surprised if the deal is too good and some other person just buys it under you..money talks.

Anyway, my wedge arrived in awesome shape and looks like it was probably used for no more than a few rounds and I was more than satisified with the transaction. I asked for photos but figured somebody else might just buy it so I trusted the seller. The seller had also sold other items which made me feel more comfortable in the transaction.

I'm waiting on a putter but it got misrouted, not the seller's fault, and should hopefully be here sometime this week. I think it's on a Fedex truck someplace in Kansas right now.

Funny Who You Might Meet..

I played my standard back nine at Rio Hondo on Saturday morning with my co-worker bud. He's getting better but has a way to go on his quest to breaking 100 this year..he averages about 125 right now. I played really well on the back and finished five over. We were just a two-some on the back when another guy asked us if he could join us. Sure, no problem here. He was the spitting image of Sam Elliot..talked like him too with that drawl, real nice guy, with a touch of schizophrenia..no joke.

We were playing and I noticed he had a very old set of clubs with an old bag. No brand name here but he was a player. His driving was about as straight as you could point at..all the time. He had a wonderful short game too! He was always just two putts out for par. I don't think he even used a wedge..just putted everything off the fringe.

He tended to give us a "narration" of everyones shot, but very low keyed, and was telling someone..in his mind..what we did wrong or right. We were talking about golf balls and he was mentioning how everyone loves the PV1 and then he drove away still talking about it. He was actually having his own arguments most of the time. After the 9th hole we parted ways and we shook hands..great player.

We finished fairly early, 8:30 AM, so we were able to play the front..sssweeeett! We got paired up with these 2 high school students and it turned out that one of them plays for his high school and the other dropped out. Both of them looked like the cast from "That 70's Show". They were dressed in that skater/punk style. One of them, "Ben", was wearing his high school's golf shirt, tucked in, and sporting an "oversized" old school black "SOX" baseball hat, the brim was still flat as new, keeping in his enormous caucasion afro. "Chris", the "Ashton Kutcher look-alike" drop-out, was wearing jeans and an untucked polo with a ski hat paired with your classic "Jeff Spicoli" black and white checkered Vans slip-on's.

I could tell though they were players and had game for some reason when they got on the tee box though. They both had wonderful stances and swings..and they hit their driver a mile..geez. It was refreshing to see that unleashed, youthful, bravado in their swings. Here I'm trying to maintain my swing, short of chaos, and too see these two kids hitting the ball LONG and STRAIGHT was amazing.

They were at times way off the fairway from their brute force, but had the ability to put their approach back onto the green or an awesome layup..something you see the PGA guys do lately. They both had wonderful touch greenside and knew how to putt to match. It's was awesome to play with these guys..or at least play along side them.

I tripled bogeyed the last hole with a tee shot into the water followed by 2 miserable shots but managed to finish 9 over on the front for a combined 14 over for an 85 (par 71) and FINALLY breaking 90 at Rio Hondo. It's funny who you get to meet when you play golf.

SOTW..

Lately I've been looking for some good songs but the question is easier said than answered. I was searching around for what would be "good songs". I typed it into Google and it brought me a link to Fingertips. It's an awesome site highlighting numerous indie bands/singers, in a nutshell.

The site is very simple..almost too simple..to navigate through..but that's the beauty behind it as well..and it is all about good music..right? The best way to understand what they're about, and a good start, is to go here and then as your read the introduction make sure you click the highlighted links.

I've put up a few songs from Fingertips in the SOTW (Songs Of The Week) section at the sidebar. If you got some time check them out..it's amazing. If you're looking for the latest Dixie Chicks song or any Billboard Top anything it won't be here..but imagine the majority of the good music the radio doesn't play.

Yeah, I know so what does this have to do with golf..nada..but I like all kinds of music, but please no The Smiths (including Morrissey) or The Beatles.

60 Balls...

I consider myself a "frugal" golfer and have been playing with "experienced" golf balls for some time now. My affinity, still, is for the Callaway HX Blue. I recently acquired 60 of them via Ebay for $45, shipped which comes to around .75 cents per ball. I always buy all my balls from Ebay, last shipment was for 48, since they have the best deals anywhere. I have to admit that this batch was not as pristine as the previous batch but nonetheless they were in good shape. They were the older version also which made it a little cheaper, but still felt the same.

On the average though I will play one of these "experienced" balls for a round and then it will usually go into the shag bag so their "lifespan" is fairly lower than probably a newer ball or maybe because I just had a bad round with it..probably the latter.

Anyway, before you head out and buy a new box of PV1's check out Ebay you may be surprised what you may find.

Tied for 16th..

I played in my first golf tourney at Oak Quarry last Saturday. The picture you see on the home page is their signature hole #14 and is the view we had too..amazing. It was my first time playing here but Oak Quarry is quite an interesting course laid out through the quarry mines. It cuts through these huge quarry mountains and is visually stunning and has numerous elevation changes. I can't remember any hole that was just "straight" which kept me excited about the next hole.

I believe carts are mandatory and if it wasn't you don't want to walk this bad boy. There are just unbelieveably steep paths to the next hole and a little distance from one hole to the next. I'm not going to describe every hole and what I did or didn't do but what I can say is if you're outside the first cut of rough..fuhgettaboutit. The rough is fairly thick, but well groomed, but you just can't find your ball once it gets into the bushy area beyond the rough..and there were numerous "Beware of Rattlesnake" signs too. Remembering what I read from GolfChick I decided not to tread there. I ended up losing 8 balls, a shattering new record, but better than getting bit by a diamondback anyday.

The greens were much faster than what I'm used to playing and nothing really checked for me. I got wind of this rather quickly and played a bunch of bump and runs which worked out pretty good. Every green was muti-tiered, which I loath, but surprisingly I was able to lag putt well that day.

I got to use my rangefinder but it turned out the carts were equipped with GPS units but the GPS seemed to be off a few times with the correct yardage. Also one thing my rangefinder could do was to get yardages to the front of the hole and at various "markers" on the fairway and green which the GPS unit couldn't do. Getting yardages to the front was actually a big help that day since there was alot of trouble if you couldn't make to the flag.

A good example of this was on this on hole #10. It played 208 yds to the flag but if your shot went anywhere to the right you were done. I busted out my rangefinder and decided to hit it to the front, 178 yds., and hopefully run it to the hole. I hit my 5 iron, 180 yd. club for me, and hit a good shot but missed just about a yard from the front. It was safe though and I went up and down to save, the others in my group decided to go for it and posted 6's all around.

Hole #14, "Splinel Slide" (they name all their holes..not sure what they mean though..some kind of mining reference I suppose), is a gorgeous par 3. "This signature par 3 hole was rated the best in Southern California." Basically you're sitting high atop this canyon with a lake to the left and a very intimidating peninsula green to the front. You can bail out to the right but anything left is "bye-bye" time. The hole played 178 yards to the center but probably a little less than that since it was dramatically downhill. I went witht he 5 iron because I figured that a little long was better than short here. I ended up hitting a frozen rope, that everone was hollering at, at the hole that hit behind the flag and rolled and stopped at the first cut of rough..a 6 iron would've been perfect. I went up and down for par here which was awesome.

I ended up shooting a 97 (gross..really gross) and 77 (net), but one of the highest rating/slope, 71.9/133, courses I've ever played. They used the Callaway method of scoring since not everyone, I think I was the only one thinking about it, had established indexes..which helped me too anyway.

Erect-A-Driver..

You guys probably know that I'm fairly loyal to Callaway. It looks like Callaway is now offering the OptiFit Driver System. Basically the fitting professional will have access to 13 FT-3 heads and 23 shafts from the major shaft makers (Aldila, Fujikura, Graphite Design, Grafalloy, UST, Mitsubishi Rayon) for 299 possible combinations. According to Equipment section, Golf Digest May 2006, the OptiFit system includes 2 different clubhead models (Fusion Ft-3 AND the X460) along with 30 shaft options.

These shafts can be quickly switched in and out of the driver head based on customer preference. The retailer/fitting pro can switch out the shafts with a special torque wrench that is used to attach the shaft into the head of the driver. The demo driver the customer eventually selects will mimick exactly the one that will be created for them in the final result according to Callaway.

When I first read about this I got a little ahead of myself and thought that we would be able to buy these special shafts and the driver head with the torque wrench and then mix and match for our own use..now that would be the ultimate..who knows..actually why don't they do that?

Well, Nakashima Golf has done this. Their HTEC driver features a removable CNC milled-aluminum hosel allowing clubmakers to change any shaft in seconds, EVEN after you purchase the driver. The swingweight is ALSO adjustable by using a 10, 12 or 14 gram screw to secure the 460cc forged two-piece titanium head to the hosel. Basically, you would demo the driver and then walk out of the shop that day with your favorite/ideal combination. There's no need to order since the demo club becomes your own and no possible difference if it had to be created like Callaway's Opti-Fit.

After comparing the two though I'd have to say Nakashima has the edge. I just love the idea that the driver and shaft combo you go with can be altered and even re-altered again and again..now this is serious innovation.

My New Toys..

Well, with a little help from a good friend, I was fortunate to get my hands on one of the newest golf gadgets. It's the Bushnell Pinseeker 1500 w/slope Laser Rangefinder. I was testing it out around the house and it's pretty awesome. I was debating whether to plunk down the money to get this but I got a deal that I couldn't resist.

Besides taking accurate measurements from point A to point B (tee box to flag stick) it can take "real-time" roving yardages at various objects you point at as well as give you the yardages based on the slope between you and the target..how cool is that. For example, if you're looking at a 150 yd. shot but the green is elevated the rangefinder will compensate for this and give you a distance with this taken into effect.

I guess this particular one, with the slope feature, is "illegal" to use in tournaments but I'm not a regular tournament player anyhow and the slope feature is just too cool.

The other toy I got was a Scotty Cameron Red X. I saw, once again, a deal to good to pass up on the "SwapShop" at 4gea.com. Do I need ANOTHER putter..no..but it was purely an offer I couldn't resist. Hopefully I'll get it before this weekend for me to try both out this weekend.

I owe $4..

I ended up shooting an 85 and my friend shot a 101 and by our wager I owed him $4 (less the $1 for him going one stroke above 100). I really didn't keep an eye on him to see what he was shooting but have a feeling it was a tad further north of 101.

I was more involved in my game than anything and since his brother in law (also a beginner) was with us I just asked him after each hole what he shot. He was having a hard time anyhow bickering with his brother in law about what each other shot.

I did finally break the evil curse of playing bad when I play with less experienced players. Reflecting on this though the 4th person in our group, a single walk-on, was about my skill level. I was actually playing off of him, so the reason why my head was in the game..maybe the curse isn't really lifted..yet.

I'm actually playing in my first tournament at Oak Quarry next Saturday. I've never played there but I heard it's a beautiful course. It sounded some what serious since they asked what my index was. It's actually for a charitable cause but they're giving away some prizes too.

I just found out that Vijay Singh is going to be on "The Apprentice" on NBC tonight. Looks the the winning team will get to play with Vijay, and "The Donald", at the Trump National GOlf Club..how cool is that.

Aeration Conspiracy..

Looks like all the courses in my area are aerating and just letting everything grow out including the fairways..I guess it's that time of the year. I was debating whether or not to play tomorrow but will. I did last week and I just remember the greens were so shaggy..it just felt like a big practice round..and I played pretty good too. It was no use reading breaks but rather distance control. This was probably how they played in the old days anyhow.

One thing that worked in my favor was EVERYHTING checked. Well, not because of some PGA caliber tour spin I imparted on the ball but the greens had so much sand/seedings that it just killed any forward momentum of the ball once it hit. Hopefully it will be a little better tomorrow.

I'm playing with my co-worker, the same one cutting his teeth from my previous post, and it's kind of leaving me a sick feeling again. I've really made a mental commitment today to get into my game and play good. He, once again, wanted a wager on the side. We decided that for every stroke he goes over 100 it's $1 per stroke and for every stroke I go over 80 the same. It seems like a fair bet but from my previous outings with him I play so bad when it's just me and him. We'll see.

Free Callaway X-18..not

I was reading the latest issue of GOLF (May 2006). It's the ClubTest2006 issue. Anyway I saw a pretty enticing offer. It looks like there's a credit card, Upfront Rewards Visa (Universal Savings Bank), that is giving away a set of new Callaway X-18 irons ($800 Callaway Gift Card). What's the catch right? Well, it looks like you have to transfer over a $5000 credit balance and maintain $3500 in balance, with them, for 18 months. Looks like they've also offered similar offers before.

Doing the math it looks like it's NOT A DEAL! $3500 X (9.99% + 2.24%, added to prime rate - 12.23%/mo.) = $42.80/mo. in interest alone. $42.80 X 18 (months required to fulfill the agreement) = $770.49 YIKES!! Well, actually it probably is cheaper than if you buy it off the rack from a golf store, just you're not paying tax, but you can probably get around that if you negotiate/haggle with them anyhow.

Who's Your Caddie..

If you're interested you may have the opportunity to caddie for Billy Casper in the 2007 Masters .

I got bored today and have included a couple games you can play on the sidebar area under "Fun Stuff", sorry for the lack of creativity for a title. I'm actually kind of picky when I play internet games but these looked rather cool. There are a bunch more from the same site that I've linked to. Actually, I believe the site that is hosting the games, http://meph.eu.org/penguin.php, were the originators that introduced the ever popular YetiSport "Penguin" games..I really love all these.

Not Bad..

I played last Saturday morning with a co-worker from work. He started playing this year and still cutting his teeth out on the course. I'm a firm believer that if you play with bad players it rubs off on you. We ended up just playing the back 9 because there was a tournament going on. I just don't know what it is but when he and I just play as a two some I start mimicking his game..just bad shots followed by more impressively bad shots.

It got so bad at one point he tried to give me a tip. I looked at him as if he was speaking some foreign language. I'll gladly take advice from a better player but not from one who still considers moving the ball from bad lies and hitting a ball without checking if it's his. He wanted to play for money and I just rolled my eyes..Calgon take me away. It was the worst I've played in a while. I just wasn't into it. For some reason I just can't get serious when I play just a back 9. I ended up playing 2 to 3 balls per hole just for practice and fun..if it was that.

I did get to finally try out the new HX Pearl. It does have a unique pearl-luminescent cover to it. It definitely is a "harder" ball than the softer HX Blue that I'm used to playing. It was noticeable pretty much on all my shots. One thing I didn't like was that it seemed to come off the face a tad quicker than the HX Blue. I'd say it's in between the HX Blue and the HX Hot. I've ordered the HX Red yesterday. It's supposed to be a tad harder than the HX Blue but still a soft 3 piece. If it comes by this weekend I'll give you guys a report of it also.

I played again on Sunday with my normal playing partner. He and I play about the same and I played pretty good. I was only 7 over for 13 holes but we ended early since he wasn't playing good and that we promised our wives to get home early..I had some easter egg painting duties left.

Ta-Daaah!!

Well, actually I finished it last night..impatient. The Testor's paint seems to dry fairly quick and it probably helped I used my wife's blow dryer on it. It came out much better than I imagined and have a newly found attraction to it now.







I was reading that the Testor's paint may not hold up that well under play. That's alright, I was thinking the next time to go with a hot pink. I also found out they sell these paint pens which would make the job even quicker, cleaner.

Facelift for my 588..

After reading a few "how-to's" on other various golf forums (GolfWRX and TourSpecGolf..to be exact)I decided to take the plunge and "soup up" my old Cleveland 588 RTG 56 deg. sand wedge. Actually, I don't think I would've done it but I was with my wife, she was shopping for Easter stuff, today and we were at Michael's, arts/crafts store, and it turned out they had a bunch of Testor's paints.



After looking at all the colors they had I decided to go with "Flat Yellow". I wanted a little color to go against the natural patina of the wedge. Here's the process:

1. I removed all the original paint..the majority of it was already gone do to use. I ended up just picking the rest out with a tip of one of those utility razors. I heard they sell some goo (solvent) that will take the paint off of anything..which sounded way too scary for me to attempt to use even in the first place..saw bad things could happen.

2. After the paint was all out I cleaned it with some soap and dryed it out with a blow dryer..I'm impatient.

3. I brought out a few toothpicks, round kind, and dipped a little bit of the tip into the paint and then carefully dabbed it into the cavity of where the old paint was.

4. I took out the blow dryer again and started to cure the paint..impatient..but now it's just sitting in a corner of the room drying out on its own.

5. (Tomorrow) Take a wool pad and rub off any of the excess paint..maybe even go over it with a little Acetone (wife's nail polish remover)...WA-LLA!

*IMPORTANT: If you plan on doing this in the house wait until your wife leaves the house.

Taxes..

I was getting ready to play a round last Saturday but this little bug in my head was telling me not to..I haven't done my taxes. I made an effort to dedicate the whole morning in doing my return. I was running into a few problems with the online TurboTax program, but was able to debug it and ended up finishing it Sunday night..hooray.

I received the Callaway HX Pearl's but wasn't able to use them so I'll have to give you guys a report after I play this coming Saturday. I did get to examine them close up and they have this interesting pearl luminescence shimmer to it. The cover seems a little harder than the HX Blue I'm used to playing though.

Go Ben..

I'm not going to go into all the hoot and holler with the start of the Masters..there are numerous other sites/blogs that can and will do a much better job than I can even attempt, for example these guys, but what I am extremely excited about is that one of my favorite golfers, Ben Crenshaw, is tied for 8th with a -1 finish today.



I really don't know what I can really add to all the other information you can dig up or by visitng The Masters site. Besides all the drama of the lengthening..again..of numerous holes (holes 4,7,11 and 15 to be exact) here are some quirky tidbits about Augusta National:

Average age: 72
Average handicap: 13.2
Jobs: Corporate titans, politicians, oilmen and golf legends.
Duds: Green jackets at all times in the clubhouse. But never, ever, off club grounds.
Youngest Member: Jeff Knox, 41
Richest Member: Bill Gates (net worth $46.5 billion)
Best player: USGA president Fred Ridley (1 handicap)
Former guests: Celine Dion, Mike Shanahan, John Elway, Sandra Day O'Connor
Total Members: 300
Cost: $50,000 (compared to $350,000 for a membership to Trump National)
Membership: Invitation only
(courtesy of GOLF magazine)
1st golfer to be shot at in Augusta: Tom Lehman (read the story here). I'm sure there will be a future trivia question about who Troy Willis Smith is.

Singing Hills..

Sorry for not keeping up with the posts but I was just feeling out of it last week and things at work were hectic. I didn't even get to play last week but I did play Saturday. One of my buddies was having his bachelor party in San Diego and golf was part of the festivities. The course that they chose was Singing Hills, but I believe it's now owned and operated by one of those gaming casinos and now it's called Sycuan Golf Resorts..or something like that..anyway I'll still be calling it Singing Hills.

"Singing Hills" has two 18-hole course and then a 18-hole par 3 course (Pine Glen). I thought we were going to play the good course, Willow Glen, but the guy in charge of the bachelor party said it was on Oak Glen..bah. Willow Glen is much more prettier and better designed. All the holes on Oak look the same..but he did manage to get us a good price on the green fees and after not being able to play all of last week I really didn't care at that point.

We all played from the white tees and I ended up shooting a 93. I was satisfied with it being that I was just putting horribly with just too many 3 putts for double bogeys. I was getting out of the tee box unbelievably that day. I only had 2 holes where they went stray but with the lack of water on this course I was able to bring it back in.

My best shot of the day was from a fairway bunker about 120 yards out. My tee shot had ended up here but it was a very clean lie. I decided to take an additional club and went with my 9 iron. I hit it super clean and it came out perfect. I landed about 3 feet away for birdie and 2 putt, story of my life, for par.

I was playing today with the Callaway HX Tour and I must say it is slightly longer and stays on line a little better than the HX Blue. Since I'm running out of my HX Blue I'm going to probably switich to the HX Tour or Tour 56 which I hear is a tad softer than the regular HX Tour. I ordered a box of the new HX Pearl from GolfGods. I'll give you guys a report after I try them out.