It's way too hot to be writing newsletters, and this could very well be the final issue of the Golfthink newsletter as we know it. Next month, we're re-branding, re-engineering, re-positioning and re-everythinging so get into your spam filters and make sure you allow Kiwi Kim's Absolutely Brilliant Newsletter into your inbox. Yeah I know, we were supposed to let the cat out of the bag this month, but we missed the nice folks at the Hewlett Packard service center so much, that we intentionally downloaded some bugs and crashed our computer just so we could see them again.
In This Issue
1. Mobile Golf - Ernie Calls For Help
2. The Lesson Tee - Can You Call Yourself a Golfer?
3. Golf Holidays - The Tee Time That Wasn't
4. Equipment Advisor - More Fascination With Shafts
5. Mulligans, Shanks and Divots - Doggy Do Good
Mobile Golf - Ernie Calls For Help
Seems Ernie Els doesn't share our vision of Mobile Phones and Golf co-existing peacefully. He's called for metal detectors or some form of action
to prevent mobile phones being brought onto the golf course after he was clearly disturbed twice during his round of 62 at the recent BMW Asian Open.
I for one would certainly be infuriarated after shooting such a high score. Golfthink did however, find a possible staff member in the form of Jiang Rili, who
declared "Nobody likes to be parted from their mobile phone". I love you Jiang.
The Lesson Tee - Can You Call Yourself A Golfer?
Many of us lament that there are 18 holes on a golf course, taking the opinion that if there were less, our scores would be lower, our lawns would look a lot tidier and we wouldn't get in trouble near so much with our spouses.
So, without further ado, I address the lifesaving question: Why are there 18 holes on a golf course? Afterall, no golfer can call himself a golfer if they don't know the answer. It just so happens that the
piece of land between River Eden and St Andrews Bay, which is more commonly known as the Old Course at St Andrews, is two and half miles long, enough for nine holes out, and nine holes in.
That's really it. There's a common myth that a couple of Scots figured out that it took 18 drams to equal a fifth of whiskey so they drank one per hole, but that, while sounding a little more interesting, is utter bollocks.
Golf Holidays - The Tee Time That Wasn't
Let's test your Thailand golfing knowledge. Imagine you show up for your tee time and the Pro Shop staff don't have your booking. Which one of the following would you do?
A. Throw a temper tantrum, which may include foot stamping, swearing, Pro Shop rage, or any threat to speak to the Manager
B. "Accidently" leave a couple of hundred baht on the Pro Shop counter and/or in the Starters pocket
C. Go looking for the manager yourself, even after you've been told they are not there or are "in a meeting"
D. Presuming you have one, show them your written confirmation
E. Book with a reputable golf tour operator, (such as Golfthink's Siam PGA Holidays, which incidentally,can be found online by strategically positioning your mouse and clicking HERE
Choose A. and you'll only join the legend of the angry "farung". Choose B. and you could very likely find you're next on the tee. Choose C and you may get out, providing you don't take action as seen in A. Choosing D. just confuses the situation even more. Choosing E. would be an excellent choice, avoiding the problem in the first place. So, there you have it, another golden gem from the same folks that popularized the notion of drinking lots of water when it gets hot. Don't ever accuse us of not investing in R&D to better serve you.
Equipment Advisor - More Fascination With Shafts
This month we delve into the fascinating world of kickpoints on shafts. A high kickpoint means the shaft flexes (or bends) more towards the top of the shaft, which usually creates a flatter trajectory because it allows the clubhead to maintain its loft through impact.
Conversely, a shaft with a low kickpoint may add loft at impact. Why should you care? If you want to increase your launch angle, and ball carry, you can increase the loft of your driver, but this can add more spin, and more spin can decrease distance.
So, you need to find the combination of loft and kickpoint that creates the lowest spin and highest trajectory in order to hit the ball prodigious distances. To go about that, just pop into the nearest golf shop with a ball launch monitor, or barring that,
take a trip to a demo day and experiment with different combinations until you find the right one. Adjusting the kickpoint is a little bit advanced for most players, and most of us would be better off just trying different lofts and playing a low spin ball.
Golfthink's Sage of Shafts, Tee "Loose Cannon" Chearananta can be contacted via us for more technical information.
Mulligans Shanks and Divots - Doggy Do Good
This one is for those of you that like to call up the television networks to report a possible rules infraction while watching a golf tournament on TV.
Not so long ago, in a land not so far away, I got a flyer out of the rough and my ball landed 20 yards over the green. Upon walking up to the green, a dog trotted over, picked up the ball in his mouth and ran away with it, dropping it some 50 yards further away.
It was pretty how much things were going that day so I wasn't bothered too much and played the ball from where it lay, but wondered what the ruling was.
Well, if my four legged friend were more informed of personal hygiene, sexual etiquette and the rules of golf, he would of told me that
that under Rule 18-1, he is an "outside agency" and I should have replaced the ball where it originally lay. So now I can sign off, knowing that you'll sleep easier.To unsubscribe, whinge, complain or send me flowers, send an email to kim@golfthink.com.