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PGA News and Current Information

Duo Cart

By ED TRAVIS

Alphard Golf based in Hong Kong has been making pushcarts for almost 15 years but chances are you haven’t heard of them because they were making them for other companies in the pushcart business. That’s changed with the introduction of their Duo Cart and this is one you should take a serious look at if thinking about purchasing a new “trolley.”

The Duo Cart is both a golf bag and a pushcart with four wheels that fold up compactly in two simple steps to go into a car trunk. How compact? It’s the same size as a cart bag. When folded the dimensions are 13” wide by 46” high by 18½” deep. Also as you can see from the pictures the wheels are nice and large so rough terrain is no problem—this cart is very stable. And should you need it, the squeeze operating brake is on the handle.

The bag is made of durable material with a 9½″ top, 14 club dividers and nine pockets, one being velour lined for watch and wallet and another a really roomy apparel pocket running the entire length of the bag.

Lots of very nice touches are standard in the Duo Golf Cart such as a 6-drink cooler pocket with a drain in the bottom and a handle that’s adjustable for height and angle plus there are accessories such as an umbrella clip and drink holder. Alphard tells me a GPS holder and cart seat will soon be available.

However, I’ve saved what I think is the best feature of the Duo Golf Cart for last. The wheels pop off in about 10 seconds converting it into a cart bag so you can walk or ride as the situation requires.

For now the Duo Cart gives you a choice of three colors, black, red or navy those more colors should be on the market soon. The price is a value as well at $279.95 on AlphardGolf.com.

ED TRAVIS | Golf News & Opinion

Golf Illustrated

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Tight Lies - An Icon Returns

Tight Lies – An Icon Returns

By ED TRAVIS

Adams Golf not only resurrected the name Tight Lies from two decades ago but has also updated the design of the fairway that made their reputation and became one of the most popular fairways ever. Many of the features that made the originalTight Lies the choice of recreational and professional players have been retained but with the addition of the crown and sole slots pioneered by Adams.

"In the ever-present pursuit of maximum distance, today's fairway woods have become mini-drivers - extremely difficult to hit from anywhere other than from a tee," said Justin Honea, Director of R&D. "The low profile design places the center of gravity (CG) below the CG of the ball, making it easy to hit the ball in the air. The unique tri-sole design makes it easy to hit from a multitude of challenging lies and then we added a refined Cut-Thru Slot design so this new Tight Lies is twice as hot as the original. It's the perfect blend of playability and performance."

Adams thinks the new Tight Lies will be as revolutionary as was the original giving players the club that will get the ball out of virtually any lie and become the go-to club on par-5s and long par-4s. The new Tight Lies will be launched initially as a 16 degree 3-wood with other loft options available later.

According to 8-time major champion and Adams Golf staffer Tom Watson, "With the new Tight Lies, we've got a 3-wood that you can control, you can hit it out of bad lies. The most important thing for me is to know how far the ball is going to go, and with the new technology, here with Tight Lies, we can hit it where we want it to go and that's what you want in a golf club. Man, that's all I want."

In addition to the refined Cut-Thru Slots of the new version a hallmark of the original Tight Lies was the low-profile, upside-down design and it is back. This allows for a very low CG - below the CG of the golf ball, making it extremely easy to hit the ball in the air so golfers will see at once how easy it is to make solid contact from even “challenging lies.”

Adams also used the original Tight Lies tri-sole to reduce interaction with turf and help shots from the fairway, rough, sand - even tight or bare lies.

Tight Lies fairway woods will come standard with the Bassara Eagle graphite shaft by Mitsubishi Rayon. Tight Lies Tour willfeature the Aldila Tour Blue shaft. The Men's Tight Lies and Tight Lies Tour models will feature a matte black finish, while the Women's model will feature a matte grey crown. All models will include the familiar white half stripes low on the shaft that were also featured on the original. Tight Lies fairway woods will ship mid-August and will have a retail price of $199.99, and $229.99 for the Tight Lies Tour.

Photos courtesy Adams Golf

ED TRAVIS | Golf News & Opinion

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Choosing Golf Equipment To Help Your Game

Blaming your moves, shots and swings for your golf mishits and mishaps? Well, no matter how much time and effort you have been spending over practicing your moves to perfect your game, you still won't achieve your goal if you use unsuitable or defective types of golf equipment, will you?

Now is high time for you to consider the following golf tips that involve checking on your equipment's quality.

If you plan to choose used golfclubs as beginner's tools, scrutinizing before purchasing is a must. The clubheads, the shafts, and the grips are golfclub parts that should pass inspection first before landing a decent spot in your golf equipment cabinet. Another excellent golf tip that will get you through the game is making sure that the set of used golfclubs you're eyeing have set consistency. It will also help a lot if you check first the price of new clubs vs. used.

A golf tip for a golfer that plans to regrip his clubs: Be cautious. This is because the grips are the only contact points one can access to affect the shot. Before carrying out the regripping, know the core grip of the club and your hands grip size. To determine your core size grip, measure the diameter of the butt of the shaft you're going to re-grip. The shaft's diameter should match the grip's core diameter. In determining your hands grip, the available size grips are regular, mid-size, oversize and jumbo. Use only the best re-gripping materials that will provide optimum performance for your golf clubs.

Another golf tip or advice is that using ill-fitted clubs will be an obstacle to your golf playing success. A golfer must consider his or her body type in choosing the best-fitting equipment to support and deliver his backswings efficiently. Too steep angles in carrying out backswings may be avoided if one selects the perfect fitting equipment available.

Custom golfclub fitting makes a better option than just buying new golf clubs. Getting custom fitting golfclubs is a golf tip that translates to a very worthy investment. The uniqueness of each person is attributed to the need of this way of buying new golf clubs. A custom fitting produces golfclubs that specifically suit the height, strength, swing characteristics and clubhead speed of the golfer.

The type of club shaft also helps in predicting whether you'll do good in a game or you won't. There's a choice between a steel club shaft and a graphite-made club shaft. This golf tip aims to make you realize which type of golfclub shaft will benefit your game. Observations tell that the steel club shafts are more preferred by professional golfers while graphite shafts become more popular with women, senior players and beginners. Steel shafts are less expensive than graphite shafts though.

One more golf tip that could help you is that the golf clubs that must be the main content of your bag must suit your skill level. Since various skill levels need various golf clubs, it won't be wise to just use or bring a golf club that is just lying around. And, don't ever forget about the maximum golfclub load your bag is allowed to hold. You can only bring 14 golf clubs in your bag. No more. No less. Aside from your skill level contemplation, your mastery of a certain golfclub and your being comfortable with using it must also be put into consideration in deciding which golfclub to hit.

A good combination of the right moves and good choice of equipment will better arm you to become the best golfer you could ever be. 

Junior Golf Show May 27th - June 2nd 2013