Pinemeadow Golf Blog

Some Things Are Worth Bringing Up Ahead of Time

Here's a sneak peek of one of the many things we have in store for '08!

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STAY TUNED!

New Arrival - BK Hybrids

Pinemeadow's latest addition to out our best selling Command series are the BK Hybrids. Join the Hybrid Revolution in golf and see what everyone is talking about.

New to the Lot List Sale

As promised we are continuously adding items to the Certified Pre-Owned Golf Club sale (save 50%) during the entire month of October. Here are a few items I felt like pointing out. I tried to do an assortment of items so everyone can get something they need at a fraction of the price.

]]> Looking for some clubs to get your game started? Look no further. Pinemeadow Tour Series: Driver, Fairway Woods and Irons package is the right amount of clubs to get your game going. Set includes Driver, 3 wood, 5 wood and 3-PW irons for $99.50.

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Yes, this driver may be a year or two old but at $39.60 for a Keel Steel titanium driver that is basically brand new it is a hard price to beat. Trust us you will not be disappointed.

See what Jason said...(noticed he paid $100 at the time but you can get it for $40) "I've had the club for about two weeks. It took me a few rounds and a few trips to the range to get the feel, but I now hit 280 - 290 yards consistently. I have a stronger fade than I used to, but it's more my swing than the club. Overall I would give this club an 8 out of ten, but for 100 bucks, it gets a 10. The service was excellent!"

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Lefties are lucky...If you are looking for a sweet deal on a LH iron set for ladies the Tour Gear 2 irons are waiting for you. Get an entire set of 3-PW irons with graphite shafts (yes, i said graphite) for $87.60.

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Don't be frighten by the price and available pre-owned quantities. I assure you this could be the best $20 you have spent on a club. The Synchron Woods have been a best seller for a long time. They sold so well when it was time to update the club only thing that changed was the color. New clubs have a black finish and these are designed with a classic silver. Does the color really matter when it comes to golf clubs? Guessing not because it is all about performance.

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Drive for show! Putt for dough or you can simply save some dough by buying the Three Ball Putter in VERY GOOD condition at $12.68 per putter.

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Heads up...When this blog entry was written the clubs were available. There is a chance they have been purchased by some other lucky golfer.

50% OFF All Certified Pre-Owned Clubs

Certified Pre-Owned Sale

As you reading this blog someone is taking advantage of our PinemeadowGolf.com Certified Pre-Owned Sale. Click any of the links in this email and start browsing through our complete selection of used clubs. If you act fast, you will find the perfect club to compliment your bag, at an unheard of price!

Pinemeadow's Certified Pre-Owned Clubs are already listed at discounted prices, but now through the end of October you'll save an additional 50%. Choose from a wide selection of pre-owned drivers, woods, irons, wedges, putters and more.

Inspection Process & Warranty

Every Certified Pre-Owned Club has been cleaned, tested, inspected for quality and graded on condition. Plus, each pre-owned club comes with the same one-year warranty as our new clubs.

Really, Act Now!

Pre-Owned Clubs are limited to stock on hand. When they're gone, they're gone! Be sure to check back with us throughout the month, as we will be adding used clubs all month long. Offer ends October 31st.

Technology is great! What about my score?!

Is it just me or has the distance changed on all the clubs?! The loft is the same and the numbering system has remained constant. But I see players hitting the 3 iron hybrids 240 yards and I am in shock at the overall distance that people get. I used to hit a 7 iron 145-150 yards straight on (well most of the time). Now it seems when I get a hold of a newer 8 or 9 iron, I'm sailing it way past the old marks. Great right? Well, for the most part.

I guess you could say that all the new technologies combined have given a golfer like me the total advantage with my distances. Ball technology, shaft technology, and of course, the club head designs themselves provide the extra advantage that just wasn't out there 10 years ago. Better technology doesn't guarantee a better game, but I can say that it has added length to my game. Length that should lower scores but there is this little thing called putting that I can't seem to get it right no matter how well my 7 iron did to get me there!! I guess the long game is getting longer but my short game hasn't gotten shorter! The technology is there, my game is just a little behind.

The New Shape in Golf

The feedback on the Bloc driver has been increasingly favorable. We fielded a host of calls out the gate, mostly from people concerned, or alarmed by the sound the Bloc driver makes out on the course. These calls have subsided as people have become more accustomed to the advantages of square drivers.

As is the case with any emerging technology, many golfers still remain on the fence. To you readers, here is a pearl of wisdom from the Pinemeadow archives, harkening back to our modest beginnings as a Portland-based provider of custom golf clubs.

]]> In the mid1970’s the metal driver was introduced as an alternative to the traditional wood (made from wood). At the time, many were resistant to this proposed change of material, largely because of the unfamiliar sound the new metal drivers made when they struck the ball. It seemed the consensus among golfers was that metal drivers not only made a funny sound, but also lacked the cozy and familiar feel of their wooden predecessor. Golf companies were quick to realize that in order to pass these new club constructions off on the golf club-buying public, they had to take measures to curb the difference in sound and feel. So what did they do—they filled the hollow interior of the metal drivers with foam to dampen the resonance and reduce the “ping” factor. In addition to helping with the sound, the foam also allowed the manufacturers to control the head weight with greater precision.

Later, when people became more accepting of all metal drivers, realizing the benefits in doing so, club-makers began pitching “foamless” drivers. It wasn’t long before “foamless” was the new industry standard and drivers began boasting “FOAMLESS” in broad, capital text, like this:

Looking back, this strikes us as funny, mostly because foamless is a strange word that we no longer associate with golf, but also because ALL clubs are now foamless—it goes without saying. In the same sense, “square” is a foreign shape that we do not associate with golf, and the sound the BLOC makes when you hit it has closer ties, tonally, to the batting cages.

So what makes a new technology worth keeping despite these often distracting dissimilaries? In the case of the TS 455cc BLOC driver it’s the promise of straighter, longer drives than with most clubs on the market. The additional hitting surface allowed for by the square shape makes for a bigger sweet spot and increased MOI, resulting in straighter drives—and subsequently, more practical distance. This is the sort of confidence that golfers like myself look for at tee-off—and we’re willing to trade sound and appearance for better performance on the course.

With the First Pick...Pinemeadow Golf Selects...

Meet, Andrew Christman.... Andrew is no Greg Oden on the basketball court but he does have something in common with the most recent #1 pick and newest member of the Portland Trailblazers (Pinemeadow's hometown team). Andrew can see eye-to- eye with Oden being a 7-footer himself.

]]> It was tough for Andrew to find clubs that would fit. Andrew was searching for clubs long enough to fit him and that was how he came across our site. We can custom build a set to fit anyone no matter how tall you are and Andrew is no exception. Here were the specs for Andrews clubs.

Driver: Excel Strong Driver
3 Wood: Excel Strong 3 Wood
Irons: Excel Strong Irons
Length: Men's +4!
Flex: extra, extra, extra, EXTRA Stiff
Grips: Lamkin Jumbo Grips (with extra wraps of tape)
Shaft: Apollo Lite Steel

Thanks Andrew. Hope you are enjoying your new golf clubs. If you ever visit Portland, Oregon hopefully we can set up a one-on-one match with Oden on the court and links.

What is "Offset" on a Golf Club?

Every set of irons on PinemeadowGolf.com has a technical specifications chart on its detail page. In that chart, you will find the measurement of offset for every iron in that set- each of which will be different. The higher lofted clubs will have a lower number offset. For example, a three-iron in a given set may have an offset of 8 mm, while a nine-iron in the same set may have an offset of 5.5 mm.

What does this mean to you?

]]> In golf, an iron's “offset” is the distance from where the hosel enters the clubhead, to the farthest point of the on the front of the clubface, measured in millimeters. A club with a greater offset will contact the ball later during your swing than a club with a smaller offset.

Why would you want to contact the ball later?

The point of impact, in relation to the timing of your swing, has much impact on where the ball will head from there. Some drivers, for example, are designed with an offset clubhead to reduce the likelihood of slicing the ball; the reason for slice being that the clubhead is not square at contact. If you have a tendency to slice, hitting the ball later in your swing means you will be given more time to square up as you follow through with your swing, and the ball will travel straighter as a result. Whether you are swinging an iron, a driver, or a fairway wood, your game will benefit from clubs that account for the natural tendencies of your golf swing.

Players with pure swings that are able to hit the ball square will benefit from using clubs with a lower offset. Pros and lower handicap golfers with years of experience tend to play irons with zero or low offsets. Blades (an iron type for advanced players) have zero offset throughout the set. They allow a highly skilled golfer the capability of creating very particular shots, like the ability to draw and fade. If you haven’t hit a club with zero offset, just know that it is a difficult task.

Here at Pinemeadow Golf, we cater to all skill levels, providing you a variety of iron options. We provide high-quality clubs with smart design, tailored to suit the needs of most every golfer. You will find most of our irons have a high offset.

If you are a player looking for clubs with a reduced or smaller offset, here is the set for you.

(Remember we recommend these clubs for experienced golfers who have been playing with a handicap under 12):

Oxygen Type R Irons: These irons are blade design. They are unforgiving, but respond well to nuance. Suited best for experience players looking for a smaller sweet spot but more control.

Visit PinemeadowGolf.com

Winn Grips on PinemeadowGolf.com

The opportunity to custom build your new golf clubs on PinemeadowGolf.com is a great way to ensure that you will receive a set that is tailored to your style and ability following your purchase. As explained in Golf Clubs 101, the process of custom fitting entails getting the right length and flex based on your height, swing-speed, and your knowledge of your ability to play the game of golf. Don’t pass up the opportunity to use our free online fitting wizard, as it will help familiarize you with the length and flex best suited for your game.

]]> As intuitive as the fitting wizard is, however, it will not recommend a grip for you. The vast majority of the golfing public plays with standard-size grips. Our Standard Pinemeadow Grips are modeled after these most popular grips, and will outlast most. But we are also sensitive to the golfer’s desire to want that sweet grip, the one that feels exceptionally good in your hands as you hold the club. These grips, you may have experienced, feel more like that of a tennis racket than a golf club, and something about them gives you an edge of confidence, and the sense that you have a certain command over your club that maybe you otherwise, wouldn’t have felt. Many of us at Pinemeadow are accustom to this luxury, and that is why we offer Winn Grips.

Soon, every grip we carry will be covered on our site in more detail, but currently the availability of Win Grips as a custom upgrade has given way to unanswered questions. The reason being, is that they are the most expensive grips on our site and therefore, intelligent consumers want to know why. This should help clarify.

The Winn grips we carry on our site are the original grips made classic by Winn®. They have long been manufacture by Winn because there has always been popular demand for them. Below is a description of the Classic Regular Firm (RF) grip taken directly from the Winn website:

“Comfortable feel, high slip resistance, shock absorption, and lightweight properties.” Classic grip models actually increase their tackiness in damp or humid conditions and are great without the use of gloves.”

So these are grips designed to be comfortable, soft and tacky in all conditions. Sounds great, right? It is. However, it’s worth mentioning that these grips tend to wear out more quickly than standard grips because of the soft-grade leather that is used to achieve that extra sensitivity. I personally like the Winn grips on my driver and fairway woods, and then harder, standard grips on my irons. This way, I get that confidence boost at the Tee, and then the cold precision of harder grips when hitting my irons.

Here are specs on the Winn grip:

Cost: +$6 per club
Weight: 42g (Midsize version is 1g heavier)
Core Size: 0.600
Color: Black
Texture: Simulated Leather Wrap

A Midsize Winn Classic Regular Firm (RF) grip is also available on our site as well.

Who else picked Zach Johnson?

As most of you are well aware of Zach Johnson won the most prestigious prize in golf with a MASTERful performance on Sunday. He fired a final round 69 when shooting even par at Augusta was considered to be a good score this year. To give you an idea of how difficult the course was playing all week. Tiger Woods didn’t break par once in any of his rounds and +1 was the winning score.

]]> It was a shock to everyone here at our office and I am sure it was to mostly everyone around the world. The only person that saw this coming was probably Zach Johnson himself. Congratulations Zach Johnson! Thanks for making the 2007 Masters one to remember.

Here is a recap on how our office picks did in the 2007 Masters:
(I wish we could say we picked Zach Johnson but I didn’t happen.)

Adam Scott – T27
KJ Choi – T27
Tiger Woods – T2
Henrik Stenson – T17
Camilo Villegas – MC

Did you know?

Zach Johnson hit 80.36% of fairways (2nd best) and had 15 Birdies (tied for 2nd most). However, he was 4th to LAST in driving distance ahead of only Ben Crenshaw, C. Stadler and “The Mechanic” – Migel Jimenez. Proving once again that being longer off the tee is not necessary better but hitting fairways is the key to success.

What is Moment of Inertia (MOI)?

When the term "Moment of Intertia" (MOI) is used in golf, it refers to a club head's resistance to twisting at impact.

All of us wish we could hit the ball exactly perfect, right on the sweet spot, every time we swing a golf club but, let's be honest with ourselves, that is not going to happen. When your shot is hit a little off-center you will either hit it more towards the toe or heel of the club head. A golf club with a higher MOI will twist less, with the result that it will go in the direction you were hoping for without losing distance.

]]> This term is being used more and more in golf. Golf drivers these days are being designed in all sorts of ways to maximize MOI. The two most recent designs by Pinemeadow that increase the MOI are:

We tried to keep this as simple as possible. If you have any further questions feel free to call us at 1-800-309-6878.

The Masters: Who will wear the Green Jacket in 2007?

Played every year at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga., is one of golf's four majors. It is a tournament founded by Bobby Jones and revered by golfers everywhere. Looking forward to watching Tiger go for his 5th green jacket? Or will someone else crown himself as the 2007 champion…

1. TV Schedule
2. Pinemeadow's Picks
3. Master's Fun Fact

]]> 2007 Masters|TV Schedule

When: April 5-8
Where: Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Ga.
TV: Thursday-Friday, USA Network, 4-7 p.m. (ET), replays in prime-time; Saturday, 3:30-7 p.m. (ET), CBS; Sunday, 2:30-7 p.m., CBS

It doesn’t get any better having the 2007 Master telecast in HDTV.

Office Favorites:

Adam Scott: Scott coming off last weeks Shell Houston Open arrives at Augusta with the hot hand. This young Aussie has an incredible future ahead of him. Will this week be the week to capture his first Major Championship?

K.J. Choi: Choi makes his 5th straight appearance at the Masters this week. His best finish was third in 2004, and with three top 10 finishes already this season, don't count him out as a top contender for a Major win. (He was also one of our picks from 2006.)

Tiger Woods: Woods loves to compete on the grand stage of Masters Tournament. Woods will go for fifth Green Jacket at Augusta (1997, 2001, 2002, 2005) Winning this week will bring him closer to Jack Nicklaus all time Major wins of 18. Tiger has 12 Major Championship under his belt.

Henrik Stenson: Although he is ranked 6th in the world he is a lesser-known name to many of us who follow the PGA tour. Most of you will recognize him from the World Match Play where he proved to the rest of the world he can play. It will not be a surprise to his name on the leader board on Sunday.

Camilo Villegas: Young gun ready to make his mark as one of the elite players on tour. He will be playing in the Masters for the first time this year. He has not been playing well of late but we like his chances this week.

Here is a list of our 2006 picks and how they did. Chad Campbell almost made us look like geniuses.

1. Chris Dimarco - MC
2. Rod Pampling – T16
3. Luke Donald – T42
4. Chad Campbell – T3
5. KJ Choi – MC

Masters Fun Fact:

All the holes at Augusta National are named after flowering and/or aromatic trees or shrubs. Here are the 18 hole names:

No. 1 - Tea Olive
No. 2 - Pink Dogwood
No. 3 - Flowering Peach
No. 4 - Flowering Crab Apple
No. 5 - Magnolia
No. 6 - Juniper
No. 7 - Pampas
No. 8 - Yellow Jasmine
No. 9 - Carolina Cherry
No. 10 - Camellia
No. 11 - White Dogwood
No. 12 - Golden Bell
No. 13 - Azalea
No. 14 - Chinese Fir
No. 15 - Firethorn
No. 16 - Redbud
No. 17 - Nandina
No. 18 – Holly

New Kid on the Bloc

The new BLOC Driver has arrived and it will help straighten your drives. In case you were wondering what this square driver trend is all about, the thing to consider is Moment Of Inertia (MOI). Increased MOI creates less spin, particularly sidespin, resulting in straighter drives. The square shape of the BLOC helps distribute weight as far from the center of gravity as possible, promoting solid contact and straighter overall trajectory, especially on off-center hits.

Get your hands on this club for a quarter the price of other square drivers on the market! For more info, visit PinemeadowGolf.com or call 1 800 309-6878.

BEAT THE RUSH!

Don't miss out on the first shipment of our new BLOC Driver. Due to popular demand, we're taking pre-orders of this club, so get your order in now and we'll ship it immediately upon arrival on February 15th!

An innovative square (BLOC) design promotes straighter drives and maximum distance. By shifting the weight of the driver to the back edge of the club head, the MOI is increased resulting in unprecedented power off the tee. The BLOC Driver is like no club we've ever designed. We're eager to introduce you to the smooth plains and mirror polish of this stylish new creation. Expect to be surprised by this driver!

For more info, visit PinemeadowGolf.com or call 1 800 309-6878. Customer service is our number one priority.

New Club Preview: TS 455 BLOC Driver

Coming Soon: TS 455cc Bloc Driver by PinemeadowGolf.com