Archive | December, 2010

An App to Get in Golf Shape: Nike Training Club

23 Dec

Long ago, I downloaded the old Nike Training Club app for my iPhone. It was completely cheesy, with cartoon avatars and disjointed workouts.

Today, however, Nike released a newer, sleeker, and might I say fantastic version of the app. And thank God. I hardly ever used it before, but tonight I gave it a spin and it is perfect for getting into golf shape.

The concept is circuit training — get your heart rate up and go from one exercise to the next without stopping in between. Then you take a breather, and then repeat the circuit. This is the training I make my college players do, because it’s an efficient way to get in shape fast. The Nike Training Club workouts cue you through it so that things are perfectly timed and you can really push it. Because honestly, when I do a circuit at home, I tend to rest a lot and not really work.

There are also tons of different mixes of the exercises, each titled with a different name. These workouts are further divided into “Get Lean,” “Get Toned,” “Get Strong,” and “Get Focused.” All but the last are pretty self-explanatory, and “Get Focused” is just their alliterative way of saying “target training.”

What I love is that you can either set it to music from your collection on your phone, or you can do the workout without any music (which is what I did tonight in front of the news).

Because I have a tiny cramped apartment, I did the strength training routines so I wouldn’t have to jump around. You can do abs, butt, legs, shoulders, back and quick cardio. Each is 15 minutes long, and you go through the five minute circuit three times. The exercises seemed easy at first, but man did I feel a burn!

This is going to be a great tool for me as I try to get in good golf shape to meet my golfing goals this year. Oh yeah — and it’s FREE. Well done, Nike.

 

New Brand Crush: Pahr

21 Dec

Ok, so I’m kinda fixated like a teenage girl on this new golf clothing company called Pahr. I don’t particularly like the way they chose to spell “par” for their name, but oh well. What I do love is the way their clothes seem appropriate for situations on and off the golf course, which is something I’ve always tried to figure out how to do with my wardrobe. Everything is very sporty but mature.

A particular favorite of mine is Lolita, a quirky take on the golf polo:

Lolita - White Front

White

(Images: http://pahrgolf.mybigcommerce.com/products/Lolita.html)

I really like the back, I can imagine it being very flattering on lots of women golfers, and it would look very cute with Bermuda shorts. The front is kinda funky, especially with it all buttoned up to the top in the photo, but it’s still pretty fresh. The sleeves also seem to be a flattering length — something which I always search for in a golf shirt. Gotta feel like my wiggly places aren’t being showcased due to crappy little sleeves. The sad part is that it costs $75, but that’s something us budget golfers just have to deal with I guess. They also have a great pair of pants on the site that look to be super flattering due to their straight leg, as well as a sexy little polo golf dress. I may have to  invest in all three items in order to conduct a proper review :) .

This is a brand to keep your eye on. Their collections are steadily growing, and maybe someday they’ll be able to come down a little on cost.

Finding the Right Fit

20 Dec

So as mentioned in a previous post, my clubs broke. It’s totally killed my chances of playing in the beautiful South Texas winter temps (75 degrees, in December!!!). But, it’s given me the opportunity to get new clubs — something I was going to treat myself to sometime in the New Year anyway!

And thus, I finally got my first professional club fitting after 11 years of playing the sport. I learned quite a bit about the qualities of a club.

I had long believed that people should focus more on their swing, not on the equipment. However, now I know from hitting balls on a swing board (a black piece of plastic that helps with determining measurements for your swing), that I need a club that lies on the ground at a two degree angle. That angle helps me turn my hands through the ball at impact. Never would I have known that without a club fitting — who knows what angle my current clubs lie, but I guess that since I bought them at a big golf box store, they’re just the standard angle.

I’m now almost a full believer that properly fitted equipment is a must for playing well as an amateur. I say almost because I still need to play with the new set before I profess my love to this school of thought.

Speaking of the new set, I decided upon TaylorMade Burner 2.0 clubs with a Ladies graphite shaft, and of course the two degree angle. I’m only going to get clubs 6-SW, which I’ve decided will complement my 4H and 3/5/7FW.

They should be in soon, and I’ll update on how great they are (or aren’t, as the case might be!)

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