Happy Cinco de Mayo to my friends and HOG patrons.
And this is my annual shoutout to EatGolf, a.k.a. Rich. Cheers buddy. Hope to see you soon.
Hooked on Putting. That’s about the limit to my golf for awhile, while I recover from major shoulder surgery. By the time my recovery is complete, I will have graduated from really good putter to mercenary. One of the mercenary’s new tools is likely to be the new Lancelot blade putter from French company ARGOLF. Take a look at its simplistic beauty.
This blade design reminds me of my old Ping Zing and Ping My Day putters. Had the My Day not been stolen out of my bag years ago, I might still be using it.
I’ve just started testing out the Lancelot and I love the look and feel already. The first putt I tried with it was about a 30 footer and the distance was nailed, so it responded just as it felt it should.
The milled lines in the face (above) put a nice roll on the ball.
In the photo above the putter’s clean lines and alignment are on display.
Review Pending
This is just a quick preview. I will be spending quite a bit of time testing out the Lancelot and posting my full review soon. Stay tuned.
It has been raining here in northern Utah for about four straight weeks. Not just a light rain either. It has been pouring. To you locals here I apologize. It is my fault. You see, I bought new patio furniture and a new grill for the summer. Since the day I bought it, it has been raining non-stop.
Fortunately for me I’m dealing with the rain in style with my new Weatherman golf umbrella, which arrived about 3 weeks ago. Perfect timing. I’ve had it in use for days and days and I’ve been extremely impressed. Let’s take a look at the basic features of this umbrella, including its “mobile experience.”
Weatherman Golf Umbrella Features
Size! I’m using the 62 inch model. It is quite large and covers a ton of area. The width would easily cover caddie and player. Weatherman makes 68 inch model as well.
The construction of this umbrella is like a BMW crossed with a tank. It’s so solid, well built, high performance, and extremely attractive. The skeleton of the umbrella is made from industrial-strength fiberglass. The fabric is coated in Teflon to repel water. The handle is beefy and comfortable.
The fabric section is a dual layer design, which helps the umbrella bust the wind. In fact, this umbrella can withstand winds up to 55 mph. 55 mph should be plenty for any golfer to survive a round in extreme rain and wind, except perhaps Scottish chaps. 55 is but a “wee breeze” in Scotland.
A simple and smooth auto-open feature is activated by a button on the handle. It opens quickly. Closing is manual, and couldn’t be easier.
On the underneath of the umbrella is a mesh pocket for storing personal items.
Never thought I’d see the day, but this umbrella comes with its own “mobile experience.” First theres a bluetooth tracker (round item in photo below) which helps the owner track down the umbrella when it is misplaced, or stolen. Second, the Weatherman app will keep you up to date on pending rain and remind you when to have the umbrella ready.
Ryder Cup
Weatherman was the maker of the 2018 USA Ryder Cup team umbrellas. Unfortunately those models now appear to be sold out.
Gift Idea
The Weatherman umbrella would make a fantastic gift for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, birthdays or Christmas.
Final Thoughts
This is the best golf umbrella I’ve ever used. With about 15 years of golf blogging under my belt so far, I’ve tested many.
Every element of this umbrella is well thought out, superbly designed, and manufactured with the highest of standards.
Golf is expensive on just about every front, from green fees to apparel to equipment. Golf clubs are getting crazy costly. $400, $500+ for a driver! Iron sets regularly top $1000. Most fairways and hybrids fetch in the $200 range. Wedges are often $100 and up. Equipping a first time golfer with all new gear could like this could run thousands.
I don’t recommend beginner and/or golfers with low budgets buy expensive new clubs at first. I often point people who inquire about budget golf clubs to the used bin or the classified section. There can be some great deals on clubs there. Clubs which have many good shots left in them.
Until Lynx Golf reached out to me to review the Power Tune complete set, I had no idea I could point golfers with these budgetary needs to a brand spanking new set which includes wedges, putter and even a nice cart bag! Price? Under $175. That’s insane. Check it out.
Included
- 460cc titanium driver
- 3-Fairway Metalwood
- 4-Hybrid
- Irons, 5-iron through sand wedge
- Mallet Putter
- Cart Bag with five pockets, umbrella holder, towel clip, carrying strap
- Uniflex graphite shafts, ideal launch characteristics for the target golfer
- Black rubber compound Lynx grips
Driver
460cc’s is the max allowable driver size. This 460cc driver is made of high strength titanium and has a 10.5 degree loft.
A decal on the top of the driver helps the golfer with ball position/alignment.
Fairway
The fairway metalwood features 15 degrees of loft, making it a standard 3-metal. This club is made from premium stainless steel and has the same alignment marking as the driver.
4-Hybrid
It’s great that the set comes with a 4-hybrid, rather than a 3 and/or 4-iron. 3 & 4-irons are very hard to hit. Hybrids are far easier and launch the ball much higher.
Irons
The irons are forgiving and lightweight.
The head design and weighting helps golfers get the ball launched higher and easier.
Sand Wedge
It’s cool that this set comes with a sand wedge. Most sets like this don’t come with one.
This wedge is a modern design with the proper bounce to help golfers get the ball out of the sand more easily. The sand wedge in this set will also be a good short game club for anything under around 100 yards.
Putter
The included putter is a solid feeling mallet style putter.
The putter swings smoothly and consistently, and includes alignment lines, dot, and visuals to help the golfer setup properly.
Critiques
The one missing item with this set is a putter cover.
Golf Bag
The cart bag is lightweight and water resistant.
There are five pockets, two which are large pockets for apparel. The three smaller pockets are good for accessories, golf balls, and personal items. The bag includes an umbrella holder, towel clip and a cart friendly strap system.
Final Thoughts
This package is available exclusively on WalMart.com. It’s only $174.99. That’s an amazingly affordable price for what is included. What a great way to get someone started, or replace an old set. Father’s Day is coming up soon and you could hook dad up with an entire new golf rig for less than half of the cost of a $400 driver!
Remember the movie 9.5 Weeks, with Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke? What a film. That one rocked my world as a young, red blooded heterosexual male in 1986. If only my 9.5 week report on my shoulder surgery was as tremendous as that, or even one tenth of one percent.
I just finished up my 14th session of physical therapy today, for my repaired torn rotator cuff, torn labrum, and torn bicep tendon. 9.5 weeks after the surgery I find myself in a frustrating and concerned position. For the last week or so I’ve been experiencing more than usual pain in my shoulder, and in areas I’ve not had any pain before. I’ve feared I did some damage to the repairs by lifting something heavy out of the trunk of the car. The pain has been keeping me from sleeping.
My rehab therapist checked it out today and does not think that I’ve damaged anything or re-injured myself. We theorized that my more active use of the arm/shoulder (computer, driving, daily activities), are causing the added pain and soreness. That’s good. The bad news is I have pretty severe scar tissue built up in the area of the bicep tenodesis (where the doc cuts off part of the bicep tendon and screws it into the bone). It is enflamed and painful 24/7 and always extremely tight. So tight it’s tighter than Stewart Copeland’s (The Police) snare head. This issue is causing my recovery to go very slowly. This condition is also known as “frozen shoulder.”
In therapy sessions the therapist stretches out and manipulates the arm and shoulder to try and increase the mobility, increase blood flow, and break up the scar tissue. It takes some very harsh and painful movements to get the scar tissue to break up. When it does, I sometimes feel a pop.
During today’s session the therapist started a new treatment. He used some lubrication and a bamboo “tool” to rub the areas where the scar tissue is built up and the tendons are tight. When rubbing the tissues with this device you could literally feel the bumps in the tissue. It practically felt like he was moving the tool over a saw blade. With normal tissue the movement would be smooth.
I do have improved mobility in the right arm which I’m thrilled about. A little mobility seems terrific when you had none for 6+ weeks. I can “almost” brush my teeth with my right hand, almost pull my pants up, and almost wipe my own ass right handed without pain. That’s quite an improvement. I still have very limited range of motion in almost every direction. A couple of days ago I picked up a golf club. First time I’ve had a golf club in my hands in months. In a gentle swing test I got the shaft back about 12 inches from grounded and that was all she wrote. Brutal.
At this point I’m not figuring on playing any golf in 2019, but I’m diligently doing my rehab treatments and exercises in the hopes I can break through as soon as possible.
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