Golf Clinic

Ever go to those golf outings that double as a golf instruction and unrelated product sales pitch? A friend and I recently went to one…what the heck, it was FREE. It was held at this absolutely gorgeous private golf course, sponsored by a luxury car manufacture and featured instruction from, none other than golf instructor guru – David Ledbetter and pro golfer Matt Kuchar.

We started with lunch that was primarily a “cold-cuts” buffet…still tasty though. After the brief lunch and everyone fully registered, we were herded outside to the eighteenth tee box. David Ledbetter gave fifteen-minutes of generic golf tips sprinkled in with his surprisingly dry humor. Matt Kuchar then took over, and we essentially watched and listened to him describe his full pre-shot routine as well his key swing thoughts. He tee’d off two balls and we all sheepishly followed him to his approach shot and again listened intently as he gave insight into this shot. This took us up to the final putt and surprisingly we found out that he does not make every putt inside ten feet.

So, after forty-five minutes, the pros’ were gone…their work was done. It was now time to for us to get some one on one golf instruction from the three already assembled golf stations. This was actually quite cool…short iron station, chipping/putting station and a driving station.

Oh, there was one more station…the sales pitch “product” station. We all got to hear how wonderful this luxury automobile was and actually sat in it and played with the buttons as if we were five years old. All in all, a small price to pay for a fun afternoon of feeding the golf addiction.

Rory McIlroy gets it!

Bravo Rory McIlroy for realizing that as a world-class golfer, he wields great power of influence. He is using that influence for good…to keep the world focused on the plight of the Haitian people. As you all know, Raga Golf is passionate about golf and embraces the cultural richness of the Caribbean.

While Rory could have easily donated time and money to a charity in the town of the current PGA stop, he chose instead to get on a plane and see first hand how diseased and dilapidated Haiti still is. For a few days, we are reminded that these people and perhaps more importantly the children still need our help.

As Raga Golf tweeted – “Rory, you have expanded your fan base exponentially…..”. Well done.

Anthony Kim – One cool guy…

One of the Raga Golf staffers recently met Anthony Kim at a golf mega store appearance. As you know, he recently had thumb surgery. His left arm is very bandaged, from the fingers up to the elbow.

He was in great spirits and very accessible…engaging a variety of questions, such as “… working for Nike, is he intimidated by Tiger or inspired..” and “how is he affected by the new square shape / “v” shape wedge grooves..”. Even through silly questions, he had a sense of humor and did not pretend to understand all the technology that goes into making his equipment cutting edge.

He is currently ranked number 10 in the world and could one day be number 1. What do you think?