Best Investment of 2010: Wedges?

With the economy still in shambles, it's difficult to find a decent investment these days. All the usual suspects such as stocks, bonds, and commodities all look about as promising as Lindsay Lohan staying sober. So what is the savvy investor supposed to do?

I say buy wedges. Yeah, you heard me right. You can thank that meddling USGA. I've concluded that their sole guiding principle is to make golf more difficult and less enjoyable for the "bad" of the game. Their latest impediment to the much-needed growth of the game is a new ruling on club grooves. In effect, the beloved U-grooves/square-grooves that let us back up the ball on the green like a tour pro will soon go the way of the dodo bird. As of January 2011, "Manufacturers can no longer manufacture products with the pre-2010 grooves and can no longer ship products with the pre-2010 grooves. Retailers can continue to sell clubs shipped to them before this date as conforming clubs indefinitely." As the laws of supply and demand dictate, this sudden reduction in supply with a steady demand will result in a rise in price. Cleveland Golf has even launched a dedicated website, Year of the Wedge, to recognize (and capitalize on) this unique situation.

Keep in mind that wedge grooves become ineffective much faster than any other club. I've read recommendations to replace wedges every 15-20 rounds! So even if you don't plan on selling a pre-January 2011 wedge for a future profit, you should stock up on them to last you before they may become outlawed altogether by January 2024.

I've already made my investment. I bought a TaylorMade TP wedge with xFT. The cool feature of this model is the exchangeable faces. Once the grooves wear out you can simply replace the face with a fresh set of grooves. It is both economical and eco-friendly. I bought 3 replacement Z-groove faces for the cost of one wedge. I'm expecting a solid return on this investment in some form!

Rain Pours Through Sun Mountain

I'm a huge fan of Sun Mountain golf products. They have repeatedly won me over as a customer with such novel golf innovations as the stand bag, Dual X-Strap and the Speed Cart. Unfortunately, Mother Nature literally rained on their parade at the 2010 Ryder Cup this past weekend.

If you didn't hear, Sun Mountain provided the rain suits for the U.S. Ryder Cup team. Initially, the gear was panned for their gawd awful looks. Butch Harmon quipped, "They are the ugliest things I have ever seen." But really, hasn't ugly golf attire been somewhat the norm for Ryder Cup teams? Not a surprise to me since it appears that the only qualification for designing and selecting the team's wardrobe is to be married to the captain. But so what about fashion? When it comes to rain gear function over form is paramount. Anyone who has had to play golf in the rain knows the utter misery of playing in wet clothing. Not only is it uncomfortable but it can adversely affect your play.

Unfortunately, the U.S. Ryder Cup team experienced this firsthand since their Sun Mountain rain suits possessed neither form nor function. They were found to be about as waterproof as one of Lady Gaga's fishnet tops. Their leaky gear had to be ditched in favor of generic off-the-rack digs bought from a merchandise tent. What a debacle! It's quite simply an excusable failure by any measure and a huge blow to the manufacturer. This is certainly a low point for the company but it got even lower when, in classic "kick 'em when they're down" fashion, the manufacturer of GORE-TEX issued the following statement:

"It's unfortunate that the U.S. team at the Ryder Cup was not wearing uniforms with the GORE-TEX® brand, especially if the faulty gear ultimately interfered with performance," said Yvonne Erickson, marketing leader at W.L. Gore & Associates. "Gore has rigorous uncompromising standards in place to ensure that our products are of the highest quality, to back up our Guaranteed to Keep you Dry® promise to consumers. Gore and Sun Mountain Sports parted ways in 2006 and, therefore, GORE-TEX® brand technology was not used in the rain jackets and pants worn by the U.S. team this morning. We hope that the U.S. Ryder Cup Team will be wearing uniforms with GORE-TEX® product technology in the future."

Hopefully this epic disaster doesn't dampen Sun Mountain's hard-earned reputation as a producer of quality golf products. I've owned two stand bags and a Speed Cart and I've been 100% satisfied with their quality and performance. I'm still a fan and I'll continue to buy their products as long as I play golf.

The Sport With the Most Ridiculous Rules

I have always thought that the creator of the Rules of Golf must have been some sort of mentally challenged sport sadomasochist. Isn't the feat of rolling a ball into a tiny hole from hundreds of yards away using only sticks hard enough by itself? I guess not because there are a plethora of rules to make this darn sport even more difficult.

All the golf rules ruckus right now is over Dustin Johnson's 2-stroke penalty for grounding a club in a hazard during the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. The controversy is that Dustin failed to recognize that his ball lay in a bunker because the crowd had been standing in it and trampled it down. Sure, it wasn't clear that his ball lay in a bunker, but it was a bunker none the less. Because he grounded his club prior to his shot, he violated USGA Rule 13-4: Ball in Hazard; Prohibited Actions of the Rules of Golf.

However, my problem isn't with the determination of a bunker or other hazard on a golf course. My beef is that there is a rule about grounding your club in the first place! Grounding your club is just a natural resting spot for your club before you swing. Why should it be any different in a hazard? Isn't it penal enough to have your ball lay in a hazard? But more to the point, is there really any advantage to grounding your club? It's not like you're allowed to tee the ball up. I have been playing this godforsaken game for over 15 years and not once did I feel that not grounding my club in a hazard materially affected my shot. I'm sure that Dustin would have had the same result with his 2nd shot on hole #18 if he had not grounded his club in the bunker. The rule prohibiting grounding of the club anywhere is just asinine to me and is just one of the many rules that should be stricken from the Rules of Golf.

In the end, this is just another instance of why golf is often the laughingstock amongst the sporting world.

Is There a Free Drop From the Propeller?

To take advantage of the 4th of July weekend half day Friday, my friend and I scheduled an after-work tee time at our favorite local executive muni, Penmar in Venice, CA. It's a great little track that is always in great shape with lots of challenging holes. The only real downside to this course is that it is located within a stone throws away from Santa Monica Municipal Airport. Lots of small planes take off right over the golf course and can be a distraction. But after a while you get used to it and accept it as just background noise.

The night before our tee time we were shocked to discover that a small plane had crashed near the 8th hole. Apparently, the student pilot lost power on his ascent and the plane dropped like a rock. Unfortunately, he died but luckily no one else was hurt since golfers were still on the course. I guess it was bound to happen.

I assumed that the course would be closed the following day after such a tragic accident. However, we called the next morning about our tee time and the grumpy starter told us it was business as usual. They had already removed the wreckage! We played our round and indeed the only evidence of the crash was broken tree limbs and that police yellow tape surrounding the area. Air traffic was normal, if not even more busy than usual. It's just amazing how quickly things can return to normalcy.