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You would think that the humble golf ball marker was beyond further design considerations and had already evolved to its optimum performance - not so!  The latest idea to come out of the Scotty Cameron Putter Studio is the Ball Tool.  Actually it’s not as daft as you might think and like the best ideas, it makes you wonder why no one thought of it before.

The inspiration for the new ball maker was borne out of frustration in watching Golfers spend so much time in aligning their ball with the cup.  Described as the next generation in Ball Markers (makes it sound like the ball marker has been evolving for years) the marker is stamped with a series of alignments aids which  allows the player to line up his putt even after he marks his ball.

So now if you combine this, for example, with the Titleist ProV1, using the A.I.M (Alignment Integrated Marking) side stamp on the ball to correspond with the alignment line on the marker - you can’t possibly miss!

The Ball Tool is USGA approved and patent pending, and with the usual Scotty Cameron attention to detail, has even been designed with slightly rounded corners as to not dig into a player’s leg when he stores it in his pants pocket.

Scotty Cameron hopes that once you’ve tried it you’ll never want to play golf without it again, but at $44 it does seem a bit expensive for a ball marker, particularly if you’re anything like me and you can’t stop losing them. 

Back in the 80’s, Australian ladies golfer Jan Stephenson was the LPGA Tour’s pin-up and once famously posed naked for a calendar by sitting in a bath tub of golf balls. As a straight talking Aussie, Jan noted that as the golfing viewers were predominantly male (and visual !?!), girls in the sport needed to promote sex appeal to encourage it’s development.

Although controversial in it’s time, and no doubt since then, some modern day woman golfers have taken a leaf out of Jan’s book, I have some difficulty disagreeing with her - and I’m very dissappointed with myself

The reason I mention all of this, is that down under they’ve put a modern twist on the theme (well, not so much of a ‘twist’, rather ‘recreated’) to promote the Handa Australia Cup at the Nedlands Golf Club.  Young Aussie golfer, Danielle Montgomery, took up the challenge by ‘bathing’ semi-naked in a bath tub filled with golf balls.  Interesting how many golf legends were on hand to offer their support - no doubt in a visual sort of way!

For the full story go to The Perth Files

How would you feel if you were offered $200,000 to play golf in Bermuda? not bad eh? This effectively was on offer for showing up at the 26th PGA Grand Slam of Golf, the 36-hole tournament, open to the year’s four major champions.

Even this wasn’t enough to tempt Phil Mickelson, whose replacement, Jim Furyk, gratefully accepted his invitation by going on to beat Padraig Harrington in a playoff. Harrington has been here before losing in last year’s playoff to Angel Cabrera.

It wasn’t all bad news for Harrington this week though as was named the 2008 PGA Player of the Year, becoming the first Irishman and only the second European to achieve this honor since it’s inception in 1948.

The award is based on tournament wins, official money earnings and scoring averages.  Harrington has had a great year; successfully defending his British Open title at Royal Birkdale in July and then a month later clinching the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills.

I’ll say it one last time - Would he have won if Woods had been playing?

In 1980 The Dead Kennedys sang about a Holiday in Cambodia (I can feel a musical theme going on this week!) but now it seems those lovable hard core, punks from California may have been ahead of their time. In recent years Cambodia has been marketing itself in the International Golf travel market as the newest hot destination. 

The country which gave us Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge now hopes to follow in the footsteps of Vietnam, which last year won the International Association of Golf Tour Operators’ World’s Best Up-and-Coming Golf Destination award. (I assume it was a big award to get that inscription on it)

Cambodia has now doubled it’s number of luxury golf courses to four, one of which has been designed by Nick Faldo to PGA standards and The Arnold Palmer Design Company is currently building a new 36 hole course as part of a 5 star, billion dollar resort.

I would love to be able to go down the pub and tell my golf mates that instead of playing in boring old Spain or Portugal, I had spent a week on the links in Cambodia - has a certain ring about it!

I have been sent a new golf training aid to try out - the Thumb Caddy.  The Thumb Caddy is a small plastic device that has been designed to promote correct club grip by retaining the thumb in it’s proper position.  Out of the PGA (Posture, Grip, Alignment) it’s designed to address the Grip, leaving you to concentrate on the other elements in your swing.

The device is very easy to fit by spreading apart, sliding down the shaft and positioning it in alignment with the club-face.  Once fitted you simply place your thumb into the cradle and there you have it - the perfect Golf Grip!

I have to say that it does have a certain reassurance about it and I’m looking forward to giving it a go this weekend at Ufford Park.  I’m booked in for two nights and two rounds of Golf.  It’s a perfect venue because while the men play golf, the ladies (I would love to be able to say ‘WAGS’ at this point, but unfortunately we’re all of an age when there are only wives!) get to pamper themselves at the Spar.  At the end of the day we then all get together over a meal to swap stories about Birdies and the latest Eifel Fango mud, exfoliation treatment.

The Thumb Caddy is only a few bucks and you can get more details over at the Thumb Caddy website.

adjective:aspiring u'spIring - desiring or striving for recognition or advancement