Even If Your Clubs Are Off The Shelf--Get Fitted!

Golfers will find the best of both worlds at DD Custom Golf, a new club fitting service operating at Fairview Golf Center in Elmsford. Owner Steve Kurnit, a club fitter of long-time good standing in the metro area, not only offers high-tech measurement, but you can see what's happening with your ball flight as he tweaks your clubs on the range.

"The flight monitor only watches the ball for 15 inches," Kurnit points out, "but having the range lets the client see how the ball really behaves."

Kurnit estimates he's done 1500 fittings since he started in the business 25 years ago. He set up shop in partnership with Fairview just a few days ago. He not only has all the tools to measure your swing there, but a shop on the premises to tweak your sticks on the spot, too. The shop is only a few steps away from the privately-curtained hitting bay he uses to check your swing.

In addition to measuring the golfer's lie, loft, and shaft length, Kurnit emphasizes the importance of having the right shaft flex for your swing. "You hit the ball with the head, but you hit it right because of the shaft," he says. It's also not enough to pick the right shaft according to the manufacturer's specs, either, since any one graphite shaft in a supposedly identical group of ten can vary as much as a full flex from the others. If you're going to spend $300 on the perfect shaft, he emphasizes, you should have it tuned to be sure you're getting what you want.

Kurtin uses a GC2 Foresight flight monitor to check swing speed, ball speed, launch angle, shaft angle at impact, back spin, side spin, percent off line, carry, roll, and peak height. Since the golfer is hitting on a full range, he or she can see what all those numbers really add up to.

I'm a big believer in proper club fitting and can personally attest to one of Kurtin's points: most players will hit their driver further and straighter if they use a shaft shorter than the standard 46 inches. "It's all about controlling the club face so it strikes the ball in the center," Kurtin says. "Center hits on square club faces have less spin so they fly straighter." Even if your clubhead speed is a little shower, it's axiomatic that balls that land in the fairway run out more than those that hit the rough.

A full 14-club fitting can run three to five hours in total (not all at once!) and runs $275. Each driver, fairway wood, and hybrid are individually measured, as are all the irons and even your putter. Irons or woods only are $150. A great way to try out the service is with a one-club "quick fit" for $75. Take your driver--and see what a shorter shaft will mean to you.

DD Custom Golf is at Fairview Golf Center in Elmsford. For more information, call (914) 715-8486. By the way, the "DD" in the name doesn't stand for Dave Donelson--it's "Dynamic Diagnostic" Custom Fitting.

In addition to writing about golf, Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Upper Montclair CC - A Championship Club

With so much great golf within minutes of my home in Westchester County, I don't typically venture too far when I'm looking for a round. Yesterday, though, I had the good fortune to visit Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton, NJ. I may have to put some extra gas money in the golf budget for future trips to that fine old club.

Upper Montclair is well-known as the site of PGA and LPGA Tour events starting with the Thunderbird Classic in 1962 and ending--at least for the moment--with the Sybase Classic in 2009. Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Mason Rudolph, Gene Littler, and Sam Snead are just a few of the greats who played the course in the 60s, while Nancy Lopez, Pat Bradley, and Lorena Ochoa (who won the Sybase twice at the club) are among the top women golfers to compete there.

Last year, Upper Montclair underwent an extensive renovation that included updating of the bunker complexes, expansion of several greens, and work on some drainage issues. There's still a little work going on to cart paths and a few amenities, but I found the facility in spectacular condition. By the end of the summer, I would expect the expanded greens on several holes to be perfect. The original designs were by A.W. Tillinghast and Robert Trent Jones.

UMCC has three nines, any two of which combine for a 71.8 rating and 131 slope. Each is about 3,250 yards. From the back tips, any combination reaches about 6,900 yards. I found the mix of long, demanding holes with short shot-maker delights to be ideal for keeping my interest throughout the round. I played the West and South Courses and look forward to a trip back to explore the East before the year is out.

The West course opens with two 320-yard birdie opportunities, although you'll have to work for them with well-managed tee shots and approach shots kept under the pin on the undulating greens. At 507 yards, the first par five on the East (hole #5) can give you a birdie, too, but only if you can control a hard fade off the tee and have the intestinal fortitude to challenge the water in front of the green on your second shot. The ninth hole is a tough, tough par at 420 yards that end with an elevated green. You'll be tempted to try to cut the corner of the dogleg by carrying the bunker on the right with your tee shot, but you'll just end up in thick rough behind a tree if you do. The better play is to the left side of the narrow fairway.

The South course begins with a full-size par four at 410 yards. The highlight comes on the third hole, a perfect combination of picturesque water, colorful landscaping, and a well-placed bunker. It calls for a high draw off the tee which will catch a gentle down-sloping fairway to leave you with a short iron over water to the green. The kidney-shaped green drops steeply from back to front (toward the water, of course) and has a ridge bisecting it as well. Another ten yards or so was added to the back lobe of the green during the renovation, which gives some even more challenging pin positions.

I have to add one final note: the cheeseburger after the round ranked among the greatest anywhere. I particularly liked the intricate club logo perfectly burned into the bun!

In addition to writing about golf, Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Congressional Dissected In U.S. Open Preview

The place to see what the pros will face at Congressional in this week's U.S. Open is NBCSports.MSNBC.com, where Brian Crowell provides hole-by-hole commentary on the course.

In addition to writing about golf, Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Finally! No More Slice!

Like nearly 90% of all golfers, I've spent way too much time in the right rough--or worse. The slice, as you probably know, is the biggest single fault in most golfers' games. But now you can banish your banana ball with the help of my friend Brian Crowell and his new book, Slice-Free Golf In Three Easy Steps.

I had the pleasure of working on this book with Brian, handling the photography and design among other things, and in the process I learned a lot about my golf swing. It was kind of like having a three-month golf lesson with one of the top teaching pros in the country. You can get the same kind of advice I did--and get more control over your game--with the simple lessons Brian teaches and the drills he uses to help you hit the ball straighter and farther.

Slice-Free Golf doesn't have any gimmicks, but there does seem to be a little magic in the way Brian explains his system for the set-up, swing, and follow-through that will lower your scores. He also uses an unconventional approach to somethings most golfers take for granted. When it comes to set-up, for example, Brian doesn't start with the grip, but with alignment. Makes sense, doesn't it? How can you aim the club face until you know for sure where to point it?

Then there is the swing itself. Like all great teachers, Brian has the ability to create images that stay in the pupil's mind. His "eye in your chest" is a fabulous reminder to keep your shoulders slightly closed through impact in order to hit your shot with a little draw spin.

Slice-Free Golf has over 200 images like these that you can mentally call up when you need them. If you need a little tangible reminder, there's a cut-out page you can use at the range--or even on the course--to remind you of the specifics of the slice-free swing. There are also over two dozen drills Brian has developed over the years to help ingrain good swing habits in the thousands of golfers he's taught.

But don't just take my word for it. Here's what all-time-great Gary Player had to say about Slice-Free Golf:

"Don’t let the slice diminish your enjoyment of this great game. If cutting the ball is frustrating you, please read Slice-Free Golf. Your score will improve and you’ll have more fun on the links. My friend Brian Crowell can help you to get the most out of your swing. He is an accomplished PGA instructor who has a very clear and comfortable way of communicating with his students. Slice-Free Golf is proof of both his effectiveness as a teacher and Brian’s hatred of the dreaded slice."

For more information about how you can banish your banana ball, visit www.slicefreegolf.com. You can get your copy of Slice-Free Golf directly from the publisher or your favorite bookseller. It's also available as an ebook for Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, and other devices.

In addition to writing about golf, Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Sleepy Hollow Centennial

Sleepy Hollow Country Club celebrates its 100th anniversary today. The club was founded by the nation's most prominent business leaders at the pinnacle of America's "Gilded Age," opening officially on May 20, 1911.

Sleepy Hollow will acknowledge its centennial with various activities, but top of the list is the Metropolitan Open, which will be played at the club for the first time since the tournament began in 1905. The Met Open is the MGA's premier event and one of the most prestigious tournaments in the nation. The championship title has been held by all-time greats of the game including Gene Sarazen, Byron Nelson, Walter Hagen, Henry Picard, Tommy Armour, Paul Runyan, Craig Wood, and Claude Harmon. Bob Rittberger of Garden City CC is the defending champion for the 54-hole event to be held August 23-25 at Sleepy Hollow.

They will play on the only course in Westchester designed by Charles B. Macdonald. Over the years, the course has been changed for various reasons, but a major restoration was undertaken in 2007 under the architect's pen of Gil Hanse. The goal was not to rebuild Macdonald's original layout (which would have been impractical given all the changes the course has endured over the years) but to recreate a course blending Macdonald's concepts with the demands of the modern game. The results are generally spectacular.

When Sleepy Hollow opened in 1911, there were 600 members and a long waiting list. The founding members are a Who's Who of the business community of the day including John Jacob Astor (who died a year later on the Titanic), William Rockefeller (brother of John D. Rockefeller), and Frank Vanderlip (President of the National City Bank of New York, the forerunner of today's CitiGroup). Vanderlip was the creator of the club, which he founded on property he bought from Rockefeller, who had himself purchased it from Margaret Louisa Vanderbilt Shepard, a granddaughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt.

The Sleepy Hollow clubhouse is as magnificent as the golf course. It was completed in 1895 at a cost of $850,000--a huge sum for the time--and retains today the original character and features of the design by architects McKim, Mead, and White. The mansion includes a ballroom, library, formal dining room, and 18 guest rooms as well as the golf pro shop and locker rooms. An original Tiffany window lights its grand staircase and the view of the Hudson River may well be the finest in the county.

Golf is not the only activity offered at Sleepy Hollow. A spectacular European-style stable is home to some 50 horses and is the centerpiece of the club's extensive equestrian program. There are also two indoor and two outdoor riding rings. Members can also indulge in swimming, tennis, skeet and trap shooting, and squash. Golf is king, however, with an additional nine-hole course and state-of-the-art instruction and practice facility also available.

In addition to writing about golf, Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

The End Of The Amateur In Golf

Could two amateur golfers beat two of the world's greatest professionals? Once upon a time, they might. Mark Frost tells the story of just such a contest in his account of The Match: The Day The Game Of Golf Changed Forever. But this isn't a fairy tale. It is instead a can't-put-it-down true account of a high-stakes game played in 1956 on one of golf's most spectacular courses by four of the game's legendary competitors.

Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson are the pros. They have fourteen major championships between them. Coming from the same caddie yard, the once-close competitors haven't spoken in years--but they teamed up to face the two leading amateurs of the day, Harvie Ward and Ken Venturi. Both of these young men competed at the highest levels of the game in the hallowed tradition of Bobby Jones. As a match-play team, they had never been defeated. The venue for the match? Storied Cypress Point, whose fairways follow craggy cliffs and rocky promontories swept by the winds of the Pacific while the ocean crashes below.

Frost lays out the play stroke by stroke, pacing the narrative with revealing histories of the players and other notables inolved in the day. He puts the game into context, pointing out that this day marked the end of the amateur era and the ascendance of the professional. While the match itself is compelling, the after-stories make fascinating reading, too, especially for those of us interested in the history of our great game.

In addition to writing about golf, Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Barclay's Promotes NJ And NY Charities

New Jersey and New York charities will join in TICKETS Fore CHARITY as part of the promotional effort of The Barclays, the first event in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, which will feature 125 of the top players on TOUR, Aug. 23-28 at Plainfield Country Club in Edison, N.J.

Through TICKETS Fore CHARITY, The Barclays gives 501(c)(3) organizations the opportunity to promote tournament tickets to benefit their organization. Best of all, 100 percent of the net proceeds from the ticket sales – net proceeds exclude tax or processing fees – go to charity: 75 percent to the charity promoting the tickets; and 25 percent to The First Tee of Metropolitan New York. The First Tee is an initiative of the World Golf Foundation aimed at positively impacting the lives of young people by providing learning facilities and education programs that promote character development and life-enhancing values through the game of golf.

“This is an incredible opportunity to raise unlimited funds for the participating charity and there are absolutely no costs to the organization,” said The Barclays Executive Director Peter Mele. “Fans will get to witness the very best the PGA TOUR has to offer and generate revenue for charities in New York and New Jersey during a time when these organizations need our help more than ever. We’d like to invite charities throughout the area to join us in enhancing and enriching our local communities by participating in TICKETS Fore CHARITY.”

In 2010, the second year of the program, $150,000 was generated for local charities, and the tournament has set a goal of $200,000 for 2011. As of today, 55 charities have officially signed up to participate in the program.

The ticket available through TICKETS Fore CHARITY is a weekly grounds ticket available for just $50, normally priced at $100. This is a grounds ticket for each day of the tournament from Tuesday August 23-Sunday August 28. Tickets can now be purchased on behalf of your charity of choice by visiting www.buytfc.com. Non-profit organizations interested in participating in the program should contact Dan Chelel at The Barclays tournament office at danielchelel@pgatourhq.com or 201-444-5356.

The PGA TOUR, its players and tournaments support more than 3,000 charities. These local and national organizations work in a range of areas affecting the lives of millions in the communities where we live and play. In 2010, The Barclays donated $1 million to local charities, bringing the total amount raised since 1967 to more than $37 million.

The Barclays has been a part of the PGA TOUR schedule since 1967 when Jack Nicklaus won the inaugural event at Westchester Country Club. Since that time, some of the greatest players in the game have earned the title including World Golf Hall of Famers Arnold Palmer, Johnny Miller, Raymond Floyd, Seve Ballesteros, Hale Irwin, Curtis Strange and the new defending champion, Matt Kuchar, 2010 winner of The Barclays. Many of the world’s current top players have won the event as well, including two-time champions Ernie Els and Sergio Garcia, and four-time champion Vijay Singh. As the first of four playoff events, The Barclays plays a leading role in the FedExCup, the season-long competition that is the centerpiece of the PGA TOUR season. In 2011, The Barclays will be held at Plainfield Country Club in Edison New Jersey, on August 23-28. For tournament information visit www.thebarclaysgolf.com.

In addition to writing about golf, Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.