I came across the Brush-t Pro Tee’s while perusing the classifieds section of Golf Digest. I am always looking to try new products and gadgets so picked up a packet to try out.

The Brush-t is a golf tee and what sets it apart from the others is that you sit the ball on top of bristles. The bristles are synthetic and bend upon impact. This reduces resistance which supposedly increases length and accuracy of drives. From the manufacturers website…

The Brush-t ® bristles have been designed to do away with resistance from impact with the tee. The ball is supported largely by air which means that the speed of the club face at impact is concentrated so perfectly on the ball, that the sheer kinetic energy helps create a longer and straighter shot.

Accuracy: Brush T eliminates up to 2% of left or right deflection and that means greater accuracy for your shots. Over 300 yards a 2º deflection can make your shot up to 14 yards wide of the mark!

Each tee comes in a capsule style holder. The lid acts as a ball marker and there is a preserver in the middle which helps protect the bristles. I really like the look of the product and how it is packaged. It is very pleasing to the eye. I picked up a multi-pack and each size tee is a different color. It also has written on the side which club it is for, i.e. blue is 3 wood, black is driver etc.

When I tried these out I found that the tee goes into the ground very easily – unlike the X-Blade tee’s. Because of the shape of the tee, it means that each time you stick it into the ground the ball will be at a perfect height for the club you are using. Thus helping with consistency. The ball was easy to place on the tee and sat on top of the bristles without movement.

I enjoyed using the tees, however in my limited use I found no difference in performance in terms of distance and accuracy. I will continue to use these tees in the upcoming months and update my progress. They are currently one of my favorite types of tee. It is so easy to place the ball on top of it and I like the design/ colors. They seem to do the job and are not gimmicky like some of the tees on the market. They also seem to be well made and will last.

The Brush-t can be found at the usual retail and online golf providers. The 4 piece multi-pack is priced at $9.99, the 3 pack 3-wood tees are $5.99.

It is important to have the correct wedges to fit both your swing and the other clubs in your bag. With 14 clubs allowed in your bag, many people opt to drop a second wood/ high iron and have three (not including PW) dedicated wedges in their bag.

It is important to have the right gaps between your clubs. I suggest you look at your pitching wedge loft and go from there. You want to keep your gap between your clubs consistent and not exceed more than 6 degrees. An example would be… if your PW is 45*, a popular choice would be GW at 50*, SW at 56* and LB at 60*. Alternatively if could go Sand Wedge at 54* and Lob Wedge at 58*.

An important aspect of the wedge is the bounce. All top manufacturers offer their wedges in a bunch of different options. For example Titleist Vokey’s offer their SM4 wedges in 23 different loft and bounces for each club finish. Bounce can be a confusing term. It is not necessarily the amount the ball will bounce, but the angle at which the club head will slide along the ground and impact the ball.

When you hit a wedge shot;

• If you have little or no divot, you are a slider/ sweeper. You should look for a club with low bounce.
• If you take a regular sized divot, you are a driver/ slider. A medium sized bounce will work for you.
• If you take a large divot, then you are a digger/ driver. A high bounce wedge will work in this scenario.

The correct bounce will help you hit more consistently. If you have a low bounce swing, but have a high bouce club, it may cause you to “top” the ball.

With bounce course conditions also come into account. If you play in the Arizona desert (where the ground is generally firm) you would most probably need a low bounce wedge. However if you play in Pacific North West (where it rains a lot), the ground may be soft and soggy. In that case you should look at a higher bounce to compensate for it.

When selecting your wedges you may want to go for a combination of bounces. I am a slider/sweeper, but I like to have a sand iron with a high bounce to use from fluffy sand or long grass (rough). But a low bounce lob wedge for work around the green on short grass and firm ground conditions.

There are traditionally three different finishes to wedges. Traditional chrome, black nickel and raw finish. Some golfers prefer the black nickel and raw finishes because there is no glare from the sun. The raw finishes (also known as oil can, rustique, rusty) have unfinished faces. These are designed to rust and have patina. The club faces are softer to play; which some people prefer the feel. It has been proven that raw wedges having more spin than others, is nothing more than a myth and just an old-wives tale. They all spin the same.

Confused?? It is a very complex subject and wedges can be the toughest clubs in the bag to pick out. As with all clubs look for something which feels good to swing and easy on the eye at set-up.

Here is a good video from Mark Crossfield which explains wedge bounce…

A few months back Ping released a app (iPing) to give you putting feedback. It is available as a FREE download for iPhone (4 and above), iPod Touch (iOS 5 required) or Android (Samsung Galaxy 3, Note 2).

To go along with this app you need a cradle which attaches the phone to the club. This retails for $14.99-$19.99. I simply attached the phone to the putter shaft with some rubber bands. You can also get creative and create your own cradle. You just need a shaft clamp/ clip and a spare hard phone case (you can buy on eBay for less than $2). You simply just superglue the clip onto the back of the case and voila!

The app is really simple to use. Basically you can view a bunch of stats about your putting, which is determined from the gyro’s in your cell phone. The main three stats given are; Stroke Type (whether you pull the putter straight back and through, if you have an arc on your swing etc), Impact angle (whether the putter head straight at impact) and Tempo (follow through after impact, i.e. perfect would be 2:1. Meaning you swing though double the distance, of what the back-swing was). After each swing the stats will appear on the cell phone screen for you to see. There are also a number of advanced stats which you can also monitor.

There are some additional features also. You can view and compare your putting stats to Ping PGA Pro’s. You can also do a “fit” where the app will recommend Ping putters which suit your swing. In addition you can save sessions and compare to previous.

I found the app a great tool – especially so as it is totally free! I practiced inside my house using my SKLZ  putting mat (review is posted here). I always thought that I was pulling the putter back and through in a straight line. However I discovered I had a 10 degree arc (strong arc). The following day I went to my local golf store and tried a putter which was marked as ideal for a player having a strong arc. It was the Ping ZB S TR. I could not believe it. The putter felt great and 5 of my 10 10ft putts went in the hole. With the other putters I found the balls were going right. This made sense as the strong arc putters are weighted in a way that helps the face of the club to swing around towards center at impact.

I found iPing worked better on the iPhone than the Note 2. Simply because the iPhone is smaller and lighter weight. The Note was a little unwieldy when trying to fasten onto the putter. I did find a glitch when using the Note. I found I could practice fine and the putts were instantly read; but if I tried the Measure or Fit function it would not read any of the 5 putts. I think this could be as I had the cell phone attached to the club with rubber bands and not secure in a cradle.

Overall this is a really fun and useful gadget. The main use for me would be to check that the face of the putter is straight at impact. As it is free tool I highly recommend downloading it if you have an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy. I would say that iPing is probably the best app I have downloaded on my phone in the past couple of years.

I am interested to hear your feedback. If you have any questions or thoughts on the product please post them in the comment box below.

I came across The Twister portable golf ball cleaner while browsing gadgets on eBay. It was featured on ABC’s TV show Shark Tank. The Twister website claims that they were voted #1 golfers gift of the year. But there is no reference as to who/ when that was claimed.

The company that produces this product says that this “cleans your golf ball like a pro”. There are four features;
– Quickly and easily cleans dirty golf balls
– Easily clips onto golf bags for travel convenience
– Leak-proof case stores cleaning solution
– Made of durable drop resistant plastic

The product is well packaged in a green box. My initial impressions when opening the box was that this was big. The ball cleaner is 5 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ x 3 1/2″. In fact I think that this is may be too big and bulky to carry with all of the other golf paraphernalia which accompany me on my round. The product retails for $19.95, but I have seen it at various places online for about $10.

So how does it work? Basically you fill the product with water mixed with a cleaning fluid (dish soap) before you leave for your round. When you need to clean you ball, you unscrew it and put your ball in the center. You then twist the product like a pepper mill. The bristles inside it scrub the ball.

I have been testing/ using The Twister over the past couple of weeks. I was skeptical before I started using the product. It works fairly good. But doesn’t get the ball spotless, but certainly cleans the ball. It is a little tricky to screw up once the golf ball is inside it. You also have to remember to fill it with clean water and dish soap before you leave to play your round of golf. Also it as unclear how much water you put in. I looked on their website and there was nothing really noted. I just filled the base until the water came up to the bristles. But not too much water so that it spilled out when you open the Twister.

It has a clip to allow you to attach it to a golf bag. As shown in this picture to the left.

Would I recommend this product… I don’t know. I wouldn’t run out and buy one immediately. It works adequately, but it is so big and cumbersome. If you can pick one up for $10, I think it would make a good gift for a golfer who likes gadgets. But for me it is not a must have. If you play at locations which have ball wash stations on every tee, then I don’t see any point in hauling this around with you.

The Twister Cleaner, the one and only personal golf ball cleaning device with scrubbing bristles! The simplest and most effective tool to scrub dirt off your golf balls.
The Twister is leak-proof! Simply fill The Twister with a mild cleaning solution then insert a dirty golf ball into the watertight chamber.
Next, close the unit and shake it to wet the golf ball and bristles. Now twist and turn The Twister to let the bristles work on the golf ball, whisking away the dirt, grime, and grass for an all-around clean.
With this fantastic little golf ball cleaner, you can be sure you will get the maximum performance from your golf balls on every shot – especially on the greens.

I recently got myself some of these X-Blade unbreakable tees. They are manufactured by a company called Stonehouse Design. I previously used the cheap generic tees from Target. Each hole I would have to use a new tee as the one I just hit from usually breaks. So the idea of an unbreakable tee appealed to me.

The tees come in two sizes; 2 3/4″ and 3 1/2″. A pack of 20 retails for $5.99.

Due to the shape of the tee it can also be used as a divot tool, which is handy. The tee’s I received came in a multicolored pack but I believe you can also get them in an individual color. When trying them on the course I did find the red ones hard to pick up against the grass color – but I am slightly colorblind, so that probably did not help the situation. I think in the future yellow or white would probably work best for me.

While initial testing the tee’s worked well. With each tee shot, the tee remained in the ground and did not fly 10ft from my hitting location like with a conventional tee. There are height markers molded on the side of the tee’s. Personally I did not have the need to use this feature. The top of the tee has four prongs which the ball rests on. I found that ball remained pretty stable while sitting on the tee.

I tried them out over several holes of play and did not break any tee – so I guess the product does what it claims! I really like these tee’s and right now will continue to use them. My only hesitation is that the tee is pretty big, so I am curious to see how they will work with the hard Southern California ground in the summer. I have a feeling that they could be hard to push into the ground. Do they increase drive length and accuracy?? Well my swing is not consistent enough to determine that. I think they will need to be tested in a controlled environment to see if that is the case.

They are millions of golf gadgets/ improvement devices etc. Many do not work or help. But I like these tees and will continue to utilize these tees and update my progress later in the year.

X-Blade tees can be found at many of the usual online retailers.