This time Eddie took Knievel for $1,400 and Gary won $200. On the way back to the PGA show they ordered 1,000 chicken wings.  beer and had a sign made that said “Wing It On A Taylor Made”, which was the name of their company.

Friday night they had a party for the 228 golf pros staying at their hotel. Beer flowed and wings were consumed. Knievel appeared and signed autographs. Orders for $375,000 worth of metal woods were signed.

This was the first real sales for the new metal driver. Evel Knievel never did become associated with the company but he still was its most important early investor.

As Paul Harvey would say “Now you know the rest of the story”.

As always keep ‘em in the fairway.

Gary’s credit cards were maxed out and Eddie had declared personal bankruptcy. They need to find an investor fast.  Enter Evel Knievel.

“He called us” Eddie said. “He said” I’ve seen your product and I’m a believer. I’d like to get involved in this.’”  Evil’s career was over at that point. He played a lot of golf, drank a lot of Wild Turkey and did a fine job of living up to his reputation as a reprobate.

He invited the two to play a round in Key Largo. Gary has $75.00 in his pocket and Eddie had $25.00. When they arrived Evil (a 1 handicap) asked how well they played. Before they knew what happened they were playing a $25 Nassau with some side bets.

Fourteen holes in the match Knievel was winning everything. The two entrepreneurs wondered how they would pay. Embarrassment lurked and an investment partner would be gone.

On the 15th hole Knievel hit a bad drive and, disgusted, turned and threw his club. The club missed Eddie by inches.  Eddie grabbed Knievel and said he should beat the hell out of him. Evel knew he was wrong and apologized.

The match turned at that point and Knievel fell apart. Eddie was $250 and Gary took him for $75.00.

Stay tuned for part two and as always keep ‘em in the fairway.

Sure Natalie is easy on the eyes but please focus on her workout and information she provides. It can help men just as much as women.

As always, keep ‘em in the fairway.

A ball with no dimples is akin to a bullet. It will fly but it doesn’t create lift. A dimpled ball creates more spin and climbs into the air more easily because it has lift from the dimples. But all dimples do not behave alike. The size, shape, depth, number of, pattern and overall surface coverage of the dimples all influence the ball’s aerodynamic lift and drag properties.

The Rules of Golf only have a few formal rules covering dimples, which has opened the door to ball manufacturers. The USGA does require that a ball must be aerodynamically symmetrical.  While most balls have between 300-450 dimples some claim to have many more. The idea is to make the surface of the golf ball more uniform to improve the consistency of the aerodynamic performance.

Dimples affect trajectory but not spin. A particular dimple design can result is a higher of lower trajectory by modifying the dimensions of the dimples. Dimple patterns are designed to minimize drag. The larger the total volume of the dimples, the lower the lift. In other words, balls with large or deep dimples are more likely to produce a lower trajectory.

What does this all mean for duffers like us?  Probably not much. For the more accomplished player, choosing a ball that fits their game may just shave off a few strokes using technology (plus practice).

As always keep “em in the fairway.

Since it is finally cold in the north, golf is just a memory. But spring is just a few short months away. We would like to celebrate our return with our favorite video. We show it every winter to show just what it takes to be in golf shape. Sit back, relax and get motivated by the hardest working man in golf, Vijay Singh and as always, keep  ‘em in the fairway.

Tin Cup – $53,854,588
Happy Gilmore – $41,205,099
Caddyshack – $39,846,344
The Legend of Baggar Vance – $39,459,427
Caddyshack II – $11,798,302
The Greatest Game Ever Played – $15,431,177
Who’s Your Caddy – $5,713,425
Seven Days in Utopia – $3,588,000
Bobby Jones: Stokes of Genius – $2,707,913

Obviously this list does not include all of the greatest movies ever in our previous blog as some of them are quite old. However the box office proceeds listed above are pathetic.

What is it about golf that does not resonate on the big screen?  It is an elitist sport, the game does not lend itself to a good movie story or is the problem that the scripts just simply are bad?

We are struggling for an answer. We would love to hear our reader’s opinion on the subject
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As always keep ‘em in the fairway.

P.S. Has anyone ever seen Par 6?

Learn the bump and run. It is not sexy but it is effective. The idea is to try to fly the ball 20% of the way and have it roll 80%. Use a seven or a six iron or even a five if necessary. Place the ball back in your stance with a majority of your weight on your front foot. Have the shaft leaning ahead of the golf ball. Then just make a putting motion. It’s amazing! With a little practice your ball starts ending up consistently near the hole.

Remember it is easier to hat a ball shorter and gain consistency. Forget about sexy, look for results.

As always, keep ‘em in the fairway!

However why are there always certain workers who pay to no attention to the golfers who pay their salaries?

They drive their carts by full speed as you are hitting. If they are working around the greens they briefly stop and wave you up but do not move. If your ball heads in their direction they do not move.

Have you ever felt like they are stalking you for several holes? Are they laughing at how bad you are or do thy simply enjoy making you nervous.

But the worst, the absolute worst, is when you are playing at the end of the day and they follow you around and start the sprinklers as soon as you are done with a hole. That would be ok but why do they always jump ahead and start the sprinklers on holes you have not played?  Even though you plan your strategy to avoid the sprinklers you always hit into them. First you have to time the sprinkler head, then run and hit your ball and get out before the sprinkler head comes around to nail you. Success rate of getting nailed….100%.

Let me restate that 95% of the maintenance workers are great. The other 5% hopefully do not know where I live.

As always, keep ‘em in the fairway.

Most Major Wins – The most commonly used criteria is the number of major wins. Using this Jack Nicklaus is the greatest golfer of all-time, for now. No one knows what the future holds for Tiger Woods who is only 4 wins behind. But what if we add the element of length of career to the equation. Jack won his 18 majors in 25 years. Tiger has won his 14 in 16 years and counting. What about Bobby Jones who played part time for 8 years and won 7 majors before retiring.  The argument goes on and on…

Most Tournaments Won – Certainly an argument can be made that the player who won the most tournaments should be considered the greatest. Sam Snead leads the list with 82 wins (Including 7 majors).  One element of greatness is longevity and this is the best measure of quality of career or is it?

Best Scoring Average – Using this would take the entire human element out of the decision of who is the greatest. But it does not include the variables of improvement in equipment, quality of tournaments played or depth of players in the era. There is the long standing argument that Tiger has not had the quality of competition that Jack did (Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Tom Watson etc. all played against Jack).  The Vardon Trophy is given to the best golfer each year based on scores. Tiger has won it eight times.  Next is Billy Casper with five wins.  Billy Casper does not even belong in this conversation.

Most Prize Money – Golfers between periods cannot be compared, and recently earnings have skyrocketed. Earning are not a valid criteria.

We would love to hear from our readers on what they think is the most valid criteria to use to name the greatest player ever.

As always, keep ‘em in the fairway.

The Eight Step Swing has been a big seller for us which translates to mean people find it a useful tool to improve their golf technique.  Please sit back and watch the You Tube video by Jim Mclean briefly explaining the eight step swing and see what you think.

As always, keep ‘em in the fairway.