What's New In Soccer & Golf
Soccer
LatinBefore I start on golf, let me tell you that I managed to catch the first half of Brazil versus Argentina soccer friendly the other day. Everybody knew by now Messi's solo goal that won the match 1-0. The truth and the crux of the matter is that though both sides went home early in the last World Cup in South Africa, they are to me the two best sides in the world today. After watching these two play you don't really need to watch others. They play with so much guile and skills.
Their scintillating one touch soccer, dummies, feints, through balls, and intricate but intelligent passing as if weaving an elaborate embroidery was truly a sight to behold. This is what soccer is all about and how it should be played. I certainly hope they will keep playing like that and in so doing could win the World Cup. Latins play with such flair and passion I suspect they are just out there enjoying their art and what they like doing. Others go onto the pitch to work and labour.
If you miss this clip you will have the worst miss on the worst miss in soccer, perhaps in the history of the game - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNv7pHsGAlI
EPL
Chelsea still very good lost 0-3 at Stamford Bridge to Sunderland. Theri players are getting older and taking longer to heal when injured. Terry, Lampard, Essien, a long list. Manchester City with big spending are struggling. You buy many expensive players through a new manager then sack the fellow in this case Mark Hughes then you get Mancini who sold and bought players and so on. Now what? Sir Alex knew his Manchester United can't go on that route so now he is more into recruiting young players. Liverpool are in a difficult season where they need lots of time to rebuild.
Arsene Wenger has it right. His Arsenal team has been together for a longer time. The other powers may decline some what for these reasons and Arsenal are maturing and could be on the rise and in the next 5 years you can watch them go. We are always going back to the old days. Old school is back in fashion in the soccer world where one should identify potential in players and get them before they become famous. Old school is back in the world economy. So while you can get trendy, old school is good for the tried and tested methods.
What's new in golf now? Well, for a start Englishman Lee Westwood became Numero Uno - number one without having to play. Who says nice guys don't come in first? Westwood is a nice guy ans deserved it but it is going to be tough out there with so many breathing down his neck and Westwood has not be known for winding up the competition towards the end. He has to be meaner. I wish him luck.
FootJoy
Outside of the golf course, equipment makers are having a field day. Footjoy has came out with shoes that you can design your own, choose your preferred colours, put in a flag or your name. It is a matter of time. When there is nothing else to play with you have to come out with new things like the shape of car head lamps, golf club heads has gone the same way, the tradtional, the square, the triangular, hexagonal, whatever.
Cobra
The latest trend is making all clubs black for drivers, woods, hybrids and irons. Many drivers and even woods and hybrids today provide some form of flight and/or weight control. While all these are happening, Cobra has just came up with an All-White driver - the Cobra Limited Edition ZL driver. This was after TaylorMade came on with the all-white Ghost putter. Soon wwe are going to be able to mix and match our own colours for all clubs.
Cleveland
Cleveland is launching a 2011 series of drivers called XL 270, 290 and 310 which means the driver weighs in at 270g, 290g and 310g. This will be suitably fitted to the famous Miyazaki C. Kua shafts. Miyazaki will be the first to introduce shafts that specify stiffness rating. This could be awesome as even those who knew about shafts could not configure what is appropriate due to the wide variety available without so much as a measurement. It is long overdue.
Shafts
Talking about shafts and following up from my previous publication on shafts, the problem today is still very much on shaft when golfers go hunting for clubs.
http://gforce-guru.blogspot.com/2009/09/shafts-engine-of-club.html
There are always two sides of an ongoing argument where one side swear that all problems can be fixed when you use the right equipment while the other side believe that the only way is through practice and lessons. Both are correct. Everything that you practise more makes better but there will always be people who do not have the luxury of time and when the course is also the range then right equipment can help immensely.
Golf is a game that can be hard enough so to end up with the wrong equipment is equal to frustration. It is hard enough so we should not be fighting with our gears. I can tell you that 90% of people who has read what I have to written or have spoken to me or been with me to the golf shops went away benefiting with information and revelation that they never had before and is helpful to them even if they did not buy any new clubs. There are truths on both sides really.
More than these two there is always a problem on shafts. Stiff (S), Regular (R) are the most common ones while A is Senior flex. The hard part is that there is no industrial standard to say what is S and what is R but Japanese clubs or the so called Asian Specs tend to have more flex so an American Regular is equivalent to a Japanese Stiff or Stiff/Regular which is Regular with Stiff tip. You need to be careful as it doesn't mean that you see Fujikura means it is Japanese specs as Fujikura are also supplying to top American brands like TaylorMade and so on.
Fujikura
Fujikura has been a worldwide supplier of golf shafts for the last 30 years with unsurpassed quality and regarded as a leader in design and innovation through superior technologies. They are also the no. 1 supplier of wood shafts on the PGA Tour for the last seven years in a row. Fujikura also supply to Callaway, TaylorMade, Nike, Titleist and Cleveland. They have the famous Motore, Rombax, Visto Pro, Vista Tour and the Famous Speeder. The Speeder shaft is said to be a defining moment for golf as it changed the landscape of golf shaft forever. Their after market shaft provides options for you to upgrade your current equipment or for customisation. Even Cobra, Ping, Mizuno and Adams are theri OEM partners.
UST
UST Mamiya designs, manufactures innovative high performance shafts for the world. Their flagship is the Proforce series which includes the V2, HMOI, Proforce Classic and High Launch is one of the world's top sellers for graphite replacement shafts and very popular in PGA and European Tours.
If you are in the market seeking replacement for the shafts of your old, existing clubs or merely changing it for suitability and enhancement of performance these are two of which you may like to consider.
Golf Simply
Golf Simply is a shop located at Far East Shopping Centre in Orchard Road who is the distributor of Fujikura and UST shafts. Besides this, they are also authorised dealer and fitter for Ping clubs. The picture you see here is the award winning Ping G15 with the latest addition being the K15 which is more or less replacing the titanium faced Rapture.
The black Ping driver you see here is the i15 which is more suitable for Pro or very proficient players and the other is the award winning G15. K15 has arrived too and it is suppose to have the SFT or Straight Flight Technology.
Here you will see the range of Fujikura and UST shafts available.
You can choose to trade in your used clubs on consignment.
Or get your accessories like golf bags (Ping range too) and others. I find the Fit39 gloves to be excellent gloves in terms of grip, feel, versatility and durability.
You can also find TaylorMade clubs available. Look for Evon and her staff.
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