I recently wrote an e-book (”Guide to Buying Golf Clubs Online”) which I’m giving away when you sign up to my weekly Video Swing Tips newsletter…………………..over there

Today, I’m giving the e-book a plug. I’m generally not at ease with the sales and marketing stuff, but I feel pretty comfortable about promoting my e-book because I know it’s got great information and tips for people considering buying golf clubs online.

So, go ahead and sign-up to my Video Swing Tips newsletter a get a free copy of the guide. Here’s a couple of sample sections from the e-book:

1. Alternatives to eBay for Used Golf Clubs

Online stores that sell used equipment are a pretty good alternative to eBay, classifieds and other online auction sites. The larger used online stores will often have: (1) a used club inspection and certification process, (2) no questions asked returns policy, (3) 12 month warrantee; and (4) shipping damage guarantee.

While many of the big online golf stores sell used golf equipment as well as new, there are a few online stores that sell only used:

Used Only

• Callaway Pre-Owned – sell other brands too, eg Nike, Titleist, Ping, TaylorMade. Offer 12 month warranty, money back guarantee and 90-day buy-back
• TaylorMade Pre-Owned –14 day money back guarantee and 12 month warrantee
• Golfbidder (UK) –7 day ‘no quibble’ returns policy, 12 month warrantee and some good buyer’s guides to help you choose the right clubs

Used & New

• Golfsmith – 30 day returns policy. No warrantee – they defer to the manufacturer’s warrantee (which has probably expired!)
• Edwin Watts Golf – 30 day returns policy. No warrantee – they defer to the manufacturer’s warrantee
• Direct Golf (UK) – used clubs sourced from trade-ins at Direct Golf stores. 14 day money back guarantee. No warrantee

2. Getting Fitted Online

Some people wouldn’t even consider buying golf clubs anywhere else but in a retail store, where you can get properly fitted. I can understand this view, it’s very important to get clubs that are right for you. That’s not necessarily easy to do when you are buying online…..how do you make sure that you get the right shaft length, shaft flex, lie angle, grip size, etc?

Club fitting is probably one of the biggest barriers to people buying golf clubs online, so it’s not surprising that online stores are investing in the technology to make online fitting possible. Here are a handful of stores with online fitting systems……expect others to follow:

• PING Web-Fit – shaft flex, shaft length, grip size but NOT lie angle
• Golfsmith SmartFit – shaft flex, shaft length, grip size AND lie angle
• GigaGolf eFit– shaft flex, shaft length, grip size AND lie angle
• The Golf Warehouse – provides online fitting for some brands/models only
• Odyssey Putter Fitting Tool

Since joining a golf club again, and playing regularly, I’m keen to get back to tracking my golf stats. About 10 years ago I developed a website for me and a few friends to track our stats. The site became inactive and eventually disappeared from cyberspace after we all stopped playing together a few years ago. I can’t really be bothered trying to get it going again, so decided to go in search of an online stats tool that would work for me.

Over the past few days I’ve checked out golf forums, test drove a few stats tools and read a number of reviews before finally settling on one (possibly 2!). If you’re looking for a golf stats tool, I might be able to save you some time if you read on.

Worldwide

www.oobgolf.com – it’s free, international (contains approx. 30,000 courses from all over the world in it’s database) and has approx. 200,000 users. If you don’t have or need a handicap this would do the job. The free version tracks standard stats like fairways hit, putts, greens in regulation, sand saves. If you want to get serious you can upgrade to OobGolf Addict for US$12 per year, which let’s you track more stats than you can think of

United States

www.ghin.com – if you live in the US and have a USGA handicap, and your club allows internet score posting, then you can use the Golf Handicap Information Network’s (GHIN) free eGolfer package. You can enter your stats online via a PC, iPhone or Blackberry. It makes sense to use the same system to track your handicap and your stats

www.myscorecard.com – if you live in the US and don’t have an official handicap, but want one, try the free MyScorecard. MyScorecard is USGA compliant, so is able to calculate an official USGA handicap for you, as well as manage your golf stats. There a couple of conditions, which you can read here

Australia

www.golflink.com.au – if you play in Australia and have a club handicap, then GolfLink would be a sensible way to go, as you can manage your handicap and stats in the same place. The only catch is that you’ll need to pay about $30 per year for the privilege. You get quite a bit for your $30, including the ability to see how you rank against every other golfer with an official handicap….which is pretty cool

Great Britain & Ireland

It doesn’t look like the Council of National Golf Unions (CONGU), who assign and maintain handicaps in Great Britain and Ireland, have an online system for viewing handicaps or managing stats. OobGolf is probably the best option

My Choice(s)

I play in Australia, so decided to pay the $30 per year and go with GolfLink, rather than using GolfLink to view my handicap, and another system to track my golf stats. Having said that, I am considering the free version of GolfShot for my iPhone as well. I reckon it would be handy to be able to enter my stats straight after the round, and review them while I’m out and about…….. probably overkill, but golf’s like that!

There are loads of golf stats tools on the internet, and you could spend days looking at them all, but if you want to save the hassle,  I think you’d happy with one of these.

I‘m lucky enough to have cable TV at home, so get to see most, if not all, PGA Tour events and majors, and many European Tour events. Not that I watch them all….although I’d like to!

As I live in Oz, the European and US golf events are usually on early in the morning, so I get little competition for the remote from my wife and kids. However, there is the odd occasion that I reluctantly cede control of the remote. But that doesn’t mean that I miss the golf, because I can jump online and pick-up the telecast!

I’ve tried watching golf online through a few different websites, but the one that I’ve found to be the most reliable and simplest to use is myp2p.eu.  I recently watched some of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship and the Bob Hope Classic with just a few clicks and no downloads…..nice and simple.

How Does It Work?

myp2p doesn’t actually stream any live TV, it simply provides links to other sites that do for the program that you want to watch. Here’s a quick guide to using myp2p:

1. Click on the ‘Live Sports’ link on the main menu
2. Select golf from the top menu
3. Find the golf tournament that you want to watch, then click on the TV icon on the right
4. On this page you’ll see a list of links to content providers, as well as the software required to watch the broadcast
5. Choose the link for ‘MediaPlayer’ software as you should already have this application if you have Windows XP or Vista
6. If ‘MediaPlayer’ isn’t one of the available links then things start to get a little more complicated
7. You’ll need to download the software that is listed with the broadcast link
8. To do this, click on the ‘Software’ link on the main menu, look for the software you need and go through the steps to download it – they’re all free
9. Once you’ve installed the required software, go back to the tournament you want to watch and click play
10. The broadcast should begin automatically in whatever software application you selected

While myp2p has worked for me, this might not be the case for everyone. Live streaming through peer to peer networks is not very reliable and success can depend on your bandwidth, firewall settings, location and a host of other things that I won’t go into. If you don’t have any luck with myp2p, you could try one of the following sites, as I know other people who regularly go here for live golf:

• Veetle
• Justin.tv
• Channel Surfing

Enjoy!

One of the attractions with shopping for golf equipment online is price……online retailers can keep prices down due to lower overheads compared to running a physical store, and it’s very easy for us to shop around online to get the best price. Well now you can also get cashback if you shop at the right online stores.

There are a number of online programs offering cashback on purchases at certain online golf store.  Microsoft’s Bing is such a program and it’s getting a bit of attention.

Here’s how it works:

The Model

• Bing receives commission from participating online retailers for referring shoppers to their store
• Rather than keeping the whole commission, Bing gives some back to you as cashback…..this keeps you coming back to Bing
• You can redeem your cashback after about 60 days of making your purchase (waiting period varies by store), as long as you have at least $5 cash back in your account

The Process

• Use Bing Shopping to search for golf equipment, or a particular online golf store
• The search results list the cashback savings you’ll receive off the regular store price
• Click on a search result to go to the store and make your purchase
• Receive an email from Bing confirming your cashback
• Request your cashback and receive it by check, through PayPal or into your bank account

Microsoft’s ad for Bing shopping:

Is it any good? Yes and no. It’s money for nothing if you were planning to buy anyway (for example, you can get about $25 (8%) cashback on a Ping G15 Driver at Golf Discount Superstore)……but there aren’t too many online golf stores in the program.

Here are the online golf merchants in the Bing cashback program:

• www.3balls.com
• www.golfdiscountsuperstore.com
• www.golfballs.com
• www.golfsmith.com
• www.intheholegolf.com
• shop.callawaygolf.com
• www.callawaygolfpreowned.com

While Bing seems to offer the largest cashback percentages, it isn’t unique (or even the first) when it comes to cashback programs. Here are a few others you could try:

• Ebates: includes Edwin Watts Golf, Pinemeadow Golf, Golfsmith and Golf Outlet USA. Cash back discount ranges from 3% to 7%
• FatWallet: includes Callaway Golf, Golf Galaxy, Golf Outlets USA, The Golf Warehouse, golfballs.com. Cash back discount ranges from 3% to 7%

There’s a pretty good selection of online golf stores across the various cashback programs. If you’re a regular online shopper, or are thinking of making a purchase soon, I reckon it’s worth taking some time to sign-up to a few of these programs and get a bit of money back.

The only downside is that you’re giving your email address to these programs, so expect some marketing material to hit your inbox (Bing hasn’t been too bad so far)…….you can always flag their emails as junk!

No more waiting for the next issue of Golf Digest or that golf instruction DVD you ‘might’ get for Christmas to get your fix of golf tips. Now you can jump online whenever you want and find great golf instructional videos from some of the best teachers in the game.

Here are a few options for online instruction videos:

Major Golf Sites

The Golf Channel

• The Good: excellent range of lessons and good search function (can search by lesson type, skill level and instructor). Videos feature some of the best golf instructors in the US. You don’t need to sign-up or pay anything
• The Bad: videos are a little slow to load. When they do load, you need to sit through the Golf Channel advertisement before you get to the instruction. I could only take about 3 videos before I had to leave……you can only be told that the Golf Channel has “live coverage before and after every PGA Tour event” so many times

Golflink

• The Good: maybe not as much video content here as other sites, but good quality and really well laid out. Each lesson has a transcript and details about the instructor
• The Bad: it’s not free. You only get about 20 seconds of video footage before being asked to sign-in or subscribe. Subscription costs US$49.95 per year, which includes access to score tracking tool, 3D course flyovers. May just be worth the money – at least worth the 14 day trial

Golf.com

• The Good: free and includes lessons and articles….from Golf Magazine’s Top 100 teachers. There’s a good range of lessons for each part of the game, eg fixing slice/hook, putting, etc
• The Bad: not too much wrong with this site, although it’s not actually that easy to find the lessons area on the site

Another Option……YouTube

YouTube has an enormous selection of instructional videos, maybe too many as it can be difficult to find the ones that are relevant for you.

A few tips for using YouTube to find golf video lessons:

• limit your search to recognized names, eg Hank Haney, David Leadbetter, etc. There a plenty of good videos to choose from if you look for well known teachers (check out Golf Digest’s Top 50 Teachers)
• check the number of views for the video…..more views ‘generally’ means better quality (but not always!)
• set-up an account with YouTube so you can save your favorite videos. One of the limitations of the sites featured above is that you can’t save your favorite videos. You can with YouTube (sign-up here)

There are many other websites that provide online video tips, some of them now charging a monthly or annual fee. Given the availability of free content I’d be reluctant to pay, unless your getting a comprehensive video lesson package or the videos are unique in some way.

Let me know if you’ve found some other good quality sources of video tips.

A funny thing happened on the way to writing this post about how to avoid being scammed on eBay…….I discovered that I’d been scammed on eBay!

I bought an Odyssey White Hot 2-Ball putter about 4 years ago on eBay, and I’ve been playing with it ever since. I’ve never questioned its authenticity. But while doing research for this post I realized (very quickly) that my Odyssey putter isn’t genuine at all! It doesn’t have a serial number anywhere on the club…….apparently a dead giveaway.

Some tips to keep in mind

It can be difficult to determine whether golf equipment being sold on eBay is genuine. Here are some tips to help you avoid being scammed:

1. If the deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is
2. Purchase equipment from sellers with high eBay seller ratings and a good history of sales
3. Check seller feedback…..if the feedback is primarily from other sellers be wary
4. Look out for sellers who are selling a large amount of equipment set to expire at the same time. This may indicate that they are trying to dump their inventory before any bad feedback is given
5. Avoid sellers who appear to be using ’stock’ photos (generic photos, possibly taken from manufacturer’s website). Also look out for a product description that looks generic and possibly copied from retailer’s website
6. Some genuine sellers’ eBay accounts have been hacked and used to sell counterfeit equipment. Contact the seller and if you don’t get a response, don’t buy
7. Ask the seller for the serial number for the clubs. Then contact the manufacturer to confirm that the serial numbers are genuine….it would be worthwhile doing this for an expensive purchase
8. If possible, buy from sellers who have their own eBay site
9. Some sellers offer a money back guarantee if the equipment is returned within 1 week…..look for these sellers as they are more likely to be selling genuine equipment

If I’d be aware of some of these tips, I wouldn’t now own a counterfeit putter. On the other hand, at least I’ve got an excuse for my persistently poor putting!

Don’t you just buy the ones that are not too dear, not too cheap and popular with the masses? That’s been my approach over the years.

A conversation with my dad while we were walking down the 9^th the other day got me thinking a bit differently about golf balls. He had recently discovered that a two piece distance ball would suit his game (high handicap, short distance, consistent slice).

For many years he had been using a three piece, medium spin ball, which didn’t do anything to get more distance or control on his slice.

Online Ball Fitting

Anyway, I decided to look into this further to see if I could find any online tools that could help find the right ball for my game. This is what I found:

Bridgestone Online Ball Fitting

This site isn’t bad. You’re asked a handful of questions, including average score and driving distance. Based on the information you provide, a Bridgestone ball is recommended. In my case, I should be using the e6.

I can then take a closer look at the e6. Looks about right for my game.

Pretty basic functionality and limited to Bridgestone balls. I think you’d need to provide a bit more information about your game to get a really good ball fit. All in all, not bad though.

Bridgestone also offers what they call the Ball Fitting Challenge. This involves attending a scheduled ball fitting session at a specific location. I assume it’s free, and could be worthwhile if you happen to be in the area and have some time on your hands.

Golf Ball Selector

For US$19.95 you get a one-time ball fitting session, completed online. This tool is much more comprehensive than the Bridgestone one, and will ask you for your clubhead speed, launch angle and spin rate, amongst other things. You’ll then be given a list of ‘best fit’ balls.

The assessment looks to be pretty comprehensive and you’re not limited to a specific brand of golf ball. However, I’m not sure how many people would know their clubhead speed, let alone the ball spin rate!

For $29.95 you get access to the ball fitting tool as well as other resources for 1 year. New balls are added all the time, so I can see the benefit in having ongoing access to this system.

Summary

Found a couple of reasonable resources, but I expected to find better. If you know of any useful online resources for ball fitting, let me know.

I‘ve resisted the temptation to jump on the Twitter bandwagon, until now. I learned that a few high profile golfers are using Twitter, so thought I’d give it a try. It’s early days for me, but I have found it interesting to learn about what the pros do off the course……much of which is pretty mundane!

What is Twitter?

If you haven’t used Twitter I’d suggest giving it a try. The video below provides a pretty good explanation of what Twitter is.

‘Tweeting’ Pros

Stewart Cink is one of the first top pros to use Twitter to keep fans updated on his whereabouts and activities. Cink has over 1 million followers and has chalked up over 2,500 ‘tweets’. He talks about Twitter in the video below.

There are a plenty of other pros, both men and women, who are active on Twitter. Here are a few of them:

• Stewart Cink (1.1mill followers, 2,659 tweets)
• Natalie Gulbis (30,100 followers, 402 tweets)
• Bubba Watson (5,561 followers, 8,000 tweets)
• Ian Poulter (844,546 followers, 1,553 tweets)
• Stuart Appleby (5,925 followers, 67 tweets)
• John Daly (35,789 followers, 4,549 tweets)
• Camillo Villegas (12,874 followers, 121 tweets)
• Rory McIlroy (16,193 followers, 120 tweets)

Incidentally, Tiger’s on Twitter but haven’t heard a tweet out of him since June……obviously too busy with offline activities!