The rules of golf are changing and adapting from the bottom up – literally! These days golf shoes are seeing a total overhaul with what is considered acceptable on the course. These changes aren’t necessarily in the way you’d expect given the typical stodgy atmosphere of a golf clubhouse. Golf shoes are becoming more stylish, savvier, and more comfortable. Both Callaway and Nike have gone to great lengths to improve the footwear of the links. Callaway’s RAZR footwear is top of the line, “incorporating advanced technologies inside and outside the shoe, designed to enhance comfort and improve performance.” With the kind of innovations that Callaway offers with this new shoe, it’s easy to see why the company is so proud of its product.

“The RAZR utilizes a temperature management system from Outlast as well as X40 molded insoles from OrthoLite and a Callaway comfortech gel tongue,” Kent Richard, director of marketing for footwear, eyewear and golf balls at Callaway Golf, says proudly.

The inside isn’t the only part of this shoe that’s receiving a makeover. With the RAZR shoes, Callaway introduces a proprietary spike design called “PINS,” short for Performance Insert System. PINS, developed from the creators of SoftSpikes, decreases spike pressure on a player’s foot. This simple decrease actually increases traction, stability, and comfort for the player.

Nike is also jumping on the cool Golf footwear bandwagon with its amazing Nike Dunk NG shoe. Yep, you read that right – the Nike Dunk. Nike is planning to showcase the Dunk with PGA Tour star Anthony Kim and the LPGA Tour sensation Michelle Wie. Wie and Kim are rumored to lace up their Dunks in early 2012. The Nike Dunk golf shoe offers a casual and customizable spin on the typical golf shoe. Colors like royal blue, bright pink, and funky orange are now an option for players (as are patterns like black and white checkered). While the Nike Dunk isn’t the first casual shoe on the marketplace, it is far and away the most iconic and unexpected look for out on the links. All of the comfort of your favorite pair of Nikes with the traction you need out on the green. Seems like a match made in sporting heaven. Perhaps Nike is trying to aim at the younger, fledgling golfing demographic with this latest venture. Either way, this caveman can’t wait to strap on a pair!

So what do you think of the new move for golf shoes? Cool spin on an old classic or a ham-fisted attempt to fix what isn’t broken? Leave your thoughts in the comment section!

It’s that time of year, Rockheads. The holiday season is upon us. Heck, at this point it’s practically knocking down our doors. While you may have had your eye on that special set of clubs or that shiny new golf bag, there are bound to be more than a few mulligans under the tree for even the best Rockhead on the nice list. Let’s take a look at the top 10 worst holiday golf gifts, according to Golfdigest.com.

The 33-in-1 Golf Club: This club offers, as the name suggests, 33 clubs in 1 confusing and unnecessary package! It has an adjustment feature that allows you to set up to 33 different lofts. You can even get right and left-handed options! The only question is: have you seriously ever seen a serious golfer use one of these abominations? Do you think Tiger adjusts the angle of his clubhead before he takes a swing? No, because that is stupid (much like this club). The ridiculous price tag even keeps it from being a good gag gift. For the crazy price of $199.95, you too can look like an enormous and inexperienced tool out on the course.

The Ian Poulter Headcover: Perfect if you’re… Ian Poulter(?)

Golf Club Rocking Chairs: Not only are these handmade chairs completely overpriced ($280 for the kids’ size and $360 for adults), but they don’t even look very comfortable. If you’ve got hundreds of dollars to spend on ugly, uncomfortable chairs, then more power to you. Still, perhaps your money could be better spent elsewhere.

A Digital Scorecard: Here’s a Pro-Tip, if you’re thinking of buying someone a scorecard, just hand them a piece of paper and a pencil. Congratulations, you’ve just saved a bunch of money on your Holiday Shopping List by switching to common sense.

Chippers: Everyone carries a chipper. A bunch of them, actually. They’re called Irons. Buying a chipper for the golfer in your life this season is only going to be redundant. This is definitely not the gift to give the golfer who already has everything because, well, he already has it.

Urogolf and Gogirl: Hilarious as these are, no one (hopefully) seriously uses them on the course. Perhaps a good gag gift, but a tube that your loved one uses to urinate in public is perhaps not the most heartfelt gift to give on that special Holiday morning.

Golf Bag Utility Belt: The utility belt fits golf balls, holds a water bottle and cell phone, and stores pencils, gloves, towels, and tees. But… isn’t that why you have a golf bag?

Flairhair Visors: Okay, I have to admit that the Flairhair visor is offered in the Cave. I’ll concede that these might not be for everybody, but they do make a great gag gift.

Loudmouth Golf Aloha Girls Pants: Looking for a way to make someone the laughing stock of the course? Take a look at these pants. Just don’t look too hard or long or your eyes will burn out of their sockets…

The Golden Putter: The Golden Putter is just that – a putter made out of gold. 24-carat gold, to be exact. If you happen to have $2,900 just lying around after picking up a pair of those swell Golf Club Rocking Chairs, feel free to pick up a Golden Putter for the golfers in your life who like their useless crap to be ridiculously expensive.

So there you have it, the top 10 worst golfin’ gifts. Steer clear of these sandtraps when you’re making your shopping list and have a Happy Holidays!

As requested, this caveman did some digging to come up with some of the best golf apps available for your smart phone! Let me preface this by saying that there are hundreds of apps for the iphone and android markets, but most leave a bit to be desired. Here are a few that I have found that myself or a few of my other neanderthal friends have used and loved.

Golf GPS

GolfLogix

This app includes a free golf GPS/statistics tracker and is backed by a large community, the website stores your performance statistics and offers a social forum to leave comments, compare scores and compete with golfers around the world. You can also upgrade for a more detailed gps/yardage calculator.

Golfshot GPS

Probably one of the best gps enabled golf apps on the market. Similar to Golf Logix, this app shows you exact yardage and targets for over 22k courses worldwide, and helps you track your stats. The downside is that it runs in at $29.99, but if you are willing to pay the one time fee, its worth it.

Golf Training

Golf Genie

Kind of like the Game Genie of the old school NES generation, these apps are iTunes most popular golf instruction apps with over 40k downloads in 2010. Filled with tips, tricks and hints as well as practice drills in order to help you step up your game! And once again is backed by a great online community to further aid in your fairway domination.

My Golf Swing

The goal is simple, to help aid you in developing a consistent swing tempo by helping you model it after any of a number of great pros including Tiger, Vijay and Sergio.

Golf Info

iGolfrules

Sitting at $9.99, its like a full rule picture book. If you have questions for just about any rule you could think of in any situation you might find yourself in, you can be sure to find your answers here.

PGA Tour

Keep yourself up to date with live scoring from PGA, Nationwide & Champions tour. You can also gain instant access to golfer bios, videos and schedules. Perfect for any die hard golf fan who wants to constantly be in the know!

Golf Games

Let’s Golf

I don’t really need to describe this much. Its a great little golf game to enjoy whether you are at work dreaming about the golf course, stuck in traffic dreaming about the golf course, or listening to your wife and dreaming about the golf course.

What’s your favorite golf app? If you have any that I may have missed let me know!

~Scratch

P.S. If you haven’t already, check out our mobile site at m.rockbottomgolf.com!

That’s right, I said it. What do you want to see at the Cave this Fall? This Caveman is all ears and will do his best to hunt down & gather up the gear you’re after. This goes for clubs, balls, shoes, shirts. Anything golf you can think of! And now fitness stuff? I sure will try! Since I run a close-out-type cave, I will search high and low for the best discounts I can find to pass along to you!

You can send me your requests 24/7 with a quick note on Twitter, and FaceBook. You can also e-mail them in to me, or simply comment on this blog*#:-)

Remember, since I will have to hunt them down, and it takes a while to club the deals into submission, you might not see ‘em get added overnight (or at all), but plenty of my most popular items started with a request from a fellow Rock Head!

-Scratch

Between keepin’ tabs on things in The Cave and getting in a quick 18 as often as I can, there isn’t a whole lot of time in this Caveman’s schedule for being scholarly. But every now and then I like to pick up a paperback and thumb through a few pages. (Of course, my bookshelf doesn’t have much room for anything that isn’t golf related.)

So I thought I’d share a few of my favorite titles with you and see what you think I should add to my own little library.

Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book – This baby is still the gold standard of golf tip books. Less than 200 pages, but full of plain-spoken descriptions of techniques as well as amusing ancedotes from Mr. Penick’s years as a golf instructor.

Golf Is Not A Game Of Perfect by Dr. Bob Rotella – Gets pretty down and dirty into the mental game. Worth a read, especially if you struggle to maintain your focus or get back in the groove after a bad shot (like I do).

David Pelz’s Short Game Bible – Takes a scientific approach to lowering your score, which means this book has page after page of pictures, charts, tests, and exercises for improving your short game. I can’t say I’ve tried everything he writes about, but I still use a lot of the stuff I did.

If you’re familiar with these titles, I’d love to hear if reading ‘em helped you and how. I’m also looking for recommended reads from my Rock Heads – post your favorite titles in the comments section below!

-Scratch

Wow, what a response from my Rock Heads! TONS of great comments from clubmakers (including some solid component recommendations that I’m working on bringing to The Cave) and a bunch of new friends & followers on MySpace, Twitter & Facebook! I’ll kicking off some new promotions on all three social networks soon, so make sure you’re signed up so you don’t miss out!

Today I’m looking for some advice on training aids. I’ve got more than few on my hands (see my selection here), but what I really want to know is what YOU use! What training aid has done the most for your game, and how did it help?

My favorite? Gotta be this Eyeline Bullseye Putting Cup. It’s an amazing tool for practicing putts right before a round. By cutting your cup down by about 30%, it makes you work about 100% harder to sink ‘em! But all that work pays off when you reach the first green and the hole seems HUGE.

But maybe I’m missing out! Let me and the rest of your Rock Head friends know in the comments below what’s worked for you, or better yet, what to avoid at all costs!

-Scratch

PS: Heck, it doesn’t even have to be a device…if you’ve developed a routine at the range or a warm-up checklist that never fails, be a sport and share with us!

This Caveman is curious: Have you ever built, repaired or regripped a golf club?

Whether you’re a shaft-swappin’, grip-rippin’ professional who’s done it all or maybe only done a few minor repairs here and there, speak up! How long have you been at it? Describe your workshop or toolkit, or just tell me what YOU think are the best components on the market!

See, I don’t usually have too many golf grips & shafts here in The Cave, but that’s changed now! In just the last 24 hours or so, I’ve more than doubled my component inventory: Aldila, Fujikura, Golf Pride, Grafalloy & more top brands.

I figure my Rock Heads know a good deal when they see it so these won’t be around for long! But right now I’d love to hear YOUR experiences with clubmaking!

-Scratch

PS: Even if you don’t know the difference between a vice and a golf visor, I still want to hear from you! Let me know what else you’d like to see more of in The Cave!

Hey there Rock Heads, Scratch the Caveman here and I’m looking for a little help. I need to know what gear I should be out hunting down to bring back to The Cave!

If there’s a certain brand or model of golf equipment you’d love to see hit Rock Bottom, leave a comment below and I’ll see what I can do! I can’t promise anything, but most of the time I can make something happen. Just look at last week’s Mizuno Madness sale – that was straight from the request line.

So go ahead – I’m all ears!

Wrong! You don’t have to spend a ton of money on golf balls to get more distance or better performance around the green. Even the bargain brands are capitalizing on new materials and manufacturing techniques to help golfers of every skill level improve their game. If you’re looking for a quick, painless and inexpensive way to shave a few strokes (and save a few bucks, too!) look no further than the top of your tee.

First, know your covers. Most of today’s balls are wrapped in either an Ionomer or Urethane cover. So what’s the difference? Urethane covers are more elastic, a little softer, and somewhat more difficult to manufacture; that means more expensive, too. Ionomer covers (sometimes called Surlyn) cost less and are more durable – you’ll find these on most of your distance golf balls. Bottom line on covers: Unless you need precise control and lots of spin, save some dough with ionomer covers. They’ll last longer and might even gain you some distance off the tee!

Next, let’s look under the hood: the core. The key here is compression, and that’s a result of swing speed. So the faster your swing, the harder the impact, and the more compressed your golf ball will become. A slow-swinging golfer hitting a “Tour” golf ball just can’t generate the force needed to see all the benefits of that premium golf ball. Bottom line on cores: A fast swing needs a high-compression golf ball to maximize your distance, while slower swings should stick to low compression cores.

Finally, let’s look at dimples in-depth. Those distinctive patterns on your golf ball serve several purposes, most related to ball flight and trajectory. The Titleist Pro V1′s 392 dimples can increase distance with a lower, longer trajectory while the Titleist DT Carry’s 252-dimple design promotes a higher loft and hang-time. And Callaway’s hexagonal dimples are engineered to neutralize drag for a longer, more stable trajectory – a straighter shot. But a poorly struck ball isn’t going to come back to straight because of its dimples, and a dimple pattern isn’t going to make or break a putt. Bottom line on dimples: Don’t buy a ball based on its dimples alone – they just don’t make that much of a difference!

Your Favorite Golfin’ Caveman – Scratch

PS: Do you love (or hate!) a particular type or brand of golf ball? Let your fellow Rock Heads know what brands to buy and what balls to boycott in the comments below!

Hey Rock Heads! As I’m sure you know by now, the feature this week is Callaway I-Mix Gear! How’s it work? You choose the shaft and head that works best for you, and you get to assemble the club using a simple tool! It makes it easy to change out the shaft depending on the course your playing and the weather conditions on the day. Cool Stuff! Have you tried out the Callaway I-Mix gear yet? If so, then leave a review and help out a fellow Rock Head who’s looking to get into the action!

Scratch the Caveman