Butch Harmon at his academy in Las Vegas.

The major golf monthlies are absolutely chock full of illustrated tips, fast-frame photographic features of perfect swings, and page-after-page on ways to improve one’s game. From Ben Hogan’s Five Lessons to Tiger Woods’ How I Play Golf, books of advice are perennial solid sellers, with Dave Pelz and Phil Mickelson each covering the short game, while others devote entire tomes to Zen, positive thinking and perfect putting. Players travel to golf academies and spend gazillions on lessons.

So if instruction really works, why aren’t we all shooting par, instead of sucking like a Dyson vacuum?

Well, it’s because golf is an incredibly difficult sport with so many different components to performing well, evident in a new, four-hour two DVD set called Butch Harmon on Golf, in which the legendary instructor covers all of the basics of ball striking, faults and cures, several different ways to get out of bunkers, off hardpan and successfully manage difficult lies.  With 57 different “chapters” and more than 250 specific tips, Harmon demonstrates basic golf techniques in clear language and by example.  He also includes some awfully nifty tricks, like setting a head cover next to a teed-up ball, forcing a slicer to make an inside-out swing instead of coming over the top, in a way that doesn’t require a complicated explanation.

“Presented by Titleist,” the DVD set is available in six languages, including English, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, French and Korean, which will likely surprise people who didn’t know Harmon was fluent in so many tongues.  It costs $79.95 and is available at  http://www.ButchHarmonDVD.com. A second set can be purchased for only $69.95 and will include free shipping. The set also has a Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ButchHarmonDVD

Another section of the DVD features interviews with several of Harmon’s most successful students, with interviews and practice sessions with the likes of Ernie Els, Adam Scott, Dustin Johnson and Tiger Woods, the latter of whom Harmon coached from 1992 to 2004.  In the DVD, Freddy Couples, for example, says that the he considers Harmon the game’s best instructor “because he’s very tough on his students.  I say that politely, but he’s tough on his players. And he has an excellent eye for a golf swing.”

Here too is a fascinating conversation between Harmon and Phil Mickelson, talking about the player’s childhood development of a creative short game, and the reason he recently turned to the Las Vegas-based instructor to help straighten out drives that tended slice under pressure. (Think the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot.) Mickelson shows how Harmon quickly identified how he would slide his left knee backward during his takeaway, which was the basic start of a swing that ended up striking the ball with an open-faced club.  There’s a bit more involved, but from this one example, it’s clear why Harmon is a much sought-after teacher.

“Over the past 40+ years I have been blessed to work with some of the greatest players in the game: Phil, Ernie, Greg, Tiger, Seve, Freddie, and several up and coming players, such as Adam, Nick, and Dustin, who are destined to carve their names in the golf record books,” says Harmon.  “Obviously I am proud to have been associated with them and to have contributed in some small way to their success. But their accomplishments are only part of the overall picture of the scores of everyday players, from all walks of life who have left the practice tee after working with me, that feel that their game has been improved. For everyone that has worked with me there are thousands of golfers that I will never have a chance to try and help.”

With that in mind, he set out to create a filmed record of a lifetime of golf knowledge, covering fundamentals, specialty shots, club selection and even anger management, one lesson that Tiger Woods has clearly forgotten.  Butch Harmon on Golf is indeed the summation of that knowledge.  And the 68-year-old Harmon has in fact been in golf for his entire life. His father, Claude Harmon, a renowned club and teaching professional and 1948 Masters Champion, introduced him to the game.  His brothers are also well-respected instructors.  Butch played on the PGA Tour in the early 1970s.  Probably more pertinent to the DVDs is the fact that for the past dozen years, Harmon has been voted as the top instructor by his peers, in a poll conducted by Golf Digest.

Well, for some of us, instruction may actually work.

Miura's new SIT-460 driver.

After a long and almost fierce resistance to producing any driver with a head larger than 390 cubic centimeters, Miura Golf just released a new 460 cc model.  As with so many other developments by the Japanese club-maker, the design offers most of the advantages of a large-headed club, but has aesthetics that give it a compact look not often seen in today’s toaster-sized driver heads.

Called the SIT-460, for Strong & Ideal Trajectory, the all-titanium is the maximum size allowed by the Rules of Golf.  It was developed largely by Shinei Miura, son of the company’s founder Katsuhio Miura.  “Our dealers told us their customers have been looking for the forgiveness and distance a bigger head can provide,” said Miura President Adam Barr.  “Shinei took that as a challenge . . . What he came up with has surprised a lot of people who put it behind the ball and think it’s much smaller than 460.”

The design ideas behind the face of the 460 are similar to the MG hybrids Miura released in 2011, in that it’s about as tall as the height of a golf ball, which imparts player confidence at address.

While the SIT-460 is larger than Miura’s Precious Edition 390, the new head weighs just 196 grams, four less than the smaller predecessor.  Available only in right-handed models, it comes in with 9 degrees or 10.5 degrees of loft, with a suggested retail price of $595.

Small nubs of tread, such as in this Ecco Street Premier, may be the future for healthy putting surfaces.

The crunch of metal spikes on a pro shop’s concrete porch was once one of the coolest sounds in golf, right up with a ball plunking into a cup. But when soft spikes emerged in the 1990s, players and courses quickly embraced the footwear evolution.  Decidedly easier on the feet, shoes with plastic spikes also provided good traction and better still, didn’t tear up putting surfaces.

Courses around the world banned metal spikes and as The Daily Show’s John Hodgman would say, “You’re welcome.”

The problem, however, has not remained solved.  Damage from a new generation of soft spikes is a troublesome issue for superintendents, green committees and players forced to roll putts over a green that looks as if it’s just been hit by a John Deere 714 Mulch-Master. Says Marin Country Club Superintendent Kevin Pryseski, “I never thought that I would look back and long for metal spikes.”

That’s because the old-style shoe had only about 12 points that made contact with the ground.  While it killed grass, the damage was limited to spike marks.  In some new shoes designed to give firm traction to hard-swinging golfers, each individual “soft spike” may have up to 8 hard points.  Although the soft spikes don’t kill as much turf, they can leave a scuff mark up to an inch wide.

“These rototillers,” says Pryseski, “have gone too far.”

In a recent communication with Marin’s members – - the club is about 35 miles north of San Francisco – - Pryseski published a link to a John Reitman article from Turfnet.com, in which superintendents discussed the damage and remedies, including the cost of re-rolling greens during the day.  (http://turfnet.com/view_news.php?obj_id=953) According to several of Reitman’s sources, the major cause behind the soft spike destruction is golfers who drag their feet.  One superintendent rather un-gallantly blamed women.  Others blamed seniors.  And juniors.  I’ve seen fat guys and healthy young men drag their feet, a no-no on greens that has nothing to do with one’s age, gender or condition.

Marin CC Superintendent Kevin Pryseski.

While some courses have banned the more aggressive plastic spikes, most course operators are reluctant to engage in policing footwear.  Pryseski, who clearly understands the power of positive reinforcement, makes it a point to stop and personally compliment golfers who are wearing Ecco Street Premier shoes, and other brands with pebbled tread designs. These casual golf shoes leave temporary dents in soft greens, but don’t rip turf.  And in print Pryseski has made the suggestion, albeit indirectly, that golfers need to step more carefully.

“There’s not much you can say to people about picking up their feet,” added a New Jersey-based superintendent in the Turfnet.com story.  “Some of our better golfers try to police it internally.  I like that; it takes me out of the equation.”

Fashion may ultimately solve the problem as more shoemakers follow Ecco’s lead.  Callaway, Adidas, Puma and Nike, among others, are producing shoes with rounded pebbled treads. What’s more, Tiger Woods has been wearing a pair of non-invasive prototypes, although that’s probably more about his Achilles tendon and knees than spike marks.

Future golfers will never get to experience the distinctive sound of metal spikes clacking in a locker room, which was almost like a starting gun that had players salivating about getting to the first tee.  In some dimension it’s a loss for the game, but in the here and now it’s a gain healthy greens.  And if we can get rid of the turf-ripping types of soft spikes, superintendents can keep those healthy putting surfaces playing much more straight and true.

With the weight high on its face, the P2G2's center of gravity contacts the ball at its equator, sending it with a clean and smooth topspin roll.

After 20 years of adjusting off-the-shelf putters to properly fit his students and clients, PGA Teaching Professional Norm Alberigo and the Providence Precision Golf Group (P2G2) are introducing the revolutionary new P2G2® TopStrike® Putter, a club that corrects deficiencies common to nearly all other models.  Featuring patented technology, the clubhead’s center of gravity is high and forward on its face, instead of near the bottom. Energy from a P2G2 stroke is thus transferred directly to the equator of the ball, eliminating hops, backspin and unwanted sidespin even on miss-hits, while producing a clean, pure and true roll.

Conforming to USGA rules, the P2G2 is also manufactured and assembled in Laconia, New Hampshire at Welch Manufacturing Technologies, Ltd., making it one of the few pieces of golf equipment made in the USA.

The head professional at the Agawam Hunt Club in Rhode Island and a former advisor to Bridgestone Golf, the 48-year-old Alberigo has long held reservations about the design of modern putters. “After more than 1,500 fittings with people of all body types, it was clear that a lot of the offsets and lie angles were not remotely correct for the individual,” he explains. “And no matter the shape of the heads, the basics of putter weighting haven’t changed since Karsten Solheim created the Anser Putter in the 1960s.”

Alberigo also found that the shafts of putters were too long for most players, and that heads were too light.  The combination can lead to instability in a stroke, the poor results of which are magnified on today’s fast greens.  Testing existing putters against his design theories, Alberigo made use of Quintic Sports, high speed video analysis equipment.  The putting launch monitor software showed that clubs with a low center of gravity and 4-to-6 degrees of loft often rolled putts with undesirable spin variables.  With only 2.5 degrees of loft, about 400 grams of weight and a high center of gravity, the P2G2 prototypes rolled putts consistently straight and true.

In other words, the tests confirmed that a lip-out could be blamed on the putter instead of the golfer. Says Alberigo: “We can honestly tell players of all levels ‘this is not your fault.”

I’ve been personally testing one of the TopStrike models with a belly-putter shaft – - seen in the photo above – - that Albergio had delivered to me while I was the Golf Road Warriors trip through Palm Springs. I put it into play at the sublime Shadow Ridge golf course and almost immediately adjusted my lag-putts to its weight and feel. Balls came off the face, as promised, with no hops or side-spin – - just topspin roll. The next day I loaned it to colleague John Strawn at the Indian Wells Players Course, who putted unusually well with it he actually won back money from Jeff Wallach. For awhile it looked as if violence would be the only way to pry it from his hands.

Fixing Tiger, in The Year of the Putter

While there are prophets of doom who believe the Mayan calendar predicts the world will end in 2012, Alberigo is convinced that it’s actually The Year of the Putter. “Many top players feel they’ve exhausted their hopes of making a consistent, stable and efficient strike with putters that haven’t fundamentally changed in 40 years,” he says.  “Even young players are trying non-traditional length shafts, and manufacturers are experimenting.” It also appears as if the USGA and the R&A will take a pass on banning the alternative putters.

Critics of alternatives claim that being able to anchor the shaft against the body provides an unfair advantage. Alberigo strongly disagrees. “Long putters perform better, but not because of the anchoring. What provides stroke stability for belly and long putters is the mass and weight of the larger club-heads. Now, add in a high center of gravity on the face—and a loft of less than three degrees—and you can see why we believe P2G2 is going to lead this trend.”

Moreover, with all due respect to the current popular designs on tour, Alberigo believes he can help many of the top players who struggle on those pesky five to ten footers. “Many of the top players’ misses have a direct relationship to their chosen putter designs. I know that there are misses where they have executed perfectly but the design encourages spin characteristics associated with the miss. Inside of ten feet—on tour speed greens—requires the putter head’s stability to be at its highest state.  This is what separates our design. We believe that putts missed would have been holed with our design.” Albergio also observes that Tiger Woods might be getting 30 rpms of sidespin on some of his short putts, which is why Woods just missed so many on the edge early in the PGA Tour season.

The Three Putters & Custom Configuration

Manufactured of 300 series stainless steel, titanium and aircraft-grade aluminum, the P2G2 TopStrike comes in three different models, all with a proprietary herringbone patterned, face.  All models come standard with a stainless steel body, aluminum sole plate and titanium hosel.  The Model 2025 is a standard blade putter, and the Model 2225 has a body and face identical to the blade, yet on its rear is a rectangular strike plate with arrows to provide extra visual alignment for a stroke path. Model 2425 is identical to the 2225, only with an additional semi-circle balance ring in the back, which gives it a complete mallet look.

While the three putters might initially appear different, they flow from a true modular design. All have the same chassis, but come with added options. The blade sells for $250; Model 2225 costs $275; and the Model 2425 mallet goes for $295.

Since the clubs are available only from Providence Precision Golf, the company recommends that buyers use their web-based “Custom Club Configurator.” First, select the desired model, right or left-handed. Second, with your current putter take a stance and a normal grip, and with a standard yardstick measure the distance from your bottom finger to the ground. Do it three times to find an average, which will likely be between 20 and 30 inches. Also enter your height, and decide if you want a standard, belly or long putter. These measurements enable P2G2 to create a putter with a shaft length and corresponding lie angle that facilitates a smooth pendulum stroke.

The TopStrike putter is guaranteed to meet your expectations or P2G2 will refund the full purchase price, with no questions asked, within 90 days. Moreover, standard orders can also be custom configured within 90 days for only the cost of shipping charges.  For more information, visit www.P2G2.com.

Our Penta 5's came in unmarked boxes, which only added to the test's cool factor.

In early February TaylorMade Golf introduced the first and only five-layer Tour ball, called the Penta TP5.  Each of its five layers is reputedly engineered to improve performance in five key shot categories – - off drivers, long irons, middle-irons, short irons and partial wedge shots.  And like the high performance balls now offered by competitors – - including Titleist’s Pro V-1, Bridgestone’s 330 series and Callaway’s new Hex Black Tour – - the Penta 5 ball is designed to spin less on drives so that it yields more distance, while spinning more on short irons for hop and stop performance on greens.

This is as mystifying as a thermos, which keeps hot things hot and cold things cold. How, as the old quip goes, do it know?

In any event, in advance of the Penta 5 release I acquired a couple dozen  - – which came in a plain, white and unmarked box – - so that my pals at the Marin Country Club could give them a test against the balls they regularly play.  These are avid golfers in their 50s and 60s, who play at least two rounds per week.  All were excellent multi-sport athletes in their younger days, and still participate in sports other than golf.  With handicap indexes that range from 8.5 to 13.3, they represent better-than-average players.

The Penta 5, by the way, carries a suggested retail price of $45.99, which is comparable to the Pro V1, Hex Black Tour and Bridgestone 330.  My friends clearly prefer high performance golf balls, so the Penta is in the wheelhouse.  We’ll start with their comments – -which come straight from the golf course – - and then give TaylorMade’s take on how the ball knows when to either spin or not.

Craig Mukai 13.3: The new Penta TP5 has a solid feel off the driver and a good sound. I use the Titleist Pro V1x and the TP5 has the same distance with a bit more spin. I am a 13.3 index player and I think a lower handicapper can take better advantage of this ball. I do like the soft feel of the Taylormade with the short irons and around the green. This ball has a nice hop and stop spin to it and saved me strokes. When I get to be a bit better driver of the ball, I will put this ball in my bag.

Mike Haas 8.5: I played it 2 Sundays ago, then played it side by side this past Sunday with the Pro V1. It’s definitely long – - as long (or longer??) than the Pro V.  I didn’t lose much off the tee at all.  When I hit it well I was in places that I have only been with the Pro V1 before. The mid irons and short iron shots felt good and the ball spins well.  Good control of the shots.

I think the compression is a little better on the Pro V1.  It just seems to come off the club-face on a solid hit with more compression.  I prefer the Pro V around the green for it’s feel.  But the Penta 5 comes pretty close.  Again, just a little softer feel and sound on the Pro V around the green and with the putter. The price tags on these balls are similar.  If I had a box of each in front of me, I’d take the Pro V versus the Penta TP5.

Terry Noyer 10.8: Noyer didn’t write up his report, but I was with him on the round where he put the Penta in play, and he proceeded to hit drives on the Marin’s first two holes longer than I’ve ever seen Noyer hit – - and he’s a power player.  “Wow, I love this ball,” he said.  “Can I have another dozen to test?”   Now, the course at Marin is tighter than bark on a tree.  OB comes into play on all 18 holes, with additional waterways or lakes on ten.  But Noyer, in love with his Penta, kept a single ball in play for nearly 18 holes, preserving two for another round.  However, on putts he happened to have the touch of a sturgeon that day, and thus could not blame the three-jacks on the ball.

“I’m definitely going to buy these when they’re out,” he said.  “But are you sure you can’t get a couple of dozen to test?”  Sorry, dude.

Joe Allen 9.0: For a 66-year-old who once was a 4 index, it does not seem to make much difference what ball you use. So for the most part my rounds are played with Titleist, Calloway, and Nike balls, but my preference is the ProV1.  It is rare that a product comes along that produces more than it promises.  But so it is with the new TaylorMade Penta TP5 ball. The ravings of a few friends about how far they were hitting was not hyperbole. After playing with a ProV1 and shooting a 40 on the front nine and then being 7 over through 16, I felt the need to pull out the new Penta.  I was loose, and hitting the ball very well. My first drive with the Penta was hit as well as I had hit a ball all day. The only difference was that I was 15 yards longer and straighter. I thought ‘wow, that was sweet, dead straight with a great launch angle.’  Only problem was that I drove it into the fairway bunker 270 yards away.

The good news is that it flew off the nine-iron softly onto the green.  Two putts later the par.  The feel of the ball off the putter was smooth and soft, much like the ProV1.  The next drive was another bomb only this time I hit it 290 yards with a slight draw. I was beginning to remember my days as 4 index again. The feel of the ball on shorter shots and putts was as good if not better than the ProV1.  The ProV1 is, well a ProV1, a great ball to play.  But the Penta took me back three years to my days of hitting it longer, straighter, and with a wonderful feel off the club.

Two holes is not a statistical sample, but it was enough for me to recognize a very good golf ball and one that will be in my bag and probably in my friends’ bags as well. Two days later, a practice putting session with the ProV1, Penta, and a Titleist Solo confirmed for me the soft feel of the Penta.  A smooth stoke and the ball came off the putter face true and pure.  The Penta just feels softer by a little bit more than the ProV1 with no loss of distance/carry to the hole.  Both are great balls with terrific technology.   I just like the extra distance and feel of the Penta a little better.  Thanks TaylorMade!!!!

TaylorMade’s Take

While created for TaylorMade’s Tour pros – - including Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, Sergio Garcia and, among others, Martin Kaymer – - TaylorMade executive vice president John Kawaja says “It’s a great ball for every level of player.  You don’t need to have a fast swing speed to achieve excellent distance with the Penta TP5.”  The performance of the Penta TP5 is rooted in its five-layer construction — cover, outer mantle, middle mantle, inner mantle and core – which is engineered to optimize performance in five key shot categories that skilled players need, which are mentioned above.

Kawaja explains that the key to the Penta’s performance is a 28 percent reduction in its core compression, along with what the company calls a “Progressive Velocity Design.”  The result is lower driver spin for more distance on drives, and thanks to the urethane cover and dimple design, that soft feel and spin on short shots.

Titleist has long dominated the premium, high performance ball market with the Pro V.  Bridgestone has had to aggressively market its 330 series by offering custom fittings of players to different balls.  Callaway’s Hex Black Tour is yet another entrant attempting to chip away at Titleist’s share.  The Penta TP5, however, just might be the superior golf ball.  I personally get the most distance from it, and can feel the compression on long iron shots.  Given the honest and forthright opinions of my pals, it’s clearly a ball that discerning golfers should at the very least try.

The typical water and mounds found at the Stadium.

I’ve been to the Palm Springs area several times during the past two decades, for a family-oriented Thanksgiving weekend, for a friend’s 60th birthday and on a couple of short golf/business trips.  However, after seven rounds of golf in five days, evenings spent at several of the most distinctive  restaurants in the Coachella Valley, getting a massage at Two Bunch Palms and watching Kessler and Wallach get an old-fashioned shave at the La Quinta Resort’s Havana Club, I’m really starting to get the appeal of the destination.  And on this outing of the Road Warriors we didn’t even get the chance to play tennis – - a sport I enjoy as much as golf – - at what are widely considered some of the nation’s best clubs.

I’ve long understood that the winter climate brings down the snowbirds from wet Pacific Northwest and the cold states to the east. But it’s the abundant recreational attractions that bring visitors from Northern California and Greater Los Angeles and San Diego, none of whom really suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder from November though February. The quality of golf, accommodations, cuisine and other amenities is what gets them here, and these are as good or better in Palm Springs than in Scottsdale, the closest competitor.  Advantage Southern California, because everything in the Coachella Valley is in a much more compact area.

Our final day started with a golden round at SilverRock.  The penultimate ending of the trip came in the dark, on the 18th hole of the Stadium Course at PGA West.  The final ending was at Arnold Palmer’s Restaurant in La Quinta, where we sat outdoors with our hosts from the Palm Springs Convention and Visitors Authority, the wonderful Joyce Kiehl and the gracious Mark Graves, our company on all but one dinner out on the town.

Kiehl and Graves made our arrangements before we headed out in our sponsored AUR shirts that were packed in our TravelPro Luggage, our new custom-fitted Callaway Clubs from the Callaway Performance Centers, playing the game with Callaway’s new Hex Black Tour balls, and with real time match scorekeeping provided by Grow The Game Golf.  Three resorts provided accommodations – - The JW Marriott in Desert Springs; the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort in Indian Wells; and, finally, the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort and Spa, which is also in Indian Wells.  We had dinners at Tommy Bahama’s Restaurant and Bar; Jackalope Ranch, a trendy bar-be-que; the IW Club in Indian Wells; and, Babe’s Bar-Be-Que & Brewhouse, in the popular The River development.

A Most Diabolical Golf Course

The 17th at PGA West Stadium, known as Alcatraz.

“Golf is not a fair game, so why build a course fair? That’s what Architect Pete Dye said about the PGA West Stadium Course, which has been rated as one of top 100 courses in the world by Golf Magazine, and has been rated number 4 on Golf Digest’s top 50 toughest courses in the U.S.  Dye has been praised for his creative use of railroad ties to hold up bunker walls and the surrounds of ponds, and despised for the same thing.  He’s admired for building courses that generate an adrenalin rush on nearly every challenging hole – - embodied by PGA West Stadium – - and also hated for it.  No doubt the Stadium is a bugger.  At 7,300 yards from the tips, it has the highest stroke and slope ratings of any course in the PGA West complex, at 76.1 and 150.

OK, the railroad ties are starting to look dated, an architectural artifice that’s not quite green shag carpet and avocado-colored appliances, but which is headed in that direction.  On the first couple holes, all four of us GRW’s were initially alarmed at the conditioning of the premium-priced course, which on the surface looked like a scruffy, poorly-maintained muni.  But the Stadium merely appeared that way because of a wise trend now prevalent in the desert, of letting rough and other non-key landing areas go dormant in the winter, to reduce the volume of water needed for irrigation.  The brown rough didn’t play any different than the green areas that received water.

The Golf Road Warriors Palm Springs finish their last round at the Stadium Course after dark.

So we were challenged by long and deep bunkers, hundreds of small pot bunkers that were invisible until you discovered a ball in one, and so many mounds that it was rare to get a level lie.  There were drives that had to carry water, or you’d bail out on a thin and bunker-strewn thread of flanking fairway.  The course has at least 18 risks and each and every consequent reward is simply a neutral safe.  Before we lost all light we did get a chance to savor Alcatraz, the infamous 17th island green where Lee Trevino made a hole-in-one during a 1987 made-for-television “Skins Game.”

Most of the Golf Road Warriors Palm Springs are now home, save for Strawn who continues on an arduous business trip.  It was a fantastic week with great company – - as buddy golf outings should be.  We can only hope that we behaved well enough to get invited back . . .

A typical view at La Quinta's SilverRock Resort.

Getting paired up with strangers on the golf course isn’t quite as risky as a blind date, although on occasion I’ve considered chewing my leg off to get out of the trap of a nightmarish cart partner. Most of the time, however, you end up with pleasant people. But then there’s the rare match-up that’s a downright delight, where personalities mesh, long putts roll in, laughs are shared and most important, you find coincidental connections that make for a sublime day of golf.

Me and Wallach had that experience on Sunday morning at the SilverRock Resort in La Quinta, the start to our final day on this Golf Road Warriors excursion to Greater Palm Springs.  Set hard against the Santa Rosa and Coral Mountains, this is a challenging and yet otherwise mellow course that was part of the Bob Hope Classic from 2008 until 2011. Better still, we were met at the driving range by Dede Cusimano, who is a LPGA Teaching Professional at the nearby Rancho Las Quinta Country Club during the winter months, and during summers at Colorado’s Roaring Fork Club in town of Basalt. Her affable and encouraging demeanor makes it obvious why Golf for Women magazine named her on their their Top 50 Golf Instructors in the U.S., for it’s personality that makes the mechanics of instruction stick.  Oh yes, and Cusimano is a stick, more on which later.

Our other partner was a fellow with a Scottish accent by the name of Graeme Baxter.  Hmmmm.  Baxter.  From where do I know that name?

Geeze, I know the name because it’s signed on a print of a painting of the 17th hole of the Old Course – - number 149 out of 850 – - purchased in 1996 as a birthday present from my wife, while we passed through St. Andrews during a business trip to the United Kingdom.  It’s professionally framed and hanging in a room I go into at least a half-dozen or more times a day. I put it in a prominent place because Baxter is a world-reknown artist, I played the Old Course during that trip, and handled the Road Hole without coughing up fur balls.

However, for 15 years I’d imagined him as a grizzled, bearded and intemperate old coot. But here’s this clean-shaven, youngish and outgoing fellow playing to a 7 handicap, cracking jokes and smiling. Can I see some ID?

The Course

Owned by the City of La Quinta and Managed by Landmark Golf Management, SilverRock Resort’s is an Arnold Palmer Classic Course.  At 7,578 yards from the tips – - which by the way we did not play – - it sprawls over 200 acres with massive native bunkers and stunning water features that force a player to think their way around.  Situated on a rocky outcropping, the clubhouse is actually a renovation of  the former working-ranch hacienda, built by Mr. and Mrs. Howard Ahmanson, who were associated with Home Savings & Loan renown. While La Quinta was long considered an epicenter of Southern California golf, this course, built in 2005, was the first to be owned by the city.

(In the Coachella Valley several high-end courses are owned by municipal governments, including La Quinta’s SilverRock and the two courses at Desert Willow, which are owned by Palm Desert. These properties offer very attractive rates to residents, and thus redefine what a quality muni can be all about.)

La Quinta still has ambitions for undeveloped adjacent land. Its Redevelopment Agency’s Master Plan for SilverRock Resort includes private development of a luxurious boutique hotel within the existing golf course property.  The first hotel is intended to be small, but with spa and fitness facilities, pools, restaurant and lounge, and conference space. It would then be joined by a “feature hotel,” a 4-star destination to the east of the Silver Rock links.  Casitas units would be located on parcels with golf, lake, and mountain views.  A retail village is also planned, for shops, restaurants and even residential space.

Now, this would clearly change the gestalt of SilverRock for better or worse.  The city would benefit from the revenue. But at the moment the course is joyously undeveloped, without a house or business within sniper range. Although it’s doubtful the economics of development will shift anytime soon,  now is a good time to savor the quiet and open vibe of SilverRock.

Graeme Baxter

Soft Draws and Short Putts

Raised in the Southern California city of Torrance, Cusimano graduated from Boise State University and played on the LPGA Tour from 1986 to 1989. The following year Ely Callaway personally asked her to be his LPGA tour representative, and she spent nearly a decade fitting other professionals with Callaway clubs. But she continued to play in LPGA Teaching & Club Professional tournaments, winning that organization’s National Championship in 2003, and its senior championship in 2009 and 2010.  With a swing that appears effortless, she hits drives and approach shots with a beautiful draw.  And in an e-mail exchange a couple days after this round, Baxter described her swing as having a rhythm that “was much like a paint brush loaded with the finest artist’s oil color gliding smoothly over a well primed canvas.”

He also allowed that he was sticking to painting and not writing.

The official artist to major golf tournaments that include The Ryder Cup, The Open Championship, The Presidents’ Cup,  The Kraft Nabisco Championship and the PGA and European Tour, Baxter’s original oils are hanging in the clubhouses at St Andrews, Augusta National, Pebble Beach, Dubai and Mission Hills in China.  An international celebrity himself, Baxter creates originals for well-known golfers and tournament winners.  But it’s his low-volume lithographs that brings relatively affordable fine art to golfers who love the courses that he paints.  During his career he’s created over 1,300 different images.  And since he never suffers the artistic version of writer’s block, the hard-working painter is going to create many more when not taking time to enjoy the sport.

Me and Wallach are awfully pleased that he and Dede took the time to join us at SilverRock.  It was by far the most pleasant round of the seven we played during the week, tension-free with no cares about scoring – - which is probably the reason my 87 was the best one I personally posted.

So, when you can show up at a golf course and walk away with two new lifetime pals, the game just doesn’t get any better.

Yeah, but what really honks off a GRW is the damnable penalty stroke.

A successor to the Diablo series and Callaway’s most highly engineered ball ever, the Hex strikes the perfect balance of Tour performance for both the distance-seeker and the control freak. Engineered with a highly durable Urethane cover, it promotes low spin off the tee for more distance on drives and par-five second shots  and high spin on approach shots for control and stopping power.  Alas, on just two of the seven rounds played over five days in the Greater Palm Springs area, the Warriors somehow overcame the Hex Black Tour’s inherent accuracy and abandoned at least a dozen balls in the shrub-covered desert off Terra Lago’s North Course fairways, and drowned at least a dozen more in the lakes and creeks of the Classic Club.

With what Callaway calls “dual core construction,” the Hex has spin separation that helps generate longer distance off the driver and long irons due to lower spin, and higher spin closer to the green for superior greenside control – - the Holy Grail of leading edge ball composition. The inner and outer core recipes are adjusted so that the outer core has a high compression and the inner core an extremely soft compression. It thus has the highest spin separation Callaway has ever produced in a golf ball, which nudges the Hex towards a rarified category that includes Titlest Pro V-1′s, Bridgestone’s 330 series and the new five-piece TaylorMade Penta 5, all premium-priced products that go for roughly $45 a dozen.

The new Hex Black is promoted for its "six points of performance."

The patented HEX Aerodynamics makes for a dimple pattern that provides what the company also claims is the best aerodynamic performance ever in a Callaway golf ball, reducing drag and promoting a stable, penetrating ball flight. Indeed, Strawn, Wallach and Kessler certainly smoked their drives – - mostly long and down the fairway, testament to the reduced spin and longer flight off the tee. When they missed with a giant snapper or a big push right those new Hex Black Tours were beyond recovery.

RIP, little Road Kill, casualties of the Warriors.

We could not of course see this galaxy, but Jupiter and the Moon were impressive.

After the Golf Road Warriors closed out the Terra Lago golf course long after the sun set behind the Coachella Valley’s western mountains, we headed back to dinner at the ultra-cool IW Club in Indian Wells, where the banisters up the long and winding concrete staircase are covered in leather, rooms are partitioned by frosted glass, and the menu has a perfect blend of steak, seafood, fowl and more.  Before that, on the deck outside the restaurant, we were joined by an astronomer from Sky Watcher Stargazing Tours, which holds weekly programs at La Quinta and serves private star parties, school outings and corporate events around the Greater Palm Springs area.

With a ten-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain Reflector computerized telescope, our guide Scott – - who didn’t leave his full name on the business card provided in a small press kit – - switched back and forth from Jupiter to the crescent moon.  On this evening four of Jupiter’s moons were sharp and clearly seen, three atop the planet and one below.  When the planet is aligned, the view of the moons changes nightly. Kessler was mightily impressed by the mountain ridges and craters on the moon’s surface, and kept going back for a fourth and fifth look.

It was yet another treat set up by our hosts from the Greater Palm Springs Convention and Visitors Authority. And it was good looking up at the end of the day, after looking down for eight hours in search of errant golf balls.

That's human Golf Road Warrior Kessler on the right, a feathered Terra Lago roadrunner on the cart path.

Today the Golf Road Warriors had a remarkable day on the Indian Wells Golf Resort’s Player’s Course.  Joined by a couple of colleagues from the Palm Springs Convention and Visitors Authority and one of the young professionals from Indian Wells, we went out in two carts.  As is custom, we headed out in our sponsored AUR shirts that were packed in our TravelPro Luggage, Callaway Clubs, Hex Black Golf balls, and with real time match scorekeeping provided by Grow The Game Golf.  Today these aren’t just wanton plugs, because some of the stuff made a real difference in how the day unfolded.

Yesterday I wore one of my regular golf shirts and nearly melted in the day’s heat.  Today I went with the AUR Active Dri-Max, which is a Polyester double knit that has the stretch of spandex and a soft and supple feel.  It has a lightweight drape that makes it perfect for golf.  And its crease resistant fabric dries quick, an important attribute on a day where perspiration is guaranteed.

While the Indian Wells course is a well-designed and maintained as any we’ve seen down here, wildlife have a way of sometimes upstaging golf in the Coachella Valley.  At Terra Lago yesterday, we were amazed by the biomass of bunnies, hundreds of which were darting in and out of bushes on most fairways.  There were baby rabbits, tiny vols and roadrunners, too.  See the photo of Kessler the Golf Road Runner, and then the real thing.

At Indian Wells we saw several thousand birds, looking like geese, swarming in random formations several hundred feet above.  You’ve probably seen videos of swarming swallows in Europe.  But these larger birds were moving en-mass, cartwheeling in disparate directions.  We simply had to stop and watch and did not care if it made us three minutes behind pace.  Any golf who ignored them and focused only on the next shot is a doofus.

The Player's Course at Indian Wells.

I also filmed a video of the swarm.  Our trusty GRW page manager John Hartley will post it here if possible.

Grow the Game Golf

I kept score in our cart with the Grow the Game Golf on my smart-phone, and backed it up with this hip new app called paper – - just in case we lost our signal.  Wallach was in the foursome ahead.  Strawn was in mine.  These men hold wagers whenever they compete.  Consequently, Wallach and Strawn grind like Conan the Barbarian on the Wheel of Pain.

While today was no exception, this application is really designed for more than two players.  Say you have a club tournament with 50 players.  You can see in real time whether the birding you made on a par 4 stroke hole for a net eagle holds up all day.  It can also help a pro staff have results the second the tournament is over, without the time consuming chore of checking scorecards.

In any event, Strawn has been on a long and expensive losing streak and had the air of despair and desperation about him.  But his friends rallied.  He got a good putting trip from our professional host.  I loaned him a new TopStrike Technology belly putter that I’ve just started testing but which has not yet been released to the public.  I may have to wrestle him to the death to get it back, since he handles it like a magic wand.  Coming to the 18th green at Indian Wells, Strawn knew he needed to make a par to take the entire match from Wallach, front, back and the entire $15 – - thanks to the information on the app.  He left his birdie putt five feet short, then drained the winner.

The second I punched the score into the Grow the Game Golf phone app, we knew Wallach felt the ice pick in the kidney.