Necessity really was the mother of this invention. Vic
Valdez had moved from southern California to Seattle and quickly realized that if he wanted to play golf, he'd better learn to play in the rain.
Soon, he invented the Rain Wedge, a portable, collapsible, 8-ounce canopy that hooks on to a golf bag and protects clubs from getting wet. And that is what brought Valdez, among dozens of other entrepreneurs, to Madison Square Garden on Friday for the New York Golf Super Show.
It retails for $29.95. "I tell people 30 bucks saves your round," Valdez said, adding that sales are better in the United Kingdom (home of much dicey weather) than they are so far in the United States. Still, he is irrepressible, as is everybody at the show that continues through today.
Even through a relatively quiet opening Friday, it was cool to see people who are so passionate about their products and about the game. There was something soothing, too, to know that there are as many ways to help someone's golf game as there are to spoil one.
For instance, there is the modest T-shaped putting gizmo developed by Innovative Golf Products of Pittsburgh. Patrick Kinney, the vice president, said it got rejected from the Golf Channel's inventors' show because it was too simple. Basically, its bars help line up the putter head while an attached laser points to the target, all designed to get a golfer in the habit of making good alignment and a good stroke.
Sales are improving, Kinney said, even though he knows that getting people to work on the short game is a lost cause. "I'll say to someone, 'How's your putting?' They say, 'Horrible.' I'm like, 'Want me to fix it in two minutes?' He goes, 'No, I've got to go buy a driver.' "
In a nearby booth, Mike Jacobs, who runs a golf school at Rock Hill Golf & Country Club in Manorville, was promoting a real new-age way to solve old problems such as the slice: a Web site, www.nygolfworld.com, that features a weekly 10-minute lesson show. Full Swing Golf, a San Diego firm, was demonstrating virtual golf - players hit into screens and watched their shots land on greens of famous courses. Representative Jon Watters said a few people in the Hamptons have those systems in their homes.
Golden Plane Golf, a Maryland company, was promoting a reflective mat that aligns a golfer and allows him or her to see a reflection of his or her swing in progress. A regional representative of GolfTec, which has an indoor facility in Lake Grove, explained a system in which a golfer is outfitted in sensors the way athletes are when they model for video games. "The feedback is very precise," spokesman Tom Howard said.
Merchants were a bit disappointed, though. It was so nice Friday that golfers were playing, not buying.
Good luck charm
Yogi Berra definitely is a guy you want to hang around if you want good things to happen. All those Yankees rings, and a stint as coach for the 1969 Mets, rubbed off on Trevor Immelman.
"I know him. We were partners in a Pro-Am at Arnold's tournament in '07," Berra said at the Stadium on Thursday, referring to the Arnold Palmer Invitational. "And we won."
Berra spoke with Immelman after his victory.
