10 TIPS TO REMEMBER WHEN DESIGNING YOUR OWN NEIGHBORHOODor PARK GOLF COURSE:For the firstfew years of almostGOLF's existence, we were like many dot.com'ers, we worked (no...slaved) out of our house in Santa Monica, CA., but that had some marked advantages. First I was able to turn our front yard and neighborhood into the almostGOLF testing laboratories. I could walk out the side door and hit shots across the yard during breaks with employees. It was an awesome way to regenerate our batteries during the work day. Then, during weekends and off hours I walked across the street to my park and played my own 'golf course'. What I didn't realize was that my experience of learning golf was so much easier, convenient, creative and fun then what most people go through. Check out my Parking Lot Golf Driving Range entry to see what I mean.
OUR FIRST COURSE: I created my first 18 hole golf course with great fondness because there is nothing like taking off the headset, turning off the computer, grabbing a pocket worth of balls, a shag and my favorite golf club (Cleveland TA5 8 iron) and being able to be hitting balls and sculpting shots within five minutes. So here are few tips on creating your course.
10 TIPS TO REMEMBER WHEN DESIGNING YOUR OWN GOLF COURSE:
LOCATION: Find a park or area of the park/schoolyard/neighborhood that doesn't have a lot of pedestriantraffic. You'll find this well help with the flow of your course and speed of play.
COURSE ETIQUETTE: l ways almostSHAG or pocket shag to reduce neighborhood divot damgage, because park rangers hate the TWO D's: Divots and Damage. If they see you being cool with the shag, life will be better for everyone.
INTER PARK DIPLOMACY: Befriend the park ranger and make sure it's cool that you play there. Though it's traditionally illegal to play golf in parks, you will be surprised how many park rangers are not only cool with your playing, but want to play along with you. Also, if you are going to hit into an area where guys are playing catch or the like, ask them if you and your crew can hit through before spraying them with balls. Especially at the beginning of this new sport.
USE THE RIGHT GOLF BALL COLORS: When playing an open course, (off-course) use yellow, orange or blue balls because most people flip out when they see white golf balls flying around where they think they shouldn't be.
PARK GOLF COURSE DESIGN: Create challenging course elements like hitting over fences or around obstacles. Also design your course to start and finish at the same location. That makes it fun to 'take a lap' around the park and end up where you started.
WIND DESIGN: The almostGOLF ball handles the wind far better than most non-urban golfers think. Since it's got a 386 dimple pattern it cuts the wind quite well. So now you can design your course to take advantage of side winds, tail winds and the head wind. Design your course so if you have a right to left side wind, you have to draw a shot around an obstacle right to left. Now the wind becomes your friend and cutting, fading and working the almostGOLF ball is what this sport is all about. (I will definitely write an entire entry about working the wind and course design. So stay tuned.)
CREATE A COURSE CLUB STANDARD: Determine the standard club you are going to use for your course. I am a big fan of the 8 iron. It allows you to hit high, low, long and short shots. If you don't set the club, your crew will come along with a 4 iron and over cook your course. Remember, almostGOLF is about accuracy and shot making not distance.
CREATE THE PAR FOR YOUR COURSE: This allows you to create a bench mark that you can now begin to whittle away at. It's amazing how you can smoke your course after playing it several times. It feels good to go into red numbers after a hard day of work.
PIN PLACEMENT IS EVERYTHING: A lot of times the hole is a fire hydrant, sign post or the pitchers chalk. You can make your pins easy or difficult, depending on your skill level. Determine your pars according not to standard distance, but to difficulty getting into the greens and the holes. Sometimes a green can be so impossible to land, you should turn it from a par 3 to a par 4 because of its difficulty factor.
BE FLEXIBLE AS YOU PLAY YOUR GOLF COURSE: Remember you can change your course at any moment, especially if there are pedestrian or automotive hazards in the way of your fairway or on the green. If a pedestrian has decided to become a 'picnic hazard' or 'soccer hazard', change your hole and steer clear. If you don't, you could spook them and cause all kinds of negative vibes...and no one wants that. Remember, you are un-extreme...so act like it. Steet golf / urban golf rules
UNLV CAMPUS GOLF OPEN 2008: I MET A REAL ALMOSTGOLFER: This was the third stop on our 2008 spring tour and it took place right in the middle of the UNLV campus. During this inaugural spring tour we’ve been trying to learn all we can about what students are into: 1.How many of them are actually golfers with a half decent swing 2.How many are what we call ‘closet golfers’ afraid to admit to their friends that they once played golf3.How many are true beginnersbut into the game.
4.How many would be into a tournament if the school had one
First: We learned that there are a ton of #1 and #2. It’s amazing the number of closet golfers who almost apologize for not wanting to go from high school ball to college ball. Their major answer is that they want to be college students and not live on a golf course. I can understand that completely.
What blew me away this time was one freshman who kept hitting crisp shots about 70 yards to one of our water hazards. He was so consistent and mindless in his ability to hit repeatable shots, I had to grab my camera and start shooting. (Video: see me catching the ball with one hand)
After the event we had the joyous ritual of shagging a days worth of golf balls…and this kid came out to help us. I mean this kid was not only good at golf, he was helping us shag! He definitely wins the almostGOLF ‘Dude’ award for valor on the range. As we shagged, he told me about how his dad actually bought him almostGOLF balls five years ago to get him into golf. I was honestly blown away because I think his dad must have been one of our very first customers.
CAL POLY POMONA: HOW TO PRODUCE AN ON-CAMPUS COLLEGE GOLF EVENT THAT WORKS:It's been an amazing spring season for almostGOLF events so far. We've definitely learned alot about how to bring golf onto a school campus and the steps needed to make it effective, fun, tractionable and repeatable.
STEP #1 CREATE A DRIVING RANGE EXPERIENCE EVERYONE WILL REMEMBER: Starting at the USC Open, we created a five stall 'demo' range near the middle of campus where there was a lot of foot traffic so students and administrators could come by and just hit balls. We knew that bringing golf onto campus was breaking a long standing perception that golf is dangerous and therefore not allowed on campus. You see, most people associate swinging golf clubs with the lethal projectile known as a traditionalgolf ball. We needed to re-educate teachers and students alike and show them there is a very cool alternative that safely fits the world they all live in. So the easiest first step was to create a structured range situation where anyone could try their hand, get some instruction and either discover or rediscover the game of golf in a casual way.
STEP #2: CREATE AN ALMOST-GOLF COURSE: What we found was that alot of kids really wanted to go beyond the range and play some holes...but there's more. Much to our surprise we discovered a silent mass of really good 'closet golfers' that came by and began really slinging the rock. They were usually kids who played in high school or learned at a country club, but simply didn't want to spend the time to compete on a collegiate level. So for those players we created a five hole almost-golf course. Now players could spend a half hour playing the course and schooling their friends. It was just enough time to give them a taste of this new form of golf competition and reignite their interest in the game. In fact, nearly everyone of these players came back to us and asked when we were going to have a tournament and if so, they wanted to play.(Read more)
THE BEST WAY TO PLAY GOLF...IS RIGHT OUTSIDE YOUR DORM: The first tournament of the almostGolfCollege Campus Golf Tour went off with a bang. It was truly an urbangolf success. We had over 100 playerscompete on the 12 hole course through McCarthy Quad on the campus of the University of Southern California. The highlight of the golf tournament was the battle between the almostGolf factory team of Gareth Estwickand almost-Tiger Woodsvs the USC Golf Club . The match was all square until the 8th hole when USC took the lead. Then, on the 11th hole almost-Tiger Woods sank a birdiechip to draw the match to even and bring the competition to the final bonus 'water hole'. With all the chips on the table almost-Tiger came through by nailing the water target on the first shot and putting the competition away...Of course a spectator had to go swimming to celebrate the victory.
GOLF COURSE DESIGN: In terms of our urbangolf-streetgolf-crossgolf course design, the water fountain hole took the prize followed by our hole #2 which was a killer par 4 over the bike racks, over the clubhouse tents and then over water.
TOURNAMENT SCORES: Even though the par was 22 for the course, many teams came out and blew that count away thanks to special bonuses along the course. Below is the list of golfers who turned in legible scorecards. See where you stacked up:
1. Chris Cheng 16
Brad McMahon 1. Christian G. 16
Mike Coverly 1. Eric Chiang 16 2. Justin Neog 17
Brian Timmins 3. Matt Raichel 18
Max Szentveri 4. Andrew Steiner 18
Scott Sternad Lisa Okamoto 5. Colin MacMillan 19
Ken Lee 6. Heather Massie 22
Travis Adamson
Tom Goodrich 7. Matthieu Delgrange 22
Jon Chow 8. Eric Sangrin Shin 23 9. Chupacabras 23 Lyons
10. Gary Chan 39
JUNIOR GOLF INSTRUCTION SEES A NEW HORIZON: These are exciting times for junior golf development, thanks to the almostGOLF ball. Now you can teach juniors golf almost anywhere. They can learn golf in a gym, on a playing field, around the schoolyard, at a park, in the backyard or around the neighborhood. Best of all there is no compromise in performance and/or ball striking feedback because the ball goes exactly where the club tells it to go. This new level of convenience allows juniors to actually get hooked on the game as opposed to simply being exposed to the game of golf.
ALMOSTGOLF BALLS HAVE BROKEN ALL THE TRADITIONAL BARRIERS TO ENTRY IN GOLF:For years, few people inside the golf industry wanted to admit that there were some very large barriers to entry facing the new and junior golfers. With the almostGolf ball all those barriers are gone. By breaking the golf ball safety barrier and allowing kids to practice, learn and even play around their yard, park or schoolyard, we make it possible for kids to do more than just get acquanted with the game. By making golf convenient, safe and exciting to play, kids and adults can practice as much as they want. That's revolutionary. This daily and/or weekly practice can suppliment any golfers course play and practice and allow them to improve faster.
NEWS FLASH:ALMOSTGOLF MADE THE WALL STREET JOURNAL April 7th Wall Street Journal took a look at golf training-aids on the market and highlighted our very own short game guru, Dave Pelz as well as almostGOLF practice balls:
For the Golfer Who Doesn't Quite Have Everything:Gadgets to help you putt, swing, chip, travel, stay cool -- and win
By TIMOTHY J. CARROLL April 7, 2008; Page R1
Dave Pelz, who is not only Phil Mickelson’s coach [and almostGOLF’s endorser] said, "There are some very purposeful, very useful learning aids" on the market. But "most golfers don't know what the problem in their game is," making a training-aid purchase a "hit-and-miss thing." To separate the good from the not-so-good, we went on a golfer's dream reporting assignment: find some new and innovative gadgets that will allow a golfer to get better [...and to our pleasant surprise the almostGOLF ball was at the top of the list!]
When you think about established monster brands like Taylormade, Titleist, Calloway and Nike, it nice to see that our innovation and unique vision warranted the WSJ’s editorial attention (without our having to spend the big advertising dollars). But the truth is that there are a growing number of serious players and especially golf educators who recognize that the almostGOLF ball is growing the game of golf. It’s simple. Most golfers simply don't practice because they can't get to a golf course enough. (It's the age old barriers to entry for Golf - time, money and travel). Prior to almostGOLF, there was no off course safe ball that gave real golf ball feedback and performance.
In a recent interview with Dave Pelz, he spoke about his exhaustive multi-year study on amateur golfers’ and their improvement. He found that those players who had large backyards or an area near their home, where they could practice conveniently and consistently with a regular golf ball, showed significant improvement in performance and lower scores. He also mentions that this is extremely rare… unless you’re Phil Mickelson, who has a driving range size backyard or practice hole in their backyard? This is where Pelz recommends the almostGOLF ball as the perfect solution. With the almostGOLF ball's limited distance and performance, golfers with normal size backyards or a nearby park or school playing field or gym, have new found freedom to practice and improve.
HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN PARKING LOT GOLF DRIVING RANGE: Everyone jokes about how golfers never practice. But they don't joke about how most golfers can't break 90. The reason is obvious, most golfers don't have the time to get to a range enough to actually groove a real golf swing. Well, unintentionally, I discovered an easy way to solve this time honored dilema of access by creating my own, super convenient, home driving range within walking distance from my house. So here is a breakdown for how - why and what the benefits are of creating your own 'golf training facility' as close to home as possible.
HISTORY OF HOW OUR FIRST DRIVING RANGE CAME ABOUT: It all started in 2002-3 as I was inventing the almostGolf ball. I would come back from a prototyping session at the factory, and sprint the 90 yards to the First Federal Bank Human Resource Training Center parking lot down the street. There I would take our new batch of balls and beat them into submission, hoping that this batch could take a punch. I knew I was inventing a new golf ball, but I didn't know I was inventing a new way to practice. Eventually this driving range became the official 'almostGolf Testing Laboratory' in Santa Monica, CA.
HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN GOLF DRIVING RANGE...AT HOME: The key to creating your own driving range is to first find the location. It should be at least 60 yards long to accomodate at least a 5 iron. Also make sure you have access to adjacent buildings or areas..because you will shank balls. Finally, make it convenient, because Jack Lalanne, the inventor of the modern day gym, proved that if you live too far from where you work out, you stop going and working out. So your driving range or personal almostGolf course needs to be CONVENIENT - CONVENIENT - CONVENIENT. Your range can be a park, schoolyard, parking lot, anywhere there is open area. Learn more about creating your own backyard golf course>
ALMOSTGOLF AND THE CGA JOIN FORCES TO GROW THE GAME OF GOLF ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES:During the recent USC Open, we had a chance to sit down with Mike Munson, the recreation director at USC and the president of the CGA about how having on campus tournaments and events are helping build campus golf clubs within his network of nearly 300 participating schools.
To start, I met Mike four years ago at aRoger DunnDemo day in Santa Ana, Ca. Our meeting seemed to be destiny. We had set up 30 yard hole in one contest right in front of the store. (Something most people had never seen before) We had people hitting away, laughing, trying to win prizes, but no one was able to make a hole in one. Then this tall, tan fellow sautered up holding the Titleist Volkey wedge he had just won from another contest. Without even taking off the wrapper, he set up and sunk his first shot. As I stood in amazement, he turned to me, shook my hand and said, "My name is Mike Munson, I run a golf club at USC...What did I win?"...from that point on almostGOLF became a sponsor of Mike's growing organization and we are now partners in growing golf within the hundreds of college golf clubs associated with the CGA.
Learn more about the almostGOLF College Golf Tour>
For years, few people inside the golf industry wanted to admit that there were some very large barriers to entry facing the new and 
When you think about established monster brands like Taylormade, Titleist, Calloway and Nike, it nice to see that our innovation and unique vision warranted the WSJ’s editorial attention (without our having to spend the big advertising dollars). But the truth is that there are a growing number of serious players and especially golf educators who recognize that the almostGOLF ball is growing the game of golf. It’s simple. Most golfers simply don't practice because they can't get to a golf course enough. (It's the age old barriers to entry for Golf - time, money and travel). Prior to almostGOLF, there was no off course safe ball that gave real golf ball feedback and performance. 