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Are you in the market for a golf mat or putting mat for home?  At Hireko, we offer 5 golf mats to choose from. These are ideal to hone your skills year-round and enjoy quality time with family and friends. Let's break these down into two categories: a golf hitting mat or an indoor putting mat.

Apollo Introduces a New Black Double Bend Putter Shaft

Looking to create a cool putter? Apollo now offers two black putter shafts to fit most putters on the market.

Two Black Putter Shafts to Choose From

A new arrival, the Apollo Black Double Bend Putter Shaft will transform your putter into one stunning, stealth golf club. This matte black steel shaft features an offset and lie angle built into the curved putter shaft. It is designed to fit any putter with a 90-degree socket or post to create an offset and 72-degree lie angle. It has a 0.370" tip and works with right-hand putters only.

It is a new golf season and maybe a reason to think about buying new golf gear. However, if you are wondering how much do golf clubs cost in 2022, here is the average price of the most popular clubs on the market.  Expect the price of an adjustable driver to be over $500, a single fairway wood at $299, a hybrid at $249, irons and wedges at $140 each and let's not forget about a $250 putter.  Add all that up and you are looking at over $2860 for how much a set of golf clubs could cost. This does not even factor in the cost of a golf bag, or consumables like golf balls, golf gloves and tees. Do you have sticker shock now? Luckily, the cost of golf clubs does not have to be that expensive as we will explain later.

What Is Causing Golf Club Prices to Rise Today?

The Pandemic

We can’t talk about what’s happening today without talking about COVID. The Pandemic resulted in, among other things, an unprecedented boom in consumer sales. Online retailers such as Amazon recorded record sales and profits during the pandemic. Many types of retail stores, once re-opened, also recorded record sales. Golf greatly benefited, as it was one of the few recreational activities that could be done socially distanced. At the same time, however, foundries trying to produce these goods were faced with work disruptions due to periodic COVID shutdowns and energy shortages.

A Putter Grip Buyers Guide

Recently Winn Grips introduced their new Pro X putter models and it reminded me of how quickly the size and shape of putter grips have evolved in such a short period of time.  After all, Winn revolutionized grips approximately 25 years ago with the first golf grips made of a soft polyurethane (PU) material wrapped around a rubber underlisting.  These synthetic putter grips felt so good, and their jumbo model was so much softer and lighter than rubber putter grips of similar size.

In the past 10 years, the choice of putter grips used by golfers have changed dramatically.  Modern putter grips are larger, softer, colorful, and less tapered than grips previously made.  Let's explore what each of these benefits are.

What to know about golf club iron lofts

I first started playing golf in college almost 40 years ago. The year was 1984 and Miami Vice and the Cosby Show debuted on TV, you could see Ghostbusters, Revenge of the Nerds and The Karate Kid at the movie theater, or one could rock out to Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" or not to Wham! Life was good and it was going to be a lot better with my newfound sport.

After I became proficient to know how far I could comfortably hit each club, I would rely on a #7-iron if I had 150 yards to the flagstick. At my peak when I played a ton of golf and was in great shape, I would use an #8-iron. Surprisingly today or 38 years later, I vacillate between a 7 or 8 iron depending upon the conditions for that same distance. How can that be? Did I drink from the Fountain of Youth or make a pact with the devil? I know it is not because I kept up my gym membership either. Of course, I no longer have those same clubs to see how I would perform with them today. So, what has allowed me to maintain or even increase my distances after all these years?

5 Tip on How to Play Golf in the Cold

Golf is a great sport because it can be enjoyed year-round. However, if you live in the northern climes during winter, you might be a bit fair-weather player when the mercury drops too much. But for avid or hard-core golfers there comes a time you (and a friend or two) may just get the itch to play when the sun is shining, wind has subsided, and temperature is bearable. Here are five tips to playing golf in wintry weather.

Dress Appropriately

Layer up (i.e., jacket, mid layer, and base layer) with thinner clothing. This is better than wearing something bulky that can restrict your swing. But do not have too many layers you look like little Randy in the movie the Christmas Story.

Flextee - The Last Tee You'll Ever Buy

Our new Patriot Flextee packs have just arrived. The FlexTee Flexible Golf Tees 8 pack contains three sizes of patriotic-themed patterns. Eco-friendly, these tees flex at impact to prevent breakage plus promote consistent tee height for the ideal trajectory. Features: FlexTee's flexible design flexes on impact - Greater distance and accuracy due to less resistance at the point of impact - Durable and virtually unbreakable - FlexTee's built-in stop sets consistent ball heights - Each pack contains 3 heights: 2-1/4", 2-1/2" and 3".

A Guide to Golf Bag Dividers

Dividers are a quintessential part of a golf bag and help to untangle your clubs and/or grips when inserting or removing the clubs from the bag. You can see as little as one or two dividers such as those found in Sunday bags where you are carrying an extremely limited number of clubs, to 14-way and 15-way dividers and everything in-between. Fifteen you say. Yes, you are legally allowed to carry fourteen clubs, but you can have the added space dedicated for a golf bag umbrella, ball retriever or alignment sticks.

What is the Maximum Length of a Driver?

On October 11, 2021, the USGA announced a proposed change to the maximum length of golf clubs other than putters.  Before you get your knickers or panties in a twist, this does not apply to the everyday golfer, but rather to the top 1% of golfers.  Here is part of the statement:

"The USGA and The R&A have announced that new Model Local Rule (MLR G-10) will be available beginning on January 1, 2022 to provide those running professional or elite amateur golf competitions the option of limiting the maximum length of a golf club (excluding putters) to 46 inches."

How Do I Increase My Swingweight?

The club feels too light in your hands, you cut the club shorter for more control, added a heavier grip, re-shafted with a lighter shaft or the swingweights were not a consistent in your set, these are all reasons why you might need to add weight to a golf club head.  Here are some tips for properly adding weight to help balance your clubs and improve performance and confidence.

Experiment at the Range

If the swingweight of all your clubs are all over the place and you hit them well, is there any reason to change?  Good question.  You really won't know unless you try by adding weight first and hitting balls at the range or on the practice putting green to see if you can notice any improvement.  If you don't hit the clubs as well as you think, there is even more of an argument to experiment with a few clubs. The best part is it requires very little equipment or time and if you find increasing head weight doesn't help, it is very easily remedied by simply removing the weight.