Sub70 Golf: Boutique golf clubs without the boutique price tags

In 1835, Carlos Lattin built the first log cabin in the town that came to be known as Sycamore, Illinois. Today, on that same site, is the fitting center of Sub70 Golf, one of the fastest-growing direct-to-consumer boutique golf club companies since 2018. The recipe for this success is a combination of the highest quality equipment at prices about 40% less than the big-name clubmakers, seasoned with the best customer service in the business.

I spent the morning recently with Jay Armour, Sub70’s Director of Marketing, and Kevin Healy, PGA Professional and Director of Fitting and Instruction, at Sub70’s sparkling new fitting center HQ in downtown Sycamore (about 65 miles west of the Chicago lakeshore). The space is large and attractive, with a mix of original hardwood floors and exposed brick along with state-of-the-art simulator bays, comfy furniture, flat-screen TVs, putting area, jukebox, Golden Tee game, selection of the company’s new apparel line, and a bar.

Sub70 CEO Jason Hiland had been in the golf business for nearly 30 years, having founded the companies Diamond Tour Golf and Hurricane Golf. The former is a seller mainly of club components, and the latter an online golf equipment retailer. Eventually, Hiland grew tired of selling other companies’ equipment and wanted to offer something of his own. He landed upon the idea of direct-to-consumer sales, while also keeping prices low, by dispensing with the advertising budget and eschewing paid player endorsements. Hiland had all the industry contacts – shafts, grips, clubhead fabrication plants, etc., etc. So work began on designing the best possible forged irons and, eventually, hybrids, woods, and putters, that can be customized for every single buyer.

“We have an incredible reputation for customer service,” says Armour, “and being transparent and open.” Most direct-to-consumer club manufacturers don’t allow returns. “Or you can only hit one of your clubs,” explains Healy, “and then you only have two weeks to return them, based on that one club.”

In contrast, Sub70 has a firm 60-day, no-questions-asked policy on returns. But this good-old Midwestern trustworthiness doesn’t start with the sale. It is the very foundation of the entire process. Every single set of Sub70 clubs is custom-made, by hand, according to each individual customer’s specs. How do they get these specs? Well, several different ways.

The most obvious of these is, sitting in the Sub70 fitting center, an in-house fitting by Healy or another Sub70 fitter. “We have visitors from all over the country,” says Armour. “Lots of them are in Chicago for business or vacation, and they hop over here for a fitting. We do about 50 fittings a week here, by appointment.”

So, they must rake in dough on those fittings, right? “Nope. All fittings are free. And if Kevin looks at your numbers with your clubs and ours and there’s no difference, he’ll tell you. No obligation. No up-selling, no pressure to buy anything at all from us. It’s very casual.” (Hence the bar in the fitting center.)

The atypical nature of the fitting process doesn’t end there, though. Healy is a PGA Professional who’s been giving lessons at some of Chicagoland’s top courses and clubs for decades. Unlike every single fitting I’ve gone through, where the fitter doesn’t comment on your swing (or help you fix flaws), the Sub70 process may include a lesson, too. “If I see something, I say something,” admits Healy. “I don’t want to fit someone’s bad swing.”

If you aren’t able to get to Sycamore, you can contact Sub70 online or by phone with specs of your current clubs (if you’re happy with them) or with specs from a different fitter. “We figure it out with them from there, usually with some back and forth to make sure we get everything right,” explains Armour. “We have heads that are comparable to just about everything out there. And every shaft and grip you can think of.”

“And if something seems off,” interjects Healy, “we’ll ask. You see some strange things from some other fitters – things that don’t seem right. Specs are like medical notes. They can be read by any fitter, but sometimes a second opinion is helpful.”

Once the specs are all nailed down and the order is placed, turn-around is usually 7-10 business days.

Once customers have their new sticks, they have a year until the next “longer, straighter” clubs come out, right?

“Sub70 doesn’t have any product life cycles,” says Armour. “Unlike the big names, who put out ‘the next best thing’ every year – or even every six months – our clubs are built to perform for however long they still fit you.”

“And the USGA regulates all club performance tolerances anyway,” says Healy. “If you think that this year’s version of last year’s driver is going to give you 30 extra yards, you’re fooling yourself. Performance hasn’t changed much in the last 30 years – USGA doesn’t allow it. It’s all just tweaking here and there.”

So even though Sub70 is always innovating in various ways, there’s no timeline for the “next” line of clubs. “We’ll have a new driver coming out in 1.5 – 2 years,” says Armour. “And a couple new putter models. But our focus is on adding more fitting carts and training more independent fitters across the country [who do charge for fittings, as that’s their business], so more golfers can have access to our clubs. We don’t want to or need to come out with anything ‘new’ until we can confidently say we’ve made an improvement or that we’ve filled a gap in our offerings.”

Access is important, including cost-related access. For example, the Sub70 line of putters are all CNC milled from solid blocks, and come with customizable weight sets and headcovers for about $169. Compare this to other “boutique” putter makers whose flatsticks can range up to $800. The Sub70 849 Pro Driver runs just $279, earning it and all of Sub70’s offerings the “#1 Direct-To-Consumer Golf Brand Award” from MyGolfSpy.com.   

The same philosophy applies to the new Sub70 apparel line. Polos run, for example, from $35-$50 each, compared to $80+ for logo wear at pro-shops. And the Sub70 logo (the numeral 70 with a line above it) is already pretty iconic.

Although Sub70 doesn’t pay players to use their clubs, many at the elite touring pro level do. “Zack Fischer plays our irons and wedges,” says Armour. “He just won the Argentine Open. And several guys on the PGA Champions Tour play them, but we can’t use their names since we don’t pay them for it.”

In short, Sub70 has clubs for players of all skill levels, “From 30-handicaps to Tour players.”

Some of the “staff bags” from notable players who play Sub70 clubs (for free, just because they love them(.

Sycamore, Illinois, might not be the first place that comes to mind when you think “boutique golf clubs,” but Sub70 is building a customer-centered golf empire on the very spot where Carlos Lattin built that first cabin. Who knows whether Carlos had ever even heard of golf, but he’d probably be impressed that an innovator like Sub70 is following in his trailblazing footsteps.

Shop for Pop: 2023 Father’s Day Golf Gift Guide

I just returned from an annual 3-day golf trip with a group of guys who’ve been playing together once a year for 33 years. We don’t all go every year, and sometimes we don’t see someone for a half-dozen years. Yet somehow, I feel like I recognize these guys better than my own neighbors, and I am certain I know more about their lives than I do most of my co-workers. Nearly all of us are fathers—except for some of the yearly new crop of “rookies”—and we particularly revel in stories of deep discomfort and profound privation we often faced in the early years of the trip, when we had more stamina, fewer health concerns, and less money. Today, we all agree that tops on our list for the trip is COMFORT. We’re getting up there – many of the group are retired – so we’re willing to pay more if need be to sleep in an actual bed, find cabins with new furniture and full amenities, and not have to wake up before sunrise to snag discount rates.

I bet your dad would appreciate a little comfort, too. So here’s a list of golf gift ideas focused on the theme of making Pop’s life a little more comfortable.

ASICS GEL-KAYANO ACE Golf Shoes

You know who knows comfortable shoes? Runners. So ASICS took the design features of their widely acclaimed running shoes and adapted them to golf shoes. The GEL-KAYANO ACE Golf Shoe ($170) is a spikeless, waterproof golf shoe offering comfort with every move. The lightweight frame and flexibility of the GEL-KAYANO ACE is aided by ASICS FlyteFoam Technology, providing lightweight shock absorption and plenty of support. An improved upper mesh and PU film coating help keep golfer’s feet dry in wet conditions, while its TPU Heel Cradle helps maintain stability while walking and throughout the swing. If Dad happens to be into speed-golf, these are definitely the shoes for him!

PUMA x Volition America Collection

Ol’ Pops needs comfort on the rest of his body, too. The PUMA x Volition America Collection brings red, white, and blue to the course in the form of patriotic patterns, hi-tech materials, and innovative designs, all of which are aimed at honoring US military veterans. A portion of the proceeds from the Volition line will go directly to Folds of Honor Foundation to support the families of American military heroes. The designs run from splashy to subtle, but all are stylish and comfortable. There’s also a Volition America Golf Bag ($350), various accessories, and a special edition AEROJET Driver ($599), if you want to set Dad up with a full-blown tribute to America.

Sun Mountain Mid-Stripe Dual Strap Stand Bag

Hopefully Dad still walks a few holes now and then, but even if not, he deserves a lightweight stand bag with cushy shoulder straps, maybe to encourage more walking. Perfect for either walking rounds or riding rounds, the Sun Mountain Mid-Stripe Dual Strap Stand Bag ($370) is a retro-cool beauty. Weighing in at just 5.6 lbs., the Mid-Stripe features loads of spiffy detailing (like leather external tee holders), a 9” top with 4 dividers, and 7 functional, spacious pockets. I just love the way this bag looks and feels on my shoulders. I have received more compliments on this bag than any I’ve ever owned, both from Dads AND from their children.

Stewart Golf Apex Remote Trolley

If your goal is to provide Dad with the ultimate in comfort, you need to get him a remote-controlled trolley so he can stroll the links leisurely without having to lug or push his clubs around. World-renowned golf trolley manufacturer Stewart Golf has announced a brand-new model to join its award-winning electric cart fleet—the APEX Remote ($1899)—what the company is calling the “ultimate remote machine,” giving golfers total control of their trolleys from up to 100 yards away. Stewart Golf manufactures the world’s most advanced, remote-controlled golf carts and is a pioneer in follow technologies, many of which have been incorporated into the APEX Remote.  A world first in golf—Active Terrain Control (ATC)—is a sophisticated operating system that gives the user ultimate control of their trolley on any course, no matter how challenging its landscape and is the hallmark of the APEX.

ATC allows APEX to automatically redistribute power independently between twin super-charged motors depending on elevation grades.  Unlike basic downhill braking, ATC keeps the APEX travelling at a desired speed and direction—uphill, downhill, and on side slopes. The innovative ATC system is powered by the new AP1 Cortex Microchip, which monitors power requirements from each motor up to 1,000 times per second. This new system also adjusts to different golf bags, allowing smoother response when holding a lightweight bag. In the APEX, Stewart Golf debuts the longest range in the trolley market. Its second-generation SmartPower Lithium battery now provides enough power for 27 or 45 holes of operation. The plug-and-play battery offers users the ability to monitor usage and capacity in real time using the free Stewart Golf smartphone app.

 SuperStroke Putter Grips

Perhaps the best feeling in golf is feeling comfortable – and confident – on the greens. An essential part of achieving this blessed nirvana-like state is your putter grip. Your putter should feel so natural in your hands, that it’s like an extension of your body. SuperStroke Putter Grips ($30-$40) have in a very short time become ubiquitous on greens everywhere from local municipal courses to the PGA Tour. Two recent Tour winners, Davis Riley and Wyndham Clark, play SuperStrokes, in fact. SuperStroke’s stroke of genius is widening the lower part of the grip, removing the taper and thereby minimizing the tendency for the lower hand to get over-involved and inappropriately manipulate the putter face. These grips come in several different sizes and designs, not to mention color combinations, and they work – just ask Tour winners.

Bridgestone e12 Contact Golf Balls

Another great feeling in golf is being comfortably in the fairway off the tee. The key to finding the short grass is contact: contact between the clubface and the ball. Bridgestone has drawn from its long history as a manufacturer of racecar tires to bring golfers the e12 Contact. The fourth iteration of the e12 creates 46% more surface contact at impact over competitor balls. Borrowed from Bridgestone Tire, Contact Science optimizes the moment of impact, yielding faster speeds on more powerful contact and higher spin rates on less powerful contact. Designed for players looking for a combination of maximum distance, straighter overall shots, exceptionally soft feel, and enhanced short game performance, the new e12 CONTACT golf balls are loaded with technology, highlighted by the brand new FLEXATIV Surlyn cover.

The new FLEXATIV cover is designed using impact modifiers that allow it to react to the amount of force applied at impact. When struck with a driver the cover behaves like a firmer material for faster ball speed and more distance, and also less sidespin for straighter shots and enhanced forgiveness on off-center hits. When struck with a wedge or short iron, however, it behaves like a softer, slower material.

High Camp Fairway Flasks

Finally, for me, peak relaxation can be achieved with a nice adult beverage, whether it be on the course, after the round, or watching golf on TV on a rainy day. The High Camp Fairway Flask (standard 375 ml with tumbler, $85; Custom-engraved 375 ml with tumbler, $109) is brilliantly crafted for your bar top and at the same time ruggedly built for the rough and tumble of the course. The Integrated Magnetic Locking System allows you to seamlessly attach your tumblers to your flask (and even create a goblet for refined tippling). It fits perfectly in the cart drink holder and the magnetized cup keeps it from tipping over. The Firelight 375 is built for your longest rounds—it’ll keep half a bottle of your favorite spirit at the perfect temperature all day long.

There you have it. This Father’s Day, resist Dr. Suess’s call to “Hop on Pop!” Instead, shop for pop, and give the gift of comfort on the golf course. He’s earned it!

Cobra T-Rail Irons: Golf clubs for regular folks

Depending on which statistics one looks at, the percentage of golfers who never break 100 is somewhere around 50%. Of course, this estimate also depends on how you define “golfer.” Is someone who plays once or twice a year a golfer? We could argue about this all day.

Irrespective of these statistics, though, everyone who plays golf at all can agree that it is a frustratingly difficult sport. Recent calls to “roll back” the ball or limit the power of drivers for Tour professionals would not – and should not – apply to recreational players because we recreational players, us regular folk, need all the help we can get.

Let’s face it, golf IS more fun when you hit the ball farther. Heck, I know people who’ve toyed with the idea of playing. Then they go to a practice range and fail to get even a single ball into the air and simply quit before they ever even play an actual hole. A lot of factors work against “growing the game” – cost, time, exclusionary culture. But frankly, the single factor that keeps golf from being more popular is golf itself. Golf is HARD.

Fortunately, more and more equipment companies are developing lines of clubs to help regular folks have more fun playing golf. The latest entry into the “Max Game Improvement Iron” category are the Cobra T-Rail Irons ($999, PW-4 hybrid). If you’re trying to entice friends or family into playing golf with the thrill of hitting high, long shots, these are the clubs you will want to have them try.

Playing the Cobra T-Rail Irons

Let’s be honest: if you’re looking for sleek irons with a thin topline, these are not for you. Every iron in the T-Rail set has a hollow, hybrid-like design. However, the black carbon back does go some way towards camouflaging the bulbous profile.

But forget about the set-up aesthetics. These irons, which come stock with Cobra Ultralite 50 (55g) graphite shafts, are light but beautifully balanced. You can ramp up swing speed without losing the feel for the position of the clubhead. The oversized head remains stable on off-center strikes, and the patented namesake T-Rails on the sole provide consistent contact with the turf.

I tested the T-Rails at my local driving range and during a 9-hole round on my local course. Naturally, the range session consisted of one nearly flawless strike after another, with the ratty old range balls sailing easily 10-20 yards father than with my normal irons. And the ball fight was so incredibly high that I thought I’d popped up the first couple of shots until I realized how far they had traveled.

On the course, nothing ever goes as well as on the range. Nevertheless, when I wasn’t trying to over-swing, the T-Rails delivered effortless power. I had to club down on several shots in order to not go over the green. With some practice, I was even able to work the ball both right and left with the T-Rails (an accomplishment that, as with any of my clubs, was less consistently achieved on the course).

The verdict on Cobra T-Rail Irons

Iron sets that are basically full-set hybrids are not for every golfer. But if we’re being brutally honest, about 50% of golfers could probably benefit from playing them. For me, the T-Rail 4-hybrid (20 degrees, 39.75 inches) is the club I’ve been looking for for years. I’ve been having trouble with my fairway woods for nearly a decade, and the 4-hybrid T-Rail is an ideal replacement for my 19-degree 5-wood. The shorter shaft and more compact head give me the feeling of more control, and Cobra’s brilliant engineering gives me more height, more control, AND more distance despite the shorter shaft. And in my semi-psychotic golfer brain, I can tell myself “It’s just an iron” and take a normal swing. This is a vast improvement over my fairway wood swing thought, which is something like, “Oh, gawd – I hate fairway woods! What’s going to happen this time?”

Come to think of it, it really is a miracle that I ever broke 100.

Cleveland HB SOFT Milled Putters: Sink putts, not your budget

Your putter is the only club you use on every hole. This intense familiarity tends to breed a manic relationship between golfers and their flatsticks. One type of player largely ignores their putters – they’ve played the same one for 20 years, and the grip is glassy smooth, the head is dented, the shaft might not even be straight anymore. The other type of player is obsessed – haunting the putter section of every pro shop and big box sports store they enter, these players squirrel away part of their lunch money every week to save up for the latest $700 wand by Cameron or Bettinardi because it will definitely, this time, save strokes.

I’m here to tell you that there is a middle ground, a calm eye of sanity in the psychological hurricane that is putting. Cleveland Golf consistently produces putters that represent the best combination of performance and affordability on the market. In November, 2022, Cleveland introduced the Huntington Beach (HB) SOFT Milled Putter Line ($200), which consists of seven models designed to fit the full range of putting strokes.

Playing the Cleveland HB SOFT Milled Putter

Putting strokes basically fall into two styles: straight-back-straight-through and closed-open-closed, often termed “straight” and “arc” (or “gate”), respectively. Great PGA Tour pros have played both, so one’s not any better than the other. The key is to find a putter whose weighting and grip fit your stroke. With seven models—and their respective grip shapes—the HB SOFT line offers a match for every golfer.

For arc putters, Cleveland recommends the Golf Pride PRO ONLY Red Star grip, with a pistol shape that promotes the opening and closing of the putter face. For straight putters, there is the Golf Pride PRO ONLY Green Star grip has a more rounded, oval-back shape that helps the hands stay still through the stroke.

Once you settle on a grip, the next decision is the putterhead shape. What looks best to your eye? Now, arc putters often prefer Anser-style or flanged blade shaped heads, whereas straight putters often prefer some flavor of mallet. But this generality is not absolute. Toe-hang is another reliable indicator: face-balanced putters tend to work best for straight putters; some degree of toe-hang tends to work best for arc putters. The HB SOFT models are 1, 4, 5, 8, 10.5, 11, and 14. Smaller numbers are smaller heads, ranging up through mid-mallets to full mallets, and every model offers variations with different face- and toe-balancing.

I chose the 11: 370g, single-bend neck, 3-deg loft, face-balanced, 35”. The 11S is for arc putters; the 11 is for straight putters, which I am (when I’m putting well). The head shape is in the “sabretooth” style: two flanges extend back from the toe and heel ends for exquisite stability.

All HB SOFT Milled putters are, well, milled, meaning that both the front and back of the head are milled. The face is diamond milled for optimal contact everywhere on the face. The back milling just provides a really sharp, clean profile at address.

How did it perform? Well, every year, I think I’ve settled on a forever-putter. Last season, it was actually another Cleveland model, the Frontline ISO Putter. I putted great with that model. But after a half-dozen strokes on my living room carpet with the HB SOFT 11, and a simulator-league season that ended with a 20-foot holed (simulated) putt to secure second place in the league, it has now become my forever-putter.

Until next year, maybe.

The verdict on Cleveland’s HB SOFT Putter Line

The double-barreled greatness of Cleveland putters combines consistently top-notch quality with a reasonable price point. The HB SOFT Milled Line is the next great generation of this long and proud tradition. If you really do want to change putters every season, you can do it without busting your budget. If, on the other hand, you want to keep a putter in your bag for the next couple of decades, Cleveland makes a product that will last and perform in perpetuity.

Just please, for me, change that glassy grip now and then.

Srixon ZX MK II Drivers: Consistency breeds confidence

It feels like just yesterday that I first received a dozen Srixon golf balls to review, despite it being nearly 20 years ago. I called them “The best balls whose name you can’t pronounce.” Srixon golf balls continue to be some of the best balls for the money at every price point. Moreover, Srixon has become a familiar name for most golfers, thanks to multiple player sponsorships on all professional tours and an ever-growing, consistently high-quality line of golf clubs.

Despite the wider name recognition, though, Srixon is still sometimes overlooked by golfers shopping for new sticks. Whenever someone on “golf Twitter” poses the question of which irons or drivers are most underrated, Srixon’s name is certain to pop up, followed by a chorus of devotees who profess their loyalty to the brand.

The reason for this loyalty? My view is that Srixon consistently produces rock-solid, high-performing equipment at an affordable price. The new ZX MK II Series Drivers ($500) continue this tradition in impressive fashion. ZX MK II drivers come in three flavors. The ZX7, with its more compact head, targets low-handicap players who seek to work the ball in all directions off the tee. The ZX5 offers consistency and forgiveness, with a larger footprint and weight deeper in the sole. The ZX5 LS is new in this line, with an adjustable forward weight to reduce spin rate to maximize distance while maintaining much of the ZX5’s forgiveness.

Playing the ZX5 MK II

Over the past 15 years, my once-bulletproof driver swing has suffered some serious wounds. So I chose the ZX5 MK II in hopes of building back some confidence. I loaded the ZX5 into my new Srixon Sunday bag (by Jones) along with several of the latest drivers from some competing companies, and headed to the simulator and launch monitor at Lake of the Woods Golf Course. Accompanying me was my son, a former HS golfer who regularly launches 300+ yard drives, so if my swing turned balky, I could trust him to give the variety of big sticks a fair test.

We both loved the ZX5 MK II at set-up. The traditional shape and matte-finish crown felt both calming and powerful. We left the adjustable head at the factory 9.5-degree setting, and admired quality of the stock Hzrdus Smoke RDX shaft (stiff). Although my swing was inconsistent that day, drives with the Srixon were the most consistent of all the clubs tested that day: lots of fairways hit (playing a simulated Pebble Beach), spin rate that was slightly higher than some others, but with a mid-high ball flight and very acceptable distance.

The real test was my son, whose swing was still as smooth and as powerful as ever –  oh, the joys of long levers, youthful flexibility, and grooved tempo. He hit all the drivers we tested well, but the real comparison for the ZX5 was against a competing driver that retails for $225 more than the Srixon. The competitor was described by my son as “a beast,” and when he hit it on the sweetspot, it seemed like the simulated ball would never come down. When it did, we both just sort of whistled at the low spin rate and 300-yard carry. But when he missed the center of the clubface, distance and direction were dramatically reduced—we’re talking 50+ yards shorter and well off the fairway. “This one feels too good for me,” he said.

Next up, the ZX5 MK II. “This one doesn’t give me the same anxiety over the ball,” said my son, setting up with the Srixon. His first swing was tentative, and a slight mishit still traveled beyond 270 and found the short grass. “I’ll take that,” he said. Next swing, all out, delivered a dead-straight, towering 310-yard bomb.” We both just smiled. “The spin rate is a bit higher than the other one,” he observed, “but that’s why both of those shots landed in the fairway. It doesn’t feel like I can miss.”

Srixon ZX5 MK II: The verdict

Srixon touts a catalog of design innovations for the new series of drivers: Rebound Frame (with multiple flex zones to focus energy on the point of impact), Star Frame Crown (ultra-thin titanium with internal ridges for strength and energy transfer), Variable Thickness Face (for maximum forgiveness all over the face), Cannon Sole (for maximum ball speed), and a deep center of gravity. But the bottom line for most is how a player feels over the ball and where the ball ends up after the swing.

So here’s the bottom line: Srixon’s consistency breeds confidence. Go ahead, swing all-out. Even most mishits will still play. And even the most forgiving of all the new ZX MK II Series produces distance that rivals every other driver we’ve tested so far this year. Underrate Srixon if you want, but real players – from golf Twitter all the way up to the professional tours – know the high level of performance Srixon continues to deliver.

Titleist does it again with TSR2 woods

Golf equipment companies introduce “new” clubs two or even three times a year. Every time, without fail, these new clubs are “longer,” “more forgiving,” “better performing.” Heck, they’re regularly trumpeted as “the best ever!”

I’ve been writing about golf equipment for over two decades now, and I am not the only person in the industry who is skeptical of this never-ending train of improvement. Over the years, I have reviewed a number of “best ever” clubs from putters to drivers that performed no better—and sometimes worse—than the model that had debuted just six months earlier.

Less than a year ago, I reviewed the Titleist TSi2 driver, and I kept it in my bag throughout last season. In all honestly, I enjoyed more confidence, control, and power off the tee this past year than I had for many, many years. Forgive me, then, for allowing that old skepticism to creep in: Could Titleist do even better with the TSR2 such a short time after the TSi line debuted?

I communicated this to Titleist. They were glad to hear of my satisfaction with the TSi2, but were confident some model of TSR—TSR2, TSR3, or TSR4—could convince me. They wanted me to get custom fit, though, so an appointment was arranged. Preceding that fitting, I had played The Pfau Course in Bloomington, Indiana, where I had driven the ball quite well most of the round. Then I drove five hours to just make the fitting appointment. I hopped out of the car, hit a few wedges, and then proceeded to make the most confounding, inconsistent collection of swings—and lots of them. I felt bad for the expert fitter, who was sure he had me figured out until I changed my swing again (and again, and again). He finally settled on an R-flex shaft for both a TSR2 driver and 3-wood, which surprised me, as I’ve always played an S-flex. But to be fair, the only balls I hit straight during the fitting session were when I slowed my swing down toward the end because I got tired after 50-some balls. But maybe…

Playing the Titleist TSR

My TSR2 driver and 3-wood arrived with just a couple of outdoor rounds left in the season: windy, cold, swing out of sorts. They both looked sleek and felt solid. The TSR2 is the “max” performance driver that offers optimized distance across the entire clubface. And if my fitting taught us anything, it’s that I make contact all over the clubface.

Rather than just tweak the TSi2 driver clubhead, though, Titleist redesigned the TSR2. A “boat tail” weight port at the very back of the sole calls to mind the SIM2 driver by TaylorMade. (The TSR3 has a sliding weight port in the back of the clubhead for maximal adjustability.) The sound and feel at impact do as well. The 9.5-degree TSR2 launches as high or higher than my 10.5-degree TSi2, but with less spin. A few shots on the course with the 3-wood were respectable, but the driver felt hard to control and not as long as the previous version.

Enter simulator golf weather. I tested the TSR2 on the new Quad Pro launch monitor at Lake of the Woods Golf Course with my son, a former high school golfer who routinely launches 300-yard drives, and the local high school girls’ golf coach, who plays off a low single-digit handicap and also rips 300+ yard drives more often than not.

My son noticed the radical change from the TSi2 clubhead design, as well as the difference in sound. The TSR2 sounds more muted than its predecessor. We both noticed that purely-struck balls didn’t feel like we’d hit them at all, a feature shared by the TSi2. We swapped out the R-flex shaft for the S-flex of my TSi2, and my son especially noticed better control. (The R-flex resulted in several hooks for both of us, actually.)

The local golf coach was fitted a couple years ago for a TaylorMade SIM2. “I feel like I could look around for a new driver this year,” he said. His first drive with the TSR2 (S-flex) carried 280+ yards and rolled out to 304. After three more drives, all dead straight and all over 300 yards on the simulator, he turned to me and asked, “How much do you want for this?” I believe he would have gone to the ATM right then. (He’s still asking me about it.)

Even I, the old man of the group who doesn’t really like simulators or launch monitors, noticed lower spin and slightly higher ball speed. Eventually, I banged out some 270-280 yard drives. Titleist touts the TSR2’s and TSR4’s “Multi-Plateau Face Thickness Technology” as accounting for the hotness and forgiveness of the face. Essentially, there are concentric donut-like layers stacked inward towards the center to provide maximum ball speed across the entire clubface. The TSR3 boasts “Speed Ring Variable Face Thickness Technology,” which basically focuses the maximum power on the sweetspot—for those annoying players that hit the sweetspot consistently.

The verdict on the Titleist TSR2 woods

Honestly, I thought the TSi2 would be in my bag for the long haul. Then along comes the TSR2 driver to usurp the role as go-to. And it brought along its 3-wood sidekick, even – which, by the way, consistently delivers straight, 225-250 yard shots. The R-flex in a fairway wood actually seems helpful, as in order to make solid contact off the turf, I really do need to slow my swing down.

The TSR2 driver, though, matched with my older stock S-flex shaft, is—miraculously—an improvement over its predecessor. Titleist, somehow, has done it again.

Honma BERES Aizu Line: Straight from the heart of Japan

Aizu-Wakamatsu City is remote by Japanese standards: just over two hours north of Tokyo by Shinkansen (bullet train), followed by a connection of another hour or so by local train. During the winter, heavy mountain snows can block those local tracks completely. The region’s isolation was a reason it became one of the final strongholds of the Tokugawa Shogunate – the system of shoguns and samurais so often recalled in the minds of Westerners when thinking about Japan. In the Boshin Civil War, when the feudal Shogunate ultimately fell to the unification effort of the Meiji Empire, Tsuruga Castle – stronghold of the ruling clan of Aizu – burned in 1868. This military battle is famous for the story of the Byakkotai, 19 teen-aged samurai who escaped the castle to a hill overlooking the town. When they saw smoke billowing from the castle grounds, they wrongly assumed their master had fallen, and they committed seppuku (or hari-kiri, ritual suicide). The battle raged, though, for a few more days.

The flip-side of this bloody history is the artistry of the Aizu region, which is equally famous and also owes its uniqueness to isolation. During the centuries when Japan was fragmented by feudalism, subtle but distinct differences in even the most traditional arts and products evolved quasi-independently. Today, every city in Japan claims fame for something – sake, rice, silk, blade-smithery. Kitakata, a small town near Aizu-Wakamatsu, for example, boasts arguably the best ramen noodles in the country. Aside from premature self-disembowelment, Aizu is famous for its lacquerware. Lacquer is a hard, shiny coating derived traditionally from the resin of the Chinese lacquer tree. It is applied in many coats to wood, metal, or today, even plastic  to create brilliant, colorful designs on everything from jewelry to vases to golf clubs.

Did I say, “golf clubs?”

Yes.

In 2022, Japan’s premier golf equipment company, Honma, introduced the BERES Aizu line of golf clubs, all of which feature designs and flourishes inspired by and faithful to the centuries-old lacquerware tradition of the Aizu region. These eye-catching, ball-smashing clubs do require a certain amount of financial sacrifice, but they also infuse your game with beauty, honor, and performance that are well worth the price.

Playing the BERES Aizu Driver

The history of Aizu above is just a fraction of what I would like to relate. I lived in Aizu-Wakamatsu for three and one-half years in the early 1990s while on the faculty of the University of Aizu. I am extremely fond of the region, its people, history, and artwork. So when I saw that Honma was coming out with a lacquer-inspired line of clubs, I just had to try them.

The BERES Aizu Driver is every bit as stunning in person as it is in the photos on the Honma website. It comes in several different color and pattern combinations, and the artistry is unrivaled in anything I’ve ever seen on a golf club. It is true that this artistry comes at a cost — $949 for the driver in gold or rust; $1,149 for black – but if you have ever dreamt of playing clubs that will turn the heads of everyone at your course, such is the price of that dream’s fruition.

When I lived in Japan, it was common to see rather plain-Jane drivers for $1000 or more on the shelves of department stores in Tokyo, so the cost of the BERES Aizu is not so surprising, especially given inflation. Nevertheless, what you get from the Aizu today is far, far more technologically advanced than those vanity drivers of the 1990s.

The foundation of the BERES Aizu line is prime materials – the Radial L-Cup face is constructed from Ti811 titanium, for example. How this differs from other titaniums, I am not certain. What I do know is that I have never EVER seen a shinier club face. Even more amazingly, after playing a couple rounds with the Aizu, it was just as shiny as before it ever struck a ball. Behind that brilliant face is more engineering genius: a triple-groove sole that maximizes speed and launch trajectory and a lightweight crown (despite the lacquerware flourishes) that moves the weight deeper and farther back in the clubhead. Finally, the ARMRQ MX Shafts, which come standard in the Aizu, are constructed by Honma from a proprietary carbon-fiber and aluminum-strand composite. These also feature lacquerware-inspired detailing.

Shiniest club face I have ever seen. And it looked exactly the same after playing two rounds.

How does all this beauty play? Well, beautifully. Although the SR (~stiff) shaft felt a bit whippy, a controlled swing produced long, long tee shots. The ball “popped” off the face with a subdued sound that belied the length of the ball flight. I asked a local high-school golf coach and low-handicap player to hit a few shots with it, too, and he agreed: “I really like the way the ball comes off that face. It goes a lot farther than you think it’s going to because it feels and sounds so smooth.”

Elegant. Elegant is the word I would use to encapsule both the appearance and performance of the BERES Aizu. Think tea ceremony, origami, sushi, kabuki – precision, detail, beauty, skill, and execution. And power – like those fabled samurai.

The verdict

When I lived in Japan, I always connected the nation’s love of golf to its warrior history. Golf clubs are sort of like modern-day swords, and each one has its own unique role to play in the battle raging from the 1st tee to the 18th green. The BERES Aizu makes me realize that the Japanese love for the sport also taps into the people’s love of artistry – which is valued as much for its beauty as well as for its temporary nature. Neither rounds of golf nor precious art nor even dynasties last forever. But they can be memorialized and honored much longer. Tsuruga Castle burned in 1868, but it was rebuilt and stands today as the major landmark of the Aizu region. It is surrounded by hundreds of cherry trees whose famed blossoms emerge, spark great joy, and then fade each spring, and the graves of the Byakkotai still overlook the glorious, transient sea of pink-red flowers.

Honma’s BERES Aizu line of clubs are designed to honor the history and artistry of Japan as well as the noble game of golf and the dedication of all who love it. Clubs this beautiful enhance your experiences on the course, none of which are precisely the same, and all of which are fleeting. Their memory, however, will last long after the round has finished; some will even be revered like the equipment with which they were made.

Tsuruga Castle (restored) during winter
Tsuruga Castle during the Sakura (Cherry Blossom) Festival

Should I play or will it snow, now? 2022 Holiday Gift Guide for golfers in all climes

Every winter, I think to myself: “Will I be able to get out to play before spring?” Despite living in central Illinois, sometimes I do – I worry about climate change while teeing it up on some random 45-degree February day. If you happen to live in a climate more conducive to year-round play, count your blessings.

No matter where you live, here’s a list of Holiday Gift ideas for golfers who yearn for “next season,” whatever that means for you.

SentryWorld 2023 U.S. Senior Open tix & stocking cap swag

The 2023 U.S. Senior Open will be held at the spectacular SentryWorld in Stevens Point, WI. From now until Dec. 31, anyone who buys $100 or more in U.S. Senior Open tickets will receive a free SentryWorld insulated stocking cap with a removable pom pom that snaps on and off. My advice is to not only attend the Open, but also book your own stay-and-play at SentryWorld’s luxurious new Inn. Play where the legends of the game play!

Bushnell Wingman: Swing your swing and play your music

If you’ve gone all-in on technology and all the ways it’s changing golf, the Bushnell Wingman ($100) is for you. Essentially the Wingman is a top-notch Bluetooth stereo speaker combined with one of the best GPS systems in golf. Integrated into the speaker is a powerful magnet so you can stick it on your golf cart (or on your pushcart), and there’s a detachable remote control to carry in your pocket to click for audible yardages to the front, middle, and back of the green. Pair the Wingman with your phone to play music from your own library or streaming service, if the gentle strains of birdsong are too old-fashioned for you. Then download the Bushnell app onto your smartphone to display detailed maps and yardages of 36,000 courses, keep score, and more all on your phone and accessible without subscription or membership.

PUMA GS-ONE Spikeless Golf Shoes

PUMA has introduced their lightest spikeless shoe ever, the GS-ONE ($130). The softfoam sockliner and TPU saddle system in the midsole combine to hug your foot like a sock – a stylish, supportive, ground-gripping sock that also looks cool as a casual sports shoe off the course. Personally, I love not having to change shoes before and after a round. Give me a pair like the GS-ONE that I can wear to the course and wherever I go afterwards, and I’m one happy hacker. The only caution is that they tend to run a bit small and narrow, so if you’re ordering online, get a half-size larger than you think you need.

STRUTZ Arch Support

If you REALLY want to pamper your favorite golfer’s dogs, stuff their stocking with a pair of STRUTZ PRO cushioned arch supports ($28). They slide on your foot and fit unobtrusively inside your shoes to provide extra arch support while playing golf or just walking around. If you’ve ever suffered from plantar fasciitis, you know how debilitatingly painful it can be. STRUTZ can alleviate that pain and even keep it from occurring.

Sun Mountain Mid-Stripe Dual Strap Stand Bag

Let’s see…Your favorite golfer now has comfy shoes and arch support. Let’s add a lightweight stand bag to encourage more walking. Perfect for either walking rounds or riding rounds, the Sun Mountain Mid-Stripe Dual Strap Stand Bag ($370) is a retro-cool beauty. Weighing in at just 5.6 lbs., the Mid-Stripe features loads of spiffy detailing (like leather external tee holders), a 9” top with 4 dividers, and 7 functional, spacious pockets. I just love the way this bag looks and feels on my shoulders. After I got mine, I even started leaving my Sun Mountain push cart (also a great gift idea!) in the trunk and carrying more often—something I hadn’t done for years.

Pulling Each Other Along

When the winds whip and the snow blows, the golfer on your list could use a good book. Here’s a shameless plug for one I contributed to. Pulling Each Other Along ($25) is a compendium of inspirational stories of human kindness and perseverance, with forwards by NFL greats Terry Bradshaw and Rocky Bleier. I co-wrote the chapter by Dave Stevens, an old buddy of mine (pictured below) who is the only legless athlete to play NCAA football and professional minor league baseball. He’s also a 7-time Emmy Award Winner for his role as producer of NFL Sunday Countdown on ESPN. The chapter relates the time he pinch-hit for Darryl Strawberry in a St. Paul Saints game. And there are 30 more amazing stories like that in this award-winning volume!

Club Fitting

Club fitting used to be reserved for single-digit handicappers and private club members. Now with fitting center chains like Club Champion and mobile fitting carts in pro shops across the country, getting fit for clubs is within reach for golfers of any handicap and nearly any budget. Equipment companies send fitters to courses, too. I recently went through a fitting with Titleist for the new TSR driver and fairway woods, and I learned a lot about my swing in the process – mainly that it’s super inconsistent. The fitter certainly earned his $100 that day. Anyway, the point is, a gift card to a clubfitter is something many golfers won’t buy for themselves, but something nearly every golfer can use, whether it be a fitting for woods, irons, wedges, putter, ball, or the entire bag.

 Golf Trip for Summer 2023

Although the pandemic isn’t over, travel has begun to resume. And I had the great good fortune to visit some amazing Midwestern golf destinations in 2022. When people think about taking a golf vacation, they often neglect the Midwest. This is a shame for them because some of the best golf trips in the nation are practically in Midwesterners’ backyard. Here are some of my favorites:

In northern Illinois, two golf destinations really stand out: Eagle Ridge Resort and Spa in Galena, with its three excellent courses, and The Quad Cities of Moline and Rock Island, Illinois, and Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa. In the “QC” as it’s called, you’ll find a collection of outstanding daily fee courses on both sides of the state line, including TPC Deere Run in Silvis, venue of the PGA Tour John Deere Classic, and Fyre Lake, one of the state’s sparkiest hidden gems.

In Indiana, you can play not only two of the best public courses in state, but two of the best in the entire country (according to recent rankings). Combine a trip to Bloomington, where you’ll find Indiana University’s new Pfau Course with a jaunt down to French Lick to play the Dye and Ross Courses at French Lick Resort and Casino. If you’re feeling really spunky, finish off (or start off) with a swing up to Indianapolis to play one or two of the many excellent courses there.

In Wisconsin, there is of course the aforementioned SentryWorld, where $275 green fees allow you to put your wallet away for the rest of the day – all amenities, food, and drink are included in that fee before and during your round. You don’t even have to tip. Just north of Chicago in Lake Geneva, you’ll find Grand Geneva Resort and Spa, which used to be the Playboy Resort back in the day. Now it’s family-friendly, with two outstanding golf courses which, thanks to some redesign, are more player-friendly, too.

In Michigan, perhaps the most golf-rich state in the nation, you can stay in the southern part of “The Mitten” and play all six courses at the family-owned Gull Lake View Resort in Augusta. Or you can venture a bit farther north to the middle-Mitten for the golf paradise that is Boyne Highlands Resort in Boyne or the golf oasis of Forest Dunes Resort in Roscommon. If you REALLY want to explore, head to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where you can stay at the Island Resort and Casino and play courses on-site and nearby that will rock your world. (Literally – some of the land up there is very rocky!)

Even some stand-alone courses are getting into the stay-and-play business by building or renovating houses on adjacent property for foursomes or eightsomes to rent for extended visits. Kokopelli Golf Club in Marion, Illinois (far southern tip of the state) is not only in the process of upgrading every aspect of the course, but also every single amenity, including some on-site lodging.

Fuzzy’s Vodka, Cleveland HB Soft Milled Putters, and a putting drill for free!

In 1979 Fuzzy Zoeller, one of golf’s biggest personalities, burst onto the scene with his surprise win at the Masters. Today, his eponymous Fuzzy’s Vodka is made from 100% American corn, five times distilled and ten times filtered, and a portion of each batch is rested in new American oak barrels. The result is crisp, smooth, and incredibly clean. In response to Russia’s war on Ukraine, Fuzzy’s is promoting the American Stallion – same ingredients as a Moscow Mule, but different name and only all-American Fuzzy’s Vodka.

Cleveland Golf’s new HB Soft Milled line of putters provides a premium combination of features and technologies at a reasonable price ($199). HB SOFT Milled starts with each putter shape being cast in molten steel before the face and back are precision milled for performance purposes. Depending on stroke type and alignment preference, there is a new model to fit every stroke. For Slight Arc stroke types, the Golf Pride PRO ONLY Red Star is a tour-preferred pistol shape grip that is designed to help turn the putter over through the putting stroke. For Straight stroke types, the Golf Pride PRO ONLY Green Star has a rounded, oval-back shape for comfortable hand positioning and to help keep the hands quiet through the stroke.

A few strokes in my living room with the HB 11 (a dual-prong, “sabretooth” style) convinced me to put it directly into my bag. How can I be sure? Well, here’s my homemade snow-daze putting drill to work on alignment, speed, and putter path: Place a bottle of Fuzzy’s four feet away, and putt at it. The goal is to hit the round bottle squarely so that the ball bounces straight back. Push or pull even a hair, and it bounces off at an angle. And work on getting the bounce to come back about six inches – that’s ideal holing speed. After you’re done working, have a drink!

So that’s how we end this year’s Holiday Gift Guide – with a toast to you and yours! May you all be gifted health, love, and peace for the coming year…and may every golfer out there get a hole-in-one!

Pfau rhymes with “Wow!” Indiana University’s new home course dazzles

Big-league universities should have big-league golf courses – at least they should if they dream of competing at the top level of college golf. Indiana University in Bloomington is a stalwart of the Big 10 Conference in many sports, but their men’s and women’s golf programs have historically lagged behind many of the conference peers. A handful of IU alums can be found on the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour, but none are currently on the LPGA or Symetra Tours. Perhaps one reason for this is that, prior to 2020, Indiana University’s home course was “tired.”

The clubhouse at The Pfau Course is all new, too.

“The old course was extremely tight and tree lined with not a whole lot of trouble,”says Pete Nelson of Visit Bloomington. “But mainly it was tired – in desperate need of some attention, and upgrades.” So the choice was to “upgrade,” or to dig it up and start all over. IU chose the latter.

The sad state of the former “IU Championship Golf Course” was not due to the land it was on. Southern Indiana has rather magnificent topography for golf, reminiscent in some ways of Northern Michigan, with its mix of hardwoods and grassland, plentiful water, and rolling hills. The property on which The Pfau Course is now located is no exception.

Behind the 2nd green of The Pfau Course is a good vantage point to get a feel for the rolling topography of the course.


Enter Steve Smyers and two-time major winner and Hoosier hero Fuzzy Zoeller. Thanks to generous gifts from alumni, especially the Pfau family, Smyers and Zoeller took the 265 acres that used to house the old IU course, a par-3 course, and the IU cross-country course and completely reimagined, reworked, and resurrected it. In 2020, The Pfau Course at Indiana University opened to rave reviews from college players, visitors, and golf media alike. It has already cracked the Golf Digest list of the “100 Greatest Public Courses,” debuting at #83 in 2022.

What qualifies The Pfau Course as one of the top 100 public courses in America? Smyers has been at the golf course architecture business for over 40 years, so a great deal of his work has been done on relatively flat land. Being of the “natural design” school, Smyers has become a master at tricking players’ eyes and manipulating angles so that power and precision cannot by themselves unlock a low score; strategy and course knowledge are also required. On numerous holes, you think your range finder must be wrong – the target looks so much closer or farther than the laser says. And many of the lines that look appealing are, in fact, not the ones you should take.

Favor the left side on the 460-yard, par-4 4th hole.

As Nelson, a proficient stick and regular at The Pfau, says, “If you’re playing a tournament here and you’re not playing a practice round, you’re in trouble.” In fact, high school and college coaches are generally required to schedule practice rounds for their players before tournaments, or the pace of play would grind to a near halt.

From the tournament tees, The Pfau plays 7,908 yards, with a par of 71 and a rating/slope of 80.2/155. Hoosier Daddy, indeed. Fortunately for mere mortals, there are seven sets of tees, ranging all the way down to 4,648 yards. The zoysia fairways are relatively generous where less-skilled players tend to land their tee shots, but fine ribbons where better players would prefer to be. The bluegrass rough is juicy, and the plentiful fescue beyond the rough is wispy enough to usually find your ball, and wiry enough to grab your hosel. Fairways are often sloped toward woodsy trouble, and the 147 “eyebrow” bunkers – circled with that same fescue – are ingeniously positioned for both strategic and visual effect. Despite the rising and falling landscape, the course is walkable, perfect for college and, maybe someday, professional tournaments.

The 470-yard, par-4 6th hole is probably the hardest on the course, despite what the scorecard says.

Playing The Pfau Course

The Pfau Course honestly has 18 great holes, so choosing a few to highlight is a daunting task that I will shy from in admitted defeat. Instead, I’ll focus on the many brilliant intrinsic traits that make each hole so great.

Trust me — you’d rather be in the bunkers than in their grassy “eyebrows.”

Aside from the flash-faced eyebrow bunkering, fist-time visitors will discern the subtly unique playing characteristics of the zoysia fairways. Zoysia is a firm, dense grass that sort of tees the ball up for you, promoting good contact with your irons. The imaginatively contoured bentgrass greens run around 11 on the Stimp meter, and although still young, they roll smoothly. Many pin positions require you to be on the proper side of the hole, or even short putts become testers.

The 630-yard, par-5 9th hole tests from the blind tee shot to the steep approach. Angles are everything here.

Throughout, the combination of topography and architectural flourishes calls to mind features of a couple of famous courses about 60 minutes away – The Dye Course and The Ross Course at French Lick Resort and Spa. Similarities to The Dye Course include infinity greens and ridge-back fairways that funnel into trouble. Similarities to The Ross Course include elevated greens and some geometrical greens – rectangular, triangular, and square. Nelson pointed out to me that the rectangular green of the 615-yard, par-5 1st hole is just five feet longer than a regulation basketball court. I personally would shorten it by that amount to pay homage to IU’s rich roundball tradition.

If there’s another weakness to the design, it’s the large gaps between yardages from the tees – about 600 yards between each set. The 6,153 yards of the middle tees (still with a slope of 140) prods the egos of many first-timers to jump up to the 6,736 back tees. But these play more like 7,000 yards, according to Nelson, when you take angles and elevation into consideration – a recipe for a lot of 15-handicappers having long days. The solution here is simple, though: rate the course for some combined tees.

This is not where you want to be trying to get up and down for par from on the par-5 13th. But you get a nice view of IU’s new University Hospital.

Wherever you play from, when you get to the 517-yard, par-4 18th, you’ll experience one of the best closers in a golf-rich state. Although it plays downhill, even a big power fade must carry a long way over scrub from the tips. From the middle tees, that same power fade still leaves a demanding uphill approach to a mostly blind putting surface over a sea of fescue dotted with a dozen bunkers. I could have broken 40 on the backside, if not for a deflating double-bogey here.

All that’s lying between you and the perfect approch shot on the par-5 18th is 7 bunkers and all that fescue.

Take a Hoosier Golf Swing

In sum, The Pfau Course, with rates that topped out in 2022 at $95 riding holidays and weekends, is a spectacular playing experience at a spectacular price. If you want to try to score well—and to really appreciate the architectural brilliance—play it more than once. And if you want to dive deeper into the world-class golf that the Hoosier State has to offer, Nelson and his staff have a golf trip for you:

Fly into Louisville, KY, and drive about an hour north to French Lick, IN. Stay at the French Lick Resort and Spa or West Baden Hotel and Spa (same ownership) and play The Dye Course (#19 on Golf Digest’s Top 100 Public list), and The Ross Course (see link above). Enjoy the fine dining and casino at French Lick Resort, and peruse the astounding history of the place. If you want a bonus round, take a 20-minute side-trip to Jasper, IN, to play Sultan’s Run, which also ranks annually on the list of the state’s best courses.

Then drive a little over an hour north to Bloomington to play The Pfau. Stay over in one of the many affordable hotels in Downtown Bloomington (which are extremely reasonable if there is not an event in town)—Spring Hill Suites and Graduate Bloomington are both highly recommended. Walk around the charming Fountain Square area and enjoy a meal at the upscale Uptown Café (literally the classiest upscale “café” you’ve ever seen) or grab a brew and a delectable smoked pork chop at Upland Brewing Co.—all within walking distance.

Downtown Bloomington is both historic and hip.

If you want another bonus round, drive about 25 minutes to The Golf Club at Eagle Pointe, a 1970s-era golf-community design with some quirky, memorable, remarkably fun holes. The 207-yard, par-3 10th hole is worth the visit alone, with its uphill tee shot over a multi-tiered waterfall.

The par-3 10th hole at Eagle Pointe is worth the price of admission all by itself.

From Bloomington, head about another 90 minutes north to Indianapolis, and choose from famous tracks like Brickyard Crossing – the Pete Dye track with four holes inside the track of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway – The Fort, Purgatory, and The Trophy Club. Seriously, Indianapolis might offer the best selection, quality, and affordability of golf of any urban area in America.

Then fly back out of the Indianapolis International Airport. Of course, you can fly into Indy and out of Louisville, too. Either direction, it’s win-win-win-win-win… Well, you get the idea.

Golf in the Midnight Sun at Iceland’s Brautarholt Golf Course

The clubhouse at Brautarholt Golf Course outside of Reykjavik, 2 a.m. on the Summer Solstice

It was 9:30 p.m., June 21—Summer Solstice, 2019—when Gunnar Pálsson picked me up at Hotel Frón in Reykjavik. Soon joining us in the Brautarholt Golf Course shuttle were four test pilots from Phoenix and a couple from outside Toronto. We were all heading to the course to play a round of golf under Iceland’s never-setting Midnight Sun.

“This is a bucket list experience,” said the woman from Ontario. “I’ve been planning this since October last year.”

“We decided to do it last night,” said one of the test pilots, clearly more comfortable flying by the seat of their pants, as it were.

If you’ve never thought about golf in Iceland, you wouldn’t be alone. You also wouldn’t be from Iceland. In fact, there are some 65 golf courses in Iceland, according to Gunnar, including the Golf Club of Reykjavik, which has over 3,000 members, making it one of the largest golf clubs in Europe.

“But what sort of season do you have here?” I ask Gunnar, exposing the depths of my ignorance about golf in Iceland.

“At Brautarholt, because we are on the coast, we usually open on the first of May and close at the end of October,” he says to my obvious surprise. That season’s not so different from some of the fabulous courses in northern sates like Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Michigan.

When the shuttle pulls into the gravel Brautarholt car park, we see what Gunnar means by “on the coast”: the North Atlantic is literally a driver and a mid-iron from the first tee (driver, 7-iron to be exact – trust me, I know, though I wasn’t trying).

Brautarholt Golf Course opened its first 9 holes in 2012, with three more opening last year. “We have 12 holes so far,” explained Gunnar in the shuttle, “with plans for 18 and land for 36.”

Out on the course, Gunnar provided a bit more history: “Before the financial crash in 2008, my brother-in-law was bought out of two businesses. Then the crash came and prices fell. He said, ‘When are we ever going to be able to build a golf course this cheaply again?’ So we began building the course.”

The former hay fields, most of which had been in the family for 100 years, occupy stunning headland – with the look, feel, sound, and soil of true linksland – along the shore about a 30-minute drive west of Reykjavik. The clubhouse is modest but modern and sleek, with large windows looking out toward the sea and onto the rocky outcroppings that define many of the holes. The air inside the cozy space is redolent with the aroma of homemade soup, simmering in a pot for golfers making the turn or ending their round. A delicious bowl of soup with some crusty bread seated in the clubhouse seems far more civilized than scarfing down a hotdog in the golf cart as you race to the 10th tee. But I digress.

First tee, Brautarholt Golf Course, 10 p.m. — An impish par 5, elves or no elves.

10:00 p.m. seems like a reasonable time to tee off when the sun is still high in the southwestern sky – in fact, from the elevated westward-facing first tee, the solstice sun is fairly blinding. Although not yet complete, Brautarholt has already been nominated to the Top-100 in the World list by Golfscape website, and 40th among Scandinavian courses by Golf Digest. All comments I’ve read about it online say, “Bring a lot of balls!” and I have brought a new dozen with me; there will be only two survivors.

From the back tees, the 2012 Edvinn Roald and Michael Kelly design plays 2,674 yards for 9 holes, 5,348 for 18, and 3,424 for 12, to a par 70. The total yardage, at present, doesn’t seem overwhelming, but between the ocean winds and heavy maritime air, cool temperatures, copious expanses of knee-high fescue, and wildly shaped greens that often drop off into the sea, there is plenty of challenge here. This is all especially true for all first-time international visitors; it’d take a good half-dozen rounds to figure out the optimal angles and landing areas, not to mention the club selections.

That final task, club selection, is especially tricky if you’re using one of the many sets of rental clubs at Brautarholt, all of which were top quality (Callaway, PING, TaylorMade, etc.). Still, you’re never quite sure how far strange clubs will go, and distances are tough to judge against backdrops of water and mountains.

The 437-yard par-5 1st hole is a perfect example. The hole plays from an elevated tee down to a fairway the angles to the left, with the ocean on the right and a marshy pond on the left and cross-bunkers just beyond the pond. Now, the ocean on the right is out of play, but it’s hard to judge this, and my tee shot ended up too far left, catching the pond. The second shot is to a blind green up above the fairway, with a rock outcropping on the left and a cliff on the right. After playing it once, you realize to favor the left – a lot – because everything funnels left to right once you get up to the green, and if you aim left but push it, you might miss the ocean.

First green, from the cliffside above, on the way up to the 2nd Hole

From the first green it’s quite a hike further up the cliff to the tee of the 125-yard 2nd. But players are rewarded generously upon arrival. From the elevated tee on a clear day (or clear middle of the night, during summer solstice), you can see off in the distance the dormant volcano Snæfellsjökull, which appeared in the Jules Verne novel “Journey to the Center of the Earth” as the passage into the center of the earth.

The green at the 125-yard 2nd Hole features a prominent hump in its middle, and a severe drop-off behind

After you’ve been sufficiently impressed by the view, you tee off with a wedge to a green in whose middle lies a rather imposing hump. “There was a huge boulder there. Michael Kelly decided to leave it. He’s a proponent of laying the golf course on the land and using the natural hazards.” If your tee shot finds the opposite side of the pin location, traversing the turfed-over boulder makes a three-putt a distinct possibility. If the pin is in the back, and you go long, you might find your ball in shin-high fescue. (It’ll be there, but you might not find it.)

The 223-yard, par-3 5th is a left-to-right cape hole that dares you to challenge a small bay and rocky beach with your tee shot—a challenge almost worthy of its own Icelandic saga. The prevailing wind balloons shots, and the green is partially encircled by rocky shoreline. I happened to land on the beach, from which I knocked a recovery sand wedge to 12 feet and sunk the putt for one of my favorite all-time scrambling pars.

The green of the 223-yard, par-3 5th Hole at Brautarholt Golf Course delivers a gorgeous, rocky view of Reykjavik across the bay.

The 359-yard 7th is brutal. It plays back up away form the ocean to a snaking sliver of fairway that angles awkwardly away from the tees. On either side lurks water and knee-high grass. To top everything off, there’s a ditch bifurcating the fairway pretty much exactly where you hope to land your drive. Things don’t get any easier on the green, which is sloped severely uphill, and if you don’t get your ball back to the top level, it’ll come back to your feet.

“Michael Kelly believes every green should be special,” says Gunnar with classic Icelandic stoicism as we both wait to see of our balls are actually going to stay up on the green.

The 491-yard par-5 9th plays from an elevated tee down to a fairway that is only partially visible from the longer tees. Favor the right side here, as the fairway cants to the left toward high grass and a stream. There is a pot bunker in the middle of the fairway, though, where even well-positioned drives can find themselves. Approaches to the green must carry a deep swale fronting the putting surface.

The tee shot on the par-5 closer must navigate fescue right, more fescue and water left, and a pot bunker in the middle. Aim right side of the fairway off the elevated tees and hope for a favorable bounce.

The 9th green is a memorable finish, if you decide not to play 12 or 18.

Behind the tee of the 262-yard par-4 11th, you can see in the distance the location of the first Christian church in Iceland (there’s still a church on the spot, but the original, and several replacements, have long since burned down). Then off to the right a way, if you know where to look, you can see an old house on the former site of a temple to Thor. There were, according to Gunnar, epic battles between the keepers of these two houses of worship around, which served as the basis for one of the Icelandic sagas.

“This is elf land, according to folk history,” says Gunnar, as I realize how many balls I’ve lost in just 12 holes. “Perhaps elves took some of them?” Gunnar wants to put up a sign that tells golfers to behave or the elves will get them. It used to work on Icelandic children to keep them away from dangerous places. And who knows, supposedly you can meet elves at midnight on the summer and winter solstices.

10th green at Brautarholt, about 12:45 a.m. The sun is behind that mountain, but visibility is still just fine on the solstice.

I saw no elves, but experienced perhaps the pinnacle of unique golf experiences at Brautarholt Golf Course this solstice. We concluded our round (and I played a couple more holes because I didn’t want to leave) close to 2:00 a.m., and even though the sun was low behind a distant mountain, there was plenty of light. The word “magical” came to mind again and again. Indeed, if the entire cast of “Game of Thrones” showed up in full costume to play Brautarholt, they would fit right in.

I took another crack at the 1st hole, but still bogeyed. On the plus side, I captured this nice view of the flag and sea at 2:00 a.m.

Midnight golf packages at Brautarholt run about $200 total, including rental clubs and transportation to and from any hotel in Reykjavik. Even if you’re not lucky enough to be in Iceland during summer solstice, any trip to Iceland between May and November should include a round of golf here. The views of the sea, of Reykjavik itself across the bay, and the surrounding mountains are imminently memorable. 12-hole fees are around $70, 18-holes run about $85. Both pull carts and golf cars, along with rental clubs, are available.

“I can check ‘midnight golf in Iceland’ off my bucket list,” says the woman from Ontario as we load into the van to head back into town. “This was perfect.”

Magically perfect? Perfectly magical? Either one works just fine, for us and the elves.

Author selfie, 2:00 a.m., 9th green, Brautarholt Golf Club, Summer Solstice 2019

If you find yourself in Iceland during the summer and want to do something besides play golf, I recommend Happy Tours for some excellent cod fishing (which they cook up on the boat for you–delicious!).