Last Saturday was the first real weekend of spring 2010. It was a rugged April for golfers throughout Northern California. At one time or another, I was out on a golf course during the month of April experiencing snow flurries, sideways rain and hailstones. With all the rain we had during the month, the only positive golf thought I had was that the greens were holding.
Yet suddenly it was May 1 and hope for good golfing weather reigned supreme. I got into my car, made a brief pit stop in Davis to pick up my son Nick, and I steered my vehicle toward Haggin Oaks Golf Course in Sacramento. Haggin Oaks is nothing short of a golfing factory with two 18-hole golf courses, one of which was designed by Alister Mackenzie, a two-sided, 300-yard driving range with lights, a really good restaurant and grill, and the biggest pro shop I”ve ever seen along with a secondary pro shop that just sells golf shoes. It is safe to say that Haggin Oaks is the hub of golfing activity in Sacramento, and while the place is venerable and historic, it is also very cutting edge and technologically savvy.
The main reason Nick and I went to Haggin Oaks was to partake in the 2010 Haggin Oaks Golf Expo, which is advertised as “America”s Biggest Demo Days.” I have to believe the hype of the biggest demo days because I have been to may fair share of golf trade shows at places such as the Alameda Fairgrounds and the Cow Palace, and yet I have never see the large amount and vast array of vendors that one sees at the Haggin Oaks Golf Expo.
All of golf”s big boys were there, including Titleist, Ping, Adams Bridgestone, Cleveland, Taylor Made, Nike, Mizuno, Powerbilt and others. Most of the leading golf manufactures showed up with their tour vans. All of the latest models were on display, their launch monitors were hooked up, and you could hit the newest offerings of woods and irons that the big names had to offer. If you weren”t sure about what kind of clubs best suit your game, you could certainly get a valid answer from the 10 or so tour-style fitting vans that were in use.
Ben Hogan always contended that golf was two games rolled into one, mainly ball striking and putting. Of course, he said this as he got older and his putting went south. There were a lot of putters on display at Haggin Oaks and while we all know about the Titleist Scotty Cameron and the Odyssey Two Ball, there is all kinds of stuff out there that you don”t necessarily see in the hands of your favorite PGA Tour professional.
A number of the putting companies were given prime spots alongside the practice putting green. Manufacturers of a minor note included Slotline, Clean Putts, Hippo Golf, Heavy Putter (yes, they are really heavy), and Nickel Putters. Looking at all the putting exhibits reminded me of a time some 50 years ago when Karsten Solheim would lay out all his new Ping putters alongside his station wagon in golf course parking lots.
It”s a tough world out there for golf courses as they try to stay afloat in tough economic times. It seemed as if there were more courses than usual at Haggin Oaks, obviously taking an aggressive marketing approach to attract more play. Vendors included Bodega Harbour, Catta Verdera (12 Bridges), Greenhorn Creek, Half Moon Bay, Wildhorse, Morgan Creek, Plumas Pines, Presidio, Quail Lodge (Carmel Valley CC), Rancho Murieta, Cameron Park CC, Saddle Creek, Wild Wings, Running Y, Sierra Pines, Sevillano Links, Timber Creek, Yoch De He, the Ridge, and others. It was interesting that a course such as Cameron Park, which is exclusively private, would be at a trade show trying to hustle up private country club memberships.
Of course, outside of clubs, bags, balls and golf courses there are a whole lot of extra accoutrements that go along with the game. There was Oakley eyewear to be tried out. There were Bushnell rangefinders to be viewed. There were GPS companies such as SkyCaddie, golfing training aids from SKLZ golf, artificial turf and putting greens from Forever Lawns West, and Fields of Green, and shaft manufactures from Aldila and Matrix. In fact, Nick picked up an Aldila bumper sticker for Tyler Drake, the No. 1 Kelseyville High School golfer who uses graphite shafts, that states, “Thou Shalt Not Steel.” There were Golf Pride and Winn grips to be checked out, you could sign up for Nationwide Insurance, get checked out at the Physicians Skin and Weight Center, look though lenses at Tifosi Optics, and get adjusted by First Chiropractic.
You could also order “Tail of the Tiger” golf balls. Their Mistress Collection features caricatures of 12 of Tiger Woods” girlfriends. They advertise it as “He likes to play around with them ? now you can too.” I duly noted that they thought it would make a great Father”s Day present. Lucky for me, my 88-year-old father doesn”t play golf.
Of course, all good things don”t necessarily have to come to an end, so after spending some three hours looking at Tru Turf, Golf & Guitars, and Scala Headware, Nick and I showed up on the first tee of the Mackenzie Course to play a slow 18 holes of golf. Nick had never played Haggin Oaks and although I have played there some 200 times, I had not been at the course since it was redone and rerouted in 2002. We were paired with a twosome of good old boys who were Sacramento residents and had played their first round of golf at Haggin Oaks some 30 years ago. They were still course regulars.
The improvements to the Mackenzie Course were well worth the $35 it cost each of us to play that Saturday afternoon. The rerouting meant that I was playing nine new holes and nine old holes. The 11th hole is no longer a 400-yard dogleg right par-4 and instead it is a 630-yard beast of a par-5 that plays into the wind. There were a couple of new par-3s that never existed before, namely the third and the 12th, and yet the outstanding five finishing holes remain intact.
Nonetheless it was the same old Haggin Oaks with novice golfers hitting three or four mulligans off the tee and the golf course marshal nearby looking for golf balls in the lake while three groups were backed up on the back-nine 12th tee. All in all, it was a good day on the links, and as for me, my new Monster putter by Parente decided it was as good a time as any to make some short putts.
