Saturday, Nov. 07, 2009

Inventive golf gear helps bad knees, turf crews

A couple of area golf course employees hope their innovations find mass appeal in the golf market.

An invention by Joe Corsetti is already paying dividends at the Members Club at Grande Dunes, where he's a turf equipment technician, and Blackmoor Golf Club assistant Chip Bell wants to get his creation into the hands of more people it can assist.

Bell is looking to produce an invention that will help golfers with back and knee problems. He'd like to find a company that manufactures golf accessories to partner with him.

The device is called the Abili-Tee and is designed to allow players to tee up the ball without bending over. Bell has built a crude prototype using a light 2-inch-wide PVC pipe and some plastic parts and has used it to hit balls.

"I'd be happy to have a partner that had the time and the resources, which I don't, to produce and market it," Bell said.

The device has two flat, thin foot-long plastic bars attached at the center and hinged like scissors. The top piece has rubber tips at each end that act as tees. For his prototype, Bell used the rubber tip of a chair leg for a short tee and a larger rubber end of a shower curtain tension rod for a taller tee. The ball can be rolled down the inside of a PVC pipe to the tees, and the pipe has a stake at the bottom to keep it upright while the player makes a stroke. The top plastic bar spins to avoid resistance at and after contact.

The entire device can be picked up without bending over and can hang on the golf bag.

"My father has worse knees than I do and he was on the range one day and said, 'Could you please make something so we don't have to bend over to tee the ball up?'" said Bell, who seldom plays because of bad knees. "So I started thinking about it."

Bell doesn't believe the United States Golf Association will approve the device because the scissors can be used for alignment, but he designed it for players with bad backs or knees, not top amateurs or pros.

He said he was told by a patent attorney that the device can't be patented because although the combination of pieces is unique, all the elements on it are already patented. Bell said he spent about $12 on parts from a hardware store - though thousands more in the patent process - and he can put one together in about an hour.

By combining the Abili-Tee with the Double Duty divot repair putter, a creation by Walt Graves of Little River that has gained USGA approval, and a golf-ball-sized suction cup atop the shaft of a putter, a golfer could presumably play a round without ever bending over.

Corsetti's invention is saving time and money at Grande Dunes during the green aeration process, with a patent pending.

Corsetti created a tow bar that allows the 1,300-pound aerator to be driven to each green by a utility vehicle such as a John Deere Gator. Prior to the invention, club employees had to walk the heavy aerator from green to green or load it onto a trailer and drive from green to green. That's how it's done at courses across the country.

Corsetti spent less than four hours and $65 on materials while crafting his tow bar, which was recognized in Golf Course Industry magazine. The New York native credits his background in mechanics for helping him come up with the idea.

"I spent my entire career in mechanical-type occupations and the tow bar concept came from that background," he said. "I worked on NASCAR pit crews and also towed heavy vehicles from 18-wheel trucks to airplanes for 40 years. In those jobs, you quickly realize that you have to work smarter, not necessarily harder, to get the job done."

Members Club superintendent Scott Grumman said the club has used two that Corsetti created and is in the process of making two more for the Grande Dunes Resort Course, which will likely be aerated again in the coming weeks. A super from the Midwest called Corsetti to get the dimensions of the tow bar.

"They work good, they save a lot of time and they're efficient, so we're still using them," Grumman said. "And they're not very expensive to make. It seems like any kind of invention like that, somebody comes up with something nobody has really thought about."

Police in full force

The 10th annual National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Golf Classic, with 900 golfers from 35 states, Canada and Bermuda, will be Tuesday through Thursday on 10 Myrtle Beach courses.

The stroke-play tournament has three divisions: an individual competition for Law Enforcement Officers, an individual competition for Friends of officers, and a team event for foursomes with at least one member of a law enforcement agency. More than $350,000 in golf equipment and plaques will be awarded as prizes.

The event was started in 1999 by retired New York police officer Dan Morphet of Myrtle Beach. For more information, call 1-877-465-3467 or visit Nleomgc.com.

Champions facing off

The sixth annual Brunswick Beacon Tournament of Champions will be next Saturday and Sunday at the Members Club at St. James Plantation. The public is invited, and tee times begin at 9 a.m. both days.

The TOC is open by invitation to the Men's and Women's Champions of Brunswick County Golf Club which have a formal membership. The champion must have won in a gross competition in either match or medal play. Fourteen clubs have held club championships in time to have their winners participate.

The event was created in 2004 and held at Ocean Ridge Plantation from 2004-06, and at Sea Trail Plantation in 2007-08. Only Mona Dye of Brierwood Golf Club has managed to win two TOC titles, and she is participating again this year as the defending women's champ.

Competitors can play a practice round this week, and a pairings party will be held Friday night.

Hampton, friends in town

Former Chicago Bear All-Pro Dan Hampton, 25-year Chicago sports radio host Dan McNeil and the winners of an online contest are playing Barefoot Resort this weekend.

McNeil hosted his Chicago sports radio talk show from the Barefoot Resort Clubhouse Friday morning while Hampton, Don Arndt of Franklin Park, Ill., and Jim O'Keefe of Hoffman Estates, Ill., played the Fazio Course.

Arndt and O'Keefe were each allowed to invite two friends for a four-day, three-night golf trip to Myrtle Beach by winning a contest promoting Spirit Air direct flights between Chicago and Myrtle Beach.

O'Keefe and his two friends are teaming with Hampton on the Northside team to battle Arndt, his friends and McNeil on the Southside team in the Chicago Cup Team Challenge.

Boyd back in states

Bob Boyd of Wilmington, N.C., opted to give the Champions Tour a shot, but was unsuccessful.

The top 10 players at his regional qualifying site in Houston through Friday advanced to the finals at the TPC in Scottsdale, Ariz., in mid-November, but Boyd tied for 19th among 43 players with a 75-72-72-73-292.

It was a big step for the Carolinas PGA Section Hall of Famer who is one of the most prolific players in CPGA history. Boyd was initially diagnosed with leukemia in February 2006 and had a second bout with cancer beginning in May 2007. His blood work shows he's been clear of the disease for about the past two years.

Boyd won a European Senior event in Spain as a rookie in 2005, left the tour in 2006 because of the cancer and returned in 2008. He has finished in the top 22 in each of his past three European Senior Tour starts in London at the Travis Perkins Senior Masters, Czech Republic at the Casa Serena Open and Marbella, Spain at the Benahavis Senior Masters.

He opted for the Champions Tour Q-School despite being eligible for the $595,000 European Senior Tour Championship being played this weekend in Castellon, Spain. Boyd is 15th on the 2009 Order of Merit with 88,321 euros (approximately $131,000).

To view Blondin's blog "Green Reading," or Q&A forum "Ask Al," go to TheSunNews.com.