Many of us don’t think about cleaning out the washing machine. I mean, it’s supposed to clean our clothes, so how dirty can it get? Yet, mildew, bacteria, soap scum, and other yucky things build up in a washing machine over time. In this tutorial I’m going to explain how to clean a washing machine...
Continue Reading...How to Deep Clean a Washing Machine (Naturally)
Click here to read Super Simple Valentine’s Day Cards Any Kid Can Make on Hands On As We Grow
This Valentine’s Day activity for kids from Hands On As We Grow contributor Rachel is so easy and fun, kids of any age can do it!
Even the youngest or least crafty kids will be smiling making these simple Valentine’s Day cards. They make sweet keepsakes for family and friends.
Making Valentine’s Day cards is also a great way to teach your kids about thoughtfulness.
What makes these cards unique – and so simple! – is that instead of making individual cards, they decorated full sheets of paper that I cut into cards.
My older two girls can get very hung up on making the perfect card, but this was so much easier!
This method of card-making is easily adaptable to any holiday or occasion.
My kids LOVE making cards. It makes them so happy to create something beautiful to share with the people they love.
Mama likes it because it saves a ton of money on greeting cards!
I love the flexibility of this activity. You can use practically any supplies you’ve got on hand, or grab one or two special items to pump up the love theme.
They decorated their papers however they wanted. I did tell them not to write anything or draw pictures because I would be cutting the paper.
It was so interesting to see the different ways they approached these simple Valentine’s Day cards!
When they finished, I cut each paper into two or three pieces (if you have an older child, this is a great opportunity for cutting practice). Then it was time to sign their cards!
Izzie was excited to practice writing on her cards, then she helped her sister with spelling.
I traced my youngest’s hand on one side, then drew a heart and wrote her name on the other side.
I know some grandparents that are going to be very excited to get these cards in the mail!
Here are some other fun ways for little ones to learn their names!
Last week's PGA Show had little to offer in the way of fresh and compelling new ideas. That said, one could argue if any OEM produced a discernable vibe layered with newfound optimism and dare I suggest, excitement, it was Tour Edge.
It's not often an OEM focuses marketing efforts on a second-tier product, but that's exactly the approach Tour Edge is taking for 2018 with its Hot Launch 3 line of equipment.
The proposition is simple, the price affordable and yet it's a space in which few, if any, other OEMs are willing to play.
Tour Edge defines this niche as a place where consumers can access custom fit, game-improvement targeted equipment, built on the foundation of advanced technologies at uber-budget friendly price points. On top of that, Tour Edge guarantees an Amazon Prime fast 48-hour delivery on all custom clubs.
The third release in this line is the HL3 hybrid, which retails for $119.99. The tech story isn't dissimilar from what we often hear from higher-priced competitors and is no doubt what gives Executive Vice President John Craig confidence to assert "With HL3, you can get the best of both worlds; leading edge performance and a retail price that won't break the bank."
The face is crafted from 450 Carpenter Steel and incorporates VFT (Variable Face Thickness) to promote more ball speed retention on off-center strikes. The Power Channel serves as Tour Edge's "slot technology" giving the face more flex to increase initial ball velocity.
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Ranging from 48 grams to 60 grams and available in four flexes (L, A, R, and S), the stock shaft is produced by UST Mamiya exclusively for the Hot Launch 3 line. Exclusive Design in shaft parlance almost always translates as made for, and while these shafts are often less expensive to manufacturer (and tend to be higher launching/spinning as well) than after-market equivalents, let’s not forget the target audience for Hot Launch.
Hot Launch, as a line, is a "MOM" (Meat of the Market) release and my hunch is Tour Edge's balance sheet would reflect the reality that there are far more golfers out there looking for high value-low(er) cost products than gearheads and equipment junkies might readily admit.
It’s the opposite of the PXG Effect, and thus far, it’s a market space that’s proving to be a sweet spot for Tour Edge
The Hot Launch 3 hybrid retails for $119.99 and is positioned to replace 3-6 irons (lofts of 19°, 22°, 25°, 28°) and is offered in both right and left-handed models.
Tour Edge will be a full participant in this year's Most Wanted testing and in an environment where performance speaks for itself, it will be interesting to see what Hot Launch 3 has to say.
For more information, visit TourEdge.com.
Is olive oil healthy? It is considered a highly nutritious and healthy oil due to its high levels of monounsaturated fatty acids and vitamins A and K (unlike oils like canola, soybean, and vegetable oil, which are problematic). It also contains high levels of certain antioxidants. The Many Benefits of Olive Oil This staple of the...
Continue Reading...Olive Oil Benefits (& How to Choose One that Isn’t Fake!)
TaylorMade is on a bit of a roll with its golf balls. While Titleist remains, by far, the most dominant ball in golf, TP5 is the real deal, and that’s given the company and its balls some real tour momentum. Twist Face drivers may be getting all the attention right now, but TaylorMade staffers are winning, and they’re doing it with TaylorMade balls in the bag.
That’s the happy bit of the story, but TaylorMade understands the reality that $50/dozen tour balls will likely never be the biggest seller for any ball company not named Titleist. TP5 might not reach elite golfers the same way a Pro V1 does, but for average golfers, there’s some serious appeal to a tour-quality ball at a significantly lower price. The success of Vice and Snell among others suggests that's the way the market is trending, so it’s worth mentioning that TaylorMade started down that path way back in 2014.
The Project (a) (why the brackets?) is a three-piece golf ball with a cast urethane cover, just like the Pro V1. Until the TP5 launched, Project (a) was TaylorMade’s most successful golf ball model, despite flying mostly under the radar. The Project (a) could hold its own against anything at a similar price point, and you can bet TaylorMade believes its new (a) can more than do the same against anything sub-$40. And yeah, that includes Titleist’s new non-urethane covered Tour Soft.
So what has changed between Project (a) iterations?
I’ll give you one guess.
Yup, distance.
Consumer feedback showed that only 7% of Project (a) consumers chose the ball because of distance. Short off the tee? Not dramatically so, but as you’d expect, TaylorMade has worked hard on increasing driver distance without sacrificing Project (a)’s soft feel. Yes, that’s right, TaylorMade makes a soft ball too.
TaylorMade claims the new Project (a) is producing upwards of 10 more yards off the tee compared to the previous version.
How is that possible?
First up are the dimples. There’s always a dimple story. The new (a) leverages the seamless 322 dimple pattern from the TP5 and TP5x. That gets you less drag so, all things being equal, the ball travels farther through the air.
Second, there’s a new Dual-Distance core. An extra large inner core helps reduce spin, while the firmer outer core helps retain speed. For good measure, a thin urethane cover helps provide soft feel and better bite for more greenside spin.
Is Project (a) a tour ball for the masses then? That’s been the message since 2014, and frankly, it’s a ball that probably hasn’t received all the attention it deserves – and that was before TP5, which TaylorMade believes will prove to be a better performing ball for just about anyone.
Project (a) was originally marketed as a tour-quality ball for slow to moderate swing amateurs, but its position has shifted a bit to target the feel driven and now distance driven golfer. Our hunch is that for some within that group, it’s still a better ball than the TP series, while remaining a bit of a sleeper for soft feel at a price crowd.
Bottom line, it’s a good ball worth another look.
Available in White and Yellow. Retail price is $39.99
Also announced is the new Project (s), a 3-piece Ionomer cover ball designed for slower swing speeds. Compression is lower than that of Project (a), and according to TaylorMade, offers the softest cover in its category.
Softer, longer, and less than $25 a dozen. That’s your headline.
Available in White, Yellow, and Matte Orange. Retail Price is $24.99
Tuna is a quick, easy protein choice that tastes great in a variety of dishes. My family enjoys it in recipes like this apple walnut tuna salad. This gluten-free tuna casserole recipe is another way to enjoy tuna as a healthier twist on the popular classic. Which Tuna Is Best? There are a few things...
Continue Reading...Cheesy Tuna Casserole Recipe (Kid Friendly & Gluten Free)
Over the weekend, Callaway’s Senior VP of Marketing (and also President of OGIO), Harry Arnett lobbed a Twitter grenade at Titleist, which for the sake of context, still lays legitimate claim to being the #1 Ball in Golf™.
At least that particular Trademark reflects reality.
Harry’s tweet, which will almost certainly go down as the opening salvo in a protracted ball war, was in response to an ad Titleist ran during the Farmers Open.
Here’s the tweet
Hi,@Titleist.How're things? Love whole "trust" thing you got going.Speaking of,just saw ur new piece comparing ur new 2-piece surlyn ball to our urethane ball.Pretty misleading & untrustworthy comparing 2piece surlyn to urethane. Why not Show ProV1 vs Chrome Soft?Oh,I know why.
— Harry Arnett (@HarryArnettCG) January 27, 2018
Make sure to check out the stream of replies. You’ll find a mixed bag of Titleist and Callaway loyalists defending their brands. Even Callaway Staffer, Daniel Berger, weighed-in in defense of Chrome Soft.
The specific point of contention is a couple of charts favorably comparing Titleist’s new Tour Soft golf ball to Callaway’s Chrome Soft, Bridgestone’s Tour B RXS, and TaylorMade’s TP5.
We mentioned that comparison in our recent story on the Tour Soft while pointing out that positioning the performance of a 2-piece Ionomer (at least mostly ionomer) covered ball alongside 3, 4, and 5-piece urethane balls is a bold move.
Arnett’s take is that the ad is misleading and untrustworthy; words almost certainly chosen to undermine Titleist’s message of trust. I don’t want to put words in Harry’s mouth, but given just two letters, I think he’d go so far as to call it BS.
To its credit, Titleist lays out the basis for its claim with more detailed fine print than you’ll find in most golf ads.
In case you missed it in the video, that fine print reads:
“Driver distance results from machine testing setup condition of 140 mph ball speed, 12 degree launch angle, spin rate 2900 rpm: Titleist Tour Soft golf balls are 5 yards longer than Callaway Chrome Soft, 4 yards longer than TaylorMade TP5 and 2 yards longer than Bridgestone Tour B RXS. Tour Soft is 14 compression units softer than Chrome Soft, 15 units softer than TP5 and 12 units softer than Tour B RXS.”
By those numbers, I suppose you can make a case that Tour S is better. Certainly, the lack of a greenside spin comparison, particularly when urethane balls are part of the discussion, is a red flag, but in previous communication, Titleist has been clear about its belief that Tour Soft can hold its own around the green with those other balls.
The issue…at least Harry’s issue is that Titleist is comparing apples (urethane tour balls) and oranges (less than tour balls).
And that raises an interesting question: Fundamentally, is it reasonable, fair, honest, trustworthy, etc. to compare a 2-piece, ionomer ball to 3+ layer, urethane Tour balls? It’s a question for which the answer is more opinion than fact, but I’m certain that if MyGolfSpy made a similar comparison in a ball test, we’d get blasted – and my opinion is that we’d deserve it.
That said, I’m not entirely sure that Titleist crossed the line here. Should we make comparisons based on performance, based on layers and materials, or both? Again, answers are matters of opinion, not fact, but it’s not a comparison I’d allow to be made on MyGolfSpy unless our stated intent was to compare two unlike things.
The other side of this – likely the Titleist side - is that there is a segment of golfers who don’t much concern themselves with layer counts and cover materials. If distance and feel are the metrics that matter, then maybe it is a reasonable comparison. Materials and layers may not compare, but performance – according to Titleist - does. There are inarguably golfers who want a ball that’s long and soft, and probably cheap too. If Tour Soft is that ball, the rest maybe doesn’t matter.
Ionomer vs. Urethane – meh
2-piece vs. 3+ - also meh
Long, soft, cheap, and spinny-enough around the greens.
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The validity of the comparison ultimately boils down to the audience. For my audience and as I’ve said, I don’t like it, and given Titleist’s positioning as a brand for serious golfers, it is, perhaps, a dubious comparison as well. My concession here is that every brand has to reach less-than-serious golfers if it hopes to succeed. Tour Soft is one avenue for Titleist to do just that.
There may also be a strategic element in this. It’s possible that Titleist is hoping to create an equivalency between its non-tour ball and its competitors’ higher-priced tour offerings with the hope that it can then market AVX as the tour-level alternative to what it has previously positioned as lesser balls.
Followers of Harry Arnett know that he sometimes comes across as a reckless hothead; a twitter bull in the internet's china shop. He’s been known to mix it up with competitors, followers, and most definitely MyGolfSpy staffers. I believe that Harry often shoots genuinely from the hip, but I think this one was planned. Perhaps not letter for letter or word for word, but sooner or later Harry was going to fire a shot and when an opportunity presented itself…Harry did Harry things.
There's a case to be made he outdid himself. A conversation is being had. A timeline may have been accelerated.
There was plenty of chatter at the recent PGA Show that Callaway was going to try and make a move in the ball market, and so here you go. Callaway has cemented itself as a clear number 2 in the ball category. With Chrome Soft it has an established franchise that resonates with a segment of golfers, and it has plenty of that oft-referenced momentum that CEO's love to talk about.
The timing is right.
As Callaway moves forward, Titleist is taking fire from all sides. Direct to consumer (both white box and balls with actual R&D behind them) are cutting into the bottom line. It’s locked up in litigation with Costco, and Chrome Soft has almost certainly forced it to play a bit of defense and design with soft in mind.
With AVX lying in wait, Titleist hopes Tour Soft can begin the process of taking back some of what it lost to Callaway, but with all the talk of Graphene infusion, Callaway certainly has the better story (your performance mileage may vary) going into 2018.
While I’m sure there are firm opinions on both sides, what remains to be seen is whether Chrome Soft can thrive with a $5 price hike. If consumers are devoted to Chrome Soft because of the way it performs, then expect the momentum to continue. If, however, consumers love Chrome Soft because it’s soft and cheap, then Titleist has a real opportunity to do some damage with its softer and cheaper Tour Soft.
Not that you asked, but I’m 50/50 on this one. Chrome Soft continues to evolve into a better golf ball, but with each iteration, it gets a little firmer, and now a little more expensive, and with that, a little more removed from what first attracted the consumer to the ball. That could prove to be problematic for Callaway. It could also prove to be nothing at all. Like I said, 50/50.
Whatever you think of Harry’s tweet and the resulting discussion, I can assure you this is just the beginning as Callaway looks to make a serious push towards unseating Titleist as the #1 Ball in Golf (at least at the consumer level). If it happens at all (HUGE IF) It won’t happen overnight, it won’t happen this year, and probably not next year either. Make no mistake, though; this is most definitely the beginning of a serious ball war that, if Harry Arnett’s first tweet is any indication, will be loads of fun to watch.
MyGolfSpy reached out to both Harry Arnett and Titleist. Both declined further comment.
I love remedies that have many uses (like emu oil), and cannabidiol oil (or CBD oil) is gaining popularity for this reason. CBD oil — an oil extracted from the hemp plant — has come under a lot of legal and moral questions. Opinions may differ but what can’t be ignored is the incredible healing...
Continue Reading...11 Benefits of CBD (Cannabidiol) & Why It’s Not What You Think
Lost in the flurry of PGA Show releases, and perhaps even FootJoy’s own classically stylish throwback 1857 Collection was the release of the Tour S Golf shoe.
You may recall that a couple of years ago FootJoy tried to make a run at shoe fitting based on the idea that, in addition to finding the right size (and width), it was also important to fit for how your feet move in the swing. FJ FreeStyle (my favorite), for example, is a prime example of a mobility shoe. It’s for those of us with what I’d suppose you might call busy feet in our golf swings.
On the opposite end of the spectrum are stable shoes. In a less than literal sense, they’re designed for golfers who benefit from being anchored to the ground. Think of these shoes as offering a firm, stable base, and not a ton of wiggle room. It’s a platform, or at least a notion, that many golfers love and so I suspect many golfers will love FootJoy’s new Tour S.
I’ll touch on the tech in just a bit, but the big takeaway here is that the Tour S is the most stable shoe in the FootJoy lineup, in fact, it’s the most stable FootJoy shoe ever. Basically, it’s the polar opposite of FreeStyle. How I feel about that is very much TBD.
The stability comes from what FootJoy calls POWERPLATE technology. In simple terms, it’s an outsole design consisting of two key design elements.
The outsole is made from Pebax, an elastomer that’s stiffer but more responsive than TPU. One of the things you’ll likely notice with the Tour S is that it’s not particularly pliable – and that’s exactly what FootJoy wants in the Tour S. What you lose in flexibility, you get back to an extent in responsiveness. Pebax springs back faster than TPU, and ultimately that means less fatigue over the course of a round.
The second stability element is the addition of what FootJoy calls Launch Pods. The pods are what house the spikes, and while it’s easy to get caught up in the aesthetics, their purpose is actually to widen the cleatbed so golfers can better leverage ground forces to create more power in the golf swing. It’s also worth mentioning that that Launch Pods in the toe area are comparatively narrow to allow the golfer to rotate thought the swing without interference.
As a weight saving measure, FootJoy has replaced the metal shank traditionally hidden in the middle of its soles with lighter visible carbon weave fiberglass. The same material is also visible in the heel cup where it again saves weight without compromising stability.
A golf shoe, no matter how stable, is pretty much worthless if it isn’t comfortable. With that in mind, FootJoy has bundled plenty of comfort features into the Tour S.
That last one is particularly interesting to me. My one and only knock with the Pro SL was that I felt the tongue was a bit longer (and firmer) than it needed to be. With the Tour S, the foam-based tongue is much softer on the foot. It’s a simple, yet positively brilliant innovation.
FootJoy has already seen some of its Pro SL players switch to Tour S, and the expectation, or at least the hope, is that staffers who are still in the XPS-1 (the previous most stable shoe in the FootJoy lineup) will make the jump to the newer model, specifically for its increased stability, lighter weight, and improved comfort.
Tour S is a new flagship in the FootJoy line and with that you can expect a couple of things.
Firstly, it’s going to be available in a tremendous number of size and width combinations. I’d wager it will be the most complete offering in the golf shoe industry this year. As I’ve said before, if you can’t find a FootJoy that fits, you might want to think about getting new feet.
Secondly, as you’d begrudgingly expect, it’s priced like a flagship shoe. FootJoy is doing a bit of consolidation and SKU reduction, so initially, the laced version ($249.95) will be available in 3 colorways (white, white/blue, and black) and the BOA version ($279.95) will be available in a single white/gray colorway.
Given recent trends, I’d expect FootJoy to add additional colorways at a later date.
Retail availability begins 2/5/2018.
To see more photos of the FootJoy Tour S golf shoes, visit the Gratuitous Picture Thread in the MyGolfSpy Forum.
Click here to read Baby Gross Motor Play: Colorful Scarf Circle on Hands On As We Grow
Change up your baby gross motor play with this colorful scarf circle from Julie.
Babies love exploring different colors and textures!
This no-prep colorful scarf circle will help your baby develop gross motor skills and stimulate her senses as well.
Read here for more simple baby activities to do this week.
Short on time? You can prep for this baby play activity in less than two minutes.
Here’s what you’ll need:
Just arrange the scarves in a circle and you’re all set!
For this baby play activity, I started my daughter out on her back in the middle of the circle.
She’s rolling both directions now, so I like to give her every opportunity to practice those gross motor skills.
If you love this baby play idea, you’ll enjoy making this edible paint for babies!
As soon as the colorful scarves caught her eye, she flipped right over to her tummy!
She loved exploring the scarves with her fingers (and mouth, of course).
Try these 48 activities to explore sight, sound, taste, and smell.
I pointed out different colors and talked to my baby while she played.
As she explored, I encouraged her to turn from side to side to view each scarf in the circle. I pointed to every scarf and called her with my voice to show her where to look next.
This is a simple baby play idea you can easily set up over and over again.
You baby will love it every time!
To switch things up, you could even hide toys in the scarves for your baby to find. It’s a great way to teach object permanence!
So simple, but so much fun!
For more fun with your baby, try this quick make and play edible sensory rattle!
