In The Wood
KIMO Kahoano joined a group at the Mariposa after playing golf at Mid-Pacific Country Club and announced he shot an 82 using the Precept MC Lady ball. "Did you wear a skirt, too?" asked Glenn Stanford. Golfers go a long way
to get more distanceHold on, Glenn. The Lady Precept is a hot seller. Male golfers are snapping it up, insisting they hit it farther than other balls.
Jimmy Borges tipped me off about the ball. He said it gives him more distance.
I bought 27 of the ladies at Mid-Pacific Country Club two Sundays ago. They only had a couple of dozen left, said one of the pros, who also said it goes farther than other balls.
I scored better than usual using the ball. I hit it farther and had better control.
Nathan Yoshioka, owner of Pro Am Golf Shop, was also at Mid-Pac the day I was there playing with jolly Percy Chee and his group, and he said his store was sold out of the ball. He has since received a shipment and had them in stock Monday but they were sold out by Wednesday at $18.95 a dozen.
"I think we sell them cheaper than anyone else," Nathan said. "Sometimes we sell 10 cases in a day."
I paid $7 for a sleeve of three at Mid-Pac and bought a dozen for $25 after using the ball.
The Titleist Pro V1 ball is another monster seller. That's the ball many of the big hitters on the PGA tour play, Nathan said. He sells the Pro V1 for $44.95 a dozen and can't keep up with the demand.
It's amazing what we golfers will do or pay if we think we can get 10 or 15 yards more on a drive.
Nathan was sold out of the Titleist Pro V1 last week and has about 130 people on a waiting list for the ball. "We are forced to limit purchases to one dozen per person," he said. "They sell in Japan for $100 a dozen, when they can get them."
Hitting a ball astray that costs that much money and losing it can be quite painful.
THE STAR-BULLETIN'S golf-loving cartoonist Corky Trinidad is on vacation in the Philippines and he is no doubt playing plenty of golf.
Corky is a regular in my weekend foursome, along with Sonny Beamer and Frank Steinmiller. Playing golf in the Philippines is a joy, says Corky, adding that women caddies take care of the golfers' every need.
It must be nice.
Before Corky took off on his trip, I asked him to do a cartoon of himself playing golf in the Philippines for this column.Corky returns to Hawaii and our ordinary golfing world soon. We'll have to bring him down a notch or two.
Ben Wood, who played his first round of golf at Ala Wai
50 years ago, vows to learn how to play the game well even if
it takes another 50 years. E-mail him at bwood@starbulletin.com.