Georgetown Fire Co. and Auxiliary seeking sponsors for May 4 fundraiser tournament

In the months leading up to the opening of golf season in the Cape Region, tournament planners are busy making preparations and seeking sponsors to support their events.

The Georgetown Fire Company Inc. and Auxiliary will be holding their fundraiser tournament Friday, May 4, at Mulligan’s Pointe Golf & Community Club, the former Sussex Pines Country Club, with a rain date set for Friday, May 11.

This year’s tournament is raising money for a washer/dryer cabinet for the firefighters’ protective gear. Fay Rust, golf tournament co-chair, explained that this $25,000 item will help them “maintain and extend the lifespan of our life-protecting equipment.” 

Playing fees are set at $85, with hole sponsorships available for $100. The organizers are also seeking sponsors for tournament prizes, door prizes, live and Chinese auction items, and trinkets for goody bags. 

The entrance fee covers the round of golf, beverages, snacks and a hot lunch, but the real draw is that it also includes a hot breakfast prepared by auxiliary members. 

The organizers obtained a commitment from First State Chevrolet for six prizes for closest-to-the-pin winners for both men and women. Rust mentioned that they have also obtained rounds of golf from Delaware and Maryland golf clubs, a common and welcome part of these fundraiser auctions. 

For more information, contact Rust at 302-856-3255.

The Flat Cat Solution Putter Grip

Last year, the folks at Lamkin sent me a Flat Cat Solution putter grip to try out, and, of course, they hoped I would write a column piece about the experience.  

My usual putter grip is a standard-size pistol style, with a slight curve from front to back as the grip reaches the top. The Solution grip they sent me was far different. It is a much larger rectangular shape, about 1½-by-1-inch. The wider sides are intended to be where your hands are placed, parallel to the putter face. A 100-gram stainless steel weight at the bottom grip end tapers down to the shaft. 

Switching grips during the season didn’t seem like a good idea because I was putting well and didn’t want to jinx myself. I waited until mid-November, the end of the scoring season here, and asked the Rookery pros to do the re-gripping. 

Head golf pro Butch Holtzclaw handed me back the putter with the new grip on it, and said he really liked its feel. After a few minutes testing, I agreed with him. 

The extra weight makes it much easier to keep to a back-and-forth swing. It’s actually a challenge to make the putter go offline.

The larger grip also forces the hands to stay square to the putter face. That hasn’t been a problem for me with other grips, but I think the Flat Cat grip should reduce the risk of becoming a bit handsy during the putt. 

Before winter hit the Cape Region, I played several rounds with the new grip and remained impressed. If anything, my putting actually improved. I began to wonder if I should have had the grip installed several months earlier.

During Demo Day at the 2018 PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Fla., I met Steven Spirko, director of marketing for Winston Products, Lamkin’s parent company. At a putting green adjacent to the giant driving range used for Demo Day, several club pros and media types tested a variety of Lamkin-gripped putters while he and I chatted about my experience. 

Spirko said the Solution putter grip is aimed at golfers who feel plagued by the yips and have trouble keeping the club steady while putting. While the wide part of the grip is usually set parallel to the club face, others find that the wide sides work better for them in the front-and-back alignment. Spirko said that U.S. Open winner Justin Rose uses an unweighted Flat Cat model with that orientation, in part because he uses a modified claw grip. 

As for the weighted element, Spirko said the company found that placing the 100-gram slug below the hands was far more effective than other options, such as at the top grip end. He pointed out that Parkinson’s sufferers use eating utensils with similar weighting designs. As for using 100-gram weights instead of other options, Spirko said that decision came after the company’s tests showed that 100 grams produced the best results compared to heavier or lighter slugs.

Putters are usually the heaviest clubs in the golf bag. My Ping B60 putter head weighs about 350 grams. The weighted Solution Standard grip they sent me adds another 172 grams to that total. When putting, however, going slow, steady and heavy is a good thing.

Solution putter grips come in five sizes and retail for $49.99 (lamkingrips.com).