Have you ever wondered if there were bed sheets that could help play better golf? Sounds crazy, but just like the iPhone, “There’s an app for that,” there’s also SHEEX performance bedding designed to help you get a better night’s rest.

SHEEX, is the maker of the world’s first performance bedding, which has teamed up with the 2011 U.S. Solheim Cup Team to provide the golfers with innovative and cutting-edge bedding engineered to help athletes Sleep Better and Play Better. This year’s national team, captained by 13-time LPGA Tour event winner Rosie Jones, will defend their title against Europe’s top female golfers when the biennial event takes place at Killeen Castle in County Meath, Ireland, from September 23rd -25th.

SHEEX co-founders Susan Walvius and Michelle Marciniak designed SHEEX Performance Bedding with one goal in mind: to help people sleep better so they can perform at their peak the next day. Inspired by the most technologically advanced performance athletic fabrics, SHEEX products feature SLEEP•FIT Technology for maximum comfort and improved sleep quality. SHEEX breathe nearly 50 percent better than traditional bedding to reduce sleep-disrupting temperature fluctuations at night. By transferring body heat two times more effectively than cotton, SHEEX also promote the cooler conditions that research indicates are critical for deeper and more restorative sleep.

As part of this partnership to help the U.S. Team both Sleep Better and Play Better, SHEEX will provide each golfer on the U.S. Solheim Cup team with the SHEEX SLEEP•SAX, a roomy and luxurious multi-purpose sleeping solution designed to achieve more comfortable and restful sleep while traveling. The SHEEX SLEEP•SAX is light and compact and designed for on-the-go comfort.

Rosie Jones comments, “The founders behind SHEEX truly appreciate the needs of athletes and they’ve worked hard to develop a product to help athletes perform better while on the road. I sleep on SHEEX at home but with the amount of travel I do, I needed a solution for when I’m on Tour. The SHEEX SLEEP•SAX is ridiculously soft and ensures I get a good night’s sleep wherever I go.”

SHEEX Sleep Sax- $79.99

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A group of Callaway custom fitting experts has finally caught up on sleep after recently spending five days trekking around Alaska offering a series of rare demo days to golfers in the last (golf) frontier. The trip culminated with a 24-hour demo day at Anchorage Country Club, made possible due to nearly 24 hours of daylight in Anchorage at this time of year.

Along the way, the Carlsbad, California-based team provided custom fittings to more than one thousand golfers and saw huge crowds turn out for demo days at five different courses from Palmer down to Kenai. They covered 300 miles and ran 53 hours of demo days—including stops at two military base courses, Eagleglen Golf Course and Moose Run Golf Course.

“The week in Alaska was an amazing experience for our custom fitting team and our customers in Alaska,” said Pete Stamatis, Callaway’s Director of Custom Fitting & Events. “Of course, the scenery was breathtaking, but we were amazed at the passionate golfers we came across on the trip. They have a short golf season but when the golf season hits they come out in droves. One gentleman told us he played 168 rounds of golf during his 4-month golf season in 2010.”

The 24-hour demo day at Anchorage Country Club took place on July 8th and 9th featured an Odyssey Putter Clinic, live music from local bands, food (including breakfast) and beverages on the range, and a “kick off” happy hour that began the round-the-clock golf party at 6 p.m. the 8th.

“Every community we visited up there was so hospitable towards us, and the fishing at the end of the trip wasn’t bad either,” Stamatis added. “The acceptance of our RAZR wood and iron line and Diablo Octane drivers and fairway woods was incredible. The trip was so successful that our customers have asked us to return in 2012 and you better believe we are already looking forward to next year’s trip.”

www.callawaygolf.com

The WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship  kicked off today in Marana, Arizona, with the top 64 golfers in the world competing in single-elimnation match play. When it comes to traveling to events like this, according to a recent Darrell  Survey 90% of PGA Tour Players rely on the travel bags from  Club Glove.

Watch this video of Club Glove President, Jeffrey Herold talk bout whats new in golf travel bags, and a demonstration of the Train Reaction System.

Last Bag XXL

Premium extra large collapsible bag (11.2 lbs) accommodates nearly any tour golf bag and up to a 48″ driver plus room for gear and golf accessories. XL is for extremely large tour bags and for the world traveler wanting to pack more gear and golf accessories. Made in USA. Limited lifetime warranty.

• 55″ H x 22″ W x 19″ D • 95 linear inches
• Single piece burst proof construction made with Invista™ Cordura® 1000 D water resistant nylon up to 3x stronger and lasts up to 5x longer than standard polyester
• 1600 D ballistic nylon base reinforcement
• Reliable and durable YKK® zippers and ITW Nexus® Buckles
• Patented high-impact plastic wheelbase with integrated support and in-line skate wheels and bearings for smooth and quite transport (U.S. Patent #7,188,714 and # 7,219,902)
• Over the top zipper for easy loading
• Patent-pending integrated carry handle integrates with Train Reaction™
  (Patent Pending Ser#12/348,857)
• Patented adjustable restraint device to secure golf club set (U.S. Patent #6,901,979)
• 2 exterior shoe/storage pockets with nylon shoe bags
• ID card holder

www.clubglove.com

This week at the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego, TaylorMade’s iconic PGA Tour Van will boast a new look, having also received an “all-white” makeover to parallel the brand’s exciting new R11 and Burner SuperFast 2.0 drivers, both with distinctive white clubheads.

Players have quickly gravitated to the all-white equipment, with more than 30 players switching to the R11 or the SuperFast 2.0 driver.

“The response to our new white drivers has been incredible and we wanted to carry on the ‘white-out’ theme with our Tour Truck, which provides service to the best players in the world,” said Keith Sbarbaro, vice president of tour operations. “Just like our white drivers stand out amongst the black heads of our competitors, so will our white truck stand out amongst the others.”

A vehicle that already commands attention at PGA Tour events due to its comfortable size and stealth appearance, TaylorMade’s state-of-the-art mobile workshop is manned by four to five technicians who travel weekly with the PGA Tour to service the equipment needs of the world’s best players. It is estimated that the van travels 40,000 miles per year spanning roughly 35 PGA Tour events.

Before the start of the 2009 PGA Tour season, the truck received a complete interior and exterior redesign to meet the demands of a growing line-up of Tour Staff professionals. Featuring a stealth new look, the van was equipped with flat-screen televisions, WiFi Internet, speakers, a secluded office for player meetings, sliding doors, additional storage space and more. To date, the TaylorMade tour van is one of the most robust and exciting vans seen on the PGA Tour.

www.taylormadegolf.com

If you have ever watched a PGA Tour event in person or on TV, you probably wondered how do they get the the statistics on number of greens hit in regulation or what hole had the most birdies that round, etc.  All of this statistical information is provided by the PGA Tour ShotLink truck, which travels to all the PGA Tour events.

With the PGA Tour kicking off in Hawaii, you might be wondering, how do they get the ShotLink truck there?

In podcast episode 2  [3.38]-Sean Howland, Manager, Tournament Operations for the PGA Tour’s ShotLink, talks about the challenges faced with transporting the tractor trailer of equipment, the new portable version of ShotLink that the PGA Tour and its official technology partner CDW are working on, and its relationship with CDW.

Podcast: Traveling with the PGA Tour ShotLink [Download]

Digital Asset Management and Disaster Recovery
The PGA Tour and CDW are also working on a major digital asset management project to digitize hundreds of hours of golf footage, and make it easy to search through the archive. This process will take approximately 3-4 years to complete. “There are about 80,000 hours of historical PGA footage, and we’re in the process of digitizing it,” According to Matt Troka CDW’s Vice President, Product and Partner Management.

Another major project CDW is working on with the PGA Tour is a disaster recovery site in the landlocked and hurricane-free Madison, WI. The data center will preserve all the data for the PGA Tour in-case of a hurricane or natural disaster.

The future looks bright for both the PGA Tour and CDW, and it will be interesting to see what they develop next to enhance watching golf. The PGA Tour partnership goes through 2012.

Special Thanks to the PGA Tour’s Sean Howland and CDW for making this possible.

For more information visit http://www.shotlink.com or http://www.pgatour.com

Have you ever wondered if a professional golfer can knock a clay pigeon out of the sky with golf ball? Or skip a golf ball across a lake and hit mini-gong 200 yards away? If you answered, Yes! You’re in luck, because the European Tour has a channel on YouTube called See Every Shot Imaginable.

Clay Pigeon Shooting with a Golf Ball

The Clay Pigeon Golf Shot, takes place in the desert of Dubai and features Thongchai Jaidee, David Horsey, Johan Edfors, and Simon Kahn battling it out to see who can knock a clay pigeon out of the sky with a golf ball, instead of a shotgun. Talk about bird away.

Skipping Rocks Re-Imagined

Gap of Dunloe, Killarney Ireland-European Tour players David Howell, Paul McGinley, Marcel Siem and Rhys Davies attempt to skim a golf ball 200 yards across the lake and try to hit a 9 inch mini-gong. Easier than skipping rocks? Watch the video to find out.

See Every Shot Imaginable

The PGA Merchandise Show happens only once a year in Orlando, Florida and its not open to the public. Here, over a thousand vendors representing every facet of golf gather in one of the world’s largest exhibit halls to unveil the latest and greatest in golf clubs, clothing, technology and more.

As a brand team member, you’ll not only get to see and demo the newest in golf equipment, you’ll be a part of our team and help us launch a variety of industry-changing products. You’ll also receive an exclusive discount code to shop for TaylorMade, adidas Golf or Ashworth products just for entering.

What you Get

An all-expense paid trip to the 2011 PGA Merchandise Show, free 2011 equipment and apparel, and be a apart of the  TaylorMade, adidas Golf, or Ashworth team.

What do you have to do to enter?

Visit apps.facebook.com/taylormadebeourvip and in 250 characters or less, tell them why you like either TaylorMade, adidas Golf or Ashworth and why you should win one of just nine exclusive PGA Merchandise Show VIP Passes.

Hurry! Contest Ends January 9, 2011 @ 11:59 PM (PST)

apps.facebook.com/taylormadebeourvip

Kiehl's Cross-Terrain UV Face Protector

When I play golf, I usually put sunscreen on my neck, arms, and legs, but never my face. Why? Quite honestly, every sunscreen I’ve applied on my face, always has a tendency to run off into my eyes, and stings so bad-like lemon juice on an open cut. Needless to say, I haven’t found a face specific sunscreen that is both water and sweat resistant, and provides all day long protection from the sun, until now.

Earlier this year, Kiehl’s introduced a new line of active body care for men called Cross-Terrain, which features the Kiehl’s Cross-Terrain UV Face Protector SPF 50 sunscreen, designed for the harshest conditions. Playing golf can be harsh on your skin, with the sun and the wind, and according to the sticker on the Kiehl’s packaging, “The Cross-Terrain sunscreen provides optimum UVA/UVB broad-spectrum protection against sunburn in even the most extreme weather conditions.” I figured, What do I have to lose?

Kiehl's Cross-Terrain UV Face Protector-Texture

Look and Feel
The UV Face Protector comes packaged in a compact 1.4 fl. oz. round jar, slightly larger than a hockey puck, which can fit easily in your golf bag. When you open up the jar of the Cross-Terrain UV Face Protector, you’ll notice that the sunscreen looks more like petroleum jelly or wax, and it’s unscented.

Applying it to your face, a little goes a long way. The UV Face Protector, has a thick texture to it, similar to a petroleum jelly, because it uses a synthetic beeswax made from the leaves of the Candelilla shrub for deep moisturizing. Once applied, the sunscreen gets easily absorbed into your skin, thanks to the use of Squalane (a refined moisturizing oil derived from olives) which is used in other Kiehl’s products, and feels great against your skin. I’ll be honest, I was a little skeptical about how well this would hold up on my face on a hot day.

The Sweat Test
To put the Face Protector to the ultimate test, I decided not to wear a hat during my round. On an nice 80 degree and sunny day I headed out to the golf course to walk 18 holes, but with the Kiehl’s Cross-Terrain UV Face Protector applied to face.

After about four holes, I started perspiring, and I was getting a little anticipatory dread of having the sunscreen melt off my face and run into my eyes, and to my surprise nothing happened. By the time I made the turn, I was sweating, and again none of the sunscreen had run off. And when I finished my round, you guessed it, nothing happened. I was really impressed with the Kiehl’s Cross-Terrain UV Face Protector, not only did it prevent me from getting sunburn, it didn’t wash off with my sweat into my eyes or leave my face feeling greasy. And even after I wiped my face with a towel, I knew my face was still being protected from the sun. To remove the Cross-Terrain UV Face Protector, use soap and water to wash it off your face.

I have to say, I’m really impressed by the quality of the UV Face Protector and how long it lasts once applied. Plus, you don’t have to worry about getting the sunscreen in your eyes.

I know some people might think that $25 is a lot of money to pay for sunscreen, but if you play a lot of golf, or any sport outdoors, it’s worth every penny. It’s a lot cheaper than having to go to the Dermatologist.

Kiehl’s Cross-Terrain UV Face Protector SPF 50 $25

Getting to the golf course can be a challenge, with your golf bag, shoe bag, and other accessories you need to take along with you. And if you want to run errands afterwards, like the grocery store or shopping, you’re going to need a car that is large enough room to handle all your cargo without being a gas guzzler.

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In comes the 2010 Lincoln MKT an all wheel drive luxury crossover vehicle with a 3.5L EcoBoost engine, and seven-passenger seating capacity.

Design and Looks
The Lincoln MKT is a one big suv at 207.6” long and features a split-wing grille that represents the new face of Lincoln cars. I think the grille looks a lot like a sharks mouth with its protruding nose and teeth, giving it a a very menacing appearance. The rear of the MKT has a weird shape, that sticks out and found limits your visibility when trying to look out the rear view window of the car. Luckily the car comes with a standard review camera and Active Park Assist to help with parallel parking and eliminate any blind spots.

Interior
Inside you’ll notice how spacious the cabin feels with its standard panoramic fixed-glass Vista roof that lets a ton of light into the car and exceptional views for the first and second row passengers. On hot days, you can deploy the power sunshade to keep you cool. The vehicle I tested did come with the optional Elite Package, where the Vista roof is powered electronically.

The leather interior on the seats, dashboard, and door panels are in harmony with the chrome and leather accents in the Lincoln MKT. The leather seats are so plush and comfortable, that going for long drives is a pleasure in the MKT. A rather unique feature in the MKT is the Ambient lighting system, that allows you to change the colors of the car’s interior accent lighting (e.g., floorboards, cargo area, etc.) from red, blue, green, and white.

The front seats feature perforated leather that are heated and cooled independently with the dual zone climate control system, which is great in the summertime. The cabin has a separate climate control system for your second row passengers, independent of the front.

The eight-inch touchscreen allows you control all of the cars features like, Sirius XM Satellite Radio, CD Player, navigation System, phone, climate, and more. And it’s also voice-activated for safe hands-free driving. If you have a bluetooth enabled phone, you can utilize SYNC to issue hands-free calls or play a song, which works really well.

Capacity
The Lincoln MKT is a large car that can easily haul seven passengers, and have room for groceries. One thing to keep in mind is that the third row is best suited for small children, and too tight for an adult for an adult to sit comfortably. The 133.4 (cu.ft.) of cargo space you have available when both the second and third rows are folded down, makes it super easy to haul four golf bags, plus leave room to spare. Loading your golf bags or any item going into the trunk is easy with the power liftgate, which opens with a press of a button on the key fob or interior of the car. One thing is for sure, you won’t feel cramped in the Lincoln MKT.

Technology
The Lincoln MKT is loaded with a ton of technology features, that will make any gear head stoked. The car has a voice-activated navigation system, that gives you turn-by-turn directions on its bright eight-inch LCD screen. I used the navigation system to route a path from my house to the driving range and found a quicker route, I never knew about. Plus it also can give your real-time traffic alerts, weather, gas stations and prices, sports scores and more with the integrated Sirius Travel Link. FYI, this is a subscription based service, and comes with a introductory six-month subscription. I didn’t get to test this feature out because the subscription had expired on my test vehicle.

The rear view camera features Color bars that help you judge how far behind you objects are. The system works in conjunction with the reverse sensor system by alerting you with audio tones, while backing up. This worked really well, especially with the limited visibility out of the rear window.

The BLIS (Blind Spot Information System) sensors detect a car in your blind spot by blinking in your side mirrors while driving, which is very useful for city driving. What’s also cool about BLIS is that it also works when backing out of spot in a parking lot, by monitoring cross traffic. The sensors can help detect if another vehicle is approaching from either side of your vehicle. It will then alert you with an audible tone and indicator light.

Keyless entry and start and stop of the car with push of button, make getting in and out of the car a breeze. No more wasting time looking for your car keys, just get in and drive.

Performance
With a 3.5L EcoBoost engine, the Lincoln MKT has the power of a V8, but the fuel economy of a V6 with 355 horsepower, and 350 lb.-ft. of torque. This is allows the MKT to get 16/21 MPG and provide smooth and deliberate acceleration. The 6-speed selectshift paddle shifters on the MKT give the car a more engaging driving experience, which makes it fun to drive and sense of control you find in a stick shift, without the hassle of a clutch.

Driving the Lincoln MKT I was really impressed how quickly it can accelerate so effortlessly and how smooth of ride it delivers. The MKT is a car that is the ultimate long-haul car, but is also right at home for city driving and going to and from the golf course.

If you are looking for luxury crossover vehicle that comes with tons of standard features, can carry a lot of cargo, and drives like a sedan, check out the Lincoln MKT.

Model Tested: Lincoln MKT EcoBoost (Base MSRP $49,200)

• Tuxedo Black Metallic/Lt. Stone Premium Leather Interior
• Engine: 3.5L EcoBoost
• Transmission 6-Speed Auto
• 355 HP
• 350lbs Torque
• 16/21 MPG

Options:
Elite Package: Voice Activated Navigation, Power Panoramic Vista Roof, Acoustic Side Door Glass, Active Park Assist, Woven Metal Appearance Package, Adaptive Cruise Control

Total MSRP: $56,080 (Includes above options with Destination & Delivery)

www.lincoln.com/crossovers/mkt/

The 2010 Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor is set to begin in nine days in South Wales, UK, and if you’re like me who can’t make to the event, you’re not completely out of luck. World Golf Tour just launched a free online golf tournament of Celtic Manor with a grand prize golf trip to Celtic Manor in South Wales, UK.

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Working closely with Celtic Manor, World Golf Tour has recreated The Twenty Ten course online in virtual reality using stunning HD photography and technology, enabling anyone to experience the new course built specifically to host this year’s Ryder Cup.

Two free online games on The Twenty Ten course

Celtic Manor Challenge – A free online tournament running through October 15th features a nine-hole closest-to-the-hole competition highlighting the most interesting shots on The Twenty Ten course. The Grand Prize winner, selected at random, will receive a trip for two people to Celtic Manor in South Wales, UK, including airfare, four-nights lodging, and three rounds of golf on The Twenty Ten, The Montgomerie and Roman Road courses. The Celtic Manor Challenge is free to enter with unlimited play and registration at www.wgt.com/celticmanor.

Drive The 15th Experience – The reachable par four 15th hole on The Twenty Ten course is one of the most discussed holes at this year’s Ryder Cup. With matches on the line, many pros from Team USA and Team Europe are likely to attempt this daring shot, which is through a gap in the trees and over a gully directly to the green. The “Drive The 15th Experience” is free with unlimited play and no registration at www.wgt.com/celticmanor.

In the past year, WGT has added Oakmont, home of the 2009 U.S. Open, and St Andrews, home of the 2010 British Open. Other award-winning courses on WGT include, Bali Hai, Bethpage Black, Edgewood, Kiawah Island Ocean, Pinehurst #8 and Wolf Creek.

What are you waiting for? Go enter to play and win a trip to Celtic Manor in South Wales, UK!

www.wgt.com/celticmanor