Bay Street Bull Magazine vol.7 Nº1 by MarkintoshDesign

VOL.7 NO.1

CELTIC MANOR

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Home of the Ryder Cup

CAPE WINES Ernie Els leads a red renaissance GOLF GEAR: Luxury meets high-tech

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We take great pride in delivering Exceptional Value of Service and building Strong Customer Relationships.

“Best Banquet Facility in Durham” “Best Golf Course 18-Hole in Durham” “Best Golf Course 9-Hole in Durham”

“2 Top Golf Holes in GTA” “Best Teaching Facility in GTA” “Best Practice Facility in GTA”

As voted by the Reader’s of Metroland Publications 2009 & Toronto Sun Reader’s 2009

Because your business matters to us, bring your Shotgun Golf Tournament to Deer Creek Golf Clubs and you will receive a Complimentary Corporate Membership to use at all of our Golf Locations. Deer Creek Golf & Banquet Facility can host up to 400 Players Glen Cedars can host up to 160 Players Located just 20 mins East from the DVP bewteen 401 & 407 To learn more about our services please visit our website or contact us directly. Some Restrictions apply with corporate membership oﬀer. Please see coordinator for details

www.golfdeercreek.com • 905.427.7737 • 1.866.661.6617

IN THE ISSUE:

fe a t u re s

THE ELUSIVE CONDOR 8 Opportunities for the nearly impossible four-under-par in the GTA.

departments

PLAYER PROFILES Veteran Phil Mickelson is the one to watch this season.

GOLF ARCHITECTURE The Frank Lloyd Wright clubhouse that almost didn’t get built.

GOLF GETAWAY Discover the true meaning of the links in Wales.

A ROYAL GREEN Stunning ocean views await at Bermuda’s Port Royal Golf Club.

GOLF EQUIPMENT Stylish gear to make you look good and play better.

CAR REVIEW The striking Acura DZX 2010 gives luxury vehicles a run for their money.

GOLF HISTORY The little ball that saved the game.

ON THE SHELF Reads to improve your short game.

PGA TOUR SCHEDULE A list of the Tour’s top events.

UP FRONT 6 An Art Deco tome, a Swiss watch, a bespoke car and more.

WINE REVIEW 36 Ernie Els Cape wines lead a red renaissance.

TECH TOYS 42 The next dimension: 3D HDTV and total connectivity.

Cover photo by Oliver Llaneza Hesse/plainpicture/Corbis

Photo Credits on page 50. THE BAY STREET BULL | 3

BAY STREET PUBLISHING Photo: Ruslan Sarkisian

Vol. 7, No. 1 VICE PRESIDENT, PUBLISHER Fred Sanders EDITOR Catherine Roberts CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Cara Smusiak ART DIRECTOR Mark Tzerelshtein CONTRIBUTORS Mike Dojc Anita Draycott Marc Phillips Chris Powell Ben Stone PHOTOGRAPHER Ruslan Sarkisian DIRECTOR, ADVERTISING SALES Bill Percy advertising@thebaystreetbull.ca HOSPITALITY DEVELOPMENT Mark Waxer ADVERTISING GRAPHIC DESIGNER Christophe Boilley COMMUNICATIONS FACILITATOR David Rees The Bay Street Bull is published six times yearly and distributed in Toronto’s financial and business districts. Distribution method: hand-delivered, inserted, mailed and retail. Editorial + subscription + retail advertising enquiries to 305 Evans Ave., Etobicoke, Ont., M8Z 1K2. info@thebaystreetbull.ca WWW.THEBAYSTREETBULL.CA

s winter drags on through March, Canadians begin to long for those warm summer days on the golf course. It may seem like the wait will last forever, but chilly winter evenings are the perfect time to plan a spectacular summer golf vacation. Writer and golfer Anita Draycott takes you to Wales to discover Celtic Manor, host of the 2010 Ryder Cup. Celtic Manor’s Twenty Ten course, which was purpose-built for the Ryder Cup, features huge viewing banks and will be a challenge until that last putt drops into the cup on the 18th. Of course, Wales has plenty of spectacular links courses to entice golfers, including Penard, Southerndown, Royal Porthcawl and Nefyn & District Golf Club. If warmer climes are more to your liking, writer Ben Stone takes you south to Bermuda’s Port Royal Golf Club, host of the 2010 PGA Grand Slam. The course emerged from a multimillion-dollar revamp in July, and at 6,842 yards, it is now the longest course on the island. With tricky bunkers, doglegged and narrow fairways, and both uphill and downhill terrain to contend with, this is no easy course. Just as the fairways beckon, clubhouses command attention, and perhaps no other clubhouse is as intriguing as that at Hawaii’s King Kamehameha Golf Club. Based on a design by celebrated American architect Frank Lloyd Wright— a design that was once slated for a home to be built for Marilyn Monroe and playwright Arthur Miller—this rose-coloured structure blends modern design with Hawaiian history and culture. There’s nothing like a nice glass of wine at the end of a long day, and golfer Ernie Els’ wineries are producing some fantastic South African reds, and, in the process, are wracking up a slew of awards around the globe. Whether you’re hitting the course at home or abroad, the right equipment can make all the difference. We bring you the latest from the brand giants to improve your game and make your day on the course a little bit more enjoyable. As you’re riding out the cool weather, you can still work on your game or explore golf course curiosities with a little help from the books our writers review in On the Shelf. Or you can always distract yourself with the latest gadgets in our Tech Toys section. We always enjoy hearing what you think about the magazine. If you’d like to send us a letter about this issue, or have an idea you think we should explore in the magazine, please address your letter to The Publisher, The Bay Street Bull, 305 Evans Avenue, Etobicoke, Ontario, M8Z 1K2, or e-mail me at publisher@thebaystreetbull.ca.

Fred Sanders, Publisher 4 | THE BAY STREET BULL

SPRING FEVER GOLF PACKAGE For only $199 per night, per person,* stay in a Garden View Room at Doral Golf Resort & Spa and play a round on our championship Red, Gold or Jim McLean Signature courses. Plus, enjoy a complimentary buffet breakfast every morning at Terrazza, bag storage, unlimited driving range use and an introductory golf clinic. For more information call 800.71DORAL or visit doralresort.com

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U P

F R O N T

Maybach 57

When it comes to bespoke vehicles there’s only one name: Project Kahn. The British tuning house has a wealth of experience customizing everything from Range Rovers to Aston Martins and everything in between. Their latest offering centres on the Maybach 57. Daimler didn’t necessarily strike gold with the launch of their Rolls-Royce and Bentley rival. But Project Kahn has come to the rescue. They’ve created a package that upgrades the standard specifications with custom 22-inch wheels, smoked tail lamps and special Pentagon privacy tinted glass. Included is a lightweight golfing umbrella with a carbon fibre shaft. And Project Kahn will fully customize the interior in the finest Nappa leather. The sky’s the limit when it comes to the options. If you haven’t seen a Maybach cruising down a street near you, you now know why. projectkhan.com

Laphroaig Scotch whisky maker Laphroaig has proven once again that aging isn’t so bad. Laphroaig 25 Year Old (2008) made its North American debut last spring. Created by master blender Robert Hicks, this superb blend marries Laphroaig that has matured in Oloroso sherry casks with Laphroaig that has aged in American oak bourbon barrels. The result is a whisky that is a rare combination of bold peat flavour spiced with sweet sherry notes and apple fruitiness, with a very long finish and a rich, round and full body. Creamy, smooth and brimming with character and complexity, the marriage of the woods intertwines to form a perfect balance. laphroaig.com

Rado r5.5

British designer Jasper Morrison continues his modernist minimalist theme with this new Rado. Like most Rado watches, the r5.5 Automatic is constructed mostly of ceramic (black). It features a Swiss ETA automatic 2829A2 movement that is decorated and visible through the case-back window. The square case, rounded at the corners, and the SuperLuminova illuminant make it easy to read and spot the hour markers. Unlike most ceramic watches, which are shiny, the r5.5 Automatic has a matte finish. For Rado, the Swiss watchmaker that was the first to offer the ceramic watch en masse, innovation never stops. rado.com

Art Deco Art Deco, considered by many a reaction to the forced austerity of World War I, shaped the popular ideas of opulence in the 1920s and ’30s. Alastair Duncan’s new book, Art Deco Complete, covers everything that falls under that moniker, from furniture and interior décor, to sculpture, paintings, graphics, posters, bookbinding, glass, ceramics, lighting, textiles, metalwork and jewelry. Hoping to be the most comprehensive guide of the movement ever published, it features over 1,000 full-colour images and illustrations of classic Art Deco spaces and objects, accompanied by biographies of the most influential artists and designers of the era, such as Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann, René Lalique, Clarice Cliff and Edgar Brandt. thamesandhudson.com

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Victory Ranch With the high-end real estate market still reeling in the U.S., the Victory Ranch Club—a 2,240-hectare development just east of Park City, Utah—is a curiosity. The primary selling point of Victory Ranch is its mountain setting, but there’s a host of outdoor activities for residents to enjoy. A major plus is the 7,599-yard golf course that gambols across rugged topography featuring deep ravines and high plateaus that yield expansive views of the Deer Valley ski area and the Jordanelle Reservoir. Horseback riders can enjoy a network of trails, and flyfishing enthusiasts will enjoy the property’s untamed eight-kilometre stretch of the Upper Provo River. The big question: Will buyers come? victoryranchclub.com

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The Elusive

Condor Opportunities for the nearly impossible four-under-par in the GTA

8 | THE BAY STREET BULL

“THE DEER CREEK GOLF CLUBS FAMILY IS A FIXTURE IN SURVEYS OF THE GTA’S BEST GOLF COURSES AND HOLES.” Our quest starts at the fourth hole on Deer Creek North’s Diamond course in Ajax, which management touts as “one of the best par 5s you’ll ever play.” One of the 11 par 5s scattered throughout Deer Creek’s 63 Championship Golf Holes, this 531-yard hole has water running along its entire length on the right and bunkers and trees on its left. Add in a narrow fairway and a smallish green featuring an out-of-bounds on the left, and it’s no wonder marketing manager Shawn Barrans calls it the most challenging hole on any of the Deer Creek properties. “My friends and I have often found ourselves writing down 11s on that hole,” he laughs. The Deer Creek Golf Clubs family— which also includes the Deer Creek Golf and Banquet Facility, the Deer Creek Academy and the Glen Cedars Golf Club—is a fixture in surveys of the GTA’s best golf courses and holes.

BY CHRIS POWELL hooting a four-under-par, otherwise known as a condor, is arguably the rarest feat in golf. There have been only four in the sport's history, in 1962, 1995, 2002 and 2007. None has occurred in Canada. The condor’s primary habitat is the par 5, and the courses sprinkled among the gently rolling hills just east of Toronto offer numerous opportunities—however unlikely—for a sighting.

THE BAY STREET BULL | 9

Three of its holes—Deer Creek North-Black Pearl hole two; Glen Cedars’ hole 14; and Deer Creek North-Diamond Course hole seven—were rated among the GTA’s 18 best holes in the Toronto Sun’s 2009 Golfer’s Choice Awards, while the Durham Business Times named Glen Cedars the region’s best 18-hole course and Salem Ridge (the Deer Creek Academy’s nine-hole executive course) its best nine-hole course. It is, Barrans says, a “golf wonderland.” Situated on 350 acres, Deer Creek also boasts one of Durham region’s leading golf academies; a 350-person banquet facility that last year hosted nearly 140 weddings; and an award-winning steak and seafood restaurant—Mr. C’s—that counts among its signature dishes a peppercorn N.Y. Striploin that is flambéed tableside in brandy and red wine sauce ($25 or $29). Established in 1958, Glen Cedars is a charter member of the Deer Creek Golf Clubs family. While the 432-yard, par-4 14th is its signature hole (it was ranked ninth in the Sun’s 2009 Golfer’s Choice awards), Glen Cedars also boasts four par 5s. The trickiest is arguably the 18th, a 531-yard hole that poses a potentially

10 | THE BAY STREET BULL

troublesome way to finish up your round. Out-of-bounds runs along its left side, while a water hazard guards the entire right side. You’ll also need to avoid getting caught in the trees along the right side if you want to make par. Rates for Deer Creek North are $63 Monday to Friday and $68 Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays after July 1, while Deer Creek South rates are $44 Monday to Friday and $49 Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays. Glen Cedar rates are $55 Monday to Friday and $60 Saturday, Sundays and Holidays. Durham region also offers duffers the chance to experience the great holes of St. Andrews, Troon and Augusta National— no passport required. That’s courtesy of Uxbridge’s Wooden Sticks course, which has patterned 12 of its 18 holes on famed holes from the PGA Tour. Its marketing slogan: “Play all the golf holes you’ve dreamed about.”

TOUR A GRAND ESTATE Oshawa’s Parkwood Estate & Gardens, the family home of General Motors of Canada founder R. Samuel (Sam) McLaughlin from 1917 to 1972, was designated a National Historic Site in 1989. It is now one of the area’s premiere tourist destinations, and has been featured in movies including X-Men, Billy Madison and Chicago. Constructed between 1915 and 1917 at a cost of $100,000, the 55-room mansion is one of the rare residential designs by Pearson and Darling, a leading commercial architectural firm of the day whose most famous properties include the Canadian Bank of Commerce and the Summerhill-North Toronto CPR Station in Toronto, and the Sun Life Building in Montreal. McLaughlin spared no expense on the property. Parkwood’s amenities include a squash court, a grand conservatory, a heated indoor swimming pool, a games room, and even a bowling alley. Today, it serves as a backdrop for the annual Oshawa Jazz and Blues Festival, McLaughlin Day festivities, Christmas Cream Tea, and the annual Parkwood Gala. Other events include “A Servant’s Life—Specialty Tour,” Art Deco tours and Garden Inspiration Workshops. Between June 1 and Labour Day, visitors can also take afternoon tea at the Formal Garden Teahouse, choosing a table overlooking the fountains or one inside the art moderne teahouse. Extension of the pinky finger is not required.

Meagan Vallant, Wooden Sticks’ marketing manager, says the course attracts anywhere from 20,000 to 30,000 golfers a year. They make the trek from all over Ontario and from as far afield as England and Scotland. “It separates us from the other courses and makes us a destination golf facility,” says Vallant. “It’s kind of a treat to come out to Wooden Sticks and play some unique golf they don’t usually get to experience.” The course, which marked its 10th anniversary in 2009, also caters to the business crowd with a series of corporate programs that offer the likes of tee time ownership, pre-booked tee times, compli-

mentary GPS unit, power cart and weekly pro shop offers. Wooden Sticks also offers luxury cabin rentals as part of its Stay and Play packages ($199 to $569 per person), and this year the club is opening a new 3,500-square-foot banquet facility that can accommodate up to 170 people. While the par-3 17th— which features a daunting island green patterned after the famed 17th at TPC Sawgrass, and made its eighth consecutive appearance in the Sun’s Golfers Choice Awards last year—is Wooden Sticks’ calling card, the course also features several challenging par 5s. Inspired by New Jersey’s Pine Valley, the 544-yard ninth hole features formidable waste bunkers in front of the tee decks and beside the green, while the 509-yard 14th, which features two pot bunkers in the fairway and three more guarding the green, is inspired by “Hogan’s Alley,” the sixth hole at Scotland’s famed Carnoustie. According to Wooden Sticks’ extensive records, there have been 35 eagles on the ninth hole and 30 on the 14th. The wait for a condor continues. 

THE BAY STREET BULL | 11

P L AY E R P R O F I L E : T H E V E T E R A N

Despite 37 PGA Tour victories including three major championships, Phil Mickelson has never won a PGA Tour money title, never been voted player of the year, never ascended to the No. 1 ranking. But last year Lefty capped off one of his best seasons by winning the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in Shanghai in November. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll turn 40 the Wednesday of the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, the course where he made his professional debut in 1992 and where he won three AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Ams. With Mickelson's game in great shape, in part, because he started working with putting guru Dave Stockton; this could be the year he becomes No.1. 12 | THE BAY STREET BULL

Photo: Aly Song/Reuters

Phil Mickelson

P L AY E R P R O F I L E : T H E C O N T E N D E R

Photo: Donald Miralle/Getty Images

Luke Donald

Luke Donald turned pro in 2001. Five years later, he reached the top 10 in the Official World Golf Rankings. In January 2007, he reached a career high ranking of No. 7, and was briefly the highest-ranked European golfer. Yet Donald has always been plagued by rumours that he isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t driven, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easy to understand why. Between his career earnings and endorsement deals with Ralph Lauren and Mizuno, Donald has become quite a wealthy player with just four unremarkable victories to his name. In January, however, he split with his longtime caddie (and older brother) Christian Donald and began working with John McLaren. For fans, this is the surest indication that Donald is finally ready to be a contender.

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P L AY E R P R O F I L E : T H E U P S TA R T

Photo: Mark Owens/Puma.com

Rickie Fowler

Rookie Rickie Fowler was the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world for 36 weeks in 2007 and 2008, and was a two-time first-team AllAmerican at Oklahoma State University. Last year, after just two years of college, Fowler made eight PGA tour starts, earning almost $600,000. Then in September, it was announced that the 21-year-old had signed a multi-year equipment deal with Titleist and another deal with clothing manufacturer Puma. Of the many exciting young players on the PGA Tour, Fowler is the most favoured to place. With his long hair, white belts and tight-fitting shirts, he will be watched this season as much for his bold play as for his trendy SoCal looks.

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Are you up for the challenge?

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G O L F AR C H I T EC T U R E

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Golfâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Guggenheim THE FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT CLUBHOUSE THAT ALMOST DIDN'T GET BUILT

BY BEN STONE

he best clubhouses are cloaked in mystery and mystique. So when one stumbles upon a clubhouse that sprung from the mind of an architectural genius, involves a 1950s Hollywood starlet, and was financed from a syndicate of wealthy businessmen, it almost sounds too good to be true. >>

THE BAY STREET BULL | 19

The building in question, which Frank Lloyd Wright drafted more than 60 years ago, was once intended for Marilyn Munroe and her then-husband, playwright Arthur Miller. As legend has it, the couple met Wright in New York City in 1957, shortly after they married, and asked him to design a house they wanted to build in Roxbury, New York. Wright instead persuaded them to purchase the unused building plans he had drafted for a wealthy Texas couple. The newlyweds agreed, on the condition that Wright make a few modifications: add servants’ quarters, make a bigger closet, put in a pool and include a theatre. Those slight additions ended up doubling the size of the house to 14,000-square-feet. But the house never got built. In 1959, at the age of 91, Wright died, and the Munro-Miller marriage (never on solid ground) ended in divorce in 1961. For the next three decades, the plans sat in a Scottsdale vault at Taliesin West, the architectural design studio created by Wright. Then, in 1988, a group of Japanese investors, led by Takeshi Sekiguichi, came looking to buy the plans for a clubhouse that would grace their Maui property. “They were not happy to find out that there were no plans,” says John Rattenbury. Now 81-years-old and head of his own firm, Rattenbury had come under Wright’s tutelage as a teenager, forming an almost father-son bond. (His real father was famed British architect Francis Rattenbury, who was murdered by his wife’s teenage lover. His mother, Alma, hearing that her lover would be hanged, took her own life.) After Wright’s passing, Rattenbury, the heir-apparent to Taliesin West, was just the person to tweak the interest of the Japanese businessmen with sketches of a building with a Hollywood connection. At a cost of US$27 million, the 74,000-square-foot clubhouse was completed in 1993. Now the King Kamehameha Golf Club, the clubhouse is the heart of the property nestled in the West Maui Mountains. Inspired by the natural habitat and committed to the integrity of Wright’s vision, the rose-coloured clubhouse sits two-thirds underground. The curving lines, softly rounded domes and porthole windows speak to its mid-century design, and bring to mind vintage images of UFOs. The 232-metre elevation offers a stunning 270-degree bicoastal view, with the terrace overlooking Ho’okipa Bay to the left and Ma’alaea Bay to the right. The clubhouse features a 4,300-square-foot dining room and a 3,800-square-foot pro shop, as well as casual dining venues and cozy fireplaces for curling up in front of. Rattenbury added two levels, men’s and women’s locker rooks and a cart barn. 20 | THE BAY STREET BULL

Though thoroughly modern on the outside, the clubhouse interior is devoted to Hawaii’s ancient culture. Every room has a Hawaiian name, and there are only two pieces of art that aren’t dedicated to Hawaiian culture: a portrait of Wright that hangs on the “Guggenheim” stairwell, and a rare photograph of Monroe working out, displayed in the women’s locker room. Originally the Waikapu Valley Country Club, and then briefly the Grand Waikapu Golf Resort and Spa, the golf course and clubhouse were closed in 1999, when the Japanese economy collapsed. Though the large rooms were used for banquets, the property was all but abandoned. In 2004, Japanese businessman (and avid golfer) Makoto Kaneko, purchased the club for US$12.5 million, reopening in May 2006 after a US$40-million renovation. It is now the only 18-hole private golf course on the island. With such a storied past, one gets the feeling that King Kamehameha clubhouse’s final chapter has yet to be written. 

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GOLF GETAWAY

Teein Time Wales WHERE TRUE LINKS, COMMON LAND AND THE CELTIC MANOR BECKON

BY ANITA DRAYCOTT

n the first century AD, the Romans built an amphitheatre at Isca, their fortress in west Britain. It was a place for entertainment, sport and gladiatorial combat. Two thousand years later—and approximately a driver and a five-iron away—a new amphitheatre, the Twenty Ten course at Celtic Manor in South Wales’ Usk Valley, will become the venue for the 2010 Ryder Cup. From Oct. 1 to 3, 2010, golf fanatics will be riveted to the match play drama between the American and European teams on the Twenty Ten course, the first in history to be purpose-built for a Ryder Cup. Celtic Manor is the brainchild of Welsh entrepreneur, Sir Terry Matthews, co-founder of Mitel and now chairman of March Networks Corporation in Ottawa. In 1980, Sir Terry happened to be driving past the maternity hospital where he was born, and he noticed the property was for sale. He bought it and turned it into the Manor House Hotel. Today the sprawling Celtic Manor Resort includes the 70-room Manor House, the 330-room Resort Hotel, a spa and health club, five restaurants and three 18-hole golf courses—the Roman Road, the Montgomerie and Twenty Ten.

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Historically, The Ryder Cup has been a difficult event to watch live. During the first two days only four matches are in play, whereas at the Majors, crowds can be dispersed throughout a course to watch up to 50 groups of players. But that has been addressed. According to Celtic Manor’s director of golf, Jim McKenzie, “Not only have we been able to build in challenges specifically for the match play drama of the Ryder Cup—drivable par 4s, reachable par 5s, tests of strategy, penalizing water hazards—we have also created a course which copes with the needs of the spectators.” Huge viewing banks in the steep hillside towering above the closing three holes can accommodate legions of fans. Indeed, there will be plenty of drama on the 18th, a 575-yard par 5. A good drive allows the possibility of reaching the green in two, provided that a long approach shot across the water reaches the elevated green that is defended by a pair of sizable bunkers eager to snare anything too ambitious. American captain, Corey Pavin, who played the course last summer concurs that “the heat will be on from 14 through 18.” There are about 200 more enticements to pack your clubs and head to Wales, from championship links to quirky unknown gems. For pampered North American golfers, the first encounter with a true links course may come as a bit of a shock. Forget about wall-to-wall fairways, copious yardage markers and cart girls. Buggies, as golf carts are called over there, are few and far between; links courses are meant 24 | THE BAY STREET BULL

to be walked. Expect to lose plenty of balls in the gorse and taste the salt in the invigorating air. Links courses are the work of Mother Nature, carved through dunes linking land and sea. This is golf at its purest, and once it gets into your blood, you’re hooked for life. Pennard—perhaps Wales’ quirkiest course and near the wonderfully named town of Mumbles on the Gower Peninsula—is called the “links in the sky” because although it has all the trappings of a seaside links course, it’s perched high on a promontory overlooking Three Cliffs Bay. On number seven you must drive over a deep chasm to find the sunken green alongside the ruins of a 12th century Norman castle and church. Wild stallions galloping across a stone bridge may also come into play. On the southwest coast, Southerndown is rather uniquely covered with bleating sheep, a reminder that the course is laid out on common land, meaning local farmers have the right to graze their flocks there. Southerndown hit the news in 1995 when member Peter Croke implanted his ball from his drive on the 17th into a sheep’s bottom. The startled animal bolted up the fairway depositing the ball 30 yards nearer to the hole. Croke won the hole by a stroke. Royal Porthcawl, just around the corner, was founded in 1891 and granted “royal” status by H.R.H. King Edward VII in 1909. The first three holes play so close to Swansea Bay you can taste the salt. On certain days, when the wind howls and a mist descends, you may encounter the ghost of the Maid of Sker on the 17th. On the northwest coast, Nefyn & District Golf Club, dubbed the Pebble Beach of Wales, is a favourite. It’s a 26-hole track with 10 outward fairways and two separate inward eights called the Old and the New. From every fairway you have views of the sea. For sheer, cliff-hanging drama, try to play the Old which clings to the top of a narrow peninsula. Perhaps no other hole in the world confronts the golfer with the distractions to be found on hole 12, with its blind drive, blind second shot, public thoroughfare populated by hikers and a cratersized pit. After draining your putt on number 15, follow a footpath down to the Ty Coch Inn, located on the beach at Porthdinllaen, for a quick pint. It’s a Nefyn tradition. Where to stay? You can’t go wrong with Welsh Rarebits, a collection of 54 premier properties dotted all over the country. Each has been personally selected by the gregarious founder, Emyr Griffith, who is also an avid golfer and will customize golf and hotel itineraries all over Wales. 

Colin Montgomerie, European captain for the 2010 Ryder Cup.

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Royal Green OCEAN VIEWS AND STUNNING VISTAS AWAIT IN BERMUDA

BY BEN STONE | PHOTOS: JEAN-PIERRE ROUJA

n the southeastern coast of Bermuda sits Port Royal Golf Club, one of two government-owned public courses on the fish-hook-shaped island, and host of October’s 2010 PGA Grand Slam. Consistently ranked one of the best public courses in the world, Port Royal was originally designed by renowned golf course architect Robert Trent Jones Sr. in 1970, but it had begun to lose some of its lustre over the years. Most of the deterioration stemmed from the lack of irrigation, but wind raking sand from the bunkers was an additional problem. With a US$14.5-million cash infusion from the government, and redesign led by Roger Rulwich, a Jones protégé who worked on the initial construction 30 years ago, Port Royal emerged from an 18-month closure in July, once again a golfer’s paradise.

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There are new bunkers, which are now deeper with flatter-bottom sand contours. Palms and Bermudian cedars have replaced Casuarinas trees, opening more vistas to the sea. And a new state-of-the-art irrigation system, supported by new ponds and lakes, has been installed to keep everything in superb condition year-round. TifEagle grass has been established on the greens for a faster, more consistent roll. The overall yardage has been increased by 281 yards for a total of just over 6,842 yards, making Port Royal the longest track in Bermuda.

The Course Your round starts with a tough 438-year par 4, a dogleg with a downhill opening tee shot (beware of the pond lying in wait). From there, the course twists and turns as it meanders

along through woodland, seashore, meadows and cliff tops, offering stunning ocean views along the way. Number 11 is also a score killer. The downhill par-4 hole plays straight down the middle, but the fairway is narrow and there’s a nasty patch of rough about 200 yards from the back tee. The green isn’t visible from the tee, but a good shot will set you up for a downhill second shot onto the green. But beware: the green is well guarded by bunkers. Port Royal’s signature hole is the par 3, 235-yard 16th, one of the most spectacular and most photographed holes in the world. The view is truly breathtaking. There are four teeing areas, so golfers of all standards can play this hole. A solid tee shot is required to carry the ball over the ocean to the peninsula the green sits on. The well-bunkered green offers the player a small target to find, but the prevailing

winds make this hole more challenging than it appears. The finishing hole is an uphill battle. The par 4 is just 410 yards from the back tee, but the tiered fairway is a challenge, and a straight tee shot is a must with bunkers on the left and right. A second uphill shot will take you to the three-tiered green, which slopes front to back and is well guarded by bunkers, particularly at the back. Expect a challenge to the end.

Dress Code A strict dress code exists at all golf courses in Bermuda, and Port Royal is no exception. Shirts must have collars and sleeves. Shorts must be Bermuda length (to the knee). Jeans, cut-offs and tracksuits are a definite no. And only soft spiked golf shoes can be worn.  THE BAY STREET BULL | 27

G O L F

E Q U I P M E N T

Drivers Nike SQ MachSpeed Driver

The Nike SQ Machspeed driver is loaded with groundbreaking technology. It features the award-winning Nike STR8-FIT technology, square technology and the new, Total Swing Aerodynamic Design. The swing design increases a golfer’s club speed and adds yards to tee shots. By rounding certain areas of the clubhead and designing it to allow air to move more smoothly across it, Nike says the square head of the Machspeed has reduced drag. Included is a torque wrench, which golfers can use to unscrew the head and reattach it in one of eight different settings to change the face angle, loft and lie angle of the club. When it comes to aerodynamics, nobody does it better than Nike.

Titleist 909DComp Driver

Ping G15 Driver

TaylorMade R9 Driver

Cobra LZ Driver

If high launch without excessive spin coupled with an extra large sweet spot is just what the golf doctor ordered, then the 909DComp is your tee box prescription. The full pear profile is modern, and the lightweight composite crown deepens the center of gravity, perfect for launching beautiful parabolas. A specially tuned sole cuts back on vibration, adds stability and provides a real solid feel on contact. Its integrated titanium blind bore hosel design shaves off precious grams and allows for multiple shaft options. The frame is both wider and deeper than the 902D2 and 909D3 variants in order to provide added stability on hits shy of the sweet spot.

This top-notch performer raises the bar set by its exceptional predecessor (the G10). A lighter high balance point shaft and an elongated head from front to back gooses the moment of inertia by 15 percent, and redistributed mass allows it to muster 1.6 km/h faster ball speed on sweet spot impact, which translates into six extra yards of carry. It makes these improvements without increasing swing weight by one iota. More importantly, even off-center hits have been juiced by more than 3 km/h, providing 10 more yards of carry. It’s that extreme forgiveness on miss-hits that’ll have distance-starved, consistencycraving golfers lining up in shops to give this ball-blasting puppy a spin.

The TaylorMade innovation lab continues to crank out modern marvels—this is, after all, the company that pioneered the metal wood 30 years ago, and rewriting a club’s DNA remains their modus operandi. The R9’s movable weights and adjustable shaft allow for a multitude of adjustments that promote up to 75 yards of side-to-side trajectory change. Choose from eight settings and change the face, loft and lie angle to suit your game. The R9 has already sired the bigger headed R9 460, and the black-on-black R9 Super-Tri, where TaylorMade marries its flight control technology and movable weight tech in a 460 cubic centimetre clubhead for the first time.

This sleek, stylish, titanium-bodied looker with a carbon fibre crown and sole manages to live up to its banal namesake, “Zero Limits.” You can feel the power coursing through the 117-centimetre shaft of this beautifully milled creature, confident that this club packs a wallop even before starting your back swing. While amplifying distance off the tee without sacrificing accuracy is the primary goal of this slugger, it’s clear engineers obsessed over the most minute of details, even going so far as to hush the strident bark on impact audible on prior models. The club head can be unscrewed and then slotted back into neutral, closed or open positions.

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G O L F

E Q U I P M E N T

Fireway Woods Mizuno MX-700

Mizuno’s “Hot Metal” technology has nothing to do with head banging or strumming power chords, and there’s no need to dial up your club speed to 11 to maximize performance. But this fairway wood can be a handy second-shot weapon of choice for unleashing a massive hit. The plasma-welded steel face supersizes the coefficient of restitution, which in turn increases the ball speed and the energy transfer on contact. The thinness of the hot metal allows weight to be distributed elsewhere in the club head, lowering the centre of the gravity, increasing forgiveness and making it easier to launch balls with optimal trajectories even out of light rough.

Cleveland Launcher DST Fairway Wood

Adams Speedline Fast 10 Fairway Wood

Nike SQ Dymo2 Fairway Wood

Callaway Diablo Edge Fairway Wood

An expanded oversized face on the latest launcher supersizes the heelto-toe hitting area on this dependable shot maker. The facelift provides more forgiveness on lessthan-extraordinary strokes. Stock versions come outfitted with an Ultralite Diamana Red 64 Shaft designed to optimize launch angle and maximize downrange hang time and carry distance. As with the DST driver, the M.O. of the launcher is to hit the ball longer, lighter, faster and straighter. Along with the 13-degree (low trajectory) and 15-degree (standard) options, there’s also a loftier 17-degree 3-wood option. If you want to jack up distance and you’re a high handicap player with a slower swing speed, opt for the latter loft.

The next generation in the Adams fairway woods arsenal is available in 13-, 15- and 18-degree lofts, as well as Draw 15-degree and Draw 18-degree varieties, and they feature precision milling for optimized centre of gravity, exacting design and premium aesthetics. In the standard models, the weight pad is positioned rear-center to encourage a higher launch and neutral ball flight, whereas the draw models are heel weighted, predisposing the club for gentle right-toleft draw action (in right handed golfers, or vice versa for lefties). The curvature and shaping of the sole increases the camber by 57 percent to augment lift-off from all lies and improve ball-striking consistency.

It’s been hip to swing Nike’s squareclubbed big sticks since 2007, but that loud, hollow, metallic clank that early versions would blare on contact left much to be desired, as did the weighty Sumo moniker. Nike listened to the acoustical criticism, retired the cheeky name, and crafted a smoother sounding sweet spot purr on their square-headed beasts without sacrificing their awesome firepower. DYMO is shorthand for dynamic moment of inertia, but it might as well be for “boom goes the DYMO-mite.” The club is basically designed to optimize ball flight and distance whether you’re hitting a high or lower trajectory shot, and new SQ grips provide control and power with every shot.

The devil is always in the club head details. Want to hammer big, long, straight, impressive shots that majestically stay airborne for what seems like forever before being guided in for a gentle landing inches from the pin? You could either sign your soul away to Lucifer or opt for adding a Diablo to your golf bag. With the highest moment of inertia ever in a steel Callaway fairway wood, the club offers less twisting at impact, which boils down to greater forgiveness. Average duffers should stick with the regular edge, which is built for maximizing distance, while the Tour version’s shallow center of gravity is favored by seasoned pros who prefer flatter ball flight.

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G O L F

E Q U I P M E N T

Golf Shoes Adidas 360 4.0 Golf Shoes Engineered with Adidas’ THiNTech low-profile outsole support system, the Adidas 360 4.0 brings the golfer closer to the ground, lowering the centre of gravity for better stability and a better feel. The end result is better footwork, better balance and better feedback, which ultimately allows you to hit controlled shots and improve your ball striking. FitFoam molds to the contours of your foot for a custom fit that evenly distributes weight and pressure. The ClimaProof system will keep your feet comfortably dry with its two-layer system, the first of which wicks interior moisture to the shoe’s surface, while the second envelops the foot with a waterproof membrane.

FootJoy SYNR-G Golf Shoes

Adidas adiPURE™ Golf Shoes

Nike Air Zoom TW Golf Shoes

FootJoy FJ ICON Golf Shoes

Comfort, durability and stability are the hallmarks of FootJoy’s SYNR-G golf shoes. The Extreme Comfort Leather outer from U.K.based Pittard’s comes with a twoyear warranty, and the leather is 30 percent softer than the previous generation of FootJoy shoes. The tri-density outsole offers both durability and stability, and Stinger cleats by CHAMP also offer superior stability and support and are easy on the greens. The TriLateral Stability Frame provides motion control and enhanced stability, while the dual OptiFlex zones offer flexibility and walking comfort. The silicone HeelLoc system reduces friction and keeps your foot locked in place, and foam in the tongue and around the collar provide a custom fit.

A modern take on classic golf shoe design, Adidas’ adiPURE combines high-tech design, fine materials and superior craftsmanship. Premium, hand-finished full-grain leather is rich in look and feel, and provides superior durability. The outsole has been overhauled with Adidas’ THiNTech low-profile technology, which brings the golfer closer to the ground for better stability and improved balance, footwork and feedback for more consistent ball striking. The re-engineered POWERBAND CHASSIS wraps higher on the lateral forefoot and medial heel, securing the foot for better control and more power. Impact absorption is enhanced by adiPrene cushioning technology, and the FitFOAM polyurethane sock liner serves up support, cushioning and comfort from heel to toe.

A classic choice for the course, Nike’s Air Zoom TW is all about superior technology wrapped in a sleek shell. The soft and supple full-grain leather upper contrasts beautifully with Nike’s Ballistic Mesh, a lightweight, breathable and waterproof material that ensures a dry, comfortable fit. The Power Platinum TW system stabilizes the foot for better balance, smoother weight transfer and more power, while the rubber outsole is green-friendly and features Scorpion Stinger Spikes and the Tri-LOK system for great grip and quick access. The Zoom Air heel provides responsive, low-profile cushioning, enhancing comfort and stability, and the full-length Phylon midsole provides superior cushioning to keep your feet comfortable all day long.

When it comes to finish and style, few can match FootJoy’s FJ ICON. The premium full-grain leather offers outstanding waterproofing, breathability and durability, while calfskin detailing is stretch-resistant and epitomizes luxury. The tri-density thermal polyurethane outsole provides stability, flexibility and walking comfort, and the perforated alloy Torque Bar in the shank area of the outsole increases mid-foot stability and support and brings an industrial aesthetic to the shoe. Inside, the leather-covered polyurethane Fit Bed mimics the natural shape of the foot for cushioned support and a quality fit, and full leather lining provides comfort, slip resistance and breathability. Soft microfibre in the heel further ensures a slip-resistant fit.

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ultimate golf

WHERE IS YOUR

Many owners first experienced the community through a stay at the AAA Five Diamond Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation.

Where do you want to spend the best times of your life? Nearly 100 years ago, inventor Mercer Reynolds chose a pristine wooded sanctuary between Atlanta and Augusta as his ultimate getaway; more recently, both GOLF Magazine and Golf Digest chose to place their first-ever “ultimate golf homes” in the community that evolved from his family's vision: Reynolds Plantation. As a unique primary address or the perfect vacation home, Reynolds Plantation is a world apart, but never far away. With award-winning golf courses by world-class designers Cupp, Nicklaus, Fazio, Jones and Engh and over 80 miles of shoreline on Lake Oconee, the quiet retreat of the Reynolds family is now one of the world's premier golf and lake communities - as evidenced by Reynolds Plantation having earned Robb Report's “Best of the Best Golf Community” designation. We invite you to visit Reynolds Plantation and discover your ultimate golf home today.

HOME ?

Reynolds Plantation is pleased to continue the tradition of ultimate showcase homes through an innovative partnership with TRAVEL + LEISURE GOLF. Open for tours daily, the first-ever TRAVEL + LEISURE GOLF Cottage sets the standard for the ultimate golf cottage lifestyle. This Ultimate Golf Cottage and first release of cottages at The Creek Club are available exclusively through Reynolds Plantation Realty, LLC.

www.ReynoldsPlantation.com Toll Free from Ontario: 800.800.5250 90 minutes from Atlanta Airport – more than 5 direct flights daily Obtain the property report required by Federal Law and read it before signing anything. No Federal Agency has judged the merit or value, if any, of this property. Void where prohibited by law.

OPPORTUNITY

G O L F

E Q U I P M E N T

Golf Bags Ping Freestyle Stand Golf Bag

Don’t let this lightweight fool you: Weighing less than 2.5 kilograms, the Ping Freestyle blends innovation and style, and loses nothing in the process. There are three full-length dividers, a rain hood and a secondary spring wire stay that improves the bag’s structure and performance. A full-size towel loop will come in handy on those extra hot days, and the Velcro golf glove loop is a bonus. Eight pockets, including a lined valuables area, mean you’ll have enough space for all your waterproofs and balls. This high-tech beauty comes in variety of vibrant colours.

Cobra Staff Golf Bag

Callaway Women’s Golf Sport Cart Bag

Sun Mountain ClubGlider Meridian

Cleveland Tour Staff Bag

The best bags take into consideration every eventuality, and the redesigned Cobra Staff is no exception. With seven pockets, including one with a magnetic closure, plus two insulated beverage pockets, you won’t have a problem storing anything. It also features a 25-centimetre six-way top, padded shoulder strap with three-point sling suspension, umbrella loop, rain hood and towel ring, and the ergonomic rubber handle makes lifting easy. This lightweight black and yellow trekker weighs a mere 5 kilograms. And the black and yellow design with silver accents will make a statement on the fairways.

This is a cart bag with a lot of amenities. Whether you’re walking the course or taking a ride, every Callaway Golf cart bag is built for ultimate durability. It features a 23centimetre top, 13-way full-length divider, an independent putter well, towel ring, rain hood and umbrella sleeve. And there’s a place for everything in the bag’s 12 pockets, which include a fleecelined valuables pocket, two mesh water bottle pockets and, a favourite of golfers, two full-length apparel pockets. And with a single comfort strap and weighing just 3.6 kilograms, this is one userfriendly bag.

The ClubGlider Meridian was born on an airline napkin, after Gary Sherrell, of Maple Valley, WA, had enough of lugging his heavy, hard case through the airport and hotel. After some help from his fatherin-law (the engineer), Sherrell entered the Golf Channel’s Fore Inventors Only contest, beating more than a thousand other contestants to take third place and nab a licensing agreement with Sun Mountain Sports. Meridian’s integrated leg set features pivoting caster wheels for top maneuverability, and the legs retract into a molded tray for secure travel. Best of all: it folds for easy storage.

If it’s good enough for the PGA Tour pros, why not for you? The Tour Staff is a classic bag design with hi-tech materials. There’s a six-way top with two full-length dividers, a four-pocket traditional design, a padded shoulder strap, a rain hood and an umbrella sleeve. The red, white and navy exterior is classic, and a zip-off belly panel makes customized embroidery easy. Two magnetic front-loading accessory pockets offer easy access, and the main clothing compartment is spacious. Available in 24- and 27centimetre tops, and weighs 5 kilograms.

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W I N E

R E V I E W

RED Renaissance ERNIE ELS CAPE WINES RECEIVE A GLOBAL NOD

BY MARC PHILLIPS

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olf and wine aren’t an obvious pairing, yet over the years a number of pro golfers have launched their own wineries. Some are clearly marketing gimmicks; Ernie Els’ wineries are not. In 2000, just one year after Engelbrecht Els Vineyards was formed, the first vintage of the Ernie Els signature Bordeaux blend was released, earning 93 points from Wine Spectator magazine (which was the highest rating ever achieved for a South African wine) and four-and-a-half stars in the John

Platter Wine Guide. With each vintage there have been a slew of awards. Engelbrecht Els Proprietor’s Blend 2004 received a gold medal at the International Wine Challenge, the industry’s biggest and most influential competition. And three years later, Proprietor’s Blend again received a Gold Award, this time at Canada’s premier wine show, Sélections Mondiales des Vins 2007. (It was one of only 10 wines from around the globe—and one of only two South African wines—to achieve this honour.)

Els’ commitment to producing superb wine was first kindled by his life-long friendship with top South African vintner, Jean Engelbrecht. No stranger to the wine industry, Engelbrecht already had an illustrious career at his family-owned vineyard, Rust en Vrede, before partnering with Els. Traditionally, South African reds had a reputation for being coarse in texture with rustic flavours. The apartheid years were not good—bad grape clones, poor rootstocks, and no advances in production and viticulture led to sub-standard products. The Afrikaans word dikvoet, used to describe

these wines, translates directly as “thick foot.” And a few years ago, Times of London writer Jane MacQuiltty lamented after tasting a run of South Africa’s flagship reds that half were tainted by a “peculiar, savage, burnt rubber” odor. Els was able to avoid this problem from the beginning, no doubt by snagging the talent of winemaker Louis Strydom, who has produced the only South African wine to be nominated four years consecutively as one of

ERNIE ELS STELLENBOSCH 2005 ($96) Matured for 20 months in French oak. Plum red in colour with fruitcake aromas and a distinctive earthy undertone. The fruit from the aroma follows through onto a seductive mid-palate, supported by a silky mineral feel with hints of oak and backed by a seamless tannin structure. Best now through 2015. THE BAY STREET BULL | 37

THE BIG EASY “The Big Easy” is a perfect moniker for South African golfer Ernie Els because it describes so many things about him: He’s tall (he stands six feet three inches), is low-key both on and off the course, and has a fluid golf swing that appears effortless. Els grew up just east of Johannesburg in Kenton Park, South Africa, where he played rugby, cricket, tennis and golf. At 14, he won the Junior World Championship golf tournament in the Boys 13-15 category, beating Phil Mickelson. (The Boys 9-10 category was won by Tiger Woods.) And then, just a few months after his 17th birthday, Els won the South African Amateur Championship, becoming the youngest winner of that event, breaking the record, which had been held by Gary Player. From 2004 to 2007, Els, Woods, Mickelson, Vijay Singh and Retief Goosen so dominated the game of golf that it was dubbed the “Big Five Era.” Fans saw the group volley for the top five spots, winning nine majors between them. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Els is known for his willingness to participate in tournaments all around the world; he regularly plays in European Tour-sanctioned events in Asia, Australasia, and his native country of South Africa. His schedule has caused some friction with the PGA Tour, an organization that would prefer Els play more U.S. tournaments. But Els believes his globetrotting schedule recognizes the “global nature of golf.” And how can anyone argue with that? 38 | THE BAY STREET BULL

GUARDIAN PEAK FRONTIER 2008 ($23) This bright ruby red offers aromas of strawberries, candy floss and dark ripe cherries. The three varietals (Cabernet Savignon, Merlot and Shiraz) each contribute to its uniqueness and character, but Shiraz seems to dominate the palate, giving a juicy feel. Matured for 10 months in American and French oak.

GUARDIAN PEAK LAPA CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2007 ($23) Taking top honours at the International Wine Challenge Awards in London last year, this red shows great integration between oak and fruit. The toasted aromas filter into the palate with hints of lead pencil. The wine has great structure and length. And will develop and mature beautifully over the next few years.

the Top 100 wines in the world. Together they created the Ernie Els wine, a classic Bordeaux blend comprising of five varietals—Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot. Strydom’s success rests firmly on his ability to extract the best from the wine land of Stellenbosch. A 45-minute drive east of Cape Town, Stellenbosch is the second oldest wine region in South Africa, after Constantia, and is responsible for around 14 percent of the country’s annual wine production. Surrounded by mountains and nearby False Bay, the average temperatures during the summer growing season hover around 20 C, just slightly warmer than Bordeaux. Vineyard soil types range from decomposed granite on the hillside near the mountains, to sandy alluvial loam in the valleys near the river.

CIRRUS SYRAH 2008 ($64) A dark, intense wine with classic red fruit aromas. Immediately prevalent on the nose are plum and mulberries. It shows ripe, oaky tannins and a well-structured finish. Matured for 18 months in a combination of new French and American Oak barrels.

Els and Englebrecht have built one of South Africa’s most impressive red wine portfolios, headed up by a “dream team” comprised of winemakers Strydom and Coenie Snyman, who joined the team in 2005 after working in wineries in South Africa and California. (Recently, Snyman won the Diners Club Winemaker of the Year 2009 award.) The partnership now includes three labels: Engelbrecht Els Vineyards; Guardian Peak, which opened in 2005 and produces what they call “fruit driven wines that require less aging”; and Cirrus, for which their inaugural wine, Syrrah, was produced in 2003. In less than a decade, Els has put South African red wines firmly on the world map and created a sort of red renaissance in his homeland. 

B U L L

R E V I E W

ZDX

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2010

ne isn’t quite sure what to make of the Acura ZDX. The “hidden” rear-door handles and the fastback profile trick the eye into thinking it’s a coupe when in fact it’s a sedan. The 19-inch alloys and the protruding rear haunches can give any high-end vehicle a run for its money. And the stylish metallic grille—one of the many design features heralded by 25-year-old Michelle Christensen—make this one striking ride. Features include a 3.7-litre V6 engine hooked to an all-new six-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters and a lock-up torque converter. Acura clearly spent some time on the ZDX’s interior. The leather seats are soft and supple, but still durable. And the glass roof, which extends from the hood to the hatchback, gives both seat rows plenty of light. The ZDX is completely iPod- and smart phone-friendly, and the cabin noise is quelled by cancelling frequencies sent forth from the audio system. There is a rear-view camera with three settings (normal, wide and top) and a powered tailgate. For the technophile, there is a load of impressive options. Along with the 10-speaker, 435-watt ELS Surround Premium audio upgrade (which also includes a 15GB hard drive), there’s a navigation system with tri-lingual voice recognition, keyless access and push button start. And if that weren’t enough, there’s a dual-zone climate control feature that garners info from GPS satellites to determine, for instance, which side of the ZDX is getting more sun, and adjusts the AC accordingly. Coupe, Sedan, or SUV? You be the judge.

— MARC PHILLIPS

THE BAY STREET BULL | 41

T E C H

T O Y S

the

AVATARt

c e f Ef

WADING INTO THE NEXT DIMENSION BY MIKE DOJC

f there was one take-away message from the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show, it was this: Top television manufacturers are betting that the catalyst for the next upgrade cycle will be 3D HDTV. The box-office largesse of James Cameronâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s immersive opus Avatar turned what may have otherwise been a roulette wheel spin into a spectroscopic shoo-in. With LCD and plasma profits reaching market saturation, Sony, Panasonic, LG, Samsung et al. are looking to 3D to goose sales. But give the third dimension a couple years to ramp up. The infrastructure is still in the gestation period with broadcast channels in 3D not set to come online until 2011, so most of the content will initially be via discs. Hype will nevertheless build, fuelled by a snowball of rollouts by such media innovators as Britainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s BSkyB, who announced that they are launching a 3D channel in select pubs in London, Manchester, Edinburgh and a few other cities to show Premiere League Football matches this April.

2010 T-REX 14R

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 QUE Plastic Logic’s letter-size high-end book reader ($649 for 4GB) is 1.7 centimetres slim and tips the scales at less than half a kilogram. Aimed at the briefcase set, Que’s truVue format was developed in tandem with Adobe to preserve the style and layout found in the print format of titles such as the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and trade journals. More than just a reader, Que can cue up all your Excel spreadsheets, Word docs, and PowerPoint presentations, and browse and send Outlook e-mail. You can also use its calendar feature to schedule your day. The only physical button on the device is the home button on the top right corner; everything else is controlled with touch screen taps and fingertip swipes. que.com  PURE SENSIA While Internet-connected radio players have yet to really take off on this side of the pond, the U.K.-designed Sensia’s ($350) 14.5-centimetre hi-res colour touch screen ups the ante on this emerging side table curiosity. Billed as “Radio for the Facebook generation,” this oval shaped tap-and-play gizmo’s Pure Lounge interface simplifies the business of sifting through thousands of Net stations and podcasts from all over the world and organizing your favourites. You can search by name, genre, country, language or stream quality. Tunes stored on your personal computer’s music collection can also be streamed, provided your Sensia is in range of your home wireless network. Current apps display local weather, Twitter, news feeds and more, and the list will grow as third-party developers come aboard. touchmyradio.com  BUCKETHEAD SIGNATURE LES PAUL This striking Alpine white guitar ($4,311) with an unmarked ebony fretboard is accented by two ’80s-style red arcade push buttons which function as kill switches to mute the guitar. The modern electric guitar pioneer, Les Paul, passed away last year but he left behind a legacy of original six-string designs for Gibson that date back to 1952. Guitar collectors and fans of Brian Patrick Carroll (a.k.a. Buckethead), will be delighted to get their hands on this tribute to the avant-garde master shredder. gibson.com  SAMSUNG 9000-SERIES LED Get ahead of the curve with Samsung’s 9000-Series 3D TV (from $2,000), billed as the world’s slimmest fully integrated LED TV. It’s just 0.8 centimetres thick—that’s literally pencil thin. Along with the ability to add depth and a picture that literally jumps out at you, they’ve also upgraded their Internet@TV feature, which gives users access to snazzy Samsung Apps, opening the floodgates to content and services from Twitter, Pandora, Rovi and tons more. They’ve even revolutionized the remote control, transforming it into a colour touch screen channel clicker with onscreen buttons and a QWERTY keyboard, and in an innovative twist, it also functions as a mini-TV, displaying broadcast content right on the remote—so if the wife insists on a Sandra Bullock popcorn-muncher, you don’t have to deploy picture-in-picture to keep tabs on the baseball game. samsung.com  BOXEE BOX The winner of the CES Best of Innovations award in the Home Entertainment category is a peripheral that attaches to your TV just like a DVD player and allows users to seamlessly enjoy entertainment from their hard drive or the Net on their television set. Boxee Box ($200), from wireless router maker D-Link, originally existed solely as a software package, and you had to physically connect your laptop to your television set in order to utilize it. Now there’s no need for that hassle, and you no longer have to pony up for a new Net-connected TV set. Playback in up to 1,080p resolution on everything from home videos and YouTube clips to HD TV shows and movies. Along with video, Boxee can also play songs from popular websites like Pandora and Last.Fm, and can browse through pictures from Flickr, Picasa and Facebook. Boxee’s clever remote has your typical navigation features on the top face, with a full QUERTY keyboard on the flip side. boxee.tv THE BAY STREET BULL | 43

 LEICA MONOVID MONOCULAR While any pair of Bushnells will do the trick when trying to get a closer look at the action at a ball game, there are some situations where binoculars are too gauche, and that’s when you break out this high-end Monocular ($500). Its sturdy yet elegant nitrogen-filled aluminum casing is 10-centimetres long and weighs only 113 grams (or about a tenth of a kilogram), making this a great scope for creating the illusion that an aria is being sung directly in front of you, in stunning clarity, for your eyes only. It offers a zoom with eight-times magnification and is equally useful for short-range peering. Examine a fine work of art that is centimetres away in exquisite detail with the included close-up lens for a view into the artist’s unique brush stroke and layering style. leica.com  OLYMPUS STYLUS TOUGH 8000 You can bring along your digital camera while carving up the slopes at Whistler, climbing the Adirondacks, or camping at Algonquin Park without fretting about whether it can handle the wear and tear. This impermeable 12-mega-pixel camera ($380) can handle virtually any extreme environment you’ll wish to take snapshots in. It’s freeze-proof to -10 C, waterproof down to 10 metres, and a nifty tap control feature allows for easy control when underwater or wearing gloves. This rough-and-tumble shooter has a lot in common with a Timex in that it can take a licking and keep on clicking. Its durable casing and reinforced LCD screen are crushproof, able to survive up to 100 kilograms of hurt—so it could probably withstand a round with Wladimir Klitschko. olympus.com  VIZIO 72-INCH XVT PRO HD3D TV America’s television company’s top of the line model in the 3D sweepstakes is the 72-inch XVT Pro HD3D TV ($3,500), an LED whopper that delivers 480hz TruLED and the third dimension in 1,080p resolution. All sets in the XVT Pro series come packed with wireless HD and Vizio Internet Apps loaded with widgets that allow you to read news feeds, stream movies and music, and keep abreast of the latest on social networking sites. Thanks to the connectivity there’s no need to tether your laptop to your set to get the big screen Internet experience. Making life a tad easier is a Bluetooth remote that allows you to control the TV without having to point at a sensor. The remote also comes with a handy slide-out QWERTY keypad, making typing and movie rental searches a cinch. vizio.com  REAL PRO ULTRA SERIES MASSAGE CHAIRS With all the 3D home entertainment options on the horizon, there’s going to be a lot more neck kinks as viewers swerve to avoid being chomped down on by virtual Jaws’ gnashing teeth. Fluent in Shiatsu and Swedish massage, calf and foot Reflexology, and offering 1,117 unique and invigorative massage modes, the Real Pro Ultra (from $3,500) kneads away your stress and sooths tight muscles in an American Chiropractic Association-approved chair. Exclusive to Panasonic’s therapeutic thrones is Junetsu massage, Japanese for “ultra fine kneading,” which mimics the circular thumb motions employed by many pro masseuses. panasonicmassagechairs.com  2011 HONDA CR-Z With the world’s largest automaker losing a bit of shine thanks to their sticky pedal snafu, Honda is planning to put a dent in Toyota’s hybrid supremacy with a sporty coupe that is a mashup of the 1989 CRX and the 2002 Insight. With a short wheelbase, a low-slung hood and a fetchingly sloped rear window, the 44 | THE BAY STREET BULL

CR-Z will be the world’s first hybrid head-turner. A 1.5-litre, four-cylinder iVTEC engine is combined with Honda’s Integrated Motor Assist hydride battery pack to provide a peppy ride and fuel economy up to 16 kilometres per litre. The 3-Mode Drive System adjusts steering, throttle and engine response, with sport, normal or economy settings all initiated with the push of a button to the left of the steering wheel. CR-Zs are set to roll into dealerships this summer, and while there’s been no official word on price at press time, they should be comparable to the Insight. honda.com  iPAD Not since Moses brought two of them down Mount Sinai and unveiled them to the Israelites has there been so much kafuffle about a tablet. iPad (from $500) boasts a 24.6-centimetre screen powered by Apple’s 1GHz A4 processor which promises 10 hours of battery life whether watching video, listening to tunes, or surfing the web—or a month on standby. Resembling an enlarged iPhone or iPod Touch and navigating in much the same fashion, anybody with experience with the prior devices will have no difficulty transitioning. Mail, calendar, mobile safari, the iTunes and App Stores, photos, YouTube and a bunch of other familiar apps come pre-installed, including newbie iBooks, the e-reader app and its companion store to download books directly to the device. At just 0.7 kilograms, holding one has the heft of an issue of Vanity Fair, which bodes well for the hope that the iPad will be a print media saviour. Treading a new middle ground between a smart phone and a laptop, success will hinge on how badly consumers want another computer screen in their life. apple.com  2010 T-REX 14R Montreal’s Campagna Motors are hell-bent on dispelling trikes’ rickety reputation. This precision handmade three-wheeled two-seater ($52,000) is powered by a 1,400-cubic centimetre, four-cylinder engine by Kawasaki, which produces 187 hp. It can accelerate north of 60 in just 3.92 seconds, with a top speed of 231 km/h—that’s comparable specs to a Lotus Elise. So despite the two wheels in front and one in the back dynamic, it shares nothing with your grandfather’s Morgan. It is as impressive looking as its Jurassic namesake, especially in a prosperous yellow paint job, and could easily outrun a Tyrannosaurus whether you believe recent research published in the Journal of Theoretical Biology or trust Spielberg’s interpretation. campagnamotors.com  RUBIK TOUCHCUBE The classic puzzle game has been reinvented as a disco touch cube ($50), where you swipe a finger to slide the lights along to change the pattern, rather than turning the segments of the sticker-strewn cube of yore. Other updates include the ability to undo a move, and if you get frustrated you can just watch the puzzle solve itself. No word on whether the World Rubik’s Cube Championship—where top puzzlers’ lightening hands can solve the classic cube in just over seven seconds—will add the updated brainteaser to the competition slate. rubikstouchcube.com  THE BAY STREET BULL | 45

GOLF HISTORY

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The Gutty Revolution

By the mid-1800s there were only 17 established golf clubs in the world, 14 of which were in Scotland. But golf in the U.K. was actually a game in decline. There was no doubt a shortage of places to play golf, but more crucially, golf equipment had become far too expensive for the average man. Golf balls alone were a significant investment; they were originally made by stuffing wet goose (or chicken) feathers into a leather pouch that was then hand-sewn. As the leather shrunk while drying, the feathers expanded, creating a hardened, compact ball. The process was highly labour-intensive, slow and costly. A skilled ball maker could make only four “featheries” a day. Even with such care, no ball was ever a perfect sphere, and they flew erratically. When they got wet, the stitching would often rot, rendering them useless. The arrival of the “gutta-percha” golf ball in 1848 changed everything. Gutta-percha is the latex-like substance produced from the Sapodilla tree, a tropical evergreen native to Mexico, Central America and the West Indies. The “gutty,” as it was commonly known, was handmade by rolling the sap on a board to form a sphere, which was then heated. Golf balls were suddenly easy to make and cheap to produce. A hundred gutties could be made in a day, and each was one-fourth the cost of a feathery. It wasn’t long before the feathery was obsolete, and the middle-class began to embrace golf—a leisure activity long thought of as the sport of the rich. By the end of the century, there were nearly 2,000 golf clubs in Britain, and the game had spread to the far reaches of the empire.  THE BAY STREET BULL | 47

ON THE SHELF

The Slot Swing by Jim McLeann (John Wiley & Sons) provides step-bystep instructions and more than 80 illustrations for those in search of the slot—that “perfect channel through which the shaft and club head can meet the ball on the downswing,” producing a more powerful, accurate and consistent swing.

Lost Balls

merican photographer Charles Lindsay has found his niche observing those moments when nature and culture intersect. Whether documenting a shaman in an Indonesian rain forest, fly-fishing in the United States, or a rare Balinese ritual in the Turtle Islands, Lindsay has a unique way of illuminating the natural world. Five years ago he turned his lens to the world of golf. The result was Lost Balls: Great Holes, Tough Shots and Bad Lies, a colourful collection of wayward shots, their final destinations and their humourous and unexpected encounters with wildlife—on and off the green. The photos were taken at both celebrated and obscure courses throughout North America, Scotland, England and Ireland, including Peeble Beech, St. Andrews and Ballyunion. Lindsay stalked balls submerged in swamps, lodged in cacti or wedged in the woods, and he came face-to-face with rattlesnakes, grizzly bears and raccoons. Along the way, he also discovered an interesting lexicon of words such as intruder, floater and revelation on the balls themselves. And he unearthed what is believed to be the oldest golf ball from a 16th-century trash heap found in a cellar in the Netherlands. This year, the avid golfer returns with a follow-up, Bad Lies: A Field Guide to Lost Balls, Missing Links, and Other Golf Mishaps (Little Brown). To capture those “My ball went where?” moments, Lindsay is once again far from the fairway, waist-high in fescue grass and ankle-deep in murky lakes. Chock-full of gorgeous colour photos, a foreword by popular CBS golf commentator Gary McCord, definitions to some of the games more off-beat terminology, and a pictorial of the some of the world’s rarest and oldest golf balls, this is one of the wittiest tributes to the game’s more frustrating moments. 

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Golf’s Sacred Journey by David L. Cook (Zondervan) is about a chance meeting between an unnamed, fictitious burnt-out pro golfer and Johnny, a local rancher, in Utopia, Texas. It’s clear that Cook, a top performance psychologist, mined his experience as a mental game coach to spin this inspirational tale. The Inner Game of Golf by W. Timothy Gallwey (Random House) knows that even the best techniques collapse under a tense mind. In this revised edition of his classic, nearly half of which includes new material, the everreadable Gallwey continues to preach about the fundamentals of concentration, relaxation and visualization through “awareness exercises.” Fix Your Body, Fix Your Swing by Joey Diovisalvi and Steve Steinberg (St. Martin’s Press) will help golfers of all levels improve their game with easy-to-follow exercises based on the latest biomechanic theories. They believe anyone who can commit to just three 20-minute golf-specific workouts per week can correct their flawed swings.

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