Following The Open in Japan TV

It is so exciting to watch a golf tournament. If it is a major then it gets veery exciting.

I am specially excited for British Open and one of the main reasons is that due to European broadcasting time, It can be watch in a perfect time in Japan!

Asahi TV 5Ch. is broadcasting the event. Hereunder schedule from AsahiTV 　

第１日 7月14日（木）第１部 夜7時00分～9時54分（予定） ／ 第２部 夜11時10分～翌朝4時00分

第２日 7月15日（金）夜11時10分～翌朝4時00分

第３日 7月16日（土）夜10時00分～深夜3時30分

最終日 7月17日（日）夜9時24分～深夜2時30分

On Friday It will be needed a good quantity of coffee, but I already have my Nespresso ready!

However, there is a bad point into Japanese Media. The only player you can watch is Ryo Ishikawa. Almost all the broadcasting is focus only in Ishikawa. It is very disappointing not watching other players. So if you are living in Japan and You are able to check international channel, you will enjoy totally the open, if not it will be reduced to game of Ishikawa.

It is nice watching him play, but Japanese media needs to know that golf lovers want to see all players when playing.

In my opinion If you want to offer an Special of Ishikawa, it will be nice to broadcast it by separate, but at least let the golf lovers to enjoy with the game of others, not only one.

Anyway, Enjoy!

New sunglasses only for Golfers

JINS, the biggest Glasses company in Japan, is about to launch a new series of Glasses for Golf lovers.

The Glasses has been thoroughly studied for comfort and protection.

If you are one of those who plays into sunny days and you want to protect your eyes having the sensation to not wear anything, this is your chance to get a high quality product. Available from July 21st.

More information on their site(Japanese): http://www.jins-jp.com/functional/golf.html

PRGR Red Eyes Pocket

PRGR launches Red Eyes Pocket. A small gadget allowing us to test speed. It has been developed as well for Baseball and Soccer.

Placing the gadget behind us, it takes the speed of the subject to test.In the case of golf it can show the head speed as ball speed. There are several options for settings, the ball speed mode, an impact mode and training mode.

It can be very usefull for training and check our performance knowing this important information about what is our speed in swing.

Performance Apparel

Technology is adavancing in any field to help us in our doings, improving the performance, doing it easier and more safe. In sports we can find all products which have been studied in depth and been designed for a better performance. From balls getting more spin, clubs hiting straighter to countless number of products.

Apparel as well has been studied in depth, helping us in our life, being hot when whether is cold, or dry when raining, etc. Companies spend a lot of money in the study and design of this performance apparel market. It is unbelievable to find products achieving incredible performance.

There are several brands developing this performance apparel. Some of them are:

Mizuno BioGear (japanese)

Mizuno Breath Thermo (japanese) Thermal technology.

Skins Presentation video is quite good.

Samurai Golf Balls

Yesterday I was in Shinjuku and jump into Victoria Golf Shop. Victoria is a chain of sport shops with dedicated departments, such as golf, outdoor, etc. The shop located in Shinjuku is a 7 floors building, with a lot of stuff to check.

I found balls with images of samurais from Sengoku Jidai. there are 12 different designs representing 12 famous Daimyo as Oda Nobunaga, Date Masamune etc..

Sets are 3 balls pack of just 1 Daimyo for 750jpy ( around 8,25usd) and dozen with all Daimyo for 3000jpy (around 33usd). Balls are from Srixon.

3D Television

The other day I was able to check a 3D TV in Yodobashi Camera. It was really increadible the images as go out from the screen. Ryo Ishikawa is sponsored by Panasonic and has filmed TV commercials of this fantastic TV. Just to see the US Open in 3D must be indeed something spectacular.

Here's one of the commercials.

Driving Ranges in Tokyo

Just to got to shot some balls in Tokyo, sometimes can be sort of a complicated matter. Even when there are so many places where you can shoot balls ( known as 練習場, renshuujou \ practice place) due to small place is hard to find driving ranges with over 100yards long.

So if you are willing to improve your long shots, or just to practice some ball effect, it can be very frustrating to hit the other side of the range.

However there are some huge drivings, with a lot of services and spots to hit long shots. One of the latest to be built it has been Tokyo Jumbo at Adachi ward, where besides the 250 yards range with spots in 3 stories, there are a golf shop, Cafe, Grill Dinning and of course lessons services. Prices are quite high, but cost per ball dependes of the story you shot, being more expensieve the spot on ground level and the cheaper the 3rd story spots. On weekends and holidays prices are higher than labour days being 20JPY/ball (about 0,22USD) on ground level and 14JPY/ball (about 0,16usd) on 3rd story. A fee must be added for every time you enter the range.

Another one big driving is Meijijingu Gaien , a sports and art complex located n Shinjuku ward.

In other hand some have difficult access if you are not having a car, so going to this places by train or subway can be a headache as usually are so crowded.