Inaugural Delaware Cup matches a success

Earlier this year, DuPont Country Club head golf professional Mike Caldwell reached out to Rehoboth Beach Country Club head golf pro George Bushby with an idea for a Ryder Cup-like competition between upstate and downstate club pros. The end of the golf season created an opportunity for camaraderie and a friendly duel among the state’s most talented golfers.

Bushby quickly agreed, and two teams of eight players each met Oct. 29-30 at DuPont CC for the inaugural Delaware Cup.

The format used a combination of four ball and individual match play, with the north team winning 29-19. 

Zac Oakley of Bidermann Golf Club was the star of the north squad, winning nearly all of his matches in both individual and team categories. Eric Onesi of DuPont CC also made a big contribution.

Neil Maurer and Will Scarborough of The Peninsula Golf & Country Club scored best for the south team.

The other north players were Caldwell and Matt Finger of DuPont CC, Anthony Malizia (Bidermann), Ryan Rucinski and Bob Lennon of Wilmington Country Club and Matt Bonanno (Newark Country Club).

The other south team players were Bushby, Chris Gray and Ricky McCall from RBCC, Eric Willey (Kings Creek Country Club), Brooks Massey (Heritage Shores Golf Club) and Michael Rushin (Bear Trap Dunes).

Bushby said, “We had a great two days. The northern squad played really well, so hats off to them. Mike Caldwell and I are excited to get this event off the ground, and are looking forward to watching it grow and evolve in the years to come.”

Golf Forever

I first wrote about Colorado-based Golf Forever and its training aids after the 2022 PGA Show. 

Its primary tool is the Swing Trainer, a 44.5-inch shaft with rubber grips at both ends and two basic exercise options ($199.99).

Weighted balls attach at an end for overload speed training. A latex band can also connect to the shaft. When the stretchable band is hooked to something stable, like a golf cart or other heavy object, the Swing Trainer becomes a resistance device for simulated swings.

This year, the company’s PR group invited me to interview 12-time PGA Tour winner and Open winner Justin Leonard, one of Golf Forever’s original investors. 

Our pleasant conversation began with his new experiences at PGA Tour Champions events and how they differed from the main tour.

“It’s nice. Sometimes the regular tour can get a little isolated. I feel like the Champions Tour, we’re kind of in it together. There’s just more of a community kind of vibe to it, which I really enjoy. It’s been a lot of fun,” he said.

“It’s fun to be able to reach par 5s in two, whereas that was less and less common on the regular tour. But with three days and with the golf courses being a bit easier than the regular tour, you realize there’s pressure when you know you have to shoot 65-66 every day to contend. You’ve got to be on your game from the get-go,” he said.

He met company founder Dr. Jeremy James several years ago when both lived in Colorado.

“He realized that most of his clients and patients were golfers, and he was trying to work on taking his skill set, physical therapy and exercise, to help people and open it up to the masses but target golfers. We had a couple lengthy conversations, and then I jumped on as a contributor and an investor,” Leonard said. “He had this grand vision of how to scale this to provide training that 10 or 15 years ago was only available to a PGA professional or the top athletes.”

“To see where we are five or six years later and do those things that we talked about during some of those initial conversations, it’s been a lot of fun to be a part of this,” he said.

He is an avid user of the product: “One of the coolest things about our system is that it’s completely mobile. I take my Swing Trainer with me. I do it in hotel rooms, hotel workout areas, at the golf course itself. It’s just so portable that there’s just no reason or excuse not to be able to do it.”

“I’ve always enjoyed working out, taking care of my body. I feel like even now, into my 50s, I’m probably in better shape and more golf ready than I was 10 to 15 years ago,” he said.

I asked him if after all those years on tour he suffered any repetitive stress injuries. He laughed and said, “No. I never swung hard enough to hurt myself.”

The company sells its Swing Trainer at GolfForever.com. It can also be found on Amazon and at national golf retailers such as Dick’s Sporting Goods or the PGA Tour Superstore. The mobile training app can be downloaded at through the Apple Store or Google Play. In the Cape Region, the system is sold at Plantation Lakes in Millsboro and The Foreland Club in Ocean View.