Accessory Review: ACCUSPLIT Golf Wellness Programs, by Jeffrey Reed

If you’re an avid exerciser, you’re most likely familiar with the wide range of benefits from 10,000 steps a day. Accusplit Inc. of Pleasanton, Calif. has developed a group of golf-themed activity wellness programs using that well-known step theory.

Using the slogan, “Eat right, walk more, live well,” Accusplit deserves kudos for putting fun back into golf. After all, it is the Official Pedometer of the PGA Tour. Starting from the ground up with precise pedometers, the company has four golf-themed programs for people of all ages. Known since 1972 for its precision stopwatches for elite sports, Accusplit has now added certified accurate pedometers along with its new programs featuring Byron Nelson, Tom Lehman and Notah Begay.

Accusplit’s From Tee To Green program includes the AE120XL pedometer, featuring large digits and promising a 98-per-cent accuracy rating. I gave it a test run – test walk to be precise – and found it to be a solid performer. I like the PGA Tour logo on the outer casing. The pedometer comes with the From Tee To Green wellness guide to help golfers walk their way to a healthy lifestyle. Hole #12, for example, entitled, Avoid the Traps, advises “Don’t try to do too much too soon. Gradually increase duration and intensity of your activity over several weeks.” Good advice for when we Canucks hit the links in April.

The AE120XL included with the From Tee To Green kit, retailing for $22 US, includes a five-year guarantee. A portion of the proceeds from each sale go to the PGA Tour First Tee Program.

I really like the Walk With Byron Nelson program, including the Accusplit healthengine AH190M28. Here’s a tiny but mighty pedometer – and more. Easy to use, and promising 99-per-cent accuracy, this healthengine (great name!) provides a reading of steps, distance and calories for today, each of the past seven days, and the past week’s total. Large digits are displayed on this combination clock, stopwatch and pedometer, which boasts the KS10 engine which Accusplit says is the result of more than four decades of pedometer design experience.

When it’s time to rest, read the included book, Quotable Byron, “Golf’s Greatest Ambassador.” The book was published in honour of the 60th anniversary of Nelson’s 1945 season, when he captured 19 tournaments – including 11 straight. One of my favourite Nelson quotes: “I call my sand wedge the half-Nelson, because I can always strangle the opposition with it.”

The AH190M28 also includes a five-year guarantee, and sells as part of the Walk With Byron Nelson kit for $39.95 US. Both programs encourage you to access the online wellness support program: Accustep10000.org, based on the principles developed by Dr. Yoshiro Hatano, the father of 10,000 steps.

Watch for two new programs from Accusplit: Walk with Notah, an initiative launched by Notah Begay designed to prevent the continued spread of diabetes in youth; and Tom Lehman’s Family Golf, incorporating disc golf. 
Accusplit president Ron Sutton – Mr. Pedometer – is sold on the “eat right, walk more, live well” lifestyle. You should be, too. Visit www.accusplit.com to learn more about these four golf-themed wellness programs.