What do you get when you cross the surfer/skateboard culture with traditional golf footwear? The Nike Lunar Swingtip (think wingtip), a hybrid unlike any other.

Among those Nike leaned on for input were employees at its Hurley youth lifestyle brand in Costa Mesa, Calif. "The folks who work there are young, they're surfers, they play golf," Carl Madore, the designer of the Lunar Swingtip said. They also held focus groups that included everyone from high school and college golfers to seniors.

The upshot is a shoe that Madore said "is a mash-up of a golf silhouette with a bottom reminscent of a skate shoe. We like to use the word 'juxtaposition,' of the classic and forward thinking."

They come in leather ($160), suede ($140) or canvas ($130) and in 10 colors. All feature a wingtip upper and nubs -- or lugs, as Nike calls them -- on the sole for traction on the golf course.

Nike showed the Lunar Swingtip to some of its tour staff at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson in February. "Paul Casey was all over it," Madore said. "He wanted a pair right there to go to the driving range. Paul has a pair and has been practicing in them."

-- John Strege

The evolution of the golf belt has passed through many stages, including no belt at all (Sansabelt slacks, all the rage in the '70s and endorsed by Tom Shaw) and white belts that became fashionable a few years ago.

Now comes Nexbelt and its Go-In! Golf series, two sizes fit (virtually) all and no holes, and worn on the PGA Tour by Kevin Na.

It features a ratcheting system instead of the traditional pin and hole and the belt can be adjusted in quarter-inch increments rather than one inch found in traditional belts. They come in two sizes -- one for those with waist sizes ranging from 28 to 40 inches and another for waist sizes ranging from 38 to 50 inches. The buckle contains a hidden ball marker.

The Go-In! Golf series features a variety of colors (including white) and retails for $54.99.

-- John Strege

Seamus Golf is a new woolen accessories company based in Beaverton, Ore., that has developed a way to bring style to one's golf bag: tartan woolen headovers.

The idea was the brainchild of Akbar Chisti, an accountant by trade. "About 10 years ago, my dad brought me back one of these tartan headcovers from Royal Troon," Chisti said. His wife Megan, who was experienced in design and woolen products, made some headcovers for Chisti and his friends, he said. "It was really her who got us to where we are today," Chisti said. "She's got a good design aesthetic."

Among Seamus Golf's earliest customers was Bandon Dunes, where Chisti worked in the shop over summers while attending Portland State. "We were out playing Bandon Dunes with these covers and they liked them," he said. The photo above shows a Seamus Golf headcover with a Bandon Dunes logo.

Chisti said he uses woolen fabric milled by Northwest companies and his headcovers are made in Oregon. They feature elastic linings to keep the headcovers from falling off, but still allow for "single-handed use," he said.

Among other courses to carry Seamus headcovers are Chambers Bay (south of Tacoma, Wash., and site of the U.S. Open in 2015), Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, Calif., Ballyneal Golf Club in Holyoke, Colo., and Mayacama Golf Club in Santa Rosa, Calif.

"Where we've done real well is with this new era of links-style golf courses," he said. "These golfers, when they go to Europe, are used to seeing locally-made tartan headcovers. Then they see ours and the quality supercedes what they've seen. We've taken the construction and design very seriously, so we don't have a cover that falls apart."

The headcovers retail for $55 for a driver cover and $45 for fairway wood, hybrid and putter covers. They can be purchased here.

-- John Strege

Miura Golf might not be widely known, but to the extent it is known, it's for its forged irons, many of which have appeared in leading PGA Tour players' bags, albeit under more familiar brand names. The Miura K.J. Choi Special Limited Edition irons are an exception.

The irons are an exact replica of the Miura CB-501 irons, 4 through pitching wedge, Choi used in winning the Players Championship in 2011. It will also include Miura 54 and 59-degree forged wedges.

Only 300 sets will be made, each bearing its own set number, and will include a wood display box and a letter of authenticity signed by Choi and Miura Golf founder Katsuhiro Miura.

The cost of the set is prohoibitive, $5,000, but a portion of the proceeds will be to the K.J. Choi Foundation.

-- John Strege

If the premise holds that with training aids simple is better, SKLZ has introduced one that ought to promote a variety of good swing habits.

The Ball-First Trainer could not be easier to use; just set it down and place a ball in the middle of it. It frames the impact area and was designed to help the golfer hit down and through, striking the ball first, followed by a divot.

It also has markings that help with club alignment and can also promote a proper takeaway. It is made of an impact-resistant, flexible material. For the left-hander, just flip it over.

Here's a brief video demonstrating how it works. It can be purchased here for $19.99.

-- John Strege

For those who find something of interest on the Internet, but forget to bookmark the site, or perhaps end up with a cluttered bookmark bar, this might be for them: Clipix.

It is a website that allows users to easily clip whatever they want from the Internet and save it to a personal clipboard. It is free and, in fact, could save them money, too.

"It was born as a utility to organize our lives online," company founder Oded Berkowitz said. "We see things on the Internet all day long and many times you want to get back to what you saw online and can never find it again. When you start a Clipix account, you drag the clip button onto your bookmark bar and anytime you see anything online you want to keep, you click on the clip button and it's placed in a customized clipboard."

So where does its utility for golf come in? Berkowitz, an avid weekend player and a member of Montammy Golf Club in Alpine, N.J., explained that if, say, one was shopping online for a set of irons, they can gather all the information they need on one clipboard. More to the point, Clipix comes with price drop alerts. If you're shopping for a set of irons that are priced at, say, $799 at an online store, but you don't wish to pay more than $699, you can instruct Clipix to inform you when the price reaches that level.

"I'm in New Jersey," Berkowitz said. "In two or three months, the golf season will be over and prices will be dropping. You don't have to do anything about it. I do all the work. You can tell the system what price you want to see those golf clubs and a little orange dot appears next to the image of the golf set."

If and when the price of the irons drops to that amount, a green dot replaces the orange dot. Clipix also emails you a notification of the price drop.

Clipix also can be used to gather information for, say, future golf trips that can be synced with your golf partners' Clipix accounts. Anytime any of them add something to the clipboard all will have access to it simultaneously.

"The way I use Clipix in golf is to clip all kinds of golf equipment I'm thinking of buying to compare shop," Berkowitz said. "I also love to look at golf videos -- of Ben Hogan's swing or Tiger's swing. I have several clipboards of golf videos. I have a short-game [instruction] clipboard, too."

Clipix apps for the iPhone and Android are available, too. To sign up, go to Clipix.com.

-- John Strege

Aficionados of craft beer generally and Samuel Adams specifically take note: There's a new Sam in town, Slammin' Sam, "the smoothest beer in golf," as it bills itself.

Slammin' Sam, inspired by Sam Snead and made by Wisconsin's Stevens Point Brewery, will debut, appropriately, at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.V., site of the Greenbrier Classic this week.

"Dad considered the Greenbrier his home away from home," Snead's son Jack said in a news release. "He'd be real proud of Slammin' Sam beer, I can tell you that."

Slammin' Sam will be in available cans, bottles and kegs and will be introduced nationally at a later date. Snead represented the Greenbrier for decades, hence its introduction there, timed with the playing of the PGA Tour's Greenbrier Classic.

-- John Strege