The number of tee vendors at the PGA Merchandise Show earlier this year -- by some counts more than 20 -- was astonishing, considering the traditional wood tees we've all used since we started playing seem perfectly suited for the task for which they were designed.

Yet companies are attempting to innovate, including the highly-regarded spike manufacturer, CHAMP/MacNeill Engineering Worldwide. The company put out a news release this week that the winner of the Wells Fargo Championship used its Zarma FLYTee -- in blaze orange.

The tees are made of biodegradable materials with a six-prong head and a shallow cup to reduce friction, theoretically allowing the ball to come off the tee faster. It makes sense, though to what degree it makes a difference is anyone's guess. Probably not as much as the subhead on the news release suggests: "Blaze Orange Model Propels Young Star to First PGA Tour Victory."

The young star, of course, is Rickie Fowler (hence the blaze orange), though the company can't use his name, for that would imply an endorsement. That said, Fowler using without remuneration is better than a paid endorsement.

Even disregarding the performance benefits, an environmentally-friendlier tee is a good thing, no? The Zarma tees feature "a bio-agent additive...[that] enables microorganisms to metabolize the plastic into humus, an organic matter which benefits the environment," the company claims. The tees are said to be considerably more durable than wood tees, which results in fewer broken tees littering tee boxes. Also a good thing.

CHAMP, incidentally, has recently introduced the MyHite FLYTee that feature colored bands on them to help the user consistently tee the ball at the same height. That makes sense, too.

-- John Strege

Far more often than not, golf is not the good walk spoiled that Mark Twain suggested it was. Most people ride. Lamentably, the cart is the preferred mode of golf course transportation these days.

BagBoy, in its perpetual quest -- as a push or pull cart specialist -- to reverse the trend, has introduced a compromise to the driven cart, a "healthier alternative," it calls it. It is the Navigator Elite, an electric walking cart.

It features a lightweight (seven pounds) lithium ion 24-volt battery, a gyroscopic navigation system that keeps the cart moving in a straight line, regardless of the slope of the terrain, and a directional remote control (forward, left, right and reverse) with nine speeds. It also comes with a padded seat that can be removed.

The cart folds up quickly and easily to a compact, 35-inch by 24-inch by 14-inch package. Some will deem it cost-prohibitive at $2,295.95, but avoiding cart fees will help defray the cost, while the health benefits are incalcuable.

-- John Strege

IJP Design, Ian Poulter's apparel brand, is among those companies with limited-edition offerings coinciding with golf's major championships. For its part, IJP has introduced a putter cover it calls "The First Major," the first in a series of four. Only 750 of the putter covers, each including an individually signed and numbered silver tag, will be offered and can be purchased at ijpdesign.com for $70. Included is a protective tote bag, also shown.

The putter covers feature postal graphics to tie in with a nickname that Poulter recently acquired, "The Postman."

Meanwhile, the apparel that Poulter will wear over each of the four rounds of the Masters (assuming he makes the cut) are shown in this GolfDigest.com slideshow that features the Masters wardrobes of several players.

-- John Strege

Those who would rather walk than ride, but don't wish to carry their bag or even use a push cart or caddie, now have an option: A robot.

CaddyTrek is a robotic caddie that automatically follows the golfer, at whatever speed they are walking, and stops when they do. It takes its lead from a transreceiver that fits in a pocket that also allows the golfer to stop the CaddyTrek before it follows them onto the green or to send it to the next tee. It has sensors that detect objects in its path, allowing it to avoid collisions.

It can carry up to 45 pounds and comes with a lithium ion battery that will carry clubs for 27 holes or more before requiring a re-charge. It weighs 39 pounds and folds into a 23-inch by 18-inch by 12-inch package.

What's not to like, perhaps other than its sticker price, $1,600?

-- John Strege

In 2006, a Chicago-area attorney, Angelo Papadourakis, attended the PGA Championship at Medinah and noticed Thomas Bjorn, after a particularly poor round, working with his instructor, who was taking his club and phsyically maneuvering it into the proper positions, "like the first time he was playing the game," Papadourakis said.

"I thought, 'if he needs instruction like this, how is it that we as amateurs think we can go out to the range and hit 50 buckets of balls and get better?' We amateurs needed a feedback loop."

So he went to work on a device that evolved into the SwingSmart, a small lightweight (19 grams) sensor that attaches to the shaft just below the grip and provides instant feedback to your iPhone or iPad via a Bluetooth connection. Swing speed, tempo, face angle, angle of attack and a 3-D swing view are all provided.

The SwingSmart was developed with input from noted instructor Peter Kostis, who also is a spokesman for the product.

"Our original concept is, we measure the club," Papadourakis said. 'We wanted to find somebody I considered a proponent of golf motion and the motion of the club. Peter was the number one guy. I see his analysis every week on CBS. I like the fact that he's a neutral observer of the golf swing, that he wasn't necessarily a system guy. Peter saw the value in it immediately, which is great."

Kostis was helpful in the SwingSmart containing only the most useful information to keep it simplified. "He really narrowed it down for us, to keep it simple for everybody," Papadourakis said. "We made sure that as a golfer you want to be able to set your iPhone on your bag, look up and see the information. We don't want you to have to play with it. We made it simple on purpose."

One of its features is the ability to use what you would consider your best swing as the model with which to compare the rest of your swings.

"What you can do with this is use your own best swing as your swing model to pursue," Kostis said in a promotional video. "If you hit one just the way you'd like to hit it the rest of your life you push save on your [iPhone or iPad] and that swing now becomes your swing model."

The SwingSmart ($299) will be available later this spring through its website. The company also will have an infomercial with Kostis airing on the Golf Channel.

-- John Strege
Follow me on Twitter @JohnStrege

TaylorMade Golf's RocketBallz (or RBZ) brand already enjoys a measure of prominence on which the company expects to build with golf bags and accessories bearing the name and logo, and, of course,its green, black and white color scheme.

Among the products it is introducing are two lightweight bags -- the RBZ Stand (shown above) and the RBZ Cart (prices $170 and $180, respectively). The Stand bag weighs in at 4.9 pounds, while the Cart bag is 5.2 pounds.

The Stand bag features five dividers and six pockets, including a velour-lined valuables pocket and an insulated beverage sleeve pocket, and a cart-compatible base. The Cart bag has a 14-way divider top as well as an integrated putter tube. It has eight pockets, including two velour-lined valuables pockets.

Three RBZ headwear designs, men's and women's gloves, umbrellas and towels are also being introduced.

The company also is introducing its Pure-Lite 3.0 bag ($180), successor to its popular Pure-Lite 2.0 bag and featuring upgraded materials and hardware. It weighs 5.1 pounds and comes in eight colorways.

-- John Strege
Follow me on Twitter @JohnStrege

David O'Keefe began his career as a newspaper artist, at the Tampa Tribune, working in promotions and later as a special projects illustrator in the newsroom. In 2007, he left to pursue his interest in painting and sculpting pop culture icons.

He once produced a sculpture of Bill Murray that he dressed in a tuxedo, a photo of which was featured on the cover of the Village Voice to commemmorate it having selected the Murray film, "Lost in Translation," as its film of the year in 2003. He later dressed the same sculptor as Carl Spackler, from the film "Caddyshack."

He subsequently was commissioned to do a painting featuring all the characters from the film "Caddyshack." When that was finished, he had leftover images of Murray's Spackler and decided to do a painting from the Cinderella story scene, with Spackler swinging a scythe.

What does this have to do with anything? Well, today those paintings appear on golf towels, as part of Devant Sport Towels "Tribute To Caddyshack Collection." Devant utilizes a high definition digital technology process to produce sharp images on its towels, which measure 16 by 25 inches and feature a brass lock clip for attaching to a golf bag.

The towels sell for $25.

-- John Strege

The Humana Challenge is a golf tournament, of course, the old Bob Hope Classic re-invented and re-invigorated. But it is more than that, as the festivities in La Quinta, Calif., have demonstrated this week.

Former president Bill Clinton and the Clinton Foundation have partnered with the Humana Challenge to help promote a healthy lifestyle. Among the activities were a Wellness Walk, a Healthy Fun Fair and the Clinton Foundation Conference, "Health Matters: Activating Wellness in Every Generation."

We bring this up because Nike has just introduced the Nike+ FuelBand, "designed for anyone who wants to be more active," the company says. The Clinton Foundation and Humana Challenge would like that to be everyone.

The FuelBand is worn around the wrist and tracks your everyday activity, including steps (or swings) taken on a golf course or otherwise and calories burned, and translates it into what it calls NikeFuel. The band contains colored LEDs that indicate the NikeFuel earned. It is red to start the day, but hopefully not red ending the day, red having been defined as sedentary. The object is set a NikeFuel goal for the day that has been achieved when the band LED goes to green.

"Before, there was no simple metric that worked across different activities," Stefan Olander, vice president of digital sports for Nike, said Thursday at a news conference to introduce the device. However you are moving, the Nike+ FuelBand is recording it.

What is NikeFuel? It's "a newly created fitness metric...which is based off the rate of oxygen consumption and motion," Roger Cheng wrote at CNET.

"Glenn Gaesser, a professor at Arizona State University's school of nutrition and health promotion, said the device could be useful in promoting activity, and more importantly, discouraging inactivity, which has led to a number of health problems. The FuelBand's motivational techniques are in line with what the government and health organizations have been pushing in terms of increased daily activity."

The Nike+ FuelBand connects to a computer via USB cable or to a smart phone via an app and bluetooth to help track your progress. It will go on sale on Feb. 22 and will cost $150.

-- John Strege

The Seaforth Rain Hood is a product that most golfers probably are unaware of even as they've likely seen them on telecasts of PGA Tour events.

The hoods are widely used by tour caddies as a means of keeping their players' clubs dry during the course of a round in the rain. In fact, the hoods were developed and refined through input from tour caddies, including Ken Doig Jr., the brother of the company founder, Carolanne Doig.

"Basically my brother was a caddie on tour at the time when the rain hood was being developed and we were trying to perfect it," Doig said. "My family, we're all golfers. We have a course here in Seaforth, Ontario, the Seaforth Golf Club. A lot of the feedback and improvements and design features were the result of talking with the pros and their caddies. Practically all the time we can claim we have the number one players in the world on both the men's and women's tours using it. We've had as high as 92 percent of players at the Players Championship using our product."

So why is the Seaforth Rain Hood better than the hoods that come with the golf bag?

"The hood that comes with a regular golf bag doesn't have a velcro flap-type opening," Doig said. "It's zippered, so you have to use two hands. Plus it was never really made to be a rainhood. Originally it was made more to protect clubs to contain them."

The hood weighs only seven ounces and when rolled up for storage it takes about as much room as a sleeve of balls, Doig said.

The company also features the Seaforth Slicker, which basically is a rain suit for the golf bag. "It's becoming increasingly popular with college teams," Doig said. College players carry their own bags in the course of competition.

The hood sells for $25, the Slicker for $40.

-- John Strege

Each year it seems to become easier to travel with golf clubs as a result of modest improvements with travel bags. Case in point is Sun Mountain and its ClubGlider line of travel bags, including its newest offering, the Journey.

ClubGlider bags feature retractable legs that take much of the strain from loading, lifting and pulling it. They also come with pivoting wheels.

The Journey is a smaller, lighter and cheaper version of the Meridian, weighing in at 12.8 pounds (the Meridian weighs 14.3 pounds). It also is made of 1200 denier fabric rather than the ballistic-type nylon in the Pro and Meridian.

The Journey, at $200, also is substantially cheaper than its Sun Mountain brethren. The Meridian's price is $280, the Pro $300.

-- John Strege