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Showing posts from October, 2012

Tiger's Just an F'ing Regular Guy

The above is some video from the Rory McIlroy-Tiger Woods exhibition match in China, video that captures a couple conversations between the two. They obviously have a great rapport, a genuine like for one another. Tiger even drops a few conversational f-bombs into the mix. But more interesting, probably, are some of the comments captured of Woods talkinga bout his game, explaining to Rory what Sean Foley wants him to do and some problems he is having.

Augusta National Adding Women's Facilities to Clubhouse

Scott Michaux of the Augusta Chronicle reports that Augusta National Golf Club has filed plans with the city for some major renovation work on/additions to the Augusta National Clubhouse. Can you say, "women's lockerroom"? Of course you can. But Augusta National can't - the club declined comment on what the new construction is for. But we all know they aren't going to make Condoleezza Rice change her clothes in the men's room, or use a port-o-john when she has to tinkle. From the article: A site plan filed by Cran­ston Engineering Group indicates the club, which plays host to the Masters Tour­nament, intends to demolish a portion of the existing building, including the kitchen area, and an adjacent building on the northeast side of the clubhouse to make way for the new structure. Bob Austin, of Augusta Planning and Development, said the plan shows a large, two-level structure will be built, with the lower level sitting below grade.

The MonkeyMan 1000 Driver

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Here's a dose of silliness for you:

Boot Scootin': Lambda Golf Boots

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That's a photo Anna Rawson (@TheAnnaRawson) posted to Twitter. She can't play golf in those boots, right? Wrong! Because they are golf boots. That's right, golf boots. They are made by a company called Lambda Classic Golf Shoes, not surprisingly a European company. Lambda describes its shoes, I mean boots, this way: "Classic hand Made in Europe, waterproof golf boot and sole. ... European water repellent prime leather upper, Aquastop inlay breathable membrane ensures waterproof guarantee. ... Detachable soft Latex foot bed, covered in leather, for extra comfort. ... Ethylene-vinyl acetate insert on sole and heel for shock absorption impact on knees, hips and back. ... Soft spikes in TPU, Stinger Cleats (from Champ) or Proflex Cleats (from Trisport). ... We guarantee the best classic golf shoe ever built." The women's version - called the Latina - is pictured here; as you can see, it is roughly knee-high. The men's boot is called Milano and only goe

Tiger Woods' Next Golf Course Design: Diamante

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Tiger Woods looks pretty happy to be hanging out in the forbidding-looking landscape behind him. And who can blame him? He's at work on a new project for Tiger Woods Design. The new course, which will be named El Cardonal , is actually under construction, work having started in September. It is expected to be finished in 18 months. It's part of the Diamante Cabo San Lucas private community in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The El Cardonal will join a Davis Love-designed course, the Dunes, at Diamante. Sayeth El Tigre : "While the Dunes course is reminiscent of a classic Scottish links course, this course is going to remind people of the old-style California courses. We will use the existing arroyos that traverse the site and well-placed bunkers to create definite strategic choices and carries off the tees." Sounds good to me. Just being at work on something probably is enough for Tiger and Tiger Woods Design. Each of his previous design projects has encountered de

Yao Ming Can't Play Golf

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Yao, as in " yow ! that guy's bad at golf!" Yao Ming recently played during the Mission Hills World Celebrity Pro-Am in his native China. And it was ugly. This highlight reel includes another look at Yao, slicing a chip shot, clanging it off some rocks and into a bunker: In other words: Yao Ming is bad! Very very bad at golf! But you know what else? It takes guts to get out there in public - not just in public, but on TV - and make a fool of yourself like this. So kudos to Yao Ming. You keep hacking, big man.

Tommy Gainey Swing Analysis

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Don't worry, I'm not the one who is going to attempt to analyze the golf swing of Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey. Because my analysis would be limited to something along the lines of, "Um ... yeah ... that's weird." But as Tommy Two Gloves himself said on the telecast of the 2012 McGladrey Classic over the weekend, the only thing that matters is impact. How you get there is irrelevant, as long as when you get there, you're in good shape. Here is Peter Kostis applying his Swing Vision tool to Gainey's swing during a CBS broadcast: Now is a great time take a look at Gainey's swing because that wacky, homemade swing of his just produced his first PGA Tour victory. It happened at the aforementioned 2012 McGladrey Classic, where Two Gloves carded a round of 60 in the final round. That's winning in style. Here's a 12-minute clip from Wayne DeFrancesco, posted on YouTube last year, and DeFrancesco applies the video tools of a golf in

Do Your Balls Glow? Then Take a Seat on One of Your Balls

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Ah, that's a relaxing and serene scene, isn't it? Not just poolside, but also beachside. Two golf ball chairs, with a golf ball accent light between, illuminating your sweet wooden pool deck. We can't help you get the deck, the pool, or the beachside house. But we can tell you where to get the golf ball accent light and the golf ball chairs. They are made by an Italian company called Garde, whose motto is, "We design your desires." And if you desire glowing orbs and chairs shaped like golf balls, then, by gosh, they sure do! Says the company: Inspired by the shape of a golf ball, Garde designs a range of original and inventive products which are unique in their style and are available in several sizes. Here's another view in which there are also golf ball shaped planters for potted trees: Click through the Garde website and you'll eventually find prices. A large lighted golf ball for outdoors runs €430. An extra large (because Americans ar

Paula Creamer's Japanese Calendar

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The invaluable Golf Babes brings news today of the 2013 edition of Paula Creamer's calendar . Yes, she looks hot in it. No, you can't have one. You know those American celebrities who won't shoot television commercials for, say, luggage, or beer, or any other product, for US TV? But they are willing to do commercials for Japanese TV? It's like that. Sort of. Creamer's calendar is produced each year by Golf Digest 's Japanese edition, and it's only available for purchase in Japan. But I don't think it's because Paula refuses to do a calendar for the American market; I think it's just Golf Digest Japan is the publication that first asked her. In fact, I recall a Twitter conversation between the aforementioned Golf Babes and Paula in which GB asked her if she'd consider doing the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, if asked. She replied, sure, she'd consider it if asked. So we have our marching orders, fellas: Let's all email Spo

Report: Disney Tourney Dead After 2012

According to rumors, somewhere the body of Walt Disney lies cryogenically frozen, waiting for science to make it possible to bring ol' Walt back to life. Now, according to reports, the PGA Tour's Disney tournament will soon be just as dead as Walt himself. The Golf Channel's Rex Hoggard cites a source who tells him that the Disney's 2012 tournament, coming up in December, will be the last one at Walt Disney World. The culprit? Beginning with the 2014 season, the tour goes to a "fiscal year" calendar - October to October. So the 2014 season will begin in October 2013. The Disney tournament has always been the final event on the PGA Tour calendar, but under the new schedule format it would have to take place in the first third of the schedule. And the Disney tournament officials apparently don't find that very appealing. According to Hoggard's source, this is how the early part of the 2013-14 schedule shapes up: 1. Frys.com Open 2. Justin Timberl

Miss Indonesia Enters Pro Golf Tournament

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Well, would you look at that: Miss Indonesia is a golfer. Ines Putri, who first won Miss Bali, then Miss Indonesia, then reached the Top 15 at the 2012 Miss World pageant, is playing Enjoy Jakarta Ladies Indonesia Open on the Ladies Asian Golf Tour. Here's a video of her posted on the Miss World website: She's the princess in the family. Who'da thunk it! Miss Putri carded a score of 79 in the opening round of the LAGT tournament. A Reuters article includes this: Although her golf may be on ice this year, she still has her eye on a pair of gold medals at next year's southeast Asian Games in Myanmar. Has she accomplished anything in tournament golf in the past? This is from an AFP article: The 23-year-old beauty queen is also a leading amateur golfer, winning the ladies Singapore amateur championship in 2010 and securing gold and silver medals in 2004 in Indonesia's national championships. Here's another video clip:

Golf, Gangnam Style

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Hey, I don't care if you're sick of Gangnam Style ! Because this: The LPGA is in Korea for the Hana Bank Championship, which is played at Sky 72 Golf Club in Incheon. And the staff at Sky 72 put together this welcome video for the LPGA staff and players. Remember, this golf-themed remake of Gangnam Style is done entirely by a golf course staff. And some of them can't dance. But some of them are pretty good!

Psst - Have $50K? Then Have We Got a Golf Deal For You!

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I guess if you can afford a game room that looks like that, you can probably afford the $50,000 golf simulator that is visible behind the pool table. It's the XGOLF i2 system, an indoor golf simulator that offers play on more than 90 famous golf courses from around the world. It comes with lie-changing technology that tilts up to 45 degrees in eight different directions to simulate the various lies golfers find on real golf courses. Schweet! The club and ball tracking system measures club path, speed, entry angle, impact position; and ball speed, launch angle and direction. Motion capture cameras allow the game-room golfer to replay any swing. And it can all be yours for the low, low price of $50k! Actually, the XGOLF i2 starts at $47,500 and goes up depending on features and options; that base price does not include shipping or installation. Want to know more? Visit xgolfsimulator.com . Anyone have $50k I can borrow? Pay you back on Tuesday.

Phil Mickelson Goes Long on Million Dollar Charity Shot

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That's the video of Phil Mickelson's $1 million charity shot during halftime of the Denver Broncos-San Diego Chargers Monday Night Football game. San Diego boy Phil was attempting the shot at the home field of the Chargers, in front of friendly fans. The objective: Hit an end zone-to-end zone (that's 100 yards, for those who think football means soccer) shot and land it within a 5-foot circle. Accomplish that goal and it's $1 million - donated by Mickelson sponsor KPMG - worth of books to FirstBook, a charity that helps needy children with books and reading programs. Concentric circles around the target decreased in value the farther the ball landed from the "pin," with $50,000 representing the lowest amount the charity would receive. And Mickelson got only one attempt at it. The result? $50,000, the lowest amount available. Booooooooo , Phil! That's what the fans did, actually, as Mickelson reacted by placing hand on head in shame. But, c'mon

Trick Shots with Ian Poulter

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Here's a video posted by Cobra Puma Golf in which Ian Poulter attempts to replicate trick shots in the repertoire of golf trick-shot artist Geoff Swain: And does a pretty darn good job of it! That Ian, he's a tricky, tricky white boy. The amount of skill - particularly hand-eye coordination and the ability to feel the clubhead's position during the swing - on display here is remarkable. Swain's trick shots are pretty much the same as every other golf trick-shot artist's shots. Which doesn't diminish in any way the skill that Swain shows. That Poulter picks up on the tricks, and in most cases seemingly quickly, is mighty impressive. But given how much skill it takes simply to play golf at Poulter's level, probably not that surprising.

Top 10 Rejected Names for John Daly's Murder Rock Golf Club

There's a golf club in Missouri that has a marketing deal with John Daly for the club's name. And that name is: John Daly's Murder Rock Golf Club. Now, Murder Rock is the place name of a Civil War-related site in Missouri. It's a historical reference. But if you're like me, you cringe a little when you see the combination of "John Daly" and "Murder Rock." The name was announced not long after Daly showed up with severe scratches on his face following a domestic disturbance with wife No. 4 - one in which he accused her of trying to kill him with a knife. Ouch! That's gotta smart! So I'm just saying that maybe this club (whose course has gotten great reviews, by the way) should have kept searching for a better name to pair with Daly's name. But it could have been worse! Spies tell me the club considered and rejected many other names before settling on "John Daly's Murder Rock." Ten other names, to be exact. Top 10

Getting Around That Pesky Rule Against Offering Advice

Pro golfers, every year, call penalties on themselves. Back in 2007, for example, after Mark Wilson won the PGA Tour Honda Classic, stories circulated about how he called a penalty on himself in an early round when his caddie unthinkingly blurted out advice to a fellow-competitor. It's in the Rules of Golf in black and white: neither a lender nor a borrower of advice shalt thou be. But there's more than one way to give or get advice - it doesn't have to be verbal. Do pro golfers ever maneuver to get around the rule against advice by going the non-verbal route? Apparently, sometimes, yes they do. Gary Player did it once down the stretch at The Masters, according to longtime Masters caddie Carl Jackson. Jackson was Ben Crenshaw's Masters caddie seemingly forever, but even before "forever," Jackson was caddying at Augusta - all told, Jackson caddied in more than 50 Masters tournaments. And in the April 2007 issue of Golf Digest , Jackson is quoted telling a

An Afternoon Off By the Pool

Randell Mell of the Golf Channel just tweeted Rory McIlroy's comment following his loss to Tiger Woods at the Turkish Airlines 8-man tournament. Rory said he was "not that disappointed" at losing to Tiger, Mell tweeted, because "I've got the afternoon off around the pool." If Tiger Woods had been the one who lost, and then said that, there'd be furious tweets and angry columns for weeks, denouncing Woods for having the nerve to say something like that. Doesn't he care? How dare he make light of losing! Not a criticism of McIlroy, by the way. Just an example of how fans' natural biases cause us to react differently to different people and different situations. Marion Jones is a pariah because she doped to win her gold medals; Lance Armstrong doped to win his Tour de Frances, but, hey, he beat cancer! If only Marion had had the foresight to get a terrible disease, and then attach her name to a charity. We all bring biases. We all have filters

That Time A Pro Golfer Suffered a Snake Bite During Tournament

Melissa Reid, a winner on the Ladies European Tour and member of the 2011 European Solheim Cup team, is taking part in the second stage of LPGA Q-School in Florida this week. Reid has had a very rough 2012, way beyond golf: Her mother died in a car accident a few months ago. We hope Mel has a good week and Florida and makes it through the Finals, too, and onto the LPGA. But seeing her name in the results reminded me of an earlier incident in Reid's young career: The time she suffered a snake bite while playing a tournament in China. It was the 2010 Sanya Ladies Open in Hainan. The snake was venomous. Tournament officials urged her to go to the hospital, but Reid refused. Instead, she took treatment right there on the course - involving needles and having to swallow 20 anti-venom pills - and continued with her round. And wound up shooting 68. From a fuller account in the The Sun : “It happened just after I hit my second shot to the right of the 16th hole. I was going through a

When It Comes to Rory's Girlfriends, I'm On Team Holly

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(Photo: @HFCSween/Twitter) I think we can all agree that Rory McIlroy has great taste in women. His current girlfriend is tennis ingenue Caroline Wozniacki. And Caro is nice to look at. But above is Rory's childhood sweetheart, Holly Sweeney. Look at that face! That nose , those lips. She's perfection. Yes, put me on Team Holly.

Belly Putters, Are You Ready for the Coming Ban on Anchoring?

The United States Golf Association and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews are hard at work on a ban of anchoring clubs against the body. The USGA and R&A are looking at you, belly putters and long putters. Are you ready for the ban? Because it's coming, and all indications are it is coming soon. Let's be clear about what's being discussed, though: belly putters and long putters themselves won't be banned, only anchoring them (or any other club) against the body . In other words, if you want to use a 42-inch putter or a 54-inch putter, that's fine, so long as you don't press the grip end into your belly or hold it against your sternum. It's not length that will be banned, but the act of anchoring. And also note: The coming ban - which might be announced within a few weeks, but definitely by the end of the year - won't take effect until 2016, which is the next, regularly scheduled update to the Rules of Golf. Why are we so sure th

Nightmare Believer

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Lee Westwood and Chubby Chandler belting out The Monkees' Cheer Up Sleepy Jean on a (probably drunken) karaoke night. The Monkees are a vastly underrated group, by the way. Not this rendering of one of their classics, mind you. But The Monkees - yes, underrated. Pleasant Valley Sunday , in particular, is a great song.

The Headline That Told the Future

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Here's a funny headline about Tiger Woods, captured from Yahoo! Sports: But that headline isn't just funny. It's also clairvoyant. Because that's not a recent headline. It's from November of 2009, only a couple weeks before the car crash that wound up unraveling Woods' marriage and revealing his love of booty calls with women other than his wife. Some things are much funnier in retrospect.

Hank Haney's Wife: Suzanne Rogers Haney

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True story: When Hank Haney quit as Tiger Woods' coach, he posted a note on his website in which he said a lot of things about leaving Tiger, but did not say, "and I'd like to spend more time with my wife." That's the catch-all excuse whenever controversial figures quit a post - "and I'd like to spend more time with my (wife/family/children)." And this is the one time anyone would actually believe it's true - and Hank didn't say it! Hank Haney's wife is Suzanne Rogers Haney. They got married in November 2009 in Los Cabos, Mexico. Tim Rosaforte wrote around that time that they were introduced by Charles Barkley during the taping of the first Hank Haney Project for the Golf Channel. They were introduced on Dec. 30, 2008, and December 30 just happens to be ... Tiger Woods' birthday. Isn't life just full of coincidences? Suzanne Haney was a professional model, and still does some modeling today. She's also moved into

Johnny Miller Is Very Impressed By Johnny Miller

Johnny Miller is one of God's great gifts to humanity. Don't believe me? Well, then maybe you'll believe a certain expert on Johnny Miller named Johnny Miller ! The December 2010 issue of Golf Digest contained a (very interesting) 4-page article about Miller. And in that article, Miller made it clear how impressed he is with himself. Not that there was ever any doubt about that, of course. Within that one, 4-page article, all of the following quotes appear, from Miller about Miller. Enjoy (and remember - I am not making up any of these; they are all real): "Sometimes I wonder how the world would be if there were a million Johnny Millers. I guess some would disagree, but I think it would be a better place." (Sometimes I wonder what the world be like if there were a million Johnny Millers each telling us all the time how good they were.) "I'm sure I'll be like Jones was at Augusta and Jack at Muirfield Village and Arnold at Bay Hill. One of the co

John Daly Is A Disgrace

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That headline was prompted by the 86 John Daly shot in the third round of the 2012 Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Charity Open in Las Vegas. It's harsh, but not without sympathy. Like many golf fans, I root for Daly to turn it around. But, really, it's time to give up on that idea. He's in his 40s now and heading toward the Champions Tour - where he'll be the same as he is on the PGA Tour: A huge draw for fans, an unstable golfer. A guy tournaments and fans will never be able to count on to give his best effort or even to finish out an event. But if you're Daly, why put in the work? No matter what he does, his fans still love him. If any other golfer on tour pulled the stuff that Daly pulls on a regular basis, he'd be a pariah - with both fans and his fellow competitors. He might even be banned by the tour. But before Daly became a problem-child, he became a folk hero with his coming-out-of-nowhere, bombing-drives, good-ol-boy-schtick at the 1991

Golfing Bra and Panties

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No, the bra-and-panties set above is not for playing golf in (although I suppose one could try). It's a lingerie set from the UK company Mio Destino . It's golf lingerie, exactly what the world needs! Rumor has it the trouble between Tiger and Elin started when Tiger kept insisting she wear this to bed.

Michael Phelps' Gold-Medal Putt

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Is it not enough that you are the most decorated Olympian of all-time, Michael Phelps? That you are the greatest swimmer of all-time? Now you have to come into our sport and start doing things like this? Phelps' miraculous putt was 153-feet in distance (51 yards). The ball took 17 seconds from leaving Phelps' putter to falling into the hole. It is believed to be the longest made putt ever shown live during a television broadcast. Where did it happen? At the 2012 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland, on the Kingsbarns course. Phelps was playing in the pro-am. Phelps has been working with instructor Hank Haney as part of Haney's Golf Channel series The Haney Project . So far, looks like Phelps will be a bit more successful than Haney's previous projects.