Golf Spelled Backwards

Not content with just tartan-ing up humans, Ian Poulter has now turned his design fashion to dogs. IJP Design has launched its "Poulter Pooch" collection. This video is cute, but it doesn't really give a sense of what's in the collection: A blog post on the IJP Design website says the Poulter Pooch collection will include "doggie jackets, doggie neckerchiefs with doggie golf shoes" when it launches in 2014. Doggie golf shoes? Says Ian: "After my family, I have three loves: golf, clothing and dogs. So it makes perfect sense to add a pet collection to the IJP Design range. Now the whole family can look good and play great. ... My dogs love to join me on the course; however, I was always slightly concerned that they did not match the rest of my perfectly coordinated outfit. Now they can look as sharp as I do." If Ian was a cat person instead of a dog person, we'd all be worried that he was turning into one of those "crazy cat people....

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.

It was a dark and stormy night ... or maybe not. Either way, Ian Poulter was spooked by the rental house he was staying at during The Heritage in Hilton Head, S.C. Poulter wrote on Twitter: "Check this out, we have a ghost in our house this week & I'm not joking we have had some very strange goings on every night." Strange goings-on in the Poulter house? Was Ian laying out his next day's outfit? No. He quickly added: "We have a dead bolted door in the house & every morning that door is unlocked & slightly open. It's happened 7 times already." Yes, I can see how that would be disconcerting. Although my thoughts wouldn't turn to spirits, but to someone playing a trick on me. Or a squatter living in the attic. But hopefully just the former. Poulter then updated: "No joke for real, very bizarre the door is pretty solid with a dead bolt & number of times it's been unlocked & open. Calling home owner now" Alas, n...