Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Celtic Culture - The Black Donnellys on NBC





It's encouraging to see Celtic culture hitting the mainstream media - I was noticing the heavy promotion of the new NBC series "The Black Donnellys" during the weekend coverage of the Accenture Match Play Championship.

While I didn't get the opportunity to catch last night's premiere (we were off getting our taxes done), the initial reviews appear pretty favorable.

Apparently, the show is loosely based upon history, and there was a real "Black Donnellys" family in the late 1800's, and their story is summarized here.
The show was created by Paul Haggis (Million Dollar Baby, Thirtysomething, Crash, Casino Royale, Flags Of Our Fathers, Letters from Iwo Jima), so it's got a pretty impressive pedigree. (I thought it was pretty ironic that a program with a strong Celtic undercurrent was created by a gentleman with a last name of Haggis. How Scottish is THAT??? It's one part of my Scottish heritage that I haven't FULLY embraced...for OBVIOUS reasons....) {ick}

Nevertheless, if the Donnelly brothers were golfers, we'd have TartanGolfGrips.com Artans(TM) for them. The Donnelly's were a prominent family from several Irish Counties, specifically County Armagh, County Louth, County, County Donegal and County Tyrone.

That's really convenient, because each brother in the show now can have his OWN TartanGolfGrips.com golf grip. And the best part is, they could have them CUSTOMIZED with the text of their choice to suit their personalities, while still paying tribute to their Irish heritage.


Sunday, February 25, 2007

AM/PM matches - Accenture Match Play Final Round

Opening comment: Who can suck worse??? (I may have to eat my words - Stenson's ice-water has thawed considerably this morning....stay tuned...)

Follow up comment: I just realized - I'm mad at Henrik Stenson - he USED to be a Callaway staff player, and he bailed for Srixon...SRIXON, Stenson??? C'mon... (although my man has now gone TWO up on Ogilvy on the 17th hole, AND the Golf Channel has COMPLETELY lost their audio feed ....time for MORE commercials....ugh....now we're closing out with the studio crew trying to fill in...an inglorious end to the Golf Channel's weekend coverage....can't wait to see them get excoriated (now THERE's a good Scrabble word for ya...) on the other golf blogs and columns)

Wonder if a desert rat chewed through a cable or something???)

On a personal note - it just started DRIZZLING here, which is COMPLETELY screwing up my plans to mow and edge the lawn today....over the last week or so, the lawns and trees have been showing signs of springtime life...time to resume regular lawn maintenance....


Off we go to the NBC coverage at 11AM....(no, I'm not just watching the golf, I'm also working on our tax
return...currently, I'm gutting my way through the investment income section...then I need to go feed the cats at Mom's place, and install three TartanGolfGrips.com golf grips - two putters and one full-swing for my wife...Cheri's keeping her Nebraska Cornhuskers putter grip, but she wants a TartanGolfGrips.com approach wedge, which I'm doing up in a Culloden tartan for her because it's mostly PURPLE...what the heck, let me go copy it (shown at right), so you can see what I'm talking about...

Update two: 12;45 PM PST - So, this match is getting more EXCITING, huh??? (C'mon Henrik - my cred's at stake here....)

Big time thanks to those of you that have e-mailed me to ask about the OTHER two Artans...to keep peace in the family, I've enclosed copies of them below. The "SCOTT" Artan is being made up for Cheri's brother, ALSO named Scott, who lives down in Tennessee...it incorporates the FLETCHER tartan along with Scott's name, and I'm installing it on a Never Compromise center shafted mallet putter as a belated birthday present for Scott (2/12)...

The OTHER one is one that I'm installing on ANOTHER Never Compromise putter for ME (there's going to be another one going up FOR SALE with your choice of Artan design during the 1st Anniversary "Tartan Day" sale that we're planning over at TartanGolfGrips.com in about a month, so now THAT cat's outta the bag...)


2:00 PM PST - I think the pressure that the media's put on Ogilvy is starting to get to him, as he's just launched his second or third shot in a row into the gap between the bleachers on the 31st hole....Stenson's putting from three point range, and he snuggied it up to within a yard of the hole....Ogilvy's putting from the collar - 20 FEET- NO SWEAT - that was CLUTCH, Geoff....(tip 'o the hat to ya, Mate!)
Now Stenson's mettle is tested from two feet, and THEY HALVE #13....it'll be interesting to see how they handle the last five holes....


Cheri and I played 36 in a row once, and the last few holes were NOT FUN.....your hands hurt...your back hurts.....your HAIR hurts....you get the picture.... More to come down below (See Monday content)....

2:13 PM PST - Why I love golf (Vol 723) - Henrik Stenson's thumbs-up to Geoff Ogilvy's SECOND clutch putt in a row on #14 is just ANOTHER reason why I'm hooked on golf...
Mr. Ogilvy is beginning to exhibit that Tiger-toughness mentality that makes him a force in match play....
For what it's worth, the sun's been out for about an hour and a half, and I'm TOTALLY procrastinating by staying indoors, screwing around with the tax prep, sending e-mails about some upcoming Tartan Day activities and celebrations and collaborating on the promotional grip that I'm designing for D'Rae Ward... it's gonna look SWEET - she's decided to go for it with her design, so I've gotta get busy....

2:32 PM PST - Obviously Johnny Miller was paying attention in Physiology class...but we don't need to hear every single muscle involved in Henrik Stenson's drive on 17....BTW, that was a classy move on Geoff's part in conceding the awesome shot Henrik made on 16....

2:42 PM PST - Stenson wins!!! I called it right.....THAT was exciting!!! Two classy guys...now I've got two more guys to watch and support on the Tour....

MONDAY, Feb. 26, 2007.... Follow-up to "More to come" from up above: It's nice to know that we're not the only ones that think that 36 consecutive holes of golf is akin to the Bataan Death March - this from Henrik Stenson's post-round press conference:

RODDY WILLIAMS [Moderator]: Henrik, only the second European to have won the WGC- Accenture Match Play. Pretty exhausting day. Tell us how you feel right now.

HENRIK STENSON: Tell me about it. It's been a long week and a good week for me, and now I'm just exhausted. I don't know what's up and down and back and forth, really.It's been such a long day and such a hard day, and I'm just delighted to come out on top. I was struggling big time with my game and especially in the second round here when we started and didn't feel comfortable neither off the tee or with the putts.Somehow I managed to fight my way through the round and keep -- not letting Geoff [Ogilvy] run away with it, and then all of a sudden turned around and finished with some good birdies. {snip}

Q.: When you're talking about being exhausted are you talking about being mentally exhausted? STENSON: Everything. It's everything. Playing -- see, I don't know how many rounds, seven rounds in five days? I mean, feet are aching, head is aching, wallet is aching.
Q.: Too heavy?
STENSON: (Laughing) but just to play that much golf in five days, I had a lot of tight matches. I mean, probably everybody had the same. I mean, Geoff was tired, as well. I know how much he would have liked to defend his title.Obviously he's devastated with that. I'm happy with the way I managed to play the last couple of holes there. {snip}

Q.: Do you think the format is maybe a round of golf too far?
STENSON: I don't know, it feels like it right now. No, I think it's a good thing with a 36-hole final still though, because you really need to -- 18 holes might be a little bit more decided over bounds, but I think on 36 holes it probably in the end gives you the one that fought the hardest and so on.

Q.: Are you more emotionally drained now than you were after the Ryder Cup?
STENSON: I don't know. I mean, normally it hits you a day or two later. I don't think it's going to be too much happening tomorrow or on Tuesday. But yeah, I don't remember when I was this tired. I'm too tired to be happy almost (laughter). {snip}

Q.: When you talk about struggling with your own swing, is there any consolation looking over at Geoff and realizing that he's going through some battles, as well, with it?
STENSON: Well, I mean, we weren't playing great in the afternoon. But I think, as well, a hard and tiring week like this one, it just wears you down. Every day, every round just wears you down a little bit. In the end you've got nothing left in the tank, and still, I managed to find some on the back nine today. But it's really hard, and we made some silly mistakes, both of us, and sharing holes with bogeys and making bogeys from the middle of the fairway and stuff. I think that's sort of mainly down to us being really exhausted.

Q.: What was the tougher tournament to win, a really strong field 72 holes at Dubai, or beating six guys this week?
STENSON: I'm much more tired now for sure, much more.

Q.: Which was harder to win do you think?
STENSON: Can't we have any easy questions at this time of the day (laughter)? I'll go for this one. Q.: Physical?
STENSON: And also down to it's only one shot at the wrong or right time and you're knocked out. Obviously in a stroke play you can come back a little bit easier if you end up in trouble somewhere.

And then, to dispel the stereotype that the Swedes are a stoic, humorless lot:

Q.: How do you say match play champion in Swedish?
STENSON: Match play champion (laughter).

Good job, Henrik - I think you won over quite a few fans with this performance...I think the comment I liked the most was on one of last night's retrospectives where they likened the final match to two prizefighters slugging it out...the lead changed hands quite a few times, and all in all, it was an exciting weekend's worth of golf....I thoroughly enjoyed watching it - even if it WAS Tiger-less....

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Technical newsflash for my blogging buddies!!!

One of the features that I've found myself missing repeatedly during my blogging adventures (my latest was that debachle of a posting a couple of days ago) where I repeatedly found myself WISHING for the ability to create a TABLE within the blog posting, to make the text behave itself, and retain the PRETTY tabular layout that I painstakingly attempted to create with some VERY creative space-bar work...only to have it turn out as YUCKY (technical term) as it did...

Our good friends at Google have GRACIOUSLY released yet ANOTHER killer-app for the web, by releasing Google Docs and Spreadsheets...

Now we are FREED of the tyranny of free-form, floating text that WON'T behave, by creating tables in Google Docs, and adding text or images to the tables, and then they've made it a piece of cake to post over here at blogger.com....

SWEET!!!

Nevermore will you have to read ugly, messy postings......just poorly constructed ones, with random thoughts....

Now that's using your head....

I first saw this story about a month ago on the KTLA morning news, and now the video has been posted at YouTube...

This is an impressive use of technology used for humanitarian purposes...and some pretty doggone (or is that DEERGONE...bad, Scott....) fine piloting, too...

Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGUoYrBREm0

(Thanks to LA's own "ChopperChick" Desiree Horton for posting ANOTHER YouTube clip from Comedy Central poking fun at "Chopper 4"...good stuff....that one led me to THIS one that I've been looking for...well, I THOUGHT about looking for it...)

Calling my shot at Accenture Match Play....

Well, my predictions from two days ago were COMPLETELY off base, and we've determined that my predictive capabilities are COMPLETELY worthless, so let's go out on a limb and make MORE predictions, and observations....what the heck...

The morning coverage on the Golf Channel is winding down, and NBC is just starting up....

Observation #1: Are these guys WILDER than usual??? I can't recall another tournament where I've seen SO many shots being made from the cactus patches!!! I cannot RECALL hearing "FORE" yelled so often at a PGA Tournament!!! (Didja also see that marshal that scampered out into the cholla patch to retrieve Tiger's errant shot, and got a BIG-OL' cactus just STUCK to his hand??? MAN that was painful to watch!!! Both Tiger's SHOT, AND the volunteer picking the cactus spines out of his paw....OUCH!!!)

Observation #2: Nick Faldo certainly CAN be condescending, can't he??? Some of the comments that eminate from that man's mouth...wow.....
(Someone please smack that guy upside the head with the sensitivity-training manual - Fanny's ponytail does NOT look like a pineapple up on top of her head, and you SHOULDN'T mock her higher-pitched voice - just cuz she was your caddy for a long time....geez...)

Observation #3: Kelly Tilghman almost sounded disappointed during the handoff to NBC, almost like she didn't want to stop covering the tournament...I think she's done a really good job moving from the role of staged commentator to doing real-time coverage...but Nick, Nick, NICK!!!...

Observation #4: I just LOVE listening in on Henrik Stenson and Fanny Sunesson talking amongst themselves in Swedish...even though I don't have a CLUE what they're talking about...it just SOUNDS cool....

Prediction #1: Geoff Ogilvy and Henrik Stenson will meet in the final match, and Stenson will win it....{he said, crawling out on that branch, saw in hand....}

*Follow-up: Was out running errands this afternoon, listening to XM146 - PGA Tour Network, and the announcers were blathering on about Geoff Ogilvy's match-play streak, and how unbeatable he is at this venue, blah, blah, blah....

Now Geoff's a cool guy, AND one of my favorite PGA Tour golfers, but Henrik Stenson's got ice-water in his veins this week, a RED-HOT putter, just dropping LAWN-DARTS in and around the pins, and I'm predicting that Stenson breaks Ogilvy's winning streak tomorrow...{gulp}

Random musings on CA commercial

I'm sitting here preparing FedEx shipping documents for a few TartanGolfGrips.com orders that are shipping out today, and watching the Golf Channel's coverage of the Accenture Match Play Tournament....

Those CA commercials came on where Retief Goosen and David Howell are shown driving a triplex mower or raking a bunker, respectively, and the older Scottish greens superintendent comes running out at them and exasperatedly says something to the effect of "You don't have to do THAT, THAT'S Sean's job!", and the camera pans towards "Sean" for an inordinately long period of time...leering....leaning on the handle of a sand-trap rake...shifting from one foot to the other...gaze unwavering...goofy grin on his face......gripping the handle of the rake and the towel suggestively, opening and closing his grip on them like Sergio Garcia did to his clubs in his heyday....almost menacingly....


Does anyone ELSE out there find "Sean" kinda SPOOKY looking??? It's just the way that "Sean" looks at Retief andDavid that just CREEPS me out...I THINK it's supposed to be a long, ADMIRING look from their talent and skill on the golf course, but the timing, actions and look on the actor's face makes it looks more like an axe-murderer's psychotic gaze instead....or is it something else altogether??? (Like, is "Sean" wired for DC or something???)

Hmmmmmmm.....thoughts, anybody???

Friday, February 23, 2007

Artan(TM) of the week-Feb 22, 2007


Time got away from me this week, what with Monday being a holiday here in the States and all...I just realized that I missed my Thursday production deadline for the Artan(TM) of the Week...

While I was getting ready for this week's Artan(TM) of the week, I stumbled across an interesting story of an upcoming professional golfer named D'Rae Ward, who is facing some financial challenges while she pursues her dreams and aspirations in professional golf, but she also has some really creative proposed solutions to them.

You can read about her story here, and her sponsorship opportunities available at eBay, too...

I read her story, and although my own financial responsibilities prevent me from taking a full sponsorship, I would like to help her out how I can...with an Artan(TM) and a new program.

The Wards were a prominent family that hailed from County Donegal in Ireland, so for the remainder of 2007, I will contribute 77% of all net proceeds from the sale of ALL County Donegal tartans sold at TartanGolfGrips.com to D'Rae to help her with her pursuits on the Duramed Futures Tour. You can see more here.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Accenture World Golf Championships analysis and predictions


Now that we're two days into the Accenture World Golf Championships, we've got a reasonable quantity of players to work with, so without further ado, let's take a look at Friday's action, and make some predictions for the weekend....

FRIDAY SAT AM SAT PM SUN
----------- ------------- ---------------- -----------------
Woods vs O'Hern Woods vs Stenson Woods vs Howell III Woods vs Ogilvy Woods wins.....

Baddely vs Stenson

Rose vs. Howell III Howell III vs Poulter

Poulter vs. Immelman

Campbell vs. Toms Toms vs. Cink Cink vs. Ogilvy

Ames vs. Cink

Micheel vs. Casey Casey vs. Ogilvy

Fasth vs. Ogilvy

Congratulations, CH3

Congratulations to Charles Howell III on his victory at the Nissan Open.

I haven't even looked at the TiVo recording, because I spent the entire weekend at a series of Kingsmen Alumni Corps rehearsals in Riverside and at Anaheim.

We got our uniforms for an August performance at DCI Semifinals on Monday, by the way - they look amazing...

I was hoping that Howell or Harrington won the Nissan Open, so I was pleased when Howell won! It's been a long time, and he's been close a bunch of times, so it's nice to see one of the "good guys" do well...

I'm kinda bummed that Padraig didn't do better, but when I heard his post-round interview on Thursday, he didn't sound very confident in his game. I was worried that one of his rounds would be a meltdown. Fortunately, it waited til Sunday before becoming apparent

Friday, February 16, 2007

PGA Fashion poll


The Apparel Wire at the Golf Publisher's Association would like to know your answers to the following questions pertaining to PGA Tour players. (And since the LPGA season has not gotten into full gear just yet, they'll save the women for later).


Simply copy and paste the following questions into an e-mail, answer them anonymously and then e-mail to stuart@gpagolf.com.

Please put AWire Poll in subject line.


  • Best dressed PGA Tour player:

  • Worst dressed PGA Tour player:

  • J. Lindeberg or Polo?:

  • Burberry or Nike?:

  • Plus-fours on Tour? (yes or no):

  • Tiger Woods in some color other than red on Sunday? (Yes or no; if yes, what color):

  • Jim Furyk's button-up shirts? (like or dislike):

  • Phil Mickelson in a visor or Tiger Woods in a hat?:

  • Do the colors of a player's clothing affect his play? (yes or no):

  • Does Duffy Waldorf need a fashion makeover? (yes or no):

They will publish the results in March....


If you want to weigh in here first, before you zap your response to Stuart...have at it...

Rivier-AHHHHHH (part 2)


Just like it was last November, today is going to be a SPECTACULAR day of golf at Riviera Country Club, with temperatures in the low 80's and a slight Santa Ana (offshore) breeze blowing...

It's feeling like Spring out there, for everyone who is suffering from the winter blahs...

Right now, I'm quite happy, as Padraig Harrington held the overnight lead, and Charles Howell III is in the hunt, too...

I'd be REALLY pleased if either of those gentlemen hoist the trophy on Sunday...

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Artans of the Week


To celebrate last week's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am which was won by Phil Mickelson, I'm going to highlight one of the most attractive Artans(TM) that I've designed for the celebrities who participated in this year's tournament.

You can see the complete portfolio of Artans(TM) here, and I think you'll like the diversity of designs that are available, and their relevance to each participant.

With a little creativity, you can see that there is an Artan(TM) for just about everyone...

The one that I've enclosed here was designed for Carson Daly, Late Late Show TV host and avid golfer. Carson has several Artans(TM) available to him, including the Carson tartan that is in this Artan(TM). This is one of the most attractive Artans(TM) that we have designed, and we could also go with the County Cork tartan, where many of the Daly's lived, according to the 1890 census.




I have also included a couple of Artans(TM) that could be designed for musician and scratch golfer, Kenny G. Kenny was born and raised in Seattle, Washington, and the two Artans(TM) shown here incorporate the tartans of the city of Seattle, and the state of Washington. They also show how either first or surnames can be incorporated into the design...
Surf on over to TartanGolfGrips.com and check out the new photographs of actual Artans(TM) that have been installed on several putters and an attack wedge.

Nissan Open, Day 1

Congratulations to one of my favorite golfers, Padraig Harrington as he shot the lights out at Riviera today, cruising to a three stroke lead over Phil Mickelson, Briny Baird and Pat Perez.

I've entered a "Fantasy Team Challenge" through TeeClub.com, the Ventura County Golfer's Network.

My team consists of (in order):
  1. Phil Mickelson
  2. Padraig Harrington
  3. Adam Scott
  4. Charles Howell III
  5. Chris DiMarco

We'll see how the rest of the tournament goes, but the weather is supposed to be UNBELIEVABLY perfect, with temperatures in the low to mid 80's tomorrow (while the rest of the nation shivers), and cooling down a bit into the 70's over the weekend.

It's a drag that Tiger and Fred Couples are not participating in this tournament, but it would be AWESOME to see Padraig win it! (I'll be cheering for him to win this weekend!)

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Live@...DOA???

Is it just me, or is anyone else's ability to connect into Live@ NOT HAPPENING this morning???

Could we have crashed the servers from overuse???

I'm bummed - I can't see Mickelson/You play #7....

Saturday at Pebble Beach....
















After a 22 minute delay (snark sighting), CBS' coverage of the Saturday hijinks was pretty solid; not too much mugging for the cameras, and some solid golf from the celebrities. Bill Murray's approach shot on # 15 comes to mind...

The highlight/feature reel that they showed at 2:32 into the telecast was slick, and got me to thinking - does anyone know if they put together an annual highlights reel of this event? To show the action that does NOT make it to the television coverage? There is SO much going on, at SO many courses that I think it would be a great moneymaker if done right with a cool soundtrack...the courses are so pretty, and I'm pretty sure that all the amateurs would want a copy, and the golf junkies out there that want a souvenir to get their golf fix....(business opportunity, anyone???)

Congratulations to the amateurs who made the Sunday playoff, most notably Tom Dreesen, Teddy Forstmann (of Forstmann, Little & Co.), Peter Ueberroth, Harris Barton and Andy Garcia.

Seeing the amateurs play has inspired me to add a new section to TartanGolfGrips.com, which I am about to begin developing...

After a day filled with howling wind that closed out with a heavy rainshower, tomorrow's final round is rumored to be played in the sunshine....we'll be there from 9:00AM onwards, watching it on the PGATour.com "http://www.pgatour.com/livegolf/, which is VERY, VERY cool....

Friday, February 09, 2007

This article says it all....

This article by John Maginnes summarizes exactly how I feel about Pebble Beach...we have been fortunate to head up to Monterey (we drove up 101, which added immeasurably to the overall experience by the way) with our main playing partners Margaret and Steve back in the summer of 2004...

I, too, look forward to my NEXT trip back...some of the holes (like 11-15ish) are relatively unspectacular), but the stretch from 4-10, and 16-18 are like nothing I've ever experienced on a golf course since....

I will be GLUED to the television this weekend, which is good because the rains are supposed to be coming, and it'll be a good excuse to get the tax returns prepared, and some stuff done around the house, since we won't be tempted to go out and PLAY in the rain....(I'm a fair-weather, SoCal/spoiled golfer - I admit it....)

Pebble Beach Pro-Am pairing information, plus amateur handicaps

I spent some time tonight poring over the pairing sheets at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am site, and found the following pairing information, with the amateur's handicap:

PRO AMATEUR HCP COMMENTS

Michael Bradley Thomas Gibson
6 Star of "Criminal Minds"

Corey Pavin Craig T. Nelson 6 Star of "Coach" and "The Incredibles"

Vijay Singh Teddy Forstmann 7 Founding partner of Forstmann, Little & Co.

Jason Gore Carson Daly 8 {FUN GROUP!} Late night talk show host

Pat Perez Kelly Slater 3 (!) World champion surfer

Jeff Overton Clay Walker 8 Country music singer

Kevin Stadler Glenn Frey 15 Founding member of the Eagles

Paul Stankowski Andy Garcia 12 Actor - Academy Award nominee

Jesper Parnevik George Lopez 14 Comedian and host of the Bob Hope
Chrysler Classic
Rory Sabbatini Peter Gallagher 11 Actor - "The O.C." and "Sex, Lies and Videotape"

D.J. Trahan Kevin Costner 14 Actor/Director/Dapper Golfer

Dean Wilson Don Cheadle 17 Actor

Scott Simpson Bill Murray 14 Actor/Director/"Carl Spackler" in Caddyshack

Bobby Clampett Kevin James 18 Comedian/TV Actor (Emmy nominated)

Scott Gutschewski Ray Romano 16 Comedian/Emmy-award winning actor

Chris DiMarco Emmitt Smith 13 Former Dallas Cowboys running back/awesome
dancer/Former U. of Florida running back

Billy Andrade Tom Brady 8 New England Patriots quarterback

Todd Hamilton Michael Bolton 10 Singer (Kinda look alike, don't you think???)

Peter Jacobson Huey Lewis 10 Singer

Steve Elkington Chris O'Donnell 7 Actor - Grey's Anatomy(TV), Batman movie series

Rocco Mediate Scott McNealy 2 Chairman, Sun Microsystems and super nice
guy and GREAT golfer***...

J.P. Hayes Joe Gransden 9 Jazz trumpeter and vocalist

Brett Bingham Rick Rosen 3 Endeavor agency founding partner/Carson Daly's
agent

Bubba Dickerson Roger Cleveland 8 Chief golf club designer, Callaway Golf

Larry Mize Angelo Mozilo 17 Chairman of the Board/CEO, Countrywide Finan.

Len Mattiace Alan Mulally 10 President/CEO, Ford Motor Company

David Duval Tony Forstmann 6 Forstmann/Leff Investment Banker

Matt Kuchar David Dorman 8 CEO, AT&T

Paul Gow Louis Gerstner, Jr. 18 Retired CEO, IBM

Jose Maria Olazabal Peter Ueberroth 15 USOC Chairman, former MLB Commissioner,'84
Olympics Organizer
Tom Watson Michael Watson 6 Father/Son

Bryce Molder Charles Schwab 10 CEO, Charles Schwab stock brokerage

David Frost Stone Phillips 13 Journalist/Anchorman

Greg Owen Harris Barton 12 S.F. 49'ers retired offensive lineman

J.J. Henry Chris Berman 18 ESPN Anchorman

K.J. Choi Kenny G 0 {SCRATCH GOLFER} Smooth Jazz Musician
{K..J. and K.G.}{!!!}

Troy Matteson Jerry Yang 10 Yahoo! Co-Founder

Jeff Brehaut Bob Griese 10 Sportscaster, and Pro Football Hall of Fame QB

Mark Wilson Danny Sullivan 15 Former Indy 500 driver{?}

John Daly Darius Rucker 12 Musician - "Hootie and the Blowfish"

Robert Gamez Tom Dreesen 6 Entertainer {Super nice guy!}***

Kevin Sutherland Bill Gross 11 CEO, Idealab

Kent Jones Frank Quattrone 12 Former CSFB investment banker {ahem}

Michael
Putnam Walter Driver, Jr. 2 USGA President {M. Putnam is a Pepperdine U.
graduate/star...GO WAVES!!!!}

Chris Riley Tom Siebel 13 Former CEO and founder, Siebel Systems (now
part of Oracle Corp., current CEO of First
Virtual Group

Phil Mickelson Harry You 18 CEO of BearingPoint

*** I met these gentleman at the 2005 John Elway Celebrity Classic Golf Tournament when I was their standard bearer. ***

Link here to the results from Day 1...

Thursday, February 08, 2007

NEW FEATURE - Artan(TM) of the week (GORDON) + TartanGolfGrips.com

This being the first day of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am competition, I figured that I'd like to celebrate by launching a new feature on the blog, and highlight an Artan(TM) of the week...

This Artan(TM) features the Dress Gordon tartan, and was done as a Christmas gift for one of my Target World Challenge fellow volunteers, who wanted to give a unique and personalized gift to one of HIS golf buddies...you can buy your own here...and examples of what they look like when they're installed are shown at the bottom of this posting...
CLAN GORDON: Although this is one of the great families of Northeast Scotland, the name originally came from a location in Berwickshire (probably 'gor-dun' meaning hill fort). The name appears in the Borders in the reigns of King Malcolm IV and King William the Lion in the 12th century. Sir Adam de Gordon was appointed to the lordship of Strathbogie and Badenoch in the North-East of the country by Robert the Bruce, in place of the Comyns, who had opposed him. Sir Adam had been one of those who petitioned the Pope to remove the excommunication of Bruce after he murdered John Comyn in 1306.
The Gordons were major landowners, rather than a traditional tribal clan but became known as the "Cock o' the North". The 1st Earl of Huntly is said to have rewarded anyone who adopted the name Gordon with a gift of oatmeal. In the 15th century, Sir Alexander Gordon was created Lord Gordon and his son the first Earl of Huntly (a name which had also originated in the Borders). In the power struggle between King James II and the Douglas family, the Douglases burned down Huntly Castle but were later defeated. A grander castle was built in its place.
The 4th Earl of Huntly was an adviser to Mary of Guise when she was regent in place of the absent Mary Queen of Scots. Gordons remained staunch Catholics and supporters of King Charles II in the Civil War of 1642-1648, but they refused to support the Marquis of Montrose.
The 2nd Duke of Gordon supported the "Old Pretender" in the first Jacobite Uprising in 1715 and fought at the Battle of Sheriffmuir on September 12, 1715. His son, the 3rd Duke, remained loyal to the Hanoverian government in the 1745 Uprising but his brother fought for Bonnie Prince Charlie.
Read the history of the "Gordon Highlanders" Regiment here.
  • The Gordon clan motto is "Bydand" which means "Remaining".
    Surnames regarded as septs (sub-branch) of the Gordon clan include Addison, Adie, Aitcheson, Aitken, Barrie, Cullen, Eadie, Edie, Geddes, Huntly, Mavor, Milne, Todd.
  • Gordon was the 50th most frequent surname at the General Register Office in 1995.
As promised, here is what the grips look like when they're installed:
The first three grips are PISTOL PUTTER grips, with examples of:
  1. No Text/Plain & Tartan only
  2. Artan(TM) with the Scott tartan and the first name
  3. Artan(TM) with CUSTOM TEXT - up to 15 characters looks best, as more characters is too small to be legible
  4. The "HARRINGTON" Artan(TM) is on an OVERSIZED putter grip featuring the County Cork Irish District tartan and the family surname. Notice the magnification that the putter grips create from their flat front.
  5. The grip at the far right is a Tour Wrap (#4) full-swing grip, with the Taylor tartan and the golfer's initials.
These grips all feature the standard Celtic font, but are also available in Verdana, Hettenschweiler, Garamond and Stratford fonts, too.

LIVE from Pebble Beach

Work productivity ALL over the world takes a hit today, as golfers everywhere are GLUED to their screens, watching the live feed from Pebble Beach at PGATour.com

VERY, VERY cool....

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

George Lopez at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am


Had to copy this article from this morning's Ventura County Star, written by Bob Buttitta, our local golf writer extraordinaire....it chronicles George Lopez' interest in golf - it's a good one:

Seriously, Lopez loves golf

Popular comedian, who didn't take up the sport until he was a young adult, is humbled by playing with top professionals

By Bob Buttitta, bbuttitta at VenturaCountyStar dot com
February 7, 2007

Growing up in San Fernando, comedian George Lopez couldn't find many people in his neighborhood who cared about golf, never mind someone who played the game.

For much of his adolescent life, Lopez's only exposure to golf was from the two golf clubs lying around his house.

"We had a 3-wood which was there for us to use if we heard a noise outside," Lopez prior to the third round of last month's Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. "And we had a 7-iron, which we used to keep the door shut so the dog would not get out."

Then one day a friend dared Lopez to go with him and play a round of golf. That was 23 years ago. Since then, Lopez, who stars in the ABC sitcom "The George Lopez Show," has been addicted to the sport.

"We had a lime tree, so I would hit (the limes) with the 3-wood," Lopez said. "I would try to hit them to the gas station across the street.

"Golf has become the father I never had. I know that sounds funny, but golf has taught me patience, temperament — that was the hardest one — honesty and a respect I didn't have before I started playing golf. So I know it looks boring, but believe me, there is something there."

Even though he's a television celebrity, Lopez, 45, said it's hard to believe he gets invited to play in events like the Hope.

"For someone who learned golf at a public course, El Cariso in Slymar, to end up being invited to play with the best players in the world and maybe even win a trophy, it's amazing,"Lopez said.

"I'm out here playing with pros like (Oxnard native) Corey Pavin and Justin Leonard and playing with Cheech Marin and Samuel L.Jackson."

This year, Lopez didn't just play in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, he served as the celebrity host.

After Hope died, the tournament had not had an acutal host, but the tournament committee and Dolores Hope (Bob's widow) decided they needed one. Dolores said she and her husband always liked Lopez and his work, so she asked him to carry the torch.

"Dolores has been so kind to me since the first time I met her in 2004 and that Bob was a fan of my comedy is validation," Lopez said. "It would be like if the Pope sent you a letter and said: ‘You're a good Catholic. Signed the Pope.'

"I have the support of the Hope family along with the Chrysler and the Board of Directors. They have been here when Bob was around and they ran the tournament with him and it's been great because they have been very supportive of this."

When he accepted the job as host, Lopez promised the Hope Board of Directors and Chrysler that he would increase the celebrity level.

This year he got heavy hitters Andy Garcia, Huey Lewis and Clint Eastwood to play. It was the first time in 14 years Eastwood played in the tournament.

"I've brought a higher-profile celebrity and I think that's what Bob did so well," Lopez said.

"As long as I'm the host of the tournament, I will continue to really work on it all year and not just, you know, just a couple of months before the tournament. This is an all-year job for me."

Another reason Lopez was the perfect fit to host is that, like Hope, he takes the game seriously.

Unlike some celebrities, who play in events like the Hope and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am just for the exposure, Lopez is serious about his game.

"I have the (TV) series, but I play a lot," Lopez said. "I have a net upstairs (in his office on the set) with 200 Titleist balls, so I go up there and hit balls.

"I am never without a club. I watch television with a club in my hand."

Lopez is a member at two golf clubs — Lakeside Golf Club in Toluca Lake and Saticoy Country Club in Somis.

Lopez said he loves playing at Saticoy, a course most people in the golf community consider one of the finest in Southern California.

"I wish I could play there more. It's a gem, just a beautiful golf course," Lopez said of Saticoy. "Cheech was a member there and he asked me to come out there and play with him.

"Once I did, I decided I wanted to be a member there, too. It's a hard golf course, but I like that about it. It really challenges you."

Saticoy is known for its lightning-quick greens that feature subtle, yet severe breaks.

Lopez received a lesson in how tough the greens at Saticoy are when he played there with Marin for the first time.

"Cheech was telling me about the greens, but I'm a pretty good putter," Lopez said. "I hit a putt and all he said was, ‘Bye.'

"I asked what he meant, and he told me to watch. The ball just kept rolling and rolling and it eventually rolled off the green."

Lopez, who plays to a 14 handicap, will be playing in this week's AT&T National Pro-Am at Pebble Beach. He owns a house off the 15th fairway at Pebble Beach.

Pebble is the site of his greatest golf achievement, finishing third in the 2004 event while playing with Jesper Parnevik.

While he enjoys both celebrity events, he said they are different.

"This (the Hope) is more fun, while AT&T is more serious golf," Lopez said. "I love playing both of them."

Copyright 2007, Ventura County Star. All Rights Reserved.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Stormy weather...just like home, eh, Padraig?


(No Chamber of Commerce-approved scenes of sun-dappled waves lapping gingerly upon the rocks, while sea lions frolic and otters swim lazily by...not THIS YEAR!!! Better bring your 'brella to Pebble Beach THIS time....)


I also just found out that Padraig Harrington (one of my FAVORITE professionals) will be teeing it up for the VERY first time at Pebble Beach - just one more reason to set the TiVo to capture EVERY minute of this special tournament - see this article for more details and celebrity/professional pairings.

This just in from the National Weather Service regarding the Monterey Peninsula:

Special Weather Statement

SAN FRANCISCO- COASTAL NORTH BAY INCLUDING POINT REYES NATIONAL SEASHORE- NORTH BAY INTERIOR VALLEYS- NORTH BAY MOUNTAINS- SAN FRANCISCO BAY SHORELINE-SAN FRANSISCO PENINSULA COAST- EAST BAY INTERIOR VALLEYS-EAST BAY HILLS AND THE DIABLO RANGE- SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS-SANTA CLARA VALLEY INCLUDING SAN JOSE- MONTEREY BAY/NORTHERN SALINAS VALLEY/HOLLISTER VALLEY AND CARMEL VALLEY-BIG SUR COAST- SOUTHERN SALINAS VALLEY/ARROYO SECO AND LAKE SAN ANTONIO- SANTA LUCIA MOUNTAINS AND LOS PADRES NATIONAL FOREST- MOUNTAINS OF SAN BENITO COUNTY AND INTERIOR MONTEREY COUNTY INCLUDING PINNACLES NATIONAL MONUMENT- 223 PM PST MON FEB 5 2007

...WET AND STORMY WEATHER TO RETURN TO THE BAY AREA THIS WEEK...
AFTER AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF DRY WEATHER THROUGH MUCH OF JANUARY AND THE BEGINNING OF FEBRUARY...A DRAMATIC SHIFT IN THE WEATHER PATTERN IS EXPECTED THIS WEEK. A CHANGE TO WET... AND AT TIMES STORMY WEATHER WILL BEGIN WEDNESDAY AND CONTINUE THROUGH THE UPCOMING WEEKEND.
THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF RAIN STORMS WILL REACH THE NORTH BAY BY LATE TUESDAY NIGHT...THEN SPREAD OVER THE ENTIRE DISTRICT ON WEDNESDAY. RAINFALL AMOUNTS WITH THIS SYSTEM WILL BE LIGHT TO MODERATE...RANGING FROM NEARLY AN INCH IN THE WETTEST NORTH BAY MOUNTAIN LOCATIONS TO LESS THAN A HALF INCH ACROSS INTERIOR VALLEYS.

A BRIEF BREAK IN THE RAIN COULD OCCUR WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND EARLY THURSDAY... BEFORE A STRONGER STORM TAKES AIM AT THE REGION THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. GUSTY SOUTH WINDS WILL DEVELOP ON THURSDAY...ALONG WITH AREAS OF HEAVY RAIN. WINDS COULD REACH SUSTAINED SPEEDS OF 30 MPH WITH GUSTS OVER 40 MPH DURING THE HEIGHT OF THIS STORM.

IN ADDITION TO TAPPING INTO A MORE MOIST SUBTROPICAL ENVIRONMENT... THIS FRONTAL SYSTEM WILL BE SLOWER TO MOVE THROUGH THE DISTRICT. THEREFORE... RAINFALL AMOUNTS WITH THIS STORM COULD BE DOUBLE THOSE OF WEDNESDAYS SYSTEM.
AS WE HEAD TOWARDS THE END OF THE WEEK AND NEXT WEEKEND...INDICATIONS ARE THAT THE FOCUSING MECHANISM FOR CONTINUED RAINFALL WILL STALL SOMEWHERE AROUND THE SAN FRANCISCO OR MONTEREY BAY REGION. THIS COULD LEAD TO A PROLONGED PERIOD OF MODERATE TO PERHAPS HEAVY RAIN AT TIMES. IF CURRENT PROJECTIONS HOLD THROUGH FRIDAY...GROUNDS WILL HAVE BECOME SATURATED AND ADDITIONAL RAINFALL THEREAFTER COULD RESULT IN LOCALIZED HYDROLOGIC PROBLEMS. {That means FLOODING in English!!!} ANOTHER ROUND OF STRONG AND GUSTY WINDS IS ALSO POSSIBLE LATE FRIDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHT...COMPOUNDING THE WEATHER SITUATION.
ANYONE WITH TRAVEL PLANS LATER THIS WEEK AND NEXT WEEKEND SHOULD PAY PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO LATER FORECASTS...HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOKS...SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WATCHES...WARNINGS OR ADVISORIES. LISTEN FOR FORECASTED RAINFALL AMOUNTS AND WIND SPEEDS THAT COULD CAUSE DANGEROUS DRIVING CONDITIONS AND POSSIBLE POWER OUTAGES.

{Is THAT all??? What, no LOCUSTS???}


You heard it here first, look for Padraig to be accepting that trophy come Sunday...first trip, first win - I'm calling my shot right NOW...


Monday, February 05, 2007

This is a SPECIAL week...

This is a special week, where one of the special events on the PGA Tour is played out in one of the most hallowed of American golf cathedrals, at the Pebble Beach Golf Course in Monterey, California. For those of you who have never seen this area in person, you have GOT to see this stretch of coastline in person, and preferably when the weather is sunny and warm, because it is simply SPECTACULARLY beautiful....bring your wallet, though, because the beauty does NOT come cheap!

Click here for some interesting tournament history.

The
weather for this year's tournament doesn't look like it's going to be picture-postcard-perfect like it was last year (not by a longshot), but it's still my favorite event of the entire PGA Tour season (followed by The Masters). (Tiger's tournament doesn't count, because it's after the season's over...)

There are some pretty cool features available on the web, and one of my favorites is the
'real-time cameras' that are available...the best one is probably the first tee, followed by the 18th green, and the 17th hole. If you leave the windows up, it appears that some of them automatically refresh, too...17, especially... (if the weather gets as NASTY as the National Weather Service is indicating, these cameras might provide a glimpse into the weather-nasties...)



THIS one will likely get interesting later in the week, as it's a feed from the PUTTING green outside The Lodge, the gorgeous hotel/shopping area near the first tee...because this one's more of a close-up shot than the others, you MIGHT be able to see someone FAMOUS warming up on the putting green before their round later this week...you can actually see the GOLF BALLS on the green, it's so close!!!




Click here for PGATour.com coverage, and here for Golf Channel's. It's a drag that Arron Oberholser's back is suffering from a bulging disk (for more reasons than one!) and he won't be back (pardon the pun) to defend his title this year...
Here's the list of celebrities that are scheduled to participate in the 2007 Pro-Am segment (HEY, no WOMEN celebrities??? What is this, 1907???):
*Harris Barton • Former Professional Football Player (San Francisco)
* Chris Berman • Sportscaster
*Michael Bolton • Entertainer
*Tom Brady • Football Player – New England Patriots
*Joe Buck • Sportscaster
*Glen Campbell • Entertainer
*Don Cheadle • Actor
*Kevin Costner • Actor/Producer/Director
*Carson Daly • TV Host
*Tom Dreesen • Entertainer
*Glenn Frey • Musician
*Kenny G • Musician
*Peter Gallagher • Actor
*Danny Gans • Entertainer
*Andy Garcia • Actor
*Thomas Gibson • Actor
*Joe Gransden • Musician
*Bob Griese • ABC Sports Analyst
*Kevin James • Actor
*Huey Lewis • Musician
*Rush Limbaugh • Radio Talk Show Host
*George Lopez • Entertainer
*Bill Murray • Actor
*Craig T. Nelson • Actor/Producer/Director
*Chris O’Donnell • Actor
*Stone Phillips • Journalist
*Ray Romano • Actor
*Darius Rucker • Musician
*Kelly Slater • World Surfing Champion
*Emmitt Smith • Professional Football Player
*Clay Walker • Entertainer


Sunday, February 04, 2007

85 degrees in Thousand Oaks on Super Bowl Sunday - Feb. 4, 2007

We had an 11:13AM tee time this morning at Sunset Hills Country Club, and when we pulled up into the parking lot, our hearts sank...

The place was CRAWLING with people...they were everywhere!!! Carts were strewn all over the parking lot, people were pushing or dragging carts everywhere, we had to do the body-slalom to find a parking spot, and when we DID, it was in the "dent zone", which is the front row of parking spaces facing the right side of the 9th green.

Fortunately, we learned that the crowd was actually LEAVING, not showing up, and we jetted around all 18 holes in 3 hours 45 mins...that's right, we were on our way home to watch the Super Bowl by 3:05!

Today's round was characterized by drives that were either long and laser-straight, or shortish, snap-hooky topspins, punctuated by some mutant awfulness on #4 where I basically popped up a drive into someones backyard EXTREMELY short right...the last time I did THAT was four years ago on the first tee at Pebble Beach, where I put THREE consecutive 7 woods onto the tile roofs on the condos immediately adjacent to #1, and immediately began praying that aliens would come down from the sky in their spaceship and spirit me away, never to be seen again...

I also had the opportunity to hit my new Callaway 4H "Heavenwood" in a real-round situation...ME LIKEY!!! The little darlin' has a solid feel to it, the (stock) grip feels great, and the ball just rockets off the face - it's become my new best friend from 170 yards out...I botched my tee-shot off #10 (another corkscrewed/"handsy" drive) and had a 160 yard shot into the green, into a stiff headwind...grabbed the ol' 4H and caught it right on the sweet spot....the ball arced ever so gracefully into the crystal blue sky, and floated gently back to Earth....20 yards past the GREEN!!! So much for the 4H being a direct replacement for the 4 iron...oh well, the shot FELT great, at least...I then proceeded to chunk three wedge shots because I chickened out and didn't commit to the shot because the green slopes severely away from where the ball came to rest. (I didn't want to hit it too hard, so I backed off of it, made it WORSE by lifting my friggin' head on the FIRST pathetic attempt, and proceeded to chuck three quick ones in a row, resulting in a total elapsed advancement of the ball of approximately twelve feet....nice....) Needless to say, I took a bloody snowman for the hole, once the madness stopped and I celebrated my SHORT game prowess by matching it with three PUTTS just for good measure...GAAK!

Still smarting from dancing with Mr. Frosty on the first hole of the back nine, I went to the 11th, a long, downhill par 5 of about 450 yards with a renewed sense of purpose...OK, I went with a case of the f-it's, truth be told...

Drew my trusty Callaway ERC Fusion 10degree driver, and proceeded to swing slowly, smoothly and just KNOCKED the cover off the ball...DEAD straight down the middle of the fairway, over the lip of the fairway, and down DEEP into the run-out valley down below, leaving me with ANOTHER 170 yard shot into the green. Grabbed the 4H again, and proceeded to hit ANOTHER nice shot into the green that hit the green, and hopped into the rough behind the green. Took out the 58deg. attack wedge and KEPT MY HEAD down and took a quarter swing at a Big Bertha golf ball that landed on the green, checked up and stopped about 2 feet from the pin. Lined it up and dropped it dead-center for a BIRDIE...MAN, that felt GOOD!!!

Unfortunately, there were a couple more episodes of head-lifting and chunked short wedges that caused the score today to balloon to a 96, or 24 over par...ugh

BUT - did I tell you that it was 85 degrees out on the course today???? WHO GIVES a rats-hooey what the score was - it was BEEYOOOTIFUL out there today!!! Everyone was wearing shorts out on the course, and the first sunburns of 2007 were duly recorded today - comments were flying about early Spring Fever cases, and it was just a phenomenal day on the course...

I came back home to watch the Super Bowl, and during Prince's halftime extravaganza (how PERFECT was his rendition of "Purple Rain" during a driving rain - you can't SCRIPT that any better!), I ran upstairs to get the Check-Go, and run the test that Rich at EatGolf.com
proposed. I managed to salvage two balls from the sleeve of Callaway Big Bertha golf balls, and dropped 'em into the Check-Go...what do you know, they aligned the SAME way (after trees, cart paths, etc) that they did before (maybe off by an eighth of an inch, but basically the same!).

By the way, same as before, I noticed that the balls that ended up in the fairway frequently ended up with the alignment line being on the top of the ball, leading me to hypothesize that there IS something to the Check-Go, and I plan to keep on using it.

Oh, by the way, congratulations to Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts who basically dominated today's Super Bowl. After a slow start, and a scare from that kick-return specialist guy on the Bears, Peyton and the Boys basically manhandled the Bears for most of the game, and if you blink twice, you'll miss the Rex Grossman highlight reel...Ol' Rex DIDN'T have the best game of his life tonight, but then again, the persistent rain wasn't the greatest for a passing game anyways....who woulda thought that this would turn into 'The Rain-X Super Bowl'?

The Super Bowl commercials were pretty tame compared to recent years, and I thought the Coke commercial that was a turnaround on the videogame was pretty clever, and was one of the few commercials that actually sent a POSITIVE message - good show, Coke!

Also, there weren't as many "gross-out" commercials, and even the GoDaddy ads were relatively tame...but you can tell that the ones at the GoDaddy.com website will be a bit more, um, SPICY....OK, I just checked it out after grabbing that link, and I gotta tell ya - Candice Michelle just DOES NOT do it for me; Danica Patrick - yep, the blonde in the high heels sitting down and crossing her legs, CHECK....Candice - BLECHHH, but that's just me...

Snark sighting...


Here's my top five commercials, in reverse order:
5) The Bud Light "Hitcher" ad where the guy with the axe gets nervous about the next hitcher carrying a chain saw...
4) The GM machine dream-sequence ad, where the forlorn little welder machine has an "It's a Wonderful Life" experience after he messes up on the line, and considers his options...
3) The Coke ad that parodied the videogame (GTA San Andreas??? I dunno - I don't play those things) but instead of killing/hurting everyone, he does his good deed for the day for each instead...inspirational without being smarmy, and shocking because it cuts against the popular culture of being negative and edgy for edginess' sake....
2) The Budweiser ad where the white dog turns his series of misfortunes into glory as part of the Budweiser Clydesdale team....subtly inspirational....
1) The Nationwide ad featuring Kevin Federline, where he dreams about his recent success as a glitzy rapper at his fast-food job...clever, and the only commercial that made me laugh out loud, probably because it cuts so close to reality...the quick-cut to their tagline "Life comes at you fast" was the perfect punchline to the setup that took place during the rap sequences...witty, and subtly funny. (Probably an element of TRUTH, too!!!)

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Farewell, OWL....


I am TOTALLY bummed....

Laura Neal, the writer of "Online with Laura", also affectionately known as "OWL", has left her employment with the LPGA, and her article at LPGA.com will now be called "The LPGA Insider".

Laura's wit, talent and spirit was a HUGE attraction to LPGA.com, and whoever takes over for her has a HUGE set of shoes to fill...

As usual, the article gave no indication about where Laura's new home will be, or why she was leaving, but her articles for the last three years have been a guaranteed laugh (or tear, sometimes), and she's an amazingly talented writer.

Since they didn't allow a forwarding address, GOOD LUCK to you Laura in whatever you choose to pursue, and THANK YOU for brightening up our days with your pithy prose....

West Coast LPGA Tour news - Feb. 3, 2007

Saw this post in Golfweek where "Reps from Octagon's golf division have made visits to La Costa (Carlsbad, CA) and Trump National Los Angeles (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA) with sights on helping create an early 2008 LPGA West Coast Swing that would fill in gaps between the two season openers in Hawaii, and a late March event in Phoenix. "We're making progress" reports Tim Erensen, SVP for Octagon."

That's AWESOME news for SoCal LPGA fans, who currently have to shlep two hours+ one-way to see the LPGA events in Rancho Mirage in the Spring (Kraft Nabisco), and the Samsung event with a limited field in the Fall...

So, where do we sign up to volunteer for the event at Trump National Los Angeles???

Friday, February 02, 2007

A tribute to the LAFD


Following a recent post on the Westlake Villlage brushfire, I learned about the LAFD Fireblog - what a GREAT idea, and some of the features at that blog are AMAZING!

For those of you that always toyed with the idea of someday MAYBE being a firefighter...here's a resource that will make you wish that you had followed that dream, and will make you want to say THANK YOU to the men and women of fire departments everywhere, but ESPECIALLY to the Los Angeles Fire Department. (But I gotta tell ya...some of the things these folks see, and ENCOUNTER...WOW!)

Next time you see these guys and gals in line at Starbucks...buy 'em their coffee!!!

(The heli-tac water-drop photos have ME captivated....
)

Thursday, February 01, 2007

I WANNA go.... (St. Andrews News Feb. 1 2007)


I was listening to Pure Golf with Peter Kessler on XM 146 - The PGA Tour Network on XM Satellite Radio on my way in to work this morning, and Peter was interviewing a gentleman associated with the design and development of the new "Castle Course", the seventh course at the St. Andrews Golf complex...

Peter's guest was going on about the FANTASTIC views afforded by the course's proximity to the Firth of Forth, and how it's only 20 minutes East of Edinburgh, and how the VIEWS of the ocean and the coastline from holes 10-15 (especially lucky #13) will rival Pebble Beach and several other famous coastline courses, and the more he described, the stronger the urge became to GO there and PLAY after the "Castle Course" opens on April 1, 2008...(What's up with THAT??? April Fool's Day??? Hmmmm....curious.....)


Well, hearing about THAT got me out to the St. Andrews Links and Trust website to see if there was a progress update on the course construction....WOW, was there EVER...

(All pictures courtesy of the St. Andrews Links and Trust)


This is a shot of the "headlands" where the ninth and eighteenth holes will meet, and the clubhouse will be located. (I'm not positive if the building in the center is the foundation of the new clubhouse, or an existing structure, but you can just SEE the layout of the holes...Peter Kessler's guest was describing the phenomenal views on the back nine, and you can get an idea what he was talking about...he was also mentioning that the WIND will come into play on that series of holes...

EVIDENTLY!!!

This is a shot of the topographical map of the course...I don't know why, but I've always DUG these things since I was a kid....they're like technical art, and the descriptive information that is presented graphically is just beautiful to me...this view gives you an idea of the clubhouse and coastline layout from another perspective, as well as the elevation changes and the layout of the golf course as well (in green)






These pictures are just drop dead gorgeous, and give you an idea of the "grow in" that's already taken place...OR, the small amount of dirt that's been moved, which is what Mr. Kessler's guest was indicating - Tom Doak's minimalist approach only took ten months to implement...WOW!



As if this visual feast for the eyes wasn't ENOUGH for one day, when I got out to the St. Andrews' Links and Trust website, they're also holding a JOB fair over two days. Figuring that something like this doesn't come around every so often, I decided to copy the text, rather than link to it, to KEEP it in perpetuity, as they appear to be staffing up in anticipation of the new course opening, as well as for the 2010 "Open" Championship...check it out:

ST ANDREWS LINKS TRUST
Situations vacant at St Andrews Links Trust
Golf Manager:
St Andrews Links Trust manages and maintains the largest public golf complex in Europe including the world famous Old Course. More than 80,000 visitor rounds are played on the six Links courses each year and the practice facilities and services are used by thousands of golfers.
The Trust is seeking a senior manager to oversee its golf operations. This includes an extensive Golf Practice Centre and Golf Academy and our successful junior golf association. The Golf Manager will also supervise our caddie, starters and rangers departments and the staging of several major tournaments which take place on the Links. These include the Links Trophy, the St Rule Trophy and the Alfred Dunhill Links Trophy on an annual basis and the Women’s British Open in 2007, the Curtis Cup in 2008 and The Open Championship in 2010. {No pressure THERE, right???}
This challenging role requires a dynamic team player who is adept at running a diverse range of operations in a co-ordinated and efficient manner. The ideal candidate will have substantial experience in a senior leadership role within the golf industry.{Ya THINK???}
An excellent package is on offer for this post which presents a wonderful opportunity to become involved at the heart of the Home of Golf.{Heck, I'd pay THEM for this job!!!}
Please apply in writing to:
Ann Stuart
HR Manager
St Andrews Links Trust
Pilmour House
St Andrews KY16 9SF
or email:
mailto:a.stuart@standrews.org.uk
Tel: 01334 466672
The closing date for applications is 16 February 2007

AND, if you're not at the top of the Golf Manager heap, but want to get in on the action in a more, um, GRASS ROOTS level, grab your passport and get to the airport NOW, because this Saturday is Day #2 at the:
Links Recruitment Days 2007
St Andrews Links is the most famous golfing destination in the world, with a global reputation for quality. Permanent, full-time, part-time, and seasonal job opportunities in our retail, reception and clubhouse departments are now available at the Home of Golf.
St Andrews Links is hosting two recruitment days when you can find out more about the following:
● Golf Shop Sales Associates ● Warehouse Assistant● Receptionists● Food and Beverage Assistants ● Kitchen Porters● Golf Practice Centre AssistantPlayers’ AssistantsPutting Attendants● Facilities Assistants ● Cleaners
Come along and meet us at:
The St Andrews Links Clubhouse
West Sands Road
Tuesday 30 January and Saturday 3 February 10.00am to 2.30pm
Ann Stuart
HR Manager
St Andrews Links Trust
Pilmour House
St Andrews KY16 9SF
or email:
mailto:a.stuart@standrews.org.uk
Tel: 01334 466672
{Just think what you'd see, and experience as a "Players' Assistant" or "Putting Attendant" - course you'd probably STARVE (or at least be really slender from not EATING), but still...it's nice to dream at what it MIGHT be like...}