EWGA news

I am getting ready tonight for a meeting with the EWGA's Los Angeles chapter at their 2007 season kickoff and membership recruitment meeting, which is being held tomorrow (Saturday, April 21) from 9AM til noon at Knollwood Country Club in Granada Hills.

I will be participating in the "Golf Expo", along with GolfTec, BellaSport, GolfGym and a representative from the CookieLee Jewelry Co..

More information about TartanGolfGrip.com's involvement in the establishment of a VENTURA COUNTY chapter of the EWGA, and more about women's golf in general later....

Easter Golf news

After attending a local sunrise service, and heading out to an early breakfast out with Mom, Cheri and I headed over to Elkins Ranch Golf Course with our favorite other golf couple.

I wanted to go to Elkins because the citrus blossoms are in bloom right now, and I enjoy their scent immensely. Elkins is also a fun, friendly little course that is located smack in the midst of citrus groves on three sides, and mountains on the fourth. It's quite far out away from civilization, and it's a nice getaway that's still pretty close by....

Elkins is located in Fillmore, California, which is a town that is in the midst of changing from mostly agricultural, to suburban residential, which is kinda sad, because once all those groves are plowed under, where will we get our oranges and lemons???

For the time-being though, a trip to Elkins is like a trip back to the '60's, when the course was first built. My favorite hole on the entire course is #18, which is a dogleg right into a large amphitheater green that is framed with large pine trees on the left and center, and the snack shack/bar/bar-b-cue patio on the right....it's a funky reminder of days gone by, and you can almost imagine the horn-rimmed and cat's-eye glasses on the people that played golf there when the course opened in the early 60's...and the HAMBURGERS are LEGENDARY - we joke that it's probably because the grill hasn't been cleaned thoroughly since the Eisenhower administration, but there's SOMETHING there that makes them taste EXTRA good....

The day was cloudy, and cooler than normal, and a bit of a breeze kept everyone bundled up in sweatshirts and jackets, but the citrus blossoms did their thing, and EVERYONE shot REALLY well...we had a bit of trouble with their fuzzy greens from poa annua, and all of us left SEVERAL putts short of their intended destination, and pumped up the scores, but I ended up with a legitimate 87, and edged Cheri out by 1 stroke, but she was playing from the forward tees, and I was playing from the blues...

We had a great day, and Cheri was just LAUNCHING her drives...her tempo was nice and slow, and she was just BOMBING the ball off the tee...we measured one drive at 276 yards on a flat fairway!!! How you ask???

Our playing partners brought along one of those new SkyCaddie GPS devices!!! Now, I'll be first to admit that when I saw them advertised by Pete 'n Nat on the Golf Infomercial Channel, I thought they were a joke, being the traditional purist that I am...sorta...

After being out on the course with friends that actually HAVE one of the little babies, and knowing exactly how far out from the green we are, and hitting DARTS into the green...I want one....(more confessions...sheesh) I STILL think they're too expensive, but if you have the disposable income, they are COOL! We had access to the high-end model, the SG4, and they had downloaded all of the coordinates from the website, and we new EXACTLY how many yards INTO the pin, and how many yards OUT from the tee-box we were, and we were able to measure EXACTLY how many yards out Cheri had launched her Callaway Big Bertha Red golf ball....it was pretty FUN, actually...

More volunteer opportunities

Well, it's official - I'll be working as a volunteer at the Lake Tahoe American Century Championship this July - I just got my e-mail notification and my volunteer package charge just cleared my credit card.

I was a little concerned that John Elway wasn't going to play this year's tournament, but on today's celebrity list, I noticed that he's now signed up.

Another pleasant surprise was the addition of Brandi Chastain...and Charles Barkley...

THIS is gonna be FUN!

Oh, and uh, Happy Spring Equinox everyone!

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...

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!!!)

Day off, and....

We played 14 holes at Sunset Hills on Monday, and we had the place to ourselves.

Why you ask, especially on Martin Luther King's birthday, when so many people have the day off?

Because it was COLD, that's why!!! BITTERLY cold for Southern California...in fact, we've had rather bad frost damage to many of the plants in the back yard....Southern California has been in the grips of some record-setting cold weather for the past few days and nights, and the temperature in the Thousand Oaks area has dipped into the high 20's and low 30's for the last three nights, and the cold north winds were blowing 20-30mph throughout the day today...

I bundled up in three layers of a mock turtleneck, polo shirt and my Longs Drugs Challenge Anitigua golf jacket and headed out to do battle with the course and the elements, and you know what? Thanks to the world's best golf ball (IMO), the Callaway HX Tour coupled with my new Heavenwood 4H hybrid, I managed to post a 43 (8 over) for the front nine...

For some reason, I found the sand repeatedly, but managed to make some MIRACULOUS sand saves with that magic HX Tour ball, where it popped out of the sand, checked up like it was sticking to Velcro, and stopped right by the pin for a relatively easy putt...

HX Tour's cost a bit more, but based upon today's round, I might be trading up from the HX Hot to play the HX Tour for its better spin characteristics around the green...I've been practicing a more descending stroke at the range in an attempt to get the ball to check up more, and I think that the practice is beginning to pay dividends...but the ball didn't hurt the efforts either...

And, also had an unscheduled detour yesterday...the plan was to play in the Guys'N'Dolls tournament that teed off at noon at Sunset Hills CC, but I just HAPPENED to stumble across GolfChannel.com and checked out the new Golf Inventor reality show link, and Holy SHMOKES, they had open auditions for Los Angeles yesterday!!! I had submitted my application back around Halloween, and gotten an e-mail confirmation back, but somehow I fell through the cracks, and wasn't notified of yesterday's open auditions at the LAX Hilton Hotel.

Coincidentally, that LAX Hilton Hotel was my second-ever audit client when it first opened, and I knew where everything was...it was weird returning to a place that I spent SO many long days auditing way back when I was in an internship program at Cal State Northridge...

The auditions were from 8AM to 8PM, and they had opened the doors for registration at 7AM...seeing as I stumbled across the announcement at 9:30AM, and had to complete a rather lengthy application, get ready and travel to the LAX area, I checked in at 12:50PM and was assigned #96...and they were on #58 when I got my number. I had my 5 minute audition about 5:30PM, and I had taken in three putters with TartanGolfGrips.com grips on them as part of my audition. From what I could tell, most of the inventions were more technical or training oriented than my product, but the auditioner who greeted me instinctively blurted out "Those are COOL grips!" when he saw them, which was EXACTLY the reaction that I always hope for...

We'll see how the audition process goes, but there were at least 98 people who showed up in Los Angeles, and they're having auditions in Orlando, Dallas, Chicago and one or two other cities...and it appears that there's NO shortage of golf junkies who have designed "the next big thing" and want to introduce it to the world in the new reality series on the Golf Channel.

Sherwood Country Club-2006 Target World Challenge Volunteer Day I - Jan. 8, 2007

Monday, January 8, 2007 was volunteer day #1 for the 2006 Target World Challenge, and the day dawned sunny, breezy and warm. (Sorry about the "A" pillar, there was another car turning off of Portrero Road behind me and basic photo composition went out the window in favor of being a considerate driver...)

I checked in at the guard station at about 9:20AM, and was wished a cheery "Have fun out there!" by the security guard. She called it - we had fun!

My SCORE didn't look much fun, but with the exception of a couple of blowup holes and unfortunate splashdowns, it was a GREAT day! (More about that later...)

The essence of Sherwood is that the fairways are relatively broad and generous, but the oak trees influence the line of flight on almost every hole. The greens tend to be smallish, relatively narrow configurations, and undulate like potato chips - they're TOUGH to read, and TOUGH to score well on. It's a beautiful course that makes use of the natural topography, has several water features and hazards that can be problematic, and a mudhen problem on Tournament #2/Member #11 that cannot be BELIEVED!!! There's HUNDREDS of 'em, and the little buggers need to wear DIAPERS!!! There's mudhen guano
E V E R Y W H E R E from 150 yards in....even on the GREEN! (Eew! My approach shot landed in some...double EEW!! Thank GOODNESS you're allowed to clean your golf ball - they need to declare a local rule for lift, clean & replace on the #11 approach zone) When we were going out to Member #11 in the morning, the grounds crew were running TWO Australian shepherd dogs around the water hazards to shoo the mudhens into the water hazard. (Those dogs need to be trained to do coot-doo cleanup!) That's about the only fault I can find with the course...but the coots need a place to live too, so they've chosen the NICEST place to live in the area, just like the PEOPLE who live at Sherwood!

It wasn't so prevalent at THIS year's tournament, but there have been some absolutely RAGING parties on the patios (Isn't that an old ZZ Top tune?) on Championship Sunday. From my days as a standard bearer (last year), there were some ragers going on Tournament #2 and #7 - believe me, THOSE people know how to throw a party!!! I checked this year, and that party house on #7 had Vin Scully, longtime (and BELOVED) voice of the Dodgers sitting out on a folding chair on the patio (but no loud music THIS year) - I saw him with my binoculars from the crossover on #6 - hey, it gets boring up there while you're waiting for Padraig Harrington's group.... (LOVE ya, Padraig! Seriously! But I digress...)

The guard gave me my parking pass (pictured below) and I found a great parking spot right where the Tournament organizing committee parked in the members parking lot.
I got checked in and found out that we were starting on hole #13 (Lucky 13?), which is played as hole #4 at the Target World Challenge. It's a beautiful, 459 yard par 4 from the tips, but we were playing from the 435 yard blue tees today...

Wandered down to the carts and found our cart amongst the throng that had been assembled - the organizing at Sherwood is flawless, and each cart had been outfitted with a towel, three tees for each player, two box lunches, a Sherwood divot tool and a partridge in a pear tree. (Just kidding about the partridge and the pear tree, but the guys just TOP out the carts for us!) (See if you can find the TartanGolfGrips.com putter grip in the picture of the Sherwood Country Club golf cart...and NO, I didn't Photoshop it into the picture, I COMPOSED it that way...attractive, huh? You can order your very own at https://shop.tartangolfgrips.com )


Headed down to the putting green to get the eye sharp, but with the undulations in the greens, it's an academic exercise, but at least it gives you something to do...it's a little known secret, but there's actually a SECOND putting green, up by hole #1, so I headed over there to hit a few balls and get the Stimp reading down...they were FAST - it's been really dry and windy in SoCal since Christmas, and the greens were quick! (You can see the general area of the putting green in this pic - it's at the base of the flagpole. It's smaller than the main green, but at least there wasn't three people aiming for the same cup over there!

(While we're over there - just take a look at the size of that house behind the first tee's flagpole! No, that's NOTa hotel, that's NOT an aircraft hangar, that's ONE family's HOUSE, folks! (Can you imagine VACUUMING that place??? It'd be like painting the Golden Gate bridge - by the time you're done with one side of the house, enough dirt has accumulated on the other side that you have to start over and you never finish! Please don't touch anything, and please keep the line moving....))

Sherwood is one of THE most exclusive country clubs and neighborhoods in the area, and home to many famous celebrities including Wayne Gretzky, Pete Sampras, Tom Selleck, Scott Hamilton and many others...the homes that line the fairways are truly AMAZING, and it's a real treat to see the beautiful landscaping and architectural features that the residents incorporate into their homes AND backyards...and the golf course ain't bad, EITHER!

We got our official welcome from the head pro, and headed out at 10AM sharp...it was sunny, warm and breezy - but not so windy that it interfered significantly with our games. It has been another amazing "winter" thus far, it's been windier and drier than normal and the average temperature throughout December has been about 75, and this day was no exception...on the way home, the termperature gauge in the car read 82...at 5PM! The wind kicked up a few times between 10AM and noon, but the afternoon was basically still and absolutely PERFECT for golf!

It's interesting to note this picture - notice the guy wearing the shorts! This is the first year in the seven that I've worked this tournament that volunteers were allowed to wear shorts on volunteer day! Had I known...

I had requested to be paired with Dave and Jan. Dave and I worked on #6 and #15 for the tournament, which are REALLY #15 and #6 the way the members (and the volunteers) play the course. Jan worked (tournament) #3 and #12, which are a pair of par-3's. We were told that holes #9 and #18 would be played the way they are for the tournament, and I think that instruction screwed with several groups, because there was ALL kinds of confusion in following that instruction, and we encountered several other groups that were not adjacent to our group as we played our round on both #9 and #18. Maybe it was because those were the only two holes that were played the same way as the tournament...

Dave and I used to work for Kenneth Leventhal and Company, a Century City CPA firm which is now part of Ernst & Young. I started my career with them quite a few years ago, and Dave was an audit manager for several Palm Springs developers.

I was a staff auditor on a Santa Monica real estate developer that had several Palm Springs divisions that had January/February calendar-year audits at the same time as Dave's account. Back in the day, we'd work the audits Monday through Friday, stay on-site at some of the residential units or hotels over the weekend, and play golf down at the courses that were attached to the developments that we were auditing. It was at some of these weekend golf "stay-overs" that I met Dave, and our friendship was rekindled when we met one another about five years ago at the Target World Challenge. We've golfed together every volunteer day since, and had a great time together. Dave's a member at Wood Ranch Country Club in Simi Valley, and he used to be a member at Sunset Hills Country Club. He's now a senior manager at Countrywide Financial Corporation.

I met Jan last year, and she's in the Marketing group at 21st Century Insurance, an auto insurance company in Woodland Hills who built a second headquarters building on the old driving range that stretched from Topanga Canyon Blvd to Owensmouth Avenue in Woodland Hills, where I first went to practice golf many years ago... Jan's very athletic, and plays a solid game of golf. She ALSO has the exact same Husky headcover that I have on my driver (although ours are last years model and they have PAWS that make them look better). Dave and I suggested an alignment and grip adjustment, and we had Jan hitting 30 yards farther and straighter by the end of our round - I think she was pleased with the result! It was cool offering some guidance, and actually having it help out a fellow golfer...you know what they say - those that can't DO, TEACH!

Anyways, off we headed to hole #13, a 435 yard par 4 with water alongside the right side. Dave and I chickened out and put our drives WAY down the left side on the inland side of the hole, and Jan dropped a mulligan into the drink, and then proceeded to BLAST her second drive straight down the middle of the fairway about 240 yards. Here's a shot of the tee, and another below of my second shot...












My second shot was a hybrid of about 165 yards to within 60 yards of the pin, where I pitched to within 15 feet and two-putted for bogey. Notice how IMMACULATE the fairway and second cut are...(that's Dave doing his best "Wandering Golfer" imitation, by the way...)












This is the view of my approach to the green...and Jan walking to HER approach shot...note the variety of clubs, as we were playing "cart path only"...ugh....
















Hole number 14 is my new best friend...we played it twice (ssssh, don't tell anyone) and I parred it BOTH times! Played it the SAME WAY both times, too...lasered a drive RIGHT at the double-trunked tree on the right side of the fairway, bouncing it left into the fairway (Thank you, Golf Tiki!). Hit a hybrid to the left second cut. Hit a nine iron the first time, and a seven iron the second time to the left side of the green, and funneled it down to 8-12 feet from the pin, and SANK the par putt! Here's the hole 14 shot sequence in pictures:



















Obviously I ticked off "The Golf Tiki" on #14, because my fortune CHANGED in a big way on #15, the hole that Dave and I marshaled at the Target World Challenge. I have been hitting a draw recently, and have adjusted my alignment a bit to compensate for it...

#15 features a narrow, uphill "gun barrel" approach, which is even MORE PRONOUNCED for the PGA players when they play it from the tips...it is a NARROW, BLIND tee shot into a crowned fairway. (This is where Colin Montgomerie corkscrewed his drive into the base of the hill on the left, and my crossover post is about the same place that the guy at the left on the hill is pictured below.)

Well, my "draw alignment" coupled with my sudden LACK of draw EXECUTION resulted in THREE back-to-back drives BLOCKED badly onto the hillside to the SHORT RIGHT... ( I DID find my second shot, nestled safely amongst some native scrub plants inside the stand of trees, but it WAS OB, and good for TWO....TIMES THREE...UGH....). Here's the view down the gun-barrel at #15:The guy at the left side of the hillside is near my post at the crossover to Tournament #7, the bottom of that hill is where Colin doinked his drive in the rain, and the half a tree at the right is the LEFT of where I doinked THREE of MY shots off the tee...

Unfortunately, our photojournalistic escapades end here, because with all the ON/OFF, shoot, repeat action on the course, the battery decided to take the rest of the day off, so you'll have to wait until NEXT year's blog entry to see the REMAINDER of the gorgeous scenery at Sherwood Country Club (or just tune in and watch on TV, instead - the golf will probably be better anyway...)

The irony of the day award went to ME, because I DOINKED up BOTH holes that Dave and I worked - after popping three drives into the tree/hillside on the right on Tournament #6, I ALSO decided to launch a triumvirate of topped offerings into the fishies that swim in the water hazard that guards Tournament #15, before FINALLY landing drive number FOUR about seven feet from the pin, and sinking the putt for the big SNOWMAN (on a par 3...sheesh....). It's spelled B L O W U P H O L E, Scott....(and brings to mind that old saw about crapping where you eat, or something like that...)

Here's the final evidence - I'm not proud of it, but I think I won, because I had more points than Dave and Jan did...right??? Well, at least I DID par TWO holes...whoopee!!!

Thanks for gutting it out to the bitter end - hope you enjoyed the pics and stories...it was a FUN day, and I hope the weather is as nice for the rest of the volunteers at the END of the month...

New Year's Golf...why I love Southern California

It was a nice way to wind down 2006, and start 2007 - a bunch of us went to Elkins Ranch Golf Course in Fillmore to play 18 on New Year's Eve - we had two foursomes, plus one rider, and headed out at 11:30 and 11:38 AM.

It was sunny, crisp and beautiful, and I played in shorts and a sweatshirt, while everyone else was in slacks and sweatshirts. As the round progressed, it cooled considerably and in the shadows, it was COLD, I'll admit...(relatively cold, it was 57 degrees on the car thermometer when we got back...)

Elkins Ranch Golf Course is located amidst an orange orchard in Fillmore, CA, and it's about 45 minutes away from the house, but the beauty of the area, and the laid back attitude is a refreshing change of pace. The cheeseburgers or hot dogs at the turn are amongst some of the best you'll have anywhere...I don't know WHAT they do there that makes them SO tasty, but Elkins Ranch is widely known in the area for having some of the tastiest burgers around...

Their signature hole is #17 - an elevated tee 440 yard par-four that features some AMAZING views of the town of Fillmore, and the surrounding agriculture. This picture shows our friend Margaret teeing off, and the fog that was starting to move in...I shot a 91, and Cheri shot a 88 - my putting was pretty atrocious, and I will be making good use of the automated putt returner that our friends Mike and Michelle gave me for Christmas...

Speaking of which, I gave everyone their Christmas presents yesterday - it was a round of TartanGolfGrips.com putter grips for everyone!

• Margaret got one featuring County Offaly, where her family originated from in Ireland...

• Steve got one featuring the Kansai Highland Games tartan, since he's half Japanese...

• Mike got one featuring the Justus Universal tartan, since his family is German...

• Michelle got one featuring the Scozia Italian tartan, since she's Italian, and the Scozia tartan is a bit more colorful than the Italian/American "artan" design that I made up for Tim Rosaforte...

• Kirsten (Mike's sister) and "J" got one that I developed especially for them - the "Burner" tartan, which is derived from one of the "Burns" tartans...Dr. "J" and Kirsten recently moved to our area from Orange County, and purchased Anacapa Animal Hospital. The animals of Ventura and Ventura County are fortunate to have J and Kirsten taking care of them, and they have made some REALLY exciting improvements to the Anacapa Animal Hospital - it's a very impressive facility, with some amazing high-tech equipment to take care of the animals. We hope that the two of them can take some time off in 2007 to come golf with us some more!

We wrapped up our round with Jeff, our hamburger chef, who also mixes up a mean "J.D" (Jack and Diet Coke - consumed in honor of John Daly), and we toasted the New Year together in the bar area adjacent to the snack shack at Elkins. (I drowned my sorrows as my beloved Broncos looked PATHETIC in their loss to the 49ers, and got bumped out of the post-season...2007 started off nicely, though, as the Boise State Broncos beat Oklahoma to win the Fiesta Bowl!)

Everyone headed home, and we got together later with Mike and Michelle and "Mini-Michelle" from Las Vegas, and rang in the New Year together. It was a very pleasant day, and a great cap to a pretty decent year!

Here's the 2006 recap:

• 2006 started with me working with Sally Quinlan of the Ventura County Junior Golf Association to try and get a Ventura County Chapter of the Executive Women's Golf Association off the ground.
• I got the idea for TartanGolfGrips.com in early March 2006, and spent the rest of the year getting ready to launch the business, and develop the website and shopping cart. I launched the site and cart around Memorial Day, and spent the summer taking classes in Dreamweaver and Photoshop from Conejo Valley Adult School. The relaunched site went live at the end of October.
• My dog Rusti passed away in early September. Rusti's story can be found here, and I miss her every day - however, my life was improved by having her be such a big part of it, but she is greatly missed.
• However, "life is for the living" as the old saw goes, and a week after Rusti's passing, we adopted "Tailer" from the Agoura Animal Shelter. This is "Tailer" and his new Christmas hot dog squeaky toy: Rusti's buddy Triniti had been grieving and lonely since Rusti passed away, and we decided that she needed some companionship. The two of them have become best buddies, and they tussle and play ALL the time...here's a picture of Triniti:

• I've talked to a lot of people, and it seems that many of us feel that 2007 will be a better year, as the general zeitgeist seems to be improving...it's hard to believe that we're on the cusp of 2007, when it seems like only last year we were getting ready to ring in "the new millenium" - it's amazing how fast the time goes by...but I've learned that the best way to live is to live each day like it were your last, hug those that you love, tell them how much they mean to you, laugh easily and often, and play all the golf that you can! The PGA Tour season kicks off in only three days, and I'm looking forward to it, especially with the new FedEx Playoff format. I went through the 2007 PGA Schedule, and I'm especially looking forward to these tournaments:
• Mercedes Championship - Kapalua - One of my favorite courses in the world, especially the "Bay" course - even though they play the "Plantation" course, it'll be fun to see if 'The King of Kapalua', Stuart Appleby will make it four in a row, and the scenery and newness of the season gives Kapalua a special vibe...
• Bob Hope Chrysler Classic - This event moves up in the schedule this year, and I'm hoping for nice weather. The Pro-Am portion of the event is fun, and this year's grand marshal, George Lopez, should have the crowd enjoying themselves.
• Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines - I REALLY enjoy the "West Coast Swing" because so many of the courses are within 2 hours of my home, and Torrey Pines is ANOTHER favorite course. The scenery and challenge of the South course is really great, and this event is a personal favorite - it's also usually the first "Tiger sighting" on the Tour.
• AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am - In my opinion, this event is one of the top five all season, the others being The Masters, The U.S. Open, The British Open and the Bob Hope. The scenery of Pebble Beach and the Monterey Peninsula courses, the history of this event and the Pro-Am makes this THE West Coast Swing event...I actually sent in a volunteer form for this event this year, and I'd take vacation days to work this event...I know the pros hate the six hour rounds that the Pro-Am involves, but it adds a special and unique element to the eventthat makes it really special for me...

I used to say that SKIING got me through the dark days of January to March, but the West Coast swing is quickly taking over for me, although I hope to make a trip to Mammoth in February to get some skiing in this year!

New Years Day was sunny, breezy and about 75 degrees in SoCal. My wife is preparing for her securities license test later this week, so I met Steve and Margaret at Sunset Hills for a quick nine-hole round. One of the benefits of having a local team (USC) in a big bowl game (the Rose Bowl) is that the golf course was DESERTED...there were only about four other people on the course with us, and we had the place to ourselves! Steve's 17 year old daughter Stephanie is just taking up golf, so it was nice for her to not have the usual weekend pressure. The wind was pretty gusty, and came into play on a few holes...but helped my drive on #2 end up about 120 yards out, making that drive over 250 yards...wind-aided, of course...but it was still fun!!! Shot 46, and couldn't POST, because the clubhouse guys closed up early, but had a nice day anyway...

Happy New Year to all!

Day 3 and 4 - Target World Challenge

OK, without further ado, I've procrastinated enough, and it's time to let the story be told - Saturday was a WILD day at the Target World Challenge, and it wasn't just the WEATHER that was wild...

First of all, the weather forecast was for rain to move in after 3PM, so all of the volunteers figured that we had it made...we'd get our day in by 2PM-ish, and be outta there and safely home to watch the day's action on TiVo by the time the liquid sunshine started falling.....WRONGGGGG!!!

We were chomping on our doughnuts (The KrispyKreme's were SORELY missed this year, by the way...the master developer for Southern California and KrispyKreme Korporate are both having difficulties, and many of the KrispyKreme outlets are now vacant...and therefore, we had "traditional" doughnuts this year...hmphhhh....) at about 9AM when the first exploratory raindrops began to dance on the roof of the big white volunteer tent...

By 9:15, they weren't just dancing, they were doing the CHARLESTON, and the bulky, yellow 'Target' ponchos were being distributed...

Fortunately, I had gotten to Sherwood Country Club EARLY that day (to beat the weekend traffic), and had time enough to catch the shuttle DOWN to the parking lot, grab my large MicroStrategy umbrella, and make it back to the volunteer base of operations by splashdown time...

By the time we got out to #6, the rain was coming down quite steadily, the wind was picking up, and it was turning into a raw, cold morning...

All the players were significantly shorter off the tee on Saturday morning, and Colin Montgomerie was the one player who corkscrewed his drive left into the base of the hill that I was working past the crossover...

Now it's important to mention that I and my partner on the left fairway had agreed that we were going to run a tight ship on the spectators that use the cart path above the sixth fairway, while they make their way down to the large viewing area at the green...ESPECIALLY for Colin Montgomerie, who prefers the quiet of a library when taking his shot...even though birds chirp, dogs bark, people shuffle and the wind blows outside on a golf course...nevertheless, we were bound and determined to provide him with the peace and tranquility of a diamond-cutter's studio to the best of our abilities...at least that was our INTENT...

People don't realize that the noise from their footsteps and casual conversations TOTALLY funnel down the hills into the fairways, and the players can hear it all...trust me, I've been down on the course with the players as a standard bearer and walking scorer, and YOU HEAR IT down there!!!

So here we are...the wind is blowing hard...people want to get out of the open areas and under the trees where there's a bit more shelter, and people want to leapfrog the pairings ahead of Tiger so they can see Tiger play through...and Colin's group was ahead of Tiger's on Saturday, and so were Tiger's fans...and Colin's ball was BURIED in the deep-shtuff at the bottom of the hill alongside the left side of fairway #6...

You could barely see the top of the ball, and the grass was long, wild and WET from the rain...as I watched the ball settle comfortably into its little grass nest at the bottom of the hill, I scampered down the wet hillside, umbrella in hand - pointed into the wind, which was howling up the fairway from the tee to the green.

When I got to the ball, I looked for Roy, my partner to coordinate our crowd control efforts. He had stayed up by the cart path to direct traffic, while I scampered down to the ball to point it out to Mr. Montgomerie. When I got down there, I looked up the fairway to check his line into the green...not a prayer, as he hadn't hit it far enough to clear a crown in the fairway, and his line to the pin was blocked by an overhanging oak tree that guards the left side of the green...I assessed the situation, and determined that he had to take his medicine, and lay up to within 100 yards on the right side of the fairway and improve his shot into the pin to take a par and move on...to make matters WORSE, the ball was a good 4-6 inches below where his feet would be on the hillside, making a blocked shot to the right quite possible, given that lie....

"Monty" purposefully strode up to where I was standing, that ever-present pained expression on his face. I had been tempted to offer a pleasant comment about the weather being a taste of "home" (Scotland), but when I saw his dour expression, I simply pointed out the position of ball in the salad, and started to scamper back up the hill, to my position near the crossover.

To my HORROR, "Monty" evidently made a quick assessment of the situation, and possibly out of frustration with the outcome of his drive, waited for his caddy to appear with the bag, extracted his weapon of choice, and with one swift, smooth, fluid move went RIGHT INTO HIS STANCE and TOOK HIS SWING!!! (He DOES have a BEAUTIFUL swing, by the way...)

No practice swing to gauge the depth of the shtuff, no deliberations with his caddy, NOTHING - just STRAIGHT INTO HIS SWING!!!!

Roy's view of the goings-on was blocked by his umbrella and the natural vegetation on the hillside between the cart path and the ball's location at the base of the hillside. Worse, a large group of spectators was moving towards him, many talking loudly about the weather and all moving quickly to get to the next stand of trees that would provide them with protection from the rain and wind, which was growing in intensity by the moment.

At the VERY instant of the beginning of "Monty's" hatily executed downswing, the crowd surged forward on the cart path and Roy LOUDLY called out "Stand, please!", in an effort to create a quiet environment for "Monty" to work his magic...the ball squirted out of the salad, to the right, but probably to within 125 yards into the flagstick...altogether NOT a bad shot, given the lousy weather conditions, and that the ball was just a fleck of white surrounded by a tangle of long, swirly grass stalks that OBVIOUSLY hadn't been mowed in a week and a half...maybe more...

"Monty" was VISIBLY upset at the sound that had been uttered right at the start of his downswing, and he WHEELED to stare at the SCOUNDREL who had DARED utter that SOUND during his swing...

Realizing that he had just inadvertently done EXACTLY the opposite of what we had agreed to do for Mr. Montgomerie, Roy started down the hill, visibly shaken, stuttering an apology for his inadvertent transgression. At THAT exact moment, a large gust of wind WRENCHED Roy's umbrella from his grasp, and it cartwheeled crazily down the hillside, headed RIGHT for Mr. Montgomerie, who continued to stand at the bottom of the hill, GLARING up the hill, his gaze BURNING holes into Roy with laser-like intensity...incinerating his victim with his visual death-rays (death-Roys???). FORTUNATELY, the golf tiki prevented the wayward umbrella from careening down the hill INTO Mr. Montgomerie, but it stopped close enough to him that it fueled his fire for ANOTHER five to ten seconds, which felt like minutes for me AND Roy...

"Monty" finally exacted his punishment on his victim, and stalked off, muttering under his breath, and angrily swinging his club at the damp earth, while he walked to his ball, now resting safely on the right side of the fairway, about 125-135 yards out from the pin...

I don't know for sure, because I had to talk Roy out of committing Hara-kiri right there on the hillside, but he was distraught for the remainder of the day...heck, he was still self-flaggelating on SUNDAY morning...but I THINK that, to his credit, "Monty" salvaged par on the hole.

I told him that if this had been baseball, "Monty" would have committed a "quick-pitch", and Roy's action was well-intentioned, and he had not committed an intentional action intended to interfere with "Monty's" shot...his view was impeded by the natural hillside vegetation, and the crowd surged upon him in an attempt to get out of the deteriorating weather conditions...and "Monty" had taken his shot MUCH more quickly than one would expect, especially given his lousy lie...

Needless to say, "Monty" reported Roy through whatever channels exist to report such matters, and the volunteer chairman approached me when we were working #15 in the afternoon to get my report on what transpired. After hearing my explanation, the complaint was basically dismissed as one of "Monty's" hissy-fits...it's kind of sad, but "Monty's" proclivity to complain about EVERY little noise, motion or perceived slight on the course works against him, and REAL complaints get lost in all the noise from the perceived slights....

That was it for the on-course fireworks for us for the weekend...everything else was pretty routine. I got on television from a distance on #15 on Saturday, and I'm the bright white spot on the back hillside because I was wearing a long-sleeved white turtleneck under my black volunteer polo shirt...

The other big news was that I shared the Heinz ketchup bottle with Wayne Gretzky at the snack stand outside #15 on Sunday afternoon. I put the bottle down, and Wayne reached out to intercept it from me as I was putting it down...he was wearing a free Grey Goose Vodka baseball hat and I immediately recognized him from seeing him around town....

One of the volunteers that I've worked with for the last five years or so used to work at the same CPA firm that I started my career with, and he's now a VP with Countrywide Financial Corporation. Dave and I requested the early January volunteer "play date", and we're playing with Jan from 21st Century Insurance.

I'll take pictures next week during our round, and post our day's experience at that time....my goal THIS year is to play the round with the same SLEEVE of balls that I start with, and hopefully to break 100... Sherwood is a beautiful, UNFORGIVING course with smallish, potato-chip greens that have roller-coaster breaks that make it difficult to score well on...it REALLY makes you appreciate the pros ability when they end up SO far below par, and they play from the TIPS, while we mere mortals play from the WHITE tees...

Day 2 - 2006 Target World Challenge

It was only 74 degrees with high clouds out on the course Friday at the Target World Challenge.

Hey, you know what? Tiger Woods is a REALLY good golfer!!! And you know what else??? Ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves a GOLF TOURNAMENT on our hands here...almost half the 16 player field is within four strokes of guess who...

So is Padraig Harrington - today was Padraig's day as he was 5 under for the round, and Chris DiMarco and Tiger were 4 under for the day...

It was about 54 degrees when I got to the course at about 8:30 AM, and the amount of traffic was significantly higher than yesterday, which was surprising for a Friday. Many of the volunteers said that today FELT like a Saturday, but that was probably because there was so much movement on the board. What started as the Henrik Stenson show is now much more interesting, as Tiger currently holds the lead, and almost half the field of 16 is within striking distance of #1...

TODAY'S totally cool thing that happened to me was a couple of Tiger's inner circle sightings...

I was working the sixth hole crossover, which is a major shortcut from the major traffic pattern alongside #6. We allow the spectators to cut over the fairway on six to get to the middle of the fairway on seven, which is a HUGE timesaver, and allows them to see the approach into #6, the drive landing area on #7 and the approach into the green on 7, too.

Well, Tiger's pairing ALWAYS has a huge crowd, and it grows day by day...on Sunday it's literally about ten people deep...

I had put the rope back up and Tiger had put a three wood out about 310 yards, and Henrik Stenson had driven his about 300 yards. The two golfers passed below us, and I turned to make a comment to whoever was to my left on the other side of the ropes, and as I turned to see who was there, I first noticed a broad-brimmed visor.....

Then I looked more closely to see who was wearing the visor, because it looked familiar...

It was Tiger's MOM, Kultida Woods!!! I was in the midst of golf ROYALTY...

I hope I didn't actually make the recoiling sensation that I FELT, but I immediately forgot whatever stupid comment I was GOING to make, and instead greeted her warmly with something like "Mrs. Woods!!! How nice to see you!!! How are you today?"

Realizing that THIS probably was a once-in-a-lifetime moment, I reached for my black Sharpie pen that I keep clipped to my button placket and asked, "Mrs. Woods, would you please autograph the back of my volunteer badge?"

Her response was precious - she replied "I'll go one BETTER - I'll give you one of these - I'll give you a Tiger Woods PIN!" and she proceeded to reach into her handbag and procure a small, gold lapel pin. It has an image of a Tiger's eye and stripes on the left side, and the interlocked "TW" logo like on the Nike golf apparel on the right side in a tiny little Ziploc bag.

I thanked her profusely, and by that time the guys had hit their approach shots into #6, and it was OK to take down the ropes and open up the crossover to #7. Mrs. Woods and her entourage made their way down the slope and across the fairway and up the hill on the other side to #7 along with about 150 other spectators...it was probably 30 seconds, but it was a MEMORABLE 30 seconds...

THANK YOU again, Mrs. Woods! The pin is a keeper!!!

After we finish up crowd management on six, we cross over to the street behind the #7 green, and grab a Chevy Yukon SUV for a ride over to #15, which is probably close to a mile away...today we had to wait for the rest of the crew, so our shuttle driver (Andrew) and I went through the concession line and grabbed a hotdog and a Diet Coke for the ride over...since I'm one of the more LIMBER team members, I usually grab the spot in the very back of the Yukon...and while I'm back there applying my relish to the hotdog, who ELSE should happen by???

The OTHER woman in Tiger's life, ELIN!!! HOLY SMOKES - in the span of five minutes, I talked to Tiger's Mom, and had Tiger's WIFE walk right past where I was having my lunch!!! How cool is THAT???

I saw the younger Mrs. Woods AGAIN, with her entourage as they bypassed #15 to go on ahead to #16 - that's twice in one day...I've worked this event for at least the last seven years, and this is the first day that I've actually seen Elin in person....Tiger IS a lucky man...

Since I worked the green yesterday, today I was assigned to work the player chute, which is a special roped off area that leads to the teebox on #15...it wasn't as much fun as yesterday, because I only got to see a couple of shots land, and no putts, so I didn't get as involved who did what at the hole...

The weather's supposed to deteriorate Saturday afternoon, so I'm going to try to get assigned down to the green for the weekend, because the wind's supposed to be running 15-25 mph on Saturday afternoon, and it swirls alongside the canyon walls that delineate the hole, frequently altering the flight of the ball and making for some interesting shot outcomes...

The GOOD news is that Weather.com says that the rain is supposed to hold off until 3PM, and we've been wrapping up our days about 2-2:15PM, so we might avoid getting damp tomorrow...I hope so...I've done it before, and it's not much fun to get soaked out on the course...

We get our "play dates" signups tomorrow...the volunteers get to PLAY a free round at Sherwood in January, and we get to request our dates tomorrow...I'm probably going to request the first available date, because the second date is late in the month, and I don't want to be rained out...I'm gonna play the odds and hope that the nice weather that we usually get right around New Years will go on for about ten days...it's a gamble either way, but remembering all the rainy days at the Nissan Open in late Jan/early Feb, I'm thinking that early Jan. is the way to go...

Day 1 - 2006 Target World Challenge

Greetings from sunny Southern California, where the temperature out on the golf course at Sherwood Country Club was 82 degrees today (did you see the perspiration marks on the players shirts on the USA feed?). 82 degrees in mid-December...is this a great place to live or WHAT??? (Oh sure, it's way too expensive to live here, and there's way too many people, and way too much traffic, but on a sun-kissed day with a touch of a breeze, spectacular foliage and some awesome golf being played, all that other stuff melts away...)

Today's assignment was marshaling holes #6 and #15 (the signature waterfall hole that they use the boom camera on during the 'bumper shots' into commercial breaks), and out on the course, it was pretty quiet all things considered...

Adam Scott won the long-drive championship on hole #6 with a blast that we estimated at 325 yards or so, and John Daly was second at ~315 yards...

The "Hey, I can do THAT" award went to Jose Maria Olazabal who topped one off the tee into the salad about 150 yards out on the left....

The subsequent "Hey, I CAN'T do THAT" award ALSO went to Jose Maria Olazabal who managed to dig his drive OUT of the salad with an approach shot that flew about 200 yards, setting him up for a 125ish yard approach shot into the green that he converted for par...amazing stuff...

That's the difference between the pros and us mere mortals...THEY make mistakes and then follow them up with brilliant recovery shots that salvage par or better...WE make mistakes, have an emotional breakdown, or a physical chokage and end up with a snowman or worse...

Oh, I forgot to mention, before I headed out to work with Tracy and the guys on #6, I headed out to the oak tree grove at the dogleg bend left on hole #1 to check out a few pairings...in EACH of the first three pairings, one of the guys dorked their drive...Davis Love III unfortunately found an oak tree squarely with his second shot, but proceeded to follow up with a dug-out approach shot that was about six feet from the pin...missed the putt for an opening bogey, but still...nice recovery, Davis!

Later on, David Toms pushed HIS drive into the oak grove, and had SERIOUS tree problems, but HE punched out and rolled it out onto the fringe for a par...HOWEVER, yours truly was on the SPECTATOR side of the ropes, and took the initiative to remove the rebar that the ropes are attached to, and lower the rope so David had a clear shot into the green...

After David worked his magic, I was replacing the rebar into its upright position (by jumping up and down on the "t"), and my left hand slipped off the rebar "t". There was a burr on the top of the rebar...holy smokes, I friggin' OPENED up my palm, RIGHT along my life-line...it was one of those gashy wounds that freak you out because it HURTS when the air hits it, but there's not much blood flow there, so you can see the flesh opened up, but it's not bleeding...creepazoid-city!

I actually had to FORCE it to bleed, so I could get it clotted up and glued back together...I stopped by those Porta-Sinks to wash my hand (PRAYING that they didn't fill it with recycled water), which was a religious experience when the water and soap hit my new self-mutilation...i finally got it calmed down, but I've now got a mini-stigmata in my left palm to show for my dedication to being Rent-A-Marshal on the spot...

Hole #15 was even QUIETER, as all the guys hit the green (yawn) with their drives...#15 is actually #6 (they reverse the hole order for this tournament) and it's the "signature hole" at Sherwood Country Club. It's a very scenic par-3 186 yard launching pad from an elevated tee, over a canyon with a lake and waterfalls and rocks and stuff in front of the green, with a big amphitheater behind the hole...

On a calm day, it's actually a pretty easy for the guys to hit the green, and today was one of those days...I was watching the USA feed when I got home this afternoon, and they said the guys were hitting 7 and 8 irons...OK, so you take 10 yards off for the elevated tees, and these guys are hitting 7 IRONS??? Geez - I'd be hitting an easy 7 WOOD 175 yards....

The National Weather Service says the wind is supposed to kick up to 15-20 mph tomorrow as a cold front begins to push southward from Oregon, so it'll probably be a BIT more exciting tomorrow, because the wind SWIRLS inside the amphitheater and makes that benign 186 yards turn into a snarling, angry cauldron of potential frustration where balls plop harmlessly into the lake guarding the green, or fly long and hit the big boulders that line the amphitheater and careen crazily all over the putting area...

They've lined the front edge of the putting service with a yellow line, so we're not going to be able to relive the magic of a few years ago when Davis Love's drive ended up on a small grassy ledge on the front of the rockpile that reinforces the green from the lake...Davis took a mighty swing with his lob wedge cranked FULLY open, and SOMEHOW managed to hit the ball basically VERTICALLY with enough forward momentum to land on the putting surface...sure, he bogeyed the hole, but if it were ME, we'd be posting Mr. Snowman, or Ms. Lollipop, or WORSE!!!

Now, onto the FUN part of the day, the time AFTER the round...I headed back to the putting green and driving range area to see who was out there, and attempt to deliver the "artans" and grips that I designed for the guys...

Davis Love was out on the driving range, languidly hitting low irons...joined by David Toms and Jose Maria Olazabal...Davis was looking quite serious and unapproachable today, so I headed over to the putting green to see who was there...

JACKPOT - Michael Campbell was out on the practice green, just DRAINING putts one after another...so I joined the line of seven year old kids waiting for an autograph on their hats, flags, programs and anything else their parents could jam into their hands to resell on eBay when the kids forget about the autograph...

Let's put it this way - my volunteer hat's brim is now RESPLENDENT with a silver-ink Sharpie autograph, and one professional golfer from New Zealand now has two REALLY beautiful golf grips, one with the New Zealand National tartan, and the other one that has "The Pride of New Zealand" tartan, shown at right. I customized the text for Michael's nickname, and incorporated his logo into the 'artan' design...I HOPE it was well-received...it appeared to be...

Even MORE interesting was a chance meeting with a prominent Hollywood personality (of Scottish heritage), who was spotted walking alone... we approached said celebrity, introduced ourselves and proffered a business card, and enjoyed a very brief, but very enthusiastic response to our products and designs.

THAT was fun...

More tomorrow - the Weather Service is continually refining their weekend forecast, and the rain seems to be getting pushed into a Saturday night/Sunday early morning event, so we might be able to dodge the dreaded winter rainstorm scenario...keep your fingers crossed....

My dilemma...well, one of them....

Congratulations to Julieta Granada on her first LPGA championship....oh yeah, she won a cool million dollar payout for it, too...

I was fortunate to draw Julieta along with Kris Tschetter for my Sunday pairing as a volunteer walking scorer at the Longs Drugs Challenge last September.

I knew then that this young lady, with the megawatt smile, and length off the tee that belies her petite stature would one day light up the course with her solid technique and consistent play.

Little did I know that a scant two months later, she'd be lighting up the course at Trump National to take home the first ever million dollar purse on the LPGA Tour.

One of the perks of being an on-course volunteer is that the players frequently autograph a golf ball for you after the round, and Julieta autographed a Titleist ProV1 for me....


It's an insight into the happy go lucky, warm, funny personality of this young LPGA star - this one ball features:

• A solid blue line above, and a solid red line below the ProV1 - 392 marking, representing the colors of the flag of Paraguay.
• A solid black line emanating from the Titleist logo at a 45 degree angle, that turns into a series of dots that extend halfway around the ball, probably as a putting alignment aid. The unusual angle in perspective to the ball's graphics tend to indicate that the line was determined with the aid of a Check-Go or similar machine.
• The word "Julie" written on the obverse of the brand/alignment aid.
• Two eyes and a smiley face made out of the number "4", using the 4 as the nose.
• An autograph in pastel purple ink.

Here's my dilemma...do I keep this ball as a souvenir, or do I test the waters on eBay to see what the market thinks the ball is worth???

Wandering Golfer goes Wild...

For those of you who want that "Field of Dreams" experience on the golf course - you're in luck...

Well, you're in luck if your cable package includes the Fine Living channel, and the "Wandering Golfer" series.

Tune in (or program those TiVo's) on Monday, December 4, 2006 at 6:00 PM (Pacific) when the "Wandering Golfer" takes you to pastoral Gothenburg, Nebraska and the beautiful and FUN TO PLAY Wild Horse Golf Club. That's right - you can have your own "Field of Dreams" experience on the golf course, and you don't EVEN have to leave the comfort of your couch!

I got to play nine holes at Wild Horse Golf Club over the Fourth of July weekend this past summer, and I'm kicking myself that I didn't stick around to play the back nine, because I had more FUN on this beautiful golf course that has been hewn out of the Nebraska cornfields than I have had on many others that cost much more to play! Wild Horse is literally surrounded by cornfields on three sides, and you have to take a nondescript road out of Gothenburg (population 3,619 (2000 census)) about three miles to an even MORE nondesript DIRT road that leads you to Wild Horse. On more than one occasion, A.P. (my father-in-law) and I thought we were on the wrong road and almost turned back to get our bearings, but we followed the instructions that we'd been given, and eventually we got there...

You can tell when more people are coming to the course to play by the plume of dust that their car/truck kicks up on the dirt road!

Once you've parked your car in the parking lot, however, you're in for a TREAT!!! Wild Horse is one of the new breed of "minimalist" courses, where the golf course architects (Dave Axland and Dan Proctor) worked with the existing topography to release the course from the original layout of the land, and did a phenomenal job!

Wild Horse is ranked #21 in the United States according to the Golfweek rankings of courses built since 1960. Check out the hole by hole online course tour before you visit this "Field of Dreams" on the "Wandering Golfer" December 4 edition.

For those of you who care about such matters, Gothenburg was FORMERLY known as the hometown of former Dallas Cowboy Pro-Bowl tight end Jay Novacek, who's got this latest business venture going. And I thought that Nebraska was just flat and boring - the country in central and western Nebraska is GORGEOUS! Check it out!