Sorry for being out of the loop, folks...life has taken a particularly busy turn for the past couple of weeks...On a happy note, TartanGolfGrips.com had the best month EVER in April 2007! Huge thank you's to those that have found out about the personalized putter and full-swing grips, and have signed up...I have been HOPPING to keep up with order processing and communications (more about that below), and it's been an exciting and challenging month! (But those are the kinds of problems that aren't really problems...except for the shipping issues (below)).On ANOTHER happy note, I did a sales presentation for the Los Angeles Chapter of the Executive Women's Golf Association on April 21, and the ladies were VERY excited and receptive about the grips, and it was really cool to see people "get" the idea, and realize the gift potential for "that golfer who already has everything". Or, buy one for THEMSELVES!!!On another sorta happy note, I "introduced" the 20 or so women who have expressed interest in forming a new VENTURA COUNTY/CONEJO VALLEY chapter of the EWGA yesterday...
Between the Drum Corps and the Pipe Band, and the business, and work and life and chores and bills and golf and Cheri and.....I have allowed too much time go by. An e-mail blast from Los Robles Greens yesterday jarred me awake, and made me realize that I need to step aside, and allow the interested parties to gel on their own, because if they wait for ME to schedule the time, it probably WILL NOT happen....at least not THIS year!!!
I went into 2007 with a strange feeling that THIS year would be the one that we FINALLY get a Ventura County EWGA Chapter launched, and Sally Quinlan (of the VCJGA and ex-LPGA) and a couple of other women golf pros have indicated their support as well. Sally's offering women's lessons on Saturday mornings, and women's golf leagues over the summer, so she's a perfect one to be involved with this adventure.
While we're talking about Los Robles, it looks like it, Rustic Canyon, Elkins Ranch, Camarillo Springs, Sterling Hills, Buenaventura and Olivas Links are going to be our new "home" courses, as we officially bade FAREWELL to Sunset Hills as members as of April 30, 2007. It's a pretty nice course overall (Kristen always calls it "a dog track"), but their BILLING systems, and LACK of a serious system of internal controls and billing procedures meant that we faced a CONTINUAL stream of unauthorized charges to our account, because our member number was REALLY easy to remember, and I guess people overheard it, or found it on a list somewhere, and we were getting charged for days that we didn't go play, for $140 bar tabs on a Texas Hold-Em poker tournament that I didn't even know EXISTED, and on and on and on....
The final straw was getting a form letter from the GM announcing that our account was "several months overdue" and they were going to pursue it from a collection agency. We had ALWAYS paid our monthly charges! We even paid the small monthly finance charges that they assessed, while we REPEATEDLY requested a detailed breakdown of the supposedly "in arrears" portion of our account balance.
I have a rather FAT FILE of letters where I requested detailed billing support documentation, and only got ONE response, where I identified the unauthorized $140 bar tab, complete with a $25 tip, our surname misspelled, and NO signature on the face of the invoice...that was after the $12 cart bill where the old cart girl gave herself a $25 tip, on top of the $5 that I had already signed for...the place is REALLY interesting that way...
Every year, they run a customer-satisfaction survey, and every year, we RIP them on their accounting and billing procedures...American Golf FINALLY issued a statement from the GM that all "charge-throughs" would have to be signed for, ON the face of the invoice, but they rarely give you a copy at the time, and NEVER in your monthly billing statement...we finally got sick of having every month's bill arrival be a stress-filled adventure, and decided to stop the madness by finally cancelling our membership...we ended up eating a couple of grand for our initiation fees, but to be honest, they've filled up the membership rolls, and quite honestly, the course AIN'T that great any more...you don't get ANYTHING for your monthly beyond your green fees...they still charge you for cart rentals, they still charge your to participate in the Guys 'N Dolls tournaments...if you don't play any golf, you're STILL on the hook for almost $400 a month...and we haven't been playing enough to justify the hit to the budget, plus the risk of the overcharges.....
We used to be able to jet around 18 holes in about 2.5/3 hours, but lately, it's taken that long to get around the front nine, almost...(Snark sighting time: Some of the new members ALSO need to go to MEMBER TRAINING CAMP - we were recently HORRIFIED to see some younger woman DRAGGING her fully-loaded pull-cart DIRECTLY ACROSS the ninth green, completely CLUELESS about the damage that her wheels were wreaking upon the putting surface...just because you're a new country club member doesn't mean that you can treat the course like it's your own, lady...I hope that you didn't do that at the local muni either...UNbelievable....)
I'm sure we'll still visit occasionally to play golf with our buds Margaret and Steve, but it feels good to know that all of our golf there will now be "cash and carry" with NO ability to tack on ridiculous tips and assorted overbillings and unauthorized charges...we cancelled our membership on April 2, and paid up our "overdue" account balance via certified mail on April 26, so we're FREE!!!
FAREWELL, American Golf, FAREWELL Sunset Hills Country Club - it's been real, it's been fun, but it HAS NOT been real fun...
On a down note, I experienced a "blue screen of death" condition mid-month, which caused my graphics software to issue files that were considered corrupt by the printing software at C-Thru Grips, and we labored mightily for about two weeks to get the situation corrected...after purchasing new software, and re-creating many of the designs that were created in early April, we've finally worked our way through the order backlog. {phew} (THANK YOU and kudos to the team at C-Thru Grips for working with me through this challenging time!)
On ANOTHER down note, we're having ALL kinds of difficulties getting grips delivered to PO Boxes by the U.S. Postal Service....maybe they can use some of the impending postal rate increases to IMPROVE YOUR SERVICE!!! I cannot tell you how MANY HOURS I've wasted, issuing "missing order" requests to my contacts at corporate...I'm sure they're sick of me bugging them about it, too...
On the MOST down note, my beloved 13 year old fuzzball puddy-tat Cinder was diagnosed with kidney failure...we knew that her kidney function has been declining for over a year, and have been feeding her Science Diet k/d specially formulated food, but she took a turn for the worse in early April, and we got a sobering diagnosis. It doesn't APPEAR to be related to the Chinese contaminated wheat gluten, but who knows how far that garbage spread into the pet food (and people-food, for that matter) production system. We've been treating Cindy with daily subcutaneous fluid injections to keep her hydrated, and some days she's pretty spunky, energetic and eating, and some days, she's pretty punky and quiet...
Cinder's never been a really CONSISTENTLY warm little soul, but she's charming in her own cantankerous way...for SOME unexplainable reason, she's ALWAYS been really lovey between 3 and 6 in the morning, and usually makes her way downstairs to our bedroom where she jumps up onto the bed and either snuggles up next to me, or better yet, curls up in the small of my back and sleeps ON me...she's definitely MY cat...and I LOVE to hear her purr contendedly as she snuggles up against me...
Cheri rescued her from the Chatsworth Animal Shelter, and gave her to me for my birthday back in 1993 when she was exactly 3 months old. She was born on June 7, 1993, and she got her name because she's gun-metal grey, with white cotton ball paws and a white blaze on her chest. She's a BEAUTIFUL cat, and she knows it!!! The people at the pound had labed her "DSH" for Domestic Short Hair, and we thought that it might have just been kitten-fuzz...turns out that it's REALLY a clever marketing ploy to get 'em adopted, because she's the FUZZIEST long-haired cat that I've ever seen! We spend a LOT of time with the brushes and combs, working out the mats that sometimes develop...she purrs contentedly, until "the snap" when SOMETHING goes off inside, and the claws come out...then WATCH OUT...same with the vet's...let's put it mildly...she's NOT a good patient...a Tasmanian Devil-cat, maybe, but NOT a good patient...
One of my most VIVID memories from the Northridge Earthquake was returning back to my heavily damaged apartment immediately after the main shock and set of aftershocks, to check on her... I whistled a little whistle that I've given her since she was a tiny little kitten, and she popped up, alive and unhurt, chirping back to me from amidst all of the overturned and damaged furniture in my Warner Center Apartments apartment....words cannot adequately express the sense of relief and joy that I felt at that moment! I then packed her into a cardboard cat carrier to drive the mile or so to my parents house down the road in Woodland Hills, only to have her CLAW her way out of the carrier...what a character...she was sitting there in the rear parcel tray, tail curled about her front cotton-ball paws, with this look on her face like "That'll show you to try putting ME in a cardboard carrier, Mister!" One of the first things that I did when life began to return to normal was purchase a PLASTIC cat carrier with a vinyl-coated, heavy wire door...I showed HER!!!
Now it looks like we're in the top of the ninth inning in the game of life...she's a good girl, and I love her dearly...hang in there, "Kitty-Putt"..you be a good girl, and be strong for Dad, OK??? {sniff}
Well, now that our therapy session's over - it's time for the REAL reason for this post...today's Artan(TM) of the week comes to us from halfway around the world, in SOUTH AFRICA. These two Artans(TM) were requested by a gentleman from Gauteng, South Africa who originally wanted an out-of-production version of the Scotland flag grip that's offered, and when I relayed that information back to him, I enclosed a mockup of these two grips.
His surname is Ward, and there are two Ward tartans. Since he wanted two of the out-of-production Scotland putter grips, I made these for him, and judging from his response, I think that he's happier than he would have been with the same old white-backed Saltire pattern...the one on my left is my PERSONAL favorite, but I'm a complete sucker for any tartan that has purple and green in it....
Wow - things have been REALLY hectic at my "day job", and between juggling the pipe band, fulfilling orders for TartanGolfGrips.com, doing a little rehearsal preparation for the Kingsmen Alumni Corps, and a MAJOR overhaul of the TartanGolfGrips.com secure shopping cart and website links - I just realized that I'm a full TWO DAYS late for the Artan of the Week...gaack...
This grip was done for my neighbor across the street, Steve Harrington, and coincidentally, one of my favorite professional golfers, PADRAIG HARRINGTON is leading the Irish Open through the third round.
