This is the first of probably several postings about the upcoming Target World Challenge, to be held December 14-17, 2006 at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California.
This will be the sixth year that I've volunteered at the event, and last year I split my time between marshaling holes #6 and #15 (the signature/waterfall par 3 hole), and being a standard bearer ("Sign Boy") on Fri-Sun. This year appears to be shaping up similarly to last year. (They tend to run short on marshals on Weds and Thurs...)
Today's big news is that "Cambo" aka Michael Campbell will be added to the field, replacing Darren Clarke, who has withdrawn. While I was really looking forward to Darren's participation, he's had a tough year, and I hope he's back next year!
It will be nice to have Michael back, as he had a couple of really exciting days a couple of years back, and I was extremely impressed with how pleasant he is on the golf course, and how cool he was with the volunteers!
Welcome back, Michael!!! (Make sure you bring your broken-in shoes this time, so you don't have to hassle those nasty blisters that you encountered last time...)
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Thanksgiving remembrances....
My Dad served in the 28th Infantry Division in World War II. He was drafted out of high school in 1943, and served with distinction until January 1946. During the summer of 1943, he had gone through basic training, and had been identified as one of the "Quiz Kids" who showed above average intelligence and aptitude, and had been identified as potential officer material, even though he hadn't been to college yet. He had been diverted to a special program for officer development training, but was reunited with his division at the rank of Private First Class when reserves were called up during the Battle of The Huertgen Forest during mid-October 1944, and Dad was part of the Ardennes offensive during November 1944 that culminated in The Battle of The Bulge.
Dad's division was known officially as "The Keystone Division" and by the Germans as "The Bloody Bucket" division, due to their vicious fighting tactics during the Normandy Campaign and their distinctive red shoulder patches. Dad's division was the first to set foot on German soil on September 11, 1944. The division was deactivated on December 13, 1945, and Dad was mustered out in early 1946.
Dad relayed some stories about how difficult it was to be away from home over Thanksgiving and Christmas of 1943 and 1944, and how nice it was to get something from home, just to be reminded that someone was thinking of him, the way he was thinking of them...
In that spirit, this Thanksgiving, in Dad's honor and memory (he passed away rather unexpectedly in August 2003), we're making a contribution to Treats For Troops. Treats for Troops was founded in early 2003 by Denver businesswoman Deborah Crane, who was determined to make it safe and simple for every American to send packages and messages of support to our men and women in uniform year round. Since the Treats for Troops Gift Shops opened in June of 2003, friends, family members, groups, organizations and individual sponsors have sent over twenty tons of treats to American soldiers through Treats for Troops.
Regardless of your political views on our American troop deployments, we need to let the soldiers know that we remember them, and appreciate their sacrifices and commitment. In Dad's honor, we sent a $50 "Gift for Him" package to "Charles", deployed from the PA National Guard on behalf of the War on Terror to let him know that he's remebered this holiday season. We hope that you'll be so motivated, and let our American soliders (both men AND women) know that we appreciate them, and remember them this holiday season.
Treats for Troops puts together packages of materials for men and women soliders, and usually includes a phone card to make phone calls home, and they also have really practical stuff like halogen keychain flashlights, cooling stuff, Gatorade powder, and other great holiday treats and munchies stuffed into little Christmas stockings and stuff...they are AWESOME little care packages from the home front, and I can just imagine how good receiving one of these packages would make ME feel if I was far away from home during the Holidays.....
Here's some 28th Infantry Division History: The 28th Infantry Division is the oldest division in the armed forces of the United States. The Office of the Chief of Military History certified that General Order No. 1, dated March 12, 1879, officially established the Division.
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:
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.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
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!
In space, everyone can hear you slice...
OK, it's a bad play on an old cliche, but it turns out that no gravity has no bearing on the human tendency to slice a golf ball...
Well, THAT'S a relief!!!
Turns out Russian cosmonaut (How come THEY'RE cosmonauts, and WE'RE astronauts? Can't we all just get along???) Mikhail Tyurin sliced his space-shot to the right, just like hundreds of millions of us earthbound golfers do.
http://www.thegolfchannel.com/core.aspx?page=15100&select=21288 has the details...
If you check out the details, it turns out that Mikhail was getting a bit steamed (LITERALLY!) throughout his golf-in-space experience, caused by a balky space station hatch door and a spacesuit that was overheating. Turns out he was 77 minutes late for his tee-time, which will get MOST people steamed...same thing happens to me - I get ticked off, start swinging too hard, and I'm off in the weeds to the right...
Maybe this game IS 90% mental...
Well, THAT'S a relief!!!
Turns out Russian cosmonaut (How come THEY'RE cosmonauts, and WE'RE astronauts? Can't we all just get along???) Mikhail Tyurin sliced his space-shot to the right, just like hundreds of millions of us earthbound golfers do.
http://www.thegolfchannel.com/core.aspx?page=15100&select=21288 has the details...
If you check out the details, it turns out that Mikhail was getting a bit steamed (LITERALLY!) throughout his golf-in-space experience, caused by a balky space station hatch door and a spacesuit that was overheating. Turns out he was 77 minutes late for his tee-time, which will get MOST people steamed...same thing happens to me - I get ticked off, start swinging too hard, and I'm off in the weeds to the right...
Maybe this game IS 90% mental...
Friday, November 17, 2006
LPGA quarterfinals comments
WOW - a LOT of surprises at today's LPGA ADT Championship!
Congratulations to Lorena Ochoa's comeback performance today, shooting 70 to claw her way back into the final 16 for the Saturday semi-finals.
Only eight shots separate the first and 16th players, and on this course, the positions could change drastically....
The eighth place players finished at 142, and the 16th place players are only three back at 145, so tomorrow's round will likely feature some shake-ups in placement to the final eight on Sunday.
Several players have experienced 3-5 stroke swings in their scores from day to day, so it'll be interesting to see how the weekend plays out....
Saturday's round calls for morning showers and 76, and Sunday's weather is supposed to be sunny and clear and 76, so it looks like a good weekend for golf.
Here's how they finished:
1
Ai Miyazato
-3
F
-7
68
69
137
2
Julieta Granada
-3
F
-5
70
69
139
T3
Natalie Gulbis
-2
F
-4
70
70
140
T3
Karrie Webb
-1
F
-4
69
71
140
5
Wendy Ward
-2
F
-3
71
70
141
T6
Il Mi Chung
+1
F
-2
69
73
142
T6
Paula Creamer
-1
F
-2
71
71
142
T6
Se Ri Pak
-1
F
-2
71
71
142
T9
Diana D'Alessio
-1
F
-1
72
71
143
T9
Jeong Jang
-3
F
-1
74
69
143
T9
Mi Hyun Kim
+1
F
-1
70
73
143
T12
Hee-Won Han
-1
F
E
73
71
144
T12
Cristie Kerr
-1
F
E
73
71
144
T14
Juli Inkster
E
F
+1
73
72
145
T14
Lorena Ochoa
-2
F
+1
75
70
145
T14
Morgan Pressel
+2
F
+1
71
74
145
Congratulations to Lorena Ochoa's comeback performance today, shooting 70 to claw her way back into the final 16 for the Saturday semi-finals.
Only eight shots separate the first and 16th players, and on this course, the positions could change drastically....
The eighth place players finished at 142, and the 16th place players are only three back at 145, so tomorrow's round will likely feature some shake-ups in placement to the final eight on Sunday.
Several players have experienced 3-5 stroke swings in their scores from day to day, so it'll be interesting to see how the weekend plays out....
Saturday's round calls for morning showers and 76, and Sunday's weather is supposed to be sunny and clear and 76, so it looks like a good weekend for golf.
Here's how they finished:
1
Ai Miyazato
-3
F
-7
68
69
137
2
Julieta Granada
-3
F
-5
70
69
139
T3
Natalie Gulbis
-2
F
-4
70
70
140
T3
Karrie Webb
-1
F
-4
69
71
140
5
Wendy Ward
-2
F
-3
71
70
141
T6
Il Mi Chung
+1
F
-2
69
73
142
T6
Paula Creamer
-1
F
-2
71
71
142
T6
Se Ri Pak
-1
F
-2
71
71
142
T9
Diana D'Alessio
-1
F
-1
72
71
143
T9
Jeong Jang
-3
F
-1
74
69
143
T9
Mi Hyun Kim
+1
F
-1
70
73
143
T12
Hee-Won Han
-1
F
E
73
71
144
T12
Cristie Kerr
-1
F
E
73
71
144
T14
Juli Inkster
E
F
+1
73
72
145
T14
Lorena Ochoa
-2
F
+1
75
70
145
T14
Morgan Pressel
+2
F
+1
71
74
145
Why I like living in Southern California
Temperature at 12:45 PM today at the Westlake Village Driving Range: 78 degrees with a slight breeze out of the NW at 5-10 mph.
Sunny....blue skies....leaves are turning beautiful colors - the range was about half full for the Friday lunch crowd - probably 95% guys (I only saw one woman on the range, actually, so the percentage is probably even higher for the guys...)
A colleague sprung the question on me this morning: "Wanna hit the range at lunch?" (And to think I was looking out the window all morning, thinking "Man, what a beautiful day - wish I was out playing GOLF")
Now I haven't hit a ball in almost two weeks- I've been spending my weekends either at the golf show, getting READY for the golf shows, or working on the website and shopping cart redesign...last time I touched a club was 11/6 for the Driving4Life charity tournament at Riviera Country Club.
We split a large bucket, and while I was a little wild...I was hitting the ball cleanly, getting it airborne without any difficulty, but experiencing a bit more fade than I was happy with....
I adjusted my shoulders closed a bit, and also strengthened my grip a touch, and that seemed to help a bit...the BIGGEST help seemed to come from a tip that was relayed by Tom Watson at the Driving4Life event...I "flattened" my spine, and whenever I did that, I hit the ball LASER straight, without any indication of any fade whatsover...
Flattening my spine made me feel like I was sticking my tail feathers out, but if I de-rolled my spine angle and held it through the swing - I was getting probably 20-30 more yards per shot, and they were in a tighter dispersion pattern, too! (Thanks, Tom!)
We always finish our practice session with a "chip-off", and I went two for three to the green on the orange flag at about 75 yards, and won today's event. (No prize, just bragging rights for the day...)
I'm scheduled to play Sunset Hills on Sunday at 1PM, and tomorrow's the Orange County Celtic Festival so it's going to be a hectic weekend.
Sunny....blue skies....leaves are turning beautiful colors - the range was about half full for the Friday lunch crowd - probably 95% guys (I only saw one woman on the range, actually, so the percentage is probably even higher for the guys...)
A colleague sprung the question on me this morning: "Wanna hit the range at lunch?" (And to think I was looking out the window all morning, thinking "Man, what a beautiful day - wish I was out playing GOLF")
Now I haven't hit a ball in almost two weeks- I've been spending my weekends either at the golf show, getting READY for the golf shows, or working on the website and shopping cart redesign...last time I touched a club was 11/6 for the Driving4Life charity tournament at Riviera Country Club.
We split a large bucket, and while I was a little wild...I was hitting the ball cleanly, getting it airborne without any difficulty, but experiencing a bit more fade than I was happy with....
I adjusted my shoulders closed a bit, and also strengthened my grip a touch, and that seemed to help a bit...the BIGGEST help seemed to come from a tip that was relayed by Tom Watson at the Driving4Life event...I "flattened" my spine, and whenever I did that, I hit the ball LASER straight, without any indication of any fade whatsover...
Flattening my spine made me feel like I was sticking my tail feathers out, but if I de-rolled my spine angle and held it through the swing - I was getting probably 20-30 more yards per shot, and they were in a tighter dispersion pattern, too! (Thanks, Tom!)
We always finish our practice session with a "chip-off", and I went two for three to the green on the orange flag at about 75 yards, and won today's event. (No prize, just bragging rights for the day...)
I'm scheduled to play Sunset Hills on Sunday at 1PM, and tomorrow's the Orange County Celtic Festival so it's going to be a hectic weekend.
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