The Common Golfer

I’m officially announcing the creation of a new online group!  I’ve named the group Retweeters Anonymous, and we’re looking for members.  Here’s the premise:

Anyone who has a blog is always looking to get more visitors to their site.  One great way to get the word out about your blog is to tweet about it. But if you have 1,000 Twitter followers, your audience is limited/capped at 1,000.  But if you can get 10 people to retweet about your blog (and each of those people has 1,000 followers), now your audience is 10,000 people!

Retweeters Anonymous is looking for members who will actively participate.  You can submit one blog post per week, but you’re also expected to retweet any member’s posts that are relevant to you and your blog.  If you’re interested in joining, or have questions, please comment on this post or email me directly at jon.blackburn16@gmail.com.

Please share this open invitation to anyone who you think would be interested.  Happy Tweeting!

The nationwide push to “go green” has officially gotten weird.  Kensington Golf Course in Canfield, Ohio was looking for a more natural method for maintaining the grounds.  Their solution?  Goats.

“What we use the goats for is to … eat all the foliage down so that we’re not in there with weed eaters and gas powered motors, to basically reduce our carbon footprint on the environment,” said Sean Novotny, course superintendent.

Beyond “saving the environment” one mouthful of grass at a time, the goats are also saving Kensington a ton of money.  With less money for fuel, labor, and equipment maintenance, the savings are easily in the $1,000’s.  The course is also considering adding more goats next year.

This is all well and good, but I can’t imagine this idea taking off across the country.  Can you imagine waiting on the tee at Pebble Beach, while a herd of goats crosses the fairway?  I don’t think so.  But maybe it will increase business at Kensington Golf Course; I live in Ohio, and I might venture a trip next year to say I played “that course with the goats!”

Who says you can’t find good deals at a thrift shop?  After spending $5 on a used black Callaway golf bag attached to a pull cart, Larry Brooks (potentially) made the find of a lifetime.

“I heard something rattling around,” said Mr. Brooks.  ”I stood it back up, and I was shaking the bag out with golf balls, tees and stuff falling out. I could still hear something falling out.”

He pulled out a black plastic sleeve with a gold medal in it.  The front says Augusta National Golf Club and has an engraving of the clubhouse.  The back has the words “Lloyd Mangrum,” “Runner-Up,” and “1940″ engraved in it.  While it’s true that Lloyd Mangrum was the runner-up of the 1940 Master’s, there is some debate as to the authenticity of the medal.

According to Masters records, runners-up received a silver medal starting in 1951, and as of 1934 the winner was given a gold medal.  So why would the 1940 runner-up have a gold medal?  To muddy the waters even further, the World Golf Hall of Fame has a 1935 runner-up medal on display…which is silver.

How is this so complicated?  We’re talking about a time roughly 70 years ago.  It’s not like written history was just invented after the 1940’s!

Brooks has spoken with numerous sports memorabilia collectors, who all are of the opinion that the medal is real.  That being said, Augusta National is reserving judgement until they see the medal.  For a club so steeped in tradition, you’d think they would instantly know whether or not a gold medal had been awarded in 1940.  Can’t somebody just ask Hootie Johnson?  I’m pretty sure he was already Chairman of Augusta back then.

In my constant monitoring of the sports-blogosphere, there is one common theme: everybody hates Rick Reilly.  And honestly, I can’t figure out why.  When Reilly used to write the back-page column for Sports Illustrated, the first thing I did when I got a new issue in the mail was flip to the back page.  I also enjoyed his book “Who’s Your Caddy?”

The latest news is that Warner Bros. has acquired the rights to “Missing Links,” a 1997 golf novel written by Reilly, and the on-screen version will star Steve Carell.  The comedic novel is about a group of hackers who, after playing for years at a run-down municipal golf course, concoct a series of schemes that they hope will lead to them teeing off at a nearby elite club.

I also love Carell; although I will admit he’s better on television than in movies.  I’m not suggesting it will be Oscar-worthy, but I’m apparently the only one not dreading the making of this movie.

Does Reilly secretly hate puppies and old people (a la David Simms in “Tin Cup”)?  Does Reilly “eat pieces of sh*t like you for breakfast” (a la Shooter McGavin)?  Honestly, if you have insight on the global hatred of Rick Reilly, please clue me in.

Okay so maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit…but on Sunday, Parker McLachlin became the first player to tweet in the middle of a PGA tournament.  While waiting on the 5th tee at the Frys.com Open, he said the following via Twitter:

For me, an active user of Twitter, I found this to be pretty cool.  Sadly, though, I think it’s only a matter of time before the PGA Tour comes out with its own social media policy.  It’s awesome to see another side of many tour pros, but from a PR perspective, there have been a few rough spots.

First off, there’s the risk of pissing off sponsors (or potential sponsors)…case in point – Stewart Cink tweeting about his horrible AT&T cell coverage.  

Then you have guys like Ian Poulter, who tends to offend a portion of his followers all too regularly.  I love reading his tweets, but you can see how this pic of Justin Rose and Camilo Villegas might rub a few people the wrong way!

But anyways, getting back to the whole point of this post – it’s cool to envision a world where Tour players are tweeting their way around the golf course, but in all likelihood we’ll never get to that point.  Can you honestly see Tiger Woods snapping out of his intense focus, so he can tweet about that putt he just had on the last green?  I doubt it.  It’s also worth noting that McLachlin actually went on to bogey the 5th hole.  Coincidence, or lack of focus?

Frankly, I’m shocked that this doesn’t happen more frequently.  Obviously, most spectators at a tour event have common “golf sense,” but it only takes one dumbass in a crowd of thousands.

Last weekend, at the Japan Open Ryo Ishikawa hooked a ball towards a cluster of trees on the 6th hole.  While the ball was still rolling, a woman picked the ball up and walked off!  Fans started giving the woman grief, at which point she got flustered and started screaming.

She was quoted as saying, “I am a fan of Ryo and this is the first time I’ve been to a golf tournament.  I really don’t know the rules and I just tried to take the ball home as a souvenir.”

It’s all becoming clear now…this lady has been following me around on the weekends.  And to think my wife didn’t believe me when I said I was too good to lose so many balls in a round!

These Japanese Tour Scotty Cameron putters are really cool…I wish I had the one in the upper right hand corner.  Thanks to Golf To Impress for the pics.

Well, golfing just got a lot cooler…pun intended.  When I saw this story, I did a little research and found that air conditioned golf carts have been around for a few years.  However, since this is the first I’ve heard of it, and because I have golfed countless times in ridiculous heat, I’m running with this like it’s hot news.

Palmetto Dunes in Hilton Head, SC has added Coolwell G2 equipped golf carts.  The Coolwell G2 is actually really cool.  It pulls heat and moisture from the air, through a big block of ice, blowing cold air onto the golfers.  In 110 degree heat, it uses about 13 pounds of ice for a round of golf.  It also automatically shuts off when you get out of the cart.  And for us golfers in places with four seasons, the G2 also has a switch that turns it into a heater!  (Files this under really simple inventions I can’t believe I never thought of)

As for the other half of the cheesy photo above, Palmetto Dunes is also offering Segway Golf Transporters.  I attempted to get some better pictures of the G2 from Coolwell’s website, but they’re either out of business or don’t pay their bills on time – all that comes up is a GoDaddy landing page.  Regardless, these are two really cool ideas for improving transportation around the golf course…but I can only imagine what this will do to already high greens fees!

Remember this name – Mark Benevento Jr.  It may take 5-10 years, but we may have finally found someone who will regularly beat Tiger Woods on tour.

At a meeting with investors, at the site of Woods’ first U.S. design project in Asheville, NC, Woods hit two ceremonial drives from a tee.  Both went wide right into the trees.  After a couple of snickers from the crowd, Woods asked the crowd if anyone else would like to take a swing.  Up stepped 12-yr old Mark…apparently the only golfer on Earth with a spine when pitted against Tiger Woods!

Two drives, each 200 yards, straight down the middle.  Are you kidding me?  This video is great.

The red carpet is being rolled out for Tiger Woods’ appearance at the Australian Masters in November.  And not only rolled out, but lined with $3 million!  It will be Woods’ first trip to Australia in over 11 years, and it won’t be without a ton of press coverage and a bit of controversy to boot.

Here’s a short run-down of Tiger’s upcoming week in Oz.  A guaranteed minimum $3 million in appearance fees.  A private chartered jet to and from Australia.  Private security detail for his entire stay.  Attendance at a $6,000 per plate “gala” at the Palladium Room of the Crown Casino – dinner with government dignitaries, followed by a Broadway performance of Jersey Boys.  And lastly, a scantily-clad supermodel to peel grapes and feed him by hand.  Disclaimer: I’m still trying to confirm that last item.

The point is, Woods is getting treatment that even the President of The United States wouldn’t get!  No expense is being spared, which is creating a fair amount of controversy because as much as half of the bill will be footed by the taxpayers of Australia.  A ton of people are understandably pissed about it, but on the other hand it is estimated that Woods’ appearance alone will bring in an additional $13 million in tourism money.

So is it worth it?  Probably.  But this seems like a slippery slope.  If Australia needs to bribe the world’s greatest golfers to come, this could get expensive.  Or maybe if you pay Tiger, the rest will automatically come?  Tell me what you think.