One last big drive of the day. Sadly the ball ninja-cut into the trees doing 3.6 G's. I found the ball though. Happily,it was the same one I played the whole day: A Bridgestone Tour B330. Excellent ball.

This is the best time of the day to play. See how the shadows of the Pines canvas the course, with a shock of yellow like an artists brush-strokes.  

A lot of long par 4's like this. Real tight, with crowned greens. An excellent test to see where my game is at. I shot an 89. My biggest need for improvement is to eliminate my doubles and trips...to reduce them to bogeys. 

The largest granite outcropping in the country. You might remember it from an earlier course I played...it's sister..Lakemont. Marriot has turned both courses into fabulous tracts. 

We played the blue tees, which were approx 6700+/- yards. They were pushed back from their original spot due to the GA PGA Junior qualifier that was held here the next day. 

This the #1 at the Stonemont course at stone Mountain Marriot Resort in Atlanta. It is an original Bobby Jones Sr. tract.  

New Sponsor

In an ongoing quest to bring relevant golf information to my site, I'd like to introduce my new sponsor Last Minute Golfer.com. You'll notice their banner to your right (formatting thanks to Mike L. and Eat).

Some of you are already familiar with the Last Minute Golfer service, some not.
For the uninitiated, Last Minute Golfer is a tee time service on steroids for local golf courses in your area (if it's not in your area yet, it's just a matter of time). Last Minute Golfer started as an Atlantan-based company that offers deep-discounts to local golf courses in the area using their proprietary web-based technology. A novel idea at the time, they have garnered award-winning kudos, and are now the go-to source for all-things-golf-local. They present a myriad of golf-related information that is key to an area, whether it's a last minute tee time, advance tee times, tournaments, course conditions or reviews.
As an original member, I have seen the site blossom to well over 250,000 golf-passionate individuals all over the country.

Membership is free, and as a special promotion to My Daily Slice readers, you will be rewarded with a $10 credit off your initial reserved tee time. It's an easy-to-navigate site, so check it out to see what all they offer in your area.
Oh yea...if you can get a chance to play in a Last Minute Golfer sponsored event, I guarantee you will have a blast! Maybe I'll see you out there!


Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

Last man standing

This past weekend was the annual PGA Professional National Championship held at the magnificent Turning Stone Casino in Verona NY which is right outside Syracuse....It was shown the Golf Channel, so you might have missed it.

Turning Stone is a full-fledged resort sitting on the Oneida Indian Reservation.

What started as a smoke-filled gambling joint, has prospered into a resort with three tournament-ready courses, and a par-3 course that would challenge Augusta in scenery.

Oh yeah, there is still the smoke-filled casino....no booze though.

This is the tournament where teaching pros from all around the county mix it up to see who has braggin' rights for the trophy, but the most inspiring part of the event, is to see who makes it into the top 20.....Those guys get automatic entry into the '06 PGA Championship at Medinah.

This years tournament was won by Ron Philo Jr, an FSU alum, who is the pro at Metropolis CC in White Plains NY. The name doesn't automatically roll off the tongue, but if I told you his lil' sister is LPGA pro Laura Diaz, that would probably make it easier to remember him.

Coming in at #20 this year was Tim Weinhart from Buford GA. He is the teaching pro for St Marlo CC in Duluth, outside of Atlanta.

St Marlo is a semi-private enclave and sits about a 3-wood away from The Athletic Club, home of the '01 PGA Championship.
I've played St Marlo numerous times, and the feeling I get is that they are more interested in your money, than enjoying yourself. I play at a pretty good clip, but the rangers on the course do there best to make you feel like you're inconveniencing them. You've heard of Sienfeld's Soup Nazi?...Well, these guys are Golf Nazi's...."What?! You're stopping for a hot dog?! NO GOLF FOR YOU!!!!"
They are more interested in jamming people on the course at 5 minute intervals, than cutting it back to 10 minute tee times. But, alas, it's their course, they can do what they want.
St Marlo, faults aside, is a beautiful layout, and is the last course I broke 80 on. I intend to revisit this haunt next month in a local shin-dig....pictures will follow from that event.

So, congrats to Tim Weinhart! Georgia is stoked to see someone representin' the 'hood.


Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

Who needs Booz?

Let me tell you about the best deal I ever made.

I own an Oldsmobile Bravada, bought it new in '02, the year after 911. '02 was also the year GM in its infinite wisdom publicly declared they would no longer make the Oldsmobile, and would focus instead on their other brands.
As if the brand needed any more lead balloons attached to its sales figures, telling an already anxious public that a car will not be made anymore, just about killed it right there.
This sent shockwaves through the dealers' ranks, and put salesman on red-alert to push out the Olds' they had languishing on their lots. One way they did this was to offer a 5-year warranty along with no interest finance incentives.
The result was that I got such a good deal on that car, I felt I should have had a mask on.

This leads me to the Booz Allen.

When PGA Commish Finchem declared at the start of the Tours' season that this tournament would go on hiatus......what happened was similar to the case of GM......Finchem dealt the death-blow to an already struggling tournament.

As if stepping on its neck wasn't enough, most of the big names pulled out at the last minute saying they needed the rest from a brutal US Open. That, coupled with monsoon-like weather along the East Coast, have kept galleries at historic lows.
So what we have left is a pathetic shell of a tournament that is reminscant of a Nationwide event. Bad if you're a sponsor (poor Booz, their TV ads are the best), bad if you're a charity benefitting from this event, bad if you're volunteer, and bad if you're TV.

....but good for Ben Curtis!

Ben (former Kent State Golden Flash) is trying to turn his career around after shocking the world with his British Open victory.....and then following that up with a mediocre professional career. What a better place to do that than at a tournament that nobody cares about.
Another tour event will be dead, but that check will still cash (just make sure you deposit it before midnight tonight).

Oh yea, and Ben, you might want to wear a mask.

Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

Wanted: Ad Director

I was thumbing through the July edition of Golf Digest yesterday, when my fingers stuck on a page advertising what looked like the second-coming of The Yellow Submarine Tour.
Training my eyes over the psych-o-delic ad, I thought for a moment that it was an ad for the Mojo ball.

Unfortunately, it was worse.

In the ad, the main character is Annika Sorenstam in a pose reminiscent of Pete Townsend, with four other LPGA tour players flanking her with rather goofy cut-and-pasted-poses as if each were saying "I'm a rock star...er...no, I'm a golfer....just take the damn picture! Annika, her left arm punching through the air, is hefting a golf bag.....please, the only bag Annika carries has the words Coach embossed on it.

The tag line to the ad is "These Girls Rock".

I am not making this up.

Hey! LPGA! Who is signing off on this bunk? What era and demographic are you going for here? The hemped-up 60's?! What's next....tie dyes for the caddies? Are we going to see air-guitar performances during the tournaments?
It's really sad. In the ad, not one of the girls is smiling, arms are crossed, or on their hips...save for Annika, with her white-gloved fist-pumped harkens back the Black Panther days.

The LPGA is blessed right now with uber-talented youngsters who want to bring this tour out of the back-alleys and into the mainstream. They can do it, but it seems when they take one step forward, they regress four steps back.

Something tells me they are not manning the submarine, and it's losing its mojo.


Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

"I think I got a bit lucky."

So said Australia's own Geoff Ogilvy after completing what was a dramatic 4 days of the hardest golf anyone could imagine, viewers and players alike.

Poor Mickelson. He is once again labeled "el-foldo", as he unsuccessfully navigated his way around Winged Foot on the final day....and once again, we are being too harsh.

Golf is a lucky game.....as the greatest golfers have been humbled by putts that have lipped out, iron shots that have been tugged too hard, or drives that didn't come off the face just right....we've seen it over and over again. Why do we hold golfers to a higher standard? Baseball players gets 3 strikes......Here Phil, tee it up again, that's only strike one...

Mickelson didn't lose the US Open....he just didn't win because, (and this will be viewed as the shot that won the Open), Ogilvy caught a lucky break. Let's look at it this way: if Ogilvy's chip doesn't go in on 17, Montgomerie stays with his original iron selection on 18 and stiffs it, and Furyk doesn't second-guess himself a million times and makes his putt on 18....oh yes, and Harrington pars-in, we'd have a different winner. Suddenly, Mickelson playing bingo-bango-boingo on the 18th is not so relevant.

I think what this Open in particular should remind us, is that sports in general, are the original reality show. The only scripts written Sunday were the one's over at Callaway minimizing damage control over drivers: "Here's the new Small Bertha platinum set...featuring...no drivers....!

Yes, Geoff got a lucky break. But I think the whole golf world needs to put perspective on the outcome. Everyone in the field had lucky breaks...both good and bad....(To wit: Ogilvy only hit 3 fairways on the back nine, Mickelson hit only 2 all day, so tell me who was getting more breaks). So what makes one guys' break (good or bad) more critical than the other guy's?

It comes down to who you're rooting for in the real "Survivor".


Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

A priceless Fathers Day

With Fathers Day approaching, I would like to give a shout-out to all us Dads out there who give it their all to provide for their families. It's a title well worth savoring.

If I were to run a MasterCard commercial, it would go something like this:

New set of custom-fitted golf clubs: $650.00.

Hour-and-a-half deep tissue massage: $120.00.

Your 3-year old asking you to hit golf-balls with him in the backyard? Priceless.

Fathers Day: it's not what you get, but what you've been given, that makes all the difference.


Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

J.B., we barely knew ye

J.B. Holmes, annointed early this year by CBS's own Jim Nance as the next great white hope, has fallen on hard times. Reports of an arthritic elbow seem to be confirmed, as he has withdrawn or not made the cut all of May, and so far, all this month.

Don't feel to sorry for him though, as he has made quite more income this year than the national average of, oh say....Earth.

His young career has had more turns than an antique door handle, and he has been labeled as a poster boy for the path to early success on tour. Not only are the folks in Kentucky inquiring minds, but the golf nation is watching him hawk the latest products pushed on him. Hey, get it while you got it!

Whether he recovers from his ailments (health or otherwise), remains to be seen. One thing is for certain, pundits would be better off holding their breath to see how a career pans out, rather than putting the undue pressure on these young kids (yes, I'm including Wie, et al) to perform to our expectations, rather than their own.


Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

Golfsmith sells out

I love Golfsmith. I'd say 99% of my golf purchases come from their stores. Being a ClubVantage member, I always get a fair shake when I need club repair done, and I always feel at home when I'm in what I call the tinkerers golf store.

So I was sad to see that Golfsmith has decided (or rather their bankers have) to go public. This week they plan on making $100million +/- by raising capital from public equity via the dreaded IPO.

I'm sad because they plan on using the money the old fashioned way: to retire debt, buy out a private consultant, expand stores, and increase e-commerce.

Excuse me while I yawn.

Golfsmith started out as a little club-making shop in NY. Things progressed, and the family moved the operations to where it now stands in Austin TX. They now have over 55 stores, and is considered the largest retail golf establishment in the world. Pretty good record for a private company, so why go public?

Simple: their appetite for growth has outstripped their cash. They (or rather their bankers) are looking to you to provide them with future cash flow.

Golfsmith should have stayed true to its roots by strictly focusing on being a club-makers shop. Where it's going (through more expansion) is putting it in the cross-hairs of every Tom-Dick-and Harry golf store that competes on price only. PGA Superstores are opening everywhere (one just opened next to the Golfsmith by me....you can literally walk to it from there) and they are very nice. That company is run by former Home Depot guys, so failure is not an option.

It makes sense that Golfsmith (symbol: GOLF) would go public the week of the US Open...the height of golf season, as they would get no interest (which equals less raised money) if they filed in the winter.

So while it might be cool to say you own stock in Golfsmith, don't give your hard-earned money to them. Instead, invest the money in a golf certificate...you'll get more satisfaction.

Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

This is the French artist Niki de Saint Phalles' rendering of Tiger Woods. He, along with other very large figures, are included in the world's largest exhibition of sculptures with mirrors, glass, semi-precious stones and ceramic mosaics.
The artist died from inhalation of polyester (the material used to shape her sculptures), and her work is on display at the Atlanta Botanical Garden through the Niki Charitable Art Foundation.

It's a World Cup partido!

I'm feeling a little international today, so here's Puerto-Rican ditty:

At dawn, the telephone rings:

"Hello, Senor? This is Ernesto, the caretaker at your country House."

"Ah yes, Ernesto. What can I do for you? Is there a problem?"

"Um, I am just calling to advise you, Senor, that your parrot died."

"My parrot? Dead? The one that won the international competition?"

"Yes Senor, that's the one."

"Damn! That's a pity! I spent a small fortune on that bird. What did He
die
from?"

"From eating rotten meat, Senor."

"Rotten meat? Who the hell fed him rotten meat?"

"Nobody, Senor. He ate the meat of the dead horse."

"Dead horse? What dead horse?"

"Your thoroughbred, Senor. He died from all that work pulling The
Water cart."

"Are you insane? What water cart?"

"The one we used to put out the fire, Senor."

"Good Lord! What fire are you talking about, man?"

"The one at your house, Senor! A candle fell and the curtains caught on
fire."

"What the.....!!! But there's electricity at the house!!! What was the
candle for?"

"For the funeral, Senor."

"WHAT BLOODY FUNERAL?

"Your wife's, Senor...She showed up late in the night out of the blue
and I
Thought she was a thief, so I hit her with your new Tiger Woods Nike Sasquatch driver."


SILENCE..................


"Ernesto if you broke that driver, you're in deep sh*t


-¡Gracias por la broma, Jose!-

"Read all about it: Hawaii Teen Qualifies for US Open!"

Hawaii Man: Hey Dude, did you hear Wie qualified for the US Open?!

Hawaii Dude: No Man, it wasn't Wie...it was Fujikawa.

Hawaii Man: What?! No Dude, that's a golf shaft....I'm talking about the 16-year old Michelle Wie.

Hawaii Dude: Wrong Man. I'm talking about the 15-year old Tadd Fujikawa. Where have you been? Under hardened lava?

Hawaii Man: Ok Dude, now you're getting personal...and it's not lava, it's pahoehoe.

Hawaii Dude: Sorry Man, but ever since this kid's made the cut, he's been as popular as Ronaldinho....or is it Don Ho....

Hawaii Man: Who?

Hawaii Dude: Nevermind Man. Get this, the kid is 61 inches tall and can hit a ball 285 yards! He can't ride on half the roller-coasters in North America, but he's on his way to Winged Foot.

Hawaii Man: Dude, what are they feeding those kids in Hawaii to become such fantastic golfers?

Hawaii Dude: Must be the Pineapple, Man.


Dudes and Dudesses: Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

IED's are all the rage

Doc, I admit it, I have IED (Intermittant Explosive Disorder), (not to be confused with the more potent IED's which keeps our soldiers on alert).

It all started when I was about 14 in contention at a local junior tournament. I shanked an easy wedge shot....took the club, and wrapped it around my bag so hard that I bent 3 other shafts in my bag. I played the rest of the round steamed.

Doc, I know what you're going to say: "Son, you have to have 3 episodes a year to qualify for this disorder."

Doc, you play golf? "Oh yes, several times a year, love the game."

Ever hit your ball in a hazard? "Oh, yes, yes I have...why just the other day I played a par 3 over water, my shot never saw dry land.....now the club, and bag are at the bottom of the lake....did you know that the Nike Sasquatch floats?"

Uh, no, I didn't.

"Well it does! And it takes a helluva windup to wrap a Calloway around another golfer. I found that out last week when I took a divot so deep, the sonofabitch asked me if he could plant an Azalea in it....that really pissed me off."

Hmmmm, you don't say.

Well, doc...I'm glad we could have this therapy session. I'll be leaving know...I'll see my way out.

"Hey, wait up! I'm playin' in a little charity golf tournament for IED survivors next week at the country club. We could use a ringer like you....can I count you in?"

Uh..no doc....you know I'd love to, but...omigosh! Look at the time! Gotta go.


Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

Lakemont is a really fun course to play. It is very hilly, alot of elevation change, and extremely tight! The sister course..Stonemont is a very demanding 18. It is a Bobby Jones Sr original design.  

What would you do on this shot. I'm 138 yards out. pin in right corner. Me, I took a 9-iron, and put it within 4 feet. Problem was, I was above the hole, and missed the putt for bird. I ended up with par.  

I played the back tees (6400+). Lakemont is a Trent Jones Jr course that is very tight. I shot an 83. I double-bogeyed three par 5's. 

The course revolves around the mountain and its lake. Very scenic...and very hazardous! 

We played the Stone Mountain Resort Lakemont course today. It is located in the park, which has the largest out-cropping of granite in the world.  

Best golf book not written by John Daly

You may not know it, but I have been very busy over the past 2
years putting my thoughts and ideas together in a book about Golf.
I am very proud of the results, and in order to market the publication,
I am asking friends and family to be the first to own a copy.

The title of the book is:"Winning Golf Strategies", and I believe it gives the reader valuable playing tips and insider information that I have gained through my own years of experience in the game and observations of golfing partners.


Here is the Table of Contents from my new book:

Chapter 1 - How to Properly Line Up Your Fourth Putt
Chapter 2 - How to Hit a Nike from the Rough When You Hit an O.B. Titleist from the Tee
Chapter 3 - How to Avoid the Water When You Lie 8 in a Bunker
Chapter 4 - How to Get More Distance Off the Shank
Chapter 5 - When to Tell the Ranger Where You're Going to Put Your Foot
Chapter 6 - Using Your Shadow on the Greens to Maximize Earnings
Chapter 7 - When to Implement Handicap Management
Chapter 8 - Proper Excuses for Drinking Beer Before 9:00 a.m.
Chapter 9 - How to Urinate Behind a 4" x 4" Post Undetected.
Chapter 10 - How to Rationalize a 6 Hour Round
Chapter 11 - How to Find That Ball That Everyone Else Saw Go in the Water
Chapter 12 - Why Your Spouse Doesn't Care That You Birdied the 5th.
Chapter 13 - How to Let a Foursome Play Through Your Twosome
Chapter 14 - How to Relax When You Are Hitting Three Off the Tee
Chapter 15 - When to Suggest Major Swing Corrections to Your Opponent
Chapter 16 - The Meaning of the Birdie-to-Bogey Three Putt
Chapter 17 - When to Regrip Your Ball Retriever
Chapter 18 - Use a Strong Grip on the Hand Wedge and a Weak Slip on the Foot Wedge.
Chapter 19 - Why Male Golfers Will Pay $5.00 a Beer From The Cart
Girl and give Her a $3 Tip, but Will Balk at $3.50 at the 19th
Hole and Stiff the Bartender.......

Hopefully you will find my book intriguing and purchase a copy.
Thank you!

-this was e-mailed from a friend that was from a friend....and so on, and so on. Credit to this ditty has been lost in the many translations, but if anyone knows the proper credit to its originality, it will be noted.-

Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

How's that for parallel at the top! That's my father-in-law in the background, thinking the same thing. :-) 

All-in-all, because of it's proximity to the Airport. It would be a great place to play for the travelling person looking for a nice place to play. One interesting tidbit: they rent Segway's for $20/round...driving instructions included. 

Nice par 3. 

As you can see, I'm taking a more upright plane on my swing-path. This gives me a steeper path to the ball. It's working very well for me. 

We played the Blue Tees which were 6500 yards. I had a very good round and shot an 80.  

The following are pictures from my day at Wolf Creek. This course is located near Atlanta International Airport, thus it's downside...about every 15 seconds you hear the rumbling of jets taking off overhead.