Hot dogs..apple pie...and golf!

Family Golf Month Encourages Families to Hit the Links and Have Fun in July

PGA/LPGA Professionals nationwide offer free and affordable programs to families

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Summer is a season to celebrate the family and Play Golf America encourages everyone to hit the course during Family Golf Month for a healthy and affordable way to spend quality-time together. Family Golf Month promotes golf as a fun, family recreation by providing structured, yet casual, opportunities for families to learn the game. Throughout the month of July, PGA and LPGA Professionals at participating facilities nationwide offer reduced or no cost activities for golfers of all ages and skill levels. To find programs in your area, visit www.PlayGolfAmerica.com.

“Summer is a great time to get involved in the game of golf, because there are so many programs that focus on the benefits that golf has for everyone – from kids to grandparents,” said PGA of America President Allen Wronowski. “With so many Family Golf Month events during July and throughout the summer, the game is more accessible and affordable than ever.”

Nearly 2,100 facilities are registered to host Family Golf Month events, including Family Golf Clinics and Play Days, Kids Play Free, PGA Family Course, Bring Your Kids to the Range, Take Your Daughter to the Course Week (July 4-10) and special junior rates, as well as a variety of other events and activities which can be found at PlayGolfAmerica.com. In addition, many facilities offer affordable programs – some even complimentary – for the entire family. Family Golf Month events are also being hosted on military golf courses as part of The PGA of America’s long-standing relationship with and support of the United States military.

“Golf provides children with life lessons of discipline, honesty, camaraderie, sportsmanship and etiquette, and families can really capitalize on these benefits during Family Golf Month,” added Wronowski. “Kids today are spending more time in front of computers and televisions, but Family Golf Month activities provide a great reason to get them out in the fresh air spending uninterrupted time with family.”

For more information on Play Golf America and any of the family or junior golf programs, consumers can visit PlayGolfAmerica.com. The site allows users to find and register at participating facilities in their area by searching their city or zip code.

Celebrating its 95th year, The PGA of America has maintained a twofold mission of its founders: to establish and elevate the standards of the profession and to grow interest and participation in the game of golf. By establishing and elevating the standards of the golf profession through world-class education, career services, marketing and research programs, The PGA enables its professionals to maximize their performance in their respective career paths and showcases them as experts in the game and in a multi-billion dollar golf industry. By creating and delivering dramatic world-class championships and exciting and enjoyable promotions that are viewed as the best of their class in the golf industry, The PGA of America elevates the public's interest in the game, the desire to play more golf, and ensures accessibility to the game for everyone, everywhere. The PGA of America brand represents the very best in golf.

Don't ask don't tell...Country Club-style

LPGA: Psst...hey, what are you going to do Tiger? No wins this year, doesn't seem like you man.

Tiger: Uh, you're right. I don't want to go through another year like this one. I'm on the downside of my 30's, these new guys on Tour are eating my lunch. I don't feel like myself anymore.

LPGA: We can change that all for you Tiger. You've heard about our new bylaw?

Tiger: No, Brother...tell me more!

LPGA: Well, there was this chick..er..yeah...chick, that tried to sue us for being "male-born" after she changed her...um...profile...and now can compete with the likes of Michelle Wie now...it's all legal man!

Tiger: So...what are you saying?

LPGA: Change your profile dude! Look..no wins...getting old...Major run is in jeopardy...you need to resurrect your career man, what a way to do that than a little snip here, a couple bulges there...voila! You're a new ma...er..woman! You'd dust the field...collect a brand new mantle-full of trophies...I mean the sky is the limit over on our side!

Tiger: Well, my sponsors would have concerns...except EA...that would give their game-software engineers some new ideas...those guys in the back room love adding breasts...hmm..I think you're on to something! Where do I sign up?

LPGA: Meet me in Cabo in January...we got a doc down there that does this on the down-lo. By April...you'll be Miss Tigress Woods. I got a call out to Ms Burk, and she all but assures me she can get you into the Masters on a surgical exemption...so your new career will be ramped and ready to go.

HEY...HEY...what are you dudes discussing?

LPGA/Tiger: Oh, hey Phil...nothing, nothing at all...just, you know...talking.

Phil: I get it...don't ask, don't tell right?...hey LPGA, gotta sec?


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

JFB

Winds of change

Here's a pretty safe statistic: If you sit down to watch a golf tournament...it's pretty safe to say the only thing to mess up you watching an afternoon relaxing watching the tube is either your wife or rain.

...but wind?!

Friday presented that kind of day for me. Until I started realizing that this was not the wind that we should be concerned about...

...it's the wind of change happening in Women's golf.

Paula Creamer (of Pretty in Pink Fame...ok, not really) held off what has been a too-common occurrence in women's golf...the domination of foreign golfers in the LPGA. Paula showed that the once labeled an all American girl with all the tools, but can never win the big one, showed that US-bred golfers can still win one for the Gipper. Her win at Oakmont drew a line in the sand saying "We're not gonna take it" and here we come.

...now where did I put that vuvuzela?

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

JFB

2 exits...2 different stories

Both will be cast in bronze in their respective Halls. Ochoa will exit an international wunderkind, and one of the linchpins of the LPGA Tour. Ochoa, exits gracefully...under her own acknowledgement. Retiring an ambassador to the whole game of golf.

Eldrick is exiting this weekend...now reduced to a "trunkslammer" as he continues to try to regroup from his dalliances that have cost him dearly. The exit comes at a very telling time: He is battling going solo...umm...that would be without his hoes. He is also battling remaking himself as a true-to-the-wife husband-slash-father-slash dog walker figure. And he is trying to remake his swing after Nike thrust those dinky-do deep-groove irons in his hands.

It's enough to make a grown man cry. But I believe the man can overcome all of these speed bumps...except one:

The man has the competitive nature to win at all costs: first up his marriage...I believe he will do whatever it takes to right this listing ship. This includes golf.

Here's your question: You're a billionaire...you only care about the Majors...your marriage is on the rocks and your kids are confused...what are you going to focus on? Exactly...the marriage and kids are going to win all the time (unless you study law in NY)...(then all bets are off).

His golf is not important now...his marriage is. That's why he is OK with having those deep-groove market-at-all-cost irons thrust in his hands. He knows better than to use those. Last year he would have told Nike to give them to Wie. Now he has no choice...he is being told what to do. he is suffering...and will continue to suffer...but it's all in a days work.

So golf is being dropped by 2 of the greatest to ever play the game; Lorena Ochoa...my vote for Sportsman of the Year (2 times running). She brings all that is good to sports.

Eldrick is the other, for sure...to be temporary. But this year and next...will see a man with laser focus...only it won't be on golf...it'll be a life challenge...greater than him...


...and maybe that is a good thing to see.


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


JFB

Sibling Rivalries

You have your Eli's and Peyton's...your Serena's and Vanessa's...and the Laroche boys...

...get ready for the Thompson's.

In case you missed it, Friday held some trepidation for two youngsters from the same household: Nicholas Thompson, and his little sister Alexis.

Big brother Nicholas, a former Georgia Tech golf standout who shared the leaderboard with the eventual winner, and Techster, Matt Kuchar at the Turning Stone Championship in Verona NY.

Little sis Alexis, a Florida high-schooler who's 14, shared the leaderboard with eventual winner Lorena Ochoa at the Navistar LPGA Classic at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail's Capitol Hill spread in Prattsville AL.

I'm sure the household was abuzz! And I'm sure the biggest question was not where they would finish in their respective tournaments...

...but rather which course would the parents walk.

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

JFB

The big 'C'

My Mom died 6 years ago from cancer. Three weeks after my son was born. Thinking those combined events were the most stressful of my life, I was caught off-guard when less than a year after my son was born, a routine skin exam caught melanoma on my back. Fortunately, after an additional test, it had not spread, and the chance for recurrence is very low.

Cancer does not care who you are. It is only your due diligence that gives you an edge over this disease.

Fortunately, there are organizations throughout the world that provide reassurance and hope to those who have been affected. Golf ,again, has been called upon to become a platform to bring cancer organizations into the limelight.

Golf has always been a huge player of charitable foundations throughout the country. Each PGA and LPGA tour-stop provides local charities of vast causes the opportunity to raise awareness and money. Whether it be the Tours "Together, Anything's Possible" platform, or grassroots efforts like Golf Fights Cancer, there are many opportunities to get involved, or at a minimum to learn who is out there fighting in your corner if the big 'C', or the big 'anything-that's-not-supposed-to-happen-to-me' comes your family's way.

From Amy Mickelson, to Paul Azinger...to a hack like me, or to anyone for whom this disease has been in contact with, we are very relieved that there are volunteers, researchers, and donors, that care....

...Golf, in all its forms, has the biggest heart of all.

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

JFB

Flat screens flatlined this sponsorship

Last weeks announcement that Corning was ending its 32 year LPGA tournament in Corning NY really did not come as a surprise.

What came as a surprise is the reason.

The directors felt that it could literally blame poor attendance and lack of volunteers as its reasons for canceling its sponsorship.

In reality, this is what is happening:

Corning failed to mention that credit markets are so tight that they can't renegotiate debt at cheap rates anymore. The reason they have debt in the first place is because during the Internet boom, Corning went hog-wild into the fiber optic business, jumping on the debt-for-growth bandwagon and leaving their legacy glassware business in the dust. At the time it probably looked like a good idea...but not now...with mountains of debt as high as flat screen inventories at Best Buy.

That's what I would have liked to have seen in the release. But they passed the buck.

This is just one of many sponsorships that are going away. It's not just Corning. Looking at the history of Cornings LPGA beginnings, reveals a new, old world where the LPGA and other sports associations will have to base their realities:

"The tournament purse, which started out as $100,000 – with the winner getting $15,000 – stands this year at $1.5 million. This year’s winner will collect $225,000, two and a quarter times what Penny Pulz earned in 1979."

Tournaments that do not adjust for this reality, will be extinct...like the LPGA Corning Classic.


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

JFB

New Tools for MyDailySlice readers!

I've recently added a couple awesome new tools that will allow you to really get inside the uniqueness of the game of golf.
Two new social network tools: Twitter, and ShareThis, will allow you to follow not only my thoughts, but thoughts of some of the best writers of the sport, as well as the best golfers in the world.

How you say? Well, you can follow me on Twitter...and here's the cool part...you can follow the Twitter-ers that I follow as well...which are pretty unique to the game of golf.

Go on...click my Twitter link to see who I follow...I'll wait.

Pretty cool, huh?! I know that you might not be really interested in my timely diaper changes to my future LPGA star...but I do know you are interested in what Stewart Cink is doing right now!

Now for the second app: ShareThis. You can now read the articles that I read, and have inspired me to post...for well over 3 years now...That's 300 in Second Life years!
I read a lot of great stuff during a week...and some of it gets lost in the noise of everyday life, but now I can feed what I'm reading right to my blog post so you can get inside on some of the uniqueness of golf...the essence of what I find interesting.

You might call my blog with these new apps a mashup of what makes MyDailySlice tick.

This will give you more updates to read, and will truly be what I envisioned when I started my blog so long ago: To be a daily slice of golf.


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

JFB

The second-coming of Michelle Wie

Everybody likes an underdog. Amazingly, Michelle Wie is now in that position. Once the can't-miss kid from Hawai'i who self-destructed with the help of relentless media and skeptical advice, has resurrected her image.

Enter IMG...the world-class uber-agency that guides the paths of great golf pedigree Tiger Woods and Annika Sorenstam, will now guide Ms. Wie in her second coming-out party.

Now that she has undergone strength coaching to fortify her upper body to equal her lower body strength...she has now turned her sights to strengthening her media relations. Through IMG, she will have the greatest sports agency in the world directing and cajoling her "new" position as rookie on the LPGA Tour.

What great timing for her and the LPGA. With sponsors dropping faster than Charles Barkley swing hitches...the LPGA is in no shape to fight itself out of it's mess alone...then Michelle Wie qualified through Q school to get her card, and asserted her readiness to play by taking a second place in her first LPGA-sanctioned event. The LPGA will look back on her getting her card as the most important event in women's golf since the dawn of Nancy Lopez.

Michelle Wie, already the 5th highest paid female athlete in sponsors, still carries high-dollar cache...cache that will be required to lure sponsors and big money into the LPGA that will determine its survival. She has more American 'likability" than Ochoa or other current top 10 women golfers that have not been able to break through American sponsorships, sad...but that is the cold reality of women's sports.

This week when she tees it up with the ladies at the LPGA International, she will be stepping into a role that she should have already accepted and thrived in. She will however be more prepared because of her past failures, and her future Agent/Media relationship. She is still only 19 years old...still just a sophomore at Stanford University...but more mature and confident than she's ever been....and she's the underdog...

And everyone loves the underdog. Don't bet against her this time.


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

JFB

Martha Stewart's got it right

In today's WSJ, they had a collection of quotes from various folks from various walks of life, asking them about their New Year's resolution. Martha Stewart adroitly surmised that, in her opinion, it does no good to fein a resolution as a cold-hard promise to ones-self because the truth of the matter is a real resolution needs to be tweaked throughout the year to work.

To me, that's a recipe that I can get behind...I mean, how many of us start a promise only to break it a few weeks later? But tweaking it throughout the year, now that's reality.

That's the world we live in now.

Gone are the days when you could put your 401k on autopilot and sleepwalk to 7% annualized returns...unless you're a Madoff ex...to you, you have my condolences. Due diligence (tweaking) is a required step to get your piece of the pie back.
Sports also are entering an era where there will be less pie to share...all-stars will garner the biggest slice...and it will be crisis control for those not connected to the all-stars.

Gone are the days when the PGA can count on as the ATM of the Tour, and Sorenstam the Western Union of the LPGA. New talent will most definitely need to step-up THIS YEAR to close the income-gap for those less than all star members of these proud organizations. Otherwise, golfers will be downsized faster than a Detroit Union-worker.

I believe the PGA's resolution for 2009 can be seen in the current ad trumpeting the start of the 2009 PGA Tour season. The ad shows a compelling picture of Anthony 'It's the Buckle Stupid' Kim...although the face is obscured by a Nike hat, it sort-of looks like Tiger in a classic pose...until we see the buckle, then we know it's Kim. It's an exciting ad, promoting the Mercedes Benz Championship in Maui. The headline is 'Today Maui...Tomorrow the World'...

...it's a good marketing effort by the PGA (which has been rarer than a Ruth Chris steak), it shows that the PGA is moving on from Tiger-mania, and is taking a page from the most successful sports franchise...the NFL, as they are portraying the golfer as the spokesperson of the PGA, not an individual. I am certain promoting this image will be successful, but I would hope that the PGA's resolution of 'Tomorrow the World' will take a page from Martha's cookbook...

...and be tweaked to resolving to making 'tomorrow'...'today'. The PGA needs to go multi-national now. Its fans and future stars depend on it.

...as does their pie.


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

JFB

The art of leaving

Throughout the land, parties will be held in celebration for Christmas, New Year's, and yet another month I held onto my house...uh, actually scratch that last one...at any rate, the point is...we will be a nation of celebratory fools. Sure we love going to these parties, but do we know when to leave?

Are you the guy or girl with the lampshade over their head...or can you hold your drink and leave the room with others in awe.

In other words, are you more of a John Daly-type, or are you more like Annika?

Yes, that Annika...the one who was over in Dubai celebrating her last competitive rounds of golf...leaving the fans with a birdie. Her grace equal to the great Babe Zaharias.

How great that Annika leave her last tournament with a birdie. We should all be so fortunate, after all, a birdie on the last golf hole makes the return to the game so much more exciting.
Will her return be that of ambassador to the game? We can only hope.

We are so fortunate to have witnessed the class of a true champion in our lifetime...

...and not one lampshade was ever sighted.


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

JFB

Ugh...The Masters

Every year, millions of golfers tune into Augusta Georgia to see what has become the United States' official spring right of passage...The Masters.

To me...and millions of allergy suffererers, this great golf event has become a right of passage of another sort...

Springtime.

Oh, to be sure, the Azaleas...Dogwoods...and Bradford Pears are all in full bloom, but that beauty comes with a price to folks like us...an excuse-me-while-I-sneeze price that even Jim Nance couldn't speak well of...let alone allergy sufferer Tiger Woods (overheard in a recent conversation on the green)..."Hey Stevie...this putt doesn't break to the right, it goes left." "No, Tiger...it goes right...here, wipe your watery eyes, and blow your running nose."...."Snughddesffulgh"..."Hey Stevie! Your right!"

...Yeah...I feel your pain Tiger.

So does LPGA superstar Jill McGill. In a recent article in SI, she gives an up close and personal account of her allergies and how they enter her daily life on and off the golf course. She even puts her money where her...um...runny nose is, by working with the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America to the benefit of sufferers like me, who struggle throughout the year with this dis-ease.

So, from one golfer who takes allergy shots, Advair, and Zyrtec, I salute you Ms McGill for helping out a great cause by spreading the gospel about allergies and asthma. If I ever get to meet you, I'm sure to have my autograph book in hand...

...and a box of Puffs.


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

JFB

Sport's Illustrated takes a divot

I got my copy of the annual SI 'Sportsman of the Year' last week, and I feel Brett Farve was the popular...but (and is usually the case) not the correct choice. Farve has had a great year, but he has had a better career...and I think that's where SI misses the mark. I would vote for Farve hand-down as a sportsman of the decade...but for this year?

Me thinks not.

My vote would have been for Lorena Ochoa, the number one woman golfer...in any language.

Winner of 8 Tournaments last year, she has become both Ayn Rand and Savior for her genders' golf, by successfully taking the hand-off from previous top cat Annika Sorenstam.
For women's golf, this was an important transition, because the golfer that was Annika's heir apparent...Michelle Wie, was too busy destroying her golf career...and was poised to do the same to the future of women's golf, had not this University of Arizona wunderkind stepped in with a wonderful rendition of the Mexican Hat Dance (Jarabe Tapatío) to save the future world of women's golf.

Because of Lorena Ochoa I dare say that women's golf has a better product going forward than men's golf.

Golf's version of the Mexican Revolution has just begun.


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

JFB

Playing baseball or basketball is much more strenuous than playing golf. But people continue going at the golf galaxy only because it is a relaxing sport. And unlike hockey or lacrosse, there is not a lot of running around.

A Giant of a man

I admit it...I love fantasy football. Last year my team (Nate's Playmakers) practically ran the table until I came up short in the semi's.

Eli Manning was my quarterback.

If ever there was a sports figure so hotly contested for during his senior year at Ole' Miss...he was it. His brother Peyton...his Dad Archie...what a bloodline! Everyone wanted a piece of Eli....and the New York Giants got him.

Last week, as a prelude to the HSBC Women's Match Play Championship, (the tournament featured in a recent post of mine), the storied Grand Central Station in midtown New York was the platform for the week-long HSBC Golf Experience.
Wednesday, they had a putting contest where Eli went heads-up with commuters. Throughout the week, New Yorkers tested their skills for the opportunity to compete against the NFL quarterback in a friendly putting competition.

I can only guess what the chatter must have been like: "Hey Rocko...let's catch the 10 to Brooklyn, and we'll eat a corned beef sandwich over at Milo's." "Uh...Vinnie...is that Eli over there with a putter in his hand?...o-my-God! it is!...quick...let's get him to sign my hat." "Um Rocko...you have a Jets hat on."... "Curses!"

In the end it was all for a good cause, and as a result, Manning's charity...St. Vincent Hospital, was the beneficiary of $5,000 courtesy of sponsors HSBC.

I'm happy for the donation for a good cause-and-all. But I'm wondering what Eli was doing taking time away from football practice?...I mean...he needs to FOCUS! We're almost into the season.

...did I mention I take this fantasy football seriously?


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

JFB

A story within the story

In 2 weeks the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship will be played in the tucked-in burg of New Rochelle, a town that has to have an state-line identity crisis, as it it shoe-horned in between NY, CT, NJ, and PA, along the Long island Shores.

It will feature 64 of the LPGA's top golfers, including defending champion Brittany Lincicome, competing for a $2,000,000 purse.

One of these 64 women is making a name for herself as we speak at the US Open this weekend: Twenty-year-old Julieta Granada hailing from Asuncion, Paraguay...currently ranked 24th in the world and winner of the 2006 ADT Championship, is currently is 6th place, 2 shots out of the lead.

She has been chronicling her preparation for this years HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship, which...oh, by the way...includes the US Open. It's a great read!

Click on her picture to read her blog!

JFB

Michelle Wie...meet John Daly

About a year ago, I wrote about the coming problems for Michelle Wie.

Well, as of last Thursday they've officially arrived.

As has been well documented with her WD last Thursday at The Ginn Tribute in North Carolina due to a "wrist injury" right before "Rule 88" was to be christened upon her...as well as the events leading up to this weekend's LPGA Championship, Wie's lack of class and professionalism have suddenly enabled her to become the new bad-boy(ess) on the golf circuit.

Maybe this is her way of getting street cred.

Last Saturday, she missed the commencement at her high school in Honolulu. How did she miss that? Her Blackberry had to have had a big X marked through the weekend? Surely she'd have made the time to be with her graduating class for that momentous occasion?

No, she was practicing at the Bulle Rock Golf Course...in Maryland...on the other side of the world from Hawaii...with nary an ice-pack or an Ace bandage.

Can you say "Let's have a Luau Hawaii-style?" I'm thinking pig roast...with Wie in the pit. To make it really sexy, let's have Sorenstam fit her mouth with the apple.

Okay...so she missed one of the most important days of her life...she obviously feels bad that she mailed-it-in with a "bad wing" just to collect an appearance fee at The Ginn...and wants to make it up to the Golf Gods by grinding it out a couple days early to really start the LPGA Championship with a bang.

So she plays Monday in the pro-am...and...her playing partners file a complaint on her.

Talk about buzzkill.

Michelle Wie was a marketing phenom....nothing more, nothing less, but she is well on her way to becoming a media-induced toxic blend of Anna Kournakova and John Daly.

She's lost respect for her elders as evidenced over the last 2 weeks. And her crutch of being "a young teenager going through a hard time" doesn't hold water anymore. She's old news because she's not "the new kid" on the scene anymore. If your not fresh...your trash in the media-world. Wie is 2-week old stale bread.
I'll be surprised if she's making half of what she earned in endorsements next year.

The LPGA Championship is in a little town called Harve de Grace...it means "harbor of grace".
If Michelle Wie cares anything about her career in the future, she needs to be a harbor of grace...

...but unfortunately, I think her ships have sailed.


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

JFB

Girls just wanna have fu-un.

Girls, mark your calendars for June 2nd through the 9th, as American Express and PlayGolfAmerica.com have teamed-up to bring the softer gender closer to the great game of golf.
AMEX cardmembers can participate in free golf lessons from over 100 golf courses throughout the country when the better half plays and pays with their card. In addition to the free golf lessons, ya'll will get 20% off the rate of play.

So pull out your finest pink-laced polos, stuff a sleeve or two of pink Ice Noodles in your Coach-appointed golf bag, and head on over to American Express Women's Golf Week to see where the closest participating golf course is for you!



JFB

K-Y Jelly: branding problem solved!

Today, Businessweek featured an interesting story about the travails of re-branding K-Y Jelly.

I have a couple suggestions for the K-Y company of how to kickstart a new campaign.

Develop a brand new golf league. Pool the kicked-to-the-curb, forgotten tournaments from the PGA and the LPGA. Call it the Shafted Tour.

Feature tournaments that were dropped this year. Loveable sites such as Cog Hill (blued) or En Joie (screwed), or my personal favorite: TPC at Avenel (tattooed). Oh yeah, let's add an LPGA tournament to the list: The Nancy Lopez Classic at Eagles Landing CC.

Get this K-Y; there are volunteers and charities from these tournaments that were banished like the last kid chosen on a pick-up kick-ball team. I don't have to tell you how fired up they'd be to bring these events back for you.
Looking for sponsor money? I bet you could get Florida's Natural, Cialis, Booz-Allen AND BC to re-up with you. You want re-branding? Just think of the money generated from a Cialis/K-Y ad campaign!

The format could be a co-ed stableford system with PGA rejects from the Finchem-Fed Ex Cup, and from the LPGA; anyone who doesn't have a Rolex-modeling contract.

Here's a basic sampling of the rules:
Men play the tips, women play the forward tees. No drivers allowed. All players wear shorts, and caddies cannot read putts for the players.

Anyone complains about your rules and you can give them a complimentary bottle of your jelly to help them un-clench.


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

Adventures in Movement

This week the LPGA rolls into town, riding a wave of popularity and high expectations. Florida's Natural Charity Championship hosted by Nancy Lopez
will be played again at Eagles Landing C.C. in Stockbridge GA just outside of Atlanta.
I was fortunate enough early-on in the tournaments' history to volunteer as walking scorer. That gave me the opportunity to meet some fantasic LPGA pros, (Pat Hurst and Wendy Ward rock!) and to play the course multiple times on volunteer day. It is a beautiful layout, and there are tons of azaleas stitched throughout the lob-lolly pines on the course....should look great on an HDTV screen this weekend!

The tournaments hostess, Nancy Lopez has been the steady hand throughout the tournaments' history. Once known as the Chick-fil-A tournament, last year it backed out as the main sponsor, and left the tournament to be a multi-sponsor event. Last week however, Nature's Made stepped up to fill that void.
Ms. Lopez, from Albany GA, has used this tournament since its inception to raise funds for her favorite charity: AIM for the Handicapped , in which she is its National Ambassador.
Her charity focuses on movement exercises (primarily through music) to help all kids with various disabilities increase their motor skills.
Her charity is experiencing increased demand because of another in-need generation: geriatrics. The older our generation becomes, the more these type services will be needed in nursing homes, and other in-care facilities.

Simple motor skills are taken for granted every time we tee up a ball. This weekend though, thanks to Nancy Lopez, the awareness and funding for this disability will not be taken for granted.

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

JFB