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Golf Gear News #46: California Golf Alliance, GolfBall3000, Hireko Golf Blog, Stracka.com, Interview with Audubon International

CLICK HERE to listen.

Interview with the Guru: Audubon International.

State of the Game:
California golf industry sets up new advocacy organization called the California Golf Alliance.

Golf Around the World:
Spend your vacation at the GolfBall3000 Rally in Europe this September.

Component Corner:
Buying golf clubs starts even before the sale in assembly according to the Hireko Golf Blog.

Website Spotlight:
Golf joins the social media ranks with an impressive site called Stracka.com.

Our show sponsor is Golfknockoff.com.

Check out our new Media Kit.

Wow! Michelle Wie Only 16 Strokes off the Lead

In an earlier post I pointed out how pathetic Michelle Wie’s performances have been and how worthless the media’s continued fixation with her is.

I thought I’d provide a Day 2 update of the LPGA’s US Open. Let’s see now. Oh look. Christie Kerr, last year’s winner is only two shots off the lead. Paula Creamer is also two shots off the lead. Amateur Maria Jose Uribe, is only three shots off the lead. Where oh where is Michelle Wie?

Only sixteen strokes off the lead after two rounds. Our local fish wrap the Pioneer Press showed pictures after the first day. Who has the biggest photo? Not Annika, not Lorena, not last year’s champion Christie Kerr. No Wie gets the column inches.

I’ll concede that Ms. Wie was only 2-over in the second round, but that was way too little too late. I think it is quite obvious that Michelle Wie is never going to amount to anything. She’s never going to vie for #1 in the world, she isn’t going to win a major and her sponsors are not going to want to be associated with a third tier player. Sponsors and fans want a winner and at some point, as her contracts expire, the gravy train she’s been riding is going to dry up.

Sports fans will tolerate bad behavior, habits and hygiene if it they get what they want - victories. As Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis said so eloquently, “Just Win, Baby.”

This baby will never do that.

Wasting Our Time With Michelle Wie

Why oh why do we waste good printers ink (or in my case bytes) talking about Michelle Wie? She’s an albatross around the neck of ladies golf, an asterisk on the leaderboard of history, a sidenote in the annals of LPGA lore. People will say “Remember Michelle Wie, couldn’t she hit the ball far.” “Wasn’t she the one that almost won an LPGA tournament?” “Didn’t she have nice legs.” Or some other similar drivel.

Face it folks, Michelle Wie is done. Toast. Stick a fork in her. She’s been overhyped and overpaid. Nike should re-read their endorsement contract to see if there’s an out clause. She should concentrate on getting her degree at Stanford because there are no jobs for over-promoted also rans.

Yes, I’m bitter. Partially because I believed some of the hype a few years ago. But I’m really ticked off now because the media is so gullible to this hype. Let’s take a quick tour of the headlines from our media brethren before she took her first swing at the LPGA US Open this week:

The Pioneer Press in St. Paul: The Resurgence of Michelle Wie
The San Jose Mercury News : Wie: I Think I Can Win U.S. Open
The Charlotte Observer : Wie Says She’s On Upswing
The USA Today : With Injury Behind Her, Wie Poised to Make Noise at Open

After she took her first swing:

The Baltimore Sun : Wie cards 9 at Women’s Open, already out of contention
Reuters : Nine an ugly number for Wie at U.S. Women’s Open
The USA Today : Wie stumbles to a 9 on 9th hole at Open

And my favorite is from the Chris Baldwin, a realist at Worldgolf.com I wanted to point out some of his eloquent prose too: Michelle Wie shows where her game’s really at with 81 in the U.S. Women’s Open. In keeping with the sports psychologist babble that earns more scorn from Wie realists than even her play, the reeling hype machine feels she is close though.

“I can spring back tomorrow and shoot a low round,” Wie said moments ago.

Yeah right. Give it a rest girl.

Why Do Vandals Hate Golf Courses?

In my fair state of Minnesota, on June 18th, vandals struck the greens of a golf course in Rochester . Although the estimated damage was minimal (around $2700), it got me to thinking. Why do vandals love to damage golf courses, especially the greens? Why don’t they drive their cars around baseball diamonds or rip up sod in the outfield? Why don’t the pour paint on the fifty yard line at the local high school? Why is it just golf courses these vandals hate?

Some examples: twenty torched golf carts at Duck Creek Golf Course in Davenport, Iowa. In Manchester, England the Sale Golf Club’s greens were all dug up. The Pebble Lake Golf Course’s golf carts and greens were damaged . Chaska, Minnesota found its Par 30 Golf Course safe thrown in a pond. In Fergus Falls, Minnesota, the Honey Bee Golf Course (what a stupid name for a course) in Virginia got hit by apparent Satan worshippers . Even sainted Torrey Pines in La Jolla, California, site of Tiger’s amazing US Open victory isn’t immune to vandals .

Maybe these particular vandals had a bad round the day before and decided to take it out on the course. Are they attempting to strike back at “da man” because golf courses seen so proletarian? Are these people members of some kind of radical environmentalist group that doesn’t think golf can be eco-friendly? Is it just wanton destruction for the heck of it?

In whatever way these folks are expressing themselves, they seem to take great pleasure in screwing up a perfectly good golf green that will take all summer to recover. With such a short season in Minnesota, all it does is hurt the golf course and those that want to play it.

Audubon International Interview

Joellen Zeh, Program Manager
www.auduboninternational.org

The Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program (ACSP) is an award winning education and certification program that helps golf courses protect our environment and preserve the natural heritage of the game of golf. By helping people enhance the valuable natural areas and wildlife habitats that golf courses provide, improve efficiency, and minimize potentially harmful impacts of golf operations, the ACSP serves as vital resource for golf courses.

Click the play button below to listen to the interview.

Minnesota Mini-Golf Course Goes Art Museum

Some of you may have noted that I have an odd affinity for mini-golf courses. I always love to point them out when I find them. Back in the sixties and early seventies, Putt Putt courses were as ubiquitous as drive-in movies theaters. Now, both are disappearing.

Back in the 1950’s there were 50,000 mini-golf courses nationwide, today only 7,500. If you think that it’s been tough keeping a 9-hole course away from real estate developers, it’s been even harder to stop a CVS, McDonalds or strip center from occupying the space once occupied by rubber-headed clubs, psychedelic-color balls and creaky windmills.

The mini-golf course I remember the most was a Putt Putt golf course in the parking lot of a Target store. Where is it today? Replaced by a strip center.

Reading my local fish wrap, Star Tribune, I saw an article about Big Stone Mini Golf in Minnetrista, Minnesota. It was started in 2003 by Bruce Stillman, an artist and sculptor. It sounds like an eclectic mix of holes and obstacles with artistic touches everywhere. It even has a couple of old boats on the property, a petting zoo area, picnic sites and a Stonehenge-like sculpture with a fire pit. Sounds like a great weekend outing to me. I’m planning on scheduling a round soon to see if I can lower my handicap. You can check out the video here.

The Big Stone Mini Golf course costs $6 and is open from 11AM until sundown, Spring through Fall. Call 952-472-9292 for details and directions in you are in the Twin Cities.

Don’t Pay a Health Guru, Mayo Clinic Has Free Golf Exercises

Why pay for fancy and expensive golf exercises from a richly lauded golf guru when you can visit the Mayo Clinic’s website for free. I found this site innocently looking for odd golf stories and this site popped up. It’s got a slide show and a series of videos showing how best to do exercises for better golf. If changing the grips on your clubs can lower your score an estimated two strokes, who knows how much lower you can shoot if you can bend over and touch your toes.

Website Created By: Tiger Creations