Golf Gear News Ranked #11 on Podcast Alley in Sports Category
July 16, 2008
Wow, Golf Gear News on July 16, 2008 was ranked as the eleventh most popular sports show (out of #1309) and the #426 ranked (out of #43,323) podcast on Podcast Alley. Yikes, even I am surprised we are ranked so high. Amazingly, we rank ahead of some pretty impressive podcasts like ESPN Radio Podcast (#1280), Golf Tips Video (#1282), Golf for Beginners (#1721) and Travelgolf This Week (#4866). Your can check us out here: Podcast Alley Ranking.
Hard Work Will Kill You So Play More Golf
July 9, 2008
Remember when you were younger one of your parents said “Get up off your butt and do something. Hard work never killed anyone.” Well, according to the Japanese, it has.
According to the Aichi Labor Bureau in Japan, the man who died was aged 45 and had been under severe pressure as the lead engineer in developing a hybrid version of Toyota’s Camry. In the two months up to his death, the man averaged more than 80 hours of overtime per month. It appears that this phenomenon in Japan is called “karoshi” and such deaths have steadily increased since the Japanese Health Ministry first recognized the phenomenon in 1987.
Now as a follower of golf, I think that to keep the American workforce healthy, we need to play more golf and spend less time in the office. Based on these findings from the Japanese Labor Bureau, there is quantifiable justification for playing more golf. A dead employee is not a productive employee.
The next time that your boss asks you to work overtime, just point out that poor Toyota engineer and he may even set up your tee time.
July 4th Fireworks Led to Golf Cart Tragedy
July 7, 2008
Perhaps you may remember that I mentioned a story I found about how a fellow Minnesotan managed to impale himself while driving his golf cart? I thought you did. Unfortunately it wasn’t someone from Wisconsin and idiots on golf carts are staring to look like a trend.
Well here we go again. Now another Minnesotan, this time from Faribault, has been killed after falling out a golf cart during July 4th activities. He in fact fell backward out of the cart.
Standard golf carts are set so they can’t go faster than 14 ½ MPH and the back of most golf carts have some kind of rack behind them for the rigolf bags so falling out the back is quite an accomplishment. Unfortunately this gentleman wasn’t sitting in the golf cart, he was standing where the bags go.
His “friend” was a 47-year-old man from Richfield who was arrested at the scene. Over the weekend he was held without bail in the Rice County jail on suspicion of fifth-degree driving under the influence and criminal vehicular homicide following a death.
I didn’t realize that there were five degrees of DWI. I thought driving while intoxicated was DWI, unless it’s driving under the influence (DUI). Isn’t being drunk the same as being under the influence? I’m confused as to the difference.
The decedent had recently moved from Hollandale to Faribault to work at the local prison. Makes me feel really good about who is managing our prison system. Probably was interviewed by the same employment agency as folks that screen our bags at the airport.
Seems that all the elements were there for a tragedy; 4th of July fireworks, campground, dnking, country bumpkins, worked for the prison system, golf cart. Can you say redneck?
Wow is all I have to say.
Why Do Vandals Hate Golf Courses?
June 18, 2008
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.
Minnesota Mini-Golf Course Goes Art Museum
June 14, 2008
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.
What Not to Do When Driving Your Golf Cart
May 29, 2008
What is it with golf carts that bring out the stupid in people? Now here in Minnesota we usually blame stupid things on Wisconsin so this latest new story is kind of embarrassing.
Our local fish wrap, the Star Tribune reported that 24-year-old Josh Skattum, ran his golf cart into a tree and impaled himself on a three foot tree branch. Was he drunk after too many beers at the 19th hole? Was he lost on the way home from the course? Did he get into some kind of cart accident? No he was just stupid.
He was returning to his father’s house when the cart ran into a tree and a three foot branch pierced the bottom of the cart and impaled itself in this guy’s knee. Amazingly he had no broken bones.
After the accident, Skattum was quoted as saying “it was something freaky that happened, and I second-guessed some of those decisions.”
Oh really now?
Ever Wanted to Throw Your Putter in the Water?
May 13, 2008
During The Players Championship, Charley Hoffman was having a bad round, already 7 over par when he reached the par-3 13th. After three putting, he calmly tossed his Scotty Cameron putter into the nearby pond. He eventually shot an 11-over 83 and badly missed the cut.
How many of us have wanted to do the same thing?
When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Sue
December 22, 2007
When everyone is making money there isn’t time to try to take down the competition. With shrinking margins, stagnate revenues and tougher competition, if you can’t innovate your way to profitability, the only choice is to sue.
Take the recent court cases brought by Callaway against Titleist, Bridgestone against Titleist and DogLeg Right against TaylorMade. All are suing each other because of supposed patent infringements.
In the case of DogLeg Right, they accuse TaylorMade of violating two patents that “…cover technology that allows the user to adjust the center of gravity of the clubhead in up to three dimensions in order to produce golf ball trajectories varying from high to low fades, high to low draws, and high to low straight shots.” The supposed clubs that violate these patents are TaylorMade’s r7 Quad driver, TaylorMade r7 425 Quad driver, and TaylorMade r7 CGB Max driver and fairway woods.
A recent court victory was awarded to Callaway over Acushnet, makers of the top-selling golf ball the Titleist Pro V1. The jury awarded Callaway a victory on “….the construction of a multilayer ball with a solid core and a polyurethane cover that are used in the Titleist Pro V1 ball.” Callaway acquired the patents in 2003 when it purchased Top-Flite Golf following the bankruptcy of parent Spalding Sports Worldwide.
Acushnet was recently involved in another golf ball case that has been settled out-of-court with Bridgestone Sports Co. Ltd., resolving a 2 1/2-year ball patent infringement suit. Acushnet will be required to pay Bridgestone on-going royalties for use of an undisclosed number of Bridgestone patents.
Lawsuits are part of the business landscape and suing your competition is generally the chosen path, but for the major golf businesses, if they spent more time on innovation and growing the game and less on legal court fights, maybe their businesses would perform better.
New Zealander Plays 419 Courses in One Year
August 2, 2007
I always knew that New Zealanders were crazy. In the Golf Observer I find a write-up on 40 year old New Zealander Ricky Bartlett who recently finished a year long journey in which he played every golf course and golf hole in New Zealand for charity.
If you count every course (even the 9 hole ones) there are 419 golf course, which is the highest number of courses per capita in the world. Bartlett played 419 rounds in 362 days which amounts to 7,542 holes in 31,594 shots.
All the courses, except for one gave Bartlett free golf in his quest, the one standout was a course on Chatham Islands that was in terrible shape with sheep droppings and worm casts on the greens. The course charged Bartlett $3 for that round. That course sounds like it could deserve some charity.
Bartlett’s quest was to raise money for three different charities: the Cancer Society, Amnesty International and the Ronald McDonald House. He raised over $75,000 for his troubles.
Sure nice not to have to work for a living.
Golf Blogger, 42, Found Dead after Struck by Golf Ball Torrent
June 21, 2007
Up here in Minne “snow” ta, we are big watchers of the weather. Sometimes Northerners like us say: “If you don’t like the weather, just wait a few hours and it will change.” We often talk about record snowfalls like the Halloween blizzard (30 inches on October 31st) or record cold temperatures. We constantly argue every winter if International Falls really is the coldest spot in the nation and if Good Morning America reports that we are, aren’t we proud.
The hardy souls in the land of 10,000 lakes seem to always be captivated by the local weatherperson, who by the way is often less attractive than the sportscaster, tell us to panic and run for cover because the next weather apocalypse is fast approaching from the West.
Bozos that wouldn’t know hail from Hale Irwin, call into local radio stations and provide great insight about what’s happening in their backyards. Wherever we are, we tune in to the local TV or radio station and stay riveted to our seats as the talking head babbles on about all of the school closings, severe thunderstorm warnings or flash flood alerts in our area. This must be the sign of the “end times” we say to ourselves.
What I find extremely funny is how we describe hail. Our hail can be pea, marble or pebble-sized. If the conditions are right we might even get baseball, tennis, softball or grapefruit-sized projectiles dropping from the heavens. I’m waiting for the day that bowling ball-size meteors hurl down from the sky ripping holes in our roofs or exploding through our pictures windows. Now that would be a weather story to remember.
My favorite though is golf ball-sized hail like we had today in Minnesota (I know you were wondering how I was going to make the connection). Can you image all of those “Titleists” falling from the sky at 100 MPH denting our siding, breaking our windows and dimpling our car tops?
Yet, we aren’t the only ones to be so lucky having Pro V1s crash down upon us. Here are some recent headlines: Thunder, Lightning, Golf-ball Sized Hail, Pummel New Hampshire; Storms Dump Golf Ball-sized Hail on Dallas/Ft. Worth, Golf ball-sized Hail Batters Broward County, Florida. Even the Chinese are not immune to nature’s golf ball barrage: Golf ball-sized hail pelts Beijing.
According to one of our local meteorologists, the largest hailstone ever documented in the United States hit Coffeyville, Kansas in 1970. It weighed 1.67 pounds, 5.7″ in diameter, and probably hit the ground at 120 mph. Until 2003 that is. That was the year the Aurora “Borealis” Hailstone crashed to earth. Don’t believe me? Well, just look it up on the website: Thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com so it must be true.
I can just see my demise reported in tomorrow’s headlines: “Golf Blogger, 42, Found Dead after Struck by Golf Ball Torrent”.
Now I’ll no longer worry when someone yells “Fore”. That’s only one golf ball that’s trying to kill me.
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