Archive for February, 2010

City of Houston Municipal Golf Courses Championship

Houston Golfers,

I received this email (as I’m sure most of you did) from the City of Houston Municipal Golf.  Looks like they want to hold a championship on their four courses (Memorial Park, Sharpstown, Gus Wortham, and Brock Park).  If interested, you should submit feedback and ideas on their site:

Hello Golfers,

We hope to gather information from all our golfers in regards to beginning a City of Houston Municipal Golf Courses Championship.  We hope this tournament can build into a tournament that every amateur golfer in Houston wants to win!  The golf tournament will include all four of our courses the city runs which include Memorial Park, Sharpstown, Brock Park, and Gus Wortham.
On the website www.memorialparkgolf.com is an information form asking general information as well as your comments as to what kind of tournament you would be interested in playing.  We want to know your thoughts on format and any ideas you have to make it a great tournament.  Please note that we do want to include all levels of players so please give us your thoughts no matter your golfing skill level.

Please note that the Houston Rodeo Trail Riders are coming into Memorial Park on Friday, February 26, 2010.  The trail riders will leave the park Saturday morning for the rodeo parade downtown.  To avoid possible delays enter the golf course off of I-10 at the Washington-Westcott exit on Friday and Saturday.

Thanks for your business and please let the weather warm up soon!

Glenn Childers
Memorial Park Golf Course

Thank you,

City of Houston Municipal Golf
Web Site Tee Times: http://CityOfHouston.TeeSlot.com/
Telephone Tee Times: (713) 559-2000
Pro shop: see website

Ludacris – Tiger Woods Sexting Song

Good Takes on Tiger Woods

It’s been almost a week since Tiger Woods’ apology.  Personally, I think people need to cut this guy some slack.  I mean, I don’t condone cheating on your wife, but he didn’t friggin kill anybody, get accused of rape, throw someone through a plate-glass window, get busted selling a trunk-load of cocaine and marijuana, not pay child support, stab his wife in the driveway, bite a woman’s ass, or the hundreds of other things that other pro athletes (and Marv Albert) have been accused and/or convicted of.

No one is perfect, but that doesn’t affect what this guy can do on a golf course.  He’s still the best of the best, no matter how you slice it.  In a few years, he’ll be hawking products again like nothing happened.

Here’s a few good Tiger Woods takes that I’ve read the last couple of days:

Tiger Woods apparently wasn’t suspended, but why not?
Devil Ball Golf
Jay Busbee

…Still, while Woods’ relationship issues are a family matter, his impact on the game most certainly is not. So what actions might the PGA Tour take against Woods for actions detrimental to the game? PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem has reiterated several times that Woods has not been suspended for his actions. To which many reply, “why the heck not?” Read more…

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As I See it: The Tiger Who Won’t Go Away
Golf Girl’s Diary
Patricia Hannigan

You see, I came away from the Tiger Woods press conference feeling much the way I felt a couple of months ago when the scandal first broke and Tiger’s transgressions first came to light: I like Tiger Woods. Read more…

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Meet the Press with Tiger Woods
Yahoo Sports
Michael Arkush

…Eventually, however, Woods will have to answer a lot of tough questions. When the day of facing the Fourth Estate (instead of his friends and associates) comes – hopefully, it will be sooner than later – reporters should follow a few lines of questioning: Read more…

Head Dipping

The definition of frustration is knowing what you’re doing wrong, but not being able to fix it.  Case in point – my spine angle.  Here’s a video of a drive I hit about a month ago:

Here, I tried to show this in a side by side.  The picture on the left is my backswing.  The picture on the right is my downswing.  I drew in the red line at my head and the yellow line on my shoulders.  When I start my downswing, my head comes down, I bring the club up, and my shoulders come in.

That causes a number of things explained in this video:

During my practice sessions I’m trying to concentrate on keeping my spine angle consistent and my head up.  It seems to work.  The problem is when I am in the middle of a round and it happens.  It’s not just on my full swings either.  The head bob/shoulder dip pops its ugly head during chips and pitches too, causing either super fat shots or sculls.

Guess I’m going to research how to fix this and see what I have to do.  Damn, how can hitting a little white ball be so tough!

Garza Family at Gus

I’m registered to play the Little John Golf League event tomorrow at The Golf Club at Cinco Ranch, but the weather forecast suggests early thunderstorms, so I woke up at the crack of dawn this morning to hit the links in case I can’t play tomorrow.  I’m shelling out a lot of moolah to play tomorrow, so I had to find something reasonable today.  Hmmm…. where to go for cheap golf?  I already played Brock Park two times recently.  Sharpstown was really crowded the last time I tried to walk-on on a Saturday morning.  Hermann is around $40 and they make you ride.  (One way I rationalize playing is if I’m walking, I’m getting much needed exercise.  If my 36′s start getting too snug, I’m in trouble.)

The perfect venue… Gus Wortham.  It ended up being an awesome day of golf.  First, I got off with the first group.  Second, the weather ended up being great.  I wore shorts and it paid off.  Temps were around 60, but not too sunny.  Thirdly, and most importantly, I got paired up with 3 super-cool dudes: the Garza family. Read more…

A New Pair of Shoes

Thanks to my lovely wife, I bought a new pair of golf shoes for Valentine’s Day.  Historically, I’ve always treated my golf shoes like a red-headed stepchild with a glass eye and a wooden leg.  This will be the first time I’ve had a really nice pair of golf shoes.  They are DryJoys and here is the pic:

I’m going to change my ways.  I have the ability to change [see: Michael Corleone from Godfather II].  I promise to take care of these golf shoes and make sure they don’t look like I wore them working on the farm for 10 years.

For those out there that are looking to keep their golf shoes clean, I found a couple of articles to review:

• FootJoy Golf Shoe Care
• eHow.com Keep Golf Shoes Clean

Along with the new shoes, I’ve also recently received as gifts new golf pants, new golf shorts, a new golf belt, a new TW golf hat, and new golf shirts (I’m the guy at work who always wears a golf shirt).

I’m going to look like a professional golfer in my new get-ups, now I just need to get a game to match!

Golf Bloopers

And the Guess That Hole Winner Is…

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Guess That Hole contest.  In total, 24 Houston golfers got the answer right.  The right answer is Hole 18 at The Golf Club at Cinco Ranch.  Special thanks to Jimmy Krupa, the GM at Cinco Ranch, for offering the generous prize of free green fees for a foursome.

Based on the rules, the winner was chosen at random from the correct entries, and the winner is:

Steve Rahrig

Congrats to Steve and his 3 lucky friends who’ll be joining him.  I’d like to remind everyone to join the notification list because I’ll be queuing up the next contest soon!  Thanks again everyone!

Golf Equipment: Confessions of a “club ho”

(Welcome guest author Brian Blackburn.)

Like many addicted golfers who struggle with their swing, I always find myself looking for answers.   That new swing thought, drill, club, stance, ball position, and on and on it goes.

I am a high handicapper and I like to try out different clubs as well as different swings.  Ebay makes it possible to sample some affordable equipment and then choose to keep them, or (more commonly) sell them at a later date.

Well I had been accustomed to this practice of “trying out” different clubs for a few years before I realized that there is a term for this habit.  I was at the driving range two years ago and was chatting with the teaching pro there….showing him a new club I was playing around with.  He then addresses the other teacher out there and says: Yup “Brian’s a real club ho”.  Read more…

“Mistress Collection” Golf Balls Backlash

Apparently, one of the women on the infamous Tiger Woods “Mistress Collection” golf ball set has retained attorney Gloria Allred and spoken out against the balls, arguing that they promote violence towards women.  Allred postulates, “What’s next, using women’s faces on dart boards?”

(Thanks for this catch Billy)