The Golfchick

That chick blabbing about anything golf related.

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Strange Cat Obsesses about Golf and Chicks

May 23, 2008 / / 2 Comments

Oh, Thursday, you bedeviler . Yep, it’s martini time again. I often go months without a martini and now here I am hitting them twice in the same week. If blame must be placed, I lay it on Vito. Well, maybe only for the first night. Tonight’s probably a little Grey Goose and a little me – or should that be the other way around?

Right right right. Blogging about golf. That’s what I’m here to do. Better I don’t get started about my perfectly timed American Idol TiVo experience last night and the confessional that goes with it. Oops. Maybe I need a blog to ramble about off topic stuff. I must have laughed for 5 minutes straight over the debacle, but I have to get to the golf connection!

Speaking of off topic golf blogging – but golf blogging nonetheless

speedcat hollydale southpawThere’s a strange cat on the golf blogging scene and his “name” is Speedcat Hollydale. This nonpareil golf blogger doesn’t always stay on our favorite topic, but he has a clear golf obsession which I dig. Plus, a lot of the time he’s blogging about chicks. Oddly enough, his post subjects are truly fowl and not necessarily the baby version. But hey, which came first – the chick or the golf chick? So what if he has what one might call an unnatural attraction to chickens? He’s an avid golfer, writes funny stuff, digs chicks, and writes about golf. Sometimes.

He even branched off and started a golf-only blog (or two), and while I’m not sure if all his golf posts are located there, I still get a kick out of his all-encompassing site. To my nerdy and somewhat linear eye, his site baffles my senses with all its colors and images, so admittedly I haven’t read a lot of what’s there. But I understand blog readers have a lot to digest and tend to “skip to the nut” and/or get a lot of content through feeds or feed readers. If you like variant content in your golf blogs, you will probably be pleased with Speedycat (or is that Speedcat – I still don’t know). The guy writes entertaining stuff whether it’s on or off the topic of golf. To my knowledge, he has yet to write about the culmination of his golf and chick obsessions. But his [golf] blogging career is relatively young… stay tuned.

I honestly can’t remember how I found this cat, but I think Hollydale might be the town or county he’s from. I like to think that speedycat or speedcat (seriously- which is it?) has to do with how quickly he can play a round of golf. But perhaps it’s none of my business.

*Note – Speedycat is not actually a southpaw, and the image above is from his own site.

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Does Your Golf Bag Need Its Own Golf Bags?

May 21, 2008 / / 4 Comments

I love my golf bags, and I have several.birdie girl orange stand bag I switch them out from time to time but my clubs are currently residing in my beautiful orange Birdie Girl bag. Nothing beats the bells, whistles and efficiency of my Ogio bag, but it’s a cart bag so it’s heavier. Plus, the Birdie Girl bag looks more like springtime than my chocolate colored Ogio. My Savvy Golfer bag is a great alternate cart bag since it’s pink, but after using it for many months, I grew tired of its bold brightness.

While these bags have pretty much everything I need for carrying items on the golf course, sometimes a golf chick just has to accessorize. And that’s just what I’ve done. Like getting your dog a pet of his own, I got my bags some bags.

*Side note – I just bit into the onion in my martini and it’s making my face mush all up but I love it. I sandwich one in on the pick between my two olives and I just got to it. Delightful. Don’t tell me it’s Tuesday. I know it’s Tuesday. I happen to enjoy martini blogging.*

My Bag’s bags

There are actually a few things for which none of my bags have their own designated spaces, and that is because they’re all things that need to be kept cool. If Ogio hasn’t already added new pockets for this, I’m sure they’re in the works. For now, I have an excuse for these cute accessories:

The Golfing Caddy

Golfing caddy bottle holderThis handy little gizmo is the “little black dress” for golf bags. It holds all the things you want to keep close and mobile (it attaches and detaches from your bag with relative security but ease) and its style blends, accents or complements most any golf bag.

The Golfing Caddy‘s primary feature according to its maker is the bottle cooler/holder. However, my push cart has a bottle holder (though it doesn’t keep it cold) and when I’m driving a cart I like to have my beverages in close proximity, which means right in front of me in the cup holders rather than clipped to my bag in the back. Beverages rarely sit there long enough to get cold or warm, if you know what I mean. Although when I have those cup holders filled with maybe a bloody mary and a beer (it’s been known to happen), my water can be chilling in this handy caddy. Some carts have coolers with ice on the back, so in those cases it wouldn’t be an advantage. When I walk, it’s pretty much just water and/or Gatorade, so the bottle cooler works really well.

The real benefit I get from this bag is the other stuff it holds besides the beverage. I don’t care that it comes with or holds a towel. I like that it has two pockets (plus a really large third one if you don’t have a bottle in there) to hold other stuff that you want to be mobile. Especially for the golf chicks out there who don’t want to hassle with a purse while playing golf. I keep a few tees and hat clips as well as a bunch of magnetic ball markers (I collect them and rotate them out) in one pocket and in the other pocket I put my money, ID and phone (on silent). This way, I don’t have to carry a purse or worry about leaving some of its contents in my golf bag when I’m done. After a round, I can leave my golf bag in the car and just bring in my Golf Caddy to make sure I have my valuables. It even has a convenient little wrist strap that makes for easy portability.

It’s black, so it goes with everything (like the little black dress) and it feels remarkable. Plus, I love touching and rubbing the soft microfiber material, but perhaps I’m abnormally pleased by tactile sensations. (Is that too revealing?)

The bottom line is, the Golf Caddy is my new golf purse. Freedom. Maybe that’s why they call it a caddie – it holds all the things you don’t want to put in your own pockets without having to carry a handbag.

Keeping it Cool

The Icy Bag is another little accessory that comes in handy on the golf course.icy bag turquiose

It’s a specially lined bag that contains shielded ice packs to keep items other than water cool. I have the black one (with one ice pack) and the turquoise model (two ice packs).

Frankly, it only just started heating up out here so I haven’t found good use for the bags but the ice packs came in handy one night when Vito jumped off the couch and bashed into my wrist. Seriously – it was a bruised, swollen mess. He’s a big, clumsy boy.

So I haven’t really given them a run for their money out on the golf course, but I will in a couple weeks when I go to sweltering Nevada for our club’s “away” tournament. We always bring plenty of towels to keep cold and put around our necks as well as a couple of handy little bottles that spray water while fanning us. Talk about brilliant. I should put a Golf Chick logo on those suckers and market them to y’all. ANYWAY…

At any given time, you could find lip gloss, chapstick, or some variation of lip softener – colored or not – on my person. On the golf course, it’s usually in my pocket or a golf cart. I reapply it often, and though I’ve had a couple of occasions when melting occurred, it wasn’t a total loss or expensive either way. I struggle to think of other items I might need to keep cool while on the course that are absolute necessities. Sunscreen – maybe. It does tend to get runny when hot, but I often forget to bring it anyway. I know – shame on me. Makeup? I’m not exactly the girl you’ll find crying over runny eye liner on the turn.

Maybe I’ll find some handy uses for it on our upcoming trip. All I know now is, it’s a super cute accessory for my golf bag and has ice packs that will be much appreciated if only for human contact. Plus, they’re compact and lightweight so we can always use them in our walking bags on those hot rounds at home when we have to hide beers. :)

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Sneaking in some golf behind my man’s back

May 18, 2008 / / 1 Comment

I’m a little disturbed that I’m getting used to the fact that I can forget how to swing a golf club. But why shouldn’t I? Golf is difficult. Sometimes I forget how grapes taste and that doesn’t bother me, so why should this?

Today was the monthly tournament with my golf club. I had to skip it, which was difficult for me. It’s the first one I’ve missed since I joined the club when I first started playing golf. But I am dedicated to my new man and his needs come first. We’re still really struggling with his separation anxiety, but we’re making progress. He’s just not ready to be left alone long enough for a round of golf. First I missed Vegas while Greg went, now I’m missing golf while Greg is out playing with his men’s club. So much for Vito being “our” dog. Oh well… I just won’t tolerate any more complaining out of Greg when Vito brushes off Greg to seek my affection.

Vito in a ball

I’m a tiny, pouty bunny-rabbit.

Did I mention progress?

Oh yes… there’s progress on the golf front as well. A couple months ago I mentioned that I lost my swing. I have only played a few times since then and as for practice…well, playing is practicing. The few times I’ve been out there, I couldn’t stand my inconsistency, so I altered my game. I decided to use a half backswing with a full follow through. Kind of like a punch shot, which I can still control well, but breaking down the wrists with a full finish instead of holding on for a low punch. It’s actually pretty effective. I think my full swing is breaking down because I’m getting too casual with my left arm and when it gets floppy, it causes all kinds of troubles. So I lose some distance with a 1/2 to 3/4 backswing, but I just club up and everything works out better. My five iron has really been performing, and I even chose to use it off the tees on occasion no matter how long the hole was. With my lost distance, I hit it about 150. So I played “old man golf” on a couple longer holes and just hit 150-150-150=450 up the middle to the green and even two putted for par. And 5-iron, 5-iron, wedge for a 400 yard hole, playing for bogey. If the hole layouts beckoned it, they’d call that course management. Since my own ineptitude demanded it, I guess it’s game management.

What? Actual practice?

I’m going bananas with such a golf drought, so today I actually went to the practice range. I am ashamed at how long it has been since the last time I went. Anyway, no one had torn my number off my “lost swing” posters there, so I just filled a large bucket and headed out to an open spot.

It was roasting hot out so I guess if I had to miss a round of golf, it wasn’t a terrible day to do it. I didn’t feel uncomfortable in the blazing sun but I was definitely flushed after an hour of practice. I was hitting my irons well but still wasn’t making quite a complete backswing. My woods are still slicing more often than not, but at least I’m back to making solid contact every time. My pitching and chipping were the best, with pretty accurate distance control from 10-75 yards. Really short chips were often hitting the tiny spots I chose. It was feeling pretty good with the exception of the woods. I think I might try to play my next round with nothing but irons and hybrids and work on the rest when I can. And no, I didn’t practice any putting. The practice green was too far away and that’s not my main problem right now anyway so shut up. 😉

Nanny cams

I’m comfortable leaving Vito alone for one hour, so that’s what I spent at the range. (Maybe having Vito as my prison guard will actually help my game!) I leave a recorder on to find out what he gets up to while I’m away and the first few minutes are full of heartbreaking whines, howls and door scratching. He settles down after that, though. I’m thinking about setting up a webcam so I can watch him on my Blackberry but I don’t know how. I tried it with Skype but the call kept disengaging. Let me know if you have any ideas.

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Guess the Golfing Celebrity

May 16, 2008 / / 6 Comments

I read somewhere that wherever you are, there is always a spider within 8 feet of you (or something like that), which creeps me out to no end. Living in Southern California often means there is a celebrity somewhere near as well. Maybe not 8 feet, but they are somewhat ubiquitous. Many celebrities aren’t nearly as creepy as spiders – with some obvious exceptions – so that doesn’t bother me as much as the spider factoid.

People like to play golf and celebrities are people, too. It’s not uncommon to run into a celebrity from time to time on any given golf course out here. Many celebrities have the financial means to stay on the private or more expensive resort courses but – perhaps surprisingly – they also show up on some beat up munis. Maybe because they just want to work on their games and have some casual fun like the “regular people,” maybe it’s like going to a mall to get recognized, or maybe they think they’re obscure enough to not be recognized. But they can’t avoid the trivia nerd golfers, as one celebrity recently discovered. Normally, I think I’m better than average at spotting them, and I usually just congratulate myself internally for my powers of recognition and move on. They never even know they’ve been made.

Recently (but before Vito – BG) I played a round at Los Robles Greens, which is a city course in Thousand Oaks, CA. It’s a relatively short par 70 course, but not an executive track. It’s always very busy and the grounds definitely show the signs of all that wear and tear. But it’s a fun little course that I like to play from time to time. Apparently, so does this guy:

golfing celebrity

Do you recognize him? Would you be able to name him?

Admittedly, it took me awhile. He was playing in the group behind us and I wouldn’t even have looked at him long enough to realize who he was if he wasn’t trying to engage our group in conversation when we were waiting on the tees together. But since he did, it was that interaction that caught my eye. Or rather, my ear. It was his voice that gave him away. But as we drove off in our cart after I had that realization, I struggled with putting a name to the voice and the face. Trivia geek that I am, it bothered me that I didn’t know it. It actually probably took a few strokes off my game as I stopped thinking so much about my swing problems, but I was determined to come up with the answer.

I kept thinking of that voice, and trying to put him in a role that would be my big clue. Was he a TV personality? Film star? Seemed like both. Then it hit me. I came up with a movie he’d been in and had it. It’s a “classic” comedy with many memorable quotes and characters. So I had his character name. That led to remembering his last name, and for the next few holes I agonized over coming up with his first name. I thought I had it but didn’t feel confident. At the last par 3, there was another backup on the tees and they were waiting there with us and watching as we teed off. My tee shot actually hit a power line running above but still managed to land on the fringe of the green. It was a good, solid shot and felt great, but the rest of my group was telling me I could hit another one for free because of the obstruction. Oddly, I felt I could duplicate the swing and wanted to give it another try even though it was risky with the trees surrounding the hole. But I went for it, it hit the green and rolled within 10 feet of the pin. Mr. Mystery Celebrity said to me: you missed the power line that time. I replied “that’s because I was aiming at it” and we were off. For the last two holes, my playing partner and I had fun recalling some classic quotes from the movie and wishing he would have used one on us.

Out in the parking lot, he ended up being parked quite close to me, and just as I was about to leave I noticed him loading up his clubs. I grabbed my camera and went over to talk to him. He was very nice and even offered to wait for his buddy to come back so we could get a photo together but I didn’t want to put him out. He confirmed his identity, cleared up the first name problem, and offered me a hug. I accepted, snapped this picture and called it a round.

So, can you name him? (The answer’s in the comments.)

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Will Annika retire on top?

May 13, 2008 / / 2 Comments

Annika Sorenstam is playing with confidence, grace, and determination. She looks like the Annika we know and love from before her injuries. Her dominant win last week in Virginia keeps her solidly in second place to Lorena Ochoa and the momentum is on her side. More on that in my latest Golf For Women post on Swing Thoughts.

Annika Sorenstam with cat

Now there is a rumor that Annika will retire at the end of this year, and she’s supposedly going to make a statement today. We all know she is marrying Mike McGee and wants to start a family. While most of the working world has to work more to support a family, she has the luxury and probably the necessity to do the opposite. She’ll still have her business to run but to make time for a family, something’s got to give. Since she has already accomplished so much in professional golf, it makes sense that playing regularly on tour would be the thing to drop. I mean, she’s not going to get rid of that cat. *Side note: Vito actually likes cats. I told you he had snags.*

annika sorenstam and mike mcgeeAnnika has a frequent Q&A session on her own blog, and the big question this week is whether the retirement rumor is true. Maybe she will answer it in her statement today or on her blog. Either way, inquiring minds want to know. Pop in and pose a question to Annika – she’d probably be grateful for something other than this topic. I happened to notice In her post about winning the Michelob Ultra, she mentioned that she was going to celebrate by actually drinking one. Now that sounds like dutiful sponsor representation rather than an actual plan, and maybe she even cracked one open and posed for a photo. Surely that wasn’t her real beverage of choice for celebration, and just as surely, that was my own burning question on her blog. Will she answer?

Of course the retirement issue is of greater importance. Whether she will or won’t, I’d love to see her back in the #1 position before she goes. This year would be just fine with me. The LPGA has a lot of great competition, with dominant Lorena Ochoa leading the pack, so Annika’s got her work cut out for her. I think we’re going to see a lot more stellar play out of Annika this year, and maybe with retirement beckoning at season’s end, her focus and determination will be that much stronger.

Update: It’s official. Annika made the announcement today, citing “following her dreams” of business and family as her reasons for stepping away from competitive golf. She said “I have given it all and it’s been fun.” You can watch the press conference at the link above. She also talks about the state of women’s golf and even gives a nod to Brett Favre for their similarities in reasons to retire (they love the competition, they’re just “tired of the daily grind”). It’s an interesting speech and she also discusses her plans to stay involved in the game of golf and inspire future golfers. As for the next seven months, her goal is to win many tournaments, including majors. That’s what I’m talking about. That’s what I want to see.

Thank you, Annika, for all the years you’ve given us and everything you have already done for golf.

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Way to go, Sergio!

May 12, 2008 / / 0 Comments

I guess I didn’t ever witness much of Sergio Garcia’s bad behavior, or if I did, I didn’t pay it much mind. I did witness him choke over the years and struggle with his putting and actually wanted to see him overcome that and win. Yes, I admit I was rooting for Sergio Garcia this weekend that The Players Championship.

Of course, Paul Goydos was fun and engaging and would have been a terrific Cinderella story, so I was rooting for him, too. When it came to the playoff I truly would have been happy to see either man get the victory.

sergio garcia drive pose

As much as it hurt to see Goydos’ tee shot find the water on the first playoff hole, it was refreshing to see his graceful reaction. And inspiring to see Sergio’s shot get so close to the hole. I was rooting for Paul to pull off a miracle and hole out his third shot, figuring there was a pretty good chance Sergio would miss his 4-footer. Well, maybe he would have made it if that pressure would have been on him, but when Goydos missed his putt for bogey, Sergio could comfortably two-putt for the win. Sure he probably wanted to make the birdie, but he made sure not to disappoint by disappointing and making a ho-hum par for the championship. Even after that, he kissed his putter if only to remind himself and us that his putting is indeed coming around regardless of that miss.

As Goydos remarked in his comments after taking second place, Garcia played better than anyone else. The tournament statistics agree – Sergio deserved and earned this win. I’m happy to see him maturing and hope this victory leads to more consistent competition for the rest of golf’s top players.

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Is Johnny Miller mentally disabled?

May 12, 2008 / / 11 Comments

I get downright irritated when I watch a golf event that Johnny Miller announces. It seems like on every hole, he says something (often many things) so stupid, self-aggrandizing or just plain annoying that I want to mute the telecast and watch it to music. But if he’s actually mentally disabled, I’d feel bad criticizing him as his “performance” would be admirable. Even then, I’d suspect the rest of the mentally challenged community would be embarrassed to have him as a representative at times.

So, is Johnny Miller a marginal disabled announcer or a terrible non-disabled one?

Why do the networks keep employing him and letting him open his mouth for all to hear?

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Golfing Family Wanted for Reality TV show

May 7, 2008 / / 6 Comments

The casting call has gone out for the ABC show Wife Swap and this time they’re looking for a golf family.

wife swap logo

Here is how the casting producer describes the show:

“The premise of Wife Swap is to take two different families and have the moms switch places to experience how another family lives. Half of the week, mom lives the life of the family she is staying with. Then she introduces a “rule change” where she implements rules and activities that are important to her family. It’s a positive experience for people to not only learn but teach about other families and other ways of life.”

I’m guessing a “rule change” could involve a change in frequency of golf related activities, but what do I know? I’m not a wife. If the wife is the bigger golfer, she could implement a “must golf on Saturday” rule. If she’s a “golf widow” it could go the other way.

To compensate you for filming an episode of the show, your family will receive $20,000 and quite possibly a life changing experience. To qualify, a family must consist of two parents and at least one child between 7 and 17 and reside in the continental U.S. There may be more children of varying ages but at least one must fit in that range.

The Wife Swap website doesn’t mention the golf angle in the application information but if you’re interested, please contact me at kristen (at) thegolfchick (dot) com and I will send along a referral for you.

And if you’d like to check out the show first, it’s on tonight – Wednesday – at 8 PM (7 central) on ABC.

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The Kids are Alright

May 6, 2008 / / 1 Comment

paula creamer semgroup champIf Lorena falls into the Tiger Woods category, she certainly didn’t let it show this week while Paula Creamer stomped her down at the SemGroup Championship. The 21-year old “pink panther” held off the would-be-record-breaking five-time LPGA winner from claiming that glory at Cedar Ridge Country Club. I doubt anyone who is a serious follower of the LPGA world discounted Paula Creamer from being a contender, but lately Lorena Ochoa has been Tiger-like in her dominance. If Annika can’t stop her, maybe Paula can. She did this week at least.

Meanwhile, another youngster gave the field a Tiger bashing (in Tiger’s knee procedure absence) with a 5 stroke win at the Wachovia Championship. He’s 22 years old, many eyes have been on him, and he finally has his first PGA win – with serious authority. His name is Anthony Kim, and you better believe he’s not a fluke winner. Put this kid on your fantasy team if you have one. Adam Scott may be hotter, but I think this kid’s a more threatening competitor when it comes to golf. Look out, men!

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Google, come back!

May 3, 2008 / / 5 Comments

Spammers suck. Here I am, minding my own business with my little blog and along comes a hacker. Somehow, they got into my site and added hidden text in my code which ultimately led to my being “blacklisted” by Google. Here’s part of the message Google wrote:

While we were indexing your webpages, we detected that some of your pages were using techniques that are outside our quality guidelines… This appears to be because your site has been modified by a third party. Typically, the offending party gains access to an insecure directory that has open permissions. Many times, they will upload files or modify existing ones, which then show up as spam in our index.

Then they go on to show me some of the hidden text they found (which I had already deleted) and I won’t repeat any of that here and get further penalized. Then:

In order to preserve the quality of our search engine, we have temporarily removed some of your webpages from our search results. Currently pages from thegolfchick.com are scheduled to be removed for at least 30 days.

Argh. Almost makes me want to return to blogger and alleviate the headaches. (Is that Google’s plan? Could it be an “inside job”? Am I a conspiracy theorist?) I have cleaned up my code to the best of my ability and submitted a request to Google for re-inclusion in the index. Meanwhile, my traffic is down significantly (as you might expect) and I suspect I might lose some PR in the process. I hope that none of this has altered the reader experience as I try to keep this site clean, organized and reader-friendly.

Good news for loyal readers

With much lower traffic, the current contest isn’t getting the number of participants it otherwise would. The contest will run until the prizes are given away, so regular readers have a better opportunity to swoop in and claim the prizes. Thank you for staying with me!

Google, please come back!

Update 5/12/08: They’re baaa-aaaack. Thanks, Google. :)

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