A sincere thank you to the two people who voted for me in the first round of Golf Blogger Survivor. Whoever you are, I appreciate your support and thanks to you I’m still on the “island” and in the game.

The polls are open for voting in the second round. There were several good entries this week. My personal favorite was Mark Nessmith’s submission, but he has been kicked off so that would be a wasted vote.

In case you missed it, last week’s secret word was “speculum” and I used it in a caption of a Tiger Woods photograph in my post about putting practice. I don’t know about you, but now whenever I see him squat down and cup his hands over the bill of his cap like that, I’ll be thinking “speculum squat.” Sensitive to the squirm-factor for my female readers, I left it at the caption instead of going into a detailed description. I’m counting on people’s imaginations to take it from there. Personally, my imagination takes me to a place that reminds me of that visual Bill Cosby gave us of Johnny Bench catching a baby being delivered with a catcher’s mitt.

To check out all the entries, take a look at the Blogger Leaderboard on the TravelGolf site, and to vote, simply post a comment to that blog with your preference. Enjoy!

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I don’t go searching for new golf blogs to read. I leave that kind of research up to fellow bloggers like the big cats over at EatGolf and Hooked on Golf Blog and then I jump on the bandwagons I like. And I don’t put every blog I’ve checked out in my links list; I just put the ones I read frequently enough to subscribe to their feeds. I might start a more encompassing list of golf blogs and other golf sites, but that remains to be seen.

Today I’m adding a link to a relatively new golf blog called Luke Swilor’s Road to the Tour. Luke is a professional golfer playing in the mini-tours, trying to make it to the big show. To me, it is just riveting. I love getting the inside look at what it’s like on this path. And it’s got drama, too. I guess it’s leading up to Q-school at the end of the year and I have every confidence that he’ll make it. I’ll definitely be rooting for him.

I wish there was a female equivalent of this blog. I can’t seem to find any straight forward information on what that path even looks like or where the entry is. From what I can tell, there are nowhere near the number of “mini-tours” for women as there are for men. I suspect it would be a whole different ballgame trying to stay in the black since the purses are so disparate. Plus, I don’t even know where a person has to start as far as qualifying or going to golf school or anything. I bet there are some men who would like that kind of information from Luke. What did you do to get where you are now? What were the steps you had to take? Maybe I’ll have to create the female version.

Anyway, I wish I could say my blog was also subtitled “Road to the Tour.” Maybe I’ll call it

The Much (much) Longer Road to the (other) Tour.

Maybe I should get to be a scratch golfer before I worry about that. But a girl’s gotta have goals, right? Hey Luke – how about a friendly wager – a race to the tour? Since I just started golfing a little more than a year ago, how many years handicap will you give me? 😉Next post.

There seem to be some fun pranks being played in the golf blog realm between HOGB, Eat Golf and Bogey Lounge. Mediaguru at HOGB lamented that he didn’t have a picture to work with of Rich at Eat Golf. I feel I must contribute to the pranking of my friend Rich by posting this picture of us here. I have been reluctant to post photos of myself as well, but I guess it’s only fair that I don’t crop myself out if I’m going to do this so that I may also be fair game (even though I haven’t done anything to anyone but am totally capable so be nice). I cropped out our friend John since I don’t have his permission to post his photo. I’m crouching down in the photo to make my friends look and feel taller, and yes, we’re at a pub.

Have at it, Media!

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Some of us bloggers are going to be participating in a new game. Heather, over at the Blogger Leaderboard on TravelGolf, is initiating and officiating this new game. I think she is calling it Golf Blogger Survivor. It starts on Monday.

Here’s the deal: On Monday, she will e-mail all the participants (contestants) a secret word. We have to use that word in a post on our golf blogs sometime that week with a deadline of Sunday. The following Monday, she will post a blog on the Leaderboard that will show how we all used the word (exposing the secret) and the voting begins. This is where you come in. Anyone can vote. Just go to the Blogger Leaderboard, read everyone’s entries, visit their sites for the full stories if you like, then vote for the one you like the best. Most creative or unusual? Best natural usage (most blended-in)? Funniest? You decide the criteria, you’re the voter. It sounds like fun to me.

I’m not sure why it’s called Survivor, because I don’t think anyone gets voted out of the competition. I guess we all get to keep competing for the duration of the contest because if we don’t get the most votes one week, we could still catch up the following week. It’s going to be at least three weeks and the prize is as yet undetermined. Oh, and this will be a gross event. No handicaps permitted.

I am adding a link to the Leaderboard on my list for easy access to view the contest and to vote. Plus, it’s a great place to go to find out what’s going on in the golf blogger world. Have fun, and vote for me!

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I don’t know why I haven’t put it up as a link sooner. The Reluctant Jam Boy is one of the funniest golf blogs out there. I really enjoy reading it. The self-proclaimed “Jam Boy” explains in his first post back when he became a caddie in March of ’05:

“For those of you who don’t know, a “Jam Boy” is–or was–an actual title at one point in history. In the early 1920s, when the wealthy went golfing, they hired two men. A caddy, and a “Jam Boy.” The Jam Boy had one job: keep the mosquitoes away from the golfer. To do this, the Jam Boy would cover himself in jelly to attract the bugs. Sounds like an amazing job.”

Having never used a caddie myself, this blog isn’t just a fun read, but informative as well. While being entertained, I also get some insight as to what to expect when I do get the opportunity to have a caddie, and what they will expect of me as well.

The Jam Boy was recently promoted to Caddie Master and has a new angle for more funny stories in his foray into management. Keep up the good work, Jam Boy!

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Around six months ago I asked for, and was told I would receive, pictures of the space shuttle that Tim McDonald took of the Discovery launch from the Duran Golf Club. I’m a geek for space stuff and combining it with golf just made me a little … tingly.

I received an e-mail from Travel Golf’s Mark Nessmith (maybe he moderates the posts or something) that he indeed passed along my e-mail address to Tim in order for him to send the photos. A while later I e-mailed back that I never got them and Mark said he’d try to make it happen.

Still nothing. What’s the matter, Tim? Have I offended you in some way? Is it my appreciation of Jennifer Mario? Or did you simply forget? A few times. You’re so busy. And important. And powerful. That’s all I’ve got. Will you send them now?

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All this time I thought people just didn’t care enough to comment. Turns out I’m a moron and had some selection in my blog that makes me “moderate” comments. I just selected them all for publishing. Sorry to all of you who posted comments and they didn’t come up. They’re there now and I will turn that silly feature off!
Thanks for commenting!

-Kristen

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Isn’t it precious?

Bogey Man over at Bogey Lounge named this little old blog the Site of the Day recently and created this adorable image to go with it. I love it!

Thanks again, Bogey!

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If web logs are called “blogs” for short, web golf logs should be called “flogs.” It’s all making sense now. When I first started this site, I called it a glog for golf log. Flogging is much more appropriate. If you don’t already get my drift, here’s how Webster’s defines flogging:

flog ( P ) Pronunciation Key (flg, flôg)
tr.v. flogged, flog·ging, flogs

1. To beat severely with a whip or rod.
2. Informal. To publicize aggressively: flogging a new book.

It seems like more and more “blogs” are popping up that fall under definition #2’s category, however loosely. However, there are still the old fashioned types who prefer the self-inflicted punishment experienced either on the course or by writing a public diary for others to share in the glory or misery. And let’s not forget the comment posters who flog the flogger. Oh, and the comments to the comment posters, esentially flogging the flogger of the original flog’s flogger. I’m exhausting myself. Please forgive me. I just tied my boyfriend for the first time in an 18 hole round at Moorpark CC and celebrated with a couple margaritas at Chuy’s.

Don’t drink and flog.

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