I'm told by Employee No. 2 that it's time to move on from the Masters.... I'm unclear as to the nature of her point, but she always has my best interests at heart. I'm sure we'll still have cause to reflect back on it occasionally, but forward we march...
Who Could Have Seen This Coming? - This was as inevitable as the sun rising in the East:
After winning the Masters, many were surprised Jordan Spieth was even playing in theRBC Heritage. But no one is shocked he's playing poorly at Hilton Head.Despite being 21, we're going to assume Spieth didn't bounce back from his as quickly as he predicted based on his play. After making a record 28 birdies at Augusta National in four days, it took Spieth 15 holes to make his first birdie at Harbour Town. He shot a 3-over 74 to end a streak of 16 consecutive rounds under par.
He's gonna need some time off to adjust to his new normal, and I'd think the sooner the better... But kudos to him for meeting his commitment to play, and I'm sure the RBC folks are just happy to have him there.
Keep That Day Job - In the unlikely event that you didn't find The Golf Boys and BubbaClause sufficiently painful, comes our Bubba providing background vocal (well, Sir Nick did include him as a "Backup singer") on this Christian Rap (apparently that's now officially a thing) offering:
If you happen to be over the age of fifteen, you're likely to find it aurally unpleasant. Bubba comes in at about the 3:00 mark, and "sings" this lyric:
Let me talk about how I'm supposed to be at a Christmas party right now, but y'all keep keepin' me in here. My wife's not gonna let me be on fleek if y'all don't hurry up
Bubba Wats on the mic now.
Can a golfer spit a rhyme?
Not a gangsta rapper, but my caddie got a knife.
KB need a verse,
Told him ain't nothin' to it.
Everybody ask me why, I just look 'em in the eye and say
I'm a just do it
Country boy from the panhandle
No golf lessons, just God's blessin's
Ain't nothin' He can't handle,
Left-handed, funny swing,
Driver's pink, ain't nothin' to me.
Got two Masters, a double major
But just one Master, our Savior.
I do like the "No golf lessons, just God's blessin's" line, but it's not exactly a tune one can dance to...
And in future performances to avoid, comes this news:
Remember last week when Niall Horan of One Direction caddied for Rory McIlroy in the Par 3 contest? Of course you do. In an exhibition where caddies are normally babies, girlfriends or wives, the * dreamy * 21-year-old pop star was tough to miss.The pairing was a minor phenomenon: Twitter went nuts, teenage girls who have never watched golf before tuned in, and Niall was a good sport about all of it. But why, exactly, was Niall on the bag for Rory?
It seems the two buddies have set up a little barter system. Niall caddied for Rory in the Par 3 contest, and now Rory is going to get up and sing a song with One Direction when it appears at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., the weekend after the Deutsche Bank Championship this September.
I'm proud to say that I had never heard of One Direction before the Par 3, and I'll hope this goes quietly into that good night.
Custom Fit? - That Rickie commercial has gone full circle on us, from reasonably amusing to really annoying from the shear repetition... but our hero golf pros do actually get stuff custom made for them, some of which is way cool. And, as with the limited edition pink Ping drivers, the manufacturers are starting to realize they can make a quick buck off of our hero worship.
Apparently some people think that if they have the same putter as Rory McIlroy they might putt like him. How many? At least 215. That’s the number of folks who shelled out $450 for a Nike Method 006 putter -- selling out the limited-edition online offering in just two minutes on Wednesday.
My trusty HP 12C tells me that's $96,750.00... not bad for two minutes.
And Cally doesn't even limit it to actual golf professionals:
Mark Wahlberg is not only a boss, he's a boss who plays golf.From a few cameos on the golf course in HBO's hit series "Entourage" to the celebrity golf tournaments he has hosted, Wahlberg has made his love for the game well known.Wahlberg's next movie is the sequel to "Ted," which is coming to theaters at the end of June. To help Wahlberg celebrate the big event, Callaway made him a custom wedge that the company just finished this afternoon.
Pretty cool...
You Say Appleby, I Say Allenby - Golf Fans have long confused the two for obvious reasons.... But the former has taken understandable exception to this:
I can see where he'd want to disassociate himself from that story (and, by the way, has Hawaii Five-O found the kidnappers yet?), but this Grizzly Adams look seems a bit of overkill:
Hail Keiser - It just keeps getting better, that unlikely success story on the coast of Southern Oregon:
Mike Keiser’s vision for a 27-hole golf complex south of Bandon is still just that, with another time-consuming hurdle looming in a process that Keiser admits has been frustrating.
A complicated land swap with the Oregon State Parks Department was finalized lastyear, giving Keiser some 280 acres within the 878-acre Bandon State Natural Area south of Bandon to augment his own holdings. The Bandon Dunes Golf Resort owner said the process of obtaining the necessary permits from Coos County has begun.
“Steadily and surely we march on,” Keiser said recently. “It’s about the five-year point. I’m hoping that we get county approval within a year. The land swap was agreed to by state parks. We’ve got that part done. There’s a matter with the Bureau of Land Management that will take, we think, another year to figure out.”
This isn't just any muni-golf project. It will be 27 holes of golf equal in quality to the four Bandon resort courses to be designed by Gil Hanse and made available to the people of the community at substantially reduced greens fees.
But even with his history of building in an environmentally responsible manner, the Peoples Republic of Oregon can't figure how to allow a major prodcut to move forward in a decade...
There was also this about the famed Sheep Ranch:
Keiser also said that one day he hopes to fully develop the Bally Bandon Sheep Ranch — the under-the-radar, restricted-access 13-greens course on spectacular ocean-front land just north of the Bandon Dunes resort. The course is co-owned by his longtime business partner, Phil Friedmann, and is a rustic, appointment-only course with no amenities, well-kept greens and wonderful views.
Keiser said there are 400 acres available on the site, ample room for the course he’d like to develop.
“I don’t have a good guess as to when that would be,” he said. “Right now, it’s 13 greens in a pasture. Eventually, it will be 18 holes on a mile-and-a-half of ocean frontage. So eventually, it will be exciting.”
But, he added, “I have no timetable, unfortunately.”
How could he have a timetable, given the idiots he's forced to suffer...
Game, State Thereof - Ground zero in the myriad stories of our dying game has typically been Dick's, often in conjunction with a disappointing Adidas earnings release. I'll steal Shack's link-laden summary of the background:
I know everyone loves Dick's Sporting Goods CEO Ed Stack, but you really wish he'd just stop talking about golf in his conference calls with analysts.
You may recall he's the one whose company bought into Taylor Made's three-drivers-in-a-year idea, then threw golf under the bus leading tocountless stories about the game's demise because millennials and people of sane minds weren't clamoring for a new driver every few months. Even Taylor Made's new CEO admitted it was a mistake before leaving his position after less than year. Yet Stack made this a statement about golf's merits as a business and pastime.
So he let go 500 PGA pros and talked down the future of the game because of a poor decision on the part of Dick's. But it seems in his latest conference call he admitted that golf was still profitable for the company. He's talking the game up even.
So how should we react to this whiplash-inducing announcement:
Sara Germano
At analyst day, Dick's CEO says golf biz isn't growing but is profitable; expects rebound "and we'll be glad we stayed the course" $DKS
Problem solved....and then he released this letter:
A group of people started a rumor....that might be true, but it was specifically a group of people who followed a guy named Ed Stack. Sheesh!
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