China is a nation that is alive with economic growth as well as the resulting social change. Golf offers an interesting insight into this transformation, and certainly it’s quite neat to see such enthusiasm for the great game. Here’s an article that’s framed around the Johnnie Walker Classic being played in China. To quote:

IMG is close to announcing details of a tournament this November in Shanghai that will be the richest in Asia and will be limited only to tournament winners outside the PGA Tour. The field will include Tiger Woods, who won the Dunlop Phoenix in Japan late last year.

Along with being Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg is co-president of IMG’s golf division. He has taken several trips to the Far East, and he can’t help but notice a market that is ripe with opportunity.

“I see major, major multinational conglomerates that want to establish a business presence now in hopes of what could happen, especially in anticipation of the Olympics,” Steinberg said Tuesday. “Golf has been a pretty strong ticket so far. It is really booming there. It’s really remarkable.”

Jack Nicklaus has designed 12 golf courses that have opened since 1993 in China, and he has eight more being built. He recalls meeting with a group of businessmen some eight years ago who wanted to put together a professional tour.

Source: MSNBC.com

This is an interesting technology described in this press release. It combines GPS tracking with WiFi connectivity to provide a golf course not only with ubiquitous internet access, but more importantly, each golfer can have accurate yardage information regardless of where they are on the hole or course. To quote:

GPS Industries, Inc., a leading innovator of Wi-Fi wireless and GPS-enabled multimedia communications and management solutions for golf facilities and residential communities, announces that GolfBC, the largest golf facility operator in Hawaii and Western Canada, will install the Inforemer Wi-Fi GPS Golf Business Solution at its Furry Creek Golf and Country Club, located near Whistler, British Columbia (BC), site of the 2010 Winter Olympics. This installation was arranged through GPSI distributor, Northstar Golf Technologies, Inc.
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It’s interesting to see Michelle Wie go up against some of the world’s best golfers, regardless of gender. More power to her. Hopefully at the upcoming John Deere Classic she can make the cut and show she can hold her own while playing with the best. To quote:

Michelle Wie accepted a sponsor’s exemption Monday to play in the John Deere Classic, the second time this year the 15-year-old from Hawaii will take her promising game to the PGA Tour.

The John Deere Classic, played on the TPC at Deere Run in Silvis, Ill., will be held July 7-10.

Playing in the John Deere Classic, a 7,193-yard course that plays to a par 71, will be part of a busy summer schedule for Wie. She has exemptions or has qualified for all four women’s majors this year, and she plans to try qualifying for the U.S. Open in May and the U.S. Amateur Public Links in June.

Source: Yahoo! Sports - Golf

Today I was (finally) able to play my first round of the year. A friend of mine took me out to the Board of Trade South Course, which is an executive length 9 hole track.

At 1688 yards per 9 holes (from the blue tees), it’s not long, but there are 3 decent driving holes, the 3rd, 4th, and 6th. The 6 other par 3s are not easy, and require accurate short irons, otherwise getting up and down is difficult, due to sand traps and water hazards. While accuracy pays off, the errant drive can be recovered with an approach shot from an adjacent fairway. This is a friendly course for beginners.

The greens were in great condition, all things considered, and the course as a whole was otherwise dry. The pro shop said the East course will most likely open on the 20th, and the West course shortly thereafter.

Playing an executive length course like the South at Board of Trade was a good way to start the season and get the swing warmed up again, while focusing largely on putting and the short game. After all, that’s where the scoring is…

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This is unfortunately not that surprising. While I would be the first to recognize that a lot of work is going into properly educating children about the game of golf, saftey and ettiquete is something that really cannot be neglected. This article depicts a sad trend, that hopefully will be reversed, as people realize how potentially dangerous the situation can be without the proper education and care. To quote:

Children’s increasing interest in golf is resulting in an unfortunate upswing in golf-related head injuries, according to a review of sports injuries treated over six years at an academic medical center in Georgia.

A review of 2,546 patients under age 19 seen by pediatric neurosurgeons at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta between 1996 and 2002 revealed 64 sports-related injuries, 15 of which were golf-related, says Dr. Scott Y. Rahimi, neurosurgery resident and lead author on the study published in the March issue of Journal of Neurosurgery. Seventeen bicycle-related head injuries during that period barely beat out golf as the major cause of sports-related head injuries in these children.

Seven of the golf injuries were caused by golf cart accidents, seven by golf clubs and one by a golf ball, Dr. Rahimi says. Uncontrollable brain swelling resulted in the death of one child in a golf-cart accident and six of the 15 children needed surgery. Five of the six children who needed surgery did well and the remaining nine had excellent outcomes, he says. The youngest patient with a golf-related head injury was 10 months old.

Source: Medical News Today

This is a rather absurd article. Has to do with the class conflict that exists in the UK. Golf club officials worried about people camping on their course with their caravans. Ever see the movie Snatch? In that movie Brad Pitt lives and belongs to a caravan community. To quote from the article:

Golf club officials have dug a trench to prevent an influx of travellers on to their championship links course.

The measure was taken after scores of travellers set up camp in a council car park next to the practice ground at Conwy Golf Club on the north Wales coast.

The action was similar to that taken in August at Poundbury, the Prince of Wales’s village in Dorset.

Then, contractors employed by the Duchy of Cornwall dug a 400-yard ditch to prevent travellers gaining access to land.
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This is a hilarious little tidbit. While I’ve never played at Augusta, I can assume I’d never forget to bring my clubs To quote:

Jesper Parnevik couldn’t believe it when he arrived at Augusta yesterday to prepare for the Masters without his clubs.

Parnevik, 40, made the trip from Orlando by private jet and believed a colleague had taken the clubs from his home along with the rest of his luggage, put them into a car and loaded them on to the plane.

It wasn’t until the Swede arrived at Augusta Airport that he realised the blunder.

He said: ‘I’m probably the first person ever to compete at the Masters who has left his golf clubs back home in the garage.

‘I guess I just thought someone else had packed them.’

Parnevik, who was forced to borrow a set of clubs from an Augusta National member friend to practise yesterday, asked his wife, Mia, to arrange for his clubs to be sent on

Source: Dailyrecord.co.uk

As the heat turns up on the race to be the World’s number one ranked golfer, comparisons are being drawn between the guys at the top today, and the three greats of Palmer, Nicklaus, and Player who used to battle head-to-head-to-head a few decades ago.

There’s an interesting article published by Newsday that gets into this comparison and analysis. To quote:

Any given Sunday can turn out like the one four weeks ago, one that was four decades in the making. Tiger Woods beat Phil Mickelson in an eardrum-rattling final pairing at the Ford Championship, with Vijay Singh right behind them, tied for third because of a balky putter. Only a few hours earlier, Ernie Els sank a 23-foot eagle putt on the 18th hole to win a European Tour event in Dubai.

That foreshadowed the Masters and the entire season: This is a big year because of the Big Four.

Woods, Mickelson, Singh and Els — in whatever order they happen to fall on a particular week — are giving golf the old what-for.

Publicly, their attitude is, “Big Four? Big deal.” They say no one should overlook Retief Goosen, an elite (yet bland) player who won the U.S. Open last June at Shinnecock Hills. Or they imply they don’t want anything to do with the whole thing. And aside from the friendship between Els and Singh, they really don’t want anything to do with each other.

Read more on Newsday.com