A Golf Blog

Free TaylorMade Driver

The catch is that Sergio has to win the Masters.

If that happens and you purchase a driver between March 19th and April 11th (and send in the correct forms) GolfSmith will refund your purchase price.

It may be a long shot but you have to give TaylorMade credit for the marketing initiative.

Hey, it's possible; who had Trevor Immelman last year?

Newest Go Daddy Girl

Could it be that the newest Go Daddy Girl is a familiar name on the LPGA Tour? Why else would Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons choose the site of next weeks J Golf Phoenix LPGA International, Papago Municipal Golf Course, to make the announcement.

Any guesses who will be joining Danica Patrick, Vanessa Rousso, or Candice Michelle as the next Go Daddy Girl?

Look for the announcement on March 24th.

Green-Up

More liquid sunshine today and very uncomfortable temps for chasing the little white ball.

Yesterday I chatted about the course beginning to green-up. What I didn't talk about was the effect that cart traffic might/will have when we hit the magic 150.

Back in November I wrote about some of my peeps here at the ranch that are 'cart path challenged'. I even posted some pictures of what one might call unusual wear.

Well, as it warms up, it will be interesting to see how cart wear affects turf.

At the behest of our Green Committee (of which I'm now an at-large member) the piece I wrote was submitted for publication in our communities news paper. The article appeared without the photos - guess they didn't want to risk the ire of some of our residents.

That's what it's all about - awareness. Unfortunately, this is pretty much a regular occurrence here.

Spring is Springing

The course superintendent here at ‘the ranch’ uses 150 as a benchmark for ‘the growing season’. I’m sure there’s more to it but when the combined high temperature during the day is added with the overnight low and the sum is equal to or greater than (+/>) 150, it’s officially growing season.

We’re not there by any stretch but the past week or so has seen some wonderfully sunny and warm weather – it was great to break out the shorts but very hard on the eyes. Speaking of shorts, I want a pair of these. The glare from all those untanned legs was similar to hitting a tee shot due east about 15 or 20 minutes after sunrise. No sunglasses made can adequately protect your eyes from either.

While it’s not growing season, the grasses are starting to green up. The greens will very soon need regular mowing and work has already begun on the fairways, rough, and native areas. We saw significant turf improvement last year and we are expecting more of the same. Later this month, we’ve scheduled fairway and rough aeration. When this course was built, some fairways got sod and some got sprigged. The sodded ones thrived and the sprigged one’s not so much.

Like any new development, most of the top soil was excavated out and what was left has taken the better part of five years to rejuvenate.

Next up, we will likely be grousing about green verticutting, core aeration, and top dressing. One things for sure, I can’t wait.

Bring on the old 150!

Match Play

It’s been warming up nicely here at ‘the ranch’ although you couldn’t tell from what it’s like today. Our competition committee (and me) have finally managed to get most all of the t’s crossed and kicked off our match play tournament on Monday, the 9^th. We would up with 4 flights of 8.

Feedback from the masses said they’d like to play more matches so we opted for a double elimination format. The players will be responsible for scheduling their matches and each one has a time limit. We’ve targeted April 4^th for each of the final matches (provided we don’t have to go to a sixth match) then we’ll have a burger burn on the patio at the grill with an awards ceremony.

My expectation was that more would sign up. Maybe next time?

Play Them All

Lee Trevino thinks that today's tour pros should play every tournament at least once every three years.

I like it but I doubt that we'll get the walk with the talk.