The Golfchick

That chick blabbing about anything golf related.

Author: golfchick (page 14 of 46)

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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The New Man in My Life Won’t Let Me Play Golf

May 2, 2008 / / 5 Comments

Until now, no man in my life (other than Dad) has ever, would ever, could ever, make me do something I didn’t want to do. Or – more to the point – stop me from doing something I really wanted.

Then came Vito.

Vito the Great Dane

Vito is my new prison warden family member. He is a 3-year old Great Dane and is the sweetest, softest jailer I can imagine. Greg and I adopted him from a rescue a week ago today. He is well mannered and incredibly affectionate. He loves everyone he meets, doesn’t beg at the table, comes when he’s called and just wants to be loved. And therein lies the snag.

Within an hour of meeting each other, he bonded to me so securely he could be the poster boy for Krazy Glue. He’s my shadow. He follows me everywhere – and I do mean everywhere. Let’s just say I’m glad my shower has doors and not a curtain. I was told he had mild separation anxiety, but that was a serious understatement. Perhaps he just didn’t quite bond in this way with people at his foster homes. If I leave the house, he whines, cries, moans, fiddles with the doorknob and scratches at the door. It’s truly heartbreaking. So I don’t leave the house unless he goes with me. The darling boy just needs to trust that he’s truly home now and that I’ll always come back to him. So we are working on his issues and running the drills according to behaviorists. His doctor prescribed Prozac, but I’m going to hold off on that because I want to give him time to settle in and let the training take its course.

Meanwhile, I don’t know of any golf courses that would be cool with having a big, clumsy goofball trailing along with me out there. So golf (and many other outings) are on hold for now. In fact, I was supposed to be in Las Vegas this weekend but I stayed behind while everyone else left today for the festivities. I’m happy to have Vito in my life and we’re going to have a fun weekend together, but I look forward to a healthier relationship when my new man will let me play golf. And go to the bathroom in peace.

Hitting Fairways + Greens: Contest!

May 1, 2008 / / 10 Comments

The latest issue of Fairways + Greens is out now. Actually, it has been out for awhile but I’ve been negligent about posting this. They call it the “pink issue,” and it displays Paula Creamer – the Pink Panther – on the cover. It covers many topics related to women’s golf, and an entire section called “Girl-friendly Golf” starting on page 58, with an article called “Where the Girls Are” authored by myself and Katharine Dyson. F+G is a magazine primarily distributed in the West and Southwest United States and can be found at most golf courses and retailers in those areas. Otherwise, you can read it online here.

Paula Creamer F+G cover

Play and win

Now comes the contest part. The article is broken up by recommended golf courses, some of which were written by me and some by Ms. Dyson. Can you tell which is which? Prizes will go to the first three people to submit comments on this post that correctly identify which courses I wrote up for the article. I have been told it’s easy to spot my writing, but you can also try to surmise the answers based on courses I’ve actually played, which can be found on this site. I hope you’ll participate, and good luck to all!

As for the prizes, I have three of the same item that were generously donated for this purpose. I haven’t written about this particular product yet, but it’s something I enjoy immensely and is appropriate for the nature of this contest. It is gender-neutral item. Stay tuned for more to come!

Update 7/17/08: I’m embarrassed to report that none of the answers submitted were correct. They were close, though, and I appreciate the participants who entered. With that in mind, I will be awarding two of the prizes to Rob and Eric “speedcat” Hollydale and one to an offline player who read the magazine, immediately chose the correct courses and inspired this contest.  Rob and Eric, please email the address where you want your prize sent to me at kristen(at)thegolfchick(dot)com. I will be publishing a new post soon about the prize itself.

For the record, the correct answers were: Turtle Bay, Four Seasons Aviara, and Osprey Meadows at Tamarack. (My experience at Monarch Beach was that it was overrated, overpriced, under-maintained, and less than welcoming for a “resort course.”)

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Tiger Woods has work done, Lorena Ochoa takes the spotlight

April 22, 2008 / / 4 Comments

Tiger’s website says he underwent “arthroscopic knee surgery” last week and will be out 4-6 weeks while he rehabilitates.

Translation (from internal memo):

Worn part #52a92J replaced in subject Gpr8#kl2. Actual time out of commission: 5.8 Earth minutes. Cover story issued to handlers. “Arthroscopic knee surgery” often requires 4-6 weeks of rehabilitation time in actual humans, therefore subject and handlers may use this as justification for not participating in several undesirable events as well as recent loss at the human revered “Masters.”

This “down time” and distraction allows us to focus on our internal reorganization and determine how best to assign our assets between subjects Gpr8#kl2 and Bw8^p4m. For those not previously involved in subject Bw8^p4m’s development and assimilation, we gave it a human female form with Mexican heritage and call it “Lorena Ochoa.” You will receive further information if you are transitioning to this case.

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Golfing with the Stars

April 21, 2008 / / 1 Comment

John Elway, George Brett, Ozzie Smith, Ladanian Tomlinson, Dr. J, Mario Lemieux – these are just some of the professional athletes who will be competing in the Team Challenge. It’s a charity golf tournament like no other. Fans actually get to participate by virtually coaching the all-star team of their choice and having money contributed to the charities just for doing it. Star players from professional football, baseball, basketball and hockey will be competing against one another for bragging rights and dollars for charity. $250,000 that is, that you can actually make grow.

I grew up in Colorado, so I have a binding contract to be a loyal Denver Broncos fan for life. I adore John Elway. When I was growing up there, the Colorado Rockies didn’t exist, and the first professional baseball game I saw was as a teenager on a traveling softball team and we went to Kansas City. I remember giggling with the girls as we worshiped George Brett’s butt from our seats so close to third base it probably made him uncomfortable. Personal connections aside, I will be in awe as I watch so many talented athletes I admire take on the Eagle Falls Golf Course in Palm Springs.

Okay, so maybe I won’t actually be golfing with them, but if all goes well with my schedule, I’ll be there. Unless some wise corporation needs a fourth in the pro-am, that is. *blink blink*

Other golf bloggers will be there as well, and you can read more about that and other details of the event in my post on Swing Thoughts at Golf For Women.

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Duh… what’s a birdie?

April 15, 2008 / / 5 Comments

You have probably encountered people who work at golf courses who don’t know the first thing about golf. Do you care?

If they have any kind of impact on the course of play, of course they should know about golf. Course attendants or marshals need to know how things work to do their jobs effectively. Pro shop workers need to be able to assist golfers when necessary. The cart girl needs to understand etiquette out there but does she need to know anything else? What about 19th hole workers?

I have talked with some people about this and opinions vary. Some guys I’ve talked to don’t care as long as the person in question is a hot chick. Some actually want them to know as little as possible because they think they’re more likely to impress them if they’re golf dumb. Some feel the opposite – “the more they know, the better I’ll look.” Some like a cute, giggly “what’s a birdie” question so they have an in to chat with her. Some like to make golf small talk with the bartender as s/he’s pouring their pre-round bloody mary.

What do you think? Here’s a quick poll to let your opinion be heard.

Poll Closed. Thanks for voting!

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A Blasphemous Look at The Masters

April 14, 2008 / / 8 Comments

Forgive me, but I enjoy watching The Masters.

When most people think of watching a program as a guilty pleasure, they think American Idol or Dancing with the Stars. For me, it’s The Masters. I’m sure not too many people are ashamed to say they enjoy the tournament, and saying that I am ashamed won’t make me very popular in the golf community. But not admitting it would be like hearing a racist or sexist joke among a group and politely smiling instead of speaking up.

I don’t know of another tournament that could make a male player publicly cry when they lose (like Brandt Snedeker did yesterday). It’s an important event – perhaps the most important in the history of golf. There is glory in its tradition. But in this modern world in which women are allowed to vote and everything, does there come a time when glory becomes glorification? When will sexist traditions become part of that “rich history” along with the racist ones and not present policy? Changing the way things are done doesn’t discount existing history, it only enriches future history books.

I respectfully disagree with anyone who thinks discriminatory practices should continue in order to “preserve the honor and tradition” of the course and/or the event. In my opinion, entry to the tournament should be earned based on merit. Entry to the club should still be at the discretion of the members. And though there may not be many (if any) women who meet those qualifications today, they should not be summarily disallowed as a group.

In my latest post at Swing Thoughts on Golf For Women, I discuss my feelings on this further, with particular focus on Augusta National’s policies.

Please feel free to leave your comments. I may or may not respond.

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Ridiculous Rory misses the mark at The Masters

April 12, 2008 / / 2 Comments

I know, I know… The Masters is still going on and is engaging as all get out with Tiger making a charge today, the first day’s leader (Justin Rose) plummeting to near the bottom of the leaderboard, and 3 players at the top of the leaderboard each with three solid rounds under par. And what do I write about? Ridiculous Rory Sabbatini.

He missed the cut – so much for “breaking the curse” after winning the par 3 contest. Fortunately, that means we don’t get treated to a weekend of ridiculous belt buckles. Yesterday’s gem not only had no place at Augusta, it has no place on Rory. I’m sorry, I just think he’s incapable of pulling off this “style” he’s been attempting. His entire persona seems affected, and his choice in apparel seems out of place on him. Geoff Shackelford made a good call back at Riviera: Rory: Liberace called, he wants his belt buckle back.

Lord knows I’m no fashionista, but I like to think I know what I can pull off and what I can’t. Rory looks as ridiculous in his piped trousers, loud colors, flashy belt buckles and tiny visors as I would in booty shorts and knee socks, and a cocky strut doesn’t change that for either of us. I could stuff a potato into a G.I. Joe outfit, name him Paolo, give him a mysterious back-story and a sympathetic and intriguing character image, and he’d still look like a spud in doll’s combat clothes.

Whether his duds are his own choices or if someone else is dressing him (I find that hard to believe), it certainly has gotten him attention. If that was the whole point, congratulations. But if he wanted that attention to be positive – another missed cut.

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