Hot, young fashion writer Kristopher Dukes asked me for product recommendations related to the Breast Cancer theme for the month in order to profile me on thisnext.com.
She set it all up for me on thisnext and gave me this nifty badge to display here:
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Portions or all of the proceeds from every item in the list go to breast cancer charities, so check out these great golf products!
If you happen to be one of the millions of people who fly Continental Airlines this month, pick up their in-flight magazine (Continental), check out my article on Southwest Golf in The Front Nine section of Go Explore, and tell your seat-mate “Hey, I know her! Kristen Williams – she’s the Golf Chick!”
This is the photo of the cover from the magazine’s website. I haven’t flown Continental this month so I haven’t actually seen it. I wonder if that top section is just an add-on to the picture or if it’s part of the actual cover. Looks like it might be a promo for my article on the top right. That would be cool if it’s on the cover!
Remember Neil? He is the friend I wrote about in an article for World Golf who has had the putting yips for years.
Neil has learned to live with his affliction and recently improved even more. I loaned him this book, which he says actually helped quite a bit. The biggest difference? He doesn’t care anymore. He always had a good attitude about it and handled some friendly ribbing from his golf buddies with grace. Now he just makes putts and doesn’t care how his stroke looks. Period. He doesn’t care.
He’ll ask his buddies on the putting green, “Do you want me to hook it or cut it?”
In this video, you’ll see his putting stroke in action from before the recent improvement. Keep in mind, this was taken on the practice green, where the putts don’t count. When we got out to the actual golf course and the putts were from within 6 feet, that stroke became more… spastic… for lack of a better term. There was a definite hiccup that appeared from time to time. I wish I would have taken some footage on the course but pace of play was more important at the time. 🙂
Music credit: Tom Waits, Jockey Full of Bourbon
Neil has some interesting coping methods. The putter he uses is completely flat so he can putt with it either right or left handed. He has learned to putt pretty well left handed and has a pretty normal stroke from that side. The close putts are the ones that really bring out his yips, so that’s when he’ll turn around and putt left handed.
He has tried many “remedies” over the years but what really has him managing his Yips now is his ability to relax. He says his grip on the putter is so light it’s like he’s barely holding it. He no longer cares about his stroke so he just relaxes and lets himself putt. Back and through, feeling nice and smooth. To the onlooker, the stroke doesn’t look as smooth as he says it feels, but that’s not important. And the hiccup almost never appears.
Big thanks to Neil for his open participation and willingness to share.
New month, new ribbon.
Last month was Ovarian Cancer awareness month. I wrote this post and featured the teal ribbon in the sidebar for the month of September.
October is National Breast Cancer awareness month, so the teal ribbon in the sidebar has been replaced with the well known pink ribbon.
The LPGA and its players are serious supporters of the fight against breast cancer. In fact, the “official national charity” of the LPGA is the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
Cristie Kerr stays pink all year
One of my favorite professional golfers, Cristie Kerr, supports breast cancer research year round. She donates $50 for every birdie she makes (193 so far) as part of her ongoing fundraising campaign as well as hosting other charity events for the cause. Cristie’s official website is not a vehicle to promote herself, but a home base for her Birdies for Breast Cancer charity. You can be a part of it by pledging to donate for every birdie she makes or with flat donations.
Yes, there were pinker pictures but as the dog lover I am I just had to use this one of Cristie sporting my favorite color and hugging her dog, Bailey.
Another way to contribute to Birdies for Breast Cancer is by purchasing one of these items. 100% of the proceeds goes to the charity. One of the items is this cute pink Lacoste polo shirt with the Birdies for Breast Cancer logo on the left sleeve. That logo just happens to feature a cute little golf chick(!) and can also be found on the clip-on visor.
Also available are a “Hope” golf head cover and a pink ribbon key tag.
Not your style? These are some great ideas for holiday and birthday gifts for the the female golfer in your life!
Morgan Pressel’s pink shirt
Cristie’s mother survived breast cancer. Sadly, Morgan Pressel wasn’t as fortunate. Morgan also has a pink shirt available to support breast cancer research. She’ll be wearing it in tournaments all month so you can get a good look at it.
From LPGA.com:
New York, NY. June 19, 2007 — Taking pink to the greens, Polo Ralph Lauren and professional golfer Morgan Pressel, introduce a new limited edition polo shirt from the Pink Pony Collection. Designed in support of cancer care and prevention, the “Morgan” shirt reflects Polo Ralph Lauren’s continued commitment to this cause, and carries a personal importance for Pressel.
“The fight against breast cancer is one that has touched me deeply,” says Pressel, who lost her mother to breast cancer in 2003. “I feel proud to be in a position now to help raise additional support and public awareness for the continued importance of this cause.”
Sold at select Ralph Lauren stores and on Polo.com, 100% of the proceeds from the sale of the “Morgan” shirt will go to the Pink Pony Fund of the Polo Ralph Lauren Foundation. The Pink Pony Fund supports programs for early diagnosis, education, treatment and research and is dedicated to bringing patient navigation and excellence in cancer care to medically underserved communities. At Pressel’s request, these funds will be directed to the Boca Raton Community Hospital in Boca Raton, Florida.
In support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Pressel will wear the golf shirt during her upcoming October tournaments, including the Longs Drugs Challenge (Oct 1 — 7 in Danville, CA) and the Samsung World Championship (October 8-14 in Palm Desert, CA).
It’s Breast Cancer Awareness month. I bet there’s a walk or a golf tournament or some other charity event taking place in your hometown to support this campaign. Let’s all get on board.
A couple made a deal that whomever died first would come back and inform the other of the afterlife. Their biggest fear was that there was no afterlife.
After a long life together, the husband was the first to die. True to his word, he made contact:
” Connie … Connie …”
“Is that you, Joe?”
“Yes, I’ve come back like we agreed.”
“That’s wonderful! What’s it like?”
“Well, I get up in the morning, I have sex. I have breakfast and then it’s off to the golf course and I have sex again, bathe in the warm sun and then have sex a couple of more times. Then I have lunch (you’d be proud – lots of greens) another romp around the golf course, then pretty much have sex the rest of the afternoon.
“After supper, it’s back to golf course again. Then it’s more sex until late at night. I catch some much needed sleep and then the next day it starts all over again.”
“Oh, Joe that surely sounds like you are in Heaven!”
“Not exactly… I’m a rabbit on a golf course in Arizona .”
“You’d be proud – lots of greens.”
The golf girl has launched a new feature (and website) called Golf Girl TV.
You know golf girl, she’s sexy Patricia, the “fun, flirty, fashionable” golf blogger. As opposed to yours truly, with my decidedly more feminist, flop-shot, f#%k-em type style.
She’s done a pretty good job for her first video effort and I know they’ll keep getting better. It’s nice to see her in action and I look forward to the weekly episodes. You can see the videos on her blog site or on the new Golf Girl TV site.
I corresponded with her quite awhile ago about a video I wanted to produce that included some footage of her. I dropped the ball and never did it and now she’s off and running. Soon I’ll probably have to pay her to participate! Congratulations to Patricia on her foray into the video world. I hope to be producing some more videos of my own, only not necessarily in a golfchick tv kind of way. Meanwhile, you can see one of my videos here. I know it’s a year old but like I said, I hope to do some more soon. Trust me, I have lots of ideas and footage. Stay tuned.
Update: I was informed that Patricia’s links weren’t working so I checked it out and lo and behold the title of the post had been changed. The links should work now. I have also been informed that I indeed possess the other “f” word qualities as well. I’ll cop to being fun, I guess. 🙂
Well, the rain went away in time for my Sunday morning golf outing but plans have a way of changing. Happenings on Saturday night led me to change them. No, I’m not talking about a hangover; I have played some of my best golf with a hangover.
If you read this site much, you may have noticed I blog a lot about various charities. I wish I was in a position that would allow me to do more but I try to do what I can. Saturday night, we went to a charity event. This time, the proceeds benefited UNICEF. The event was a fancy shindig at Ventura Farms, which is owned by David Murdock, the same billionaire who until recently also owned the nearby Sherwood Country Club (the home of Tiger Woods’ tournament, Target World Challenge).
The event was put on by Linsenhoff-Unicef Stiftung, which is a foundation created under the UNICEF umbrella by Ann Kathrin Linsenhoff. There were maybe 15-20 tables of attendees, many of them horse enthusiasts, given the location and the hostess. Ann Kathrin is an accomplished and award winning dressage rider, and her three top dressage horses are the first “four-legged UNICEF ambassadors.” (She is pictured with them below.) All the prize money they win in competition goes directly into UNICEF projects. Ann Kathrin inherited her equestrian talent and passion from her famous mother, (Liselott Linsenhoff, pictured on the right) who was the first female to win a gold medal in an Olympic equestrian event.
Speaking of famous people
Here in LA LA land, of course there were some celebrities at the event. The only one I could put a name to was Jamie Foxx, but there were several others I knew but didn’t know. You know? UNICEF has a lot of famous supporters and this event was no exception. I’m convinced I would have known more names, but some were so strikingly handsome that my brain turned to Jell-o shutting down my recall mechanism.
Golf outings and puppies
I wish I had the money to bid on the golf trip in the auction. It was a stay and play package at Tehama in Carmel. I’m slobbering now just thinking about it. I can’t quite remember how much it went for but I think it was somewhere in the $5000 neighborhood. In any case, it didn’t get as much as the Labradoodle they auctioned off. What an adorable puppy! They let me hold her when they came by our table and she just couldn’t have been sweeter. Apparently puppies are all the rage at auctions these days which is kind of disturbing to me, but at least she’ll have a nice home and probably a nice nanny all her own. And she earned $10,000 for the foundation, 100% of which goes directly to the children.
Speaking of the children
Ann Kathrin gave a passionate presentation about her travels around the world to visit the children in need. Thankfully, she speaks English quite well as most of the guests did not speak German. I
was profoundly moved by her speech and the progress she was making with her foundation. I wanted to speak with her about how I might help – perhaps by spreading the word or organizing a golf tournament, for example. It turned out that she was flying back to Germany the next day and the only time she could possibly meet with me was while I was supposed to be somewhere on the back nine. My playing partners kept our tee time but I stayed behind in hopes that she would have the time before her flight to meet with me at her hotel. Unfortunately she didn’t but I look forward to being in touch with her to explore the possibilities.
Time to play golf
Naturally, I had my golf clubs and shoes in the car so I headed over to the municipal course closest to her hotel and walked on at 1:30, played the front nine with a father/daughter combo and the back nine with a nice married couple who had moved here from Germany about 5 years ago. I don’t know what the German connection is – maybe I’m supposed to adopt a German Shepherd. I was finished with my round by 5:00 PM, and that 3 hr 30 min round is probably the fastest I’ve ever played that golf course. Maybe the rain the day before scared everyone away, but it was such a beautiful day to play golf. I’m glad I made it out after all, though halfway through the round I almost wished I’d have rented a golf cart because my dogs were aching after a night of dancing in 4 inch heels – for the children.
Here in Southern California, we are currently experiencing some weather. Don’t panic, but there is wet stuff coming from the sky.
No golf today for me. I hope it goes away before my tee time tomorrow.
This week, the players on the Nationwide Tour are competing at the Hillcrest Country Club in Boise, Idaho.
On Thursday, three players made a hole-in-one on the same hole in the first round of the event. It was at the 133 yard par 3 17th hole.
The field is seriously competitive as these guys are competing hard to move up the money list and earn a spot in the top 25 for a PGA Tour card. To me, it’s a more compelling tournament to watch than the PGA right now even though the stakes are high over there as well. The scoring conditions at Hillcrest are incredible and players are putting up some pretty low numbers. The cut line yesterday was at 4 under.
Perhaps you’ve heard of Ricky Barnes, the 2002 US Amateur winner. Currently, he is 89th on the money list. In his first two rounds he shot 67-70, putting him at 5 under. Had he birdied instead of aced that hole, he would have just made the cut. Had he made par there instead, he would have missed it. Ricky also blogs about his pursuit of a PGA card as one of the players who keeps a journal over at The Grind.
The same scenario is true for David Hearn, who is 49th on the money list and shot 64-73 to put him at 5 under. Barnes and Hearn are among the 18 players at T42 after Friday’s round.
The third player to make an ace that day needed a few more strokes to make the cut. His hole-in-one contributed to a score of 70 that day, and he followed it up with a 71 yesterday, putting him at 1 under. He may have been disappointed to miss the cut but you’d never know it because he always seems to have a smile on his face. He was invited to the event on a sponsor’s exemption after just turning pro this year at the young age of 16. Need another clue? Youngest player to qualify for the U.S. Open. Still need another? He’s Hawaiian. That’s right. It’s Tadd Fujikawa.
Congratulations to all three players on their aces.
Photo caption (from L to R): Tim Cleaver, Lindsay Gilbert, Steve Williams, Jamie Munro, Mark Wilson and James Livingston at Randall’s Island Golf.
Tiger’s caddy, Steve Williams, joined his kiwi mates in New York yesterday (just hours after Tiger won the season ending TOUR Championship). Why the quick stop in NY?
Speight’s, New Zealand’s famous beer, sent five Kiwi’s on a boat from NZ to London (three months at sea!) to bring a Speight’s pub to London. It’s a great, long story yet true — check out the details at www.speights.co.nz. And since the boat stopped in NY for 48 hours, Stevie wanted to join up and hang with his mates for the day. They spent the morning at the Empire State Building, then took in a golf lesson at Randall’s in the City and finally then off to the Yankees game last night.
Just a classic idea. As they say in NZ, kiwi-genius.
Golfchick note: I get a lot of requests via email to promote certain things and most of them never make it to this site. First I was contacted by David Schwab (Managing Director of First Call Octagon) about this promotion but it was this blog post that was sent from Tamara Alfred (First Call Intern) that caught my eye. Smart cookie, that one, sending a photo with good looking New Zealanders. That sealed the deal for me.
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