The Golfchick

That chick blabbing about anything golf related.

Category: Rants And Random Ramblings (page 2 of 8)

Don’t Let This Happen To You

golf shot from water hazardI witnessed this tragedy during a recent round and just had to snap some photos.

The man decided to take off his shoes and socks to stand in the water and play his ball from the edge of the hazard. His shot was actually decent and it I’m sure it saved him at least a stroke in the tournament.

But the real tragedy isn’t the situation in which he found himself, it was that all the onlookers were “treated” to what is obviously a rare display of his permasocks. Here’s a guy that needs to do some chipping and putting practice in flip-flops! And I thought I had a tan line problem!

Photos cropped to protect the guilty.

ankle tan lines

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Doing My Duty, Passing Golf Courses

Today I am fulfilling my civic duty in response to a jury summons. You probably know what this means: a lot of waiting around to either never get called for a panel or get called and dismissed. Either way, it’s a lot of waiting around. I’m actually managing to get a lot done today since it’s so quiet here with no distractions.

Oh, except for I’m sitting in front of a window looking out on a gorgeous day and wistfully thinking about all the golf courses I passed on the way here. Eleven. There are 11 golf courses between my home and Ventura County Superior Court/Hall of Justice. Only 3 of them are private, which means I drove near 8 courses I could have played today.

Vito still isn’t ready for an entire day spent alone, so Greg and I swapped vehicles today so he could take Vito to work with him while I answered the call. I’m so used to my Suburban Unnecessary Vehicle, it’s large frame and power everything, I felt especially sporty in his hot little Mustang. I had almost forgotten the fun of a manual transmission – not to mention when it’s supercharged. The last thing I wanted to do was drive it to a government building and be cooped up all day. It almost steered itself to several golf courses (probably from memory). Alas, here I am, doing the right thing. I guess golf can wait.

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Road Trip Notes

Rain, cold temps, high winds? Those conditions won’t keep golfers off the course. So what will? Extreme heat!

We are currently driving through Mesquite, NV and the temperature gauge reads 114. Middle of the day, beautiful golf courses, not a single golfer out there. Not one on any of the holes seen from the road. Empty. Wide open.

What keeps you off the course? What are the worst conditions you have endured?

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Johnny Miller “gems” from the US Open

I’m told he’s not mentally disabled, so I guess Johnny Miller is fair game. With all the incredible action yesterday, it was irritating to have to listen to his nonsense. Rather than muting the telecast, I decided to document some of his gems. Some are listed by readers in this previous post, but here are some examples of his “brilliance” from Sunday at the US Open:

The nonstop comparison of himself to Tiger because of their similar knee surgeries: “I can relate to everything Tiger’s going through right now.” (Riiiiiight. There’s his delusional perspective at work.)

“Four par” (meaning a par 4 hole, not four par scores)

On what shots Tiger should hit all day: “If he plays the hook, he’s just another player.” (Uh, if he plays the hook, he’s probably an amateur. Do you mean draw?)

and… Johnny decided Tiger should be playing his power cut shots all day since they’ve been working best. (this shortly after we hear that the shot that hurts Tiger the worst is the cut, especially the power one since he snaps his left knee.)

On a random 6-foot putt: “These are the ones you gotta make if you wanna win.” (not the 4 footers, the 12 footers, the 2 footers, the approach shots or anything else?)

On a putt that didn’t break into the hole: “It stayed up there for some reason” (wonder what that reason is?)

On a shot decision with a poorly timed telestrator accompaniment: Lots of bumbling words followed by “he was playing the shot that would go this way” (are you sure he’s not mentally disabled?)

I’m recording the playoff so I’ll update this with any gems I pluck from today’s broadcast once I watch it (trying desperately not to hear the score!).

Update: From Monday’s playoff round

Talking about how “sole-ing” the club in chunky lies rather than keeping the club level at the ball for chips from the rough is the “biggest mistake I see from professional golfers.” (as though if he were still a player, he wouldn’t make this mistake and since it’s the most common, he’d be better than they are)

On the third hole after Rocco almost aced it and Tiger was in the bunker: “I had a feeling he was gonna make a 2 there when Tiger was buried.” (cocky blowhard now thinks he has ESP)

Talking about how Tiger made a bunch of one-putts then missed some “I sorta jinxed him.” (cocky blowhard thinks he has that power as well)

Constantly giving advice as to how caddies should interact with their players. For example – yesterday he suggested if he were Stevie, he’d be more forceful with Tiger’s club decisions off the tees. And today, saying if he were Rocco’s caddie he would have pumped him up by telling him to take advantage of the second par 3 when Tiger was in trouble. (Give me a break – these guys have relationships with their players and know exactly how to work with them.)

After the 18th hole when they were on their way to the 7th tee for sudden death, he said he was shocked that Tiger ate and drank as much as he did before going back to play: “It’s not always good to eat so much.” (Again – give me a break. Like Tiger doesn’t know his own body well enough to balance his own pH levels.)

Johnny – do you get paid by the word? Why do these people keep hiring him? Yes, he was announcing during the ESPN portion of the coverage as well as NBC. The only reason I can think is that the other announcers insist that he’s there alongside them so that they’ll appear brilliant by comparison.

Care to share some of your favorites? Please do!

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Strange Cat Obsesses about Golf and Chicks

Oh, Thursday, you bedeviler . Yep, it’s martini time again. I often go months without a martini and now here I am hitting them twice in the same week. If blame must be placed, I lay it on Vito. Well, maybe only for the first night. Tonight’s probably a little Grey Goose and a little me – or should that be the other way around?

Right right right. Blogging about golf. That’s what I’m here to do. Better I don’t get started about my perfectly timed American Idol TiVo experience last night and the confessional that goes with it. Oops. Maybe I need a blog to ramble about off topic stuff. I must have laughed for 5 minutes straight over the debacle, but I have to get to the golf connection!

Speaking of off topic golf blogging – but golf blogging nonetheless

speedcat hollydale southpawThere’s a strange cat on the golf blogging scene and his “name” is Speedcat Hollydale. This nonpareil golf blogger doesn’t always stay on our favorite topic, but he has a clear golf obsession which I dig. Plus, a lot of the time he’s blogging about chicks. Oddly enough, his post subjects are truly fowl and not necessarily the baby version. But hey, which came first – the chick or the golf chick? So what if he has what one might call an unnatural attraction to chickens? He’s an avid golfer, writes funny stuff, digs chicks, and writes about golf. Sometimes.

He even branched off and started a golf-only blog (or two), and while I’m not sure if all his golf posts are located there, I still get a kick out of his all-encompassing site. To my nerdy and somewhat linear eye, his site baffles my senses with all its colors and images, so admittedly I haven’t read a lot of what’s there. But I understand blog readers have a lot to digest and tend to “skip to the nut” and/or get a lot of content through feeds or feed readers. If you like variant content in your golf blogs, you will probably be pleased with Speedycat (or is that Speedcat – I still don’t know). The guy writes entertaining stuff whether it’s on or off the topic of golf. To my knowledge, he has yet to write about the culmination of his golf and chick obsessions. But his [golf] blogging career is relatively young… stay tuned.

I honestly can’t remember how I found this cat, but I think Hollydale might be the town or county he’s from. I like to think that speedycat or speedcat (seriously- which is it?) has to do with how quickly he can play a round of golf. But perhaps it’s none of my business.

*Note – Speedycat is not actually a southpaw, and the image above is from his own site.

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Is Johnny Miller mentally disabled?

I get downright irritated when I watch a golf event that Johnny Miller announces. It seems like on every hole, he says something (often many things) so stupid, self-aggrandizing or just plain annoying that I want to mute the telecast and watch it to music. But if he’s actually mentally disabled, I’d feel bad criticizing him as his “performance” would be admirable. Even then, I’d suspect the rest of the mentally challenged community would be embarrassed to have him as a representative at times.

So, is Johnny Miller a marginal disabled announcer or a terrible non-disabled one?

Why do the networks keep employing him and letting him open his mouth for all to hear?

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Golfing Family Wanted for Reality TV show

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

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.

Ridiculous Rory misses the mark at The Masters

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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Beware the passive-aggressive sandbagger

You know the cheating scumbags when you see them. The ones who intentionally post higher scores or conveniently “forget” to post their low scores. The obvious techniques to pad handicaps and gain extra strokes in competitions are easy to spot. But what about the passive-aggressive cheaters?

There is a sneakier behavior I only recently noticed. Perhaps there’s a weasel in your midst. Is there a person in your club who consistently plays better than his or her handicap in tournaments? Maybe you even play casual rounds with them or witness them entering accurate scores after rounds. They can look you in the eyes and be sincere when they say they post every score, count every stroke and vigilantly apply Equitable Stroke Control. You (and they) are comfortable in their honesty because they actually are truthful statements. So where is the sneakiness? Out on the golf course during casual rounds. They play enough to keep their games sharp, so as soon as they realize they’re not setting any personal bests in a round, they get intentionally lazy. They don’t focus or try their best to make putts. Flub a chip here, slice a drive there. Their scores become inflated and the score they post at the end of the round is technically accurate but not indicative of their actual abilities.

But why be aware of this when there is really nothing you can do about it? How can you “call out” a person when you have no proof of their intentions out there? All you can hope for is that your handicap chairman recognizes it and audits the person’s index. Adjustments can be made at that level such as attaching more weight to rounds (giving them T-score ratings) or even manually changing a course handicap for tournament play.

Maybe if they know you’re onto them, they’ll be guilted into changing their behavior. Everyone knows an obvious sandbagger and they probably get harassed about it, but the crafty weasels with the passive-aggressive techniques deserve their share of ribbing as well.

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