Topic: Golf Talk / A Golfer's View

I picked it up and had a look at Borders. Only 10 courses of no great interest, so I put it straight back on the shelf. Looked like the type of book that was rushed out for Fathers Day and will be heavily discounted in 6 months.

Topic: Golf Talk / Holes in one

QUOTE: OMG @ Sep 22 2005, 02:05 PM

What is it with you and the comp thing...just because someone wasn't in a comp doesn't make any less a hole in one.  What do you write on your card if you are playing in a social club compitetion that is not an "official" comp?

OMG, if you'd been around here more than 5 minutes you might know what he's referring to. No wonder over 45% of respondents to your poll wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire.

Topic: Golf Architecture / Short Par 4's under 300 metres

The first isn't really a sleeper is it? You just bang it straight at the green and chip on. If the greens were decent it might be different. And I love the way Tithers can no longer refer to this course by name. How many bunkers are there on this 'patch' (I'm curious, I never did get the definitive answer).

Perhaps we can dub Warrnambool 'patchII'

Topic: Golf Talk / Handicap

QUOTE: henry @ Sep 22 2005, 10:18 AM

I wish  No, its some random honey from rsvp.com.au

MMM, nice. I'm guessing you've probably exhausted your credit card sending her messages??? Are there any more pictures?

Topic: Golf Talk / Amstel or Growling Frog

Growling Frog is a squillion times better than Amstel.

Topic: Golf Talk / Handicap

Henry, who's the sexy looking chick in your avatar? Girlfriend!!

Topic: Golf Talk / Adam Scott slags AGU

QUOTE: Jack @ Sep 21 2005, 02:26 PM

Can you respond to this quote please Butchy.

Jack, Colin Phillips has always got an excuse or someone else to blame whenever there is a regular stuff up. Why is it only the Open that seems to have these problems, not the PGA or the Masters? Because the second two events are controlled by professionals. Scott owes the AGU nothing, and it is heartening as Aust's number one player to see him speaking out on these issues (even if it is in a girls voice).

There is the makings of a good list of players that Col has managed to piss off, starting with Elkington from the past generation, Scott and Hensby from the current crop and Day of the potential up and comers. A professional organisation simply wouldn't have these disputes every year. It is a measure of their desperation and hopelessness that they constantly seem to play the patriot card rather than running the event professionally.

QUOTE: grazo @ Sep 21 2005, 02:54 PM

I notice though, that he is a starter for the Masters - now why could that be? Is it because Mastercard is the naming sponsor and Adam gets a big wad of cash from Mastercard every year?

Herein lies the answer... if you want a big name player, get one of his sponsors to take out naming rights for the event.  That way, the company will put pressure on their star to play to get more bang for their buck. There's a reason why Tiger plays all the Buick events...

So... Calling all large multinationals looking to raise awareness and exposure.  Available - one major player sponsorship, comes with free naming rights to major golfing event.  Cost: 3 million per year.  For more information, see deals done with Palmer and Nicklaus in the 70s...

Grazo, note the Masters has a sponsor and is played at an established venue in a major metropolitan area. The Open used to do this, until they blithely ignored the wishes of their major sponsor and headed to a goat track in the boondocks. I would expect Scott would not hesitate to play most Opens if they manage to appoint a professional and energetic executive team who are able to clear the decks of the baggage of the past 30 years.

Topic: Golf Talk / Adam Scott slags AGU

QUOTE: mason @ Sep 21 2005, 11:31 AM

Henry, I don't mean giving back in the literal sense of paying back a debt, more a sense of wanting to nurture golf here, as in Michael Campbell's attitude on the weekend.

Mason they guy is on a hiding to nothing, as he points out in the Age article. ""If I play two events (in Australia) I get criticised for not playing the third." You can't blame him for not wanting to play the one run by amateurs (in every sense of the word)

Maybe they need to listen to what the No 1 Aust player is telling them about schedules if they want to attract more of them best players. "My view is they should put the events straight after the (US PGA) Tour Championship in early November. That way they've got a chance to get some international players because it's not too late in the year, and it's a lot easier for me to come straight home, as it probably is for everyone who plays in the States."

Nice work Butchy

Topic: Golf Talk / Adam Scott slags AGU

QUOTE: mason @ Sep 21 2005, 10:17 AM

Greedy little bugger, do they expect to you to enter ??  Yes it's your national championship !!!!!!!!!!!!!      WHAT A HYPOCRITE  -  goes on about how he'd like to emulate Greg Norman, well little Scotty, Greg came and played here for miles less than what he could have gotten elsewhere for YEARS and supported Australian Golf, you haven't done it even ONCE in recent years.  Allyou're interesting in supporting is yourself. 

The prize money differential was no where near as large back then and Norman was also flogging Cobra clubs and other stuff to the local market. Fact is that National Open or not, if you run it like a B grade country Pro Am, the players, sponsors and spectators aren't going to come.

Topic: Golf Talk / Handicap

I'm off 23.7 - which is good enough to beat Henry off the stick most weeks.

Topic: Golf Talk / Adam Scott slags AGU

There's more Admin

"I'd like to play but I haven't even had a call," he said. "It leaves you thinking 'do they just expect you to enter?"

"They've been doing the same stuff on the Australasian Tour for too long. They need to change, because it's obviously not working,"

"How can the Australian Open not have a sponsor? I'm not a businessman but I don't understand that."

And due to dithering Col Phillips is now staying on to 'run' this years Open, as they haven't been able to find a replacement. There has to be a place on Batman's utility belt for a 3-in-1 Col Spray - repels sponsors, spectators and players.

http://www.theage.com.au/ne...

Topic: Golf Talk / Adam Scott slags AGU

Good to hear Scotty almost telling it like it is. "A lot of me wants to be at the Aussie Open but it's just a shame that the tournament doesn't have a title sponsor and it's not being played on one of our premier courses". That is a polite way of saying the organisation is a shambles and the course is a goat track. One of the first priorities of the incoming head of the AGU needs to be to find an exit from the Moonah Links disaster and move the tournament to venues where sponsors, players and crowds will go.

http://www.theaustralian.ne...

Topic: Your Favourite Golf Courses / Best Course on Crap Land?

QUOTE: ttitheridge @ Sep 19 2005, 08:28 AM

For my mind, once there is sand under your feet, you already have a top 20% land factor in your favour before we even begin to discuss topography. Growing up on a spirit leveled clay tray called Ballarat Golf Club, thats what I think anyway.

ttitheridge, once again you are correct. It is a measure of the elite status, narrow focus and lack of golfing education amongst the major protagonists of this forum that the discussion turns instantly to the sandbelt in the discussion of crap land.

Topic: Golf Equipment / 56/60 or 54/58

No - but I'm using 54-60. Works pretty well.

Topic: The Lounge / Heathrow

QUOTE: Andrew @ Sep 6 2005, 09:27 PM

Lesson : Shave your goatee off before flying to England.

Andy, we don't like goatees here either. You're not a left wing activist by any chance?

http://www.theage.com.au/ne...

Topic: Golf Classifieds / WTB: Titleist Vokey 54º Wedge

QUOTE: heckler @ Sep 13 2005, 12:31 PM

I just checked with Drummonds they do have one left of the one you were after, a Vokey 54° with 10° bounce in chrome finish and although they won't give you a price over the phone I can tell you it was $165.

I won't be heading that way for a while so you may like to ring them on (08) 9204 6900 to put it aside for you.

Heckler, why didn't you pick it up? It would have been the easiest $65 you'd ever make.

Topic: The Lounge / The Hookes Case

QUOTE: Ben @ Sep 13 2005, 09:29 PM

Not really.  If he wasn't out being pissed out of his head and losing control of himself then it'd never have happened.  I have zero sympathy for drunks who lose control.  Its simple, learn not to get pissed.

Some sanity at last. How reliable can the testimony of a bunch of pissed cricketers and women be? And lest not forget the credibility challenged "eyewitness" who was trying to get a spot on The Block. There must have been enough reasonable doubt to drive a lorry through - if it was Joe Blogs it would never have got near a courtroom.

Topic: The Lounge / 9/11....

"Sydneysiders are reeling this morning over news that Al Qaeda has announced Melbourne as a possible new target of their worldwide campaign to scare the piss out of people.

This is being seen as a major snub in social and political circles of the 2000 Olympic City, and leading Sydneysiders are calling on Al Qaeda to reconsider their choice of future targets.

The Al Qaeda announcement is also expected to make it even harder for Sydney politicians to redirect millions of taxpayer dollars from spending on education, child care and medicines for the elderly to buy CCTV cameras and other anti-terror related security measures.

"It's terrible news," said one Sydney security specialist who has been campaigning for the NSW government to spend $100 million on his line of robot dogs that sniff out bombs concealed in the buttholes of Islamomaniac poodles.

If Sydneysiders are disappointed by the Al Qaeda snub then Melbournians are absolutely gloating at the news that hit front pages and headlines around the world today.

Fashionistas down south claim the Al Qaeda announcement is yet another sign of just how "cool" Melbourne had become. "

Topic: The Lounge / The Hookes Case

It wouldn't have even gone to trial if it hadn't been a high profile media personality/ex cricketer.

Topic: Ask Bruce / Solheim Cup missed opportunity

QUOTE: bruce @ Sep 11 2005, 10:13 AM

In the interest of the promotion of the game generally and more especially Women's golf, this event deserves to be televised in this region.

Bruce, with footy finals in all codes, US Open Tennis finals and the finale to the Ashes, if they want to get televised down here then they are going to need to reschedule it to another time of the year.

I'm with Amanda on the pregnancy thing. Women have been playing golf into the later stages of pregnancy since day zip. Wasn't Meunier-LeBouc a contender in the US Open a couple of years ago much further into the pregnancy? Its hardly physically demanding, especially when you've got someone carrying your bag and refreshments on every tee.

Topic: Your Favourite Golf Courses / Slowing down Santa anna fairways

Jack, I don't know that there is a problem with the ball rolling a long way during summer. That happens pretty much everywhere that doesn't have kikuyu and has always been the case. The problem is how far it can run in winter when it is dormant and has no body.

QUOTE: MatthewM @ Sep 11 2005, 07:29 PM

Posted this while you were typing Jack. Great minds think alike...

Do you have a fixation with internet porn as well?

Topic: Your Favourite Golf Courses / Great hole on crap land

Jonesy, have you been to Sanctuary Lakes? It would be difficult to imagine a worse site for a golf course. A former saltworks that was barren, windswept with huge amounts of rock and dead flat. Yet the expertise of the Greg Norman Corporation has been able to fashion a number of very good holes, such as 2, 4, 8, 11, 15 and 16. They will never receive any great recognition though because the site and the housing dictates that the course will never be seen as that great.

Mac, 3 at Kingston Heath was the first hole I thought of, but it must be an awful lot easier to construct a great hole out of sand than rock and clay. 14 at Commonwealth also shows what can be done with a brilliant green complex, although the rest of the hole could do with the restoration. 7 and 15 at Woodlands could probably go on your list as well.

Topic: Your Favourite Golf Courses / Bass CC (San Remo)

QUOTE: John J Jones @ Sep 9 2005, 03:27 PM

Last I heard they didn't have enough water.  Something like just one pipe coming in and couldn't get enough to grow in what they had done.

Its good to be back after a couple of years away, looks like nothing much has changed down there though. Story I heard was their preferred site for a dam was knocked back and the alternative site was comprised largely of rock. Is this the same crowd that are behind St Andrews Beach?

Worland, I've never played off that grass, but isn't it supposed to provide a fairly poor quality surface?

Topic: Your Favourite Golf Courses / New Aussie "best par 3"

I'd heard Ross Perrett was slated to do some stuff there. I think he has probably been reading ISG and realised he needs to do better, hence a change in style. MM, isn't Sale a couple of hundred k's from San Remo.

Topic: Golf Equipment / My first time with 3Balls - very impressed!!

I thought customs duty was based on the value of the purchase, not who you use to post it. I'm sure customs don't treat US Post like diplomatic bags. I had an idea less than $1,000 and you wouldn't be slugged ... does anyone know exactly how and when customs duties/taxes are applied.