GolfStinks

A Golf Blog for the Rest of Us!

ScoreBand Scores!

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As always, we are on the look out for interesting stuff that is golf related. With that in mind, we want to thank the great bunch of folks over at ScoreBand for hooking us up with their new score keeper watch. So what is this watch I speak of? Well, for starters it won Best Product Concept at the PGA Merchandise Show presented by the United Inventors Association. Not too shabby.

I do have to say that when I received this watch I was impressed with the quality. I’ve had another similar watch that definitely wasn’t up to par (pun intended) with this one. Also, after wearing it all week I can appreciate the light weight.

What about the score keeping? Glad you asked! There is an “Allscore” mode, which lets you keep track of just about any score and it just so happened to come in handy during a recent indoor soccer game. There’s the “Golf” mode which keeps track of your hole and round score and, might I add, was a hell of a lot easier than imagined. Finally, the “Tennis” mode. Although I have yet to use this function in a match, I still played with the buttons in tennis mode and just as expected, it was very easy.

My advice to you is to grab one of these. They make great gifts too! Speaking of gifts, it wouldn’t be right if we reviewed something and didn’t offer a chance to win a free one. So…

Just head on over to our Facebook page and simply “Like” the post on our wall entitled; “Enter to win a FREE ScoreBand!” That’s it – we’ll pick one lucky winner at random!

Hit ’em long…yell FORE!!! Good Luck.

Is The Demand For Tiger Woods Waning?

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About a year ago I was first made aware of the “appearance fee” some golfers (in this case Tiger Woods) will charge just to show up to a tournament.  I was on the fence about the idea at the time, and still am a year later. 

Back then I wondered whether this was a good idea.  I wondered if the tournament could be taken seriously if you have to pay players just to show up.  But I also wondered, if the PGA is never going to put together a meaningful tournament schedule with the ultimate goal being a season ending championship, would this be a good idea for many smaller tournaments with the intention of drawing bigger crowds?   One would think it could certainly help.  But if events from last week are any indication, maybe some tournament organizers are shying away from this practice.

Tiger Woods’ game may not be what it once was, but the name still carries much weight.  Having Tiger at your tournament would obviously draw bigger crowds therefore collecting more at the gate.  But how much is he going to cost?  And will his asking price be worth it?  Apparently, the organizers at the Qatar Masters have decided no, it isn’t worth it. 

Tiger Woods wants $3 million just to show up to the tournament.  So whether he gives a half-hearted effort or not, he gets that money anyway…even if he doesn’t even make the cut!  So maybe Qatar just doesn’t see the value in Tiger anymore. They’re not willing enough to shell out the money to have the game’s most polarizing figure there. 

I’ve heard it mentioned that a country (or state) as small as Qatar can’t afford to spend that type of money for one player.  But this is an oil-rich country with one of the highest GDP’s per capita in the world.  They can afford it.  So what then?

Maybe they really don’t see the value anymore.  Maybe they don’t want the media baggage that comes along with Tiger.  Maybe they simply don’t want to shell out the money for a guy who may not want to be there to begin with.  Maybe a trend is starting…

Swing ’til you’re happy!             

Bo Knows…Golf?

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Just recently I tuned into one of ESPN’s 30 For 30 documentaries – this one entitled You Don’t Know Bo – obviously a documentary about the great Bo Jackson.  When I was a kid, I loved watching Bo play football, play baseball, act in commercials…everything.  I loved just the idea of Bo Jackson!  To see a guy who can be one of the best players in Major League Basbeball then head over to the NFL and one of the best players there as well, is simply amazing.

Now there have been several other multi-sport athletes in the major American sports – Deion Sanders, Brian Jordan and Danny Ainge quickly come to mind.  But despite a relatively short career (eight years in baseball and four in the NFL), none of the others are remembered more as multi-sport athletes more than Bo.  Perhaps that’s deserved though as he is the only player in history to be voted an all-star in baseball and a pro-bowler in football.

Now golf, though there are many athletes who play the game well, has had only one true multi-sport athlete – Babe Didrikson Zaharias.  And though we are aware of guys like Tony Romo who are great golfers that play other professional sports, I wonder why no one has tried to make golf the other half of their multi-sport athletic career.  Perhaps it has something to do with the business of sports today.  With all of the money and huge contracts floating around, the last thing an owner wants to deal with is the risk of injury due to a player participating in another sport.  But seriously…who gets injured on the PGA Tour?

It was a special kind of owner – Al Davis – who would allow a player, especially a star, to miss five or six games of an NFL season to play another sport.  But golf?  If an NFL player was to primarily play in the summer months, during the off-season, then I don’t really see the issue.  But in other sports such as basketball or baseball, the case may be different.  Baseball is played during prime golf season.  It’s played on the weekend – often bigger/more important/rivalry series are played on the weekends.  So MLB owners are not letting players leave to play in a golf tournament.  Basketball on the other hand plays primarily in the winter, until the late regular season and playoffs which occur in the spring.  So in all likelihood, unless the team has no shot at the playoffs, then they aren’t going to be let off the hook either.  However, the NBA off-season runs from mid-June through early October.  So NBA golfers like Ray Allen and Chris Paul could get a few months in if they wanted.

So with the opportunity there, why have some of these athletes from other sports not tried to play on the tour?  Is it due to the fact that, since they can’t do it full-time, they’ll never fully excel?  That makes sense I guess.  The pros are the pros because they work hard to be pros.  So playing part-time only in opens, pro-ams or charity events probably just doesn’t cut it.

Now I understand it’s golf, and it’s not exactly a physically demanding sport, so the Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders comparisons can be put aside.  But it would be a multi-sport athlete nonetheless.  It’s been a while since we’ve seen one and a multi-sport athlete always gets sports fans excited.  So could a multi-sport athlete help generate more interest in golf?  Well, it sure couldn’t hurt.

Swing ’til you’re happy!

What Would a Melee Do For Golf?

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So if it hasn’t been shoved down every sports fans throat by now, there was a fight last weekend after a NASCAR race between a driver and a pit crew member for another driving team.  Really now?  Have you seen the video?  Of course you have…you can’t escape it.  Of course, in every angle of the video, you can’t see a thing worthwhile happen.  You can’t see a punch thrown or contact made.  Nothing.  But I’ll tell you what, NASCAR and they’re fans are eating it up. 

Me, I couldn’t possibly care less about NASCAR.  How anyone can sit for hours watching cars drive around in a circle (yes…I understand it’s an oval, but that doesn’t have the same ring to it) blows my mind.  So to me, that’s why NASCAR fans are eating it up.  It’s because something that could possibly be exciting, other than a car accident, actually happened!  Can you imagine what fans of the NHL must be thinking about this?!  They must be laughing all the way to the penalty box! 

But of course, as I try to equate things in other sports to golf, I wonder if the PGA Tour could use something like this.  Because lets face it, watching the PGA Tour is almost as dull as watching NASCAR.  But what if Rickie Fowler was to, I don’t know…step in Rory’s line?  Or cough during his swing?  What kind of reaction do you think there would be if Rory blew up and smacked Fowler across the lips right there on the 13th green?  I’d have to imagine that ESPN would be all over it!  That footage would be on 24/7!  And could you imagine if Tiger was involved?!  They would start a new channel that night!  And the first show airing would be ESPN Tigercenter! 

But the real question is, would that be a bad thing?  They say there is no such thing as bad publicity, but golf is so rooted in the “gentleman’s game” mindset that one would have to imagine the PGA would want this swept under the rug as soon as possible.  But would they be making a mistake by doing this?  Would the publicity do something to help bring in a younger generation of fans who typically find the game boring.  Maybe it’s not a good reason to get them to watch, but at the same time, if it gets them to watch…isn’t that reason enough?

Swing ’til you’re happy!                 

The Golf Pros Set The Pace

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Last week I read an article by Rick Reilly on ESPN.com about how slow baseball is despite the rules that are supposed to be in place to keep it moving along.  The article is funny, but true.  Sometimes, with all of the stoppages in play, it’s just tough to sit through an entire baseball game.  But what it reminded me of most was…golf.  In particular, going to a golf tournament and watching the pros.

Now we’re not the only ones to put some blame on the pros for the reason slow play makes it’s way onto your local course – this topic has been debated plenty of times before, so you already should know what I mean.  But the similarities between the two when it comes to slow play are pretty funny.

Watch the pro golfers wander around the green for as long as they do before a putt.  Now compare that to watching an at-bat for a major-leaguer.  The golfer looks at the green from every angle.  Sometimes twice, as if the green is going to move.  Then look at the baseball player and his at-bat.  Take a pitch, step out of the batters box to “adjust”, back into the box for another pitch.  Repeat a few times.  By the time it’s all over, we could have seen six or seven scoring plays in a basketball game.

At least on TV they can switch from golfer to golfer, so we don’t have to sit through the painful green-wandering, the conversations between the golfers and their caddies, the endless practice swings…you get the idea.  We’re stuck with all of the nonsense that Mr. Reilly so accurately describes.  It’s no wonder I don’t pay full attention to baseball until basketball season is over.  And my attention span is cut short once the NFL starts up.  Kind of makes that stroke clock idea look better and better all the time!

But seriously, how can you tell everyone to play their round in four hours when we all watch the pros take their sweet time?  I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be on a clock.  The pros, they should be.  But not us.  As long as we’re being considerate to other golfers and following the rules of etiquette, then screw your four hour time limit.  I’ll let people play through before I’m rushed.  Hey, they’re the professionals.  They set the example, right?

Swing ’til you’re happy!

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