Tiger Can Finally Win Again!!

Well as I'm sure most of you have heard, Tiger and Elin have officially split up. Not that any of us actually thought that they would try to work things out after Tiger traveled the world for years with his pants down. In my opinion though, I am sad for his children but happy it is all over.

I think that Tiger had a loooong season of distractions and pretending to try and make things work at home when I think he was just sitting on the couch hanging out with his kids. He now has joint custody, so he can still spend quality time with his kids when he has them and lets face it, he can NOW get back to his normal practice regimen. I think that Tiger will win one tourney before the years end, although this may not come until the Target World Challenge. I also feel that he is going to hire a new swing coach but not tweak his swing as much, like he did 3 other times.

As far as my prediction for the FedEx Cup Playoffs, I believe Tiger will make a good run and finish in the top 25, or just outside the top 25. I say he finishes in the top 10 in this first weekend.

I think next year, he will be back to his old ways, winning 5 or 6 tourney's and 1 or 2 majors.....

Hawaii Golf.....

Well it has been waaaay too long since my last post but I have been in a big transition. The wifey got a job in Honolulu, so we have been moving for the last couple of months, but have finally started to settle in.

Now, where to start? The US Open just wrapped up and I must say, I was really pulling for Tiger on Sunday but by the time McDowell was walking up the 18th with a 1 shot lead, I was happy he was going to be the next US Open champ. He seems to be a very well spoken, friendly, fun golfer to watch. His outfits are pretty sweet too, minus the hat. I'm sure that David Feherty is a very happy man right now and I would have loved to hear him do some reporting Sunday afternoon. I really hope to see McDowell have some more success on the tours this year.




Hawaii
So, I have been waiting on my clubs to arrive to the Islands for almost a month now and I'm starting to lose it. They will get here on the 25th, so I hope to have my babies unloaded by the 26th. I have been dying to play the courses out here. Not only are most of them beautiful looking but the Kama'aina (local) rates are unreal. I can play Turtle Bay Resort (Palmer Course), which hosts an LPGA Tour event and used to host a Champions Tour event for $75 on the weekend. Yeah this is a lot but normally for visitors it is $200. A few of the holes go right alongside the ocean and look amazing. Most of the other courses are around $40-$80 for weekday/weekend play and again, the views and weather are amazing. It is a little breezy but its almost never that bad. Luckily, I hit the ball low so it should help to keep it out of the wind. I have also met a few people that golf so I'm pretty pumped to play with them. I need to watch the money though cause I am trying to keep my Mesquite fund going. I only need roughly $800 dollars by November! Haha, sounds easy but for a stay-at-home dad that likes to golf its rough going!! I'll keep you posted on the Hawaii golf and the Mesquite trip!

Trip to Colorado

Well since there really isn't too much going on in the golf world right now(even though Lorena Ochoa retired....weird), I figured I would write about my golf during our visit to Colorado.

Broadlands
My first round was played at Broadlands golf course up north in Broomfield. I met my longtime friend Dan who works for the course, at about 7:15am. He got us out for free, which was very nice, plus we were the first two out, so it was wide open in front of us. I was super nervous about the round after hitting a duck-hook off the first tee, then toeing my second shot about 40 yards short and right of the green. Somehow I was able to get it up and down for par so that was a big confidence booster. The rest of the round was all over the place, hitting really bad shots and really good shots. I was able to pull out an 87, which I was pretty happy about. The weather was pretty cool but there was no wind and no rain so I couldn't ask for much more. Also, playing with Dan who is roughly 74 years old was great. Hopefully I will still be swinging the club as well as him when I'm that age.

Coal Creek
The second round was played at Coal Creek Golf Course, also up north in Louisville. This is one of my favorite courses and I was super excited cause I was playing with my dad, father-in-law(Bernie) and brother-in-law(Jeryd "I think I hit it long"Arellano). The weather again was cool, but there was no wind and no rain, so it was bearable. This was a rematch of teams consisting of my dad and I vs. Bernie and Jeryd. Last time we squeaked a victory out playing at Heritage Todd Creek Golf Course. The first few holes were a little rough for most of us but after a little while we all began to find our groove. I went even par on the last 5 holes on the front so that really helped. Thanks to my dad for giving me the line to help me sink a 20 footer for birdie on #9. Jeryd decided it was time to numb his nerves by indulging in the land of Kahlua on the back nine. Boy did it help, he ended up really turning things around and shot a 45 on the back. My dad, Bernie and Jeryd had almost identical scores and luckily I was able to squeeze out another 87. So for the second year we were able to claim victory! :) It was great to get to spend time with everyone and even though it rained on the last 5 holes, I thought the weather was pretty nice.

I'm looking forward to our next round together.

You The Man Phil!

Wow, what a great Sunday at the Masters. Not even Sunday, almost the entire weekend was action packed and the fans could not have asked for a better person to win.

Now going into the Masters, Phil was not on my list of people who I wanted to win, only because I think he is too flaky for all the talent he has. Although when he is in contention, especially in a major, I find myself having a soft spot for the guy and really pulling for him to win. We all know all the struggles he and his family have been through with his wife Amy having cancer, so that makes him winning that much more special. It was also great to see his wife make the trip there to greet him after he finished on the 18th.

It would have been very interesting to see what would have happened if he put that 2nd shot on the par 5, 13th into the creek. In all honesty, when I saw him about to smack his 6-iron, 207 yards out of the pine needles, between two trees, to a green that you can't be short or long on, I thought, "well here goes Phil about to screw things up again". He proved me wrong and I'm ok with that. The man produced zero bogies and shot a 67 on Sunday, the first champ in 12 years to shoot that low of a final round. Good work Phil!




Now Tiger did a little better then expected but really showed his rust on Sunday. I laughed during his post interview because he said people are making too big a deal out of him losing his temper. Well maybe in his press conference he shouldn't have made it sound like he was going to try to control his temper and celebrations. Those are two of his biggest trade-marks so of course the media is going to be all over that when you lose your temper right off the bat on Thursday. You should have just said you are going to work on the swearing and club throwing, that would have made more sense.

Good showing for my boy AK! Keep it up!

New Tiger? / Masters Prediction

New Tiger?

So after reading about Tigers practice rounds on Monday and Tuesday and listening to his press conference, it seems like he has really changed how he will interact with the public and go about his business on the course. It was said by people following him during his practice round with Fred Couples and Jim Furyk that he was acknowledging the crowd when they would say something to him. One guy yelled, "Its good to have you back Tiger" and Tiger looked at him, nodded and said, "Thanks man". Tiger also said during his press conference that he would acknowledge the fans more and said, “I haven't done that in the past few years, and that was wrong of me, I’m just trying to be more respectful of the game". When talking about getting hot on the golf course, Woods also said he is going to try and not be, but that means he will also not be as "exuberant, either".

Now if you ask me, there is a lot of bologna in here and it smells pretty bad. I think it is great that Tiger is talking about interacting with fans and all, cause I would love to get a "fist pump" from him, but I am curious if this is something that he will only do in practice rounds and also if its something that will die down in a year from now. As far as his temper goes, I think he will be cooler off the tee box when he has a bad shot but I don't think that will make him cooler if he sinks a 40 footer for birdie in a big situation. I also think that over time Tiger will start to lose his cool almost as much as he was in years past. Tiger also talked about meditating and practicing his Buddhism like he did a while back. Except for as long as I can remember Tiger has had a bad temper and has thrown clubs, so I'm not sure if practicing Buddhism will help much with that. I'm all for it though if it helps him.

Masters Prediction

So after last weeks Shell Houston Open I thought that Anthony Kim might be the favorite for winning this weekend, but I think if his driver is as bad as last weekend, he is in for a rough week. I also believe that Woods will make the cut by a few strokes, but will probably finish somewhere just outside the top 10. Now I hope that AK or Tiger will win it but my bold prediction is that.....oh man......it kills me to say this.......but I think its.........Ian Poulter' s year.

Who I would like to win:
Tiger Woods
Anthony Kim
Adam Scott
David Duval
Sergio Garcia

Who I would not like to win:
Ian Poulter
Lee Westwood
Ian Woosnam
Robert Allenby
Soren Hansen

AK = Yes.....DJ = No

So, we are about a quarter of the way through the golf season now and I have been kind of disappointed with our winners. Now if I was about 40 years old I might be stoked because we have had guys like Els, Furyk, and Stricker winning this year. Now I must admit, a part of me does feel good for Furyk and Els who have not had a win in awhile and have found their game, but a bigger part of me is dying for some of the "young guns" to start tearing up the tour.

Now by saying "young guns", unfortunately I don't mean guys like Zach Johnson, Dustin Johnson, Bill Haas, and Ben Crane because I feel like watching them is like watching paint dry. I mean guys like Anthony Kim, Camilo Villegas, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, Rory McIlroy, and Rickie Fowler(although the last two are fresh out the gate so we will give them more time). It just seems like the players I have listed are huge fans of doing really well and even winning, like Camilo earlier this year and then dropping off the radar for almost the rest of the year. I am just dying for someone to really compete almost every time they tee it up and it would be even better if they could give Tiger a run for his money.

I know Jack in his prime dominated the game, but it seemed like he had more exciting players competing really well against him and either coming in second or barely beating him. Jack has 19.....yes 19, second place finishes in majors, Tiger I believe only has 5. Tiger will pass Jack in Majors but come nowhere close to his runner-up finishes, unless someone starts to really challenge Tiger at every major.

This isn't about just majors though, I think golf really needs some of these younger studs to step up and show that the game right now is slowly shifting towards a newer generation of golfers. Although the only way to prove that is to consistently show up in every tourney, especially majors, which I have faith that they will do.

Wie all know you cheat!

So I know that most people probably have no idea what happened with Michelle Wie on Sunday on the LPGA Tour because god forbid you follow golf, let alone women's golf.....but I do.

So lemme break down what happened very quickly. Wie was 5 shots off the lead entering the back nine when she drove her ball just barely in the water. She opted to attempt to hit the ball out of the water having her right foot in the water with her left up on the bank. She hit the ball out of the water but it rolled back across the hazard line. When your ball is in the hazard you cannot ground your club. Wie clearly grounded her club after the ball rolled back into the hazard right in front of her. She said she was using the club to support her balance and help her from falling back into the water.

In no way during the 20 times I saw the clip did it look like she was using the club to help support her balance. She also said she closed her eyes and thought the ball went out of the hazard, so she then put her club down. In the video you can clearly see that she was looking at the ball as it rolled back into the hazard and then delicately laid her club on the grass, putting hardly any weight on it. Wie whined and whined appealing the rule and sounded like a kid who got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Oh yeah, forgot to mention that the difference in receiving the penalty and not receiving it was only $100,000 dollars!

Wie also got DQ'd from a tourney years ago for taking a drop that was closer to the hole and also withdrew from a tournament with a "wrist injury" during a round where she was 14 over through 7 holes and on her way to shooting an 88. Well under LPGA rules a non-member(which Wie was at the time) who shoots an 88 or higher has to withdraw from the tournament and is banned from sanctioned events for the rest of the season.

Hmmm...

Mulligan Golf

Now this is just a little pet peeve of mine but I must say, I have been a little guilty of this in the past. Nothing bothers me more than playing with people who shoot an 86 and you know that they reached into their pocket and threw down an extra ball or two after chunking one into the drink. Mulligan Golfers typically take a mulligan off the first tee, then one on the 11th, then one on 15 and they say, "I never took one on the front nine". So all you can do is smile and remember to add about 5 strokes to their score at the end of the round. Especially because it will make your score look a little better.


Now there are also a less offensive breed of Mulligan Golfers out there who are not keeping score, will go through a couple dozen balls and take about 15 mulligans, and this breed is totally acceptable because they don't go home afterward and brag to their wife about how they just broke 90.

So just to clear this up, if you are keeping score and trying to establish a legitimate handicap so you can play in a tourney or two, you should not be using mulligans! Sure it will help you're handicap go down but then when it comes tourney time you'll just be known as a "reverse sandbagger". If your out with you're buddies and the course is wide open and no score is turned in, then by all means, mulligan it up!

Remember the golf gods are watching.....

Falcon Ridge Golf Club - Mesquite Trip

If your looking for a place to lose lots of balls either in the desert or in the water, then look no further. Falcon Ridge Golf Club is located in the remote southern region of Nevada's Virgin Valley. Only an hour drive from "sin city", it is pretty accessible to play and drive back to Vegas, although I would recommend staying in Mesquite.

I had the pleasure of playing here twice last November during an annual tournament (Colorado Hackers) that Adam Ray and I have been going to for the past 4 years. So Adam and I arrived early Thursday morning into Vegas and grabbed our rental car and made the haul to Mesquite. As we pulled into the Falcon Ridge parking lot and checked in it was clear that the course would play tight with a lot of elevation changes. The practice facility could not be any worse so don't really plan on warming up. After a short delay on the first tee-box Adam and I decided to play from the back tees, which measure 6,546 yards compared to 5,976 yards from the next tee-box up. After our tee shots it was clear that we hadn't really warmed up, oh well, we were off and rolling. The course is very challenging if you are not hitting the ball straight. There's not a lot of room for bailing out and if your ball goes into the junk it is extremely tough to find.

The 6th hole is very picturesque but requires a very accurate tee shot from the high elevated tee-boxes. There is water on the right and junk on the left, but it is downhill so if you find the fairway your ball is going to roll, leaving you a short uphill wedge to the green. The front 9 plays a little easier than the back, although the back has a few holes that are a fun challenge. Holes 11, 12, and 13 can either play extremely tough or extremely easy. The signature hole #12 is a par 5 that measures 525 yards and has a huge elevation drop off the tee-box. Followed by either going for the green over water or laying up to the left of the water, both are fairly difficult.

After the 5 hour round we were both exhausted and were very unhappy with our scores but enjoyed what the course had to offer. It is a benefit to play here multiple times and understand how the fairways and greens role. Some of the greens have 3 tiers so knowing where to put the ball sometimes helps. Falcon Ridge is definitely worth playing if you come to Mesquite and for the money is not too bad, especially when compared to nearby Wolf Creek. I booked online through a 3rd party and saved about 50 dollars.

I played this course again two days later from the next tee boxes up and only shaved 3 strokes off my score so don't let the short yardage fool you. It is nice that the course is located so close to the hotel/casino so you can hurry back after a bad round and begin drinking.......or jumping from bed to bed like your 7 years old........or both.

Golfers/Weekend Warriors.....as Manly as they come!

First off, this blog is really targeted towards the men of golf and not the women. I am sure women are just as hardcore, I just have never seen them this same way.

So in my opinion weekend warrior golfers (WWG's) are as hardcore a sportsman as any other, possibly the most hardcore. After my round this last weekend I was convinced that WWG's must have something in their DNA that allow them to withstand any sort of weather and intake any sort of substance no matter the time of day.

So I got to the course at about 7:15am and with daylight savings time the night before, let me assure you it was just pass dawn. I assumed I would be one of the first few at the course and have no problem getting out as a single, especially since the temperature inside the car read 36 degrees, which by my standards is too cold. I thought it would be in the mid 40's but hey I was up, so screw it. As I pulled in though, to my surprise there were about 8 guys on the putting green warming up, two of the guys were in shorts, unreal! So I parked and looked to my right and saw two guys stretching like they were getting ready for an Olympic swim. I also stretch a little at home to help the back, so maybe they have really bad backs and I will give them the benefit of the doubt, but they looked too young to be stretching like that. Anyways, I was able to get out with a couple of guys named Steve and Al. Both were very nice guys but Al was my favorite, wearing his blue jeans, torn hoody, camo ball cap and cussing like a sailor. They were both in their mid-50's and Al made it a point to tell me his yearly salary and how he manages storage units without me asking. I was also caught by surprise when on about the 3rd hole Al and I hit our shots pretty close together and while we were waiting to hit, I looked to my left and Al was watering the tree literally 5 feet from me, it was pretty tough to not laugh out loud. Steve was also smoking a fat cigar and drinking a beer by 8:30, which maybe just helped him warm up a little.

We made the turn at about 10a.m. and Steve and Al had to stop for burgers and chips, which was no problem I just couldn't afford anything. As I was waiting though, I saw a table outside with two guys smoking fat cigars and had a pitcher of beer between the two of them. All I thought to myself was "man thats awesome".

All in all it was a good day (even though my score didn't reflect it) but it really made me think
about WWG's and their sheer dedication for the game of golf. I can't think of other sports that average joe's go out and play and express their masculinity as much as they do on weekends at your local muni-course. It also reminds me that golf is great because so many guys are out there for the same reason, no matter what they are wearing, drinking, or smoking. We all love to just get out there in any type of weather and hit good and bad shots and then talk about what we did wrong after the round is over, while drinking a cold brewsky. To me it doesn't get much better than that.

Course of the Week

This week's golf course is located in the same city where the best tasting beer in the world is brewed....Golden, Colorado. The track is Fossil Trace Golf Club and claims to have been 64 million years in the making. I had the privilege of working here just after they first opened in July of 2003. The course will come off as a short 18 holes but don't let the 6,831 yards from the tips fool you, it plays much longer than that, especially on a windy day. This Jim Engh design has some of the most undulating fairways and greens I have ever played. Not to mention the deep bunkers and 'island like' white sand that are on nearly every fairway and surrounding almost every green.

The signature #12 hole is one you will definitely remember. This is a par 5 measuring 545 yards from the blues (which is where I would be playing from) and demands an accurate tee shot if you drive the ball about 240 yards as the fairway bottlenecks and runs downhill. Your lay-up shot demands accuracy because of the huge rock pillars in the middle of the fairway. The green is tucked back and surrounded by huge rock walls, which requires a nice smooth wedge into the green. Don't forget to check out the fossil's near the cart path as you head to the next hole.

Awards for Fossil Trace include:

• Top 10 new golf courses to play in the country in 2003 by Golf Digest and Golf Magazine.
• 4.5 stars best places to play from 2006-2009 awarded by Golf Digest.
• Named one of the top public courses in Colorado by Golfweek in 2006,2007 & 2008 and voted best golf course in Denver by ESPN.com in 2009.

If you are ever in the Denver area you need to get out and play this course. It's only 15 minutes from downtown and it is nestled up against the foothills of the Rockies. Just as their slogan states, after playing here you truly will have, "Escaped the Ordinary, and Experienced the Extraordinary".

Tiger Woods Prediction.....

With the #1 player in the world not having swung a club in the publics eye for nearly 5 months, the question on everyone's mind, including non-golfers, is when he will return. Nobody has an exact answer for this, other than Tiger and probably his wife. So the rest of us are left to guess and pretend that we know what we are talking about.

So here is my prediction: Tiger has officially taken care of all his business, as far as off the turf priorities are concerned. Attending "sex rehab" and family counseling sessions were his #1 priority in the first step of healing the wounds. Now most people should have known that he would not spend an entire year or so going through sessions and sessions of counseling. So now that he is back home with his family, it is only fitting that he is going to start interacting with his other love....the game of golf. Tiger Woods said it himself that, "As she (Elin) pointed out to me, my real apology to her will not come in the form of words. It will come from my behavior over time." So after being spotted at the range, practicing alongside Charles Howell III and rumors of Hank Haney in town, it does not surprise me that his behavior away from home will begin sooner than later. What better time to come back then at the Tavistock Cup on March 22nd. This is a tournament between 2 elite clubs, Isleworth Coutnry club vs. Lake Nona. The amount of golfers participating is limited to those who only belong to either of these clubs, so the field is dismal in comparison to a regular tournament. Also the amount of public granted access into the tournament as well as media are much less then a regular PGA sanctioned event.

This will be a good warm-up event for Tiger before defending his title at the Bay Hill Invitational that same week. Then its off to the Masters two weeks later! Myself and other true golf fans out there should be overwhelmed with joy to see the man who has changed the game for so many thousands of people back out there swinging the sticks and proving yet again, that he will overcome any adversities he faces in life and still be successful at golf.