BURIED ELEPHANT - YOU COULD BE WEARING QUAGMIRE ON TOUR

Canadian golf fashion company Quagmire Golf has been on a roll since Geoff Tait and Bobby Pasternak first launched the company becuase they were “tired of our boring golf duds and decided to create chilled, lifestyle wear”. 

Geoff and Bobby have been very successful at using promotinos and PR to establish a name for themselves very quickly.  They also have PGA touring pros wearing their gear including Aron Price, Matt Weibring and LPGA player Stephanie Louden.  Their newest player on tour is YOU!

The new release of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 by EA Sports, in stores now, includes Quagmire duds that you can dress your player in.  If you have never played Tiger Woods PGA Tour you should.  This is by far the best console golf game and it just gets better with each new release.  Whether you are playing against your friends online or against PGA players with real time scoring from live tour events or just out for a fun round of golf at the world’s best courses you can now be decked out in cool Quagmire duds.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 allows you to not only create your own character any way you like but you can also add gear and dress any way you like.  As you can see below some great new choices are available from the Quagmire collection.

 If you want to actually look this good in person while you are really playing golf you can buy Quagmire online or you visit one of the many retailers who carry thier product.

 BURIED ELEPHANT - LUNCH AT ST. GEORGE’S - A CANADIAN OPEN PREVIEW 

My Grandfather was a member at St. George’s for years when I was a boy.  I used to caddy for him once in a while and afterward he would invite me into the dining room (caddies weren’t allowed but family was) for a Coke float or a ginger beer.  I also remember going to the occasional family movie night at the club house.  Such are the vivid memories I have of St. George’s but I haven’t been inside the clubhouse for 35 years or more - until today.

Today I was invited to a luncheon held by St. George’s. It was one of at least three they plan leading up to the RBC Canadian Open in July, the first held at this course since 1968.  Mostly in attendance where members and their guests.  The speakers today were three of Canada’s most influential golf power brokers;

(left to right: Jim Little RBC Chief Brand & Communications Officer, Chris Armstrong VP Golf at IMG, and Scott Simmonds Exec. Dir. of Golf Canada)

The trio talked about the plans leading up to the Canadian Open, the need and plans to grow golf in Canada and the re-branding of the RCGA into Golf Canada.  While details were lacking (there is a separate press announcement on Tuesday announcing players who have committed to come to this year’s open) all three panelists hinted at a very strong field at this year’s RBC Canadian Open.

Simmons shared his vision for a successful tournament which includes the best venues in Canada, a strong charitable component, the best field possible and a great event experience for the fans.  Simmons boasted that all these factors come together nicely at this event thanks to all the stakeholders, particularly the community and the city.

Armstrong talked from the players perspective and said that aside from the date of the event the most important factor determining which events a player participates in is the venue saying most players “would rather play a great course for a smaller purse than play a mediocre course for a larger purse”.  Everyone at the table agreed that St. George’s will attract quality players.

One topic that came up repeatedly was the charitable component of the RBC Canadian Open.  When RBC became the title sponsor and partnered with Mike Weir their goal was to raise $5 million for local organizations in 5 years.  According to Jim Little the inaugural celebrity pro-am charity event last year was a great start and they are well on their way ot reaching that goal.

As always at these events there was also talk about growing the game of golf in Canada and in particular the moderator Bob Weeks (of Score Golf) asked about the effect of golf an Olympic sport in 2016.  “It will be a huge huge step for our sport” said Simmons referring to the added funding that will be available as an Olympic Sport.  The RCGA is also working with other organizations around the globe to have golf added to both the Pan-Am Games and the Commonwealth Games.  Armstrong, of IMG, thinks that world class players will show up to represent their country because there is no bigger honour than to represent your country on the worlds biggest sporting stage.

Lunch was held at the St. George’s Clubhouse. After 35 years the building still has that special feel and an air of majesty but like so many other things in life the building seem much smaller to my adult eyes. 

 (lunch at St. George’s Country Club)

BURIED ELEPHANT - MOVE OVER HANK - IT LOOKS LIKE TED WAS RIGHT 

USA Today is reporting that Hank Haney has stepped down as Tiger Woods swing coach.  Haney says that this was his decision and that he and Tiger will always be friends.

It looks like Ted McIntyre may have been right on the money.  In Ted’s blog earlier this week Ted speculated that Ontario Golf’s Instruction Editor Sean Foley is setup to be Tiger Woods’ next swing coach.  For the record Foley has denied rumours as recently as last week that he is in discussions with Tiger Woods to become his next swing coach.

Foley has seen much success with PGA Tour players lately and was recently featured on the front cover of Ontario Golf Magazine. Take a look at the online issue to read Sean’s story.

BURIED ELEPHANT - NOTHING IS OUT OF REACH

Butch Lumpkin is a father, a motivational speaker and a competitor;  he loves to golf, he carries a 9 handicap and he has no arms.

Butch was born with a birth defect most likely caused by Thalidomide.  Despite his challenges Butch plays soccer, tennis and golf and he plays them well.  Butch isn’t looking for sympathy in fact he says “the cool part is I’m also getting your best because I know if you and me go play today you don’t want to get beat by a man with no arms”.

For more on Butch check out his website where his tag line is Beyond Limits.

Butch was featured on The Golf Channel. Click on the image below to see the video. Butch is an inspiration and I know the next time I’m struggling with my game I’m going to think of Butch and realize that nothing is out of reach.

 BURIED ELEPHANT - GOLF IN SPACE

Golf is everywhere, even in space according to James Cameron’s block buster hit movie Avatar. 

Early in the movie the character Parker Selfridge (played by actor Giovanni Ribisi) is doing a little putting practice when he’s interrupted by Sigourney Weaver’s character Dr. Grace Augustine.  Remember this scene ….

Selfridge: [In the tech room, Selfridge putts a golf ball into a mug and laughs] You see that?
Worker: Yes sir!
Selfridge: No you didn’t, you were looking at the monitor. I love this putter, Ronnie! I love this putter!
Dr. Grace Augustine: Parker. You know, I used to think it was benign neglect, but now I see that you are intentionally screwing me.
Selfridge: Grace, you know, I enjoy our little talks.
[He putts the ball again, it's about to go in the mug but Grace kicks the mug away]
Dr. Grace Augustine: [Deadpan] Oops.

The putter Sefridge likes so much is a Louisville wooden mallet putter.  Louisville Golf, a family-run business, has been making wood golf clubs for 36 years and continues to this day, despite the fact that wood has been replaced by metal in the modern golf bag.  The wooden mallet putters are all handmade from over 100 hand operations, each one is a piece of art.  Pictured at right is the EWM-3 Model (I don’t know if this is the one that was used in the movie).

Over four years ago the production team for Avatar contacted the company and bought some clubs.  Hey you can’t make a movie for $310 million (from LA Times) without buying at least one set of golf clubs.  I wonder if the clubs are now the property of James Cameron?  Josh Fischer, Marketing Manager for Louisville Golf almost forgot about them it was so long ago.

The Louisville wooden mallet putter even figures prominently on the Parker Selfridge action figure available at Amazon. (pictured below)

BURIED ELEPHANT - THE FUTURE OF GOLF?
Below is an architect’s rendering of a new indoor golf facility under developement in Holland called Indoor Golf Arena.

This is a huge project billed as “the world’s largest, most unique and divers indoor golf training centre, open 365 days a year and offering high quality indoor golf training facilities”.  It sure looks like it.

Included in the plans are;

 According to the European Golf Course Owners AssociationHolland is the fastest growing golf market in Europe and they also have the highest number of players per course.  With those kinds of stats this facility might be very successful.  The added revenue that comes from the hotel, events, teaching and other add-ons will be key to their success I think.

In Canada we have such an over supply of golf courses I doubt that a facility such as this could survive.  The overhead would be just too high for a business that would only be busy for half the year.  Then again what do I know?  I was one of those who thought that Golf Town couldn’t make it for the very same reason and now they just opened their 51st store.  Congratulations to Golf Town, a true Canadian success story.

BURIED ELEPHANT - TIGER: WHAT I WANT TO KNOW

Tiger Woods has announced that he will be holding a press conference the Monday of The Masters, before his first competitive event of the year.  Aside from the recent controlled interviews with The Golf Channel and ESPN it looks like this will be first chance for the media to ask questions in an open format.

Now I do believe that even public figures like Tiger Woods are entitled to their privacy and that their family and personal lives are nobody’s business but their own.  For that reason I have tried not to get into the details of Tiger’s affairs.  However golf is, perhaps more than any other sport, a game of character and therefore Tiger’s character flaws are relevant.

With that in mind this is the question I want answered at the press conference;

You cheated on your wife and your family. Did you cheat on golf?

Assuming his answer would be no … are we to believe that the rules of golf mean more to Tiger than his marriage vows?

Back in December it became public that Tiger Woods had been treated by Dr. Anthony Galea of Toronto. Dr. Galea (pictured at right) admits to using human growth hormone himself and on some of his clients but claims that he has not used it with any professional atheletes.

I believe people can change and I hope Tiger has learned from his mistakes and has become a better person because of it.  But if you’re a cheater you’re a cheater and why should we believe that he was willing to cheat on his family and not cheat at golf by taking HGH. 

I think that Tiger Woods is good for golf and there could be nothing better for this sport than for him to return to golf better than ever and to return to his family the same way.  I hope he does that and proves over time that he is an honest person and golfer.

What do you think?

BURIED ELEPHANT - THE AVATAR OF GOLF - THE MASTERS GOES 3D

The Masters has had a history of innovation in the world of golf including;

• First tournament to use four days of 18 hole stroke play
• First tournament to be broadcast on TV
• First to change mound locations
• First to use the current scoring system using colours for over/under par
• First to use leaderboards around the course for “live” scornig

On Monday Augusta National and The Masters Tournament announced another first. The 2010 Masters will be the first golf tournament broadcast in 3D.  While most of us won’t be able to take advantage of this new technology new TVs specially designed for this technology will give viewers unprecedented perspective on this storied course.  I’ve been told that you cannot appreciate how hilly the course is on TV.  Maybe that’s changing.

Back in November our editor visited Panasonic’s launch of this technology.

If you’re in the market for this technology you can visit Panasonic’s website here for more details.

If you have a 3D TV log in below and let us know what the broadcast looks like.

BURIED ELEPHANT - CAN’T WAIT TO GOLF? DON’T!

The weather in southern Ontario has been unseasonably warm all winter and now more than ever.  While courses in the area don’t usually open until Mid-April the lack of snow and warm weather means that some courses will be opening early this year.

Here are three courses that I’ve heard are opening this week.

Carlisle (North of Burlington, West of Milton) - open on Wednesday

Tarandowah (Sout East of London) - open on Wednesday

Piper’s Heath (East of Milton) - open on Thursday

If you know of more courses that are open early please post a comment below and let our readers know.

Once you’ve played these courses don’t forget to go to the Ontario Golf Course Directory and post your ratings.

BURIED ELEPHANT - ONE TOO MANY SWING TRAINING AIDS

I love watching Dragon’s Den and the American version Shark Tank.  I enjoy seeing some really creative people pitching passionately their vision for the future of their business. I also like watching people get ripped apart who present under-developed, poorly planned or just plain bad ideas.

Recently the Dragons heard a pitch for yet another golf swing trainer.  This guy has spent 9 years on this product, invested $300,000 of his own money and has sold 120 units. Ouch.

The good news is it only takes “5 minutes to fix any swing”

To see how it’s done properly look to Burlington, Ontario based Swingnature [http://swingnature.com/].  This product is based on sound mechanics and has good marketing. Since the release of their infomercial in September on The Golf Channel the company sold 2,000 units before the end of the year.

Swingnature Infomercial

Ontario Golf, the official publication of the Golf Association of Ontario, featured Swingnature and the company’s President Kelly Curry in a recent issue. To learn more about how this product came about and why Hank Haney endoreses it click on the image below.