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2010 Tavistock Cup Gets Underway

by James on March 22, 2010 in News with No comments

Tavistock Cup 2010Earlier this fine Monday morning the 2010 Tavistock Cup got underway. The world’s most talented interclub championship features some of the best golfers in the world. I have it on the ‘ol TV right now, and am listening to it in the background while I work away here. This years’ edition looks to be another stellar competition, even though the world’s #1 isn’t present. The Isleworth and Lake Nona teams are both stacked to the hilt. In fact, the talent is rediculous. Below are the lineups for the 2010 Tavistock Cup:

Team Lake Nona:

  • Ben Curtis
  • Ernie Els
  • Ross Fisher
  • Retief Goosen
  • Peter Hanson
  • Trevor Immelman
  • Graeme McDowell
  • Ian Poulter
  • Justin Rose
  • Henrik Stenson

Team Isleworth:

  • Robert Allenby
  • Stuart Appleby
  • Arjun Atwal
  • John Cook
  • Brian Davis
  • J.B. Holmes
  • Charles Howell III
  • Lee Janzen
  • Nick O’Hern
  • Mark O’Meara

Early betting have the odds in favor of the Lake Nona team, but heck, how could you ever count out an Isleworth team chalked-full of major winners? I’m really looking forward to the great shots that are sure to hit us over the competition. All players are out on the Isleworth course right now, and the wind is picking up… Should be a challenging first day.

Nike Steps Up to Sponsor Tiger Woods’ Bag at The Masters

by James on March 21, 2010 in News, Bags, Nike Golf, Players with No comments
Tiger Woods Golf Bag
Tiger Woods Golf Bag

Move on over, Frank. Nike is Coming in.

We had a little fun a few days ago speculating what sponsor’s logo would appear on Tiger Woods’ bag when he returned at The Masters. My gut told me that Nike would probably be the brand of choice… and when you consider how Nike has stuck side-by-side with Woods through his recent trials and tribulations, it seemed to be the most reasonable choice.

Sure enough, late last week word came out that Tiger’s own ‘TW’ Nike brand will be emblazoned on the bag. The brand will be front and center, so expect to see the ‘TW’ logo along with a handful of Nike swooshes adorning the equipment of the world’s #1.

If you take a look back through the years, the change to Nike will make it 4 logos to adorn Tiger’s bag. Back in 1996, Tiger started out with Titleist. From there he moved on to Buick, in a deal that lasted quite a long time until 2008 when GM filed for bankruptcy. Over the past year or so the AT&T logo had been found on-the-bag, until Tiger’s recent ‘indiscretions’.

Should be cool to see what the new Nike bag looks like. Any ideas?

What You’ll Need to Watch The Masters in 3D

by James on March 20, 2010 in News with 3 Comments
What You'll Need to Watch The Masters in 3D

What You'll Need to Watch The Masters in 3D

Chances are you’ve heard that Comcast is broadcasting The Masters in 3D. Cool, for sure… but do you have the equipment and television necessary to enjoy the broadcast? Are you ready to view The Masters in full-out 3D? Keep reading to find out if you have the equipment you need.

Comcast has designs on outputting a side-by-side 1080i MPEG-2 transmission. If this doesn’t mean anything to you, no worries, it means nothing to me either. The quick translation is Comcast’s HD set-top boxes connected through HDMI are already more than capable of handling the signal. So, if you already have the box, it’s time to load up on a 3D HDTV

Quite honestly, the pricing isn’t as expensive as you’d think. I recently popped over to Best Buy to check them out, and Samsung seems to be the brand of choice, with their 46″ and 55″ 3D HDTV’s both readily available. These 3D HDTV’s are 1080p, run at 240Hz, and will set you back $2,339.99 for the 46″ model, and $2969.99 for the 55″. Not bad at all.

I’ve included the product links below from Best Buy. Check ’em out, and if you’re willing to drop a few grand, it COULD be worth it! (really, the price isn’t that much more than similar non-3D LED and LCD televisions!)

What are your thoughts? Too expensive? Or perhaps you just don’t care? Will plain ‘old’ 2D do you just fine?

Note: For the 3D HDTVs above, the 3D glasses are not included… You’ll need to purchase those separately.

Could we see a Shorter Augusta National for the 2010 Masters?

by James on March 19, 2010 in News, Courses with 2 Comments
Entrance to the 2nd Green at Augusta National

The entrance to the 2nd Green at Augusta National has been widened by 8 feet.

The anticipation growing in the pit of my stomach for this years’ Masters. At least, I think that’s what it is… it could also be the Thai food I ate for dinner.

Thai food aside, the excitement is growing by the minute, and as April draws near, I find myself reading (and watching) more Masters goodness than a guy can handle. Earlier today, I was poking around the Golf Channel when I came across the Shag Bag Blog (If you’ve never read it, I highly recommend). One quick post in particular that I came across was by Rex Hoggard, and it touched upon the changes (or lack thereof) to Augusta National this year.

The changes to the course for the 2010 edition of the Masters are surprisingly small… in fact, some would even consider them surprising. The 2nd hole has had the entry to the green widened by 8 feet. This should make for more birdies and eagles at the 575 yard par 5. Also worth noting is the fact that the 5th and 13th teeboxes have been extended… FORWARD. I had to do a double-take the first time I read that! But it’s true! The fifth is a challenging dogleg left par 4 at 455 yards. The 13th of course is one of the most famous par 5’s the world over, measuring 510 yards. The extension of the teeing areas forward on these holes should make for shorter approach shots on 5, and more green-hitting attempts on the par 5 13th.

In the end, we know we’re not going to see the tees forward very much… But if and when we do, we can count on more birdies and eagles than we’re used to seeing. We could be in for a real treat at The Masters this year, weather pending 🙂

Contest: Predict Tiger’s Score at The Masters, Win a Copy of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11!

by James on March 18, 2010 in Contests with No comments

With Tiger Woods returning to the PGA Tour at The Masters (April 5-11), I couldn’t be happier. Yes, the whole situation over the past few months has been disappointing to say the very least, but we need to let the man do what he does best… GOLF… and when he returns at The Masters I’ll be glued to the TV set, watching him every step of the way.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2011 Contest

To help ‘celebrate’ the world’s #1 return to the course, I thought it may be fun to run a little contest. Up for grabs? Well, that’d be a copy of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2011 for the console of your choice! The game will be available in-stores on June 8th, so yeah, you’ll have to wait a little while to get it… But good things come to those that wait! The game will be available at launch for the Wii, PS3 and XBOX 360, so the winner will simply have to let me know the console they prefer, and the game will be on the way. Deal? Deal!

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11

Win a copy of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11!

Now, on to the details on entering. The concept is simple. We’re going to see who can predict Tiger’s round and total score as closely as possible. This should be fun. 1 point will be awarded for a correct round score, and 4 points will be awarded for a correct total score. In the event of a tie, a custom tie-breaker contest will be held during Tiger’s next tourny to break it. Sound good? OK, now here are the steps you’ve got to follow to enter, PLEASE READ CAREFULLY:

  1. Follow us on Twitter. It takes literally one second. Follow us @GolfCrunchLive.
  2. Tweet the contest to your followers AT LEAST ONCE. Again, this only takes a few seconds.
  3. Leave a comment to THIS post, with your round scores and total score, in this format: 70 69 67 71 = 277
    (Note: If you think he’s going to miss the cut, format your entry like this: 75 74 = 149)

That’s it. 3 easy steps, and you’re in.

Can you enter multiple times? YES. Once every 24 hours.
That said, anyone blatantly hitting up the contest with entry after entry on the same day will be disqualified. Also, along with every entry we ask that you tweet about the contest to your followers. So, if you’re entered 5 times in the contest, I better see at least 5 tweets about the contest! Sound like a fair deal? Good!

At the conclusion of The Masters, I’ll go through all entries to determine a winner. In fact, I’ll probably put together a contest ‘leaderboard’ of sorts to show off all entries and scores entered. Should be fun to see the scoring people enter!

Once I’ve determined the winner, I’ll hit up Twitter to determine if the winner is indeed following us, and if they ‘tweeted’ the contest to their followers. If not, I’ll go down the list to the second place person and do the same.

Sound good? Great!

Let’s get predictin’! Follow us, tweet the contest to your followers and enter your scores here in the comments.

GOOD LUCK!

Note: Cut-off for contest entries is 11:59CST on April 7th.

Poll: Who’s Going to Sponsor Tiger’s Bag?

by James on March 17, 2010 in Polls with No comments

Tiger Woods' BagUnless you’re half-dead, or have somehow avoided all forms of media and human contact today, you’ve heard the news that Tiger Woods is all set to return at The Masters this April. Personally, this is going to make my favorite tournament of the year even better. It’s going to be a spectacle… Probably, the most watched golf tournament in history… And can you imagine if he goes on to win? Ohhhhh baby!

Getting back to the point of this post, Tiger’s caddie ‘Stevie’ Williams will no doubt be back and on the bag all week long at The Masters. But what we’re curious about here is Tigers actual bag. What sponsor will we see on it? Accenture, AT&T, Gillette, Tag Heuer, Pepsico and Gatorade have all either taken a step back, or given him the boot completely. This leaves (to the best of my knowledge) Nike, Electronics Arts, GolfDigest and NetJets as major sponsors that may (or may not) want a piece of Tiger’s bag (OK, that sounds awful). Perhaps Tiger’s own Foundation will be embroidered into the bag?

What do you think? Vote below, and if you think someone else is going to step up to that coveted bag sponsorship, let us know about it in the comments!

Who's Going to Sponsor Tiger's Bag?

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5 Fun Facts About Doral’s ‘Blue Monster’

by James on March 13, 2010 in Courses with No comments

Doral's Blue Monster

With the World Golf Championships-CA Championship coming to a conclusion at Doral this weekend, I thought it might be fun to take a look at some facts about this tricky track. Sure, we all know the Doral Resort and Spa Blue Course is dubbed the ‘Blue Monster’ due to its length and abundance of water… but did you know some of these interesting tidbits below? Check ’em out to find out for yourself!

1. The course was designed by Dick Wilson and Robert von Hagge in 1961. Together with the PGA Tour and the folks at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa, Raymond Floyd gave it some redesign attention in 2006. The course plays to a par 72, and houses 110 bunkers, 11 mammoth water hazards, and greens of Bermudagrass.

Robert Allenby

2. In tournament play, there have been 10 hole-in-ones recorded at Doral. The most recent of which came from Robert Allenby on the 233 yard 13th hole. The club he used to sink the magical ace? A 5-wood.

Hole-in-ones by hole: 3 at #4, 3 at #9, 3 at #15… and Allenby’s ace at the 13th was the first ever recorded on the hole in tournament play.

Stephen Ames

3. The course record at Doral is 61 by Stephen Ames. The 11-under round was shot back in 2000 in the Doral-Ryder Open (as it was known at the time). By the end of the tournament, he finished 8th.

4. In terms of difficulty, the Doral ‘Blue Monster’ is ranked 40th out of 54 tracks on the PGA Tour (this ranking is from 2008). With a total yardage over 7,200 yards, it is indeed a ‘Monster’, yet, many of the pros do use a lot of fairway woods off the tee.

Top View of the 18th at Doral

5. The most difficult hole on the course? That would easily be the finale at the 18th. A par 4 at 467 yards, this tough one will play havoc with your mind. An extremely tough (and precise) drive is needed. The fairway narrows to only 32 yards roughly 275 yards from the tee. The trick is to avoid the water left, while keeping your shot from sliding right into the rough. A ball played from the rough for a second shot will require an exceptional effort to reach the green (guarded by water and 2 bunkers) safely in two. The finisher at Doral has consistently been among the toughest holes on tour, with stroke averages ranging from 4.10 to 4.63 in recent years.

So there you have it. 5 fun facts about Doral’s Blue Monster… Hopefully the info will give you some more background and appreciation for the tough track our beloved pros are navigating this weekend. Get ready for an awesome finish on the 18th… no lead is safe!

‘The Donald’ Scrambles Helicopters to Dry out Trump National

by James on March 12, 2010 in Humor with No comments

Trump International

What do you do when you’re Donald Trump, you own a golf course, and need to dry the darn thing out? Well, logic says that you get a helicopter to hover over wet areas of the course to speed the drying process, of course!

Courtesy @golfviews, the image above is of a chopper drying out the first fairway at the Trump Inernational Golf Club. The first round of the Puerto Rico Open was delayed due to a torrential downpour… Let’s hope they can get the full first round in today.

Note: I suppose this could just be a helicopter landing on the course… but that wouldn’t be much fun now, would it?… and heck, why would a helicopter come in for a landing in the middle of a fairway? Especially when a tournament is on the cusp of starting up? Yeah, it’s drying the fairway, for sure 🙂

Crenshaw and Coore Tapped to Restore Strategic and Aesthetic Character at Pinehurst No. 2

by James on March 11, 2010 in News, Courses with No comments

Pinehurst No. 2

Looks like the design team of Masters Champion Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore have been hired to do some restoration work on the classic Donald Ross design at Pinehurst No. 2. The work is being commissioned with the 2014 US Open and US Women’s Open in mind. The two major events will hit No. 2 in consecutive weeks, four years from now. Time to make the changes, and in a few years, all will be ready for the big events!

The goal of the course changes will revolve around restoring the strategic and aesthetic feel that Donald Ross so aptly built into the original design. That being said, Coore commented on the task at hand:

‘It is not our intent to radically change this golf course. We’re trying to uncover it, not recover it.’

Sounds like Coore knows what he’s talking about. Taking a dozer to a classic like Pinehurst No. 2 would be tragic. Revealing and slowly chipping away at some of the finer details would be clearly the way to go. Look for Coore and Crenshaw to restore sandy waste areas, widen some of the fairways, and bring some of the native wiregrass and natural bunker edges. I can already see it now. No. 2 is going to look great.

[Via: GolfWeek]

Slazenger Heritage Polos Now Available

by James on March 11, 2010 in Style & Fashion with No comments

Slazenger Heritage PolosI have to admit, when I think Slazenger, I think of Wimbledon. I think of their tennis balls, of the fortnight in London to crown the champion at the ‘All-England’ club each year. That’s just me… But if you take a look at the golf fashion Slazenger is pumping out these days, it looks like they’re trying to change my mind.

The other day I noticed the good folks at TrendyGolf posted an offering of the new ‘Heritage’ line from Slazenger. At first glance, I loved the look of them. At second glance, I loved them even more.

Made of 100% cotton, the Heritage line from Slazenger is without a doubt, one of the more classic polos from the 80’s. Emblazoned with the ‘golden cat’ logo, put one on and I bet you couldn’t help but feel like Seve celebrating his Open triumph with a few fist pumps.

Available now from £39 (around $58USD), head on over to TrendyGolf for a look at their selection. Many colors and sizes are available!

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