18holeclub.com

Award for the worst golf website ever is……..Golf Digest!  I understand the need to put information on your main page but come onnnnnnnn.  That site is utterly rediculous, it makes my eyes sore just seeing it once.  Maybe they should talk to my good friends at Site-Spring.com, they know what they are doing. 

Choi went wire to wire with a victory in Hawaii this past weekend.  Showing 2007 was no fluke he took down Rory Sabatinni and company by shooting 13 under par.  Many are predicting him as a favorite to win the Masters this year in April.  Nike made a good move in picking him up in sponsorship and if he continues to play well this year will start making the big bucks along side of Tiger.

Anyone tired of Rev. Al Sharpton?  In the ever increasing politically correct America you can say just about zero about anyone, even in jest.  Kelly made a comment about Tiger that meant absolutely nothing and Rev. Al decided to take it out of context.  Very typical of someone trying to get press as they say.  She ended up paying for it (two weeks in the penalty box) and hopefully that will serve as a good enough punishment.  Glad I am not in TV!

We are just 3 months away from league season on the suncoast.  Stay tuned for info on leagues at courses in your area.  If you are a league manager please send me your info so I can post for everyone to see, thanks.

Daniel Chopra opened up the 2008 PGA tour schedule with a win at the Mercedes Championship.  It just happens to be on my favorite course…Kapalua Plantation.  The views while playing this particular course are unbelievable.  What makes the course tough and what you can’t really see from the TV is how much the terrain changes on most of the holes.  Especially the first hole where there is a deep valley right in the middle of the fairway and if you don’t place your drive correctly you end up having to hit up 100 feet or so to the green.  I have only played there once but I can’t wait to play it again.

As we look back at 2007 on the LPGA tour it is easy to see who’s stock was up and who’s went down.  Lorena Ochoa certainly became blue chip this year along with Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis, Suzann Petterson, and Christie Kerr.  Mi Hyun Kim, Seon-Hwa Lee, Jeong Jang, and Morgan Pressel all showed they deserve to be called elite as well.  The biggest drop off in my mind would have to be Michelle Wie as she lost any momentum she had going into this year but she wasn’t the only one.  Karrie Webb failed to show up this year along with a slip up from Ai Miyazato who was supposed to dominate.  Julieta Granada never seemed to live up to her win in the 06′ championship and Annika Sorenstam’s back kept her out of any meaningful competition this year.  It should be an interesting 2008 with my bet on Lorena to dominate again, but watch out for ”Pink Panther” Paula and another strong year from Petterson. 

If you are looking for a great deal on golf in Florida on the suncoast look no further than www.Bigsummergolf.com.  They have great discount rates on many courses in Manatee, Sarasota, and adjoining county courses.  It runs from early April through late September on most of the courses and offers substantial discount rates.  Check it out and save big bucks! 

In this and following articles I will be putting up a particular golf situation that I would like feedback on and then I will tell what the true answer and result was.  These will be realistic golf shots that I have come across in recent golf rounds.  In this first segment I just hooked my driver short of a bunker (about 200 yards out) and into some trees on a 525 yard Par 5 with a wide open fairway.  I am now in the rough semi-buried with a tree to my 1 O’clock about 6″ wide and maybe 25′ tall branches at 10′.  Ahead there are bunkers that guard the green and trees lining both sides of the fairway (fairway plenty wide).  What shot should I hit next?  Let me hear from you and I will respond with what is best and what I hit.

The other day I was wondering what my handicap would be and so I started to look into getting one.  After figuring out it really only helps you if you are in tournaments often I decided to just see if I could find something to calculate it and leave it at that.  That’s when I ran into a website called www.Mygolfrecord.com.  It is a fairly well built database driven website that tracks your stats for free!  All you need is your scorecards and a computer with internet.  I figured it was going to be a lot of work to put in the information on my home course but was happy to find someone already took care of that.  There are thousands of courses already in the system and I have put in my weekly scores ever since.  It keeps track of all the stats you want as well as showing you your running handicap.  I like the site so much it is going on my blogroll.  If you have any sites that are golf related that might be useful to our readers please submit them to admin@18holeclub.com so we can get it out there.

Have you ever wondered what golf clubs you should buy and didn’t know where to start?  I have definitely been there for sure.  First you buy a set based on what the club pro tells you, then you buy what the golf shop rep tells you, then you buy the clubs on the latest commercial, some even go to the internet and look on the reviews.  While all these things are great they do not give you an overall perspective on what are the best clubs out there.  I decided to do some research and found a site that you may want to take a look at.  WWW.Rankmark.com is a golf research site I found that actually ranks clubs using tons of different clubs and tons of different users.  They rate everything from drivers to putters and have a backlog of years of different types.  This is helpful when you want to buy used clubs and you want to rate them as well.  Next time you get a chance go take a look at this site and see the wealth of info that will help you buy the right set of clubs for you!