Category: Owners/Architects

The Golf of Maine News for May 4, 2017

May 4, 2017
War Drums Drown Golf Claps in Korea

Bangor Municipal Golf Course offering PGA Sports Academy/Junior League — Bangor Municipal Golf Course is switching its youth programs this season, replacing the First Tee of Maine program with the PGA Sports Academy and the PGA Junior League, according to Bangor Muni head pro Rob Jarvis.

Maine Ranked Most Fun State in New England — For Mainers, the best part is the subhead: “Massachusetts lags behind at the back of the pack.”

Speaking of Fun, Golf and Maine — “Realizing that the moose wasn’t likely to move, my buddy and I each teed off, hitting our shots over the moose and landing our drives safely on the distant fairway. The moose was not that impressed.”

LePage plan would bar local pesticide rules — A Washington lobbyist, golf course managers, pesticide company owners and environmentalists walked into a bar… no, wait, we meant… crowded into a legislative hearing room Monday to debate a proposal that would strip municipalities of their ability to regulate pesticides. Maine is one of only seven states that allows local regulations of pesticides.

Rockland Women’s Golf Association tees off with scramble, luncheon, meeting — RWGA has been in existence for decades at RGC.

37 things all golfers should and actually can do before they die —  We think this list can be pared down to 30 or so.  As it stands. we’ve done seven of them… Long way to go!

The 10% Rule — Philosophy for golf, and for life: Keep your head down, and give thanks to your Superintendent.

Installing Fake Bunkers? It’s Time To Get Real — In our humble opinion, the Disneyfication of golf courses must stop.

Your favorite games to play on the golf course — What’s it gonna be today? Bingo-Bango-Bongo? Sixes? Nassau?

In South Korea, a former golf course is now an unlikely bulwark against North Korean attack — Our favorite scene in the classic film, M*A*S*H, is the golf scene…

Avid golfer Corey Lanerie (‘I work to play golf’) riding Lookin At Lee in Kentucky Derby — We’ll be putting our money on Lookin’ At Lee in solidarity with the golfin’ caddie…

Rocky River golf course goes to the goats for mowing help — And no hassles with HB-1 Visas…

Would You Try This on Your Home Course?

Golf News for April 28, 2017

April 28, 2017
Hickory and Perimmon
Hickory and Persimmon, Persimmon and Hickory

Returning to Hickory Golf Out of Love for the Game — Our friend Deal Hudson waxes rhapsodically about a purer form of golf. The more things change, the more we prefer the way they were… “Over the past five years, I’ve never looked back, my steel clubs rarely leave my trunk. I’ve rediscovered the game I learned to love as a teenager, embraced again the joy of playing the game rather than making my enjoyment depend on reaching a certain number.”

Congaree: A First Look At The Golf Club Built By Billionaires On A Model Of Philanthropy — “Golf and giving have always gone hand-in-hand. But at Congaree, a new golf club steeped in history in South Carolina’s low country, philanthropy is the ethos of an entirely new membership model.” Adding this course to our list of “must play” tracks…

10 common sense rules for amateurs — We would add our favorite, “The Faldo”, wherein an admiring fan kicks your errant drive back into the fairway before you arrive…

What Your Golf Game Reveals About Your Personality — “Any trait you see in a person repeatedly on the golf course is probably part of their personality and carries over into other aspects of their lives.”

Who Can Forget That Time Harpo Marx Played Sam Snead…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWpN5YZF-QA

Golf News for April 27, 2017

April 27, 2017
Please, Swami, Make me One with The Hole

Why is Spieth with Palmer? He lost to his caddie — “Edmondson made a wager with Spieth: If I beat you today, you have to partner with Ryan at the Zurich.”

National Golf Day showcases how the industry is taking an active role promoting legislation to help the game — Everything eventually becomes political… “Where once its purpose was primarily as an educational endeavor aimed at breaking down negative stereotypes about the sport, it is now used to provide an active voice in directing legislation to help the game.”

Book Review – Golf’s Iron Horse — “From 1910 to 1953, pencil salesman Ralph Kennedy put together one of the most astonishing records in the history of sports: playing 3,165 unique golf courses. Even more astonishing: he saved a card from every one of those courses, with a signature to attest that he had indeed completed the round.”

One-of-a-Kind Social Golf Experience Opening its Doors in Santa Ana — This sort of business might help to extend the golf season in Maine beyond its usual 3-months…

Penalties in golf start with the player, not the TV viewer — While golf is a solitary, unique game, we try to imagine what would happen if baseball allowed viewers to call in balls and strikes.

How A Set Of Golf Clubs Captured Some Of Call of Duty: WWII’s Best Sounds — How the game of golf made a lasting contribution to the gamer world… “…I went out to the third hole and played it all day long – it was right at the end of the runway. So when a bomber took off, I got amazing bomber flybys and recordings, I did that all day.”

Golf for Workgroups — Speaking of gamers, since the weather isn’t cooperating, here’s one in which up to four players navigate a biped around a height field texture mapped to look like a golf hole.

So a Hindu, a Muslim and a Jew are playing golf together in Dubai — “The simplicity of it makes everyone attempt it, but the subtlety of it makes almost everybody get frustrated with it…”

And Now… Throwback Thursday

Golf News for April 25, 2017

April 25, 2017
Former Greely golfer Sarah Hansen now Centennial Conference Player of the Year and All-Centennial Conference First Team

Maine Mid Coast Amateur Championship Set for Bath and Boothbay Harbor June 3-4 — Includes Stay & Play rates at local hotels.

Reese McFarlane, Cape Elizabeth, and Sarah Hansen, Greely, Two Former Maine H.S. Golfers Make Marks in College Play — Former MSGA competitors are tearing it up at their respective colleges!

Tater Recall: This is how golf balls could’ve ended up in those recalled hash browns — Yesterday, we linked to this story, and here is how it happened, apparently. Aren’t there driving ranges next to potato fields in Northern Maine?

Tomorrow is National Golf Day — Too early for Maine? No TopGolf facilities here… Let’s all take a moment of silence to observe our playing partner’s backswing.

TODAY: R&A and USGA set for announcement on Lexi Thompson incident — We will be watching, and will phone or text in any grammatical errors we see.

How it works: Zurich Classic team format — The new 72-hole stroke play format: Players from the PGA TOUR Priority Rankings who commit to the tournament will choose his partner. Foursomes (alternate shot) during the first and third rounds and Four-Ball (best ball) during the second and fourth rounds. We like Beef and Reifers…

A Journey Through Time – The Rules of Golf — An on-line museum of the history of the Rules of Golf, beginning with the Thirteen Articles of 1744, up through and including 2019.

Bill Murray and His Brothers Venture Into Golf Wear — We linked to Murray’s announcement back in February. NYT’s catches up.

R-Motion simulator fits in your hand, lets you play 100s of virtual courses — The March up the Fairway for Science.

And Now, Your Morning Take-Away

Golf News for April 24, 2017

April 24, 2017
To the Golfmobile, Golfman!

Maine Senior Tour Tee Times — Thanks to the Maine State Golf Association for compiling this list. Players are encouraged to use the MSGA Message Board to find a player to fill out their group if one more is needed. This is also the best way for an individual to find a group to join up with.

Maine Golf Course Openings — The list grew over this past weekend! Send news of course openings to us in the Comments Section below!

Maine Public Radio: Trump, The Golfer In Chief — By far the most prolific presidential golfer was Woodrow Wilson, who played nearly every day but Sunday — some 1600 rounds — including all through World War I.

Legends of Golf: Jack Nicklaus, Kid Rock win first ever Skins Shootout — We’re waiting for The Resistance to issue a release complaining about this.

Ko hires 2017 Caddie of the Year as new looper — Alternate headline: How to go from Caddie of the Year to Unemployed in 3, 2, 1…

Why Do Little Fat Ladies Beat Me At Golf: How To Play Better Golf — And the award for “Least Politically Correct Book Title of 2017” goes to…

‘This is the worst vandalism I’ve ever seen’ — Environmentalist extremists dump a banned, toxic herbicide that stays in the ground for five years, on 14 greens at a golf course to protest what they imagine to be the environmental sins committed by golf courses. Are we the only ones who see the irony in that?

The ultimate golfer’s guide to Ireland — ...And a belated Saint Paddy’s Day to yourself!

11 Golf Carts Guaranteed to Turn Heads At Your Club — Tricked out golf carts of the Rich & Famous.

Monday Morning Tee-Off

Golf News for April 23, 2017

April 23, 2017
Grateful golfers, perhaps. Here’s one Grateful Caddie [Getty Images – click for story]

Gorham Country Club Set to Open — Gorham Country Club will open their front nine for the 2017 season on Wednesday, April 26th. The driving range is open, irons only, from 9-5 with the last bucket out at 4:30.

How Gratitude Can Take Your Golf Game to the Next Level — We’ve always been a Grateful Golfer, the game being more of a spiritual quest than anything else.

The NGF’s annual golf participation report uncovers favorable trends for the game’s future — The Tiger Era is clearly over. A deeper, broader view of the reported numbers actually says the game might be experiencing a renewed vigor, including some record-breaking indicators.

It’s Earth Day! Here are 9 ways golf has become more eco-friendly — We’re all for a “leave no trace” philosophy in life and golf, but filling our golf balls with fish food?! That seems like environmental extremism to us.

Golf ball pieces might be in Harris Teeter hash brown bags — We wholly endorse a golf rich diet, but…

Remembering Pat Browne, New Orleans’ blind golf champion, 84 — We met a blind golfer once. Very inspiring. In tournament play, blind golfers abide by all of the rules of golf save one – in a trap, they are allowed to ground their club.

Man taken into custody after using golf cart during pursuit at Norman course — Troopers responded and engaged in a short pursuit using golf carts. We’re already attempting to buy the movie rights just to film the chase scene…

44 States, Canada to Host Local Qualifying for 117th U.S. Open — Several U.S. Open champions have advanced to the championship through both local and sectional qualifying. Tom Kite, Johnny Miller, Corey Pavin, Curtis Strange, Lee Trevino and Fuzzy Zoeller. Nearest to Maine: Thursday, May 11 Pinehills G.C. (Nicklaus Course), Plymouth, Mass.; Tuesday, May 16 Crumpin-Fox Club, Bernardston, Mass.

And here’s your Sunday Morning Golf Lesson, from Eddie Munster: