Sergio Garcia - We Found Him, and He is HAPPY !!!

On The Links.........................and At The Prom....

Sergio Garcia's troubles of late have been well chronicled - missed cuts, poor play, and (oh yeah) the endless stream of excuses. From the British Open of two years ago to this year's Masters Sergio seems to have had an excuse for everything. Although the track at Augusta National was not to his liking, his latest round of troubles have been linked to his "personal" struggles - read difficulties with the opposite sex. His relationship with Morgan Leigh Norman has ended (rumor is that she kicked him to the curb....), and according to recent press releases from across the pond:
Garcia said that it had been Morgan’s decision to part. Further stating “Myself, when I am not feeling happy on a golf course and not up for it, that is the way it is. You can’t do anything about it. I can’t do well. Obviously the break-up with Morgan didn’t help. You get over some things. Others take a little longer. “It was her doing, not mine, and it happened the week of Miami. It is unfortunate, one of those things. Do I still think of her all the time? No. It is pretty much back in the past now.” Sergio has been suspiciously absent from the public eye of late, so, the sleuths at Bushwood went looking for him. We are happy to report that we not only FOUND Sergio, but also found him VERY HAPPY. It seems that Sergio has made some, um, "changes" and has really "found himself"., and...well, the article below sums it up better than I could:

DATELINE LOS ANGELES – Sergio Garcia said he felt "invincible" when he was crowned queen of the Fairfax High School dance at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on Saturday. Days before the dance, Garcia told fellow students that he was "not your typical prom queen candidate. There's more to me than meets the eye. He also promised that he would be wearing a suit on prom night, but "don't be fooled: Deep down, I am a queen. And he made good of that promise Saturday, wearing a thong and a tiara."I don't wish to be a girl," he told the Los Angeles Times. "I just wish to be myself." Although many students were supportive of Garcia's run, others were upset and didn't understand why Garcia chose to run for prom queen.
"I'm not really happy about that," said 17-year-old Juan Espinoza. "He should've just tried to win a major..."

P.S. - That's SG on the left in the picture above !!!

Blogger vs "Journalist" - A Case Study HBR would be Proud Of...

The debate over "blogger" vs. "journalist" seems like one we will hear for a long time. For a multitude of "reasons", many "professional journalists" have a real dislike for bloggers. Rick Reilly (whose writing I happen to really like) makes no attempt to contain his raw contempt for bloggers - and the list of journos who diss bloggers just goes on from there. The reasons have become so rote, that a pre-schooler could recite them:

1. No editorial control or review
2. Nor PROFESSIONALLY trained
3. Mostly opinion, not "researched"
4. Often anonymously written
5. blah,blah,blah

Well, something happened last week that allowed me to examine this argument from a completely different perspective - and one which I hope will open a few eyes. It all started when I was scanning the daily news and I came across a headline that included the words " Lady Golfers" and "Escort Services". Intrigued (as was no doubt the JOURNALIST'S intent), I clicked through. I then proceeded to read an article on Time Magazine's website which pretty much made me want to puke. Seems some ivy league punk named Sean Gregory did a complete hack job on a completely legitimate business - one that is new, innovative, and totally above board. The business, Play Golf Designs is run by one of Bushwood CCs Charter Members, Nisha Sadekar. PGD's staff includes a list of other BCC members such as Amber Prange, Blair O'Neal, Kim Kouwabunpat, Caroline Larson, and others. 

Given this, any attack on Nisha and her crew is pretty much guaranteed to get me ready to drop some old school,down south,give no quarter ass whipping on that dude in the Princeton letter sweater.....but that's for another time. This slanted,biased,unprofessional "story" is complete crap at best, and outright slanderous at worst - but don't just take my word for it - you can read many other people say the same thing here, here, and here.

Therefore, I'm taking a different approach - I'm going to use this as an opportunity to call out the differences between a blogger and a journalist, from a blogger's perspective. Belly up to the bar, and get ready for a tall, cold one...

1. Bloggers rarely, if ever, get paid - so they are likely to write about something they care about. That means you get REAL passion, not some wanker trying to make a deadline or gen up ad sales evenue..
2. Bloggers are less likely to take a slanted or biased angle on a story - because they are glad to be talking to someone who will take the time to chat with them.
3. Bloggers DO threaten traditional journalists - because we don't have to generate (much) revenue to cover costs, we don't have to be sensationalistic or biased - we call em how we see em, and if no one reads the story, no big deal. We don't churn up whatever sensationalistic smeg that we can muster just to move a little product.
4. Bloggers tend to "care" about the people they write about - because they may want to actually be able to talk to them again in the future - there is no "churn and burn" mentality in the blogosphere (unless, like "The Queen of All Media", you are a corpulent, self important, windbag).
5. Some bloggers (like me) are, in fact, NOT anonymous. Neither are my colleagues Patricia Hannigan, Shane Bacon, Ryan Ballangee, Nisha Sadekar, Stephanie Wei, Jay Busbee, and a host of others.
6. Some bloggers (like me) offer their interview subjects a chance to review the story and correct any obvious mistakes - you may call that a lack of independence, I just call it being fair to the people who I talk to. If I don't like their requested changes, we either work it out or I dont post the story - either way, no respect is lost and no one is hosed.

Rather than go on with the list, I want to leave something for the Harvard Business Review to study upon. So the to folks at HBR, I've laid it out for you - you help us figure out, once and for all ,the answer to the Sphynx like riddle - Journalist or Blogger ?

P.S. - Hey "Tiger of the Week"

Remember the scene in Pulp Fiction when Marsellus is talking to Butch...well, if you see a coupla dudes with some pliers and a blowtorch, they aren't coming to fix the water heater...

Bushwood Member Blair O'Neal is,um,QUALIFIED !

A few weeks back, we interviewed Blair O'Neal - this year's uber-hottie from TGC's Big Break PEI. Blair was super nice throughout the interview process - and shortly after the post was up, our membership committee met, and voted rather UNANIMOUSLY to extend a membership to Blair.

For those of you who follow The Big Break, you probably noticed that early on Blair was sort of considered "just a pretty face", and was not given much of a chance - while we can surely understand the former, the latter has turned out to be far from the truth. After 5 people have been booted from the show, our girl Blair is still there kickin azz and takin' names... However, that is not the big news.

On Monday May 18th, there was a little event at the Phoenix Country Club - called the U.S Women's Open local qualifier. Entered in the event was none other than the lovely and talented Blair O'Neal. I won't make you wait any longer to learn what all the excitement is about here at BCC - Blair rocked the house, shooting a cool 3 over par 75 to QUALIFY FOR THE SECTIONALS ! To show Blair our support, the members have voted to sponsor Blair in the sectionals - that's right - we have assessed our members and will be paying her entry fee into the US Women's Open Sectional.

We caught up with Blair today, and asked her a few questions about the local qualifier:

Cash: First of all, congrats on takin' some names at the Phoenix CC this weekend. We were cheering hard and long for you! Tell us a little about it.

Blair: Thanks for the Congrats. I had an awesome day - it was a little nerve wracking at times, but I am happy with the result.

Cash: How did you start the round ?

Blair: Oddly, I started off not so well - I hit my first drive into a fairway bunker, and eventually double bogeyed the hole ! UGH! But then, I settled down and put together a string of pars.

Cash:When was your first birdie ?

Blair: On my 9th hole (actually the par 5 #18) b/c I started on the back 9), I hit a great drive, laid up with a 6 iron, and was about 100 yards out. From there, I hit my approach to about a foot - that gave me a lot of momentum for the last nine holes. I also had one of my good friends from high school caddying for me - so she helped keep me focused on the moment.

Cash: What was the layout like ?

Blair: The course played pretty long - probably 6,600 yards or so - which helped me because I was able to use my distance off the tee to my advantage. The greens were very fast,but in great condition - so I was rolling the ball pretty well. Oh, and it 107 degrees at around 1:00 !

Cash: OMG - that's ridiculous ! So what's next up ?

Blair: Well, I selected the Maryland site for playing in the sectionals. I have some friends in the area, and I think the course sets up well for me - so hopefully I will play well, and make it into the U.S. Open.

Cash: Well, everyone here is cheering hard for you - we are all proud of how well you are playing. It's obvious that the hard work you told us about earlier is really paying off for you. I gotta tell you one final story - I was playing last week and one of my partners brought along his 13 year old son named Caleb. When I told him about Bushwood, and that you were a member here he almost melted.

Blair: Melted ?

Cash: His immediate response was this "Blair is the PERFECT woman - she is a model, she plays golf, and she is HOTTT! I wish could meet her !". I told him I would ask you to send him one of your famous autographed photos - can we do that ?

Blair: Sure..I'm happy to !

Cash: Blair, thanks again for your time. Always nice talking to you - and keep on rockin !

Ok gang, that's it from BCC today. Keep watching and cheering for our homegirl Blair O'Neal, and check her out at www.blairgolf.com.

Dudes Messin' with John Daly - FAIL

I came across story today on John Daly (imagine that!). Martin Rogers has written a pretty slanted attack on Long John Daly over at Devil Ball Golf .  The article calls into question everything from Daly's golf attire (provided by LoudMouth Golf - check em out !) to his attempts to right his financial situation.  While Devil Ball is usually written by Jay Busbee, a dude who I like a lot, and is a real leader in the golf blogosphere, I suppose they have given a guest editor a shot today.

Judging by the comments to this post, a "SHOT" is something Martin is likely to get if he shows his face anywhere - likely the 12 gauge kind.  His take on Daly's comeback is clearly less than flattering, and he has angered a ton of people in only a couple of hours.  Here are a few of the choice comments from the readers:

• why don't you actually do some reporting on the entire story, rather than just harping all over him. you're a douchebag and it's getting really old. how about some comparisons between the how difficult an italian course plays as compared to the courses the pga plays on. how about some insight on the competition he faced in that tournament? how good are they? how do they stack up against the pga? it gets [explicative] old listening to you constantly harp on daly. i understand that is what the media is all about these days because they feel so inadequate about their own choices in life, but please stop it already.
  
• I'm sure this Martin is desperate for attention, pissing people off, Bad example for young writers, to learn that putting people, when they are down, is good writing. That you can have a job, or keep your job, That's a shame, or a scheme, for readers to respond, I'm writing or responding to this idiocracy. My advice to you Martin, is to practice cleaning toilets, Coz that's where you going, Good Luck John, Congrats!! and Good Luck in the European tour, You are the Man!!
  
• Hey Martin, I think you've exposed yourself as just another freeloader trying to get some attention on the back of JD. It's funny how many unknown writers have come out in the last couple of weeks with stories about how Tiger is done and John Daly is a "freak show." Yeah, he's a freak show with 2 major championships, you douche bag. Fact is, John moves the needle in golf. Now that he's playing well, LOTS of people care, you included, apparently. If you had a big event with John, Tiger and Phil playing in different groups, who would have the smallest gallery? Hint: It wouldn't be John or Tiger. Yahoo, please stop publishing these outlandish and ridiculous columns from no-name writers trying to get attention. PLEASE.
  
• 'Sad? Yes, but also proof that Daly no longer has any pride left, whatever his financial state.' Are you serious with this statement? Could it be that he has come to realize the sitiation he as put himself in and is taking steps to improve things? Seems to me that he attempting to change because he has some pride left. What is sad is that we are burying people before they pass. He just may be giving everyone what they have been hounding him about for years and they still aren't happy. That isn't a reflection on JD, my friend.
  

There are a ton more comments  - and perhaps the most interesting thing is that not ONE PERSON agrees with the Rogers take on JD.  Now, I am no professional journalist - but a 0 percent success rate tells me maybe it's time Mr. Rogers decided write about lacrosse or something.

Whitey Ford (actually Shane B.) and What It's Like ....

Forgive me for co-opting (sort of) the name of an Everlast record there - below is a link to a great post from my man Shane Bacon about what it's REALLY like to play some tournament golf...

Props to Shane B. for having the ballz to go for it...

http://golf.fanhouse.com/2009/05/12/a-u-s-open-qualifying-disappointment/

Carl Spackler and The Sawgrass Redemption

The Patient...................The Doctor.....................The Solution

Hopefully, lots of you got to watch THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP this weekend. Plenty of good golf, and a fair amount of drama. For the last several years THE PLAYERS has really pushed itself as the "5th Major"-complete with some pretty,um,outlandish quotes in their commercials. As challenging as the course is, complete with the controversial 17th hole (some love it, others say it is gimmicky), there was something that was pretty obvious this year...something that requires Bushwood's (recently promoted) Head Greenskeeper, Carl Spackler to get involved.

There were many,many areas of the course that looked flat out crappy this year - I mean dead,brown,middle of a drought, subject to spontaneous combustion bad. None were more obvious than the greens on Sunday - which looked like (and played like) brownish concrete with a little green overspray. I get it that the folks at TPC Sawgrass wanted to make the greens "fast and challenging" and the pin placements tough - but they went way beyond that. When a PLAYER who is competing at THE PLAYERS lands a shot ON the green, I don't think it is unreasonable for a PLAYER to expect the ball to bite just a little, and stay on the green. I counted about 30 examples of what looked like good shots (short or mid irons, struck well, landed on the front of the green) which hit the green, and rolled clean off the back. I don't buy the argument that having "KFC extra crispy" greens is the only way to make 'em fast - hell, the folks at Augusta don't seem to have a problem with super fast greens that are receptive to good shots.

Apparently, I am not the only one who noticed this - because the folks from Sawgrass called Bushwood last night. They said they were deluged with calls from PLAYERS and fans alike - all of whom requested that we dispatch Carl Spackler down to the sunshine state to cure what ails 'em. Early this morning, Carl loaded up a semi full of bales of pallets of his custom blend Spackler Turf Grass. He was smoking digging up some samples of it for the folks down south, and planning to get started immediately on their greens. I'm sure the addition of his invention will make the greens at Sawgrass much smoother and mellower more receptive to those high flying approach shots right away!

An Elevator Ride at Bushwood CC...

WARNING - What follows is Bushwood's first foray into a quasi-political issue. What I say may anger you, upset you,or make you laugh. However, take note that I am simply EXERCISING MY RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH.

Sadly, the current (political,media,social,whatever) climate is now managed by folks who seems to have forgotten that the first amendment applies to ALL Americans (as my man Ice T once said "freedom of speech,just watch how you use it) - regardless of whether they are in vogue or not. That means Wanda Sykes or Wanda at WalMart, David Feherty or David Brinkley, Tom Cruise or Tom Sawyer - ALL have a right to express their opinions.

Last week,news of some comments that David Feherty made to D magazine surfaced. In case you have been under a rock since then, Fehertry made some colorful (humorous,I thought - others say disrespectful)comments about a couple of politicians who are (presently) in leadership positions within their political party. In essence, he said that based on his actual experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan,our soldiers don't think much of these two people (Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid). Subsequently, David was widely criticized and skewered by the media for his fact-based observations. Sadly, this criticism failed to give much consideration to two important facts:

1. He was exercising his 1st Amendment rights.
2. He based his comment on FACTS gathered in discussions with US Soldiers - thus,he was simply reporting accurate information (I suppose one could allege that hewas just lying,but then he is not running for office, so what are the odds of that)

In an effort to verify #1, I checked - and thankfully, no one has managed to amend or delete that provision in the constitution. To check out #2, I emailed 3 friends who are serving active duty at this time. Without exception, they expressed a, um, "no confidence"(that's being pretty damn mild,btw) vote in Pelosi and Reid - no big surprise, since these two elected officials have been anything BUT supporters of our troops.

Personally, I think both political parties have anything BUT the interest of the average American in mind - so this is not a politically biased commentary. However, it IS sad when someone gets chastised for simply speaking the truth. As for Mr. Feherty, I hope he does notlet this in any way impact his great golf reporting OR his full and complete support of our brave soldiers. They are, after all, the ones who help ensure that we get to keep our rights as promised by the framers of the Constitution.

Now,if David had asked me the question...well, lets just say that the world would be a better place after those elevator doors opened...regardless of how many people got off.

Blogger's Picks - Playahs @ Turn

Earlier this week, my hero understudy arch rival buddy Shane, author of the Pulitzer Prize Winning blog "Dogs That Chase Cars", came up with a novel idea - poll some of the,um, "reputable" golf bloggers to see who they were picking to win THE PLAYAHS this weekend. (check out his post here). At the halfway point, here is where they stand:

Don't look now....but I am headed to have me some Powerball after seeing this...

Give some love to my fellow blogers who were bold enough to step up to bar:

• Dogs That Chase Cars


• Golf Girl


• Wei Under Par


• Devil Ball Golf


• Waggle Room


• Jason "Of Twitter" (sorry bro, Shane's link to you was skanky...)


• Armchair Golfer

The backstretch should be interesting, but I still like my boy Spiky....

Disclaimer: There are some references in here that may be considered by some to be "gangsta", "hip-hop","rap", or "urban".  If these in any way offend your sensibilities or sensitivitities, please go immediately to your nearest bunker and POUND SAND !

Tiger, I got your back man...(Did I just write that ?)

World #1 Tiger Woods (L) Tiger's New Coach (R)

A couple of weeks back, I willingly admitted that I am not a Tiger "fan" - no doubt he is the baddest of the bad a$$es, but I prefer to root for other golfers. It's all cool - he knows he is welcome here at BCC anytime, but he has to pay for his brewskis just like the rest of us.

Anyway, today I read (another) absurd article from an AP writer (name withheld) who proclaimed that "Tiger is back, but without the same power". The article goes on to document how Philly Mc was blowing it by Tiger, and how Tiger is hitting "two more clubs" now than he was pre-injury. Furthermore, Tiger is now averaging "only 300 yards " off the tee. Now, all that may be true....but when did we start equating pure length with winning ? For the last several years, TW has not been the longest off the tee ( I think, by design) - but does that really matter ? I mean, we CONSTANTLY hear that "distance is not everything", and "drive for show, putt for dough"....but now, thanks to the AP, we know that was all just bullsh!t.

Well, I am so friggin glad that we cleared that up. This can only mean one thing for Mr. Ferguson the AP dude...that's TGC on your phone right now offering you a job alongside Kelly T.

Tiger, for God's sake, get rid of Hank Haney and hire this guy, he has got it all figured out....

Bonus Factoid: I'm picking Ian Poulter to win this week at The Players. As much as I cheer for the Red,White,and Blue, I have a feeling that the spiky one is poised to kick some major arse this weekend...

Frogger Golf - Better than a Sham Wow, No Nasty Stripper Beat Down Required...

If you watch very much Golf Channel programming, you have probably seen your share of infomercials/commercials pimping the latest new golf invention. Hell, TGC even had (has ?) a show focused on new golf related inventions. Even the industry gets in on the game, as each year the annual PGA Show awards a "product of the year" to some deserving outfit. Recently, I've seen several ads from a company called Frogger Golf - makers of the the Amphibian Towel and BrushPro that I thought were pretty cool. When I started checking this out a little closer, I saw that these guys have won the "Best New Product" at the PGA merch show for the last TWO YEARS RUNNING. That's right - the "Brush Pro" won in 2008, and the Amphibian Towel won in 2009. Now you know that we here at Bushwood run with the winners, so I felt compelled to check their gear out. I contacted the nice folks at Frogger, and my gear was soon on the way - The BrushPro, The Amphibian Towel, and The Amphibian Ball Towel.

About the Gear

Frogger's three products are all focused on one pretty simple premise - keeping your clubs and ball clean. They are all available in a variety of colors.

What We Thought

• Nice packaging on all three products - clear, easy to understand instructions for replacing the brushes,groove cleaner, etc.
• Pretty cool that they offer replacement brushes and groove cleaners - not a lot of truly reusable golf products out there.
• The BrushPro is a great product,period. The handle is easy to handle (good), but may be a little large for some (deal with it). It comes on a retractable leash, and attaches to your bag with a sturdy carabiner. The brush also has the aforementioned retractable groove cleaner - a nice metal gizmo that works a lot better than a tee. As mentioned above, both the brush AND the groove cleaner are replaceable. Also available is an all-nylon brush which you can slide on that's great for cleaning off your shoes or bag - a nice touch. Another nice touch is that all of these add-ons come in clear plastic storage boxes for secure storage. Grade : A
• The Amphibian Towel comes in two flavors - The "regular" size which attaches to your bag, and is for cleaning clubs, grips, etc; and the "mini" size, which is designed for cleaning your golf balls. The mini also comes with a small carabiner and can be attached to your belt loop (not my look, but if you want to rock it like that, go for it). Both towels work the same way - their design is allows you to keep the inside wet (for cleaning stuff) and the outside dry (for drying stuff off). WHAAAA ? Well, that's what I thought too. The towels are built like a envelope that's open on two sides, and the inside is a different,separate piece than the outside. To make them "work", simply wet the inside (I used 24 oz. of water on the larger one, and about 4 oz on the smaller one), and let the water get absorbed by the inner layer. As crazy as that sounds, it works. The large towel, which I attached to my bag as a replacement of my regular towel, worked very well - and kept my clubs clean all day. The inside stayed wet, and the outside stayed dry - as promised. The smaller towel, or "ball towel", was useful all day long - I just carried it to the green with me, and it did a great job of keeping my ball clean. I did have to re-moisten it mid round, but that is no big deal. Overall, I was pretty damn amazed that these products worked EXACTLY as the infomercial said they would (unlike the Sham-Wow - suck it, Vince) . The quality of the materials is very high - clearly the guys at Frogger Golf are in it for the long haul, and care very much about making a high caliber product. Grade : A+

My overall impression of the company and their products is very high. When you check them out (and you will want to), remember that they are a small shop - so be patient of you don't get a chirpy voice from Mumbai on the first ring ( actually, I got the Founder when I called - who is a super dude), just leave them a message or drop em an email at info@froggergolf.com. They will respond, and I think you will be delighted with their products.

Gotta run, Big Break PEI is coming on tonight - and I just know that Brian is gonna melt down hard...

TaylorMade R9 Baptizes another True Believer

The Newest Convert to an R9......and a nice reward for switching...

Lots has been written about TaylorMade's newest big stick, the R9. Look for a product review of this mighty staff coming soon from Bushwood. However, in the world of the dudes who play for millions each week, TM has just had another top player join the ranks and be baptized in the holy water of the River TaylorMade.

It seems that none other than Ryder Cupper and Fluff employer (not to mention the proud owner of perhaps the largest collection of earth-tone golf clothing in the world), Jim Furyk has jumped ship and switched to the R9. Furyk is rocking the new bat with a Mitsubishi Kai'li k 60 gram X Flex shaft and a 10.5 degree head. No word yet on his loft, face angle, or favorite shade of beige yet....but stay tuned...

(ed note: The talented young lady above did indeed present said roses to the beige clad one...at the 2003 U.S. Open...)