I know it is a little late but it is still worth the wait. This past August, Golflogic.ca worked with Urban Male Magazine to plan the first annual UMM Golf Classic at Angus Glen golf course. It was a great day, the weather was amazing and the UMM wild girls were even better. Be sure to register at Golflogic.ca for information on the 2006 tournament. It is promising to be bigger and better!
You might not be surprised to find Terrell Owens at the top of the list but you might be shocked to read that Lefty is number 8 on the list. Yes, good old always smiling, fan favorite Phil Michelson makes the list and the article isn’t very flattering. Most of the golfers on tour can’t stand him and believe his smiling face is nothing more than a façade to generate more sponsorship dollars. Here is a little bit from the piece:
Mickelson has earned many nicknames on the Tour, but our favorite is FIGJAM (Fuck, I’m good—just ask me). “There are a bunch of pros who think he and his whole smiley, happy face are a fraud,” another reporter says. “They think he’s preening and insincere.” Mickelson has aggressively pursued a family-man image that is crucial to his success as an endorser. In 1999, when he nearly won the U.S. Open, Mickelson wore a beeper onto the fairway to alert him when his wife went into labor. If the beeper went off during the ?nal round, he announced, he would simply walk off the course. Some of Mickelson’s peers, smelling a PR stunt, badly wanted to call his bluff. “Everybody’s saying, ‘Oh God, I want that beeper to go off,’ ” recalls one writer. (It didn’t.)
Well, it may be a rough article but at least now his detractors can talk about this and stop commenting on his man-boobs. That being said…wow those things are getting big!
Not that this is any surprise to most people but seeing some stats to back it up really helps drive it home (pun intended).Just as Vijay stated last year, driving accuracy is possibly the
most misleading statistic in golf.
Who are the top 5 players in driving accurancy on the PGA tour? Jeff Hart, Fred Funk, Omar Uresti, Olin Browne and Gavin Coles round out this elite list of do-gooders but this great achievement hardly translated into fat bank accounts (reletiviely speaking). Now try looking up the top players in driving distance and the
front page reads like a who’s who of golfers. What does this mean? With today’s technology, most golfers can bomb a golf ball but true skill and hand eye co-ordination come into play around the greens. In majors where missing fairways will cost you dearly, you will often see the ‘bombers’
reverting to irons or 3 woods off the tee for more accuracy knowing that by sacrificing a little distance, they can still make birdies and pars due to their fine touch around the greens.
In last weeks Tour Championship 17 of the 30 players who qualified weren’t ranked in the top 100 in driving accuracy. Tiger Woods is ranked 186th in accuracy but is second in distance.
Similarly, Vijay ranked is 147th in accuracy and 16th is distance. It is also no coincidence that these players finished 1-2 in scoring average and
in total winnings this year.
What does this mean to the average weekend golfer? Probably more than you know. Being able to bomb a ball off the tee with little accuracy means more to us than it does to a PGA player.
On the tour, courses will grow out rough and work with hard pin placements. Most of us weekend golfers play courses where we have an open line to a green even if we have sliced it a half mile and ended up on another fairway. A lot of times I see players sacrifice distance for accuracy. Why be in the fairway 200 yards from the green when you can be in the rough with an open line 140 yards from the green? If you are a high handicapper, work on your short game a little more to save those strokes around the green and just hit the ball as far as you can and you will probably see your score lower. If not, pretend you never read this post.
1. Tim, you have written for many great publications. Are you a writer who ended up working in golf or a golfer who ended up writing?
I began my writing career as a journalist for UPI and The Canadian Press news agencies. I was a golf nut and began writing freelance articles for SCOREGolf Magazine in 1986. I was keen to go freelance and have more control over my agenda when I won a North American writing award for a story on pesticide-use on golf courses. That helped in the decision to go freelance in 1992 and for six years I wrote for almost every golf publication in North America, penned two books (including the Moe Norman biography) and a wrote a column in The Financial Post. In 1998, I moved into the public relations side of the business with my own company, O’Connor Media.
2. Who are some of the clients you work with today and tell us what O’Connor Media does for them?
O’Connor Media provides public relations consulting to the golf industry. We’re based in Rockwood, Ontario, about 45 west of Mississauga. With our expertise and relationships across Canada and through the U.S., we are focused exclusively on the golf industry. We help our clients achieve their goals through media relations, strategic counseling, event and project management, writing and editing, magazine editing, web design and e-marketing–in essence, we provide a full range of communications services.
Our clients include ClubLink Corporation
, Nike Golf Canada, International Pairs Canada
, The Ericsson Ultimate Nassau Tournament
Presented by Rogers Wireless and The Globe and Mail (we co-ordinate the biennial ranking of Canada’s Top 100 Public and Resort Courses).
In 2005, we handled media relations for:
–The Tiger Woods Invitational Presented by Nike Golf Canada at Magna GC
–The Return of the King Presented by the Greens and Dreams Foundation at Weston G&CC (Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Arnold Palmer’s victory in the 1955 Canadian Open)
–The Glenlivet Cup at Eagles Nest GC
–The Grand Niagara Club (Media Day)
O’Connor Media has also worked with U.S.-based Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday and The Putting Arc Inc., as well as Virtually Perfect Golf Inc., International Club Network, Thomas McBroom and Associates, Book4golf.com, Accuform Golf Corporation and OslerBrook G&CC.
To contact O’Connor Media, please phone 519.856.9421 or email oconnormedia@cogeco.ca . Our web site is under construction.
3. As a person who has been around the golf industry for a little while, what do you think about the number of new courses opening every year in Canada? Does this hurt or help the industry because I hear courses tell me they often struggle to fill tee-times.
Like the real estate people say, it’s all about location. New courses that open in markets that have been under-served with a particular style of club that has a large population base to draw from to support that kind of club can do well.
Courses that open in markets that is already well-served for a niche of the market can struggle.
For example, Tom McBroom-designed Firerock opened just southwest of London, Ontario, last year and has done fairly well from all reports. The background is that London has been growing like topsy with a large professional population. That area of the city and region did not have a top-scale daily-fee course. The owners of Firerock saw that opportunity and made their move to serve that sector of the population that was looking for a first-class golf for recreational and business golf and for corporate tournaments.
4. I am assuming you have also played a number of top courses in Canada. Everyone seems to have their own opinion on the best courses. Can you give us your top 3?
1) Rocky Crest
2) Highland Links
3) Devil’s Paintbrush
5. What are you most looking forward to in the 2006 Canadian golf season? Are there any new courses, equipment, training aids, etc that will have all us golfers buzzing next year?
I’m most looking forwarding to just playing again, especially with my two boys who are getting more keen about golf every year. I’m frankly too connected with clients to give an answer that would not appear compromised.
You might not be surprised to find Terrell Owens at the top of the list but you might be shocked to read that Lefty is number 8 on the list. Yes, good old always smiling, fan favorite Phil Michelson makes the list and the article isn’t very flattering. Most of the golfers on tour can’t stand him and believe his smiling face is nothing more than a façade to generate more sponsorship dollars. Here is a little bit from the piece:
Mickelson has earned many nicknames on the Tour, but our favorite is FIGJAM (Fuck, I’m good—just ask me). “There are a bunch of pros who think he and his whole smiley, happy face are a fraud,” another reporter says. “They think he’s preening and insincere.” Mickelson has aggressively pursued a family-man image that is crucial to his success as an endorser. In 1999, when he nearly won the U.S. Open, Mickelson wore a beeper onto the fairway to alert him when his wife went into labor. If the beeper went off during the ?nal round, he announced, he would simply walk off the course. Some of Mickelson’s peers, smelling a PR stunt, badly wanted to call his bluff. “Everybody’s saying, ‘Oh God, I want that beeper to go off,’ ” recalls one writer. (It didn’t.)
Well, it may be a rough article but at least now his detractors can talk about this and stop commenting on his man-boobs. That being said…wow those things are getting big!
Slightly off topic but since it is SuperBowl weekend I thought I would chime in with my thoughts on the game. While I do think the Seahawks have a very good team, my heart is with the Steelers. I managed to get down to Heinz Field earlier this season and saw the passion the town has for their team and how hard the team plays for their fans. The fans also travel to road games more than any other fans in the league and it is estimated 85% of the crowd will be Steeler fans almost making this a home game for the Black and Gold. That being said, I am calling it Pittsburgh 27, Seattle 17.
I am heading down to Windsor to stay with a friend this weekend and take in some of the NFL experience so it should be a great time.
Finally, one of my favorite football writers, Don Banks of Sports Illustrated has a great little bit about what happens to all the printed merchandise for the losing team of the big games. Poor Bills just can’t seem to catch a break. Read the entire article HERE but below is the excerpt:
“I heard something fascinating as I was leaving Denver’s Invesco Field on Sunday night. Ever wonder what happens to those commemorative conference championship and Super Bowl shirts and caps that get printed up but go unused by the losers of those games? Apparently they wind up being boxed up by the NFL and shipped off as a clothing donation to third-world countries. As I imagine it, somewhere in Zimbabwe there’s a whole bunch of people who appear to be absolutely nuts about those Buffalo Bills teams of the early ’90s.”
Turns out a police were pursuing an armed man in a stolen truck who had just held up a supermarket. The robber ended up crashing the car through a fence, through the fairway and straight into a bunker where he became stuck. You can read the entire article HERE but here is a little more:
“The incident happened midway through Sunday’s second round at Ryde-Parramatta Golf Club when a man who had allegedly held up a supermarket rammed through a fence and onto a fairway. Scattering players, he drove into a bunker before becoming stuck. The man, brandishing a shotgun and holding a bag, then fled into a nearby unoccupied house. As police helicopters hovered overhead and 25 police cars rushed onto the course, a two-hour siege developed before the man surrendered.”
On another note, ever heard of Golf Dust? It is an alternative to impact tape. Essentially you spray it on your club prior to hitting the ball. You can then look at your club to see the point of impact and change your swing, stance, etc based on your findings. Pretty silly if you ask me but I have been hearing and reading more and more about it. Keep an eye out for this product and remember you heard it here first!
Okay ladies and gentlemen, since I am always one to pat myself on the back and say ‘I told you so’, it is time to give myself props for my SuperBowl pick. While I was slightly off with the score, it wasn’t a bad pick. I picked the winner and easily covered the spread. I had Pittsburgh winning 27-17 over the Seahawks in my previous post
My beef of the day though was Global blocking out all the good US commercials. Instead we were stuck with Bell’s talking Beavers, Frank and Gordon. Damn you Global!
Our outdoor Ontario Golf Deals are also coming along nicely. We have spoken to most courses who were part of the program last year and they are excited to work with us again and we have a ton of new courses also expressing interest. As always, if you have any other suggestions, please email them to us and we will contact them to be a part of our free program.
The blogs have also been working out well. The Going Pro Golf Blog where I am attempting to improve my game with the help of Henry Brunton and Jon Roy has not only been going well from a golfing perspective but also from an awareness perspective. We have been receiving numerous media requests on both sides of the border so this is exciting. Should be interesting over the next few weeks.
Finally, stay tuned for a blog launch in the coming week. We have been working on a new feature which we believe you will love.
Thanks again for all your support and remember, keep the emails and comments coming.
Golflogic.ca Team
It was also tough to watch for me because I spent more of Saturday complaining how the networks wouldn’t show Mike despite being in the lead. Instead we had to overdose on Bill Murray and his antics. Granted, he is a funny dude and I can handle watching him from time to time, this was a PGA event so please show me some golf.