Tom Fazio Declares Interest in Designing First Martian Golf Course
by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 20, 2009 5:04 PM EST
2 comments
After the airing of the Natonal Geographic Channel show Mars: Making the New Earth, world-renowned designer Tom Fazio threw his name into the hat to be the first designer to architect a golf course on the terraformed surface of our fourth planet.
"Why waste time with all of the names that want to design the Olympic golf course in Rio," Fazio questioned to reporters. "I can two steps ahead of them by signing a massive contract to design a course on Mars!"
The PGA Tour-owned TPC Network, as well as Jack Nicklaus' and Greg Norman's design shops are yet to comment on the development.
The R&A is livid about this development because the development of golf in Mars will preclude them from being the governing body. This is because golf on Mars would require a larger, heavier ball to play in Mars' thinner atmosphere. Peter Dawson did express pleasure, though, that they could host the Intergalatic Open Champion on massive courses because of the undeveloped space for host courses.
The PGA Tour did comment, though, on the Fazio news by noting that they would not be making changes to their anti-doping program to compensate for the fact that Mars will not have breathable oxygen for humans for some 100,000 years.
"The players can apply for all the Therapeutic Use Exemptions they want, but their Martian doctors will not make us change our plan!"
Construction is expected to begin on Fazio's Terralinks as soon as he can get on a rocketship.
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Forget 2012! Wedge Armageddon Comes 12/31/2011!
by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 20, 2009 3:02 PM EST
12 comments
AHHHH! THE SKY IS FALLING! WE ARE JUST 406 SHORT DAYS FROM THE END OF THE WORLD!1111!!
On January 1, 2011, equipment manufacturers will no longer be able to produce wedges that do not conform to the new grooves standard set forth by the USGA and R&A. Although the rules of competition state that most players won't have to actually play clubs with these new grooves until 2024, the manufacturers will not be making wedges with both U grooves and the simulated V grooves. It's not that they don't want to; they just can't.
But, starting 1/1/10 and for one spectacular year, manufacturers will sell wedges with U grooves and V grooves. This is because all of the pro golf tours have adopted the standard for next season. And since all us hackers are professional golfers in a cocoon of dormancy, we want to play their clubs.
So, of course, this is a jackpot opportunity for manufacturers. For the next 406 days, you will hear nothing but the following meme:
BUY WEDGES NOW! STOCK UP ON THEM! NEW, USED, OR DISASSEMBLED! BEFORE THEY GO AWAY FOREVER!
For the golfer in your life, buy them a wedge. Or ten. Seriously, wedges are going to be bigger than drivers next year - for perhaps the first time ever - because of this perceived change.
Sure, 99% of players cannot control the spin on their wedges, but you don't know that. Ok, yeah, two players won last week while playing with 2010 conforming wedges, but don't think about that.
You. Must. Buy. Wedges. Now. Or. You. Will. Never. Be. The. Same.
In truth, there's going to be a really great secondary market for soon-to-be nonconforming wedges that either didn't sell this year, or are gently used. Like I said, almost all players won't notice the difference, but wedges will be hot.
Personally, I am very interested to see what comes out of the famous wedge shops like Cleveland and Vokey (Titleist) to combat the new grooves rules. But, they have some very nice offerings in '09 and '10 that you can snatch up now while there's still time.
In February, Taylor Made will introducing their new TP wedges with exchangable faces. They have been cleared to be sold by the USGA. As part of an appeal to the USGA, the governing body said that face plates for the club will be able to be sold with non-conforming grooves for about $45 next year. This means that you can still buy up fresh, non-conforming groove faces well into 2010 without having to buy a whole new wedge each time. TaylorMade wins and you win (if you know what you're doing).
One interesting final caveat to this grooves thing. While manufacturers may no longer MAKE clubs that don't conform after 2011, retailers are allowed to SELL non-conforming wedges that are shipped to them by manufacturers before 1/1/11. In other words, the manufacturers could send a massive surplus of non-conforming wedges to stores in order to keep selling them for an extended period into 2011.
Neat, huh?
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Sal Johnson: '10 LPGA schedule Not As Ugly As It Could've Been
He reviews next year's schedule and sees more positives than should have been expected from all the turmoil the tour has gone through in the last year.
1 day ago
Bill Jempty
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Science to LPGA Tour: Show Some More Skin
by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 20, 2009 11:54 AM EST
3 comments
A British study tells us that women should bare 40 percent of their skin to maximize their chances of attracting men to them. The good folks (namely, four female researchers) at the University of Leeds conducted a study by observing women at one of Leeds' biggest nightclubs and tape recording the number of interactions each woman had with men. Then, they compared the tone and frequency of those interactions - "Hey, baby, wanna dance?" - with how much skin each woman was showing.
The magic formula for attracting men? Showing 40% of the female body. No more, no less. The ladies who revealed 40% did twice as well as women who showed less. But, sluttin' it up and showing more than that also turned men off.
So, maybe there's some application here to the good ole LPGA Five Points of Celebrity and using sex appeal to bring men into the sport. Ok, University of Leeds, what's 40% of female skin?
Well, according to the study article published in the Guardian: "Each arm accounted for 10 per cent of the body, each leg for 15 per cent and the torso for 50 per cent. "
That means a "pass" then on bikini golf? Ok, fine, but it seems wildly popular in Japan. Just saying.
To get to that 40% number, though, is really tough with this equation. Two legs and one arm equals 40%. Judging from Antawn Jamison's one sleeve top the other night in DC, that could be done, but I don't think would work well for golf or for any woman.
Two arms and one leg falls kinda short of the mark. And nothing screams "stripper!" more than that kind of outfit.
Alas, the researchers clear everything up: "Show some leg, show some arm, but not any more than that."
In other words, the ladies of the LPGA should always wear short sleeve shirts and reasonable length shorts or skirts?!
Wait! Not all is lost. I think there's a crucial part of the study that I missed. The research team said that the women that did the best in the club were those that showed the 40% skin AND wore tight clothing AND danced provocatively.
I can only think of girls on the LPGA Tour that do the first two parts. But I have never seen any kind of provocative dancing at an LPGA Tour event. That is, unless you consider the Solheim Cup butt bumps provocative.
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LPGA, Euro Tours' Year End Races Loved - Why Not PGA Tour?
by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 20, 2009 10:37 AM EST
4 comments
David Cannon/Getty Images
While you and I were asleep, Lee Westwood fired 69 in the Dubai World Championship and took a two shot lead over Rory McIlroy at the midway point of the finale tournament to the Race to Dubai. McIlroy matched Westwood's 69 to get into weekend position along with first round leader Robert Allenby, course lover Paddy Harrington, two others, and Ross McGowan.
For Westwood, the task is simple: win. If he wins, he wins the Race to Dubai's prize pool bounty in addition to the tournament. He could also beat McIlroy by finishing in second and take the title.
McIlroy is a little cloudier. Obviously a win would do nicely. He can win no matter what if Westwood finishes outside of the top 7, but would also needs Martin Kaymer to not finish top 4 and Ross Fisher to avoid runner-up or better.
Still, the game within a game has to be a delight for the European Tour, who walked into this week amid a lot of criticism about its deal with Dubai-owned Leisurecorp, now operated by another Dubai-owned entity. The course has been a sore subject, too.
But, nothing distracts critics away problems like a great golf tournament.
The same thing may be taking shape in Houston at the LPGA Tour Championship. Three players have a chance to clinch player of the year honors. Lorena Ochoa, looking to maintain her title and three year reign, leads the tournament on -6. LoCho trailed Jiyai Shin by 8 points heading into this weekend. If she wins this weekend, she is player of the year. If she doesn't then Shin must finish 3rd or better and get help from Shin to finish worse than 8th or 9th.
Scott Halleran/Getty Images
For Shin, the proposition is simple: beat Lorena. She trails by four after day one, so she has work to do.
Don't forget Cristie Kerr, though. She is six out of the lead, but if she wins and Ochoa and Shin fail to finish in the top ten, then Kerr would win.
This is the kind of thing that has the players and - seemingly - fans of both tours excited about this week.
So that begs the question: why the love for these two formats and such vitriol for the FedExCup, which is basically a hybrid of these two formats?
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St. Petersburg Times interviews LPGA Legends Tour CEO Jane Blalock
I wonder if Rodney Page knows Ms. Blalock was at the center of one of golf's biggest scandals over 35 years ago. Probably not........
1 day ago
Bill Jempty
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Waggle Room Passes 1 Million Hits
by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 20, 2009 8:15 AM EST
2 comments
If you ever click on the Sitemeter button at the bottom of my posts, you can see how many people stop by this site everyday. In fact, if you were perverted, you could see it by the minute. But you're not.
Anyway, a little while back, I realized Waggle Room was probably going to pass the million hit mark this year. And then I guess I forgot about it.
Well, this week (sometime this week), we passed the 1,000,000 hit mark!
And now, for a victory montage of pictures!
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Waggle Room is Taking Nominations for the 1st Ever Waggle Roomies
by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 19, 2009 7:28 PM EST
4 comments
The Golf Writers Association of America has an annual awards ceremony that excludes bloggers like myself because I don't get much ink in newsprint during the year. And, they haven't come up with a blogging category. So, I've decided to create the Waggle Roomies - the awards defined and voted on by the readers of Waggle Room.
How the Waggle Roomies work is simple:
First, YOU get to suggest to me what kinds of categories that you think would make great awards for this year. They can be about anything related to golf: best dressed player, funniest golf article, dirtiest golf joke. Whatever you'd like.
Then, based on the suggestions that I get, I'll decide on the categories that we'll vote on for this year. I will pick the categories based on how many possible winners I think there can be. I'm not going to have you vote on the category "Best performance by John Daly or a John Daly look alike" because only John Daly and that guy on the Asian Tour can win.
After that, I'll unveil the slate of nominees for each category and give ample time to vote on each award. And then I'll try to get in touch with the people who win - no matter who they are - and present them with a Waggle Roomie. (Roomie, for short.) And hopefully we'll get some pictures back of happy faces!
So, let's get started. I need categories - LOTS of categories. Anything golf related will do, but please make them kind of creative. You can leave them here, Twitter them to me, or drop me an email with your ideas!
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