National Hole-in-One Association would like to share some favorite golf ‘hot spots’ with those avid golfers out there who may be looking for a bit of a change of scenery and maybe a few new challenges. Perhaps you want to host a charity golf event in a new location. If so, we can assist you with Hole-in-One Insurance to make sure your event is all it can be.
The love of the game usually increases when you love where the game is played. Psychologically, people just feel better when their surroundings include fresh air, lush greenery, bright vividly colored plants, a pebbling stream, and a comfortable temperature. If you are about to host a charity golf tournament, some of these locations may just be the right fit. Of course you can always check these places out for yourself first – you know for the betterment of the event and all (wink, wink).
Whistling Straits in Sheboygan, WI
Yes, the cheese heads have it. According to Golf Magazine, Wisconsin has 4 of the top 100 public golf courses in America. Coming in as the 3rd best public golf course in America is the Straits at Whistling Straits Rumor has it that the 18th hole is like Goliath and its players are like David. Bring your pebbles and slingshot because you’re going to need it. This hole is said to be quite a challenge.
For those who don’t know when to quit, there is another course at Whistling Straits that also has your name on it. The Irish at Whistling Straits may make you cry for uncle as well. With lush greenery, serene streams, and an oh-so tranquil environment, this course just may fool you. They say don’t judge a book by its cover. We say don’t just a golf course by its surroundings. Some of the sweetest looking courses can leave a bitter taste in your mouth when you walk away with the highest golf score of your life.
Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ
If you prefer rugged mountains and picturesque sunsets, the Phoenix/Scottsdale area in Arizona is where you should get ready to swing. Known as ‘The Valley of the Sun’ this area offers over 200 golf courses, with more than 35 in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area. The weather is consistently warm and golf-friendly, which is probably why the National Golf Foundation named this area ‘The Golf Capital of the World.’
You can also benefit from some of the best golf instructors in the world and enjoy some remarkable resorts and spas. It’s hard to beat an excellent day of golf that winds down with a full body massage. There’s also swimming and fishing at nearby beaches and many other outdoor activities.
Massachusetts
Although the state of Massachusetts is not large by any means, its cities are busting with golf courses. From Cambridge to Salem to Nantucket to Belmont to hundreds of other Massachusetts cities, you can find both public and private courses to best ‘get your golf on!’

Hole-in-One Insurance for Golf Tournaments, Putting Contests or Million Dollar Shootouts

Hole-in-One Insurance allows you to host a hole-in-contests that offers a huge grand prize, such as a Hummer, speed boat, or anything of value. You pay a little; your guests get a lot. Your event increases its funds. Everyone is a winner with Hole-in-One Insurance Coverage from National Hole-in-One Association.

Watching Tiger Woods playing over the last 3 weeks has been truly awesome. Mixed in with some great play by Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker (in particular), Rory Sabitini, and Steve Verplank the FedEx Cup was actually more entertaining that I first thought it would.

Saturday at East Lake was particularly inspired with the play of Geoof Olgilvy (62) and by Zach Johnson’s 60. Who says low scores aren’t fun to watch. But none of them could do much more than creep up on Tiger’s 63 for the day… and none could duplicate their scores of Saturday to make a run on Sunday.

Tiger’s 2007 season with the 7 wins could have been even more spectacular if not for putting well at the Master’s and the US Open.

And the scary part is he looks more comfortable driving the golf ball than ever. If he continues to hit 60-70% of the fairways as he has in this latest run, look out even more. Another amazing stat that came out this week: Tiger is#1 in closest to the hole from 150-175 yards and from 175-200 yards on tour. He doesn’t even need a driver, so what happens when he really gets comfortable as he is now?

 It was great to see Anika in the mix, but what a great story it would have been if Chritina Kim had won sending the Solheim team off to Sweden not knowing if it had the best team going. Lots of fun on a real sun baked nothing looking golf course. I mean, wheat fields in the background? Couldn’t State Farm have ponied up for a better golf course, or at least make it look like it had been watered some time prior to the tournament?

Steinhauer completes State Farm victory

By JAN DENNIS Associated Press

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Sherri Steinhauer was resigned to a playoff after her bunker shot rolled off the green on the 72nd hole of the LPGA State Farm Classic.

Instead, her 23-foot par putt from the first cut of rough fell into the cup, capping a wild finish that handed the 44-year-old Steinhauer her eighth career title and just the fifth wire-to-wire win on the LPGA Tour this year.

“I was just thinking two-putt and go for a playoff. Give it a chance, but just two-putt and go in the playoff and see what will happen. It went in. It was amazing,” Steinhauer said after her first win since the 2006 Women’s British Open.

The four-time U.S. Solheim Cup player shot a 5-under 67 to finish at 17-under 271, holding off a late charge by Christina Kim at Panther Creek Country Club.

The 23-year-old Kim closed with a 66. She tied for the lead briefly after holing the last of three closing birdies, a 28-foot putt from the fringe on the 18th.

Playing a hole behind Kim, Steinhauer answered, sinking a 25-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th to get to 17 under.

Steinhauer needed just a par on 18 to win the $195,000 top prize, but had to scramble after her second shot found the bunker and her sand shot went long.

For the entire post, click here.

Siting needing to keep a balance in his life, Phil sticks it to the commissioner and decides not to show up at Cog Hill.

I think Phil will be roundly criticized for this decision taking some of the pressure off of Tiger’s decision the prior week for almost the same reasons.

Actually I think the competition of the FedEx has been better than I would have thought. When you get this many great players on really good and fair golf courses, the talent really gets going. Now we’ve had two great finishes in successive weeks, great TV indeed.

So maybe the commissioner got someting right after all.

I think Brandel Chamblee of the Golf Channel said it right on Monday evening (I paraphrase): “Phil has as much talent as Tiger, he just hasn’t been able to show it consistently.”

Mickelson 23 putts on Sunday. Woods was putting for eagles on 4 holes and played them 3 under. Mickelson wasn’t putting for eagle on any of them and played them 4 under. Woods shoot 4 under pa while taking 32 putts. You can argue that this is another event that Tiger should have and could have won if his putting had been sharper. but that is how good it gets at this level and how putting is what really separates the end of the day. Mickelson hit like 51 of 53 putts inside of 8 feet… give me a break.

But even more amazing is that Phil won with a triple bogie on Friday and a double bogie on Monday! I can’t even imagine making a triple bogie and still shooting under par for the day.

Now Phil is thinking about not playing at Cog Hill. Now that would be fun. I hope he plays!

Steve Stricker had to birdie 4 of the last 5 holes to end his tournament drought of 146 tournaments over the last 6.5 years. He is really a great guy who knocked on the door all summer at major venues. Besides winning $1,260,000, Stricker also moved up to Number 1 in the FedEx standings. He is followed by K.J. Choi, Rory Sabbitini and then the no-showing Tiger Woods.

The next 3 weeks could be really fun watching Tiger try to win the season ending tournament. One thing you can say is that a number of PGA players are playing quite well now, making the watching even more fun.

Great job Steve and good luck at the President’s Cup!

For the entire article at Golfweek.com, click here.

Siting a body that is depleted from winning two tournaments in a row including his 13th major, Tiger stiffed the first leg of the Fed Ex Cup. Like Boo Weekley: “I can’t do the math”, I don’t know if that means Tiger has no chance of winning the season ending tournament that has been a source of season long touting by the PGA. But I’m not sure it matters. Tiger is number 1 and doesn’t need the annuity money being offered. He has such market power he didn’t even need American Express as a sponsor any longer. Who else on tour can say that.

So here we are at the end of another great PGA season and football season starts, so everyone runs to buy a big screen TV to see helmets clashing, not birdies dropping.

BTW: where are all of the birdies on the PGA tour. Making the courses harder has not enhanced the viewers interest. Who wants to see over par golfing anyway.

And boy did they ever Tiger-proof the courses. With a little luck putting, he would have run away with all 4 majors. Think about that for a change and the fact that he is really entering his physical and mental peaks.

Truly, Jack Nicklaus is his only competitor.

As usual I was mesmerized all weekend long watching Tiger bring it home. I think it unbelievable how he closes tournaments. His 63 on Friday bordered on the ridiculously brilliant, but his play over the weekend was no less astounding. It is so unbelievably difficult to finish off a tournament, but there he goes again. What is he now, 27-1 when leading after 54 holes? Wow. That is why the other golfers can’t believe he is for real. All of the other players have been in position to win, but none has ever done it with the frequency as Tiger.

Hey, and wasn’t Woody Austin’s play spectacular over the weekend. I love that he wore the same shirt on Sunday that he wore the Sunday when he shot the 62 in Memphis to win. He really looked like he was having fun and competing agains the best ever. I liked his acknowledgment of being nervous, but still performing.

And congratulations to Ernie Els, he looks like he is ready for the Majors circuit again.

For the entire Golfweek article on the PGA tournament, click here.

From Golf.com today it is reported that John Day has lost 25-30 pounds. His secret for weight loss: “Stress.”! We would also suggest that when he loses weight he should buy some shirts that fit. He is leading the PGA but looks as sloppy as ever. Good luck John.

“John Daly is closer to the playing weight at which he won the 1991 PGA Championship. He looks considerably slimmer and said before his tee time Thursday that he’s lost 25-30 pounds, which should serve him well in the stifling temperatures at Southern Hills, home of the 89th PGA Championship this week. In fact the weight loss may already be helping. Daly, who has missed three cuts and withdrawn from one tournament in his last four starts, was 2-under-par through his first eight holes Thursday.

“I’ve still got another 25 or 30 [pounds] to go,” he said.

And how did he lose the weight? Atkins? TrimSpa?

“Stress,” Daly said.”

For the entire article, click here.

While I can take or leave Peter Kostis at times I was very impressed with his comments on SI.com today. he talked about Southern Hills course setup for the PGA and how the PGA gets it “right”. Then he goes on to describe a subtle change in Tiger Woods’ setup and why this allowed him to dominate at Firestone. I noticed that Tiger’s swing seemed freer during the WGC and he did not appear to be overswinging and getting stuck as in the past, particularly with the driver. I saw but obviously didn’t have Kostis’ expertise. Great job Peter.

“Hats off to the PGA
I noticed some adjustments to the 7th green, and the 8th and the 9th greens appear to have been re-contoured so the back areas are elevated and the fronts are lower. But the 18th will still be the hardest hole at Southern Hills.

The PGA of America gets it when it comes to setting up courses for major events. On 18, the landing area on the right side of the fairway has been widened to allow players to slice their tee shots around the corner. But, it’s still a tough, uphill second shot to the green on this 465-yarder. When the USGA set up the course for the 2001 U.S. Open, players had to hack out of the rough in that area, short of the water and sand, and then try to get up and down from almost 200 yards out.

Of the three majors that rotate courses — the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open and the British Open — the PGA has done the best job of setting up the courses over the past five years.

It’s Tiger’s world
Tiger Woods’s performance at Firestone last week was brilliant, and a lot of people have pegged him as the favorite here in Tulsa. Here’s the deal: when Tiger Woods plays to his full capabilities, he wins. If every player in the field plays his best, and Tiger does too, Tiger still wins.

I saw some things last week at Firestone that made me think Tiger will hit the ball better here than he did at Carnoustie. He’s moved closer to the ball at address, he’s not hanging back on his left side on the backswing, and his arms are much softer through the hitting area. His swing was a little more vertical, and that should lead to better distance control, better trajectory control and the elimination of the flip at the bottom of his swing.”

For the entire article, click here.