Monika Jagaciak by Solve Sundsbo for Vogue Nippon May 2010
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Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Congrats to Juli Inkster, Patty Berg Award Winner
I’VE ALWAYS LIKED JULI Inkster. I think it’s because she comes across as a real person with a life outside of golf (not that others don’t have a life) and at the same time is hyper competitive and exudes a fun spirit on the golf course.Inkster was named the 2010 recipient of the Patty Berg Award, given in honor of the LPGA founder (one of 13) and Hall of Famer. The award is given to individuals who exemplify diplomacy, sportsmanship and goodwill, and make lasting contributions to the game of golf. Check, check, check and check. Inkster is more than deserving.
“She [Berg] always demonstrated what being a professional is all about,” Juli said at LPGA.com. “She gave so much of herself to the LPGA. Receiving this award with Patty’s name on it, and thinking of all the special individuals before me who have received it, leaves me truly humbled.”
Inkster has had a tremendous career in golf. She entered both the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame and World Golf Hall of Fame in 1999, which was the same year she became only the second woman in LPGA history to complete the modern-day LPGA Career Grand Slam. Early on, Inkster won three consecutive U.S. Women’s Amateur titles. Um, that’s dominant. She never slowed down after turning professional, collecting more than 30 victories, including seven majors. She also played on eight U.S. Solheim Cup teams.
I’d love to see Inkster win again, but if it doesn’t happen she will still have a room full of trophies and awards to admire. Congrats, Juli, on adding another one.
First 2010 LPGA Major
The Kraft Nabisco Championship, the year’s first major, tees off on Thursday in Rancho Mirage, California. Brittany Lincicome is the defending champion. The field is deep, which should produce a lot of excitement like last year when Lincicome eagled the final hole to win her first major. Visit LPGA.com and Mostly Harmless for previews and predictions.
−The Armchair Golfer
(Image: Harry Limey/Flickr)
Ball Gown Chosen!
In the end, I am not going with any of the Vogue patterns that attracted me. Here is how it happened.
This last Saturday, I went into town with a friend to hunt for fabrics. London is a big spread-out place, so I did not manage to get to all the places that I had hoped to go. I started on Gold Hawk Road near Shepherd's Bush tube station. It's a good place to grab a bargain. I was thinking that I would buy some sort of Silk for between £7 and £13 a meter. In the end, I bought a lot of cheap cotton jersey, but no fancy fabric.
We decided to head up Edgeware Road to check out Joel and Sons. Wow! They had a lot of beautiful fabric. They had a lot of expensive fabric. I fell in love with this piece of silk.
My friend thought it was just awful. She doesn't care much for black and yellow together. I couldn't be dissuaded, though. I was able to contemplate buying it because it was the last 2.7 meters on the bolt and therefore they had knocked it down to half price. Still wildly expensive by my standards, but I went for it. The sales girl was pattering the whole time about how it was couture cloth from Raffaella Curiel. How can the fabric be couture? I thought couture referred to the sewing technique, not the materials. I did google Raffaella Curiel, and she is an actual Italian Designer. (I am pretty ignorant.) The important thing for me is that the fabric is really, really pretty. No one in my circle would know such a name or care, but we all appreciate beauty when we see it!
I am including a picture of the bag because my husband said it was the fanciest bag he had ever seen.
And how about the Queen's warrant while we are at it!
While I cannot claim that making this dress at home will be an out and out bargain, I can say that I got a lot of "bang for my buck." I wouldn't have had nearly as swanky experience spending the same amount of money on a dress at a store, not even if I had spent three times as much on dress. So, in that sense, I did get value for money!
Of course, making a completely random fabric choice, meant reconsidering my pattern options. I went to the Oxford Street John Lewis, the best place I know to get a good selection of patterns. They did not have the new Spring Vogue patterns at all and didn't seem to think they would be getting them in either. Strange. In the end I flicked through everything they had and settle on version D of Simplicity 2579. Not something that I even noticed before, but it did come in at the right amount of yardage, and I think it will show off the fabric nicely. Additionally, it looks like an easy pattern to alter. It should be no problem to sew a 12 on top and a 14 on bottom for instance.
Also, I understood all the instructions, when I read through the pattern. There was nothing conceptually over my head which isn't always the case when I embark on a sewing project. Sometimes I just plow in and hope it will make sense, when I get there! I learn a lot this way, but I don't always end up with successful garments. With expensive fabric and a definite date of May the 8th for this dress, I am happy to stay as much within my comfort zone as possible.
There is only one review on pattern review for this pattern, but they did rate it Easy and Great for Beginners. So, fingers crossed!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Golf Pet Peeve: The Golf Ball Finder Guy
Robert Bruce of Game Under Repair has something he needs to get off his chest. Maybe you can relate.
By Robert Bruce
Special to ARMCHAIR GOLF
WHAT IS IT CALLED? You’ve seen it: the long skinny rod with the three-pronged or circular attachment on the end. It sticks out of some golfers’ golf bags like an awkward 13-year-old at a middle-school dance. I call this device the “golf ball picker upper,” but it could probably be better known as the “six-hour round of golf detector.”
When you see one of these strange machinations in a playing partner’s bag, then you only need to do one thing: run! Run like the wind. Run like Usain Bolt being chased by a cheetah. Run.
The man who owns this device is the Golf Ball Finder Guy. And he has one mission on the golf course: finding golf balls. Whether it’s a beaten up and bruised Titleist Balata, circa 1995, a brand new Pro V1, or a Top Flite XL with the Dingleberry Family Reunion logo on its side, the Golf Ball Finder Guy loves to search for golf balls.
Behind a tree? He’ll find it. Plugged into a muddy bank? He’ll find it. In a yard? He’ll find it. In a groundhog’s hole? He’ll find it. In fact, the only ball the Golf Ball Finder Guy doesn’t care about is the one he is currently playing. He treats every lost golf ball as if he is an archeologist digging for a Mayan relic.
Pace of play? Score? Camaraderie? All of these things are nuisances to the Golf Ball Finder Guy. You’re on the green, waiting. He’s somewhere in the shrubs adjacent to the fairway, giddy about finding the Titleist DT 90 with the AT&T logo. He will ruin your score, your patience, and your reputation—once everyone at your course or club realizes you were in the group that played a six-hour round and had the crazy guy who was always in the woods.
So, next time you see this guy on the first tee—just run. Don’t wait around. Don’t ask questions. Don’t hesitate. Run and never look back.
Robert Bruce is a full-time writer and part-time golf blogger in Nashville, Tennessee. Visit his golf blog at www.gameunderrepair.com.
(Image: Sameli/Flickr)
By Robert Bruce
Special to ARMCHAIR GOLF
WHAT IS IT CALLED? You’ve seen it: the long skinny rod with the three-pronged or circular attachment on the end. It sticks out of some golfers’ golf bags like an awkward 13-year-old at a middle-school dance. I call this device the “golf ball picker upper,” but it could probably be better known as the “six-hour round of golf detector.”When you see one of these strange machinations in a playing partner’s bag, then you only need to do one thing: run! Run like the wind. Run like Usain Bolt being chased by a cheetah. Run.
The man who owns this device is the Golf Ball Finder Guy. And he has one mission on the golf course: finding golf balls. Whether it’s a beaten up and bruised Titleist Balata, circa 1995, a brand new Pro V1, or a Top Flite XL with the Dingleberry Family Reunion logo on its side, the Golf Ball Finder Guy loves to search for golf balls.
Behind a tree? He’ll find it. Plugged into a muddy bank? He’ll find it. In a yard? He’ll find it. In a groundhog’s hole? He’ll find it. In fact, the only ball the Golf Ball Finder Guy doesn’t care about is the one he is currently playing. He treats every lost golf ball as if he is an archeologist digging for a Mayan relic.
Pace of play? Score? Camaraderie? All of these things are nuisances to the Golf Ball Finder Guy. You’re on the green, waiting. He’s somewhere in the shrubs adjacent to the fairway, giddy about finding the Titleist DT 90 with the AT&T logo. He will ruin your score, your patience, and your reputation—once everyone at your course or club realizes you were in the group that played a six-hour round and had the crazy guy who was always in the woods.
So, next time you see this guy on the first tee—just run. Don’t wait around. Don’t ask questions. Don’t hesitate. Run and never look back.
Robert Bruce is a full-time writer and part-time golf blogger in Nashville, Tennessee. Visit his golf blog at www.gameunderrepair.com.
(Image: Sameli/Flickr)
Monday, March 29, 2010
Great Shots: Johnston’s Spade Mashie at 1929 U.S. Amateur
EVERYBODY WHO LOVES GOLF loves to hear about or see a great golf shot. There’s no video clip or YouTube for what I’m about to tell you. I wish there was. I read the anecdote last week in Michael Blaine’s fine book The King of Swings, the story of Johnny Goodman’s impressive career that culminated with Goodman winning the 1933 U.S. Open, the last amateur to do so. Then I read a longer account of the shot recently penned by the USGA’s Rand Jerris.
This little golf tale takes place in 1929, the year the stock market crashed and during an era in golf when the amateur was revered and the professional was often shunned. Some had lost interest in that last U.S. Amateur of the Roaring Twenties when the 19-year-old Goodman stunned the legendary Bobby Jones in their opening match at Pebble Beach. The colossal upset put Goodman on the map, although he lost his second match after lunch on the same day he defeated Jones.
Not to worry. What transpired later that week was one of the most dramatic moments in the championship’s history.
Harrison “Jimmy” Johnston arrived at Pebble’s 18th hole one down to Dr. Oscar Willing at the midpoint of their 36-hole final match. Johnston drove his ball safely onto the 18th fairway. The most difficult shot out of the way, he then blundered badly, hooking his second shot over the cliff and onto the beach. Johnston played a provisional ball and was ready to move on when his caddie came running through the gallery and informed him that his original ball might be playable on the beach.
(Photo courtesy of USGA Museum)
“I found my ball resting securely among the small pebbles below the seawall,” Johnston said. “When I took my stance to play the shot, a wave swished up behind me and buried my feet six inches in the water. But when the wave receded, the ball was still there!”
Before the next wave arrived, Johnston calmly struck his golf ball with a Spalding Kro-Flite spade mashie, the equivalent of a modern-day 7-iron. The ball cleared the seawall and landed on the edge of the 18th green. Johnston halved the par-5 hole and rallied in the afternoon round for a 4 and 3 victory to claim the U.S. Amateur title. He was later honored with a ticker-tape parade in his hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota.
−The Armchair Golfer
More:
USGA story and photos of Johnston’s Spalding Kro-Flite spade mashie
This little golf tale takes place in 1929, the year the stock market crashed and during an era in golf when the amateur was revered and the professional was often shunned. Some had lost interest in that last U.S. Amateur of the Roaring Twenties when the 19-year-old Goodman stunned the legendary Bobby Jones in their opening match at Pebble Beach. The colossal upset put Goodman on the map, although he lost his second match after lunch on the same day he defeated Jones.
Not to worry. What transpired later that week was one of the most dramatic moments in the championship’s history.
Harrison “Jimmy” Johnston arrived at Pebble’s 18th hole one down to Dr. Oscar Willing at the midpoint of their 36-hole final match. Johnston drove his ball safely onto the 18th fairway. The most difficult shot out of the way, he then blundered badly, hooking his second shot over the cliff and onto the beach. Johnston played a provisional ball and was ready to move on when his caddie came running through the gallery and informed him that his original ball might be playable on the beach.(Photo courtesy of USGA Museum)
“I found my ball resting securely among the small pebbles below the seawall,” Johnston said. “When I took my stance to play the shot, a wave swished up behind me and buried my feet six inches in the water. But when the wave receded, the ball was still there!”
Before the next wave arrived, Johnston calmly struck his golf ball with a Spalding Kro-Flite spade mashie, the equivalent of a modern-day 7-iron. The ball cleared the seawall and landed on the edge of the 18th green. Johnston halved the par-5 hole and rallied in the afternoon round for a 4 and 3 victory to claim the U.S. Amateur title. He was later honored with a ticker-tape parade in his hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota.
−The Armchair Golfer
More:
USGA story and photos of Johnston’s Spalding Kro-Flite spade mashie
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Fred Couples Is New Boss of Champions Tour
I’M STILL TRYING TO get my mind around Fred Couples being 50 and eligible to play on the Champions Tour. Meanwhile, Freddie is absolutely loving it. Shooting 21 under (for 54 holes) is fun. Winning is fun. Collecting about a million for a month’s worth of work is fun.
Couples won his third tournament in four starts on Sunday at The Cap Cana Championship in the Dominican Republic. (What a gorgeous golf course and setting. I watched some of the tournament on Saturday and was ready to check airfares.) He put together a 62 in the final round and nipped Corey Pavin (68, 63, 66) by two shots. Fred had a 67 and 66 in the first two rounds.
“I had a great stretch of golf in 1992,” Couples told the AP, “but I must say that these four weeks on the Champions Tour I’m not missing many shots.”
We’ve seen this before. Some of the 50-year-olds come out as rookies and manhandle the golf courses and competition. Players like Loren Roberts, Jay Haas and Bernhard Langer come to mind. There are a bunch of new “youngsters” out there—Couples, Pavin, Russ Cochran, Tom Pernice Jr., Tommy Armour III, Bob Tway and others. Not all will win a lot, but they’ll enjoy the gravy train. Even though the purses are smaller it’s still very good money on the second-chance tour.
Fred will be playing against the flat bellies the next two weeks at the Shell Houston Open and Masters.
−The Armchair Golfer
(Image: Erik Anestad/Flickr)
Couples won his third tournament in four starts on Sunday at The Cap Cana Championship in the Dominican Republic. (What a gorgeous golf course and setting. I watched some of the tournament on Saturday and was ready to check airfares.) He put together a 62 in the final round and nipped Corey Pavin (68, 63, 66) by two shots. Fred had a 67 and 66 in the first two rounds.“I had a great stretch of golf in 1992,” Couples told the AP, “but I must say that these four weeks on the Champions Tour I’m not missing many shots.”
We’ve seen this before. Some of the 50-year-olds come out as rookies and manhandle the golf courses and competition. Players like Loren Roberts, Jay Haas and Bernhard Langer come to mind. There are a bunch of new “youngsters” out there—Couples, Pavin, Russ Cochran, Tom Pernice Jr., Tommy Armour III, Bob Tway and others. Not all will win a lot, but they’ll enjoy the gravy train. Even though the purses are smaller it’s still very good money on the second-chance tour.
Fred will be playing against the flat bellies the next two weeks at the Shell Houston Open and Masters.
−The Armchair Golfer
(Image: Erik Anestad/Flickr)
Saturday, March 27, 2010
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