TOC and update/ Product Review Clubhouse Collection Electric Putting Partner, and Sony Open

Well as I'm sure most of you know that Jonathan Byrd won the Tournament of Champions in a playoff against Robert Garrigus.  Since i'm really late on updating about the tournament you can read more about it here if you would like.

I decided to treat myself on my way back to North Dakota and purchase myself an Electric Putting Partner from the Scheels in the St. Cloud Mall.  I guess I got a really good deal on it.  It was originally $14.99 on sale for $9.99.  The version they have on Amazon which looks exactly like the one I have other than the color is $17.99 so I guess I got a really good deal on it.

My Putting Partner

It works quite well.  It has returned the ball every time.  The only thing I don't get about it which I'm sure someone has an answer for, but I don't know why it has such a wide hole with it being numbered 1, 2, and 3 for each part of it.  It makes the hole slightly larger than a regular cup.  You could also shoot it up the ball return hole and it will still return the ball just fine.  This has so far helped me spend a little free time between classes, homework, and work.  Overall I think this is a good buy, and can help anyone keep their putting skills from getting rusty, or in my case improve my almost non-existent putting skills.  It also comes with a 90 day warranty, but I doubt I'll need that.  I'd say for $10 you should purchase this item but for the $18 Amazon wants you to pay I'd say don't do it.  It's a little to expensive at $18 because the only thing it does other than putting into a glass is it returns the ball to you, and it only does that if you make it into it.  So I guess in closing I'll say if you can get it for a deal it's worth it to buy it if not then just wait for it to be on sale.

The Sony Open is going on right now, but sadly I can't see it, because I don't have the Golf Channel.  If you have the Golf Channel I suggest you watch it, because one of my favorite golfers is golfing in it, John Daly.  He is one of those kind of people that makes golf interesting.  His chances of winning are slim, but I still cheer for him anyway.

In ending I'd like to apologize for being so long before I posted this.  I have been quite busy with the new semester of school starting for me and have been getting that in order.  Also if anyone reading this is a hockey fan.  The Fighting Sioux are taking on their huge rivals the Gophers tonight at The Ralph.  I'll be there for sure, because it is always and exciting hockey series.  Here is a picture of the arena I took today.  It's snowing pretty good so I hope they don't cancel the game.  I'm sure the game will be on FSN in North Dakota, Minnesota, and part of Wisconsin.

The Ralph

Tournament of Champions: Saturday

It looks like the greens are pretty evil like the video game suggested with many players having the ball just roll way far away from the hole if they misread the green due to the slope.  On Friday Jason Day ended up looking like me off the tee and sending the ball right into the ground but it still ended up traveling 106 yards and he still ended up getting par for the whole and a bogey free round score of 66 which is just crazy.  Robert Garrigus is the leader on Friday shooting a 63.  There was another wonderful (o.k. not so much) issue with the odd rules of golf again with Camilo Villegas getting disqualified for moving some grass with his club as the ball was rolling back down to where he was do to the wonderful slopes of Kapalua.  It actually happened because of a guy watching the tournament on T.V. saw it and decided to twitter it to the PGA.  So this adds another log to the fire of anger towards how the rules and way they are enforced laid out.  The Golf Channel story about it is here.  You can watch it here.  The scoreboard is pretty close so far with plenty of people still in contention.  Today's round just came up on T.V. so time to go watch that.

Things I found of interest at the Tournament of Champions: Day Before Tournament Starts

First off the night before the tournament started I watched Alice Cooper play a par 3 hole of golf.  That was pretty interesting.  Alice plays some good golf, but he sure looks weird doing it.  I can't say to much though because I probably look weird playing golf as well.  The event I watched with Alice Cooper in it was something the golf channel set up and had some other interesting things in it.  I caught it halfway through, but it seemed to be an alternating shot team tournament of all the par 3 holes at Kapalua.  Anthony Kim picked out his playing partner for one hole from the crowd who was quite full of himself but ended up playing decently well for the one hole he played.  Watch now he is getting offers to be sponsored haha.  Also the pro's got teamed up with some of the Golf Channel Staff who proved they played pretty well and were deserving to be staff for the Golf Channel.

Also there was a long drive for charity on the last hole of Kapalua where the final ended up being Bubba Watson vs Jamie Sadlowski who is a professional long driver and of course Sadlowski won by a large margin, and then hit Bubba's left handed driver at the end just for show.  So far it seems like the mood at Kapalua is very fun and laid back.  Now I just have to wait for the tournament to start today.

Hyundai Tournament of Champions

picture from golf365.com
Approach shot on first hole

Well the 2011 PGA Tour is kicking off this week.  You can see it starting tomorrow thru Sunday on  the Golf Channel.  I will be able to see most of this except the last day.  It's sad but for some reason Grand Forks North Dakota does not seem to believe in putting the Golf Channel on basic cable like they do here in Wisconsin.  Nonetheless I plan on watching as much of it as I can.  Now that I have started this golf blog I feel it to be my duty to try to stay as updated as possible on the world of golf.  Also I have my own personal reason to watch the tournament.  Kapalua is probably my most hated real course on the PGA game I play on my Tiger Woods game.  You know it is bad when you are swearing up a storm on the first hole because of how hilly it is.  It seems like the greens on every hole on this course for the game have some crazy hills to them, or on the side of a hill where if you screw up the putt the ball either rolls back past you or is gone down a steep hill.  So I want to watch this tournament to see if really that course is as devilish as it is on the game.  I would also like to thank Tiger Woods game for making me interested in the courses played on the PGA tour which probably will make my golf addiction even less manageable.  I really have no predictions on who is going to win the tournament, so I don't really have any specific golfer I am rooting for for this one.  Either way I am still excited and cannot wait to start watching it.